Building a personal brand allows for creating an informed career path. This applies to both sole proprietorships and expert positions within an organization. How can personal branding create an employer’s brand? Why is it worth using personal branding in business?
What is a personal brand?
Personal brand focuses on building your own image as a specialist in a given field. This is a marketing strategy and all activities that strengthen the position and own brand on the market. In this case brand management is self-management, i.e. a fully thought-out and planned process that translates into professional life. Thanks to such activities, it is possible to build credibility in the eyes of one’s audience, gain greater trust, as well as strengthen the image of the employer in an organisation.
When creating one’s own brand, first of all the target group should be defined, by creating the so-called personas, determining goals, analysing competitors’ activities, and above all, taking advantage of the opportunities created by the market. A personal brand should be credible, which is why it is crucial to establish a communication strategy, i.e. content marketing assumptions and content distribution in the media. Communication must be coherent and present in the same areas where the target group is. Currently, video materials as well as content published on a blog and social media are sort of standard. When working on your brand, you should be authentic, trustworthy, credible, and inspiring – it is passion that breeds professionalism after all.
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Personal branding vs employer branding
Employer branding, in turn, involves building the image of an organisation whose goal is to create an attractive environment for career development of current and future employees. It is possible to distinguish two types of activities, i.e. internal and external employer branding. In the case of the former, the aim is to create a pleasant working atmosphere that supports development opportunities. The scope of activities may include the recruitment process itself, additional benefits, such as health care, training, or corporate retreats.
On the other hand, external employer branding focuses on building a positive image of the employer in the eyes of future candidates, e.g. by participating in job fairs or promoting the company at universities. A very beneficial solution for the organization is to support employees in creating their own brand, which simultaneously strengthens the business brand. How else does a personal brand affect the company’s marketing strategy?
Read more: From brand awareness to brand advocacy. What about a customer after sales?
Personal branding as the foundation of the employer branding
Telling the company story through personal brands is an important part of marketing strategy in terms of recruitment. The combination of employer and personal branding gives tangible results in the form of reaching the most attractive candidates, higher conversion of job advertisements, shaping the image of employees as experts in their field, additional range of recruitment advertisements, and also creates motivation to improve the skills of current employees. A business brand is not only about building a coherent and positive image of the company among current and future employees, but also among potential customers.
