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Time to refresh your personal brand?

January, 2024

The beginning of the year is a good time to take a look at your branding and marketing, not just for your organisation but also for your personal brand. Rachel Knight, Director at Kent PR agency Maxim, says if you think you don’t have one, think again.

These days the majority of people have some kind of online presence, and if you don’t then that in itself tells others something about you.

Hands up who’s met a new contact and Googled them at the first chance you had? I’m certainly guilty of that and I usually end up on LinkedIn, as that’s where you’ll find most professionals these days. 

First impressions count, so I find it very strange when people have an online profile but no photo at all. Or perhaps they’re pictured with a friend so you’re unsure which of the two you’re dealing with. Different images are obviously appropriate for different platforms but if you want to portray a professional image, consider getting some headshots taken by a professional photographer.

Don’t believe everything you read

If you have an online profile, it’s important to keep it up-to-date, even if it’s just the basics of which organisation you work for and in which role. 

I joined Maxim in 2001 so have met and connected with hundreds of people over the last two decades. I always assumed those who moved on – usually with a promotion – after a couple of years must be very good at their jobs. 

As time went on, I realised they were getting promoted just because they had changed organisations and not because of their skills. Then they were moving on before they were ‘found out’. Obviously this doesn’t apply to everyone, but I bet you know someone in senior management who perhaps shouldn’t be there. If you include skills, major projects you worked on and testimonials from colleagues and clients, people are much more likely to trust your profile. 

Some people are just really good at portraying success, but don’t let that intimidate you. Talking with a couple of friends recently, we all agreed that not everything is always as it seems – both online and in real life. Just because someone is dressed the part and can talk the talk, it doesn’t necessarily mean they can walk the walk.

Dressing the part 

Speaking of which, how you present yourself is also part of your personal brand. When I first started work, everyone was dressed in business suits – usually a dark colour – and the men all wore ties. As a 20-year-old on a small salary, I had to make a few trips to the Next outlet store before I could dress for meetings and networking. Fortunately digital cameras were rare then and there are very few photos of me, except for the one below taken in 2004.

Thankfully, those times have long gone. Things were already changing before the pandemic but I’m sure home and hybrid working has speeded up that evolution. I no longer own any suits and I rarely see a man in a tie. We can still be smart but are able to express ourselves much more easily in a corporate world now. You might want to wear something that will help you stand out and enable people to remember you – and that’s unlikely to be a grey suit.

There’s an argument that we shouldn’t worry about what other people think but we all make assumptions about others. Just make sure your personal brand is the one you want to be portraying.

This article originally appeared in Kent Director.

 

Rachel Knight - Director

Rachel Knight

Maxim / Director

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