Post #13: Personal Branding in the Real World

Hello,

So, I’ve been talking about all of this personal branding stuff, but is it really applicable in the real world? What types of situations might personal branding apply to? Well, I would like to talk about an event briefly to illustrate how personal branding can really be a valuable tool.

On Saturday, April 26^th, I attended the 2014 New England and Canadian Maritimes Regional Meeting of the American Academy of Religion (program -check out page six). I was there primarily to give a presentation regarding a summer research project, but I was also there to network. Before I went, I was unaware of what to expect. However, I wanted to be as prepared as possible so that I would give a good impression. So, I wore a suit and tie, I brought business cards, and, of course, I practiced my presentation many times.

I woke up at 6:00am that morning and arrived at Boston College for the conference at 8:45am. The first round of papers started at 9:00am, and I heard two interesting papers – one regarding inculturation, the other regarding the Eucharist. It was nice to get a feel for how the sessions worked, and now I felt more confident about my presentation at 1:15pm.

The rest of the conference continued with the keynote address, which was a presentation by a professor, and then it was time for lunch. Lunch was followed by the business meeting and then the rest of the day consisted of presentations. I left at around 6:00pm – it was a long day.

Despite it being a long day, I think it was well worth it. The first two connections that I made were with two Boston College graduate students. One of them happened to be friends with a friend of mine from Saint Michael’s, while the other was presenting at the same session as me. Then during lunch I sat with the convener of my session and she was very interested in my study. We talked at length about my findings and the relevance that they held for the ecumenical landscape. One of the other connections I made was with the same professor that gave the keynote address. She happened to be on the committee which reviewed the submissions, and she let me know that I was the only undergraduate at the conference – pretty cool. We exchanged business cards and moved on.

Even though I only connected with a few people, I think I marketed myself well. I set myself apart in a positive way because of three distinct differentiations. First, I dressed up. Many of the graduate students there dressed respectively, but I was the only one in a suit and tie. Second, I was the only undergraduate there – I took a risk by submitting my paper and it certainly worked out. Finally, I attended for the entire day. Many of the presenters would arrive for their presentation and then leave. I made sure to attend for the entire day and actively participate in the other sessions by asking questions of the other presenters. The conference was a great chance to brand myself. I hope that you will identify ways to do the same. I think a good place to start would be to look into different events in your field for the next academic year – you never know where different connections will lead you. Take me for instance – I ended up studying religion and going to a religion conference through a business professor. Anything can happen!

Best always,

Tim

Post #12: Direct Marketing

Hello again,

This is going to be another short post because all of these topics are blending in. In chapter fourteen of the text, there is an emphasis on direct marketing.Here are the various ways of direct marketing as mentioned by the text:

Face-to-Face or Personal Selling

Direct-mail Marketing

Catalog Marketing

Telemarketing

Direct-Response Television Marketing

Kiosk Marketing

Online Marketing

The first and last are very important and have already been mentioned in previous posts. The five in the middle do not apply very well to personal branding. Personal selling, direct marketing, and the promotion mix have such similar aspects. Despite this, I wanted to have individual posts for each of them to drive the point home that marketing yourself on the personal level is very important. Whether you talk with another person face-to-face, or you post on Facebook, every interaction is important.

Only a couple more posts - make sure to tune in!

Tim

Post #11: Personal Selling

Hi everyone,

As our textbook remarks, ‘personal selling is one of the oldest professions in the world’. It is an art that has certainly been fading, but I think it is absolutely worth discussing here, especially because it pertains to personal branding. People do not usually go door-to-door to sell appliances anymore, but selling oneself is still a necessary ability.

Throughout this blog, the topics that I have addressed have been mentioned essentially as guidelines for personal selling. Target markets, crowdsourcing, and deciding which markets to enter are all different ways to look at personal branding and selling. This is going to be a short post because I am in a time crunch, but I do have an idea for you. Go back through the blog and look at what I have said about personal branding. Does it make sense? I have applied much of what I have learned in marketing class to personal branding. Personal selling is a function of all of the product mix because you need to know everything about the product (you), but you also need to be willing and ready to discuss it with others. That is what I am trying to provide a model for - willingness and readiness to discuss yourself with others: that is how you build a personal brand and capture value. Comment with questions if something doesn't make sense.

Best,

Tim

Post #10: The Promotion Mix

Welcome back,

Chapter 12 of our text describes the Promotion Mix. Here is a a bit of information about each one:

Advertising

In the personal branding model, advertising could consist of web presence on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Social media has been a focal point of many marketing campaigns, and many companies have more than just a social media intern these days – they have large teams managing their social media platforms looking for any online mentions of their company or product. For personal branding, social media sites are a powerful tool. They give people an identity online and allow people to create an image for themselves online as the result of many posts and pictures online. All of those activities add up to create a reputation online. All of those posts can be thought of as sales promotions.

