Building your personal brand is a topic that can never be overemphasised, especially for PR professionals who are custodians of reputations. As PR professionals, we are the go-to persons for brands, corporate or personal, desiring to gain the public’s trust and increase marketability.
Do you remember the Biblical proverb: “Physician, heal thyself”? It aptly reflects the necessity to work on strategic visibility for PR Professionals. How can you provide advisory on brand management to your clients if you have to bring your own personal brand out of obscurity?
Brand building requires conscious efforts to positively influence the public’s perception, position yourself as a thought leader in the industry and show your unique value proposition as a professional. The advantages will make a long-lasting effect on your trade and expand your client base. Yes, reputation profits tend to turn into business ones!
However, you have to be responsible for what you say online and how you treat your digital assets. Nowadays, social media is your frenemy – it is a great tool to take your brand out there, but it is easy to fall short on your efforts with even one inaccurate action online.
NGWiPR has prepared tips on how you can strengthen your personal brand in the digital-first world and make it crisis-proof:
- Share your authentic story: sharing your story makes you quite relatable to your public. Honestly talk about your successes and failures, yet avoid white or blackwashing. Do not make yourself look perfect (nobody is, and your public knows it), but avoid exaggerating your missteps, too.
- Carry your audience along through your storytelling: share snippets of where you are and where you were coming from. This allows your audience to acknowledge that you are a work in progress and very open to grow as a person and professional.
- Respond, never react: in cases when a crisis arises, do take your time to evaluate things effectively and acknowledge where you went wrong. It is pretty easy to want to react immediately. Give a 24-hour gap before responding in times of crisis.
- Acknowledge your shortcomings: critically review where you went wrong and understand what strategies have been put in place to show your willingness to make amends. Never attempt to be defensive at any point.
