Creating a brand new you: Why personal branding is so crucial today

Most of my blogs so far have been about how I can improve myself as I step into the business world of PR.  As of right now, I still feel like I know nothing about that business outside of school.  I am still looking for an internship to help me know more about my chosen career before I have to just jump head first into finding a job in an economy that makes it near impossible.  In my quest to find out more about the PR world, I came across an article about creating your personal brand.  

Jerry Wilson, senior vice president of The Coca-Cola Company and president of the Global McDonald's Division, explained a few things that individuals need to know about branding themselves.  Most of his advice is for professionals trying to rebrand themselves within the PR world, but I got a lot out of what he said.  Given this economy, you really have to stand out.  He said that it's not just what you wear that defines your brand, but your personality as well.  Wilson stated that we can learn a lot about how to brand yourself by the success businesses have had with branding their companies.  The reason most of these brands like Coca-Cola or McDonald's are so successful is because they are so consistent with their brand and message.  "Consistency, especially in the PR world, communicates," Wilson said.  I believe that is important as well.  If you advertise yourself in your resume that you are reliable and always on time, you can't be late three days the first week.  It is inconsistent and your employer will see right through you.  You would not be branding yourself correctly. 

Something else Wilson said really struck me.  He said that you have to audit yourself.  In order to improve upon your best qualities and fix your worse, you need to be able to look at yourself with a crucial eye.  You have to pick out the bad parts of your personality even if it is painful in order to rebrand yourself.  I good way of categorizing your strengths and weaknesses, would be to do a SWOT analysis on yourself.  "People have to look through the eyes of another for SWOT," Wilson said.  It is the best way of getting the truth without it being contaminated by your own ego.

This article really helped me understand what I need to do to leverage my best attributes. I know what my weaknesses and strengths are.  Now I just need to figure out how to use my strengths to my best ability and to work on my weaknesses to get me at the top of my game.