GatorCon2017: Interview with Joseph Liu, personal branding consultant

It’s now less than a month til our annual Customer Conference! I caught up with personal branding consultant, Joseph Liu, ahead of #GatorCon2017.

Personal branding sounds interesting, but please forgive my ignorance, what’s it all about?

Joseph: In a nutshell, personal branding how you market yourself in your career. It’s not just looking at your CV and skillset ahead of applying for jobs. It’s about proactively defining and consistently reinforcing who you are and what you stand for in your career and life so you can differentiate yourself.

I work with individuals and groups through coaching, workshops & public speaking, and sharing career stories on my Career Relaunch podcast. My approach to personal branding is rooted in my years of experience as a product and brand marketer. Many of the same principles used to build and relaunch brands can be used to build & relaunch your own personal brand.

So many approaches to personal branding exist out there, so it can be difficult to know where to begin. If you’re feeling stuck, getting an outsider’s perspective can be very useful, especially when making important decisions during major career crossroads. I generally recommend people start by reflecting on the type of reputation you want to build, ideally focused on those areas where you’ve excelled.

Ahh! Makes sense! How did you start working in the area of personal branding?

Joseph: My career history to date has not followed a linear path. My original interest in branding started when I studied psychology in university. I’ve always been fascinated with human behaviour: motivation, decision making and perceptions of self-worth. I eventually focused on human behaviour in the marketplace, working as a packaged-goods brand marketer both in the US the UK, managing brands including Glad, Liquid-Plumr, Gü, and Häagen-Dazs.

 

I noticed many parallels between relaunching a brand and relaunching one’s career, and I eventually decided leave my corporate marketing job behind to now focus my work on helping others gain clarity in their careers, which is a fulfilling way to give back and pass on knowledge from my own experiences throughout my career of changing jobs and industries.

When I started out as a personal branding consultant, I originally spent a lot of my time career coaching on a one-to-one level. Although I still enjoy one-on-work client work, I now spend more of my time hosting corporate workshops and giving talks to audiences at events like your customer conference.

Cool, so what will you be talking about at #GatorCon2017?

Joseph: The main aim is to help you understand how to build a strong personal brand and raise your professional profile. I’ll help you consider who you are, what you bring to the table, and the value you offer a company.

I’ll cover how you can borrow principles of strong brand marketing to create a strong, clear brand for yourself within your organisation and beyond. Your customers will also walk away with a few simple steps to immediately begin reinforcing their personal brands in a credible, believable way.

Joseph thanks so much for your time. I for one am looking forward to hearing more from you on the 16th November. There’s a lot to learn from this, whether you’re thinking of changing jobs, landing that next promotion, or self-improvement.

Join us at our Customer Conference to learn more about personal branding. Have a look at the full agenda and book your tickets here.