It's quite a lot of articles out there about personal branding (the way you market yourself to the world), and maybe because it's too much then you can easily look it up on Google. Some of them are something like: "How Do I Establish A Personal Brand as Graphic Designer", or perhaps "99 effective steps to promote yourself as a graphic designer online" and many more. Therefore here I will not discuss personal branding in general, but I will only share what things are often overlooked and even forgotten when we build personal branding. Some things that I will discuss including:
- The selection of a name as an identity.
- Name consistency.
- Trademark words or Jargon.
- The use of the symbol representing yourself.
- A brief profile of who you are.
Personal Branding for Graphic Designers
Name as an identity
Suppose we are going to build a personal branding by making a personal blog or personal website. So the things we need to think about is a unique name, a brief, clear, easily remembered by the public or by the client. It certainly should be able to represent the image of us or our business that were wrestled. You can research on Google, find out if you are going to use a name already taken by someone else, try to get a name that is unique, fresh and make sure you are the only one who has it, also avoid names that already exist in Google, because it would only lead to a confusion public and the clients who are looking for you.
Name consistency
If you've got a name that is unique, fresh, original and imaged about yourself, well then the next step you will register your name to the famous social media eg Facebook, Twitter, and others. Try to use the same username with the name of your choice, even if it has been taken then you can just add a few numbers before your name. In the process of building personal branding, try to use the same username on every social network and is not recommended to use a different name because it will only cause confusion for the public or clients recognize. If you use the same name at least google will easily find you or even give you top rankings if you are consistent, then the traffic on your social media will increase. as well as email accounts, or accounts like yahoo messenger or skype, I would encourage you to keep using the same name, it will allow you to remember it easily.
Slogan / Trademark words or Jargon
Sometimes we think of trademark words / jargon does not really matter when it could provide a huge effect on personal branding. Jargon / trademarks are the words we often find in product advertising on television, internet, outdoor media, print media, etc. or for specific purposes such as social campaigns. The words were created to build the brand of a product, the words were repeated continually so embedded in the minds of the audience. The following are some of the jargon that may be inherent in the public ear:
Nokia - Connecting People
Coca-Cola - Always Coca-Cola.
Kit Kat - Give me a break,
Isaly Dairy Company's Klondike bar - What would you do for a Klondike bar?
McDonald's - I'm lovin' it.
Nike - Just Do It.
the more public hear your slogan, the more well-known yourself. therefore create a slogan that suits your field field, then sounding it consistently, gradually people will get to know you through the jargon door.
The use of the symbol representing yourself
On the previous point I have discussed about the slogan that is more to the audio approach, so at this point we will discuss the approach visually using a symbol that we can use so that people can more easily recognize us. Symbol can be a logo, icon, index, avatars etc. basically something that is visible to our eyes. Well since this is a discussion about personal branding, then you can use a photo of yourself to be used as a symbol. Get used to using images or symbols with a consistent, suppose you are a packaging,designer then use the same logo every chance of promotion, whether it's on posters, flyers, brochures, websites, anywhere. or maybe if you're a UI designer you can display your photos on your various social accounts so that the public easily identify you.
A brief profile of who you are
Once people get to know your names, slogans, and symbols - then you would prepare a brief profile of who you are. This step is the detail of the bullet points above means that people will know us by looking at our biography, Who we are, from where, what we do, why we do it, what benefits the public can feel when working with us, our future expectations, and much else that we can write in our short profile. With the objective: the public will come to know ourselves more deeply and close.
Conclusion
All of the development process of personal branding will always take time and not instantly, it needs consistency, hard work and patience. Convince yourself that once you get through it, the public will better identify yourself, and you should build a positive image for yourself and the wider community.