What are the Benefits of Personal Branding? What's in It for Me?

For those who are still not convinced by the personal branding concept, now the hardcore benefits and advantages. What do I get out of personal branding?

I recently learned in a Ted Talk about a study that concluded that people who are employed earn between 10 and 25 percent more with a clearly positioned personal brand than people with an average personal brand. Remember this for salary negotiations! If you have your own business, e.g. as a consultant or coach, this means that you can ask for significantly higher prices for your services than your competitors. Just look at other top brands; they are leading the way. How much do you pay for a bar of Lindt chocolate compared to a "no-name brand"?

Benefit number two: A higher status, more respect and a better reputation. Once you have built a great personal brand, people know who you are, what you do, other people acknowledge your skills, and your customers rave about you. As a result, you are (almost) automatically treated better, you can choose your clients or employers, and you are regularly asked to be a guest speaker at conferences, maybe even international business schools. This has not only happened to me, but also to my clients.

Thirdly, higher visibility in social media. With the right personal branding strategy, more people will see you in their news feed on LinkedIn. The more people see you, the more people will talk about you, the more opportunities will enter your life and career. This will result in leads, job and PR opportunities such as invitations to podcast interviews and radio shows, or perhaps the chance to write as a guest writer for a prestigious magazine.

This brings me perfectly to benefit number four: More opportunities. Opportunities can be invitations to VIP events, cooperation with other brands, gifts, etc. If you are a great person and you do great things, other people and brands will want to work with you because those brands hope that a little bit of your success, your glitter dust, will fall on them and the perceived value of the brand will increase when they are seen with you. Sounds funny, but that’s just the way it is.

And fifthly, a larger social network. Social networks are full of valuable resources and information, and with a wider network you have access to doors that would otherwise have been closed to you. As a top personal brand, you will also most likely have access to higher quality social circles.

Now, personal branding will get you ahead, believe me. 

If you'd like to know more about personal branding, especially personal branding with LinkedIn, have a look at my lastest book (it's available in English and German). You'll find it on Amazon.