Sunday IntensivePersonal Brand

Identity, Reputation & the Future YouSunday, October 4th, Room 105

October Intensive: Saturday

Opening CircleFollowupPersonal Brand

“The Future You”Discover your brandCreate your brandCommunicate your brand

Agenda

Opening CircleTells us:

In 30 seconds, what is the one thing that you absolutely excel at, that above all else you are better at then almost anyone else?

The Online vs Offline Life“The lines are blurring”

Followup Discussion

What new thoughts have you had since yesterday on issues of privacy? Any changes?

Followup Discussion

What new thoughts have you had since yesterday on issues of privacy? Any changes?

A discussion of privacy differences between generations & gender

Personal Brand“The Future You”

What is Brand

Brand is a perception or emotion, maintained by a buyer or prospective buyer, that describes his experience related to doing business with an organization or consuming its products and services.

What is Brand

Brand is a perception or emotion, maintained by a buyer or prospective buyer, that describes his experience related to doing business with an organization or consuming its products and services.

Commodity: Coffee $0.99Brand: Starbucks $4.69Brand: sneakers into nikeBrand: diamonds into tiffany’s

Brand:

What is Personal Brand?

A perception or emotion, maintained by someone other then you, that describes the total experience of having a relationship with you.

What is Personal Brand?

Personal Brand first showed up in 1987 when Tom Peters wrote “The Brand Called You” for Fast Company magazineWe are the CEOs of our own companiesIt is the process by which you market yourself to othersIt is what makes you unique

Or more importantly, what someone remembers that is unique about you

It is how you make a difference and how you communicate that difference

What is Personal Brand?

How you present yourselfYour uniquenessYour skills and abilitiesYour imageYour potentialYou as a person – your “humanity”

Your First Impression

A first impression is usually made in less than 30 secondsStudies have shown it can take 21 new interactions to change that first impression

Why is Personal Brand Important

Who currently controls your brand?Your employer?Google?

Does your personal brand serve you?If you search in google for your name, do you come up?If you search in google for your professional speciality, does your name come up?

Is the knowledge you share with others considered to be authentic?

Or are you interpreted to be a spokesman for others?

Benefits

Increases your visibility and presenceDemonstrates your competence, experience, and contributions Differentiates yourself from othersGain confidence in your own abilitiesIncreases your level of engagementFocuses you on your goals and objectivesLeverage your social network

Career

Increase your career opportunities Resumes are dying

no one trusts a resume

You

You are unique and originalYou are a leader and influentialYou deserve to be compensated for your passionsYou want others to believe in youYou are credible and authenticYou want others to be able to market you

Self-Promotion

There are negative connotation to personal branding

Because it related to self-promotion

Self-Promotion

There are negative connotation to personal branding

Because it related to self-promotion

Self-promotion is only bad when practiced at the expense of others

Self-Promotion

There are negative connotation to personal branding

Because it related to self-promotion

Self-promotion is only bad when practiced at the expense of others

It doesn’t have to be bad if it is used for good

Self-Promotion

There are negative connotation to personal branding

Because it related to self-promotion

Self-promotion is only bad when practiced at the expense of others

It doesn’t have to be bad if it is used for good

It is good when you provide value

Personal Brand and the Corporation

Corporations often discourage personal brandAn individuals personal brand does not belong to the corporation

...thus corporations fear investing in personal brand and then someone leaving

Executives with their own personal brand may fear usurpation

...and thus may play politics against

Too many voices can dilute a corporations message and brand

...thus have policies to limit number of voices

Value of Personal Brand to Corporations

An employee with personal brand is considered to be a “more authentic” then a spokespersonPersonal brands in a company can help a company appear more humanPersonal brands can say things that a corporation wants to be heard, but can’t sayPersonal brands increase the value of their most important asset, their people

Discover Your Brand“The Future You”

Your Personal Brand

All that you are should support your personal brand

You are a whole person, not just your profession Is your personal brand powerful to people to know you?Does a clear, concise, positive idea come to mind when people think of you?How about people that don’t know you?

Tag Self

“Tag” yourself using separate post-it notes:

Write down three, short (2-3 word) phrases that you use to introduce yourselfDescribe the three things you are most passionate aboutDescribe three thing unique about yourself

Tag Others

“Tag” everyoneWander quietly and “tag” your fellow students on their back with post-it notes. Use a word or short phrase.Focus on what makes them uniqueGift them by with an acknowledgment of something they are good at they may not knowWrite something you found most memorable about them

Tag Review

Find an opposite partnerPick a personal you know the least, whom you were least able to tagThey will be your partner for this roundTake all of the tags off their back

Tag Review

Take turns and compare the lists of tags that you wrote for yourself, and those that others wrote for you.Discuss how are they the same and how are they different.Ask your partner to help you identify three key phrases that are most important and effective at evoking “the authentic you”

Defining your Personal Brand

Understand your SWOTStrengths – personal attributes that help youWeaknesses – personal attributes that hinder youOpportunities – external conditions that you can leverage and exploitThreats – external conditions that hold you back or may hurt you

Strengths & Weaknesses

What are your personal strengths?What do you offer that your market finds relevant?What other strengths do you have that are not part of what you think offer? What passions?What values do you hold and how do you demonstrate them?How can you better leverage your strengths?

