In today's world, dominated by social media, branding has never been more important. Even on a personal level a massive amount of people have cultivated personas or versions of themselves that may not be fully representative of them — they showcase the best aspects of themselves while hiding others to influence how they are perceived by the rest of the world.
In professional circumstances, selling yourself (and I don't mean in the 'Pretty Woman' sense), your brand and your ideas are a major contributing factor to your success — not just in creative fields, but across the board.
You can be a contemporary da Vinci, but if nobody is aware of you or your work, if you haven't networked effectively and are difficult to find online, it's unlikely that you will be successful professionally.
For a designer, or anybody working in similar creative fields, this means creating and presenting a well-rounded portfolio that showcases your strengths and gives an impression of who you are. With so many people in competition for jobs in the industry, standing out and providing an authentic representation of yourself and your ideas has never been more important.
Many of the top CEOs and firms talk about how, when recruiting, they're looking for somebody who is the 'right fit' — whose beliefs are in line with the organisation and who demonstrates real passion in their work. So it's not simply about putting yourself out there, it's about making sure you reach the right audience who'll appreciate (and more importantly, finance) you and your work.
It doesn't matter if you're a graphic designer, a YouTuber or one of the world's top industrial designers — you need to be able to attract an audience who will support you if you want to make a career out of your creativity. Fortunately, in recent years we've had far more options to monetise our work. Patreon and Kickstarter cut out the middlemen by appealing directly to the public. Those with an aptitude for marketing themselves have had huge success from these less traditional approaches.
There's also a plethora of platforms where people can market themselves to broader audiences. Even Facebook lets people target specific audiences and feeds back what's working. Sites like Etsy let crafters compete against big business.
No matter what level you're at professionally, unless you understand the importance of promoting your brand, you'll struggle to achieve real success. Major businesses know this — that's why they spend hundreds of millions every year on it.
Sell your brand well and your products will sell themselves.
Or in the words of David Meerman Scott: "Nobody cares about your products, except you. Create interesting content!"
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