Art of Branding

I have a passion to improve the personal branding awareness of men and women. So it’s been a humbling experience sometimes to observe how I come across on camera. As a speaker and workshop leader, I am in front of the video camera more and more these days. And as an author, I’ve been interviewed for my point of view on various personal branding topics. Seeing the person who is me on camera after an event can be a humbling experience. Ouch! Is that person actually me? All your flaws are magnified (every “umm” and “you know,” every brushing back of your hair.)

Here is some wisdom from a friend, Carol Ross, from her blog, A Bigger Voice, on how to become better in front of the camera:

To become more natural, tape yourself often

Aim for authentic

It’s not about you, it’s about the message.

Here’s a link to Carol’s entire post on her explorations with her flip camera.

Catherine Kaputa

SelfBrand (www.selfbrand.com)

Twitter@CatherineKaputa

LinkedIn

Savvy brand managers spend a lot of time delineating differences: different product benefits, different look, different message, and different target audience. What they are creating is a distinct brand strategy explaining what their brand has to offer that competing brands don’t. And the payback can be enormous.

Look at high profile entrepreneurs who hit the big time like Donald Trump or Martha Stewart. They built a compelling brand idea or USP (unique selling proposition) for themselves and their business idea every step of the way.

No matter what you do, you should do the same.

Branding is about finding your big idea – your unique selling proposition – that something special that sets you and your business apart from others and helps you to be more successful.

In my book, You Are a Brand!, winner of the Ben Franklin Award for Best Career Book 2007,  I outline the strategies and actions that people in all types of careers can do  to propel business success and build a personal and business brand identity.

Let’s look at one of them, Alexandra, an executive coach who had been in business for more than ten years. Alexandra had a marketing brochure and fancy logo but no different idea. After I read her brochure, all I could remember as a takeaway message was “executive coach who works with all kinds of people and all kinds of problems.”

A lot of business people make this mistake. They want to cast a wide net so they won’t miss any business. However, the opposite usually occurs. They don’t get much business because people don’t have anything to sink their teeth into. Alexandra offered no reason for someone to choose her and gave no sense of the kind of clients she was best suited to help.

We got our brand insight when I asked Alexandra, “What kind of client are you really good with?”

“Believe it or not,” Alexandra told me, “I like working with really difficult people – managers with poor people skills, the kind that are featured in books like How to Work for a Jerk.”

Eureka! We had our different brand promise.

With her focus on difficult managers and the people who work for them, Alexandra had a point of difference and a USP on which to build her self brand and company brand. She had a public relations platform for pitching reporters doing stories on how to cope with an abusive boss or a difficult client.

Alexandra’s different brand strategy also became a way of being memorable and staying at the top of everyone’s mind. And as we know, out of mind is out of business if you are an entrepreneur.

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Catherine Kaputa is a brand strategist, speaker and the founder of SelfBrand LLC (www.selfbrand.com)  , a NYC-based personal branding firm. Her newest book is The Female Brand: Using the Female Mindset to Succeed in Business (Davies-Black, 2009, www.femalebrand.com). Her previous book, You Are a Brand! How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success, won the Ben Franklin award for Best Career Book, 2007

As a woman, I hate to see women in high-profile jobs flame out because I fear it reflects badly on women in big roles. That’s why I went, “Ouch” when Janet Napolitano said, “The system worked,” after a terrorist attempt on Christmas day. And why I’ve been fascinated by Desiree Rogers quick rise on the national scene, and just as quick demise.

The NYTimes ran an interesting story on March 12, 2010 on the series of events leading to her downfall.
In the whole story, I think there are important branding lessons for us all:

• Don’t upstage the boss
Did Desiree forget that Michelle Obama was First Lady?

• Don’t make the story about you
A cardinal rule about personal branding, is not to make the story about you, make the story about the project, the challenge, the mission, the team. Look at the Academy Awards. The smart Hollywood celebs wisely don’t make their success about themselves. When you are the feature of glossy spreads in designer clothes – the story is about you and not the larger purpose.

• If you work in a shark tank, beware of sharks
Washington DC is known as a town for its subplots and rivalries where the long knives come it, it is surprising that Desiree set herself up for a downfall by avidly seeking a high-profile role as social secretary, a role traditionally known for discretion and behind-the-scenes planning. Better to have moved more slowly in building up her brand.

