In this issue:
- In Our Opinion: Personal Branding Imperative: “Ramp It Up!”
- MYBP: 2011 Year In Review Process
In Our Opinion
Personal Branding Imperative: “Ramp It Up!”
In our most recent 2011 ezine issue, we wrote about the explosive growth of “All Things Digital” and the need for this critical digital core competency among marketing executives, demonstrating how and why you need to effectively use technology to manage YOUR online brand. We know you Google prospective employees, new colleagues, and business partners, so you have to know you are being Googled too!
Walking Our Brand Talk
At Executive Connections, LLC, we continue to work with individuals to evolve their personal brands AND we are conscious of walking the talk by ensuring that our own personal brands stay relevant and keep pace with market changes.
As such, we’ve spent the better part of this year conducting our own “brandover” to further define and enhance our brand identity system and to focus it in the digital marketing and media sectors.
We put ourselves (Lola White and Jeff Gundersen) through the same EC Personal Brand Program we use with our clients, starting with a brand inventory that helped us further clarify the unique value we bring to our clients.
Our next steps were to:
- Review the intersection of our personal strengths and attributes to re-define the essence of the EC brand.
- Using this new definition of the EC brand, develop a creative brief for our new logo, tagline, brand colors, business cards and website design.
- Create new copy and branded bios to connect us with our ideal work that supports our own leadership, lifestyle and legacy.
We are excited to announce that our collaborator on this multi-stage personal branding initiative is now a member of our client service team, demonstrating our commitment to the personal branding we are passionate about. Kirsten Dixson, co-author of Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand (Wiley), is a recognized expert in building personal brands online.
When you work with us on comprehensive personal branding projects, you will also benefit from Kirsten’s insights and resources.
Sharing Our Online & Offline Brand Strategy
In the coming weeks, on our new blog, we’ll share with you in more detail how we’ve taken our brand environment — online and off — to the next level to model for you the way we work with our clients. We’ll be sending a roundup of these blog posts in future newsletters, and you’ll get immediate updates when you follow Jeff on Twitter (@jeffgundersen) or connect with him on LinkedIn.
For now, we’d like to share with you the personal brand elements of our new logo and colors.
Connections for Us Are “Golden”
Connections are at the core of our value. Connecting executives with opportunities. Connecting our corporate clients with premiere talent. Connecting you with your own powerful brand future. Connections are golden!
Therefore, the word Connections in our logo had to be gold, as well as the C in the icon. We paired it with charcoal grey for a premium executive feel. Our designer selected a modern sans-serif font that fits with our innovative approach of integrating personal branding into everything we do. What do you think? We invite your comments below.
Are you making your on-brand mark with every impression? Have you done a personal brand inventory lately? Read the Manage Your Personal Brand Section below.
Your Personal Brand: It’s Not Just About Packaging
It’s important to underscore that personal branding is not simply about packaging. How you present your brand to your target audience must be authentic to who you are, differentiated from others who are vying for the same opportunities, and must meet their needs.
Once the challenging work of defining and articulating your brand is complete, it is necessary to consistently communicate your brand with every impression. You make impressions with every email, website visit, Skype call, LinkedIn connection and in-person meeting.
Everything in your brand environment must be aligned with your brand to communicate YOUR brand message.
Jeff Gundersen and Lorraine (Lola) White
Manage Your Personal Brand
2012 Personal Brand Process
Now is the ideal time to start planning to reach your goals for 2012.
We know It can take you several months to go through EC’s comprehensive, initial brand discovery phase. So we created a shorter version of our process here to help you get started at your own pace. We recommend you start now!
Take Your Own Personal Brand Inventory!
Download Part 1 of our complimentary 3-part Managing Your Personal Brand series.
Ready for additional support to help raise your personal brand game? We invite you to learn more about our about our Personal Branding offerings, including a visit to our Personal Branding Retreat Center, personal brand assessments and more.
“We believe proactive personal branding is the #1 best practice for career management in a competitive workplace.”
Contact us directly for a complimentary 30-minute Personal Brand consultation with Lola White or Jeff Gundersen.
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