Personal Branding

Overview Learn why personal branding is relevant to your job search. Discover your personal brand. Create your personal brand. Communicate your personal brand. Maintain your personal brand. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

What Is Personal Branding? Definition: The process of marketing people and their careers as brands. Personal branding suggests success comes from self- packaging rather than self- improvement . Examples: Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump In a competitive job market, personal branding, if done correctly, will allow you to create a strategic advantage over your competition. Candidates with strong personal brands have a better chance of being seen. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Why Create a Personal Brand? Trend is towards a project-based job market and workforce. Can set you apart from the crowd. Creates value for your specialization and brand. Provides you with a platform to be heard. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Project-Based Job Market With the growing use of staffing agencies and contract workers, more companies are operating on a project-by-project basis. Workers will be evaluated and hired for their ability to complete projects on time and within scope. Longevity and education will take a back seat to experience, deliverables, and measurables. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Differentiation Stand out from the crowd. Differentiation is accomplished by specialization and reputation building. If you are known for delivering quality projects on time, clearly demonstrate this on your resume, CV, blogs, and online profiles. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Value Creation Being different and unique automatically creates more value for your brand. Building your reputation and having a proven track record will bring value. Value is not finite or constant. It will change based on a customer’s wants and needs at any given time. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Gives You a Voice Blog about your field of expertise. You might get a referral from a well-known industry expert. Create a website to display the presentations you have given during your career. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Fit for a Mobile Career Having a personal brand in a more transient, project-based working world has advantages. You didn’t need a personal brand working for a company for 20 years. Companies provided a career path, and your reputation was known internally. In a mobile career world, after you finish your project or are released from an assignment, you take your personal brand with you. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

What a Personal Brand Looks Like Not a homogenous concept. Comes in many forms: Resume to Curriculum Vitae Websites and Blogs References Everything that contributes to your brand and how the outside world views you. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Your Personal Brand You already have a personal brand: your reputation among friends and family, in your company and community. It is sometimes easier for others to assess you than for you to assess yourself. How do other people view you? What are you known for? © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Building Your Reputation As you build your career around your personal brand, each accomplishment will contribute to and grow your reputation. What do you want to be known for? Internal vs. External Brand It’s important to have an accurate picture of your internal vs. external brand so you can more accurately map out how to attain your career goals. Hindrance to career development: incongruent internal picture and external view about your personal brand. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

What You Have to Offer Your personal brand should spell out exactly who you are and the most important thing you have to offer. What are your feature benefits? What makes you different? Don’t be generic. One benefit of going with a generic brand is the price. Once you’re relegated to a “low-price” brand, you are treated as a commodity and you lose your value. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

How You Will Save or Make Money The more clearly you state how you will make or save a company money, the more valuable your brand becomes. Begin with a powerful summary of your brand. Focus on your value proposition. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Greatest Accomplishment What is your greatest accomplishment? Define and market your personal brand by having a specific answer to this question. Consider mentioning it in your online profile. This is an opportunity to brag, so don’t be modest. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Transferable Skills Definition: Skills you have acquired through life experiences that are transferable and applicable to your job or careers. Identify skills that can help you demonstrate a value-added brand. Show a consistent track record of transferable skills from company to company and project to project. This will help cement your brand. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Get a Brand Referral Referrals are invaluable tools that will help you get your foot in the door or land new clients. Referrals = Endorsements When someone endorses your brand, you are essentially “piggybacking” off of that person’s established brand within the company. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Identify the Sizzle 3 unique qualities that set you, the candidate, apart from the competition and speak to your personal brand. Example: Track record of growth, success, civic, and social consciousness. Present features in terms of benefits. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

