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March 2010 - Understanding Personal Brand Authenticity [PDF]

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Branding and Marketing You - The Book

Have you ever dreamed of sitting down to have a face-to-face conversation with some of South Africa’s leading figures in the areas of media, politics, entrepreneurship and academia? Donna Rachelson did just that, talking to nine exceptional people about their stories, vulnerabilities and successes for her first book, Branding & Marketing YOU, to be launched on 9 February 2011.

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Branding & Marketing YOU - how to stand out from the crowd

Featured in Management Today

Have you ever paid close attention to the behaviour of those colleagues who regularly get invited to join an exciting new project team, are considered experts in their field or get promoted more often than their peers? Ever wondered what their successsecrets are? A personalised branding and marketing strategy may be one of the answers.

Enter Donna Rachelson, a branding and marketing innovator who, through her Branding and Marketing YOU workshop, empowers people to craft and implement a tailor-made, personalised strategy.

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Latest News

Are you damaging your personal brand?

We all have personal brands, whether we think about them or not. But are you damaging yours without even knowing it?

Habits of highly effective networkers

Networking is a brilliant way to start and build business relationships, but many people don’t do a very good job of it.

Manage your energy, not your time

There’s a lot of information available about time management, but attempting to manage your time is pointless if you don’t focus on managing your energy.

Turbo-charge your personal brand

Are you in a personal brand rut? If so, here are five key ways to kick-start your brand into turbo mode.

Why your networking isn't working

You’ve been trying to hit as many networking events as possible, but you feel like you’re not making the most of them. Sound a familiar? If your focus is on you, and not the people you’re meeting, you’ve actually been missing the point.

Important building blocks for your personal brand

Lay the foundation of your personal brand, then strategically build the other facets of your brand.

Why you should keep good company

When it comes to your personal brand, every detail counts. And who you choose to associate with says a lot about how you are seen.

Effective Networking

You know you need to network, so you’ve been trying to hit as many networking events as possible. But are you getting the most out of them? If your focus is on you, and not the people you’re meeting, the answer is probably “no”.

How to land your dream job

What's your dream job? Everyone has one. Whether you want to work on a particular project, for a specific company, or you long to accomplish a defined goal, you probably have an idea in your mind of what your dream job would be. Instead of dreaming about that job, choose to pursue it and increase your chances of turning it into a reality.

Communicate your value at work

Learning to communicate your value in the workplace is key to moving forward and achieving your goals.

Attracting star clients

5 sure fire ways to attract the best clients

Determine your goals, then sell your brand

Step off the hamster wheel

Boost your personal brand while simplifying your life in 2013.

Influencing how people perceive you

Do you know how you are perceived in the workplace? Managing your professional reputation is key to developing a successful personal brand.

In personal branding, everything counts. All interactions, no matter how big or small, influence how you are perceived by others. Here’s how to manage those perceptions:

Leveraging LinkedIn

Using LinkedIn to maximum effect is a great way to grow your personal brand online.

3 steps to getting the job you want

Stop following the usual job-hunting routes and make your own opportunity by doing something different.

Ditch your personal branding bad habits

2013 is here and you’ve resolved to be better at a whole bunch of different things this year. But by the middle of the year, you’ll probably struggle to remember what your resolutions were. Instead of trying to be a new person, why not focus on cutting out some of the bad habits that may be damaging your personal brand without you even knowing about it?

8 tips for entrepreneurs

For entrepreneurs looking to start or grow a business, building a personal brand is especially important as people need to buy into you before they will buy into your business idea.

Using social media for career growth

A few simple guidelines to managing your social media activities and making them work for you.

The importance of Team Branding

Over the last few years, I've focused my efforts mainly on personal branding and marketing, but as I've worked with organisations I've come to understand the importance of effective team branding too.

Entrepreneur produces good advice on success

It’s that time of year when everyone is ordering their corporate gifts. Make sure you use the opportunity to build your personal brand by being distinctive and standing out from the clutter.

