How to Brand Yourself

Branding yourself can be a tough proposition, especially if you’ve been downsized and feel like the world has changed and you haven’t changed with it. What follows is my best advice for branding yourself that I offered to one of my friends recently.

0) Before you get started, you need to think about what you want to do and be known for. What would be a great “end” for your brand? What “brand” do you want to sell? This is your VISION for your future.

1) Buy your name.com and set up your website/blog there. This will be your new “home” and you will want to move everything in your life there. If you have a brand name, and your brand name is not already taken, then grab that too. Go to http://GoDaddy.com to register your name, and go to http://asmallorange.com for $25 per year hosting.

$55 for a year is a sound investment that will pay dividends down the road. Point them both to the same spot for now. You can export your existing content from your current WordPress.com blog to your new one.

The only pages you’ll need to set up to get started on your blog are: Blog (these are where you’ll write articles and will be the thing that updates), About (your bio/resume), Services (things you can offer others, with testimonials if you have them handy) and a Contact page (put your e-mail, a phone number (nobody calls, but if you’re worried about only listing your home number, then sign up at http://google.com/voice and forward that to your phone number and post that number). Read my article on how to set up your blog for under $75 for basic instructions.

Set up an e-mail account that is your first name at your domain .com and forward it to your Gmail account. Then add that e-mail address to send as from your Gmail account.

2) Figure out your top 5 topics/themes/services that you have expertise in and passion about. Make sure you can write about them and comment on other blogs who write on these topics. Try to think like a search engine. Make them keyword rich words. Work on writing an article a day, 1 per topic/theme/service and what your opinions are on your new home. Read my article on how to become an expert and my article on how to write a blog article for tips/tricks.

3) Use http://hootsuite.com for your Twitter account, and set up a search column for each of these keywords. You may want to include a column for your location too for folks who mention your city or a few cities nearby.

4) Set up alerts on http://google.com/alerts for your keywords, your name and your location. Subscribe to these via RSS at http://google.com/reader and monitor these words/terms. Click in and glance over these articles daily. Read why I love Google Reader.

5) Subscribe to 10-20 blogs in your niche via RSS at http://google.com/reader Start following other people who use Google Reader in your niche. Star, share and add notes to the best of what you find. If you want to add me, go to http://philgerb.com and add that as an RSS feed.

6) Go to http://linkedin.com and upload your resume and fill out your profile to get to 100%. Get a custom URL and other things to fill out your profile. Read my best LinkedIn tips. Add me as a contact if you like at http://www.linkedin.com/in/philgerb (just make sure you tell me how you know me).

7) Get testimonials from folks you’ve worked with on your LinkedIn profile. Then copy and paste them to your website, and add a link to your LinkedIn profile and your Twitter account to your website.

Set up a monthly newsletter at http://mailchimp.com (they have a free option) and add this to your website (you can do this by adding a text widget to your WordPress blog and adding the HTML code MailChimp creates).

9) Create your 90 second commercial. Start with “This is your name” and work from there. Use your key words, create a video, and share this with everyone you know. This is your “elevator pitch” and will refine itself as years go by. Write it out, practice it, make it your short bio on your website, and keep going.

10) Add yourself to every Twitter directory you can find, focusing on your key words. http://twellow.com and http://mrtweet.com are two of my favorites.

11) Follow as many people as you can in your niche and/or that use your key words. Engage them in real conversation. Ask questions and connect!

12) Write a traditional press release and try every possible way you can think of to launch your new “company” without being spammy. Write up the case study of your findings. Make sure you have enough articles up to show that you are for real. Include lessons learned, step by step instructions, etc. so others can learn from you. Telling people how weeds out those people who just want free help and those who say “Wow, this is too much work. I need to hire someone.”

13) Find some local companies and companies in your niche to spotlight on your site. Write about their efforts in your area, and how you would improve them, using what you’ve learned from your own company. Do case studies, and show that you know what you’re talking about.

14) Tweet on topic for at least 30 minutes a day. Check out my presentation on my 30 minute Twitter solution and the 30 minute Twitter solution instructions. Substitute Hootsuite instead of TweetDeck if you wish.

If you’re looking to brand yourself and get a great job, check out my article on how to use Twitter for the job search.

15) Dive into your LinkedIn network and build it as much as you can to find people in the companies and locations you need. Have a cup of coffee with them, and recognize that nearly 80% of jobs are now filled by employee referrals. The more specific you can get when talking to folks on the inside, the more they can help you.

16) Keep writing, keep tweeting, keep connecting and you will get what you want.

Get started TODAY! You don’t have to do everything I said. Dip in and try something today. Get building your brand today before you need to. The sooner you do so, the better off you’ll be, and the less work you’ll need to do down the road.

What am I missing?

What tips would you add for branding yourself?

Related posts:

1. Why I Love Google Reader If you read blogs, you need an RSS/blog reader. It’s...
2. How to Become An Expert Recently a reader posed a question to me I get...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tagged as: personal branding