Sales Promotion

Our text indicates that sales promotions coincide with the short-term. Therefore, these could be thought of as posts you might make on Facebook or LinkedIn, or any tweets you make on Twitter. These posts are small promotions of yourself and your thoughts. Even if you are simply going for a laugh, it is really a sales promotion. I used Facebook, as many of you know, to promote this blog over the middle of the semester, and I also posted it on LinkedIn a couple times. When you post on Facebook, know that it is an opportunity to get a message out to many people – be careful what you post.

Personal Selling

This is nearly a synonym for personal branding – more detail in the next post.

Public Relations

Essentially, this pertains to keeping a solid reputation. Being able to head off rumors and build a good image are what makes for good public relations. This is very important in terms of establishing a personal brand in the public eye. After building up a reputation with individuals word will travel into the community and a personal brand will have to be managed more carefully.

Direct Marketing

This is the most important in the personal branding world. In two posts I will go over Direct Marketing in detail.

All in all, I think social media is a very valuable tool if it is used wisely. It is really a personal branding platform in many ways, so go out and use it!

Tim

Post #9: Deciding Which Markets to Enter

Hello,

I hope you are well. This week in class we went over chapter fifteen, which discusses global marketing. Much of the text describes how marketers need to prepare for the differences in culture if their company wants to market internationally. In previous posts I have discussed communication and the importance of tailoring messages for certain markets. That importance holds true for the international market and, of course, for you in all of your markets.There is a section in the chapter titled, “Deciding Which Markets to Enter”, and although it explicitly explains this decision process for companies entering the global marketplace, I’m going to put my usual personal spin on it.

This is a post that should prove to be helpful for students of all disciplines because it will provide a perspective on how to approach the looming decisions of the uncertain future. To provide this perspective, here is an account of my recent years of decision-making:

I decided to attend Saint Michael’s College because it fit my criteria – small, New England, Catholic, liberal arts, business program, music program. I decided to be a business major because it fit my interests. After my first year, I decided to add a major in religious studies and a minor in classics because they both fit my evolving interests. These academic decisions were all based on what I was interested in at the time. And my interests evolved as I became involved in more and more subjects and extracurricular activities, and as I met new people.

One major point that I have is that all you have to act on are the interests that you have right now. I came into college as a business major, and now I am planning on studying theology in graduate school. I have always decided which markets to enter by acting on my interests at that time. I think that trying to speculate what you might be interested in is risky business. Why not go with what you are already interested in? It is also risky to be confident in your career path without having an experience in that field - act on your interest to see if you like it. Another major point, as illustrated by my personal experience, is that you should expect your interests to change – especially while in college. I have heard that up to 80% of college students will change their major (at least once). Therefore, if you haven't changed your major, ask yourself, "Why?" I'm not saying that you have to change your major, but it is interesting that four out of five students will.

So don’t always focus on the job market. Think about all of the markets that you have the option to enter in college. Act on the interests that you have right now. Focus on developing the product – you – before you decide to enter a certain job market. Make sure you can be comfortable adapting. When you decide which markets to enter (internships, summer programs, majors, colleges, graduate schools), act on your current interests. You will never know your future interests until you act on your current interests.

Enjoy the week,

Tim

Post #8: Crowdsourcing

Welcome back,

First off, I hope you like the new layout. If you have any comments about it, please let me know! This week was chapter eight – my chapter. My group presented the chapter in class, and we used some interesting websites (thanks Professor!) to illustrate the concepts. One of the websites is called Trendhunter.com. This website is dedicated to finding the newest trends because their philosophy is that anything mainstream isn’t a trend anymore. The feature that we used is their New Ventures and Start-Ups section, and we had students look through the different ideas and identify which ones they might invest in.

The concept we were aiming to highlight was the New Product Development Process. The steps in the cycle are:

In particular, we wanted to illustrate idea generation and idea screening. Our textbook mentions that usually a company will have to go through hundreds or even thousands of ideas before it finds one that it wants to pursue. And then once a company has found an idea, their will most likely be hundreds of versions of that one idea. It is often a long process (those are just the first two stages).