Be distinctive with your corporate gifting

It’s that time of year when everyone is ordering their corporate gifts. Make sure you use the opportunity to build your personal brand by being distinctive and standing out from the clutter.

Get a head start on 2013

Before you kick back into chill mode, give yourself a head start for 2013 by laying the preparation to give your personal brand a boost when the new year rolls in.

The early bird catches the worm

The end of the year will be here quicker than you can say: “I need a holiday.”

But before you kick back into chill mode, give yourself a head start for 2013 by laying the preparation to give your personal brand a boost when the new year rolls in.

Personal marketing: build a branded bio

Instead of a tired old CV, why not develop a personal branded bio to market yourself and your skills?

Personal branding: What can we learn from Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong has been an icon of cycling, the hero of countless sportspeople and an ambassador for cancer awareness, and yet over the past week his powerful personal brand has come crashing down. There are personal branding lessons we can take from his fall from grace, as well as from other sportspeople whose careers have been affected by controversy.

I think of Michael Phelps and South Africa's own Hansie Cronje as examples of sportsmen who have made career-threatening mistakes, but found ways to salvage their brands, despite the damage done.

Make your personal brand more desirable

It’s important to remember that your personal brand lives in the minds of others – your colleagues, clients and even competitors. Here are a few tips on how to make your personal brand incredibly desirable in your workplace:

Stop waiting to be noticed at work

Many people believe that doing good work will get them the recognition they desire. But even if you’re producing the best work in the world, if nobody knows about it, you won’t get very far.

Are you waiting to get recognition based on doing good work? Do you believe that keeping your head down, working hard and working well will result in business success and recognition? I hate to break it to you, but it’s not true.

Technical skill will get you only so far. You can be best the best accountant or electrician in the world, but if nobody knows about your skills, you won’t progress. Visibility is as important as ability.

Developing and marketing your unique strengths

Every person has natural gifts and talents. By identifying yours, and developing and marketing them, you will not only play to your strengths, but you’ll enjoy what you’re doing too.

Personal marketing: Ditch the CV to stand out

We all know that the most effective marketing is the type that stands out from the clutter, with a clear and concise message, and a strong unique selling proposition (USP). The strange thing to me is that we don't apply this knowledge when marketing ourselves. Some of the most creative and innovative people in the workplace miss out on great opportunities because they don't apply their talents to marketing themselves well.

Ensure your personal brand adds value

Often we focus on getting our personal brands out there without thinking about whether or not we’re adding value. The most powerful personal brands are those that are perceived as being value-adding.

8 Tips to help you get ahead

Personal branding is about understanding what makes you unique, identifying your greatest strengths and talents and finding ways to consistently communicate these to your target market. Once you’ve spent time developing your brand, you will need to actively market it. Here are some easy ways to build your personal brand for career success:

Make your personal brand more desirable

When building your personal brand, you’re focusing on your unique strengths and talents and finding ways to package these to be most attractive to others.

Unlock value in your organization

Companies most effective employees are those who share the company’s brand values, but have also developed and learned to market their own personal brands. This enables these them to be memorable, build great reputations and long lasting, authentic business relationships.

Take your team to the top

When times are tough, business teams that are seen as non-essential get cut. That’s why it’s critical that your team makes its value known.

8 P's of personal marketing

Imagine if we spent as much time branding and marketing ourselves as we do the products and services we sell.

Companies spend time, money and energy building and marketing their brands. But before you sell anything – your product, service or company – you sell yourself first. Would you do business with a financial planner that is rumoured to be in debt or a personal stylist with terrible dress sense? People need to buy into you as a brand before they buy into what you’re selling.

Having developed your personal brand, you should consider the eight P’s of personal marketing:

Branding lessons from the Olympics

The world has caught Olympic fever and South Africans are glued to their TV screens thanks to the likes of Chad Le Clos, Cameron van der Burgh and the lightweight men's four rowing team, who have bagged three gold medals at the London 2012 Games.

