You Differentiate Yourself
If you are not open and visible in your personal branding, people will not
have any clue as to why you are better than the next person who is doing
exactly what you desire to be doing. Since you have not taken the time to
differentiate yourself, you are not seen as being quite as valuable in the
industry because no one really knows what you can do for them. In the age of
the digital generation where everything can be discovered online and people
can find out about the best “go to” person in any industry within seconds, it
takes some effort to become that go to person. You need to establish your
presence and increase your visibility so that people can see why you are so
different from everyone else who claims to be doing what you are doing. This
does not mean that other people may not do as great of a job as you can, but it
does mean that you become more easily discovered when you are visible and
available in the online world.
Differentiating yourself is valuable as it really begins to show people why
you are the best at what you do and why you are the one that they need to be
working with. When you are visible and sharing yourself and your talents
online, you show people both why you are excellent at what you do and
whether or not you are compatible with what they are looking for. As a result
of human conditioning, and especially when it comes to business, most
people do not want to waste their time developing relationships with people.
Instead, they want other people developing relationships with them so that
they do not have to put in quite so much effort. This may seem backward but
look at it this way: many people want the opportunities that you are aiming
for which means just like you can become an asset, those opportunities are
also assets. You need to be competitive by establishing yourself and creating
relationships with people through your outreach to show why you are so
different, highlight yourself as being compatible with your target audience,
and increase the likelihood of you being the one who gets the opportunities.