What are your personal weaknesses?What habits and limitations get in your way?What weaknesses can you change?What weaknesses can you integrate?

Opportunities & Threats

What are your opportunities?What is changing in the world that you want to be a part of?What is changing in your life?

What are your threats?What external factors are holding you back?How can you mitigate those challenges?

PESTLEWhat is changing Politically, Economically, Socially, Technology, Legally, and Environmentally that will affect your future life?

Create Your Brand“The Future You”

Creating Personal Brand

What is your current personal brand?How do you currently project it?What words and phrases does you currently use?

Are they unique enough?Are they evocative enough?

Does the the way you present yourself consistent with your brand?

Focusing Your Personal Brand

Differentiate yourself from your peersWho are your colleagues, your competition?What is it that you offer that is unique?

What words and phrases do you use?Being careful with key phrases and wording can avoid difficult connotations

Do your services to reflect your personal brand?What services do you wish to offer that have been difficult to market?

Tangible Assets

Tangible AssetsYour website or blogYour business cardYour resume, portfolio and referencesYour social network

Intangible Assets

Intangible AssetsNameAppearanceCompetenciesPersonalityMissionVisionValues

Building Your Personal Brand

Position your focused message in the hearts and minds of your target audience

Deliver your message clearly and quicklyPersist and be consistent in your marketing efforts Project credibility

Don’t forget the basicsWho are youWhat do you doWhat makes you unique

Most importantly: be authentic and honest

Communicate Your Brand“The Authentic You”

Your Brand Name

Decide what kind of name to useA unique personal name or moniker

ChristopherRayAllen – my full nameChristopherA – my preferred moniker

A meaningful word or phrase you can claimAlacrity – “cheerful promptitude” is my core wordLife With Alacrity – my blog and typical first contactAlacrity Management, Alacrity Ventures, Alacrity Ventures are sub-brands

A nym (a pseudonym)Tenebrass (only 339 google results) vs Tenebras (1m+)

Account Best Practices

Use same account name, spelling, upper case, nicknames, and logins across all platforms.

Max 15 charactersNo punctuationAvoid numbersUse namecheck.com & knowem.comTry to own the domain even if you don’t use it

Use CamelCase when first registeringHave a backup nickname

Close as possible to preferred nickname

Consistent Style

Same personal avatar image on all public platformsSame or similar description and keywordsWhen possible, use similar fonts, colors, artistic style, etc.

I use nicely kerned elegant serifed font for logoI elegant san-serif fonts in body copy

Gill Sans in presentationsTrebuchet in web pages

Colors largely the same on blog, business card, presentations, even my shirt for important conferences

Avatar

Ideally a closeup of your facePeople have a much larger ability to remember faces then names

Put your face anywhere people may need to remember you

My face is on the back of my business card

If you have privacy concerns, consider commissioning a unique caricature

Consistency

Be consistentHave one consistent personality (or message) in lots of different places, not a different personality (or message) in each placeBecause the world is small and the people who meet you in one place, you will meet in another place also

Related Keywords

Given the important words from your tags:

Use google suggest to find related wordsAre any of these two word phrases worthy of a blog name?

Google Search: Alacrity http://www.google.com/search?q=alacrity

Know your Keywords

Make sure every page you use has the important onesMake a list for yourselfLook at words of your colleagues & competitorsLook at search logs to see which are searchedSee which keywords are indexed moreUse noun, adverb, adjective forms if possibleKnow the synonymsBe particularly careful with keywords in titles

Tree of Life

roots: your important life influences and beliefstrunk: your life structure, particularly those aspects that are quite firm and fixedbranches: key relationships and connections, directions, interests, how you spend timeleaves: your unique information and knowledge - and sources thereofbuds: your ideas and hopes for the future, and their potentialfruit: your achievementsflowers: what makes you special, your strengthsthorns: your sharp edges

BGI Guides

BGI Guides

What are topics?Review scopeBlog Search for related blogs

Questions? Feedback?

ChristopherA@LifeWithAlacrity.com

NO Elluminate Monday! Next is Elluminate Session C

October 12, 2009: 7pm PT