The Olympics are the planet's most illustrious sporting event and offer some great lessons on how to build effective brands.

Stand out from the crowd

There’s much talk of an ongoing recession and the possibility of a dreaded double-dip. Growth is slow for those fortunate enough to be experiencing business growth at all. In times like this, personal branding and marketing is especially important to businesspeople in client service based businesses.

In recessionary times, your competitors are working even harder to lure your clients away; and even those who might not previously have been deemed competitors may widen their nets and set their sights on your clients. Competition will increase exponentially, even among colleagues at the same company.

In tough times, you need to prove that you add value. You also need to be inventive in finding ways to stand out from the crowd.

Make time for your personal brand

With busy lives and work and home pressures, it’s hard to find time to build and market your personal brand, but the benefits are well worth it for your career.

Finding time to brand and market one’s self when bombarded with many different priorities is a challenge. The endless emails and never-ending to-do list mean that personal branding and marketing can quickly slip to the bottom of your priorities pile. Here are some ways to ensure that doesn’t happen...

How personal branding can help you find fulfillment

While personal branding is not the ultimate key to happiness, it helps people to access their talents, engage with their work and enjoy a meaningful career.

Overcome the fear of marketing yourself

Marketing yourself can be extremely daunting but it’s an essential part of advancing yourself and growing your career or company.

When it comes to brand YOU, everything counts

One of the most important lessons of personal branding and marketing is that when it comes to “Brand You”, everything counts.

Should you believe the social media buzz?

The short answer is yes. And no. Let me explain…

Social media can be an extremely useful tool. It helps you to connect to your target audience in real time and to engage on a personal as well as a professional level. Social media can help you to grow your personal brand, your business brand and your career opportunities. It can help you to get to know your target audience and to communicate with them directly.

Clinch that dream job

Landing your dream job during an economic downturn can seem an impossible task. Here are some tips.

Business lesson from Lady Gaga

Love her or hate her, Lady Gaga is a marketing genius. Before her meteoric rise to fame, she was just a girl who dropped out of school to start singing in nightclubs. She had no following and no reputation. But just a few years down the line, she's a global superstar with the highest number of followers on Twitter in the world, multiple award-winning tracks and millions of adoring fans. She is one of the most talked-about celebrities in the world. How has she managed this?

I believe there are a few simple business development principles this superstar uses that business professionals can implement to boost their marketing to the next level.

Tips on testimonials

Testimonials are a powerful way to promote your products, services or company.

They build trust and overcome scepticism, and, unlike many other forms of communication that make promises to potential clients, testimonials are seen as credible because your product or service is being promoted for you by satisfied clients.

Small business mistakes to avoid

When it comes to building your personal brand, everything matters. People will assess you on everything from the way you answer the phone to how you behave at a networking function.

People tend not to realise how small bad habits can affect their personal brands. While you may not even think about these bad habits, they could hamper your professional success.

Here are a few of the most common no-no personal branding habits to watch out for:

Build your business like Lady Gaga

Learn from the simple business development principles this superstar uses to boost your marketing to the next level.

Whether you love her or hate her, you can’t deny that Lady Gaga is a marketing genius.

I believe there are several key marketing lessons business professionals can take from Lady Gaga.

Build your Personal Brand

Personal branding is not the ultimate key to happiness, but it can help individuals to access their talents, engage with their work and enjoy a meaningful career, which definitely contributes to happiness. In fact, I am involved in personal branding because of the rewards I believe it can bring to individuals in terms of fulfilment. Let me explain....

Banish your personal branding bad habits

We all have some bad habits, but are you aware of your bad personal branding bad habits and how they may be sabotaging your career success?

