Personal BrandingConnections. Content. Commerce.

Cassie PruettReach Group Consultingcassie@reachgroupconsulting.com

Presentation at Women 2.1 SummitKNUST UniversityKumasi, Ghana

ARE YOU LIKE THE IMPALA?

WHAT IS PERSONAL BRANDING?

• Personal Branding is how you share andmarket yourself to others.*

• Your personal brand is made up of bothoffline and online:– Connections– Content– Commerce

*Adapted from Dan Schawbel’s def.

NOT WORRIED ABOUT YOUR BRAND?Neither was Kevin Colvin…

THE STAGES OF BUILDING A P.B.Learn. Grow. Share.

•Be a student of yourself

•Be a student of others

•Be a storyteller and a teacher

BE A STUDENT OF YOURSELFNo one knows you better than you

• Take your interestsseriously

• Notice what otherpeople see in you

• Pay attention to howyou feel - energized vsdrained

• Write down milestonemoments

• Identify themes

WHAT MAKES YOU MEMORABLE?Give people the opportunity to experience you

• Every person andbrand creates afeeling, an experienceand an expectation.

• Lead with yourgreatest strengths andproject what you wantin the future.

• Show people whatmakes you unique.

BE A STUDENT OF OTHER PEOPLEIdentify who and what is available to you now and begin

• Tap into your current online and offline communitiesand networks– Friends / Peers / Colleagues

– Faculty / Professors / Alumni

– Professional connections

• Identify other people and organizations that you canreach out to and learn from

• Challenge: Have 20 people on your list to reach outto by the end of the month.

BE A STUDENT OF INTENTIONIdentify who and what is available to you now and begin

• Customize your education by accessing freeinformation online.

• My favorite ways to learn online:– Blogs / RSS Feeds– Google Alerts– iTunes University / Podcasts– Slideshare.com– TED.com– Wikipedia.com

DEFENSE

YOUR CURRENT VIRTUAL IDENTITYWhat does your brand currently communicate online?

• Step 1: Google your name• Step 2: Clean up all public profiles• Step 3: Adjust privacy settings• Step 4: Distinguish professional from

personal profiles

OFFENSE

BRAND YOURSELF ONLINEShare your story, ideas and business with the world

• Create professional profiles on socialnetworks and have a website

• Create a content strategy using socialmedia - make your knowledge visible

• Monitor your brand by setting up alertsfor your name and topic(s) of interest

CLAIM YOUR NAMEShare your story, ideas and business with the world

• Buy your personal and business domainname(s) URL (yourname.com,yourname.com.gh)

• Purchase from sites such as Register.com,GoDaddy.com

• Grab your name on social networks• Setup your Google profile

YOUR PRIMARY WEBSITEShare your story, ideas and business with the world

• The Basics– Contact information and picture– Description of who you are, areas of

expertise/study, and services you provide– Testimonials and/or referrals– Links to appropriate social networks and content

• Options– Build a website with free and easy-to-use tools

such as Wix.com or hire a web designer– Forward “www.yourname.com” to another website,

blog, social media CV or social network profilepage

Built for free in less than an hour on Weebly.com

SOCIAL MEDIA CV

VisualCV.com

SOCIAL NETWORK STATISTICSShare your story, ideas and business with the world

• 80% of jobs come through networking• 45% of HR managers and 1 in 10 University

admissions officers now use social networksto research candidates

• First impressions now happen via Google andFacebook

• Your future employer, customer or client canget to know you before they ever meet you.

SOCIAL NETWORKSShare your story, ideas and business with the world

• Top Social Networks– Facebook: 250+ million active users worldwide– LinkedIn: Professional networking, referrals, online

CV– MySpace: Music, video, art and other media– Twitter: Small bits of timely information, share

personality and expertise– Xing: Professional networking, job boards, read in

16 languages

BLOG:A website with journal-likeentries organized in reversechronological order.

WHY BLOGSShare your story, ideas and business with the world

• Websites with blogs get 55% more trafficthan those without (according to HubSpotsurvey)

• Share timely information and multimediacontent

• Build community through information• Easy to start and use• Wordpress.com, Blogger.com, Typepad.com

IF YOU START A BLOGShare your story, ideas and business with the world

• Have a professional design that reflects yourstyle

• Have a title and lens that centers around yourexpertise, passions, and career goals

• Read, comment on and link to other blogswith similar or complementary topics andinterests

• Filter, edit and aggregate information• Have an opinion• Use multimedia when possible

WHAT’S POSSIBLE WITH A BLOG?Share your story, ideas and business with the world

17 YEAR-OLD JANE ALDRIDGE WRITES THE “SEA OF SHOES”BLOG AND NOW HAS HER OWN LINE AT URBAN OUTFITTERS

WHAT’S POSSIBLE WITH VIDEO?Share your story, ideas and business with the world

LAUREN LUKE’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL HAS OVER 8.5MILLION VIEWS. YOU CAN NOW FIND HER MAKEUP LINE

IN SEPHORA

EMBRACE WHAT’S COMINGTake advantage of your opportunity. Become a leader.

“The future is already here. It’s

just not very evenly

distributed.”- Wiliam Gibson

Now, go tell your friends…

OTHER FREE RESOURCES

- Over 300+ free and low-cost online tools:

www.FREEAGENTSMARTSOLUTIONS.com

- Free Agent Formula - Download the first chapter:

www.FREEAGENTFORMULA.com

- Find me on Twitter:

www.TWITTER.com/CASSIEPRUETT