16. 3 Things you want to be
known for professionally
1___________________
2 ___________________
3 ___________________
*Homework
_________ _________ _________
17.
18. FYI Connectors
Name
Company
Position
Responsibilities
Challenges
Events
Results
22. 1.a. Become an invaluable
asset to your colleagues,
professional network &
clients.
AKA Job Security
23. 1.b. Steps to Being an
Invaluable Asset
1. Keep in touch with people
_________ _________ _________
2. Provide valuable information over time
_________ _________ _________
3. Show results
_________ _________ _________
24. 2.a. Position yourself as the
go-to-person for a specific
skill.
How can you help others?
Don’t just wait to be asked.
25. 2.b. How to Establish
Yourself as the Go-To
1. Volunteer your skills
_________ _________ _________
2. Write a blog/newsletter column
_________ _________ _________
3. Give presentations
_________ _________ _________
27. “I saw myself sitting in the
crotch of this fig tree,
starving to death, just
because I couldn’t make
up my mind which of the
figs I would choose.
I wanted each and every
one of them, but choosing
one meant losing all the
rest, and as I sat there,
unable to decide, the figs
began to wrinkle and go
black, and, one by one,
they plopped to the
ground at my feet.”
33. 6.a. Be a content producer,
not just consumer.
What are you sharing with
the world?
Producers build value in
themselves & get their ideas
noticed
35. 7.a. Have an “endorsement
mindset”.
Endorsements will prove
your worth, allow you to
market yourself into a new
job or rise in the ranks in
your current job.
Being the person in demand that everyone wants to work with. Everyone introduce yourself, we’re going to get very personal in this breakout because I want you to leave motivated and confident that you can do this.
Need 3 ENTHUSIASTIC volunteers
See the difference? Marketing, Public Relations and Advertising help to build a brand but it’s not until you have other people talking about you for what you want to be known for that you have actually created the brand
You have a choice! Did you know that? Get people to talk about you behind your back, for good reason! Living in ND where everyone seems to know everyone is good and bad - branding can be really easy and really hard at the same time if you are fighting to overcome something.
Personal branding leverages the same strategies that make corporate brands appealing and builds brand equity just like companies do. In fact when I’m working on branding a company I often start with asking the client “if your company were a person, what would their characteristics be”
Anybody know who this is? Anybody know how old Oprah was when she “launched” her brand? (High School – radio show, local news at 19). Now that’s not to frighten you and say it’s too late to do anything. That’s to wake you up and let you realize that everything you do every day is what is building your personal brand. Oprah did not launch a media campaign at 16 announcing that she liked to talk, had a fun personality, and was a curious and personable person. She LIVED those things to the point where she was recognized and rewarded for her attributes so at age 29 she was put on TV for a local Chicago station, within two years she was the number 1 talk show host in America. And we all know where she is now. The richest self-made woman in America and the world’s only black billionaire.
Repeat after me “I CAN BE OPRAH” *clap* “ I CAN BE OPRAH” *clap* “ I CAN BE OPRAH” *clap* (Now everyone look at me like I’m crazy because I know you want to, but it’s true – the part about you can be Oprah, not the part that I’m crazy) What does this mean? Oprah is a woman with a brand, now not everyone’s dream is becoming Oprah but the idea is that you can be big and you can be what you want. Build YOUR brand.
Every day you have the choice to decide if you’re going to be an Oprah or a Jane Doe
I guarantee you that Oprah didn’t just have billions of dollars handed to her. Live, breathe, eat, sleep your brand!
Everyone’s favorite interview question. By the way, don’t ever go into an interview unprepared to answer this question. And make sure the response you give in the interview matches your demeanor in the interview. For example Oprah is curious, personable and fun. Those are my words to describe her you might have others but I want you to describe yourself here. Don’t think too deep about it, just what comes to mind if you were asked in an interview to describe yourself. Homework assignment, ask your friends/family/coworkers to describe you in three words. You might learn a lot about yourself.
How many of you trust a friend’s recommendation about a product over an advertisement? How many of you ask for recommendations from friend’s when you’re looking for a new hairstylist, or daycare provider, or contractor to work on your house? Anyone here read The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell? Great book, discusses the idea of Connectors. A connector is someone who knows everyone, they are the ones that spread the news, start fads and connect you to other people. Now I am not a connector, but I know the importance of knowing connectors and making sure that they know enough about me to do my PR for me. Think about what I said earlier about wanting people to talk behind your back – make sure the connectors are sharing what you want them to about you – give them something to talk about! Because they will, that is their nature, they LOVE helping other people by sharing what they know, WITHOUT being asked. They are also known as EVANGELISTS in the marketing world when you’re talking about business brands. So your homework here is to ask your friends and family, the ones most likely to want to help you and promote you, what do they think you do at work. Or if you are in a job that you don’t like, do they know what you want to be doing? Do any of you have friends that you’re not quite sure what they do? Think about that. If you don’t know what your friends do, or they don’t know what you do they will never be able to recommend you others, or recommend a great opportunity to you. The reason I found about the Marketing and Technology coordinator position at CTB is because a close friend of mine heard about the position from a friend of hers and my friend told me that she thought I would be perfect for the position. Now that’s not why I got the position, neither of them had anything to do with the hiring process and my friend didn’t even work for the company but she was able to recognize that it was a good fit for me and recommend that I apply. And she was right, this is my dream job so I’m thankful that she was aware of my personal brand.
