Every successful personal branding campaign features two components: a plan, and a system to ensure that the plan is successfully implemented.

Without both of these components, no branding campaign will work.

This should be an obvious point, but you’d be amazed at how many business owners approach branding (and marketing in general) with only one half of the equation. There are some that have a great vision and an aggressive plan to brand themselves as an expert in their field—but that fail to create systems to ensure that their plan is executed. Then there are others who utilize systems to get things done, for instance, posting on their blog twice per month, using Twitter, speaking at networking events—but that don’t have any overarching strategic purpose behind their actions.

For your brand to be successful, the first step is creating a plan. What does your brand consist of? Who are your target customers? How will you communicate your brand to your target market? How will your brand differentiate you from the competition? How will you leverage your brand into a profitable component of your overall marketing plan?

Of course, there is more to creating a plan than that, but those are many of the important questions that must be addressed. (If you’d like help creating a plan for your personal branding campaign, get in touch!)

Step two requires taking your plan and creating systems to ensure that it is executed.

If an element of your plan includes blogging regularly, the system could be that you (or a staff member) spends thirty minutes every Friday morning writing the blog for the upcoming week. Or perhaps you’d prefer to spend two hours writing your blog entries for the upcoming month. Either way is fine—as long as you have a defined system, and some sort of accountability to ensure that the system continues to run. If your plan calls for regular public speaking, assign as staff member to monitor local newspapers, websites, and organizations on a weekly basis in search of opportunities for you to speak.

This isn’t rocket science—but it’s critically important, and often overlooked!

Stop spinning your wheels in vain when it comes to personal branding and marketing. Take stock of your current efforts right now—do you have a plan, and systems to execute it? If not, get busy! If you’d like help, please get in touch with me today!