Personal Branding – Power of Attention & Consistency

What comes to your mind when I say, “Finger licking goodness” and “Open Happiness”. Unless you have been isolated from all forms of media, the slogans can be attributed to world’s two best-known brands – KFC & Coca-Cola. They have spent billions of dollars on mapping the message with the brand, but the fundamentals of brand recall have an eerie similarity with personal branding.

Power of Attention

When you hear leading brands hammering their slogans every 2 hours, you might wonder whether the message has any influence on our preference. As customers, our attention is captured by brands that stand out. It might be due to the outrageous slogan, simplicity, or perceived value. The first part cannot be used in MBA Admissions. You cannot gain admission by writing about your intimate encounters and eccentricity.

What works are simplicity and perceived value for the MBA class. In a world where a simple idea is convoluted by complex sentences, your ability to articulate motivation in simple sentences will stand out. Once attention from AdCom is captured, you are setting expectations on how you would behave during face-to-face meetings and phone conversation.

Power of Consistency

Unlike brands, your personal brand slogan cannot be forced upon the AdCom but every interaction points act as an evaluation for the consistency of your message. If your essays convey that you are capable of explaining complex ideas in a simple way, that quality should be demonstrable in your personal interactions.

With one positive quality, AdCom expects the applicant to portray other relatable qualities. This is a halo effect that we all fall victim to. When an Actor portrays a character in the most honest way, we expect him to show similar excellence in other aspects of his life. For AdCom, they expect the applicant to be honest, respectful, and humble, of which some traits might seem contradictory for a competitive MBA aspirant. When honesty and respectfulness are missing from the trait list, the evaluation becomes an excuse to eliminate your candidacy.

For applicants, maintaining consistency becomes easier when they are not faking their profile. If you are individualistic risk taker, don’t hide the entrepreneurial qualities. Schools are not looking to fill the class with the Finance and Consulting types. They need a few outliers to make the class discussions interesting.

Branding through advertising is an exaggerated summarization of values.

MBA Applicants advertise their candidacy primarily through essays & resume. Leverage the opportunity to maintain consistency through repetitive exposure of your values.

Not sure how to highlight your values through essays? Send us your profile summary.