Secure Your Brand

I was reading an interesting article by Brian Krebs that I want to pass along to everyone about keeping your personal brand secure when it comes to social networking sites.

Planting Your Flag at Social Networking Sites an article in the Washington Post discusses that if you have not embraced social media, you might want to at least consider making claim on your name or personal brand before someone else does. The article further mentions a website called knowem.com which allows you to check to see if your name, brand or nickname is already registered at approximately 120 social networking sites. There is a fee of $65 for the search but knowem.com will register all available accounts on your behalf.

While I don’t think you need to rush out to use the knowem.com service, I do think it is wise to think about your brand and protect it when/where you can.

Six Ways To Perfect Your Elevator Pitch

I work in a large multi-tenant midtown Manhattan office building and have had the pleasure of listening in on many “elevator pitches.” Granted, most elevator pitches don’t actually happen in an elevator. Often you only have the length of time it takes a potential client to walk down the hall to their office or an investor to drink a glass of wine. There is a lot of pressure to get your message across in a clear, concise and unique manner in a short period of time.

Establishing your personal brand in your elevator pitch is as important as it is in an online profile or your resume. The point of the pitch is to pique the interest of your potential client or new acquaintance just enough so that they will want to continue the conversation. The desired result is the opportunity to go to the next step – a follow up phone call, meeting, interview or referral.

Here are 6 ways to make sure your pitch gets a noticed:

Know your objective: Are you looking for a new job? Do you have a new product or service to inform others about? Did your company win a new client or prestigious award? What story do you want to tell? If you know your objective it will help you craft the right message.

Know your audience: Tailor your pitch to your specific audience. That means you will need multiple versions of your pitch that you can mix and match depending on who you are talking to and what your objective is. If you are pitching to a potential investor, focus on how you plan to make money. If you are pitching to a potential employer, explain how you do your job better than anyone else. A potential customer, what problem can you solve for them.

Be passionate and creative: Make your pitch personal and show your excitement and passion for what you do. Grab the person’s attention with your creativity.

Speak in grade school english: Your audience may not know the technical aspects or acronyms of your industry. You may lose your audience if you speak in abstracts, consultant speak or techno babble.

Listen: Conversations are two way streets. People love to talk about themselves so ask questions that engage your audience and then be quiet and listen. You will gain valuable information and ideas and expand your contacts.

Finish the pitch: Your goal is to get a business card and permission to follow up with a phone call.

Personal Business Cards

 Staying on the topic of spring cleaning… I cleared off my desk and found a stack of business cards. As I was looking through the stack I realized a few of the people in the stack are now out of work. I wonder how many of those people have created personal business cards for their job search.

When you are in the process of looking for a new job and networking, utilizing a business card as a marketing tool is imperative and can help differentiate you from others. Be mindful of your personal brand as you create your card.

Besides the basic benefit of utilizing a personal business card so that potential employers and people in your network have your basic contact information a well thought out card can also provide information on the kind of job you are targeting and your unique skill set. Including things like your job focus, objective, skills or unique accomplishments.

If you can afford it, I recommend having your cards printed professionally. That way you can ensure the design and content are consistent with your personal brand. If you can’t afford professionally made cards, you can print your own using stock bought at any office supply store or order them online for free utilizing vista print. I met a man at a networking event recently that started a website called Your Business Card Sucks. It might give you a little insight into good and bad design aspects of business cards.

Keep your cards in a card holder so that when you had them out they look new. Your card is an extension of your personal brand and image. If they are worn, bent or dirty what kind of impression will someone have of you?

Bring your cards with you everywhere you go. I mean everywhere. There are going to be many times when you won’t have a resume handy or it won’t be an appropriate situation to hand a resume to someone. Your personal business card will do the trick, and don’t forget to ask for one in return. Once you do, don’t forget to add that person to your LinkedIn contacts.

Spring Cleaning

Today is one of the first beautiful days in New York and I realize it is time to put away my bulky sweaters and winter wardrobe and pull out my shorts and flip flops. Spring cleaning is not for closets alone, but can also be used as a time to reflect on your personal life and make changes for the future.

Take some time to think about areas in your life which could use some attention. One such area that many people ignore is their online personal brand. When was the last time you brushed off the cobwebs on your LinkedIn profile or updated your Facebook page? Chances are, it has been a while.

Think of how many opportunities you are missing out on because you have incomplete or stale information online. Having a complete and updated profile gives you an advantage in the marketplace. The more up-to-date and specific you are in your profile, the easier it will be to be found online by colleagues and recruiters. Think of it as your own personal version of search optimization.

Once you have updated your profile online, begin to update your network. It is one of the most valuable assets you have and will greatly help in expanding your job search or career advancement. Most social networking sites give you the ability to upload your address book and see who in your network is already utilizing that service. Connect with those people immediately. Then, invite other people and begin to expand your network further. It is amazing to see how vast your network truly is after you put a little effort into it. The job of your dreams might now only be only a degree or two away because you connected with someone you met recently at a work or charity event.

Don’t wait until spring cleaning or the loss of a job in order to update your online profile or cultivate your network. The key is to continually update your profiles and expand your network so that you can enjoy the fruits of your labors.

Follow the Leaders

I have always had an easy time meeting people and making friends.  As a child, my parents always called me a social butterfly.  When I think back to my childhood where my networking skills began, I think of the game follow the leader.   It was usually pretty easy to identify who the leader was, all you had to do was look at the front of the line and follow along wherever they went.

How do you play follow the leader as an adult?   Utilizing social media tools can get you in front of industry leaders, it just takes a little effort.

Today I will focus on Twitter as I believe it is one of the easiest to participate in and, in some ways opens doors to industry leaders in a way unlike most other social networking tools.  Did you know that CEO’s of major corporations use Twitter and LinkedIn? Back in the fall BusinessWeek ran an article about Tweets from Chiefs.   You can have open conversations with the experts and build your network and personal brand with ease. 

First, you have to sign up for a Twitter account and create your micro-bio (140 word profile).  Next, import and search all of your professional friends, acquaintances and family and start to “follow” them on Twitter.  Pay attention as you are reading your Google alerts, industry blogs and figure out which experts in your industry are using Twitter and follow them as well.  When you follow people many times they follow you back.

Pay attention to the conversations that are happening around you on Twitter and then start to get involved.  “Tweet” (reply to) posts when you have something interesting to contribute to the conversation. Add your own insightful observations, links and content about your area of interest or focus.  Do this every day and watch how your network will grow and you will begin have real dialogue with industry experts that you would never had access to before. 

Follow the leader on Twitter and who knows when the leader might just be you. Want to learn more about Twitter and how to start? Check out the

CNET newbie guide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Two Cents!

I was recently a guest speaker to a room full of Drexel University Alumni about personal branding and job search strategies.  It amazed me how many people in the room were not taking full advantage of web 2.0 resources to help gain a competitive edge in this crazy job market.  I had been avoiding throwing my voice into the blogsphere, but after the multiple thank you emails from participants at the Drexel event. I realized my two cents has a whole lot of value to job seekers.

I hope to utilize this forum to help you define, or in some cases re-define your personal brand so that you can find your own career success.  I will ask friends of mine who are subject matter experts in various aspects of PR, Recruitment, Selection and Human Resources to