• Don’t be tone deaf to the larger marketplace
Whatever made Desiree think that she could wear a $3495 dress and $100,000 diamond earings in a shoot for a glossy magazine in the midst of a recession? Or sit in the front row next to Anna Wintour during Fashion weak with the unemployment rate over 10%. There’s a reason that Wall Street bosses have mothballed the corporate jets temporarily and are flying commercial. It makes for very bad press.

• Make sure you have supporters
We all need the support of our own “board of directors.” People who can advise us and support us when the going gets rough. As an associate of Rogers put it in the NYT, “She didn’t get any help from Gibbs, no help from Axelrod, no help from Valerie Jarrett. Nobody came to her defense.”

Let me hear your thoughts.

How come so many executive women don’t have a strong business network and most men do? Whether it’s from years of playing together in team sports, guys understand the value of a big team of helpers and use it to their advantage, that’s why they call it the “Old Boys Network.”

Here are 5 networking mistakes women make:

1. Favoring a small group of supporters over a larger, more superficial group.

It’s in our DNA to favor deep relationships studies show. But in the world of work, a small group of intense relationships is not as powerful as a large group of superficial connections.

The more people you know and who know you – even superficially – the better. It’s often these “soft links” – people that you don’t know well that lead to opportunity.

2. Not trading in the networking economy.

Networking is an economy – an economy of favors – one that men know well and women are just learning about. The networking trade works like this: I do you a favor and there is an unspoken understanding that if an opportunity arises you will return the favor. Favor givers are attracted to those who reciprocate and punish those who take a favor and don’t reciprocate. For an economy to thrive, there has to be active trade back and forth. Be an active trader in the networking economy.

3. Having mainly women in your network.

An all female network is a weak network. Since more men are in positions of power, make sure you have a good mix of genders in your network, too.

4. No follow up.

It’s one thing to go to a networking event, and quite another to leave with new connections who will become a part of your ongoing network. Make sure you’re not just collecting business cards. Follow up afterwards with an email note and build a connection.

5. Episodic networking syndrome.

A lot of women use networking as a job search tool. And it is. So when their jobs look dicey, they start networking. Then, they go off on their merry way until the next job dislocation. It’s sort of like yo-yo dieting. About the second or third time you do this, your network starts to feel used.

Successful networkers take a long-term rather than short-term view. Be one of them.

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Wall Street Journal, Liz Garone, March 8, 2010

With fierce competition for open positions in finance, job seekers need to expand the ways in which they conduct their searches. In today’s marketplace, building a positive online presence is more important than ever, even for an accomplished finance professional, employed or not. “Regardless of your current position, online branding is critical because there is no such thing as job security,” says branding expert Dan Schawbel, author of “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success.” “In order to protect yourself and become searchable in Google and various social networks, it’s imperative that you invest in your own online identity.”

Be the First to Claim Your Name
Before you do anything else, you’ll want to “claim your name” on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, says brand strategist Catherine Kaputa and author of “U R A Brand.” You’ll also want to try to purchase the domain for your name. If it turns out your name has already been taken, then you’ll want to use a slight variation, such as a middle name or initial, she suggests. Just keep it consistent across the Web. By taking these steps, you’re calling the shots on how you will be perceived, says Kaputa.

Take Your Time to Develop Your Identity
Once you own your name, you can slowly develop a presence, starting with basic information and then adding to it as you go. “This is something you can control,” says Kaputa. “It’s an opportunity to really develop your brand yourself.” It can also be an opportunity to reinvent yourself, says Schawbel. “If you aren’t especially happy with your current job, then use your online platform to rebrand yourself.”

Don’t Go Overboard
Prof. Sree Sreenivasan, who teaches digital media at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, has received membership invitations from more than 40 networking sites. Each time he receives one, he politely declines, having made the decision early on to limit himself to three: Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. “There is just not enough time,” he says. “Pick two or three, then cultivate a presence there.”

LinkedIn is the Place to Be
If you only have the time to join one site, most experts agree that LinkedIn, with 60-million-plus members, is the most essential — at least right now. “LinkedIn is the premier business social networking site, so it is the one crucial place to be if you are a business executive, professional or entrepreneur,” says Kaputa. Steven Burda, who works in financial planning, procurement, and cost management for The Boeing Company, used LinkedIn to start a group for finance and accounting professionals; the group now numbers more than 47,000. “Linkedin is required in this day and age. It’s the survival of the fittest amongst professionals,” says Burda. “As of now, I get dozens of opportunities from recruiters — most are finance, business development and management jobs.”

