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The idea of a “personal brand” is something we all understand — at least as it relates to celebrities. Figures such as Madonna, Oprah, JLo, and JBiebz create and maintain their brands as enthusiastically as the Crest/Oral-B and Philips of the corporate world.

But a personal brand for you and me?

Absolutely, says personal branding guru Peter Montoya. The issue, in fact, is not whether to create a personal brand, but how to create the most effective one you can.

“Everyone has a personal brand, whether they like it or not,” says Montoya, author of The Brand Called You and The Personal Branding Phenomenon. The goal must be to craft that brand so that it creates a clear and memorable impression about who you are and what you do — whether you are clinical dental hygienist, speaker, consultant, and/or a corporate executive.

A personal brand is “the powerful, clear, positive idea that comes to mind whenever other people think of you,” Montoya explains. It is the values, abilities, and actions you stand for, your personal brand is “who you are, what you do, and what makes you different or how you create value for your target market.” A target market may be your patients and or an association or corporate entity who you want to collaborate.

Over the years, I have worked with hygienists who want to move into the corporate arena, and the process of developing a personal brand is so often why some hygienists succeed in the new career path and others are discouraged.

Instead of selling yourself to every company, initiative, and opportunity, define who you are, what is truly important to you, and what makes you unique. Then build your brand around that core set of values. From there, you identify exactly what segment of the oral health market you want to serve and how best to do it.

Effective branding often means targeting a smaller, better-defined market with a much more focused message, says William Arruda, head of the personal branding consultancy Reach. “Although it seems counterintuitive, the smaller you make your target market, the greater your chances of success.” Often, I see emerging hygienists who want to enter the lecturing and/or consulting without defining their personal brand and they say “yes” to anyone and anything, ultimately diluting their growth potential.

For potential corporate clients, personal branding is a natural part of the consulting hunting process. It can get tricky when there are many proposals from consultant hygienists, and you have not distinguished yourself with your personal brand.

No matter where you’re building your personal brand, a critical component of communicating it is likely to happen on the Internet. Web sites, Facebook, and LinkedIn all create the potential for your brand to have unprecedented reach. The branding communicated through your social presence will help drive your word-of-mouth campaign.

However, another critical aspect of “brand building” for hygienists is the old standby: growing your network. Attending conferences such RDH Under One Roof and the ADHA Annual Session the old-fashioned way of building relationships one handshake at a time.

A personal brand will not necessarily turn you into the next Esther Wilkins, but it may be a valuable tool to define and refine what you do and how you tell our industry about it.

Kristine A. Hodsdon RDH, BS
Director, RDH eVillage