The Living Brand
Make Yourself Indispensable with Personal branding

Our world is well branded. Stand anywhere - inside your office or home, on a sidewalk or in a church - a 360-degree turn will reveal brands galore, guaranteed. These are logos, shapes, colors, but also the ideas and associations we carry within us. Businesses have long ago learned the value - no, the absolute necessity -- of branding, but today perhaps more than ever individuals are learning the lesson, too.

"Personal branding" has been a buzz phrase recently, and for good reason. No longer is a 30-year position at a company viewed as an accomplishment without significant advancement. For both employee and employer, it can be a sign of stagnation. Today's workers can be viewed as free agents, and with historically high unemployment rates, competition is fierce. People need to stand out amongst competitors and co-workers, and a great way to do that is by building a personal brand.

But as Tom Peters points out in his August 2007 Fast Company article "The Brand Called You," building a personal brand within the workplace and understanding employment as free agency does not mean there is a lack of loyalty. Peters says free agents are loyal to co-workers, to a company's mission and to projects. A company that employs a staff of well-branded employees will have a team of talented, inspired people that have a strong understanding of what they do well and how to do it for you. No stagnancy there. People remain employed with the company because it is where they want to be, and working on projects they are thrilled to work on.

So, how does an individual build a personal brand? Exactly the same way a company does.

Personal brand development begins with research to identify the brand you already have but are unaware of. This involves personal exploration: What do you think sets you apart from the pack? What value do you bring to projects and the workplace? Questions like these need to be answered not only by you but by those around you. Ambitious employees developing a personal brand are wise to inquire with co-workers, supervisors, clients, colleagues and anyone working with you as to what your personal brand is, gaining an honest perspective of Brand Me.

From here, you can develop a mission statement, and a brand identity statement. Using the research as a basis, build on the strengths you already have and include in the statement elements of your brand that need to be developed. Perhaps there are general misconceptions about your personal brand that need to be cleared up. Perhaps no one knows about your strong eye for design or your ability to facilitate creative brainstorming sessions. That's no good.

Once your brand is identified, you need to get the message out like a true marketer. Social media tools like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter offer endless opportunities to establish your personal brand broadly. But personal branding in the workplace is key. Have your identity statement visible as a constant reminder, and live your brand in every meeting, phone call, email and water-cooler chat. Create brand visibility in your workplace by volunteering for projects and tasks beyond your regular duties that will affirm your brand for co-workers. And beyond the workplace, cultivate your brand as an expert and authority by writing a column for the paper, sitting on a panel or a board, and volunteering.

Gaining power need not be an arrogant pursuit. To be a good brand, you must have influence in the marketplace. In the case of personal branding, this means that co-workers and managers view you as a leader, clients trust your opinions and ideas, and colleagues at large see you as the best at what you do. A well-researched, expertly developed, and highly visible personal brand will build this.

The concept of employees as free agents marketing a personal brand may make some employers uncomfortable. In suggesting employees to build a brand to stand out, we are not suggesting that employees constantly seek other employment. The best way to build a strong personal brand is to be indispensable to the company you currently work for. Savvy companies with well-branded employees that have resumes that act as brochures will recognize that this is an asset to the company. These are people with pride in what they do, and they see their actions on each project as consequential to their brand reputation at large. These people will not stagnate, and as a result neither will the company.

A-Train Marketing & Communications is happy to talk to you about your personal brand. Give us a call.


In The Know
Meet the LinkedIn Expert
Viveka von Rosen, consultant for success

While Viveka von Rosen is a nationally known speaker, certified life and business coach, and social media strategist, among her many qualifications, to her over 14,000 followers on Twitter she is known simply as @LinkedInExpert. On the business networking site, she ranks in the top three out of 40 million users as a site expert and trainer. B-Sides caught up with her to briefly discuss using social media to develop a personal brand.

B-Sides: You have credentials that warrant describing yourself as a LinkedIn expert. What are they?
@LinkedInExpert: I like to say that I got the name first; that's why I'm the LinkedIn expert. No, I've done a lot of training with Integrated Alliances, over 30 hours of classes. I'm certified by them. And I'm hooked up with linked strategies, some of the top LinkedIn people in, I guess, the world. So I guess now I can call myself a LinkedIn expert.

B-Sides: What are some common mistakes people make on LinkedIn?
@LinkedInExpert: Not having a good profile, not optimizing their profile with keywords. That's all you have to do to get found on the LinkedIn search engine. Most of my clients I get through the LinkedIn search engine - well, not right now because LinkedIn just shut me down. But in a week or so I'll show up well again. So, the second thing is absolutely following their end-user agreement.

B-Sides: Do you mind if I ask? What did you do?
@LinkedInExpert:You definitely don't want more than one profile. A lot of my clients think they should have a personal profile and a profile for their company. You can have a company profile, but you don't want a personal profile that's only your company. They will turn you off if you do that. That's not what I did. I went to see a SEO [search engine optimization] expert and she said to put your keywords in your name field since it has such weight in Google. So, I did that, and LinkedIn shut me down. I'm talking to them now, and apologized and they are reinstating me.

