How Compelling Is Your Personal Brand?

This article originally ran in the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Most consultants and agencies in my field of marketing and communications focus almost exclusively on positioning and selling their clients’ products and/or services (of course).

However, as a result, they sometimes end up ignoring the development and strengths of their own brand. It’s a classic case of the “shoemaker’s children having no shoes.”

Sometimes the most successful third-party marketers are the worst at promoting themselves, and beyond consultants and agencies, this also applies to marketing and communications professionals within corporations. The reality of today’s fast-paced and demanding world is that the people who are best at messaging and promotions frequently don’t apply this same thoughtfulness and these same skill sets to themselves.

It’s important to think about “personal branding” at every stage of your career, regardless of what your chosen career field is. In addition to doing the job for which you were hired, it’s smart to consider how your accomplishments on behalf of your employer or client can also be beneficial to the mastering of your own professional brand and the communication of your growing skill set over time.

Start by thinking of yourself as a “product to be packaged and sold,” and ask yourself the following questions:

• What are my primary strengths and “product differentiators?”
• What are my accomplishments as a skilled marketer/communicator in my professional field thus far?
• What have I learned to do that enables me to do these things outside of my current employment situation?
• What words and proof points best describe my skill set?
• How can I best articulate my Unique Selling Proposition?

It’s always a little tempting to over-embellish resumes and use a bit of exaggeration, which can lead your reader down a path that doesn’t truly reflect the realities of your actual experience base. So while you are attempting to put your best foot forward and present the most positive portrait of yourself, don’t stray too far from reality and from those attributes and accomplishments that can be backed up with facts and actual results.

No matter how content you are with your current professional situation, it is important to keep track of your ongoing accomplishments, how you have personally contributed to the growth and success of your profession or industry, and the ways in which you can best communicate your skill set.

Think of yourself as a “living, breathing marketable entity,” continually capture your ongoing successes, and think about how to best package and communicate them to your current and future key audiences.

Cathy Ackermann is the founder of Ackermann Marketing & PR, now a part of Designsensory.