The Reach of Marketing Personal brands become stronger the more exposure they get. The bigger your brand, the more powerful it is. Leverage free technology like social networking. Work to promote your brand every day. Do it between assignments. You are never “unemployed.” Don’t neglect more traditional techniques: phone calls, letter writing, person to person contact. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Resume and Curriculum Vitae The paper resume is becoming obsolete. The majority of resumes are already submitted and transmitted digitally. Technology will further blur the lines of resumes, online profiles, blogs, and websites. Personal branding statement on your resume should catch the reader’s eye. Recommended tool for Web 2.0: VisualCV.com Create powerful multimedia resume and share it digitally. Allows you to add blogs, podcasts, LinkedIn widget, videos. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Business Card Components of a Well-Branded Business Card Style: Should match your profession. Name: Should be prominent on the card and in a clear font. A brief caption below your name can also reinforce your brand. Picture: Benefit is that people will remember who you are. Contact Information: Phone and email large enough to easily read. Website, Blog, LinkedIn: No need to include more than 2. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Email Signature Great way to promote your brand because it is sent out frequently and is easily referenced. Example: Abraham J. Jankans President & Chief Career Coaching Officer LaunchPad Careers, Inc. d: 800.363.0307 f: 866.293.8564 c: 949.500.0711 DuPont Dr., Suite 214, Irvine, CA 92612 [email_address] Launchpadcareers.com | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Personal Website and Social Media Purchase your name.com. If your name is already taken, try adding a middle initial. Free website builders: Blogger.com Ning.com Be consistent when building your brand across multiple media and platforms. Social networking sites: LinkedIn.com Facebook.com Twitter.com © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Blogs Specialization: Add value by contributing new information or writing from a new perspective. Targeted posts: Research the requirements and skills for positions you are seeking, and write blog posts on those topics. Example: Joshua Persky, “Oracle of NY.” www.oracleofny.com Contribute to other people’s blogs. Start by commenting on existing blog posts. Building a rapport with the author. Request to be a regular contributor. Micro-blogging. Good for broadcasting short messages and links to information. Example: Twitter. LinkedIn, Facebook also offers this feature. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Using a Photo: The Benefits and Dangers Using your photo to promote your personal brand can have many benefits. We live in a world driven by visual images. Dangers: It can compromise your privacy and identity. When and where to include a photo: Resume: NO Online resume or CV: OPTIONAL Online blog, profile, website: YES © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Consider an Avatar Avatar: graphical representation of a person, used on the Internet. Keep your avatar as close to the real you as possible. Keep it professional, but don’t be afraid to add some flair. Sites: http:// avatar s.yahoo.com / Copy the browser screen by holding down the CTRL key and pressing the “print screen” key. Paste image into a picture editor such as Paint and edit. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Speaking Engagements Consider speaking at industry conferences and meetings to promote your brand. Public speaking, if done well, can quickly elevate your status as an industry expert. Tip: Videotape your speaking engagements. You can post these videos to sites and profiles. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Maintain Your Personal Brand Limit the number of places where you promote your brand. Limit your online presence to no more than one online resume, one personal website. Keep your brand current. Update resume and online profiles to reflect new information or feature benefits. Do not neglect your brand just because you find a new job. Add to your brand by taking classes, reading books, listening to podcasts to update your knowledge related to your field. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Evolving Brands Re-invent your brand to fit the situation and keep yourself in high demand. Take your transferable skills and apply them to new areas and fields. Examples: Hillary Clinton and Apple © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Protect Your Brand Remember that stereotypes and misconceptions are easily formed and hard to overcome. Toss out your generic, old resume. Remove your beer bong pictures from Facebook and MySpace. Beware of phone ringback tones. While in an active job search, use a standard ringtone. Have a professional email address. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Not Outgoing? Technology allows you to build your personal brand from behind a computer screen. You can maximize the promotion of your skills through blogs, virtual resumes, and websites, all mediums to better define your brand. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Summary Have a strong personal brand that will give you an advantage over the competition. Use your resumes, curricula vitae, blogs, social network profiles, and public forums to promote your brand. Your view of your personal brand must match others’ view of your personal brand. Use social networks to promote your brand, but don’t neglect the real world. Purchase www.yourname.com . Get people to refer you to their contacts. Create three sizzles that define your brand. Leverage technology. Protect your brand by only promoting positive and constructive information about yourself. © 2009 LaunchPad Careers, Inc.

Personal Branding

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