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Thursday, October 3, 2019

This is How To Promote YOU

Last week I attended a marketing workshop filled with like-minded business entrepreneurs. I also attended a networking event where there was more learning and interaction with others. Events like these I find enjoyable and a chance to communicate and connect with new contacts.

It was uplifting to hear about the different types of business and roles others were in and the various ways they market themselves and their business. However, one or two were not clear on their direction and being able to communicate that.

Try These Points to Progress Your Personal Brand

It made me realise that whether you are in business large or small or work for someone, it is essential to have clarity on your role and to be able to express that. How can a business professional promote their services and brand if they can’t succinctly say what they do?

Who are You?

I recently wrote about the Points to Progress Your Personal Brand. One tip was to promote yourself. That can happen in many ways, more of which we will explore in future blogs. However, the first step is to be able to articulate who you are and what you do in a short sentence. You may call it your elevator pitch, promo or personal brand statement.

If you’ve been following on with this series of blogs, you would have by now pinpointed the personality of you brand. Let’s take that one step further and look at all the words you came up with about your company or business brand plus words to describe your personal brand, your values and passions.

Take time to write down words and adjectives in the following way.

YOU Describe everything you can about your personal or business brand plus your personal brand attributes and passions. Take all those adjectives and put them into a list titled – you.

DO Write down your skills and talents that you use in your role. Your action or verb words such as organise, negotiate, counsel, communicate, increase and write these words under the heading of – do. We’ll call these two sets your input words.

THEM  Now look at how those elements have an impact on or help your target audience to achieve their needs. This set of words is your outputs. We’ll put under the heading of – them. You also need to have a clear understanding of who they (your target) really are.

Now we work toward a catch phrase. You might have lots of similar sounding words so a Thesaurus may come in handy. Choose words that really resonate with you or perhaps you’d like to build on. Not false words or unauthentic words. We’re after a statement that really is you.

It might take a while to condense all these words into a single sentence. What you’re after is a clear statement that communicates what you in your business or career stand for and what you are bringing to the world.

With practise you might be able to develop this into a short promo or commercial about you when you meet people or you’re out networking. It may be that this personal brand or signature statement is developed further into a business tag line. After all business is personal and we bring our personal nature into everything we do.

It does takes rehearsal to be able to speak a short, succinct sentence. However, being able to explain what you do and how you help your target audience – in a single statement is very grounding. Not only from a face-to-face communication point of view but it can be a very clear base from which to build and communicate your brand further.

Try this example:

(Who) John/Jane Smith & Co is a…. (What you do) who helps …. (Them...target market) with … (what is the issue or problem I help with) ….to achieve (the final outcome).

This is an example of how I would use the above formula.

Sue Currie is a leading light, inspiring, professional (adjectives that have been used to describe me) who uses her bright, energy (more adjectives) to transform and reinvigorate (do words) business leaders and entrepreneurs (them) to develop a stand-out personal and professional brand. (the outcome for them)

Now that is a very long-winded sentence so to condense it down, I would say:

Sue Currie helps and empowers business leaders and entrepreneurs to create a brand that has impact and influence, so they shine.

If I was out networking, I might say, “I’m Sue Currie, the founder of Shine Academy, we help business leaders develop an impactful brand.”

How do you promote YOU with your personal brand statement?

Learn more about personal branding with my free video series, NOOK, LOOK, HOOK, 3 Steps to Build a Stand Out Personal Brand.

Sue Currie is a speaker and the author of IMPRESSario, Present and Promote the Star Within You. She is recognised as a leading authority on personal branding to boost image, profile, brand and business. Through her image management and profile building programs, workshops, consulting and keynote presentations, Sue helps businesses and entrepreneurs position and present an influential professional brand.

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