Why is a Personal Brand Important as an Employee?

In the modern job market, a personal brand isn’t something reserved for sports stars, Hollywood celebs, and billionaires. A personal brand is becoming a necessary method for differentiating yourself, even for entry-level jobs.

The job market will only become more competitive, so it’s essential that you start taking steps to build your personal brand now, and get a jump start on your competition.

If you want some hard statistics on why personal branding is important, checkout this article that proves the proves the value of personal branding too.

Here are a few reasons why a personal brand is important as an employee.

5 Reasons Why a Personal Brand is Important as an Employee

1) A Personal Brand Will Give You Peace-Of-Mind And Options!

A personal brand can give you an increased level of security at your current job, but at the end of the day, there’s no such thing as job security in today’s world.  The concept of the “Company Man” is dead and gone, and companies are forcing their employees to work harder and longer. Why? Because they can – there’s 15 other people that will take that job tomorrow.

Building a personal brand is one of the only forms of security available to the modern employee.  It’s not job security, it’s more-so personal security.

Wherever you are currently employed, chances are you will not still be there within the next 3-5 years.  You will either choose to move on, or you’ll get fired.  Either way, when that time does come, a personal brand gives you options.  A personal brand gives you peace-of-mind that regardless of what happens with your current employment, that you’ll either be able to start your own business quickly, or, get land a new job with a different company without much stress.

2) A Personal Brand Will Help You Land A Good Job

The job search can be grueling and discouraging at times. Today, millions of college graduates are either unemployed or under-employed and struggling to find a well-paying job. Instead of spending months-on-end sending out resumes, find a job that will pay your bills and focus on building a personal brand for a couple months. Then start applying to great jobs, selectively.  This will allow you to be strategic for the jobs you do apply for and allow you to be patient because every week and month that goes by, you’re building up equity in your personal brand.  When you apply for a job,  start tailoring your resume for each application and positioning yourself and your skills based on the job description.

For example, if you are looking for a job in Social Media Marketing. Buy a domain name, and managed WordPress hosting from GoDaddy for $15 + $10/mo., create a blog, and create a short online training program that teaches small business owners how to use social media to grow their business. Now when you apply for jobs, you’re not just someone who’s unemployed with a psychology degree looking for a social media job;  you’re now the Founder of the “Social Media Small Business Success Academy”, or whatever you call your training program.

Strategically building your personal brand automatically differentiates you from everyone else applying. Laying the foundation of your personal brand by positioning yourself as an authority can be done fairly quickly. You just need to be strategic, keep it simple, and execute against a game plan with consistency.

3) A Personal Brand Will Accelerate Your Promotion Timeline

Not only can a personal brand help you land a job, but it can help you get promoted faster at the job you already have.

If you’re looking to get on the fast track to the next level of leadership in your company, a personal brand is one of the best ways to set yourself apart.  A personal brand won’t make up for sub-par performance in your role, but it is definitely something that can put you above the competition if there are multiple people, already performing at a high level, who are all jockeying for the next management or executive position. Creating a personal brand that’s in alignment with your company’s goals, is something that won’t go un-noticed.

It won’t be something that happens over night, but, if you are generating more brand-awareness and, as a result, more customers for your company, it’s just a matter of time before you move up the ranks.

4) A Personal Brand Will Attract Better Job Offers

Having a strong personal brand gives you visibility in your industry that can, and almost certainly will, lead to better job offers. When you build up your personal brand as a thought leader in your industry, and build an audience or following, other companies will take notice.

How great would that be to have multiple companies randomly offering you positions saying they’ll pay your current salary plus 15%. Sounds crazy right? It happens all the time. Companies are willing to pay top-dollar for people who get results.

This puts you in an awesome position to not only get paid well, but, also to find a company that you believe in and love.  Once you find a company that you believe in and love, plant your flag there and turn down other offers that come in. Sometimes turning down a more money, is the best thing you can do for your personal brand – everyone wants what they can’t have.

5) A Personal Brand Will Allow You To Negotiate A Higher Salary

One of the key things to do when building your personal brand is to do your best to track the performance and impact of your reach. Even if all you can measure is reach and clicks to your company website, you can then take your company’s average conversion rate and apply that percentage to the traffic your personal brand is generating. That will give you a ball-park figure of your personal impact on the bottom line. When your next salary conversation or 360 review comes up, you can make a case to negotiate a higher salary at your current position for adding additional brand awareness and customers.

If you’re interviewing for a new position, a personal brand gives you leverage in the salary conversation.  Most companies will have a salary range they are willing to pay for the position, something like: $65,000 – $75,000 based on experience.  A personal brand that has a following that is aligned with the company will give you leverage to negotiate above the top-end of their salary window for the position.   if you have 20,000 followers on twitter and a blog that gets an extra 20,000 page views per month, that gives you an insane amount of leverage that will allow you to ask for a salary above their limit.  You could most-likely land that position for $80,000-$85,000.  It may not seem like a big difference, but an extra $5,000-$10,000 for the next 5 years is an extra 33%-66% of 1-year’s salary.

If you’re not building a personal brand and negotiating your salary, you’re leaving BIG money on the table.

Take It One Step Further

A personal brand is the best way to increase your impact, influence and income.  Start building your personal brand today, we’re here to help!

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