By now, you’re well on your way to building a powerful brand: you. Well done!

Today we’re going to chat about three common pitfalls that you need to be aware of when building a powerful personal brand, and how to avoid them.

  1. Ignoring your previous brand

Whether you like it or not, you already have a personal brand within your organisation. And it might not be a great one to have. While anybody can, by following the principles we’ve discussed over the last few weeks, change their brand, it’s not easy and it’s not overnight.

Therefore: don’t ignore your previous brand and the fact that people are slow to change their perceptions. If you had a brand of being a late-comer, or of someone who didn’t care about personal appearance, it will take time and hard work to change that. Don’t get disheartened! People’s resistance to changing their opinion about you can be frustrating. But frustration is never a good reason to give up.

You’ll have to put extra effort into showcasing your new brand, which leads us to pitfall number two..

  1. Not marketing your new brand

Any new brand needs marketing to find purchase in people’s minds. Your personal brand is no exception. It makes no sense to work hard at building a new, more powerful Brand: You, and then not tell anybody about it!

Of course, we’d like you to be subtle in the telling. So, if you’re trying to change your previous brand of always-late-for-meetings, don’t-care-about-style, you need to reinforce your new brand to those around you. Make coffee for people before the meeting to remind them that you were there first, dress slightly more formal during casual days, and so on.

What you’re trying to do is to break through the calcified lenses that others used to see you through. It takes work, and self-marketing, so don’t give up!

  1. Becoming complacent

We suspect that you have a great chance to shift and enhance your brand. And it’s our sincere hope that you’ve already experienced success. But don’t get cocky! Just because people are taking you more seriously during meetings, and the right people are starting to notice you, does not mean that your work is done.

Brand building is a constant enterprise. Just like the brands on the supermarket shelves need occasional tweaking and revamping, your brand: you does too. Build on successes and don’t ignore strategies that have fallen flat. Build some change into your brand as a constant, vitalising presence.

Next Time:

We’re almost done with the Brand: You 10 part course! Next time we’ll close off with some parting ideas and advice for building a better Brand: You. See you then!