Session Three: Building Your Personal Brand
“Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are the CEO’s of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.” - Tom Peters
We all have unique talents, strengths and skills. A personal brand statement takes these individual skills and strengths, combines them with our interests and identifies our unique promise of value to others.
A poll by Inc.com found that 48% of their readers believed that personal connections are the primary factor that most often leads to getting ahead in the business world. Developing a personal brand is critical to building a network of influential people that can help us succeed in our field of interest.
How do you answer these three questions?
1. What qualities or characteristics do you have that allow you to stand out from others in your field?
2. What do your fellow students, coaches, managers, professors and family say are your greatest strengths?
3. What do you do that adds worth and brings interesting, measurable, or distinct value to other people and teams?
Now, pull all these ideas together into a personal brand statement. Avoid using titles and acronyms. Instead focus on the value you bring to others.
For example, instead of saying you are the head of a sorority or fraternity; tell how your dedication and people skills enable you to achieve unity with a wide variety of people and get things accomplished in a short amount of time.
Give it a shot--
Using the discussion board below, write your two-three sentence personal branding statement as though you were introducing yourself to your next employer
Once you have received feedback from your peers, you should begin building (or enhancing) or online professional network. Add your branding statement to LinkedIn or any of the other networking platforms you find valuable.
Not familiar with LinkedIn? Here's some great resources:
Dan Schawbel, bestselling author and blogger, on "How To: Build your Personal Brand on LinkedIn" http://mashable.com/2009/07/27/linkedin-personal-brand/
"10 Tips for the Perfect LinkedIn Profile" http://www.slideshare.net/linkedin/10-tips-for-the-perfect-linkedin-profile?ref