Brand U by Wendy Marx by Wendy Marx

09:02 am | 0 recommendations | 4 comments

Careers: Personal Branding Bores

Why is the typically elevator pitch as boring and meaningless as sliced bread?

You know what I’m talking about. How many meetings have you attended when the chair person asks everyone in the room to deliver his/her elevator pitch? A one or two sentence description of your business that can be delivered in the span of an elevator ride. And then it happens. There’s a drone of similarity, a monotony of ordinariness that makes each pitch indistinguishable from the next.

I’m of course as guilty as the next person. My pitch too could use a once-over.

William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson, in their book Career Distinction, have a useful exercise to help you craft an elevator speech. They suggest that you make a list of what makes you the same from your competitors and what makes you different. It’s the difference piece that you want to get across in your elevator speech since that’s what will make you stand out.

I like to think as the elevator speech as containing three parts. In addition to what makes you different – be it your style, your experience, your passion or any other quality – it needs to also include a “what”

It’s the “what” that often trips someone up. Instead of explaining the results that are delivered, a lot of people will simply say that they work for X company in sales or run a Y-type business. Frankly, who cares? The “what” needs to include some measure of excitement and value. Here are two example of a “what” courtesy of Arruda and Dixson:

“To help high achievers take control of their own career success”

“To deliver the powerful, breakthrough advertising campaigns that yield revenue and brand value for consumer products companies.”

Let’s see if we can compile our own list of best and worst elevator speeches. Let’s have some fun with this. I’d love to hear from you.

Wendy Marx, Personal Branding and Public Relations, Marx Communications, Inc.

http://www.marxcommunications.com

09:14 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment

Careers: Personal Branding Times Two

How do you instantly double the power of personal branding?

This isn’t a trick question, just a way to try to start thinking unconventionally. All of which got me reflecting on marriage -- not the romantic concept but a synergy of two souls that packs twice the wallop. Applied to personal branding, it means strategic alliances, partnerships and associations.

At the most basic level, it comes down to the company you keep. Think about it for a second. Your personal brand can move up a notch in respect, stature and credibility if you ally yourself with the right people. It’s, if you pardon the expression, sort of the idea of marrying up -- akin to nobodies marrying somebodies and becoming better known in the process. Even if you don’t marry up to continue the analogy, you can combine forces with someone of equal stature, if you’re running a business, and suddenly you have twice the firing power. If you’re working for a company, not to worry; you can chose your mentors and associates wisely so that you are viewed as part of the “A” team, not the Schlump team. If you own your own business, you also might think about formalizing relationships. That means developing strategic alliances and partnerships with other companies that will enhance your brand, along with helping you grow your business.

The best way to determine whom to ally with is to start with a self-and goals-assessment. Here’s a brief framework to get you started:

• One: What are you doing well? What are you known for? And on the other side of the ledger, what are you lacking? What’s holding you back?
• Two: Where do you want to go? What are your objectives?
• Three: What do you need to do to reach your goals and objectives?
• Four: Who can help you reach your desired end point faster? Which of these people/companies can be the most helpful?

Once you’ve done that, you’re headed in the right direction and the rest is tactical – figuring out how to connect with the people or companies you’ve identified.

How are you doubling the power of your personal brand? What connections are you forging? I’d love to hear your story.

Wendy Marx, Personal and Corporate Public Relations, Marx Communications

09:08 am | 0 recommendations | 4 comments

Careers: Personal Branding and Energy

In today’s 24-7 culture, most of us are rushing around so furiously we don’t take the time to take stock of ourselves.

There is a terrific article in the October 2007 Harvard Business Review by Tony Schwarz called “Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time.” If you haven’t seen it, grab it now. It could change your life. And I don’t say that lightly.

The article makes the point that “most people are living at such a furious pace that they rarely stop to ask themselves what they stand for and who they want to be. As a consequence they let external demands dictate their actions.”

Sure, we may have a perfect elevator pitch and are making great strides at work, but ultimately true personal success comes from deep within. The idea is to create more meaning and focus in our lives and align what we’re doing with whom we want to be. Putting it like that may sound a bit new agey but the author makes it all very real. Here are some questions he suggests you ask yourself:

Are you not spending enough time at work doing what you do best and enjoy the most?

