Marketing Yourself: June “Office Hours” Recap
In our June 19 “Office Hours” online radio show, host Samantha Ettus and featured guest Gerrie Dresser discussed how to stand out in the crowd while simultaneously building and nurturing reciprocal internal and external relationships. Listen to the 30-minute show here and read on for a summary by Gerrie Dresser, CEO/founder of Unique Impact, Executive l Personal Brand Coach
Personal Branding, the Foundation Tool for Personal Marketing
Secret 1: Be Distinctive. Differentiate.
. . . Stand out IN a Crowd . . . don’t be one OF the crowd
WHO YOU ARE!
Personal branding is about how OTHERS perceive you, so a first step is to ask your boss, colleagues, family to share 3 personal characteristics that reflect you. To gain more insight, use self-assessment tools such as Strengths 2.0 and Strengths based Leadership.
Secret 2: Add Value. Contribute.
. . . Articulate how you stand out as a credible expert
WHAT YOU DO!
Women and men at all levels of leadership minimize their value and underplay the unique part that they play in their work. This is often because they haven’t articulated their contribution to themselves, first.
One of the most effective strategies to get real about your distinctive role is to create ‘high impact, value based contribution statements.’ This is a more effective way to articulate the value that you contributed and can be used in your annual performance review, monthly status report, resume, and LinkedIn profile.
The key is to use the ‘STAR’ formula to report your accomplishments. This includes the most important factor, the Result and the Value to the company. The other factors are situation, task, and action. This exercise helps you feel a sense of pride in your work and ignites your enthusiasm about your part in the success.
When your story focuses on the value that you contributed, it comes across with authenticity and credibility. As a result, it’s easier to include your pride or enthusiasm in a conversation without feeling like you’re bragging or boasting.
EX: Update your boss on a monthly basis through a status report in which you outline the results of your contributions for the month. It also helps the boss with your year-end performance review.
Secret 3: Stand OUT. Be Heard
. . . Get involved, contribute, and give back in a way that you’re being of service . . . Become known for what you do best.
WHO KNOWS YOU AND WHAT YOU DO WELL!
Once you’ve gained greater clarity about your distinctive value, you often experience an increase in energy, clarity, and focus.
Rather than feeling that networking, volunteering, or mentoring others is too much, people WANT to get more involved. There are many, many ways to get involved.
Offline, Internally:
Mentor / Mentee – formal or informal (Many leaders report being much more open to informal mentoring than formal mentoring. Identify a few leaders who you admire, respect and see as a role model, and then ask them for 10-20 minutes of their time to gain their insight about a career development question.)
Offline, Externally:
Attendance at conference and seminars: Some companies have a separate fund for these types of opportunities, especially if it’s going to add direct value to the organization. Step up and ask.
Online, Internally:
Submit articles for company newsletter: If the company has a sports team and you’re not interested in playing on the team, you can offer to report the activities and results for the company newsletter.
Online, Externally:
LinkedIn is one of the most widely used social media sites for business professionals. To learn the most current changes, search for a social media expert who has video training series about how to optimize your LinkedIn profile, and use it to build relationships and communicate with your connections.
Marketing Yourself in the Next 30 Days with authenticity, credibility, and integrity!
Identify 3 ways that you can easily take ACTION today!
1. Discover your strengths through self-assessments, like Career Anchors Online Assessment or Strengths 2.0 or Strengths Based Leadership – both books contain a self assessment.
2. Revamp your resume to describe achievements that add value to the organization rather than being statements of completion or job descriptions. Consider your resume as a brand story that describes your professional successes.
3. Select at least two ways that you are going to increase your visibility and expand your relationships either internally or externally. EX: Volunteer for a committee, activity, or cause that would also enhance your skills and capabilities.
Make a difference through your Unique Impact!
Gerrie
About Gerrie Dresser, PCC – Executive l Personal Brand Coach and CEO, Founder of Unique Impact: Gerrie Dresser is a professional executive / personal branding coach, speaker, and author who brings her broad-based, corporate leadership experience to her coaching work. Through her proprietary unique genius / unique impact coaching model, leaders reignite their passion and maximize their distinctive value, so they engage with their people at an innovative, high performance / high engagement level. To learn more about Gerrie, visit here.