ME, Inc.

How to Create and Market Your Personal Brand

Leslie Stevens-Huffman

• Handles: Talent Wizard, Career Expert, Independent Writing Professional, Innovative Instructor

My Branding Statements

• Offer the unique ability to compel sophisticated readers by combining two decades of hands-on business management experience with robust reporting and writing skills

• Offer professionals the opportunity to advance their careers through proven strategies and two decades of staffing industry experience

Today’s Goals

• Define a personal brand• Outline six easy steps to help you

discover, create and market your personal brand

• Interactive, informal session

Famous Handles or Branding Statements

What is a Personal Brand?

• A personal brand is your promise to the marketplace and the world. Since everyone makes a promise to the world, one does not have a choice of having or not having a personal brand. Everyone has one. The real question is whether someone’s personal brand is powerful enough to be meaningful to the person and the marketplace.

Great Brands…

• Memorable and succinct• Evolve over time• Resonate with target audience• Purposeful and strategic• Support goals• Not just social media

Step One: Set Goals

• Find a new job or change careers, industries or specialization

• Increase job security• Score a raise or promotion• Be recognized as a thought leader

or technical expert

The Case for Goals

• Focus your marketing campaign and message

• Design media campaign• Rallying point• Evaluate your brand’s

effectiveness and make adjustments

Step Two: Define Your Target Audience and Their Motivation

Step Three: Discover Your Brand

• What are you famous for?• What’s your reputation?• What’s your value proposition?• What sets you apart from others?• What characterizes you?

Sources

• 360 feedback• References• Colleagues• Performance reviews• Customers and

stakeholders• Endorsements and

recommendations• Resume• Interview• Google yourself

Select Material that Supports Your Goals• Select distinctive points, traits,

attributes and experience that support your goal

• What will resonate with your audience?

• What do they want to hear?• Do you need damage repair?• Do you need to close gaps?

Step Four: Create Your Branding Toolkit

• Handle (s)• Branding statement (s)• Supporting examples, vignettes• Keyword, adjective list• Avatar or logo• Headshot

Handles

• Data janitor• Conscientious

coder• Bug exterminator• Clairvoyant

specifications guru

Branding Statements

• “Offer a proven history of discovering and eradicating the bugs that others miss in enterprise applications”

• “Innate ability to demystify complex business requirements and transfer them into user-friendly software solutions”

Examples, Keywords, Adjectives

• Create inventories of examples, activities, keywords and complementary adjectives

Step Five: Design Your Marketing Campaign

1) Select media and activities that reach and resonate with your target audience

2) Compels them to act3) Sustainable and sequential4) Adaptable

Step Six: Evaluate Progress and Refine

• Are you reaching your target audience?

• Are you achieving your goals?• Does your message need to be

refreshed or revised?

ME, Inc.

Ready, set, now go market!!