When attempting to work your way within the football industry, or build your personal brand in football, it’s imperative that you possess your own individual brand. This involves putting across your personality in an authentic manner and showcasing what your skills are with what you’re doing.

This applies to whatever role which you’re looking to take up and it’s a vital part of the entire process. By doing this, it assists in making you stand out from what is a very crowded market. Furthermore, it also gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your own outlook on the industry itself and provide brand new insights which haven’t been provided before.

You obviously need plenty of energy to help you have the energy for what is a big challenge. However, it can be eased by having a plan mapped out with how you want to present yourself, your personal brand in football and the work that you’re doing. Without having  personal branding in football, it’s hard to be appealing to potential employers and means that it’ll be tougher to make your way into the industry.

As a voluntary press officer/media manager, I’ve pretty much taught myself how to possess personal branding in football. It definitely was not a simple or easy thing to do as I learnt things as I went. I have always wanted to remain humble and not get big headed about what I’m doing. Despite this, I’ve had to have a little bit of arrogance about my work in order to truly sell myself as someone who aspires to work in the football industry on a full-time basis.

My Personal Brand In Football

Being on the Autism Spectrum, I’ve made this one of the things that makes me stand out. I utilise the passion and determination to present my unique perspective and how I approach what I do. I’ve mainly done this by using LinkedIn and building my profile up on that platform. If you’re not currently on that platform, you absolutely need to do so.

LinkedIn has provided me with bags of confidence in promoting myself and being proud of what I do. I’ve amassed a wealth of connections with individuals who work in similar roles at both professional and non-league football clubs and also other industries. I’m gaining insights into what they do and seeing other ways of building up a personal brand. My biggest piece of advice to everyone is to get on LinkedIn and I assure you that you certainly won’t regret it.

Another big piece of advice I have to offer in building a personal brand in football is that you should become an expert in a certain aspect of the football world. You could focus on a particular league or a specific country. In essence, find your main passion and run with it because it could allow you to achieve your dream. If you’re interested and fascinated with it, it’ll undoubtedly help you to demonstrate your knowledge and experience.

Again, I’ve done this within my own journey as I became fixated with non-league football. I’ve dedicated everything to it for around the last seven years and made myself stand out as someone who focuses on the topic of non-league football in my local area. As a result, I’d say that my own personal brand is that of a football writer that covers non-league football and also dabbles in social media management.

Nothing is ever going to happen straight away. I really urge you to not give up if things ever get challenging or difficult. These situations will allow you to learn and develop which will then subsequently give you the chance to try out different things. At times, it’s about trial and error and seeing what approaches work. Once you find what your personal brand in football is, you’re ready to begin your journey.