Why Personal Branding Is Important

I am a teacher, why do I need to be branded? —Felicia Zorin

Do you think branding is only for corporate giants like Microsoft and Target? Or that it’s just for small business owners looking to carve out their niche in the local market? In the changing face of education, branding is now important for teachers as well. Although teachers are often taught to focus mainly on educating students, they must not forget about their value as professional educators. Branding yourself is less about competition, and more about getting your current and prospective clients to see that you are the sole provider who can meet their unique needs.

Branding is the name, logo, term, or a combination of these that identifies and differentiates your products or services from those of others. As an educator, it is important to brand yourself because many teachers no longer enjoy the job security the profession once offered due to budget cuts. Also, some teachers are venturing into other avenues within education due to an overload of standardized testing. You can sell your brand to new employers or prospective clients. Additionally, your brand can be used to secure grants for education if you are a recognized and trusted professional in your field, as well as spearhead important educational reform at the state department level.

Your brand should represent your personality, teaching style, characteristics and core competencies, headlining your expertise and weaving it into all aspects of your professional career. For example, do you do anything that is unique in the classroom, or anything that is outside of your traditional duties, such as training new teachers, engaging stakeholders, participating in education management, effectively mediating unruly students, or expertly writing curricula? These are elements of your brand as an educator.

The Internet has eliminated barriers to anyone desiring to get their name out to a large audience. You can craft your brand by creating a blog, writing for parent and education magazines, holding workshops, and hosting conferences once you’ve established a following. If you are an expert in writing curricula or helping students prepare for college entrance exams, then you may want to brand yourself as a curriculum or college prep expert.

Worldwide Branding offers excellent tools to facilitate the branding process for professionals from all fields. After completing an in-depth interview with every candidate, a specialized team of editorial staff utilizes their expertise in the areas of writing, editing, graphic design and online marketing to produce a host of materials for members. Such services include press release and website development with search engine optimization, radio interviews, newsletter creation, magazine and book features, just to name a few. To start on your professional branding path using Worldwide Branding’s executive suite of resources, please visit Worldwide Branding today. You may also call us at (877) 220-0028 for more information.