Aaron M. Swart, MSW

Triangle YNPN Lunch and Learn 9/12/2013

Personal Branding For Young Nonprofit Professionals

Goals  For  The  Hour…  

General Overview of Personal Branding Learn How To Get Started Tools To Use To Your Advantage How to Know You’re Being Successful

How Would You Define Personal Branding?

Wikipedia  Says…   Personal branding is, for some people, a description of the process whereby people and their careers are marked as brands. It has been noted that while previous self-help management techniques were about self-improvement, the personal branding concept suggests instead that success comes from self-packaging. Further defined as the creation of an asset that pertains to a particular person or individual; this includes but is not limited to the body, clothing, appearance and knowledge contained within, leading to an indelible impression that is uniquely distinguishable. The term is thought to have been first used and discussed in a 1997 article by Tom Peters.

Entrepreneurs  Say…  

“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room” - Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon “Personal branding is about managing your name — even if you don’t own a business — in a world of misinformation, disinformation, and semi-permanent Google records. Going on a date? Chances are that your “blind” date has Googled your name. Going to a job interview? Ditto.” - Tim Ferriss, Author of the 4-Hour Work Week “All of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.” - Tom Peters in Fast Company

It’s a Unique Value Proposition.

It’s all about self-packaging. It’s the innovation of an asset.

Begs Emotional Portability. Should be results oriented.

411 on Personal Branding The Gift

You

Offer

To Share

With Others

Personal Branding is NOT…

Blatent self-promotion. A fabrication of a persona. Watered down. Exhausting.

Always seeking to serve. Based in authenticity. Very specific and targeted. About getting results.

A Personal Brand IS…

CONNECTION

Our personal brand must be based on authentic connection, especially in the nonprofit arena. Why?

COMPETENCE

If our professional conduct and/or performance is called to account, our brand will suffer.

CONSISTENCY

Our ability to do what we say we’re going to do and then keep doing it undergirds our dependability and creates brand loyalty for us and for our organizations.

Three C’s of Personal Branding

2. Craft A Statement (Innovate)

1. Know Thyself (Learn) How Do We Get Started?

•  Take a personality assessment or two (i.e. Keirsey). http://www.keirsey.com/sorter/register.aspx

•  Identify the top 5 adjectives that describe you. THIS IS NOT ABOUT JOB SKILLS.

•  Ask friends and colleagues to do the same for you. Do these line up?

•  Answer three questions for your audience:

•  Who Am I? •  What Do I Offer The World? •  What’s The End Result? Goal?

COMMUNICATE!

“I dig personal branding, and I naturally bring out the best in others. Driven by my passion for learning and strategic innovation, I offer a talent for designing and delivering unique, world-class personal development training that culminates in authentic, sustainable brands that get results.”

Aaron’s Branding Statement

#Driven, #avid #learner, #strategicinnovator. #Design and #deliver #worldclass #personal #development. #Getresults. http://linkd.in/16eWury

Aaron’s Branding Statement on Twitter:

•  If what we are saying doesn’t promote or welcome connection, we are alone in our efforts to influence others. What does this mean for nonprofit professionals?

•  If we display low levels of competence in communicating our brand by what we do, say, or don’t do or say, we will have a hard time convincing donors and/or other agencies to trust us in the community.

•  Our consistency in communicating effectively with management, peers, vendors, donors, and clients will make or break our long-term reputation in the nonprofit world. Our world is just too small to take that risk.

Remember the Three C’s?

Fundraisers Resumes Social Media Networking Trade Shows Emails Letters Grant Applications Contracts Vendors Donors Phone Calls Answering Machines Voicemail Texts E-marketing

Personal Brand Communication Venues

Which Happens First?

Amber Rae with Unreasonable Institute, says this of personal branding in nonprofits: •  Be Yourself

•  Unlock Your Personal Story

•  Tap into personal and organizational convictions

•  Street cred comes with authenticity in sharing your challenges, mistakes,

and advice.

•  Be concrete

•  Be direct

•  SOURCE: http://www.socialbrite.org/2011/11/04/the-role-of-personal-branding-for-nonprofit-professionals/

Survey Says: It Doesn’t Matter!

•  The closer you are to aligning these pieces, the more authentic you will feel and appear.

•  Why is this so

important? •  Where is your

energy most spent as a nonprofit professional?

•  http://onforb.es/13l1oLv

Personal Brand Communications

Technology-­‐LinkedIn   LinkedIn is considered the top online resource for the professional communication of your personal brand and your nonprofit career. Tips -Your brand statement should go in your Summary section when it is ready. -Never send an invitation to connect without a personal message and don’t send an invite to someone you don’t know. Why? -Endorsements should be relegated to your direct professional experience with your connections. Competence! -Punctuation issues, grammatical errors, no photo, and an incomplete profile tell the world you really don’t pay attention to details, your brand, or your career.

Technology-­‐Twi?er   Twitter is fast becoming the venue of choice for nonprofit brand communications and is a growing choice for recruiters scouting for talent.

Tips -Avoid foul language and personal venting/ranting on Twitter. Consistency matters here, too. -Know that other nonprofit leaders may be reading your tweets, so tailor your messages with that in mind. Personal pages count here. -5 tweets a day is the professional standard/limit. -joining nonprofit chats on Twitter can help boost your ideas and help sharpen your targeting skills on Twitter. Go here: https://twitter.com/NPhub

Print   Print communication will always be around in one form or another, even in this “digital conversion” culture.

Tips -Make sure you have plenty of proofreaders before sending a document through any channel. Remember that anything can be copied and printed, even without your permission. -Any document representing you and/or your nonprofit needs to be above reproach. Grant applications and other important filings can make or break your budget and your individual and corporate brand. -Don’t bash other organizations in print for making mistakes, even if it is done “gently”. When it’s your turn, you’ll be sorry. Opinionated emails, angry outbursts online and even “offline conversations” can always be printed-ALWAYS.

In  Person/Networking   Showing up and networking will always represent the purest form of who we are and will display our authenticity…or lack thereof…

Tips -Be aware of your shortcomings and endorse your strengths. -Have an answer to the areas where you need growth-a façade won’t help anyone. -Have a plan before you meet. Rehearse. Practice. Practice some more. -Have a spirit of service in mind when you are dealing with ALL matters. It will always bear fruit in the long run. -Dress according to the code of the event-stepping out may bite you…in an uncomfortable place. -Unearned intimacy kills future relationships

•  Your brand is like a “living document”, because it’s about YOU. Results will come as you continue to “package” yourself.

•  Soliciting feedback from those around

you will help you distinguish your top brand attributes and uncover your authentic personal brand…

•  What do you feel are my greatest strengths that have most benefited the company?

•  What was my most important contribution to the company?

•  What things do you know you can always rely on me to deliver?

•  What would you say are my top brand attributes?

•  What did you learn from me that helped you do your job better?

How Do I Know It’s Working?

Questions?