Another concept that I think is worth mentioning is crowdsourcing. It goes along with idea generation and it simple means to invite broad communities of people – customers, employees, independent scientists and researchers, and even the public at large – into the new-product innovation process. One story of crowdsourcing that I found to be very interesting is in regards to Netflix. When Netflix was having trouble with the user interface for its Cinematch recommendation feature, it offered a prize of $1 million for the best solution. Netflix ended up with 51,000 ideas – that’s $19.60 per idea! To get 51,000 people working for your company is absolutely remarkable in my opinion. It’s a whole new level of capturing value!

So, the next question, hopefully naturally by now, is, “How can Tim tie this into personal branding?” In the spirit of viewing yourself and your ideas as a product, crowdsourcing can be of valuable application. It certainly ties in with communicating your brand with others in order to promote it, but the focus is more on refining than promoting. The New Ventures and Start-Ups section is a perfect example. The ideas are not only being promoted, but they are being screened and refined. Ideas receive ratings of popularity, activity, and freshness. The only thing missing is a feature for people to provide direct feedback.

The main point that I want you to consider is that crowdsourcing is a critical concept. It's a lot like taking a survey. I think it especially helps the development process in terms of identifying if the product is realistic, if there is a need for it, and if it is worth developing. If you are still buying into the product = you concept, then I want to emphasize the idea of refinement again. Crowdsourcing can help you to be constantly improving your ideas, brand, and life, I would argue, by leading an effort of staying current - trying to be a trendhunter. If you can know what the trends are in your industry or field, you can be ahead of the game. But if you can know what the trends are in other industries and fields, it will inform your understanding even more and refine your ideas and decisions. I find that to be undoubtedly true having been through nearly three years of a liberal arts education. When you see the many different ways of how different facets of life are connected, it can really change your perspective.

I hope that makes some sense. If I had to sum it up in one sentence, I would write, "If you want to improve your personal brand, learn as much as possible about as many subjects as possible (crowdsource!) so that you can be aware of where you fit best and why." Get as many perspectives as possible so that you can appeal to as many perspectives as possible and create the best version of your product - you! That is certainly an angle of how and why to capture value.

Truly,

Tim

Post #7: Packaging Your Brand

Hello there,

For this post, I’m going to test out another metaphor. Continuing to view a person as a product, I have tried to relate four product attributes to the product that is you and your ideas. I think packaging lends a particularly interesting perspective.

Branding

It has come up in previous posts. In fact, just a couple posts ago I wrote about my own personal brand. I think the core of branding is understanding who you are and what you have to offer. To use Karen Kang’s example, the largest part of branding is the cake. Now I’ll move on to the icing. But before that, click on the picture for one of my favorite moments in cartoon history.

Packaging

The icing starts with how you present yourself, and, even more importantly, if you present yourself. In my experience, I've observed that many people don’t like to and sometimes dread talking about their ideas. I used to be one of those people, just ask my family. I never liked to talk very much. My sister would even get frustrated with me because I would never talk about my day at school in any detail. “How was your day, Tim?” “Good.” “What’d you do?” “Nothing really. Just had my regular classes and then practice.” “What did you learn in class today?” “Oh, not much.”etc.

It was a painstaking process just to get me to give any detail about anything. My dad, on the other hand, will tell you all sorts of information without even being asked a question. I’ll call home some nights and he’ll just start taking about his day. So how do you package yourself? Are you like an ink cartridge where someone will inevitably need to find scissors before they even try to open? Or are you like a bag of chips?

If you are reluctant to communicate your good ideas to others, your good ideas will not be communicated to others – not too good. So, my big point here is to be conscious of opportunities to share information with others. Provide details, don’t wait until the third or fourth question to say what you want to say – you might not even get that many chances. Even more of a problem is that you might not want that many questions. In that case, you are in need of a larger perspective change or more confidence that your ideas are good. At any rate, be mindful of your packaging and how accessible you make your brand to others.

Labeling

Similar to packaging, I’d say labeling is the idea of how inviting you make yourself appear, and how you dress. Consistency is important. You never know who you might meet during any particular day. Think about it.

Product Support Services

This concept is not nearly as applicable because it is basically defined by customer service after a purchase. What I will relate it to is staying in touch with “customers” after you have talked with them about your “product”. Don’t be afraid to ask for an email address (or find it) and try to stay in touch with people who express an interest in your ideas. After I concluded my high school career, I sent an email to nearly every teacher I had had since preschool, to express my gratitude and my future plans. I still hear about that today because they appreciated it so much. The main point is not that I’m some goody two-shoes, it’s that staying connected is important and that generally people like being connected – look at Facebook or LinkedIn.

So keep identifying what your ideas are, make sure you have accessible packaging, present yourself consistently, and know that people like to hear about new ideas. I think the packaging piece is particularly worth thinking about.

Until next time,

Tim