Digitizing Your Personal Brand

How To Build Your Own Personal Brand & Website

Rick SteinbrennerChief Marketing Officer

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Look How Easy It Is To Get Lost Today!

Two ways to overcome this commoditization:

1. You need a great personal brand

2. Need to take charge in getting found!2

Career Search Has REALLY Changed!

Negative marketplace dynamics – company consolidations, slow growth, sustained unemployment.

Candidate commoditization – A lot of candidates have similar skills and companies know it.

Career search engine UNDER-optimization - not using the right “key-words” on your resume/online profiles.

Employers aren’t really interested in your transferrable skills anymore.

While 2/3 of new jobs still come from networking (source: Execunet); most people you meet don’t have the time or patience to “figure you out/who you are”.

Net result: Old ways of looking for a job don’t work; you need to differentiate yourself.

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What Career Experts Say About Personal Branding

Don Schwabel: "The personal brand is, first and foremost, about the person, The clearer you are about your destination, the easier it will be to communicate why others should pay attention."

William Arruda: “Personal branding is using what makes you unique and valuable to stand out from your peers and attract the attention of people who need to know about you.”

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What’s Driving The Change In Career Search?

#1 Driver: Employers really want industry experience – they’re not interested in your “transferable skills”.

#2 Driver: Employers need to feel you can lead high performing teams…they want proof!!

#3 Driver: Your competition is working harder than ever to get visible in the marketplace…2/3 of executives surveyed are actively working to become more online visible.

Source: Execunet 2012 Job Market Intelligence Report

Thus: you must create for yourself a strategic & sustainable competitive advantage/positioning and be able to clearly artiulate this differentiation.

What is a strategic & sustainable competitive advantage/positioning (SCA)?

In short, it’s something that: You exclusively have Your competition doesn’t (or don’t realize they have it) Your customers/employers want it You need ALL 3 to have one or you don’t have it.

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What Exactly Is A Personal Brand?

It communicates exactly who you are and how you are different vs. everyone else.

It’s to the point – communicates in 30 seconds or less – just like a good TV commercial should.

It’s an expression of your unique selling proposition vs. other candidates – “Why should I hire you?”

“Famous” Personal Brands Their “Positioning”

Oprah Winfrey A good listener/counselor – role model

Steve Jobs Innovative thinking outside the “high tech” box

Martha Stewart How to live the “high life” at home

Norm Abrams How to make/fix stuff in your home

Neil Armstrong American Hero/Moonwalker

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What DefinesThe Business

What The ProductsProvide

The Products/Services

The Brand/Sub-Brand Name

First: Understand How Global Brands Really WorkIt’s all about positioning…..

What the consumer/customer REALLY buys….defines the business(es) a company is in…..

What consumers REALLY Buy

The Benefit of What They Sell

What They Sell

The Company

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Eliminates speedbumps of everyday

living

Better way of doing things(Innovation Solutions)

Power tools and home products solutions

What consumers REALLY Buy

The Benefit of What They Sell

What They Sell

The Company

An example of how one global brand really works….

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What Businesses REALLY Want From Their Employees

The “top” of the positioning pyramid defines who you are and your areas of distinction.

What employers/clients REALLY Buy

The Benefit of What You Sell

What You’re Selling

Your Title

It’s all about how you differentiate yourself at the top of the pyramid

Results Oriented

Performance

Solving a business’s problems

Your specific skills or functional discipline(s)

Jobs and/or your work

Second: Need To Understand Your Core CompetenciesExample: B2C Marketing Executive

Core Competency:

Marketing Communications

Core Competency:

Marketing GeneralManager

Advertising &

Promotions

Public Relations

Web/Social Media

Project Management

Budget Management

Effectiveness Tracking (Metrics)

Collateral

Marketing Research

MARCOM

P&L Management

Supply Chain Management

Make vs. Buy Decisions

Trade Marketing/

Pricing

Channel Management

Intellectual Property

Management

Innovation:R&D/

Engineering

You do this by developing your own problem, action, result stories

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Personal Branding ProcessHow Do I Get There?

