Five Ways to Strengthen Your Personal Brand

Personal brand is defined as a “widely-recognized and largely-uniform perception or impression of an individual based on their experience, expertise, competencies, actions and/or achievements within a community, industry, or the marketplace at large.”

Having a strong personal brand is important for professionals in all sectors, including IT contractors. Why?

First, it is essential for setting yourself apart from other consultants in your field.  

Second, a strong personal brand is a powerful way to expand your network and build relationships and credibility in your industry. And, perhaps most importantly, elevating your personal brand is an effective way to attract the right opportunities aligned with your strengths and values.

Read on for tips that can help you strengthen your personal brand.

Be authentic

One of the most important ways to strengthen your personal brand is to be authentic in what you stand for and what makes you different. Your personal brand should be an accurate reflection of your skills, expertise, passions, core values, and beliefs. Developing a personal brand that lacks authenticity can quickly damage your credibility and your reputation.

Evaluate your strengths and understand what makes you unique and use these insights to strategically showcase your authentic self to potential clients.

Focus your message

To strengthen your personal brand, focus your message on the unique attributes you bring to the table. Create messaging that clearly explains who you are, what you do, why you do it and what sets you apart from the competition.

To create this messaging ask yourself:

· What makes me unique

· What are my core values

· What do I do really well

· What do I bring to the marketplace

Focusing your brand messaging to distinctly convey your personal value proposition will help potential clients better understand the value and benefits you bring to an engagement.

Create relevant content

Creating and sharing relevant content allows you to reach a wider audience, strengthening your personal brand at scale. It is important to focus on building a digital footprint of content on platforms that reach your target audience. This strategy builds trust, demonstrates your expertise and positions you as an authority in your field.

There is a wide variety of content you can create and share to strengthen your personal brand including:

· Highlighting new skills

· Providing your perspective on industry news

· Recapping events you attended

· Posting comments in online discussions

Remember that everything you share or contribute to is a building block to strengthening your personal brand.

Go omnichannel

Taking an omnichannel approach is key to strengthening your brand. That means leveraging platforms like Abra and social media sites that allow you to meet your target audience where they are.

Being visible on Abra is one of the easiest ways to build and strengthen your personal brand. Our specialized healthcare IT talent platform helps you showcase your expertise to the right audience, grow your network and secure more engagements – all key to developing a strong personal brand.

Social media channels and professional networking sites like LinkedIn are also a great way to increase your visibility and keep you connected with your target audience. Use professional networks to follow others in your industry.  

Join LinkedIn groups, sharing opinions and experiences to effectively connect and engage with your audience. The more visible you are and the more connections you form, the more you elevate your personal brand.

Be consistent

Developing a strong personal brand does not happen overnight. It requires consistency.

Make sure you are consistently visible to and in front of leading healthcare companies searching for Health IT talent by keeping your Abra profile up to date and optimized.

Creating and sharing content on a consistent basis is also key to strengthening your personal brand. As you share content across channels - whether you are writing a blog post, commenting on a discussion or developing video content - make sure that content is aligned and consistent with your personal brand messaging.

We hope these tips will help you build a strong personal brand that showcases your skills and expertise, expands your network and provides opportunities to secure the right engagements.

Interested in a powerful way to strengthen your personal brand? Join Abra for free today.

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