Personal Branding & Marketing for Introverts

Getting noticed in the workplace can be a major challenge for introverts, with open-plan offices, group strategy sessions and team projects all geared towards extroverts. But for introverts to achieve greater career success, they need to learn how to use their own unique talents and strengths in a predominantly extrovert-orientated workplace.

Why good work is not enough

There’s a common belief keeping your head down, working hard and working well will achieve you business success and recognition. It’s a nice idea, but in this extremely competitive business environment we face today, it’s simply not true

Marketing to existing clients

Research shows that in service-based businesses, approximately 25% of new business should come from a company’s existing clients.

Most businesses, however, forget about marketing to their existing clients and instead tend to chase after new clients. I believe that if you spend more effort on marketing yourself to your existing clients, you’ll not only get more business from them, you will also increase their loyalty toward you and they’ll be more likely to recommend you to other people.

Making your best impression in 7 seconds

Research suggests that when you meet someone for the first time, you have just seven seconds to make a great first impression.

You never have the chance to make a first impression again. While you might convince someone that their first impression of you was wrong, it’s much easier to get it right the first time around. Here are some top tips to help you make the best possible impression within the first seven seconds you meet someone.

How personal branding benefits your company brand

Businesses today have it tough. As soon as you develop something new, a competitive premise or a product/service that will set you apart from your competitors, your rivals all copy you and that competitive advantage is quickly lost.

My point is that your competitive advantage as a company is not sustainable because other companies will always change the ballpark by catching up or even overtaking you.

How then should companies differentiate themselves and their brands? I believe that by focusing on assisting your employees to brand and market themselves as individuals you will be able to give your organisation a sustainable competitive advantage.

Mastering your area of focus

Discover what differentiates you from colleagues and competitors and learn how to market your unique selling proposition (USP) so you stand out from the crowd.

Powerful personal brands master the area of their focus with such superiority that you can’t help but notice them. Some of the top-performing personal brands in business are recognised because of the way they have developed their skills in a specific area.

Easy steps for women to get noticed at work

In my work, I’ve come to realise that men are often better at self-promotion than women.

Maybe it’s a hangover from centuries of women not being accepted as equal in the workplace, or that as emotionally intelligent people, we’re more worried than men about being perceived as arrogant.

Whatever the case, women need to start to improve at building their personal brands to stand out from the clutter, get their skills recognised and move forwards in their careers.

Dolce & Gabbana take SA business to court

Famous for clothing, bags, fragrances, sunglasses and accessories, Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana requested a small business owner in Hout Bay that trades in jewellery to change and rebrand its name.

Debunking personal branding myths

An effective personal brand gives you an advantage over your competitors, yet there are many myths around personal branding that stop women from making the most of their distinctive personal brands.

In today’s competitive workplace environment, you need to find ways to differentiate yourself from those with similar qualifications or experience to you. Developing a personal brand allows you to do just that.

Personal branding and marketing can raise your profile, increase your visibility, build a reputation that precedes you and assist you in achieving better business results. Here are some common myths around personal branding and marketing and some tips on avoiding the potential pitfalls.

Identify your USP

Your unique selling proposition (USP) is what differentiates you from competitors. Identify and use your USP to drive career success.

Personal branding and marketing is all about discovering what sets you apart from your colleagues and competitors. To use marketing terms, you need to identify your unique selling proposition (USP) and then find ways to consistently convey it to your target audience.

This is a point that was driven home for me when I interviewed independent producer and entrepreneur Tumi Makgabo for my book Branding & Marketing YOU.

Your 5-step personal branding workout

Any doctor or health professional will tell you that regular exercise is important to get fit and stay healthy. Likewise, if you want a "fit" and healthy personal brand, you need to flex your branding muscles and give them a workout. Here are a few ideas on how to do that.

The Steve Jobs brand legacy

Tributes to Steve Jobs began to pour in just minutes after the news of his death. Twitter was buzzing with Steve Jobs quotes and memories, while news sites declared the end of an era.

