What is Your Personal Branding Equity?

In today online business world you have to think about your branding equity. Wikipedia defines “Brand Equity as: to the marketing effects or outcomes that accrue to a product with its brand name compared with those that would accrue if the same product did not have the brand name. And, at the root of these marketing effects is consumers' knowledge. In other words, consumers' knowledge about a brand makes consumers respond differently to the marketing of the brand. The study of brand equity is increasingly popular as some marketing researchers have concluded that brands are one of the most valuable assets that a company has.”

You can look all over the internet and what do you find? Well the obvious branding that is going on in today’s internet business world is the business. Just search Google and use the terms work from home, what do you find?

First you will find in the Google “Sponsored Links” people, online business and companies are paying for the keyword “work from home” and estimated average cost per click (CPC) of $2.78 per click. Now let’s take a look at some other relevant keywords CPC averages associated with the keyword “work from home”:

work from home programs $3.84
legitimate work from home opportunities $3.69
work from home business opportunity $3.65
work from home opportunity $3.58
work from home opportunities $3.42
work from home business $3.36

Now these average CPC’s don’t necessarily means that this is the cost of getting you on top of the search terms. These are averages, I have seen some search terms in the online business world be as high as $5.00 to $15.00 CPC. See what I am trying to point out is personal branding is actually a brand with a higher brand value. So stand up and look in the mirror what is the greatest brand in the world?……..YOU. So why pay for it?

Why should you branding yourself?

If you don't brand yourself, you can rest assured that others will brand you. Does letting others brand you make any since at all. Instead, you should have control, as much as you can, in determining your reputation, our image, and the intangibles, the ephemerals, and the perceptions and ideas that other people have about you. Showcasing you is what is branding is all about for the small business person. After all, your branding equity is most important to YOU and your business.

Here are some personal branding suggestions:

Make yourself differentiate from others in similar fields
Paint a picture of yourself clearly in the minds of others
Focus your values, benefits, and your mission
Project credibility and vision
Build loyalty with your branding
Be emotional, and make an intuitive connection
Showcase you

Personal branding is not about self-promotion and marketing tactics at all. Promotion and marketing is a short-term endeavor which produces a short-term result. Branding yourself is more fundamental than that. Branding yourself comes first. Branding is what your identity is built on. The main outcome of personal branding should be a clear, deep, and provide the consumer the understanding of who you are and what you stand for, and what you want to be known for. It is not enough to be known for what you do. You must be different and attract loyalty. You do not merely want to be known as another business to choose from in a category. You want people to believe that you are the solution, perhaps the only answer to their problem. For example, there are plenty of people in the automotive sales business. It's a huge category. But I have been work with the same automotive dealer for years. And although there may be better deals and offer from other dealers, more conveniently located, cheaper service, my automotive dealer is the only person I will go to. I trust his "brand." not the manufacture. And when it comes to the category of purchasing a vehicle, this dealer brand promise of "trust" is everything.

The bottom line is TRUST. If you are trustworthy and deliver integrity, then loyalty will always be with you forever. So be loyal to yourself and you will be loyal to your brand and this my friends, will provide for your personal brand equity asset.

I thank you for your time and welcome your comments. Keep watching for the next blog post and feel free to Google Me – Jim Cobb or visit www.GoogleMeToday.com to view my personal branding.

Thank you for your time,

Jim Cobb - Google Me