26 MILESTONES ON THE ROAD TO RECOGNITION

Who knows your name?The answer is all-important to your professional success.

Understand your brand’s all about the real you. You, my friend, are a brand. Anything other than the real you won’t do. Discover exactly what makes you fascinating. Build your brand on your true strengths and allow it to navigate your road to recognition.

Establish and expand a list of email subscribers. Own an audience. Email is your ace, the money medium. It’s private, permission-based and pervasive. Commit to developing an email list and using it to nurture relationships with your subscribers.

Build your personal brand with a blog. Publish your point of view. The most important personal branding development in the age of digital media is the power to publish at will and express your ideas. Start a blog and keep building on it.

Design a smart and stylish identity. Look good. Everything you create should be presented with class and continuity. Develop a tasty logo, color palette, and design standards that reflect well on your brand.

Grow a following and lead the conversion. New media is a two-way street. You can’t have a brand without an audience. Social media makes it possible to develop a tribe of followers—like-minded people with common interests—you’ll aim to educate and inspire.

IS FORBLOG

IS FORAUTHENTICITY

IS FOR DESIGN

IS FOREMAIL

IS FOR FOLLOWERS

IS FOR GOOGLE

IS FOR JOINING

IS FOR KEYWORDS

IS FORLINKEDIN

IS FOR MEDIA

IS FOR NETWORK

IS FOR PODCAST

IS FOR QUESTIONS

IS FOR RECOGNIZINGOTHERS

IS FOR SPEAKING

IS FOR TARGET

IS FOR UNIQUE

IS FORVIDEO

IS FOR WEBSITE

IS FOR eXAMINE

IS FOR ZEAL

IS FOR “YOU DO”

IS FOR HELPING

IS FOR INFLUENCERS

IS FOR CONTENTCreate content to connect with your target audience. Valuable content has magnetic power. On your blog—or in addition to it—create an interesting mix of content in various formats to earn the mindshare and trust your brand needs.

Assess how the world sees you. Search yourself. Think of Google as the business card the entire world has instant access to. You need to “Google yourself,” evaluate the results and create and execute a plan to look good in the eyes of the searcher.

Your personal brand is the engine of your career. It’s fueled by the content you publish and things you do. Recognition ignites it. Ready to rev it up? Here are your keys.

Offer what you can, whenever you can. Put goodwill to work. Don’t wait for opportunities to come to you. Find ways to be helpful. Be the first to volunteer, connect people, or get behind meaningful missions.

Lookup and connect with the people you look up to. New friends will open doors. Influential professionals have prominent friends. Seek out leaders, surround yourself with them, and find ways to be of value to them.

Join communities where ideas are incubated. Make your way into social circles. Affiliations are all-important to the growth of your brand. Find groups you’d be proud to be a part of, get involved and make your presence known.

Position your personal brand with some choice words. Got a personal glossary? When surfers go a-Googling, which words will lead them to you? Build a short list of relevant keywords and use them often on your site and across all your social media profiles.

Master the personal branding epicenter of the Internet. Cats and dogs don’t belong here. LinkedIn is the social network that means business. It’s the personal branding epicenter of the Internet. Take LinkedIn seriously and learn how to work it.

Channel your energy into the right channels. The web is wide. Media is more complex than ever and more vital. Identify the outlets that are most valued in your field and use the tools available in them to elevate your brand.

Connect with professionals—and with purpose. Make friends. Make connections fearlessly and frequently—locally, regionally and globally. Have a business card or something of even greater value to distribute. Follow-up and follow-through.

IS FOR OFFERSOffer your visitors great value—for free. Meet readers where they’re @. Expand your email list, build relationships and position yourself as an authority by offering your readers value-added content—or lead magnets—in exchange for an email address.

Turn on a mic and say what’s on your mind. Get people to listen to you. Top professionals appear on podcasts and create their own shows to capitalize on the format’s growing popularity and because the power voice offers for making genuine connections.

Ask your audience to join the conversation. Everyone loves a good listener. Identify the questions your audience seeks answers to. Ask questions. Ask people to tell you their stories. Ask for their ideas. And listen closely.

Point to the people that empower you. Share the spotlight. You won’t achieve your goals on your own. Privately and publicly, recognize the contributions of every person who’s played a part in your brand development.

Get in front of an audience.The power of the podium is undeniable. Public speakers gain credibility as subject-matter experts and enjoy many networking benefits. You need to step up to the mic and share what you know.

Develop keen insights of your target market. Who cares what you have to say? Develop a clear understanding of your target market. Develop personas with a focus on the needs of your audience and their pain points. Conduct interviews and surveys to learn as much as possible. Identify your unique value

proposition. What makes you special? Every meaningful brand has a unique value proposition. Though you may be one of millions specializing in your field, you need to develop and nurture a one-of-a-kind point of differentiation.

Look into the lens and engage viewers. Roll video into your media mix. Video increases trust and helps you come across as human and sincere. It’s become easy to make and distribute video. Look in the lens, relax and let it roll.

Construct a home on the web in your name. Master your domain. Your website is the mousetrap and your content is the cheese. Work with professionals to plan, design, write and publish a website that is the HQ of your personal brand.

Keep close tabs on your progress. Measure what matters. Your x-ray for all online efforts is analytics. Deploy Google Analytics and/or additional tools to stay informed of how visitors behave on your site and what you can do to improve their experience.

Let no roadblock slow you down. Shift into overdrive. Zeal is a “strong feeling of interest and enthusiasm that makes one determined to do something.” There is no more essential ingredient of a successful personal brand.

Make a plan to achieve your personal branding goals. Know what you’re doing? The development of your personal brand is a perpetual exercise. Create a plan for getting started as well as a list of proactive actions YOU DO regularly.

READ THE BOOK CREATED TO ACCELERATE YOUR PERSONAL BRANDING SUCCESS

www.TheRoadToRecognition.com

26 answersdetailing the exact strategies and tactics accomplished personal branders master

A roadmap you can use to accelerate your professional success

Insights from many of today’s best-known entrepreneurs