Stay Current and Up-To-Date
For every network you join, you’ll need to update your profile regularly, especially if your position changes or you lose your job. Even after promotions, people don’t always remember to make the changes online, something people rarely forget to do in the traditional resume marketplace. “Curate [your online profile] the same way you would curate your one-page resume,” says Sreenivasan. If you choose to set up your own blog, commit to adding a new entry each week. This is the minimum, says Kaputa. Anything less than that and you’ll lose your readership.

Connect With People You Know
Expand your network carefully; only add people you actually know or with whom you’ve done business. Whether it’s on LinkedIn, Facebook, or any other networking site, “it’s much more of a quality game than a quantity game,” says Krista Canfield, a LinkedIn spokesperson. A recruiter may choose to contact one of your connections to ask about you; you wouldn’t want that person to be someone you don’t really know or trust — or be someone who doesn’t really know you very well.

Google Yourself on a Regular Basis
Increasingly rare is the employer or recruiter who doesn’t Google a potential employee prior to the interview. Google yourself regularly, so you can see how you stack up on the Web compared to others and whether your “personal brand” is compromised in any way. If you do find something out of line, it’s your job to fix it, says Schawbel. “You should create content, join social networks, and run your own personal PR campaign to push that result down.”

Consistency Is Key
It’s essential that you keep your brand consistent across the Web and treat it like the “broadcast medium” it is, says Lauren Doliva, a partner at executive-search firm Heidrick & Struggles International Inc. “If an executive is using online sources to network, it’s important for the person to present the full story of his or her experience. This should include corporate title, functional title, reporting relationship, an outline of responsibilities, the specific scenario and context and, most importantly, the results,” she says. Everywhere you go online, you’ll want to use the same picture, brand name and personal brand statement, says Schawbel.” “By doing so, people will be able to follow your digital tracks and get to know you better.”

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An online presence is essential in today’s marketplace. It’s just a matter of making sure you create the one that puts your best foot forward, say experts. “Whatever you put on a profile or networking site sends an impression of who you are. It becomes part of your personal brand identity,” says Doliva. “The key is to be thoughtful about the content you are conveying and what others might assume as a result of reading or seeing it.”

– Liz Garone

Email Liz about this article here. Please make sure to include the title of the article in the email subject line.

The careerist: ‘There’s a human need to show how good we are’

By Rhymer Rigby

Published: The Financial Times, March 1 2010 02:00 | Last updated: March 1 2010 02:00

The annual awards season culminates with this Sunday’s Oscars, but it is not just the film industry that likes to recognise its own. So how can you boost your career with a gong in your own industry?

Do awards really make you stand out? “They differentiate you from other people and act as a kind of third-party endorsement, which is very valuable in today’s tough jobs market,” says Catherine Kaputa, a New York-based personal branding expert. “People like things that are easy to latch on to and remember, so they’ll say: ‘Oh, he or she won an award for that.’ It can become a kind of recommendation.”

Alan Young, creative director at St Luke’s, the London advertising agency, adds: “In creative circles, there’s a huge desire for peer group recognition and having produced award-winning work will certainly keep you employable and may boost your earning power.”

Are all awards equal? No. For a start, awards are much more important and prevalent in some sectors than others. Second, the money-making potential for the people behind the awards (usually via pricey ceremonies and high entry fees) means there are plenty of less credible schemes out there. So you need to do your research.

“There are awards that aren’t worth the paper they’re written on and to be encouraged by them is a road to confusion,” warns Ben Williams, a business psychologist in Edinburgh. Indeed, having a low-rent award might even tarnish your personal brand.

Should I advertise my awards? “You need to weave it into your personal narrative rather than shout about it,” says Ms Kaputa. “You don’t want to seem arrogant. If a third party brings it up, that’s great.”

Equally, you should not campaign too hard to be entered for awards. It is fine to promote yourself, but do not appear to be overly self-promoting or, worse, deluded. Stevan Rolls, human resources director of the professional services firm Deloitte, says that for those who win them, an award is usually just the icing on the cake: “The important thing to remember is that . . . they tend to be good anyway – that’s what really drives their career progression.”

Are there other benefits? Whether or not you win, awards can still be a powerful incentive to raise your game. “Being in the running for an award can give you a goal to work towards and act as motivator,” says Ms Kaputa. “There’s a human need to show how good we are, particularly if we’re ambitious.”

Awards can also have wider implications for the organisation as a whole. “When an individual or a team wins an award, it says something about us as a firm,” says Mr Rolls. “Everyone feels good.”

