Is your professional brand built upon these important attributes?

The essence of a professional brand involves who you are and what you want to be known for professionally. It is a reputation that you build, evaluate, and cultivate over time. Although it takes hard work and long-term dedication to build a professional brand, it could take just minutes to destroy it. It’s critical to identify key attributes of a professional brand in order to establish and then build upon a strong foundation that will allow your brand to evolve and support your future career success.

First of all, your brand must be authentic. It should represent your true self, professional skills, abilities, values, and interests. Since creating and maintaining your professional brand requires long-term commitment, a focus on authenticity will allow you to advance your brand in a logical and strategic way.

Along those lines, your brand should be consistent. Stay true to your beliefs, vision, and professional goals. When you act, make sure it is in a way that aligns with who you are and where you want to go. Build upon your successes. Inconsistency can confuse others about your skills and abilities. This can negatively impact the perception and understanding of your brand, which may limit professional opportunities.

Your professional brand, if authentic and consistent, will be completely unique to you. I ask all of my clients to identify their USPs (unique selling propositions). That is what makes them uniquely qualified compared to all of the other candidates vying for positions. No one will possess the exact skills, experience, knowledge, and vision as you. You should use all of those things to show employers, colleagues, and industry leaders why you are unique. That will make your professional brand memorable and effective.

You can’t be everything to everyone, so your professional brand should be targeted. Focus it on your company, industry, and profession. That will allow you to build relevant knowledge and relationships that will enhance your brand and both its actual (and perceived) value.

Your brand features many different elements, and in order to be effective those brand elements must be integrated. A lack of integration will lead to misunderstandings about what you can do and what you stand for, which will result in confusion and a lack of confidence in your professional brand.
Your skills and knowledge will grow as you gain experience, so it is important that your professional brand evolves with you. Gain relevant skills and experience, and get involved to be a leader in your areas of expertise. A common pathway when you evolve professionally is to transition from a mentee to a mentor, which allows you to grow and develop in new and unique ways to strengthen your brand.

To maximize the understanding and impact of your professional brand, it should be authentic, consistent, unique, targeted, integrated, and evolving as you gain skills, knowledge, and experience. Is your professional brand built upon these key attributes? If not, how can you make adjustments to better support, grow, and communicate your brand?