Savvy entrepreneurs are getting into personal branding along with building a brand for their company. And the payback can be enormous. Look at high tech entrepreneurs who hit the big time like Michael Dell, Jeff Bezos, Steven Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Cuban. They built a successful personal brand in conjunction with their business idea every step of the way.
As an entrepreneur, you should do the same. You are your most important asset. In a sense, you are your only asset. And your ability to maximize the asset that is you is the single most important ingredient to your success.
So how do you do that?
Study the branding model. Brands couldn’t exist without being known and recognized. That’s why visibility is important. Brand managers use tools to build mindshare and visibility like advertising, PR, events, product placement, internet promotions and hordes of other creative activities. As an entrepreneur, you’re going to need to bootstrap your way into visibility through low costs means like your website and blog, through networking, and through PR.
Entrepreneurs should also tap into the power of stories like brands do. Many people speak in generic or factual terms about their business and ideas. It’s a lost opportunity. Stories have universal appeal. Stories are memory magnets that will help lock in your brand. Stories bring your accomplishments and personality to life for people in a way that gets them involved in you and your message.
Look at these narrative themes from literature and the movies: “Against all odds,” “The Turning Point,” or “Talent Wins Out.” See if you can talk about yourself and your business in a more dramatic way. Stories are a form of emotional branding, getting people interested in you and your company because they feel something about you and your business. You’ll find that people will remember you and your business better, too.
The Double Whammy Create a Personal Brand Together with Your Business Brand - To learn more about this author, visit Catherine Kaputa's Website.
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Catherine Kaputa
(Visit Catherine's Website)
Catherine Kaputa is a twenty year veteran
of branding and advertising – from Madison
Avenue to Wall Street to the halls of
academe to the founder of her own company,
a New York City-based brand strategy firm
that works with people, products and
companies. Visit www.brandesp
resso.com for branding advice for
entrepreneurs and marketers, and visit www.selfbrand.co
m for personal branding tips.
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