In a world where Google has become the first point of contact and reference, personal branding becomes critical: Meeta Malhotra

“The ability to build a personal brand is an essential 21st century skill,” said Meeta Malhotra, angel investor, and one of the partners at Ray & Keshavan, at the first edition of HerStory’s Women on a Mission Summit.

Speaking to a packed hall of women entrepreneurs and professionals, Meeta emphasised the importance of building a strong personal brand.

“When I talk about personal brands, I often get this reaction - ‘Personal branding is for celebrities and famous people, and I am just a regular person. I don’t need a personal brand, do I?’ But you are wrong. Everyone in this room who is working or is looking to work needs a personal brand,” said Meeta.

Most often, we let other people control our narrative and that is a large part of the problem, she added. It is important to keep control and decide for yourself your narrative and your brand.

“Your personal brand isn’t how you see yourself but how your audience sees you,” Meeta added, listing out important steps to get your personal branding right in a world where Google has become the first point of reference and contact.

“The minute you meet people, you end up googling them. And that becomes the first reference for many. It therefore is important to control your own narrative everywhere,” she said.

The current job scenario is far different from how things were even a couple of decades ago.

“Today’s job market isn’t like how it was 20 years back. It no longer is about finding a 9-to-5 job for the next two decades. The growing gig economy also has got in more freelancers, and the only way for people to ensure professional growth is through great personal branding. There are different factors that add to a brand, and you need to hone it if you want to navigate a professional career successfully in the long term,” Meeta added.

Here are some tips Meeta gave to the women in the audience on how to build their personal brand.

1. Define your audience

“You are building a brand for a certain audience that could potentially impact your career in the long term. We are so busy and caught up with the day-to-day stuff, we forget the larger picture”

Meeta advocates jotting down who exactly you think your audience is, and how they can impact your career in the next five years. “I guarantee you will find couple of people you aren’t thinking of right now. This means you are already letting them think of who you are, what your brand is, and what your strengths are, and aren’t doing anything to control it,” she added.

2.  Start thinking of your unique strengths

But in order to do this, you need to understand your abilities and see your strengths. Talking about her personal journey, Meeta said that after her 15-year stint as a partner at Ray & Keshavan, in 2015 she was back to square one.

Meeta already knew that she was good at branding, marketing, and design. In order to understand what unique strengths she could offer, she spoke to more people, dug deeper, and realised that what sets her apart was her love for technology. She then decided to focus on digitally forward companies.

“Each one of us has unique strengths, and we haven’t discovered them or we haven’t articulated and sharpened them, and figured out how to project them. When you sit down objectively and think of your journey, you will find your strengths,” she said.

3. One of the biggest myths of personal branding is you are making things up

Explaining that personal branding is about honesty and integrity, Meeta said the exercise is all about showcasing what is true and pertinent.

“Any good brand is built on truth. You can’t fool people, and should not  even try. Build it on the truth; what makes you special and what your unique strength is, and show rather than tell. Back your statement with evidence. If you are the greatest marketer, I need to be able to see it. You should be able to show it,” Meeta added.

4. Break the barrier that this isn’t for you

We first need to take ourselves seriously before others do. “Until you put away that barrier that talking about my strengths is boastful, you will not be able to think about your strengths. Your first loyalty is towards yourself. If you aren’t loyal to yourself, you won’t be able be so to anyone else,” she added.

Personal branding is a long journey that takes time. “So be consistent and persistent, and once you set on the journey stick to it,” Meeta concluded.

And, almost always, the efforts pay off.

A big shout out to HerStory's Women on A Mission Summit sponsors: Co-Presenting Sponsor Microsoft, Sequoia Spark, Innovation Valley, NetApp Excellerator,Servify, ZOHO, Meesho, Arctic Fox, DROR, and Gifting Partners WoW, &Me.