Highly successful people have, among other attributes, one particular thing in common - they have developed and continue to strengthen their own personal brand. Personal branding is a marketing strategy that highlights your most important product - how you shape the way others see you.

3 Elements of Branding 

Personal branding has three main elements: 

1. Who you are - skills, values, passions, and personality.
2. Who you want to serve - audience or market.
3. How you distinguish yourself from the competition - your unique value proposition.

A meaningful brand is successful when it creates a consistent, targeted impression that allows a person to achieve their personal and professional goals.

Branding Should Be Authentic 

A brand should build on who you really are. Oscar Wilde said, "Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."

A well-thought-out branding strategy that follows from your true self will be more successful in the long-run. You can't fake your way to a successful brand.

Branding Should Be On-Purpose 

An on-purpose, by-design approach to personal branding is a must. Many people are content to let their career take its course. No wonder they are shocked when years later they are in jobs that under-use their intelligence. They wonder why they are less successful and make less money than people with half their talents.

Those other people often figured out that if we do not brand ourselves, we can be sure that others will do it for us. They decided that they were not content to let others define them. They instead made a point of developing their own personal brands. 

Building Personal Branding Equity

Consider the following ideas to implement a personal branding strategy:

• Be true to your core values - Be honest with yourself. Don't try to become someone that you are not.
• It is always a work in progress - Tom Peters suggests that everyone develop a personal brand equity action plan each year. His advice is that we all consider where we stand today in several key areas and take steps to expand and improve each one. These components include what we are known for, how to enrich our current job assignment, what we know and what we want to learn, our public visibility and our relationships.
• Make it an on-purpose strategy - Decide that it is an ongoing process that builds towards your ideal image. Take steps to improve your talent, expertise, and experience.
• Know your audience and market - Your brand should be developed with your audience in mind. Figure out who they are or who you want them to be and build the brand that best appeals to them.
• Be different - Be unique. Make a point of standing out, not fitting in. Don't be one of several in the same field. Be the one.
• Network - Be visible in the community. If there is an event or you receive an invitation, make sure you attend.
• Establish an intentional outreach strategy - Use all forms of communication to your advantage. This includes coffee appointments, telephone calls, charity events, political meetings, your website and social media. Follow-up is key. A repeat contact approach is a must - one that allows you to call the right people at the right time to discuss the right things.
• Look and dress the part - Think of the visual side of the branding approach you take. Then, picture how you need to look to be consistent with it. Your appearance and your dress are major components of the brand.
• Don't over-sell it - Make sure to live up to the hype you create. In the final analysis, deep down you are who you are. Build your brand around being the best authentic you that you can be.