Personal Branding + Relationship Capital = Career Branding

What is career branding?

Personal Branding (PB) + Relationship Capital (RC) = Career Branding (CB)

PB + RC = CB

The best career planning and branding occurs well before you have a personal need.  The best personal branding strategies make no attempt to time results.  They really position for the “whenever”.   You position for the “whenever” by building your brand & relationship capital before you need it.

Over the last several years, the unemployed have been coached to change their LinkedIn profile headline to titles like:

• Quality Guru
• Sales Superstar
• Digital Print Expert
• Online Marketing Sherpa
• Business Operations Professional

We definitely recommend and respect the attempt to clarify one’s specialty and create a personal brand.  However this is simply a beginning and the real work is getting the personal association of the title in the marketplace and then matching that to networks of connections.  The mistake people make is waiting until they are looking for a new job to address their personal brand and their relationship capital.

The sales analogy would be sales people cold calling prospects, saying we are the best at “X” and asking for orders. This is a failed strategy 999.9 out of 1000 times.   This is not how “buyers” are wired and is a fairly ridiculous approach.   The prospect has not been nurtured.  There is no reason to trust the caller and trust is implied in every purchase! 

The same applies to job search.

Successful salespeople (and companies) brand themselves by building relationships BEFORE they need them.  Career branding is no different.  Relationships are best built before one party in the relationship has an immediate pending need.  Trust is built by non-threatening exchanges that are not self centered.  The exchanges need to offer something to the other party such as: knowledge, connections or other learnings.

Trust is always key to buying and trust is always key to hiring.

Personal Brands and Relationship Capital are earned.  They take time and require re-enforcement. Time can build and strengthen them. They cannot be instantly achieved through LinkedIn profile headlines, cold calling or introductory emails.

If you look at your peers, those who cycle through successful career positions without extended job searches, have mastered the PB + RC = CB formula.

Let’s relook at the formula at this articles beginning.

Personal Branding (What you are known for.)

PLUS

Relationship Capital (Your network and how committed are they to you based on historical actions and interactions.)

EQUALS

Career Branding  

Start now and invest time in your PB and RC every week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tag Lines-Part 1

What is a tag line and why is it important?

A tag line is a 2-8 word phrase that is supposed to accomplish two things.  If they are effective, they describe the main benefits of a product or service and are memorable enough for brand/corporate association.

Here are a few famous ones that have worked well for a long time. Some are over 50 years old.

The ultimate driving machine (BMW), A diamond is forever (DeBeers), The Uncola (7up), Eat Fresh (Subway), Just do it (Nike), We bring good things to life (GE), Drivers wanted (Volkswagen) Have it your way (Burger King) and It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure (The US Navy). 

Here are a few newer ones that you also may relate to.  Broadcast yourself ( U Tube), Hello Future (Lincoln Financial) and Everyone is entitled to an opinion (Buzz Marketing). 

Here at Career Brander our tag line is Personal Marketing in a Web 2.0 World!

The first part of our tag line is Personal Marketing. With this we are capturing the idea that individuals need to think of their skill sets as services that require branding. We are also introducing the idea that career transition and job search are ultimately marketing and sales events.  Individuals move their career in a positive way by stringing together communications that express to potential hiring companies how they will add value to that company. Everyone needs to be concerned about their self-packaging.

The Web 2.0 World portion of our tag line tries to emphasize the point that the Internet has holistically changed the exchange of information.  In a Web 2.0 world individuals need to think about web based communities, networking sites, web applications, blogs, online identity management and how information exchange is changing.

Put together, we feel our tag line accurately describes Career Brander’s service. We provide content and software tools that help individuals personally market themselves through traditional means such as business cards and resumes. We also help individuals navigate the world of blogs, applicant tracking software, job boards, online identity management, Internet communitiies and online networking through our Site in 60 personal website technology as well as highly organized content and links.

Tag lines need to be: brief, invoke positive imagery, be clear on benefit, target and hopefully purchase provoking. Next week, in Part 2 of this series, we will discuss how tag lines can be used in personal branding and career transition management.