The former CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, was seen by many as a visionary, an inspiration and the reason we can access certain technologies the way we do today. The Steve Jobs personal brand is massive and well-loved. Why?

Rewriting your personal brand

If you've watched "It's Me or the Dog" or similar dog-training TV shows, you've seen trainers essentially trying to rewrite history. They use treats to develop fantabulous associations in the dog's mind when a particular behavior occurs or try to extinguish negative behaviors through redirection or loss of attention to them. The common link is that owners change their behavior, prompting the dog's behavior to change as well. Despite whatever happened in the past, it doesn't work that way anymore.

What personal branding and markting is not

Since writing my book, Branding & Marketing YOU, I've come to realise that there is a lot of confusion about what the term "personal branding" actually means. There are many misconceptions floating about and I'd like to clear a few of them up, which is why I've put together this list of four things that personal branding is not.

To succeed you need to stand out from the rest

Don't just be one of the pack - be excellent and specialise in your field.

Help your employees brand themselves

Your company's competitive advantage is very hard to maintain because other companies will always be looking to catch you or even overtake you.

People buy into people they trust

Developing a personal brand is a company asset.

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Blog

Why you need a mentor and how to find one
22 May 2013 16:57:28
I believe that having a great mentor is one of the best ways to grow personally, in your career and beyond. Here are a few reasons why: Mentors have experience. The ideal mentors are people with experience in their fields. Theyâ€™ve been there, done that, ... Read more

Now trending in the workplace
03 May 2013 07:51:47
As the year progresses, weâ€™re picking up on some new trends in the way people are working. These growing trends are changing the way people do business. Take them into account as you build and market your personal brand, and be one step ahead of your co ... Read more

Get out of your personal brand rut
30 April 2013 09:18:34
Sometimes we get stuck in a rut, doing the same things weâ€™ve always done and missing out on new opportunities and better results because of it. When that happens, itâ€™s important to recognize it and do something about it. Here are five ways to turbo-ch ... Read more

Do you know how to communicate your value?
23 April 2013 11:34:09
You know you do good work and that youâ€™re technically skilled in your field, but do you stand out from your colleagues and competitors? Learning to communicate your value in the workplace is key to moving forward and achieving your career goals. The sta ... Read more

How to tell your personal brand story
15 April 2013 17:31:15
In business or personal encounters with other people, we are frequently asked about ourselves, yet many of us donâ€™t have a well-packaged answer ready. By learning to tell your personal brand story â€“ a quick, interesting, emotive summary of who you are ... Read more

Who you hang out with impacts your personal brand
07 April 2013 17:12:51
Thereâ€™s an old saying that goes, â€œIf you lie down with dogs, youâ€™ll get up with fleasâ€ and another that says, â€œWhen the character of a man is not clear, look to his friends.â€ Both imply that one will be judged on oneâ€™s friends and acquaintan ... Read more

How personal branding contributes to your fulfillment
25 March 2013 16:46:05
Personal branding is not the ultimate key to happiness, but it can help individuals to access their talents, engage with their work and enjoy a meaningful career, which definitely contributes to happiness. In fact, I am involved in personal branding becau ... Read more

How to establish yourself as an expert
11 March 2013 15:10:53
Expert knowledge in a particular subject or field is a valuable differentiator in todayâ€™s cluttered work environment. And thereâ€™s nothing arrogant about admitting that you have developed specialist knowledge in your field. In fact, by positioning your ... Read more

Make your email signature work for you
26 February 2013 18:32:54
In personal branding, everything counts, from the way you answer the telephone to how you behave at a networking function. Your email signature can also say a lot about you. It makes sense, then, to use it to your best advantage and make sure it generates ... Read more

Fuel your brand with passion
14 February 2013 11:00:50
February is the month of love, and whether you love or loathe Valentineâ€™s Day, it is seen by many people around the world as the chance to declare or renew their love for that one special person. But passion is not only the fuel of romantic relationship ... Read more


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