Are there significant gaps between what you say is most important to you in your life and how you actually allocate your time and energy?

Are your decisions at work more influenced by external demands than by a strong, clear sense of your own purpose?

Are you not investing enough time and energy in making a positive difference to others in the world?

Do you spend much of your day reacting to immediate crises and demands rather than focusing on activities with longer-term value and high leverage?

If you answered “yes” to those questions, you may be headed for what Schwartz terms an “energy crisis,” where you’re not managing your energy effectively.

What does all this have to do with personal branding?

Your personal brand is ultimately a reflection of your character. If your life is out of synch, you’re working too many hours to be healthy and not taking time to recharge yourself, your personal brand will suffer – not to mention your life. Schwartz’s studies have shown that "personal renewal leads to more sustainable performance.” Simple things like taking time to eat better, exercise, reframing negative emotions and developing healthy rituals to replace negative ones can result in more energy and productivity. Feeling renewed can’t help but recharge how you articulate and translate your personal brand into action.

What are you doing to boost your energy and productivity and put your life in balance? How has that helped you improve your personal brand? I’d love to hear from you.

Wendy Marx • Public Relations and Personal Branding • President, Marx Communications, Inc.

02:29 pm | 0 recommendations | 3 comments

Careers: Personal Branding Steps

How do you create a brand for yourself and your business online if you’re in a non-techy field like real estate?

Just ask Richard Nacht, CEO of Blogging Systems Group who in a matter of months after founding his company in 2005, got it cited in a major real estate report as a Top 10 Trendsetter alongside Google and other household names. Nacht’s company initially provided blog technology to real estate firms but has since evolved to service other industries as well, including automotive and financial services, and is currently successfully providing social networking platforms to Fortune 500 companies like Wachovia and Toyota, which sponsor social networking career sites for prospective employees.. Since starting his company, Nacht, an Inc. 500 honoree, co-wrote a book on blogging for realtors titled Realty Blogging founded Nacht Social Media Consulting, became a Senior Fellow and Chairman of the Education Committee for the Society for New Communications Research…and on and on. Not bad for an over-achiever who has law and business degrees and is currently studying for his doctorate.

A maestro at using Web 2.0 tools, he has successfully used email blasts, online video and blogging tools, podcasts, webinars, IM and social networking to talk about his work or discuss an industry topic.. He has also shrewdly partnered with JWT, TMP, Luxury Portfolio and others to sell his products to their clients and members. And he has employed LinkedIn, Facebook and XING for networking with peers, prospects and clients.

Behind Nacht’s success is a key realization shared by other successful personal branders: Building his own brand goes hand and hand with building his company’s brand.

“Understanding the need to be recognized as an industry expert, I went to great lengths early on to build a knowledge base that would establish myself as the foremost thought leader in the industry on effective blog marketing,” says Nacht. Recognizing that you don’t get very far simply by tooting your own horn, Nacht says, “I understood that if you are perceived as someone willing to openly share information and enjoy educating your market you gain credibility and trust. The result: When someone needs your skill set, people will come back to you to buy products and services.”

Here is some advice from Nacht on creating your personal brand:

Don’t brag. Don’t just promote yourself but develop credibility and showcase your knowledge as an industry expert. The key is to develop social capital that will have extraordinary value in the long run.

Be passionate about your topic.

Know what you don’t know and educate yourself in those areas so you don’t become a dinosaur.

Keep learning. Nacht hasn’t stopped since getting his law degree and MBA. Currently studying in the doctoral program at the International School of Management in Paris, he’s writing his dissertation on the topic of online social media and networking. “I’m not looking to change careers but rather how to improve and expand on what I’m doing now.” Nacht says he “learns by participating and challenging himself.” By taking a Chair position or becoming a contributor to a publication like Personal Branding Magazine, he puts himself in a position where he is required to stay on top of emerging trends.

Don’t be over-protective of your own business knowledge. You don’t have to worry about a scarcity of opportunity. There is so much business available in the online space that no one can service the entire market. Be a willing participant in the business community.

