The 5 Es Of Personal Branding

Each of us can build our own imprint

- HARISH BHAT

When we think of personal brands, we normally think of celebrities. People like APJ Abdul Kalam, Narendra Modi, Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone or Virat Kohli.

Each of them is a strong personal brand, with well-etched characteristics and appeal. But what is less clear to us is how non-celebrities, including many of us, can build our personal brands within our own networks.

The fact is that each of us is a brand because our colleagues and friends carry specific perceptions about us.

They have views regarding our functional strengths, our maturity (or lack of it) and our overall personality — all of which makes each of us a distinct brand. Therefore, given that we cannot avoid being a personal brand, we have only two alternatives — either permit our brand to grow by default, or make a conscious effort to evolve our own brand imprint.

In my view, the latter is by far the preferable option, because we can then, like good marketers, sharpen and shape our own personal brand, and make it one of our most important assets in life.

On the other hand, if you don’t work on your own brand, then others will shape it based entirely on their own perceptions, and the result may not necessarily be to your liking.

The question then arises, what are the factors that go into the making of a personal brand, with specific reference to professionals?

A good understanding of these factors is important, so that we can be conscious of them, and also work on them.

I would like to submit that there are five factors that go towards creating a personal brand — Expertise, Expression, Emotion, Engagement and, interestingly, Everything Else.

Here is a brief exploration of these five Es.

Expertise