Personal branding is a concept that comes from marketing, it refers to a kind of strategy some professionals use to promote themselves, using different channels like blogs, social networks or speaking at conferences.
We all are used to advertising campaigns and it’s a fact that some of them become abrupt. But, we can’t deny that, when advertising is so good, it truly catches our attention and make us glad to buy the product or service that is being promoted.
Building a reputation and sharing knowledge
When your professional networks think about an Android app developer, Do they think of you? What are the skills people think you have? Reputation refers to the opinion people have about you, knowing the things you are able to do.
Writing a blog is not only for self-benefit, it can help others as well. John Sonmez, software developer and author, affirms that “the best possible marketing you can do is to add value to other people’s lives”.
In his blog Simple Programmer, he writes about how software developers can improve their career and live a better life. Most of the topics he wrote at the beginning were about programming and solving common problems beginners could struggle with.
He started his blog by helping others, and when his readers started to grow companies became interested in his profile, they even proposed him job opportunities without any type of interview.
All he knew and the skills he had were on his blog, this was the reputation he has built years ago. “You can share your journey as you learn to program and other people will find that useful”, Sonmez says.
Personal branding benefits for app developer entrepreneurs
If you are looking to become an entrepreneur as an app developer, personal branding is key to success. Blogging and using social media are parts of the steps to promote your app, if you already have one of these then you are going well.
For developers who have a solid personal branding strategy, it will be easier to introduce and promote a new app into the market. If its reputation is good, we will be more willing to think its products and services are good as well.
If you are not interested to become an entrepreneur, think of personal branding as a way to get new job opportunities. Creating a portfolio, write an excellent bio on social networks and having a presence on Github is also part of your reputation.
We are in the information are
We are the information era, even not having a LinkedIn profile can be harmful to your career. Personal branding allows you to be recognized in your industry as an expert or increase your contacts and clients if you work for a company.
Avantika Monnappa, digital marketer, indicates the importance of building your personal brand for the information age and recommends you to start with these 5 steps:
- Determine your area of expertise
- Begin writing and publishing
- Build social media profiles
- Public speaking (conferences)
- Network
Monnappa also provides some tips to build a professional brand like authenticity, get into the right space, own your strengths, be on your best behavior and being consistent.
Of course, it is not necessary to do all this at once. You might start with those activities where you feel more comfortable and think you can handle, otherwise, you might feel desperate about not getting good results.
For example, a personal branding guide for freelancers recommends starting with only two main steps: Determine the objective of creating a personal brand strategy and learn your own voice, which means how you are gonna tell your story.
If you have a clear goal and you are sure you have something valuable to share, then you should not wait longer to start building your personal brand.
What do you think about personal branding? Are you agree with the benefits exposed here of creating a strategy to promote yourself?