How do your attributes align with what you want to be known for? Can they be adapted to work or are they working against you? What attributes would you want your accountant to have? Organized, reliable. You do not want an accountant that looks like they just rolled out of bed, shows up late to meetings and can never find your client information.
When you introduce yourself are you using these points
Now I need an ADVENTUROUS volunteer, anyone list that as one of their characteristics? Bring your paper with you, read to us the three words that describe yourself. Anyone in the room know her? Do these words fit her? Now tell us what you want to be known for professionally. Go to Google, have them type in their name. If it’s a common name talk about using middle initials, using “Sam” vs “Samantha”. Now type your name into Google and let’s find out how your personal brand looks online. I want the rest of the group to tell me if they think this first page of Google is her AND fits what she wants to be known for. The world is becoming reliant on Google, and if you don’t find accurate information about yourself on Google you’re going to struggle in making a brand for yourself. Now everyone’s homework is to go home and do the same thing. And do it TODAY, try a few different versions of your name, location, etc. PRINT these out, you’re going to use them as a base of what your Personal Brand is today and then every few months I want you to repeat the search. Because I come from the world of marketing and in marketing, if you don’t set goals (your 123 lists) and you don’t track your goals you never know if you’ve reached the results you want. So don’t just assume things are getting better, check back in. Ask your friends in a few months the same questions you did before and see if that starts to change.
What are you doing to be known for those three things? Let’s talk about HOW to build the brand, what do you need to do.
Convince your clients that they are benefiting from your services and getting good ROI.
When is the last time you talked personally to a big client. Think about how you can keep in touch with people that fits your personality. If you are more comfortable in person schedule lunch dates, find out what works for you and make it happen. Provide valuable information. How do you let people know that you want to help them? When you come across an interesting article do you share it, how else can you do this. Is what you are doing measurable, bring it to the table. How can you show people that you are needed? Maybe you like to do research and took it upon yourself to find a grant that your organization is eligible for.
If people know what you’re good at it will increase your value. If you are only known for making the best coffee in the office you are setting your personal brand as a great barista but that might not fit what you want to be known for.
When you see a need, volunteer to fill it. Blogs are a great way to position yourself as an expert, your own or as a guest blogger. CTB uses guest bloggers, if you are interested and think you have something of value to share get in touch with me. Speak up at staff meetings, offer to give a presentation to the rest of the staff or at a conference.
You have to be confident in yourself if you want other people to be confident in you. If you see opportunities, go and get them!
If you don’t have the confidence to make a decision and act on it you will miss all opportunities.
In yourself and from others point of view. If you have trouble speaking in front of people, join toastmasters. Learn how to overcome confidence issues. Don’t post negative messages on your social networks, you will come across as a whiner and complainer and no one will want to work with you. We want to surround ourselves with positive people. If a meeting starts at 10 and you show up at 10:10 you have not followed through on your commitment, and other’s confidence in you will diminish. And your confidence in yourself will diminish because you will be embarrassed you were late and you’ll try to hide in the back of the room and not be noticed. Again, that’s recognizing that every thing you do builds your brand.
Invest in networking both socially and professionally, on and off line and build contact lists. This also provides emotional support, sometimes you just need someone to say “great job” or “you can do it!” When you support other people they will want to support you! Tonight you have dinner “on your own” but if you go alone I’m going to be disappointed – this is a GREAT opportunity to network with NEW people! So be brave, find someone new today and invite them to have dinner with you. Break out your business cards, introduce yourself to someone new in the room.
How are you? Vs What’s great with you today? Try LinkedIn groups, or specialty forums What are you going to do TODAY to get other people to share about you
Podcasts and blogs are great for sharing your passions and can be very rewarding. PR: chose three things you can be an expert on Find three blogs where you can volunteer to write an article Find three newsletters to follow and READ, this provides information for you to share with others Google reader
What does this mean? Celebrate other people and give them a reason to celebrate you
Give others endorsements and you will notice that many will return the favor. When you introduce someone make it your goal to have both people think “wow”. If you think someone would be a good connection for someone else, share their business card or contact info.
Resume/cover letter – think how much time you spend perfecting and spell checking and then someone googles you… (You cannot ask certain questions online that you wouldn't and shouldn't otherwise ask during an interview)
If it’s old and no longer relevant, delete it. If it can be construed as inappropriate delete it. LinkedIn – make yourself visible and get a professional photo. You don’t need a facebook, and a twitter, and a linkedin, and a youtube, and a blog, and a pinterest account but you should have SOME way of people finding out accurate information about you that you control.
Tell your “perfect story” – spoon feed potential employers and clients Rates high in search engines.
Repeat after me “I CAN BE OPRAH” *clap* “ I CAN BE OPRAH” *clap* “ I CAN BE OPRAH” *clap*