Be prepared for resistance. You may be so far ahead of the curve that people don’t quite get what you’re saying. Continue to communicate, educate and share and, provided your services are useful, over time valid concepts will resonate with those who have been paying attention. And, if someone doesn’t “get it,” just move on.

Wendy Marx, Personal Branding and Public Relations, Marx Communications, Inc.

06:30 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment

Careers: Personal Branding and The New Rules

Can a book change your life?

Just ask David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasts, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Your Buyers Directly, which is now in its fourth printing after being out just four months. Google his name and you’ll get more than 100,000 hits.

Previously, one of many online marketing consultants, Scott is now a certified mega star earning $10,000 plus expenses for a keynote and running full day seminars at a higher price than the keynotes. Better yet, he now has “the freedom to make my own lifestyle,” he says.

Calling himself a "poster child for personal branding,” Scott at age 46 has carved out a name for himself online that has now spread offline. You can read his blog here.

It all began around 2001 when he changed his name from David Scott to David Meerman Scott. Meerman is his middle name. Prescient about recognizing the power of search engines, he realized that as David Scott he wasn’t unique online. There are other David Scotts but just one David Meerman Scott. Voila. With the addition of Meerman to his business name, he was reborn on the Internet as one of a kind. “Changing my name was the most important personal branding decision I made,” says Scott.

In early 2006, Scott self-published his New Rules book as a 22-page ebook focused exclusively on PR and called The New Rules of PR. Practicing what he preached, he defied the traditional PR rules of pushing releases to journalists. Instead he sent a release announcing his book over an online service and wrote a brief email note to about a dozen online folks he knew, including uber blogger, Seth Godin. Godin, among others, blogged about Scott’s ebook and within a few days, several thousand folks had downloaded it and in less than a year a quarter of a million had.

With all the online buzz, Scott was approached by publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc. to expand his ebook into a hardcover book covering both PR and marketing.

Practicing what he preaches in his book, Scott sent out some 50 press releases before and shortly after the book’s publication in June. Unlike a traditional PR campaign announcing a book, Scott wrote news releases about different topics covered in his book along with releases about upcoming speaking gigs. The idea was to get his name and the book title all over the search engines. Type in the book title in Google and you’ll get over 50,000 hits. It also led to some 400 bloggers writing about him (make that 401 with this blog) and oodles of offline journalists publicizing him.

At the end of the day, of course, you can have the best marketing plan in the world and still fail if you don’t have content that resonates with an audience, Scott says. Not to mention, he says, “the right alignment of the sun, moon and stars.” Add to that the smarts and chutzpah to carry it off.

How are you using a book to build your personal brand?

Wendy Marx, Personal Branding and Visibility Campaigns, Marx Communications, Inc.,

08:38 am | 0 recommendations | 2 comments

Careers: Personal Branding Stories

Tell me a story.

You may not think story telling and business have a lot in common until you talk to Joe Raasch.

This master story teller and senior organizational development consultant at Carlson, owner of Radisson Hotels & Resorts and T.G.I.Friday’s ® among numerous other hospitality brands, figured out that story telling is just the ticket business people need to stand out from the crowd.

By story telling I’m not talking about weaving fiction but succinctly presenting your information in the simple arc of a story with a beginning, middle and end. “The reason this works is that you’re turning a hodgepodge of data into information,” says Raasch.

Don’t worry that you need the writing talents of an Ernest Hemmingway to make this effective. You just need to put on your storyteller hat and pretend you’re talking to a friend.

It all started for Raasch when he realized that some of the managers at Carlson weren’t getting the information they needed. They were either inundated with too much data or not getting enough. To get their teams to appropriately manage up, Raasch got them thinking in terms of mission statements and stories. For example, Carlson’s computer service folks realized that their mission could be summarized in just one word, “up.” It then became easy for them to tell their story around the concept of “up.” That meant communicating things like “How many outages are there in the system?" "How long was it down?" "What are upcoming planned outages?" "How are those outages being communicated?" All centered around the idea of keeping the system…I bet you can complete the sentence…up.

All of which can be a great way of thinking about your personal brand. Another way to get your arms around this is to reframe it as a problem, solution and results. Here is a particular problem, this is what you did to solve it and as a result a company saved X amount of money or time or made X amount more money. You can fill in the blanks.