Mr Williams says they can also help put training and development on the agenda.

Are there any pitfalls to watch out for? “If you become too fixated on them and don’t win, you can be crushed,” says Mr Young. He adds that too narrow a focus on sectoral prizes can be harmful in other ways, too. “In our industry, the ads that win awards are often the crazy, weird showy things that slip through the net. Having an award-winning agenda can often create a lot of tension with the clients you’re working with.”

CIO Magazine, By Meridith Levinson
IT pros sense that personal branding can advance their careers, but they sometimes have trouble putting it into practice.
I’m always amazed at the amount of traffic personal branding stories generate for CIO.com. My last story on the topic, 6 Personal Branding Mistakes that Can Threaten Your Job Search, turned nearly 16,000 page views in its first week.
The numbers tell me that CIO.com readers are hungry for information on this subject. To understand why, I spoke to two personal branding strategists who have experience working with IT professionals. They explained why personal branding is such a hot topic right now as well as IT professionals’ most common hang-ups around the practice.
Randi Bussin, a certified career coach and Reach personal branding strategist, attributes IT professionals’ interest in personal branding to the competition in today’s job market. They realize that landing a new job requires a lot more effort than searching the web and sending out resumes, she says of her clients in IT._At the same time, she adds, they’re seeing and hearing a lot about the role personal branding can play in their job searches, but they don’t know how to put the principles of personal branding into practice for themselves.
“People are realizing you have to do this,” says Bussin. “It’s a non-negotiable. If you can’t say what makes you unique from everyone else applying for the same job, you’re going to have a hard time rising above the noise.”
Personal branding is equally important to IT professionals who want to increase their job security, if not advance their careers with their current employers, notes personal branding strategist Catherine Kaputa, who is also a speaker and the author of You Are a Brand!

“In the business world, soft power trumps hard power,” she says. “The farther up you go in a company, the more important these soft power skills are.”
These soft power skills, which include leadership ability, communication skills, presentation skills, and relationship-building skills—combine to create an individual’s personal brand.
Despite the advantages personal branding confers to IT professionals, the practice can be painful for them. Here are four common pain points IT professionals experience around personal branding:

1. Some don’t want personal branding to matter in their career advancement.

“A lot of information technology people are struck by the fact that the school rules no longer apply in the business world,” says Kaputa. In school, she says, the student grind pays off: Their intelligence and hard work leads to good grades and academic recognition. But in the business world, she adds, intellect and hard work aren’t always enough to yield a promotion or job offer, and this bothers some IT professionals. Candidates often need to showcase exceptional soft skills and have good reputations as well.
2. They don’t like the idea that their appearance matters.

Like it or not, your personal brand is inextricably bound up with your appearance—the way you dress, whether or not you wear glasses, your grooming. “There’s a lot of evidence that packaging plays a strong role in how people view you,” says Kaputa. If you want to be a VP, you need to dress the part, she says, adding, “You can’t be wearing gym clothes.”
3. It’s hard for them to see the big picture.

Bussin says IT professionals have trouble identifying what’s unique about them—the lynchpin of their personal brands. They tend to be, by nature, so focused on details that seeing the forest through the trees is hard for them, she adds. Another challenge: Figuring out how to talk about the projects they’ve worked on as success stories.
4. They don’t like to promote themselves.

Self-promotion comes naturally to few people, yet it’s a key component of personal branding. To make it easier for IT professionals, they should think of self-promotion not as inauthentic boasting or beating their chests, but as a way of communicating the skills and expertise that they take such great pride in and that could help others.
Are you interested in personal branding? What aspects of personal branding are hard for you?

Link to California Women’s Conference where this articles appears:

By Catherine Kaputa

Searching for a job in a bad economy is not high on anyone’s to-do list. To be successful, you need to use special tactics and strategies – you need to brand yourself. Branding is all about standing out and getting traction in a competitive environment.

Here are 5 ways to market Brand You for a successful job hunt:

1.    Target your customers
Adopt the marketing mindset by determining who your “customers” are. They might be hiring managers, influential people in your network, senior executives at your old company, etc. Then, rather than focusing on your needs (finding a job pronto), ask yourself these three questions:

• What are your customers looking for?
• What reaction do you want to get from them?
• How can you get that reaction?

Then work backwards:

• What is the best way to appeal to them?
• What accomplishments and experiences should you emphasize?
• What should you de-emphasize or eliminate?
• What specific actions can you take to get the reaction you want?

