START-UP ADVICE

colleagues. It’s important to ask people who
will be honest.
Once you have identified what makes up
your brand identity, you need to put it into
1) Plan - What do you want to achieve with
your personal brand? It may be linked to
a specific project or meeting. You need to
consider what you want the outcome to
be, what you want people to remember
about you, then think about how you go
about doing this.
2) Social Media – Use media such as
LinkedIn (to join groups, participate, set up
a group if there isn’t one already). Make
connections with new people and build
your network of influence.
3) Mentor – Who do you admire for their
personal brand? Could they mentor you
to help you build your brand, without
becoming a replica of theirs?
4) Keep it fresh – It’s important that you
keep reviewing your brand at regular
intervals. Are you portraying yourself the
way you want to, consistently? Are you
achieving your goals?
5) What are your expertise? What skills/
knowledge do you want to be known
for? Keep ahead of the game and do
your research (this needs to be balanced
though, you don’t want to be known for
just one thing to the exclusion of others).
At Telefónica, we’ve been running Personal
Brand sessions for employees right across the
business, from apprentices to those in more
senior positions. The response has been really
positive. I know from my own experience that
regardless of your role or the stage of your career,
the way you project yourself at work will go a long
way to getting you noticed for all the right things -
your ability.
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