Archive | Personal Brand

Everyone has a personal brand, but not everyone acknowledges it and manages it proactively. Some people don’t like the term “personal brand” as they feel people aren’t brands. Some people think that it is a thinly veiled term for self-promotion, publicity or image management. In fact, your personal brand is so much more. It is a way of consistently projecting a true, authentic view of you, your expertise and your promise of value to the marketplace.

Whatever you call it, you still need to manage it! There’s a lot of conversation about the term personal brand. My favorite personal brand is Bono (no surprise here), but Tom Brady, Madonna, J. Lo, Manny Ramirez, Britney Spears and many other celebritites all have personal brands – some good and some not so good at times. As small business owners in the social media world, it’s not about creating a celebrity-like image but about establishing your reputation and managing how you are perceived by others, especially those who may want to do business with you. Building and nurturing a consistent reputation for what you are good at (your differentiation) is something you should strive for to make finding your ideal client that […]

I attended a great event last night held by Next Level Executives on personal branding. This event got me thinking that developing your reputation is nothing new – but doing so on such a global basis is what brings the overwhelming nature of personal branding to many business owners. Throughout my entire career, I have had to manage my reputation and “brand” from job to job. How many times were we told never to burn bridges because you never know when you will cross paths with that person again.

In this era of social media and our ability to effectively connect and build relationships with so many folks around the world, why do some people think that by filling out my contact form, I would ever consider outsourcing client work to them?

The way to gain visibility for your blog is to make it an ongoing marketing project. Do all the marketing basics that you would do for any activity: pick your target audience, understand what they need and how you fulfill that need, speak to them in terms they understand and provide useful, relevant information.

Works both Offline and Online For many thinking of starting their own businesses, the fear of finding clients can paralyze them enough to sabotage their efforts. Cold calling prospects can make some of us break out in a cold sweat. One of the things that I learned early on in my business start-up days is that there are other ways to find clients. When you have worked in corporate America for your entire career, one of the skills you didn’t learn was how to network. As a business owner, networking is one of the best ways to get clients and today, adding social networking to the mix makes your ability to find business that much easier. One of the first […]

I’ve been following a few posts that have been debating the purpose of having a resume in this world of social media. In Seth Godin’s post, “Why bother having a resume;?”, he posits: I think if you’re remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular, you probably shouldn’t have a resume at all. The rationale? It’s an excuse to reject you. A resume makes you ordinary. And I agree. Having a boring, play by the rules resume can be the kiss of death. When I was a hiring manager at my last company, I had a recruiter begging me to meet with a candidate of his for a technical marketing position I had open. I told him based on her resume, she didn’t have […]