by Mark
Personal brand equity is a valuable business commodity. It’s the combined sum of your character, your ability and your charisma. Your personal brand is invaluable throughout your career and it’s what makes you unique. It’s the reason why people will deal with you – in Andrew Ross Sorkin’s “Too Big to Fail”, a beleaguered Dick Fuld of Lehman Brothers laments the fact that other banks “won’t take his name” i.e. won’t do business with his firm. His personal brand equity disappeared as investors lost confidence in the bank.
Five ways to build your personal brand equity:
1) Good work
The simplest and most straightforward way to build brand equity is to be good at your job. Indeed, it might be argued that without this solid platform, your brand will always be vulnerable. Quality shines through, regardless of industry.
2) Trust
When people trust you, you enjoy a level of personal brand equity. Trust is hard-won and easily lost, so treat it with respect once gained. It is key to your personal brand.
3) Popularity
You don’t need to be Justin Bieber to make it in business. But being well-liked will help. It should go without saying – but I’ve met many who seemed to have overlooked this simple truth – that being a nice guy is extremely beneficial to business success. It will also mean people actually enjoy working with you.
4) Access
Some things in life are inevitably more sought after than others. Access to unique skills, experiences and places will all build your persona brand equity, if you are able to offer them to your network.
5) Network
It took me a few years as an entrepreneur before I realised the power of a network. Now I don’t know what I ever did without it. Your network is one of the most powerful assets you own, and can be deployed on your behalf to great effect. Be judicious and respectful of your network and its individual constituents and will become one of the most powerful weapons in the armoury of your personal brand.
Spending your personal brand equity
Personal brand equity is something we accumulate through our careers. And, just like money, you can – consciously or unconsciously – spend your brand equity. Here’s five ways of doing so:
1) Favours
When you ask for a favour, you’re trading on your personal brand equity. The saying “there can only be friendship between equals” must be tempered by the fact that equality can be achieved by deploying brand equity to create a temporary balance.
2) Recommendations
When you go out of your way to make a recommendation on someone’s behalf to a contact within your network, you expend brand equity. However, as long as the recommendation turns out to benefit both sides, you stand to gain brand equity from all parties. And if you want to receive lots of recommendations for your own role or company (and most people do!) then you should make lots yourself.
3) Errors
If you screw up, your personal brand equity can rescue you. Just don’t do it too often!
4) Shielding
If someone in your team screws up, you can expend brand equity to shelter them from the wrath of your angry client. This is good form for a manager/boss (and builds your personal brand equity with your team).
5) Good causes
If there’s a cause you believe in, you can expend personal brand equity in order to bring others to the cause. Just don’t be too evangelical and don’t make too many JustGiving requests of your network – save your brand equity for something you really believe in.
About the Author
Mark is Rostrum’s founder and CEO. Mark’s industry expertise covers financial and professional services, as well as technology and telecoms. He is active on many of Rostrum’s key accounts and has overall responsibility for new business generation at the agency.