In today’s competitive legal market it is difficult to stand out from the crowd, and so building your personal brand is becoming increasingly important for your career in getting noticed by potential employers and in winning new clients.
Below are some tips to building your personal brand.
Develop a vision for yourself
Your personal brand should be closely tied to your big picture, the vision of how you would like to see yourself, and how you would like to be seen by others.
Once you know this, you’ll have a better idea of how to move forward with building the kind of personal brand you want to create.
Review your online presence
Take some time to review your online and social media presence.
If you haven’t recently done a Google search on yourself then we suggest you do so. It’s important to know what is online about you because a potential employer or new client will Google your name before contacting you, and how they perceive you from what they find, will determine if they even take the next step to interview or contact you.
Remember, how you appear online is just as important as how you present to an employer or new client in person.
Lead with your strengths
People with strong personal brands are clear about who they are, and have a deep understanding of their strengths, skills and talents, so when developing your personal brand play to these.
Network
Another key to building your personal brand is networking. So invest the time to attend events. The more opportunities you have to meet people the better. For networking tips please refer to our article “Simple and powerful networking techniques”.
Post articles on your LinkedIn page
Use LinkedIn to post articles about your area of expertise with the aim of becoming a trusted source for your clients and peers.
Speak at events
Consider speaking at industry events. This will give you the opportunity to demonstrate your expertise while connecting with more people and building your personal brand.
Building your personal brand will take time, dedication and persistence but the end result will be worth it for your career in securing that dream position or winning that client.