“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is. It is what consumers tell each other it is.” – Scott Cook, Co-Founder of Intuit.

While substance is important, being seen in the right way at the right time at the right place is essential for success the way you want it. Perception about yourself matters.

There is a difference in the seriousness with which others who deal with women view them as entrepreneurs. A Sara trying to negotiate a product price is viewed with a hint of inferiority than what a Malcom is.

Our business community carries a flavour of our culture where domains and roles are predetermined based on gender than on abilities or ambitions. And this is not to blame any specific gender for this. Most of the time, women are guilty themselves of not believing or pushing the right perception of themselves. This is an additional hindrance for women in being successful in business.

Personal branding (definition of which is “the practice of people marketing themselves as brands”) hence is an equally important step along with product branding for a woman in business.

How then can women brand themselves appropriately for the right impact?

The first step is to take this with the seriousness with which it deserves and then secondly, in a lighter vein (but true for most) is to take themselves seriously.

Identifying Communication Goals

Let’s begin with identifying what we truly want to communicate about ourselves in our entrepreneurial endeavours.

Write down what you want to be seen as in your business – Smart? Spirited? Serious? Expert?

Then ask your family, friends, co-workers, neighbours – whom so ever can give you competent and genuine advice on what they think about you in your business exchanges.

The difference between what we want to portray and what others see us as – is where the gap needs to be bridged.

We project our image through our ABC: Appearance, Behaviour and Communication. And all of them have to be in sync and consistently so, if we want to be seen in a particular manner.

For example, Christina, who runs a marketing and PR firm for businesses, needs to be smartly dressed in all her business meetings, has to have the perfect body language and pleasing etiquette and be a crisp and appealing conversationalist to be seen as someone who can do that business. Being dressed in denim and a top, slouching in her chair and speaking in street lingo will definitely pull her down – no matter how good she might be at her offering.

Social Media And Your Voice

While the above covers our branding in the physical world, we all need to remember that in today’s technology age, we have an online image as well. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. are all mediums where people look at us and form their opinions about us.

What is put up on social media is equally or, in fact nowadays, more important for certain businesses.

Ensure that you keep your messaging constant and appropriate online as well. Say, for example, Shirin who runs an artificial jewellery trading business, needs to ensure that her company’s Facebook page is full of designs that she wants to showcase. It cannot be posting pictures of her vacations with family – that’s for her personal Facebook page.

There are many other nuances to managing one’s image. A small article like this cannot enumerate all of them. There are image management professionals who specialise in this field who can assist on this. Yours truly is one of them.

However in this day and age – where women are increasingly breaking the shackles and venturing out in business and careers, what is important is that they understand the importance of their personal branding as the first step and take some basic measures for it. After all, the first step is the most difficult… and the journey of a thousand steps begins with the first one.

To all the future successful women entrepreneurs, all the best in creating the best brand of yourself.

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