Professional
Branding
Naomi Kinert, M.A., MCDP
Career Focus, El Dorado
Hills, CA
www.careerfocus4u.com
Well-Known Brands – What
Comes to Mind?
Professional Branding
Definition
 “Your
personal brand also known as your
career or professional brand, is the way
you are represented to prospective
employers and business connections.
Your brand is your professional image and
it is reflected in your online presence –
your LinkedIn profile, your Visual CV, your
blog, social networking sites and your
other visibility online.” -- Alison Doyle, About.com
Why is Professional Branding So
Important?


Employers today are savvy consumers. The
costs of making a hiring mistake are high. Many
are turning to researching a prospective
employee’s online presence as a way to
determine if they even want to contact the
candidate for a screening interview.
http://mashable.com/2011/10/23/how-recruitersuse-social-networks-to-screen-candidatesinfographic/?goback=%2Egde_2115428_member_
130284537#
Forbes Magazine – 3/12/12
 “Like
it or not, Facebook and other sites
like it are becoming the digital proxies for
our real world selves. Our profiles on
Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, et.
al. reflect our likes, dislikes, personalities,
and best photo angles, and are likely
more useful to employers in seeing what
we might be like to work with than a short
interview.”
Use Your Professional Brand as
Reflected in Your Online Presence to
Your Advantage in a Job Search

According to Dan Schawbel, author of “Me 2.0” and a
personal branding spokesman for products like Reebok,
LoJack and other brands, says your brand is:
“Your total perceived value, relative to competitors, as
viewed by your audience. . .your audience is the hiring
managers and recruiters that deal with thousands of
resumes each day. Candidates are viewed as
commodities, unless they provide some unique value,
which competitors do not share.”
Discovering Your Professional
Brand
Dan goes on to write:
“Brand
discovery is about figuring out what you want
to do for the rest of your life, setting goals, writing down
a mission, vision and personal brand statement (what
you do and who you serve), as well as creating a
development plan. Have you ever been called
intelligent or humorous by your peers or coworkers?
That description is part of your brand, especially if you
feel those attributed pertain to you. To know if you’ve
discovered your brand, you need to make this
equation equal:
Your self-impression = How people perceive you
Define Your Brand
Gordon Fowler, CEO 3Fold Communications
 What
is your greatest/clearest strength?
Creativity, intelligence, analytical abilities, insightfulness
 What
is your most noteworthy trait?
Diligence, people skills, integrity, empathetic
 What
3 things do people remember
about you?
Customer focused, intuitive, authentic, strategic, problem solver
Take a moment to answer these questions
and share with a partner
Other Things to Consider in
Defining/Discovering Your Brand
 How
do you want to position yourself?
 What
you?
do you want people to know about
 How
do you want to be recognized and
for what?
 What
is your niche?
Examples for Discovering Your
Brand

How do you want to position yourself?
As an experienced researcher in the area of
cognitive neuroscience

What do you want people to know about
you?
I have collaborated on, designed and led studies
on attention, working memory and visual
perception at such prestigious institutions such as
the Center for Mind and Brain, at the University of
California, Davis and at the Institute of Cognitive
Neuroscience at the University College in London
Examples for Discovering Your
Brand
 How
do you want to be recognized and
for what?
As a leader in cognitive neuroscience
research
 What
is your niche?
Applying my knowledge in the high-tech
gaming industry to better understand the user
experience thereby allowing companies to
develop more competitive, in-demand
products
Other Things to Consider Your Turn
Take a few moments to answer the following and
share with a partner:

How do you want to position yourself?

What do you want people to know about you?

How do you want to be recognized and for what?

