Ms. Kang uses a phrase "a cake with icing" when she talks about personal branding. The cake is your expertise, your knowledge, your experience. The icing is your personality, your image, your smile. Icing make people like you and trust you. Without the cake the person has no substance, only fluff. Both the cake and the icing are needed to do well in whatever you undertake if you want to be very successful.
The author explains why just having the core qualifications are not enough. The key to success is to let people know the qualification you have. She recommends that each person thinks of themselves as a product. And how you position "the product" is not constant, it varies depending on three key factors: target audience, your strength, and competition.
Suppose your goal is to get a promotion. To determine your target audience you would examine who can influence your promotion: obviously your direct boss, but there might be other players. Then determine the problem/opportunity that is important to the influential people and what strength you have to address that problem. As your work on addressing this issue, keep them in the loop. If you do not have all the information about the decision makers you need to do homework. For example, if you are going for an interview learn who you are interviewing with, look them up on Linked in, Google search them, learn about the company. When you describe your strength highlight those that are more relevant to that specific company or person. It is a lot more effective than having a generic pitch about yourself. Each company gets a lot of qualified candidates. Try to find something unique about your skills relevant to that specific company that will make you stand out from the competition. If you have little experience, stress you have a fresh point of view. If you are older, stress your long record of achievement. If you know foreign languages and you are interviewing with multinational company stress that skill even if it may not be immediately applicable to your job. Prove your expertise by using specific examples from the past. If you don't have enough experience build it up by volunteering, teaching, finding a way to increase experience even if you don't get paid for it. After explaining the general approach the author gives several specific examples.
An interesting concept in "Messaging" chapter is what the author calls "The elevator pitch". The elevator pitch is a set of talking points that succinctly answers "What do you do?" or "Tell me about yourself". You never know when the opportunity will arise to tell someone about yourself, and you want to think through what you would say to take advantage of this opportunity in the best possible way. The author provides a template of key points to cover in this message for 5 seconds, 30 seconds, and 60 seconds option of the pitch. Sample pitches for people with different backgrounds help to put this lesson in context. What else can you do with your Elevator pitch? Use it in your LinkedIn profile.
Speaking of LinkedIn, Ms. Kang has a whole long chapter on Social Media and branding. It contains a lot of nice tips from what should be included in your profile to why you should not change your profile photo often.
Through her book Ms. Kang stresses again and again that to help you reach your goals it helps to have influential supporters. The authors spends quite a bit of time of talking how to identify and form relationships with individuals who can advocate on behalf of your brand.
To summarize the gist of the book is that people will not take you seriously if you only have social skills, but everyone is a lot more helpful to the people they like. Ms. Kang recommends not to just focus on growing your core skills, but spending time on relating to people and cultivating relationships especially with career influencers. Her book will help you to form a plan of action.
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.
I receive a review copy of this book for an honest and unbiased review.
Ali Julia review ★★★★★
Table of content:
Introduction
The Importance of Reinventing Your Personal Brand
What's Inside BrandingPays
My Story
Chapter 1
Take Charge of Your Personal Brand
Branding a Political Candidate
What Is Personal Branding?
Personal Branding Myths
What are the Benefits of Personal Branding?
Rebranding Throughout Life
Your Goal for Branding
The Branding Journey
Every Brand Needs Cake and Icing
Personal Branding Assessment Questionnaire
BrandingPays System: Five Steps to Your Cake and Icing
Chapter 2
Step 1: Positioning
Position Yourself for Opportunities
What Is Positioning and Why Do It?
What Is Your Goal?
Positioning Triangulation
Positioning Statement
Who Is Your Target Audience?
Problem or Opportunity Statement: What do they need?
Value Proposition: How can you provide the solution?
Differentiation: Why are you the best one to provide it?
Evidence: How can you prove it?
Sample Positioning Statements
Chart Your Position
Iterate to Hone Your Positioning
Chapter 2 Summary
Chapter 2 Action List
Chapter 3
Step 2: Messaging
Message for Clarity and Impact
The Elevator Pitch and Your Evidence
Sample Elevator Pitches
Different Value Messages for Different Audiences
Back Your Positioning Claims with Evidence Messages
How the Positioning Statement Can Feed Your Linkedin Profile
What Is Your Tagline?
Chapter 3 Summary
Chapter 3 Action List
Chapter 4
Step 3: Brand Strategy
How to Develop Your Brand Strategy
Brand Strategy Platform
Key Brand Descriptors
Sample Brand Strategy Platforms
Chapter 4 Summary
Chapter 4 Action List
Chapter 5
Step 4: Ecosystem
Ecosystem: Leverage Influencers to Establish Brand
Taking It to the People
What Is the Brand Ecosystem?
The 90/10 Rule
The Brand Ecosystem Model
Take Time for Relationship Building
Four Keys for Strong Ecosystem Relationships
Identifying Influencers
Managing Your Ecosystem Relationships
A Word About Networking
Chapter 5 Summary
Chapter 5 Action List
Chapter 6
Step 5: Action Plan
Build Your Brand Action Plan
A36o-Degree Brand
Brand Improvement
Brand Communication
Four Phases of Brand Communication Using the Ecosystem Model
Brand Action Example
Lessons from Rebranding an Entrepreneurial Company
A Word of Advice for Entrepreneurs
Chapter 6 Summary
Chapter 6 Action List
Chapter 7
360-Degree Branding: Vision, Symbols, Words and Dei
The Care2 Story: Rebranding from the Inside Out
Vision or Thought Leadership Branding
Your Look, Your Image: The Basics
Branding in Multimedia
Chapter 7 Summary
Chapter 7 Action List
Chapter 8
Portable Branding and Social Media: Getting Started
Why You Need to Be in Social Media
Choose Your Social Networks
Own Your Online Real Estate
Your Google Search Results
Your Avatar
To Blog or Not to Blog
Should You Promote Your Personal Brand or Your Business Brand Online?
Online Reputation Management
Do a Few Things Well
Chapter 8 Summary
Chapter 8 Action List
Conclusion
Reinvent Your Brand for New Opportunities
Four Stories on Overcoming Diversity Challenges in Personal
Branding and Life
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