Define Your Strategic

Competitive Advantage

(SCA)

Identify Your Problem,

Action, Result Stories (PAR)

– Core Competencies

Final SCA/Brand Messaging

Tools

Current Industry Situation Analysis

New Industries/Hunting Grounds (i.e. B2C and/or B2B)

Who are you?What do you offer? Where can you go? How do I getthere?

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Positioning Statement Template

To: target market, X is a brandin the frame of reference having a

benefit/point of difference.

Support/Reasons Why: #1 #2 #3 etc.

A well thought positioning statement should define your sustainable competitive advantage vs. others

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How To Develop Your Brand Positioning Statement

Key Elements of a Personal Brand Positioning Statement

1) Target Market(s) Challenged global brands/businesses

2) Who You Are Global consumer brand/product marketer – the “Global Brand Guy”

3) Frame of Reference Business to consumer companies

4) Benefits/Points of Difference Delivers breakthrough sales/profitability growth results

5) Reason Why a) Returns profitability for declining businesses in commoditized categories

Reason Why b) Identifies and drives innovative new products from inception through launch

Reason Why c) Develops unique MARCOM programs which build core brand equity

Positioning Statement Example:

The “Global Brand Guy”

Global consumer brand/product marketer driving business-building initiatives and new product innovations delivering breakthrough results for challenged global B2C brands.

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www.globalbrandguy.com

Career Profiles

Flyers/Brochures

Podcast InterviewsLinked In Profile

Personal Website

Business C

ard

QR Codes

Third: Develop Personal Brand Messaging Tools

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Going Digital Building Your Own Personal Website

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Why Consider Developing Your Own Website? Old communication tools are rapidly becoming:

More digital/online, less paper driven

More commoditized – it’s harder to get found

A lot of people now have their own sites – just look at consultants/bloggers

It’s now easier than ever to set up a site on your own – don’t really need an IT person.

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Step #1 – Develop Your Site Layout/Content/Budget

What do you want your website to accomplish?

Simple career or client experience summaries/case studies Showcasing your work portfolios (i.e. TV commercials, print ads, brochures, websites, etc.) Blogging – demonstrating your thought leadership/sharing content E-commerce – lead generation, resource selling or service Hybrids of the above

How much do you want to spend? Drives customized sites vs. use of off the shelf “themes”. Customized designs will cost 2-3 times more than themes.

Do an outline – a simple one will do and start gathering your content.

Consider doing videos – they are now cheaper and can really bring your website to life.

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Step #2 – Decide on Content Management System (CMS)

A content management system (CMS) is online software which allow non “techies” to easily set up a website. It includes elements like:

Document management - images and other media Automated templates or “themes” Access control (portals) Extensions to help with site functionality – i.e. plug-ins, widgets, modules, etc. Easily editable/change Collaboration/posting Multi-lingual

Notable CMS Providers (in priority rank):1. Wordpress: The most popular CMS. Started as a blogger only CMS, now a fully functional CMS.

2. Joomla! More complex, but complexity does come with more functionality than Wordpress.

3. Drupal: Still even more difficult to use, but it’s the most secure. The White House uses this system.

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Step #3 – Developing and Selecting A Domain Name Two basic types of domains:

Organic: Means you want people to find your site “organically” with key words or phrases. Two types: Using an unique name like: www.ricksteinbrenner.com or develop an unique and

memorable “brand” name like www.globalbrandguy.com.

Can also have aliases – sometimes called 301 re-directs/”parked” domains. This means when you type in the name of one site, it re-directs you to the main one.

Paid:This means exactly as it sounds – you’re paying for a name already developed and owned by someone elseIf it’s a good name, search engines will find it faster and easier; however can be pricey.

Where do you buy domains?: GoDaddy.com: Largest domain provider – runs deals all the time – as little as $4.95/name for whole year. Register.com: Starting at $12.95/month Network Solutions: can buy domain for as little as $2.95 for first year, then regular price takes over.

