Building, Selling and Protecting Brand YOU:

Who Do You Think You Are?

For theUtah Supplier Development Council

Presented September 20, 2012By James T. Phillips, CPM, C.P.M. CPPB, A.P.P.

We’ll Answer:

Who Do You Think You Are?What Makes You YOU?

How Do You Keep What You’ve Got?

Ancillary Concepts to Consider

• The current economy suggests we live by our wits. Improvise. Survive.• Brand is a promise of value you’ll

receive.• In your personal or business life

what have you learned from the big organizations’ brands?

Sooooo,Who Do You

Think You Are?

“Don’t Compromise yourself, honey. You’re all you’ve got.”

— Janice Joplin

You are Brand YOU Marketing Manager

“About two years ago I realized I was no longer a person, but a brand.”

— Martha Stewart

Walt Owens, Jay Healy or Joe Frauhgum

Whether you work for a Fortune 500 company or a company of

one, from now on you’re:

Brand YOU

Discovering

Brand YOU

Test: What Makes You Different?

• Introduce Brand YOU–An elevator summary (4 floors)–Me-in-30-Seconds–Write them down & have several

styles• Set yourself apart from everyone

else, especially the competition

Developing

Brand YOU

Ask & Write Down

• What makes you distinctive from competitors?• What have you done lately – this week –

to stand out?• What would colleagues or customers say

is your greatest and clearest strength?• What is your most noteworthy personal

trait?

What is the ‘Feature—Benefit Model’ of Brand YOU?

• List the ‘feature—benefit model’ you reflect– Don’t use usual descriptors, don’t be normal– Don’t use a job description

• Ask: “What do I do that I’m most proud of?”• Ask: “What have I accomplished that I can

unabashedly brag about?”

Focus on

What I do that adds value?What I do that I can be proud of?

What I can shamelessly take credit for?

One Last Question …

What do I want to be famous for?

What Makes You …YOU ?

What Do You Have To Sell?

• Don’t sell the steak, sell the sizzle!!–No matter how beefy your skills, how tasty

your features—benefits, sell your product!– Everyone’s got steak – no one has your

sizzle!

On to the Branding Campaign

• Step One : Visibility– Customers buy based on impressions. What are

you doing?• Work on projects inside a project.• Teach a class at a community college or professional

association.• Write for a wide-coverage newsletter, newspaper,

magazine, blog, in-house paper, etc.• Sit on a panel at a conference or monthly association

meeting.• Other? (this is the audience participation part)

Branding Campaign continued …

• Step Two: It All Matters– Everything you do communicates the value and

character of Brand YOU.• Everything you do matters; everything you don’t do

matters.– Substance – what you say and how well you say it.– Style – how it (you) looks, feels and works.

Branding Campaign continued …

• Step Three: Getting the Word Out– The key to a personal branding campaign is word-

of-mouth marketing of Brand YOU.• Networking – at its best – to friends, colleagues,

clients and customers.

Networking as seen in Nature

Protecting & Keeping What

You’ve Got.

How?

Selfishness• As CEO (Chief Everything Officer) of ME, Inc. it

requires constantly working on Brand YOU.– Constantly grow and promote yourself.– Check the Market• Follow your brand’s value everywhere you can

(Internet).– You don’t have to be looking for a job to go on a job

interview.

Projects

Projects = DeliverablesDeliverables = MeasurablesMeasurables = Braggables

(remember Marketing?)(70% of your time should be spent developing projects)

Think, act, breath & work in Projects

Marketing Brochure

• Brand YOU advertises from a marketing brochure not a résumé.– Display skills sets – hard and soft – and

capabilities.– Play down positions filled or title held.

• Use the Internet and social media to advantage.

A User Group

• Just like a software development company, organize a small trusted group of users.–People who’ll be honest and constructive.–Willing to meet at least twice a year.–Prepared to focus on developing brand

loyalty.

Your Challenge: Embrace the Free Agency / Freelancer environment of

the Age of the Individual

From The Dawn of the E-Lancer Economy HBR article by Thomas W. Malone and Robert J.

Laubacher

“The fundamental unit of such an economy is not the corporation but the individual. Tasks aren’t assigned and

controlled through a stable chain of management but rather are carried out autonomously by independent contractors.

These electronically connected freelancers – e-lancers – join together into fluid and temporary networks to produce and

sell goods and services. When the job is done – after a day, a month, a year – the network dissolves and its members

become independent agents again, circulating through the economy, seeking the next assignment.”

Now you know who you are ~

Go—

Build, Sell and Protect

Brand YOU

Thanks for participating!

James T. Phillips, CPM, C.P.M., CPPB, A.P.P.jamesphillips@utah.gov

801.230.8331