What’s Your Personal Brand?

Like it or not, first impressions really do count – people form instant opinions about us based on how we look. Given my background in HR and sales management, I know this to be true from personal experience. When recruiting staff, I often had to counsel managers not to make snap decisions based on first impressions, particularly where the candidate was not going to be employed in a client-facing role. However, if an employee will be representing the company externally and meeting customers and prospects, it is legitimate to consider whether the way they present themselves is commensurate with their role. Indeed, when I was undergoing sales training with IBM, an image consultant was brought in to provide guidance on how we should dress. In fact, it was this experience that sparked my interest in becoming an image consultant myself. The good news is that you are in charge of your personal brand and everyone can look good, irrespective of age, shape or size. It is just a case of understanding what works for you. PersonalBrand

In a business context, we expect people to be well-groomed and wear clothes that are clean, current, well-fitting and appropriate. It’s worth bearing in mind too that many surveys have shown that women who wear make-up are perceived as being more professional and in control of their lives than those who don’t. If you’re not sure of your best clothing colours and styles, do consider an image consultation; it will help you dress with confidence and stop you wasting money on clothes that don’t work for you.

Once you have a good idea of what does and doesn’t suit you, you need to work out how you can adapt it in order to most effectively market yourself, ie create your own professional brand. To do this effectively, consider what qualities your “client” would want you to have. In this context, I am taking client to be the type of person you most need to impress ie the person you are marketing your products and services to. If you’re employed, you may consider your employer to be your client, and if you are employed in a client-facing role, as well as your employer, you will also have actual clients and prospective clients to impress. Whoever your client is though, think about the message you want to convey to them. Put yourself in their position and consider what qualities they most want to see – authorititive? empathic? approachable? dynamic? Clearly these will differ according to your job. We will for example have different expectations of a lawyer to a social worker. Ask yourself how a person with those qualities would be expected to dress. For example a corporate lawyer will probably want to be seen as authoritative, dynamic and organised and may therefore choose to wear a classic, dark coloured suit with expensive but understated accessories, whereas a social worker may want to be seen as more approachable and therefore wear more relaxed clothing.

Whilst you need to take account of any company dress code and the expectations of your role, you certainly don’t need to look like a company clone.You are an individual with your own “style personality” which you may need to adapt for professional purposes but which you should never obliterate. If you dress in a way that is at odds with your personality, you will never feel confortable. The key to great personal branding is conveying the right sartorial messages to clients whilst remaining true to your innate personal style.