Need to look at fine print when you buy domains. Some sites can buy it back from you if they become too popular.

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Step #4 – Decide Where Your Content Resides To make your site visible, you need a web server - two approaches:

Hosting your own site: You need to consider hardware/software costs, 24 hour connection/power source.

Web Host Shared/Managed/Cloud-based Providers: Can be more stable, better response time/bandwidths.

Things to think about when selecting a web host provider: Toll free 24/7 hour support – look for US based support.

Reliability and downtime – Site needs to be up 99.99% of time (means only 1 hour/year downtime).

Daily backup – you might need to restore your site without recreating it AGAIN! (hacking).

Traffic Restrictions/Bandwidth: – Look for “unlimited” – especially if you’re using photos or videos.

E-mail capabilities – Use your domain in your e-mail address – helps with branding.

Top 3 Web Hosting Shared Providers: #1 – Hostgator.com: 24/7 toll-free support (US based); unlimited disk/bandwidth; starting at $3.96/month.

#2 – Rochen.com: Ideal for Joomla sites – good for small business; online support only; $8.95/month.

#3 – Rackspace.com: Best for larger sites when you outgrow the other two. Expensive and you need to configure your own servers.

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Step #5 – How Do You Want To Build Your Site?

Best approach might be a hybrid of DIFM and DIY – Use a designer to help set up site; then let them

teach you how to maintain/change it.

Also – your site will need to be maintained for version changes, upgrades, etc. Need to consider on- going technical support.

“Do It for Me”

Get exactly what you want – endless design choices.

You manage the process vs. doing the legwork – which can be time consuming.

Will be more expensive than DIY – usually $3-5M.

Need to be absolutely clear with designers re: site outline/content/design.

Future site changes might not be so easy since you might not know where things are or have know-how to do them.

“Do It Yourself”

You can easily do it yourself without web designers or IT support.

Can be inexpensive – a few hundred dollars to $2M at most.

Most CMS templates are very intuitive and easy to use.

Customization is limited only to theme design and available plug-ins/widgets.

Some CMS templates might require some understanding of programming language (PHP).

If you’re not used to powerpoint/photoshop, you might be technically challenged.

Most themes are “one size fits all” – a simple change might not be so simple.

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Step #6 – Importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Goal: Show up on page 1 of search engine results like Google – must optimize your site for SEO

First step, develop a sitemap XML file and register it with search engines: Google Yahoo MSN/Bing (Microsoft) Be sure to register it with and without “www”.

Second, pick and install SEO plug in on your site – Yoast or All in One SEO pack – both can be free.

Third, edit SEO copy for your pages/categories/posts: Permalinks: permanent URL’s for your pages or posts. Key Words: Words people use to find content. Use phrases not single words. Tags: Describes a SPECIFIC item like a thing, item or person. Meta Descriptions: Gives page summaries underneath headings in Google.

Finally, optimize your inbound links on sites more popular than yours – like Google, Facebook, etc. But remember, Google search algorithms are now focusing on REAL content people WANT to read.

It may take some time – maybe up to a year – before you start showing up on Google.

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Step #7 – Protect/Maintain Your Site

Backing up your site is important – it’s an insurance policy against recreating your site. Hacking. Technical glitches or malfunctions by the web host provider or CMS. Protects against unforeseen version upgrade compatibility issues

How often you back up depends on how often your site content is updated.

Back up not only with web host provider, but also put file on your hard drive.

Protect your site against spam – Akismet.com – particularly helpful if you’re using your site for blogging. Only $5/month.

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Summary

Identify your core competencies/SCA , develop your positioning, and then your personal brand.

Have a website content/layout strategy – be clear on what you want and how you want it to work.

Develop relevant content – work examples, case studies, best practices, white papers etc.

Pick the “best” domains, web host providers and CMS that fit your needs.

Decide if you want to do the site yourself, have someone DIFM, or something in between.

Once you finish building your site – you’re not done. Optimize the site from a SEO/SEM perspective.

Protect your site and have some type of maintenance plan to make sure your site continues to work.

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