A few months ago, I was invited to speak to a group of young teenage girls who had just completed their primary school education. The topic of discussion was leadership and responsibility. The program coordinator gave me the honor of introducing myself. Just to get a glimpse of the aura in the room, I asked the girls “What do you think I do and why? Five people to answer”

The first one said “I think you are a doctor, because you look happy.” The second one said, “I think you are an air hostess because you look pretty.” The third one said “I think you are a CEO because you are teaching us about leadership.” The fourth one said “I think you are a teacher because you are speaking and are dressed like one.” The fifth one said “I think you are an accountant because you look like my sister who is an accountant.”

Thinking of it now, they were not far from the truth. They actually got it right in most aspects. There is also a reason why they did not say I am a fashion designer, artist, lawyer, graphic designer or tech professional.

We are all walking brands. Whether you tell people who you are or not they will give you a label and that becomes your brand as far as they are concerned. How many times have you looked at someone and thought “That looks like a good person”, this one looks responsible”, this one looks like a con”, this one looks like a professional” this one looks like a business person.” These people may or may not have made a deliberate effort to look a certain way but a quick look at them or a few minutes of conversing with them gave you certain ideas about who they are. In short you branded them. If someone asks you about them you are going to tell them your idea of who that person is.

This explains why companies go to great lengths to talk about their brand mantra. They define what their DNA is and what they have to offer and use every form of media to broadcast it. Every time a company is mentioned whether you have interacted with them in person or not, the first idea that comes to mind is what they have been ‘selling’ themselves as, and that is their brand. The challenge is whether they live up to that brand.

In a world where every one is scrambling for space you need to make it easy for people to trace you and associate you with what you consider right to be associated with. This applies in different aspects; It could be because you want to stand out as a professional in your area, you want to attract people with similar interests or you have made changes in your profession or started a new passion that you need other people to be aware of.

Fortunately, or unfortunately in this era you don’t need to walk around telling people who you are. “The common thing between a recruiter and a blind date is that they both googled you.” Every time I am given a referral, the default is I will look up that person online to “just pick a few ideas about who they are.” If I cannot trace them or it (company) then it raises suspicions regardless of who referred them. If I trace them then I make an impression of who they are based on their photos, content, frequency of posting and any mutual friends they are connected with.

And the opposite is true every time I meet someone whether for business or social chat they start with what they picked about me online, even if they don’t say it directly, I can gather it from their interaction with me. The internet has given us a chance to tell the world who we are without necessarily meeting anyone in person. Our challenge remains to live up to the brand that we create online by being consistent both online and offline.

Are you still wondering how to create your brand…start thinking about your hard skills, soft skills, life and work experiences, achievements, your values and passions. I will explore the details of using these items to create your personal brand and how to manage your brand in my next two blog articles.