Step 2 in Building a Personal Brand — Tips on How to Message and Market Your Personal Brand
ningcontentStep one in building your personal brand was to map out the brand that you desire. In step one, we challenged you to think of characteristics that you would like associated with you. We asked you to DEFINE your personal brand. Now it is time to take the next step. In step 2 you will begin to message and market your personal brand. Step 2 includes communicating your brand on your resume, via on-line websites (like LinkedIn and Plaxo), using emails within your company and annual reviews. Your brand is reinforced by the assignments you volunteer for at work and your verbal communication. If you know what you are great at, and you have chosen your unique abilities for your brand, you can volunteer when the opportunity comes up to utilize that skill-set.
Slowly, over time, your brand should become more and more obvious to the people that work with you or know you. If you are communicating your unique capabilities and desires, it should resonate with the people around you. By communicating your personal brand, they will know when to bring up your name and recommend you for other positions or tasks.
Examples:
Regina is passionate about data warehousing and metadata. She shares with her network and friends that she loves analytical problem solving and digging into information/reporting needs for organizations to assist them in making data driven decisions. She likes the challenge of combining data across platforms and finding necessary data to solve organizational problems. Once Regina shares this, others know how to recommend her for projects and assignments. By creating a brand that utilizes her skills and passions, she enables both her network and her organization to benefit from her skill-set. She thrives by creating demand for her services through communication.
Deborah is a skilled product manager. She has led a team from idea inception through product delivery and enjoys seeing the long term results of her product management. She is skillful at client interactions and with that ability is able to help the sales team to sell her products and services. By sharing this with her network and messaging it well on her resume and online profiles, other companies can see what benefit they would derive from her services.
Your goal is to create an appealing message that comes across in a multitude of ways to enrich your value and your brand. Start small and take steps to message your personal brand to create job sustainability and demand for your unique skill-sets.
Bethany Williams is an expert in business development and healthcare operations. She has held high level positions at IDX Systems Corporation, GE Healthcare, Perot Systems Corporation, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Williams shares her stories and helpful tips on career success through her book, Winning Strategies for Women, and a popular motivational blog. She volunteers as a life coach and mentor for employees around the globe through her website and personal one-to-one visits. She currently works as an executive at PricewaterhouseCoopers and lives in Dallas with her husband, Michael, and her three children. You can find her on the web at www.bethanywilliams.org.
