Tag Archives: marketing yourself

Marketing Brand “You”

Personal branding isn’t only important for promoting a product, business or political cause, but also for promoting yourself .

  • Think of yourself as your #1 product.
  • Manage your career like your #1 product
  • Market yourself like your # product.

http://prvision.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/400px-famous_brands.png

The first priority in developing “Brand You”, is to develop your skills and abilities and professional reputation. You can do this by identifying your strengths, value and accomplishments, then broadcasting them in your community, through social networking sites or on the web with your own page.

An observation to consider by Alisha Nicole on her blog, PR Vision: ” I came across an interesting site created as experiment in brand perception. Noah Brier’s Brand Tags shows visitors a logo and asks them to submit a word or phrase that they immediately associate with this brand.  “The basic idea of this site is that a brand exists entirely in people’s heads. Therefore, whatever it is they say a brand is, is what it is.”

The take away from that observation on brand perception is that you have a blank canvass on which you get to create the best possible, and also true, image of yourself.  Focus on the positive, on your best traits, strongest skills and greatest accomplishments.  Modesty doesn’t create opportunity.

The benefits are many. Personal branding:

  • Adds perceived value to your product or service
  • Increases your earning potential
  • Differentiates you from the competition
  • Enhances your reputation and prestige
  • Positions your focused message in the minds of your target market
  • Confers top of mind status
  • Increases your authority and credibility

Branding yourself should become a life long habit. Once you’ve recognized and developed your strengths, think about how you best connect with people. Consider what your target audience needs and wants, identify the value you deliver to meet those needs and wants, and communicate that value in a way that reaches your target market through the channels that work best for you.  Word of mouth works.  Speaking works and giving presentations works.  Websites and social networking sites work.  Practice them all.  Or start by identifying which venue you feel most comfortable with and do that first.  But keep expanding your comfort zone until you’re doing them all.

Brands are built over the long term, so don’t expect instant results.  But the rewards and benefits are also long term, so an investment of time and energy in building and broadcasting “Brand You”, will be a productive and valuable investment earning lifetime returns.

( Brand Perception graphic from PR Vision by Alisha Nicole)

See also Professional Online Career Portfolios

Go to Your Edge and Push Past It

Go to Your Edge and Push Past It | Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing.

AdvancingWomen.com talks quite a bit about putting yourself out there, recognizing the edge of your comfort zone and reaching deep inside yourself to summon all your resources and move beyond it to the next level.  It is not a single act, it is an ongoing process, like exercise to become more fit. So we are in complete agreement with author  John Jantsch who posted this excellent advice on pushing past your edge:

“There is a thread that runs through most Eastern spiritual practices, such as Yoga or meditation, that urges the practitioner to go to the edge of comfort and push just past it before returning. The idea behind this is that the place you push to becomes your new edge for the next time.

Personally I think this notion applies very well to the small business and marketer.

One of the best practices you can adopt in growing your business is to continually look to marketing strategies and tactics that make you uncomfortable and then add them to the mix. Since marketing doesn’t always come naturally to most small business owners this indeed can take intentional practice. The thing though about moving beyond your edge is that you don’t really need to know exactly how you are going to do it, you simply need to commit to doing it and breath.

Here are a few suggestions that you might consider.

  • Contact a local organization and offer to provide a workshop on something you are passionate about.
  • Contact an industry publication, including blogs, and offer to write a killer guest editorial or post
  • Contact an industry rockstar or journalist and request an interview for your podcast or blog
  • Contact a high profile talk show and pitch your killer trend story
  • Pull out a blank sheet of paper and create a list of goals that take your breath away

None of this is that hard by the way. It’s simply a decision. You can’t phone marketing in and expect to grow, you’ve got to go deeper and deeper, day by day, and push beyond your comfort edge.”

For more, see John Jantsch , Entrepreneur, Marketing Coach