Personal Branding vs Personnel Branding

For many organisations, the term personal branding used to be too person-centric without realizing the benefits of having the brand ambassadors being such a critical workforce waiting to be tapped as SALES FORCE.


I coined the term Personnel Branding exactly for these organizations & leaders to make them realize the value these personal brand add to the organization over a period of time. I am sure you would easily be able to recall at least one instance which would have forced you to ditch a brand because a "personnel / personal" brand behaved the way it was unbecoming of them!!

Some recent examples highlighting importance of Personal Branding across the hierarchy of the organization:

1. Southwest Airlines flight attendants: 
Search Southwest Airlines on Youtube and you will realize what I am talking about. You will find so many hilarious videos of the flight attendants bringing the lighter side out of passengers in what was considered to be a "serious" business!! Not surprisingly, it is the world's largest low-cost carrier besides being the most innovative one.

2. The Big Billion sales on Flipkart: The poster boy of Indian e-commerce celebrated with much fanfare its "Big Billion Day" Sale promising to offer huge discounts. Considering the magnanimous nature of sale, there were issues with the website and complaints of 'refunds' in confirmed orders due to products being "sold out" within few hours if not minutes. Next day, most leading dailies carried a front page apology from the Bansals (co-founders) regarding the same and highlighting their "personal apology" acting as personnel and not owners / co-founders. They used their own personal brand equity to save the company's image which failed to mark the promise of value to customers on that big day.

These are just a couple of examples, how personnel branding can help the companies in a big way irrespective of the hierarchy. There is an immense scope to increase your Sales and Brand Equity by milking Employee Personal branding. Employee personal brand not only help in Customer retention but also add today's Business Currency i.e. Connections to company's profile.

How Organisations benefit from Personal Branding

For many people the term Personal Branding is more about individual growth and personal impact and on the organizational level people do not believe much in personal branding. This comes from the perception that how an organization can benefit from personal branding of their employees.

I feel that the employees are the "walking advertisement" for any organization. Why not to think like this that a good way to increase an organization's positive reputation is to align it with someone who already has a positive reputation. If the employee is perceived as credible, authentic and talented then the organization's brand value increases incredibly. The same would work the other way around in terms of spoiling reputation. All of us would have at some point vowed not to work with 'a company' because either the sales personnel was unprofessional or customer care was disrespectful!

But the irony is that the organizations are more concerned in achieving the success for group and the mistake they make here is that they forget that this group is formed by collection of unique individuals who have their own set of skills, talent and ability which may or may not fulfill the organization's goals and brand promise.

For any organization its reputation is communicated by its employees. The customers perceive the brand of the company by its employees. If the employees lack external exposure, external connection, poor online presence; then the organizational scope to attract more business, partners, clients and customers also gets limited.

When employees successfully brand themselves as experts in an industry, both the employee and the employer can achieve measurable benefits.

Its much more expensive to get new clients than retaining existing ones.
The employer benefits:

• Improved brand perception that positively affect marketing goals
• Improve recruitment by becoming a more desirable employer
• Retention of high value employees
• Employees serve as brand champions increasing visibility
• Increased leadership development to decrease recruitment costs
• Less employee attrition
• Gaining competitive advantage
• Trend identification for new product development and sales opportunities
• Stronger collaboration with subject matter experts to increase efficiency

The employee benefits:

• Increased self esteem, peer recognition and confidence.
• Motivated and dedicated towards the organization and feeling of being special
• Future leaders within an organization can be identified and groomed
• based in part on personal branding results
• Enhances professional satisfaction

Personal Brand Image & its importance

• Are you a shy, demure kind of a person or an extrovert; still struggling to get the appreciation and recognition you deserve?
• Are you also just another individual in the crowd?
• Are you aware of your personal brand or have you been branded by people around you?
• Do you know how to distinguish self from the crowd by creating your own personal brand?

If the answer is NO, then let me tell you that you are missing out on 'getting noticed' and I have a solution for that. Learn with me the techniques and tips to create your differentiators and add value to your uniqueness by “Personal Branding.”

The way successful companies (Apple, Coca-Cola, Rolex, McDonald's) create their niche by 'branding' to distinguish themselves from their competitors; create your personal brand to emulate success of these companies, so that your target audience recalls the value of your “BRAND” whenever your name comes up.

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CRAFT A POSITIVE, UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND IMAGE

Are you still struggling or not aware of your personal brand profile?

Then let me guide you to create your powerful personal brand profile to increase your value and mark your reputation.

We humans love to listen to stories and we instantly connect with them emotionally. Do you know what miracle could happen if you give your introduction by storytelling?

Yes, you might get a bit confused here but this is true that we all love listening to stories since childhood and we instantly make an emotional connect with the characters of the story. Stories are the most powerful way of building brands; be it personal, organization or a product.

Learn with me the techniques to craft your own stellar biography and to make an instant emotional connect with your colleagues, clients and audience so they always remember you the way you want whenever your name comes up.

Learn to prepare an engaging introduction and a flawless elevator pitch of your personal brand.

Learn with me to build trust and credibility through your stories and use them effectively at your workplace.

What personal brand do you possess?

What do people speak about you when you leave the room?

What impression you make on your first meeting?

If you struggle for the answers then sorry to say but you are categorized as a Personal Branding DEFAULTER. Yes, you are branded by other people based on the perceptions they have build about you with / without ever interacting with you!!

Your credibility, authority, intelligence, position, success, trust, loyalty, professionalism are based on these perceptions which result into the formation of a mental image about you as an individual in other person’s mind.

We are very receptive to our five senses (Vision, Auditory, Gustatory, Kin-aesthetic and Olfactory) and based on these sensory receptors we make initial snap decisions about the other person.

Build your personal brand to elevate your reputation, mark your value and establish your niche in professional life.

"Brands are built on what people are saying about you, not what you are saying about yourself."- Guy Kawasaki

Learn with me the process of personal branding, get categorized into MAKERS (not DEFAULTERS) and the art to make everlasting first impressions.

Learn with me the power of these five senses and how to use these senses to create an impressive and authentic Personal Brand.