What is your niche?
When In A Job Search Professional
Branding is
“The Value I Bring”
I
have a strong knowledge of:
 The
 My
value I bring to a company is:
top three achievements are:
The Value I Bring
I
have a strong knowledge of:
How to conduct high quality scientific
research to uncover the factors that influence
attention, memory and visual perception
 The
value I bring to a company is:
Demonstrated success in leading scientific
studies and research in cognitive
neuroscience, the results of which can be
used to design products that are based on
sound behavioral data
The Value I Bring
 My
top three achievements are:

PhD in Psychological and Brain Sciences
from Johns Hopkins University

First author of multiple peer review
publications

Ad-hoc review for publications such as the
Journal of Experimental Psychology and the
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Your Turn
Take a few moments to answer the
following and share with a partner:
I
have a strong knowledge of:
 The
 My
value I bring to a company is:
top three achievements are:
Now That You Know Your
Brand, Market Your Brand
 Establish
yourself as an expert in your
chosen field
 Build
a solid reputation within your industry
 Increase
your presence and improve your
perceived value in the marketplace
Now That You Know Your Brand,
Market Your Brand
Here are some great tips from Alison Doyle:
JibberJobber - Use JibberJobber to keep track of
networking contacts and keep a log of how they
have helped you.
LinkedIn
- Create a LinkedIn profile and start
connecting. Ask and answer LinkedIn questions to
increase your visibility.
Write
a Blog - A well-written blog focused on your
area of expertise is another good addition to your
professional branding package.
Now That You Know Your
Brand, Market Your Brand

Create a Presence - Comment on other people's
blogs, write some articles, go to industry meetings,
conventions, and events, and make contacts in
your field. Be sure that all your endeavors are
focused and relevant to both your skills and your
career goals.

Build a Web Site - Consider a web site to create
and showcase your brand. Many web hosting
services have built in web building tools and it's
quick and easy to build a site that reflects your
professional presence.
Now That You Know Your
Brand, Market Your Brand

Get Your Name Out There - Try to meet, either online
or in-person, the important people in your field. Send
them an email or a message via their web site or
networking profile. Over the years, I've met lots of the
important people in the world of job searching and
careers, many of them because I sent them a quick
email introducing myself or vice versa.

Volunteer - If you have time and if there's a way to
volunteer in a capacity where you can use your skills
and expertise, volunteering is another way to gain
exposure as an expert in your career field. It's a good
resume building tool, as well. Professional
associations are excellent venues for volunteering.
Now That You Know Your Brand, Market
Your Brand: Online - Tips
 Use
the same photo for LinkedIn and all
networking sites
 Use your name as your URL whenever
possible
 Add links on LinkedIn to your website, your
blog, use the share feature to upload
presentations you’ve done
Tips from Dan Schawbel:

Add a positioning statement to you profiles
including your expertise and primary market and a
bio with your achievements, years of experience,
job history and skills

Use industry keywords and buzzwords several times
in your profile to optimize search engine results

Visit your social networking sites frequently and
keep informed about your industry; participate in
discussions
More tips from Dan:

Have a strong online presence but don’t stay
online the whole time. Connect in person, when
possible, with the right people in your industry to
form stronger relationships.

Observe online etiquette:
1. Customize your invitations to connect
2. Offer to reciprocate with a recommendation
when someone writes a recommendation for
you
3. Give back to your contacts – add something of
value that will help them be more successful
Keep Your Personal Life
Personal
 Make
sure information you don’t want the
public to view, is protected by making
sure you’ve set your privacy settings
appropriately
 Google your name every couple of
months to make sure all information that
surfaces is what you want
Branding is an On-going
Activity
 “Building
your brand isn't a one shot deal.
It takes time to build a solid presence and
should be an ongoing endeavor. Keep
your profiles up-to-date, stay in touch with
your contacts, build and maintain your
network, and work on your branding on a
regular basis.” – Alison Doyle
Resources
 QuintCareers
– this website contains
dozens of articles on personal/professional
branding

http://www.quintcareers.com/branding_sel
f-marketing.html
References
 Alison
Doyle, Your Professional Brand,
About.com Guide
 Dan Schawbel, Gain a Competitive Edge
by Establishing a Personal Brand,
About.com