What Is Your Brand?

  

As we go to a super market or a grocery store, most of us probably have a brand in our mind that we all would like to lay our hand on.   Brand is the "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's product distinct from those of other sellers.  

So do people have a brand?. Of course yes, all of us have a brand though it may be a bit difficult to define what your brand id unless you have done a deep study of yourself or had a branding coach who has helped you position yourself. The interesting co- relation is how some company or product brands are synonymous with personal brands(  for example think Tag Heuer , Nike etc) . This is where the 4 P's of marketing ( product , place, price, promotion combine with the 5th P which is people.

So do you really need a brand?. The answer is that you already have . If you are not sure you would like to ask people who know you well what they think of you and i am sure they can easily describe your character in a few words . That exactly is your brand. If you are like most people , you may have not thought how it would impact your career , but one of the key characters of a good leader is to ask for feedback which helps her/him to check and recheck how others perceive her/ him as a brand and how one can do corrections if need be.

There are business leaders who have created a brand for themselves and that personal branding is tied to the company and the culture they have created in the organisation. Your brand can be part of that larger brand or it can be a independent one , but how your brand yourself can make or break your career. So if you have not thought much of it, it might be worthwhile to pay some attention to it.

There are some tests which would help you analyse your brand . One such one that i recently took was the one created by Sally Hogshead and in case you are interested you can check out their website.