How Personal Branding Increases Your Value

Personal branding takes who you are and what you offer, and helps you "package" yourself in such a way to provide value to others. Whether that means finding a job you love, getting more customers in your line of business, or demonstrating the value you bring to the world, branding is essential for maximizing your value output. Branding is like flowers from the supermarket, rather than flowers from the farmer's market.

Let me illustrate branding with a short story.

Flowers are more valuable with ribbon

After a few weeks of dating, a young man wanted to give his young lady something that showed his affection for her. He recalled the large sign outside his local supermarket that read, "Beautiful bouquets of flowers". When he arrived at the supermarket with flowers, he saw beautiful bouquets with ribbon surrounded in paper and transparent packaging. They were $15 for a bouquet. The young man, trying to decide on which to buy, finally asked the florist what he would recommend. The florist made a recommendation. The young man reached for a bouquet and paid the florist. With love in his heart and a grin on his face, he walked out of the supermarket dreaming about his lovely young lady.

That night the young man arrived on her doorstep for their first formal dinner date. He handed her the bouquet of flowers. She loved them.

The following morning, the young man found himself at the local farmers market to pick up some vegetables. He noticed something he never had before. They sold flowers, the same types of flowers as the supermarket's. However, the flowers were only 25 cents each. He quickly did the math and figured it would cost roughly three dollars to make his own bouquet.

Suddenly the florist from the supermarket walked up and bought three boxes of flowers. The young man's heart sank. He felt ripped off by the florist.

"Why do you sell these same flowers to me for $15 dollars when they are only worth three dollars?" the young man questioned.

The florist, caught off guard, took a moment to collect his thoughts and replied, "I was not selling flowers. I was selling beautiful bouquets. The difference and value is in the packaging".

Personal branding needs ribbon

Personal branding is packaging your skills and abilities, and tying them together with ribbon and string so that you can deliver more value. Think of it as your service offering to the marketplace.

For example, you may be a website developer. Web development would be a skill. You might ask, what characteristics are people looking for in a web developer? Trust, punctuality, unique style, etc. Conveying these characteristics along with your service offering of website development is personal branding. And if you don't yet possess these characteristics, then you should work on what the market is looking for. This could lead to more clients, job opportunities, and meaningful friendships.

How are you using ribbon to brand your skills, talents and who you are for the world around you?

Samuel Hatton is passionate about entrepreneurial activities. He builds,  implements and runs marketing programs at Endsight. He also founded Life is a Play, professional development motivation. You can find him on Google+ and Twitter. Samuel is always up for good discussions and activities regarding careers, marketing, entrepreneurship, performance, and dancing.



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