It’s important to build a personal brand because it’s the only thing you’re going to have. Your reputation online, and in the new business world is pretty much the game, so you’ve got to be a good person. You can’t hide anything, and more importantly, you’ve got to be out there at some level. – Gary Vaynerchuk
The quest for a unique identity or a specific personality embellished with the best qualities of head and heart remains a universal, very human pursuit. In modern times, this quest has attracted the moniker personal branding. It signifies concerted attempts to craft and establish an outstanding individual presence on digital platforms such as Internet-based social media, online blogs, product review websites, online consumer forums, influencer marketing platforms, public speaking engagements, authoring articles on thought leadership, among others.
Bearing this in mind, market observers and media specialists have defined personal branding as “the conscious and intentional effort to create and influence public perception of an individual by positioning them as an authority in their industry, elevating their credibility, and differentiating themselves from the competition, to ultimately advance their career, increase their circle of influence, and have a larger impact.” Attempts at personal branding are undertaken with a view to build credibility with audiences, register gains in personal confidence, acquire an aura of authenticity, and multiply the number of public and private connections. In this regard, modern manifestations of the flowchart diagram can assist in efforts to build, develop, and sustain a personal branding initiative.
The creation and dissemination of specialized content via a website triggers the onset of a personal branding campaign targeted at digital audiences. This stance represents the formative stages of constructing a personal brand, spotlighting skills and experience, dispensing advice, and adding value to the online experience of modern audiences. A flowchart can assist in such creative endeavors by delineating and underlining different inputs that result in a unique personal branding exercise. The advanced stages in the illustration could signify the creation of a badge (or logo) that signals a specific personality; the utility of such a logo is resident in audience efforts to locate an individual in the varied digital landscapes offered by the World Wide Web. Further, designers can position beacons inside the flowchart to denote channels of communication with online audiences. These may include public posts on a digital social media service, email, instant messaging handles, etc. In essence, the illustration allows the sponsor to mold and create a complete digital persona for the benefit of online audiences.
Significant benefits can flow when an influencer crafts and implements a stylized personal branding campaign or initiative. Such a personality could design flowcharts to register the many gains that follow a successful campaign. The different avenues of benefit could include a steady flow of ideal clients that seek to connect with said personality, greater mind share among online audiences, financially stable commercial partnerships, rising credibility with audiences, recognition and prestige in the global influencer community, certain opportunities to demonstrate brand leadership, etc. This ecosystem of positive outcomes can greatly improve the outcomes of a personal branding exercise; it also points the way to higher levels of engagement with audiences, followers, fans, and digital cognoscenti. In addition, a keen perusal of the illustration can yield insights into future arcs of expansion that could power new editions of an ongoing personal branding campaign.
Different marketing strategies that are premised on personal branding could be engineered to attain a range of commercial objectives. These strategies could draw on data and information that emerge from the act of tracking metrics in the digital domain. A flowchart could help identify and position these metrics as part of framing a unique marketing strategy for a digital personality. Thereafter, a review of various hashtags, mentions, likes, comments, bounce rates, page views, high-quality leads, social shares, conversations, (among others) can stretch across the expanse of a flowchart. The momentum depicted in these metrics can inform and enrich a marketing strategy driven by personal branding. When plotted against a time scale, the various elements listed above can drive an assessment of the efficacy of an operational strategy. Tweaks and adjustments may follow, thereby calibrating the strategy in line with the declared objectives of a personal branding-driven marketing campaign.
Defining the self is key to ensure the success of a personal branding campaign. A personality that aspires to emerge as a brand must therefore invest in thought processes that lead to a certain version of self-definition. Such an exercise can find visual representation inside a flowchart; emerging forms of linearity inside the diagram could be prefaced by different factors: the personality’s passions and interests, skills and strengths, brands he or she seeks to espouse, the different levels of audience engagement, the pursuit of sponsorships, and more. A delineation is necessary to gauge the extent and scope of personal branding in different contexts. The image that emerges from the illustration also helps the sponsor to augment himself or herself with desirable brand characteristics as part of efforts to sculpt a certain persona. Feedback from early followers could assist in re-shaping and molding the contents of such an illustration.
Entrepreneurs and wealth creators could invest in personal branding activities in pursuit of building profitable and sustainable businesses. The architects of such a campaign could undertake actions that build trust with customers and audiences, feature themselves in various forms of electronic mass media, build trust-driven networks, attract new clients and customers, position premium products for well-heeled clientele, expand their trade connections, establish a position of leadership in business networks, etc. The net outcome of such activities could confer immense exposure on the moguls of modern business, while creating a unique public image through personal branding exercises. Flowchart illustrations could assist in negotiating such a journey; these diagrams could also encase representations of certain abstract aspects of branding such as personal charisma and a nuanced charm that helps attract audiences.
An intelligent (and sustained) application of entrepreneurial energies could significantly boost an ongoing instance of a personal branding campaign. In line with this, an aspirant could seek to forge connections with digital influencers, bloggers, journalists, public speakers, and moderators. Such a stance allows a branding campaign to gain momentum and build valuable exposure in various arenas of public conversation. Additionally, aspirants could participate in the development of educational and entertaining content to gain online viewership and build a steady following in digital platforms. These strategies, when fleshed out inside a flowchart, create grounds for greater success in developing personal branding. Further, intelligent individuals could devise innovative visions to create and sustain a public image that resonates with originality.
Individuals and organizations alike can benefit from the various aspects that drive personal branding in the modern world. In this context, flowcharts represent the ideal vehicle to design, shape, and mold the contours of such an exercise. Each instance of such an illustration can help register the objective and subjective aspects of a branding expedition, while serving as a repository of data and hard information that emanates from such an exercise. The multiple lines of connection and divergence inherent in each flowchart also help to drive outcomes in different contexts. Reviewers and designers could collaborate to assess the information and fashion various aspects of a persona in tune with the demands of certain landscapes. Meanwhile, the use of digital technologies allows designers to compress information inside the many spaces encased in such illustrations. Therefore, human creativity can be mated to cold facts and numbers to shape an outstanding instance of personal branding in the modern era.
