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
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