How To Develop A Professional Brand

Written by MO.com Subject Matter Resource, Joel Goldstein

A professional brand can also be described as a professional identification. To showcase your brand, you must first identify who you are as a professional. Once this is established, the developmental process can begin.

Get Published. Use the publishing world as a way to spread your knowledge and expertise. Write good, solid articles that are full of information that will provide value and memorable takeaway points to your readers.

Focus on what you are most comfortable and most knowledgeable about, but keep it professional. Don’t use your platform to promote yourself shamelessly. If you produce good content, your brand will speak for itself.

You have options when it comes to the forum for your articles. Some choose to add a blog to their professional portfolio or website, which is an easy and popular choice. Others may contribute their articles to a separate publication or website. It is up to your preference because good content is useful, no matter what the forum.

Join In. Making your professional presence known and respected is key. Join professional organizations so you can interact with professionals in your field. This will also allow you to attend networking events and develop new contacts.

Virtually, you can comment on others’ blogs and articles. If you are able to provide your own professional insight, it will most likely lead to the same reciprocation on your blogs and articles.

Be True to Yourself. Phonies and fakes are usually as transparent as a freshly washed sliding glass door and can hurt your professional image just as much as walking into one. Be genuine and truthful in your areas of expertise, so you don’t steer your audience in the wrong direction.

Try sharing your own anecdotes and experiences in your writing to add that bit of personalization that your audience can relate to.

Look back at your online presence and profiles. What do they say about you as a professional? If you don’t like your answer, consider these tools as a way to change that. Now is the time to use the prevalence of the Internet to your advantage and share the best side of your professional self with the world.