So stop thinking about how you did this job or that piece of work. Instead start presenting your accomplishments as a story and see how much more interest you generate. How do you present your personal brand in terms of a story? I’d love to hear from you.

Wendy Marx, PR and Marketing Communications, Marx Communications, Inc.

09:27 am | 0 recommendations | 3 comments

Careers: Taking Personal Branding to the Road

Someone was complaining to me the other day about his boss, a high level apparel executive, who never takes time to visit a customer. The boss' world has become his desk and computer.

Which made me think that while everyone talks today about how the Internet has expanded our world, in some ways ironically it has made it smaller.

Given the ease of emailing, text messaging, webinaring, teleseminaring and ecommercing, we’re taking less and less time to hit the road and viscerally connect with customers and prospects.

If you’re like me you believe in the dictum of “listening to the customer.” But are we truly listening from the confines of our offices? There’s an excellent article with the wonderful title, “See for Yourself,” in the fall issue of Strategy and Business, that makes the point for firsthand observation with this pithy quote:

“What exercise is to weight loss, firsthand observation is to corporate success.”

The article argues that executives and companies that have a culture of face-to-face interactions have a superior mindset. The authors Tim Laseter and Larry Laseter write:

“Embracing firsthand observation as an integral part of your personal management style and embedding it in a company’s culture can break the fad cycle…and produce enduring results rather than just temporary improvement.”

You need to continually refreshen your personal brand by staying on the frontlines of your customers and prospects. Otherwise your brand will develop a musty, academic smell that has as much value as yesterday’s leftovers.

What are doing to keep your brand fresh?

Wendy Marx • Public Relations/Marketing Communications • President, Marx Communications, Inc. • wendy@marxcommunications.com

09:08 am | 0 recommendations | 2 comments

Careers: Emulating the Best for Your Personal Brand

My dad would always tell me what Abe Lincoln or some other sage would have said or done in a situation and I would laugh it off. I’m sure your folks had their own favorite paragons of behavior.

I was thinking of this recently when I came across an article in Fast Company by David Teten and Scott Allen on making yourself into an expert. Their advice is so blindingly simple it is brilliant:

“If you want to be perceived as an expert, act like a true expert."

The authors raise the question: “Are [experts] necessarily the most knowledgeable on the topic? No. But they have the best reputations and are generally far more financially successful than the wanna-bes.”

I’ve written before about the Young Turks of the Internet blazing a path where older folks have held back. And it struck me that a lot of what they do is assume the mantle of expert without having spent years in the trenches trying to prove themselves.

Part of acting like an expert is creating an allure about what you do. It’s no good being an expert if only your mother appreciates – or knows – what you do. Sort of like the cachet of donning expensive duds, expert behavior signals that you have the smarts and goods to carry off a task nobly.

While the Fast Company article pertains to establishing your reputation online, it’s more than relevant to the offline world as well. So how do experts act? Here are a few thoughts courtesy of Teten and Allen:

• They’re extremely careful about what they say: They know that people are paying attention to them, and that has two consequences. First of all, they know that their reputation is on the line every time they open their mouth -- that everything they say will be subject to scrutiny. Secondly, they also know that people will put a lot of weight into what they say and probably act upon it, so they feel a strong sense of responsibility to provide good information.
• Experts substantiate what they say: Experts are researchers. Sure, they have opinions, but most of them didn’t earn their reputations based purely on their opinions. So when they make statements in these groups, they often back these up by citing sources, whether it’s something they’ve written themselves or that someone else wrote. It’s especially helpful if you link to the sources you’re citing. And if it’s yourself, that’s a great promotional tool at the same time.
• Experts don't "act" smart -- they are smart: True experts don't talk down to people, but they also don't use jargon or complex language in order to sound impressive. In fact, they are generally more able than most to put the concepts into plain, simple language that everyone can understand, and are patient and willing to do so.

The authors’ closing thought might be something you want to burn into your memory:

"Act like a real expert, not a wanna-be, and you will attract more business."

How do you act like an expert? And how has it made a difference in your business?

Wendy Marx • Public Relations/Marketing Communications • President, Marx Communications, Inc. • wendy@marxcommunications.com