Personal branding: 3 Strategic points you need to consider

Personal Branding

Many people want to believe that branding started in the mid-to-late 1800s with Proctor & Gamble as market leaders in the area. However when I reflect back to the African continent, branding already existed there. People branded themselves for several reasons, and one of them was to make them unique, todifferentiate them from the others. Skin branding, clothes are just a few way in which those days' people used to brand themselves. All said and done, we need to look at our present and where according to Robert Kiyosaki, the author of "Rich Dad, Poor Day" network marketing is the business of the 21st Century. Business based on sharing and earning.

Many people want to believe that branding started in the mid-to-late 1800s with Proctor & Gamble as market leaders in the area. However when I reflect back to the African continent, branding already existed there. People branded themselves for several reasons, and one of them being to look unique, to differentiate themselves from the others. Skin branding, clothes are just one of the few examples how people branded those days.

All said and done, we need to look at our present and where according to Robert Kiyosaki, the author of "Rich Dad, Poor Day" network marketing is the business of the 21st Century. Business based on sharing and earning. Network marketing has become one of the highly competitive businesses in the world, therefore you have to stand out in order to survive. You have to differentiate yourself from the others, in order to be successful in your business. There are several ways of doing this, from positioning right up to differentiation.

Today we will look at personal branding. Personal branding, where to start? The statement "know yourself, to grow yourself" sounds easy, but can be a challenging. Being authentic and exposing who you are in order to be introspective is not everybody's piece of meat. Just as difficult is understanding "who you are".

There are three strategic points to consider when you want to find out about your personal brand. Mo.Po.Co. - Motivation, Positioning and Connection.

Motivation: What are you passionate about? What are your personal values? Where do you see yourself in 4 - 5 years and what is important to you? What motivates you? What contributions would you like to make to the world?

The answers to these questions will give you an insight of your motivation, where you are at it, and whether you need to improve or change.

Positioning: Look at your current reputation and what is your greatest strength. Look at your most differentiated and valuable skills. What characteristics do you have that make people find you interesting? Who are you and what are you offering that will make people want to be associated with you. What are your greatest accomplishments?

Connection: There is a famous saying "Friends of your friends are our friends". Who do you know who can help you achieve your goals? Who needs to know you so that you can achieve your goals? What are you able to do to rapidly expand your professional network? How can you add value to the members of my network? How can help connect different members of my network for mutual value? A great example is one which we recently took part in with Lori Randall Stradtman who created on her personal fan page "Pages Gone Wild Spring 2011" and Richie Llyod's page 1000 likes in 90 Days all on Facebook and were both very successful. Both these pages brought people together and offered value to its members. Everybody gained on these platforms. What can you do to nature your network regularly?

Personal branding is about what makes you stand out amongst others who are doing or offering the very same product or service. It is not about what title you are holding for example network marketing expert, affiliate marketing expert etc. There are so many job titles out there, try to look at things from your target audience perspective. Why should they choose you? What are you offering that will make them want to choose you.

The network marketing market is highly competitive where we are seeing abundance of offers - all looking alike or similar. Consider this. I am looking for trainer and in most cases I will look for the one who will accept minimum payment. If you are trainer, and you differentiate yourself from the mass, you offer a unique product or service, then most likely I will go out of my way to hire you in order to get exactly that unique service you are offering. Your terms will not be an issue. Brand differentiation is a must as it is your key element to success.

Where to begin very simple and to find out how to begin with personal branding, all you need is a pen, paper or your computer and time. Draw a line in the middle making two columns.

The similar column: Here you make entries on what you offer which is similar to everybody else. For example, training, experience, same goals (mentoring to make everybody succeed in their business, very many out there) and on the other column you write down what makes you different.

The different column: What makes you different from the crowd, from the similar column. Your personality, language skills, how your trainings run - stiff, straight to the point, or you are the ice-breaker trainer type. Your broad knowledge etc., the list is endless.

Branding is based on authenticity, revealing yourself professional about and the best ways is to being clear about MO.PO.CO., Motivation; Positioning; and Connection. Get this in place and you will have clarity about your personal brand.