2.    Position your brand differently
When it comes to creating your brand, find the best positioning for yourself – something that you can stand for that is different, relevant and adds value. You want to solve a pain point in the marketplace. Remember, in terms of branding, the most important aspect is how you influence others’ perceptions. Position yourself and your attributes so that they sing for a specific job. Think of your resume as an “ad” for Brand You. Tell a compelling, relevant story with the resume, beginning with the profile at the top of the page. Everything should work together to position you and tell a cohesive brand story for you and the job you are exploring.

3.    Have a compelling “elevator speech”
The elevator speech is a must that many people overlook. Hence, when they are in the job interview or at a networking event, they stumble through explaining who they are and why that is important. The elevator speech is short. (That’s why it’s called an “elevator speech.”) It should be your sixty-second personal commercial. It’s your personal introduction that is colloquial, conversational and memorable. That’s why you’ll want to use a sound bite or analogy or anecdote to set yourself apart. In essence, an elevator speech should convey the key highlights of what you have done and how you did it. It should also imply that there’s more you can do, specifically for that customer.

4.    Be consistent at every touch point
Brands try to take advantage of every touch point so that everything works together when a customer comes into contact with the brand – the product itself, the advertising, the PR, the in-store experience – the total customer experience with the brand. Likewise, you should make sure your brand conveys a consistent image and message at every touch point:  your appearance, your resume, your phone messages, your emails, your follow-up letters, your business card. (If you’re unemployed, make sure you create a personal business card. Nix to writing your contact information on a scrap of paper or your old business card.)

5.    Seek “celebrity” endorsements
You may not know any real celebrities (I don’t either), but you no doubt know another type of “celebrity,” such as the CEO, President or SVP of a company where you worked, or a senior executive who could vouch for you. Ask them to provide a short sentence or two about your ability and character and use it as a third-party endorsement. You can use the quote in an addendum to your resume or in cover letters. You can also invite these “celebrities” to recommend you on LinkedIn. (You may want to make it easy by offering to draft the short testimonial so they can do the final editing.)

In following these 5 steps, you have the chance to weather the economic storm and come out of it with the job of your dreams.

Catherine Kaputa is a nationally known speaker, author, and self-branding guru. Her new book, The Female Brand, Using the Female Mindset to Succeed in Business came out in July. Her previous book, U R a Brand: How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success, was winner of the Ben Franklin Award for Best Career Book of 2007 and a bronze IPPY award. (The book is being reissued in paperback as You Are a Brand.) Kaputa is founder ofSelfBrand LLC, a NYC-based personal branding company.

More from Catherine Kaputa visit www.selfbrand.com

Brand yourself. Catherine Kaputa, author of The Female Brand , says “creating an identifiable package” for yourself can help you snag that corner office. Her blog taps well-known women (like Oprah and Sarah Palin) to explore her branding tips in action – like being different and embracing change.

Tough times are bad, but the flip side is creative destruction. New things appear out of the old.

As much as we may hate it, difficulty forces you to be innovative, more focused and smarter, and that’s good.

That’s why, during this current tough time, make sure your brand is positioned right for today and tomorrow.

Some people have to find new opportunities for themselves, or if you’re an entrepreneur, you have to do things in a more economical way, not same old, because business just don’t come in over the transom like before, you have to earn it of course.

In a tough economy, your brand must be different and it must be relevant.

Look at my case.

My focus before 2009 was primarily on individual coaching of entrepreneurs and executives.

One friend even said, with so many people out of work, this would be the best of times for you because so many people will be needing your coaching services.

In fact, it was the opposite. It was the worst of times. With the recession and job layoffs, people either didn’t have the money or were afraid to invest in personal coaching. And I initially saw a drop-off in business.

What I did was expand my brand footprint and change my business focus almost completely to corporate speaking and workshops. I limited my individual coaching to entrepreneurs and senior executives who were interested in either doing an intensive 2-month coaching program, The SelfBrand Strategy and Mini-Marketing Plan, or SelfBrand Speech-Writing, both areas where I could make a strong contribution to their brand.

I focused my marketing efforts on corporations, particularly the human resources area, for my talks and workshops, You Are a Brand! (based on the ideas in my first book that came out in paperback edition in 2009 )and The Female Brand (my new book on female leadership came out last summer).

In marketing yourself in a touch economy, you need to fill a gap – have the right solution for the right price and be different so that you stand out from the competition. That way you’ll be a brand for all seasons.