B-Sides: Any other common mistakes?
@LinkedInExpert: You can customize your profile and a lot of people don't do that, so it looks amateur. The other thing is having a small network. There is no point in using LinkedIn if your network is small. If you connect with the right people, you can still have a small number of connections, but a network in the millions. That's the only way to be seen.

B-Sides: How important is the photo?
@LinkedInExpert: Very. You absolutely have to have a photo, and please make it somewhat attractive. Someone recently tried to connect with me and I swear they tried to look like a mass murderer. I've never been so scared by a photo before. You don't have to be gorgeous, but try to have a nice smile that reaches your eyes. And don't have a logo. They shut you down for that.

B-Sides: How do you use social media to develop a personal brand?
@LinkedInExpert: If you can, get a URL on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook that's the same. For many their name is their brand, or a describer, like I'm LinkedInExpert. Have your mission and vision statement on a sticky note on your monitor or something to remind yourself why you are on, what you're representing.

B-Sides: But you have to mix it up, right? You can't say the same thing over and over as if all you are doing is marketing.
@LinkedInExpert: Oh, yeah. You don't want to be sell, sell selling. You want to have 60/20/20: Sixty percent relevant in your industries, and that's not pushing your own crap. It's forwarding useful tips and tricks from other people. And then 20 percent is me sitting there having a bowl of cereal, personable. And then 20 percent you can be a little sales-y.

B-Sides: How does an employee build personal brand in the workplace while also upholding the company's best interests?
@LinkedInExpert: Companies need to start having social media standard operating procedures, because this is going to become an absolutely huge issue. What I tell people is your LinkedIn profile is yours. Your company can't tell you to not have one. On Facebook, obviously your personal profile is your personal branding. You may want to create a separate profile that's linked to your company. Twitter: if you are using your personal email, you own your followers. And you can create as many accounts as you want, so separate your company's from yours.


The Hook Up
Meet Up:
Business Cards

If you think your business card is disposable, you need a business card makeover. Business cards aren't disposable; they are indispensable. The business card is the workhorse of your marketing efforts. While other print collateral may offer more detailed info about who you are and what you do, items like brochures are distributed discriminately. But the business card is the go-to print piece you should feel comfortable leaving anywhere, everywhere and with everyone. It should be spread widely and circulated freely, in part because it costs less than most other collateral.

But when we say the business card costs less, we are careful not to call them "cheap." Too often folks overlook the mighty, mini card and approach it with less gusto than they would other marketing materials, like an ad or a menu. We think this is not only unfortunate, but inappropriate. We encourage an investment of creativity, design and money into this mighty marketer. Here are some tips:

Consider design The vast majority of business cards are the same pale rectangle with logo and flat print. They are generic. Since the business card has greater utility power than other print collateral - it serves as a contact carrier - creativity is often overlooked. But think about it: Your business card is the most broadly distributed representation of who you are and what you do. Would you treat a website this way? Have your business card designed by a professional, like the A-Train design team, that can counsel you on how to make the card stand out. You may be introduced to wild world of die cutting. Shaping your business card to match your brand will ensure you stand out. In this case, cutting corners shows hard work.

Increase its utility Yes, the card should carry all pertinent contact info about you - and now, we suggest you consider including social media contacts - but its utility can go beyond that. Use the back of the card for a special promotion, a space for appointment reminders, a call to action, something that will increase its usefulness as well as the likelihood it is not discarded easily.

Quality and quantity The surest way to ensure your business card ends up in the wash or used to discard gum is to print it on thin, cheap paper. Select the paper quality before printing to be sure the color and finish are appropriate for the design as well as of a quality that will signal quality to the recipient. It's also recommended to ask your printer for a printed proof before approving the full run. Also, it is advisable to print in volume. You'll save money, feel compelled to give them away, and not have to be concerned with reordering. Plan for a year's worth.


A-Train Update

September was an exciting month for us at A-Train. Most notably, we had a very successful day at the Northern Colorado Business Report's Bixpo, the area's largest business expo. We alluded to our plans in last month's "B-Sides" and managed to keep it a secret while still creating significant buzz. The A-Train booth was converted into Studio A-Train, a functioning TV talk show set where we hosted interviews all day long with some of the area's top business leaders. We felt like this was an ambitious project and are very pleased with how well it went off. Look for interviews on the Fort Collins Public Access Network (FC PAN) soon - and look for us to continue the live interview idea in other forms.

A-Train Public Relations Manager Josh Johnson - which is actually me, I should admit - was named one of the 40 Under Forty by NCBR at the Bixpo luncheon.

A-Trainers also spent a day in Estes in September at the annual Scottish- Irish Highland Festival. It was a feast of meat pies, haggis, scotch whiskey, and it was awash with bagpipes and plaid. A great day. If you've yet to make it up there for this event, we highly recommend you do next year.