Personal Branding is how you share and market yourself to others. A brand is created when people connect images, emotions, stories, experiences and expectations with a person or company. Therefore, your name and what people associate with it, determine what your brand is. Your personal brand is comprised of three C’s: Connections – anyone with whom you have a relationship or a connection. Your connections include your friends, family, colleagues, clients, customers and fans. Content – the information, language, images, and design associated with your brand that exists through word-of-mouth stories, printed and digital materials, public profiles, websites, traditional and social media (articles, blogs, video, audio, etc.). Commerce – the money that you earn from goods or services sold under your brand name. Connections build reputation. Content builds trust. Commerce builds a business. Put all three together and they create your brand.

1. Personal Branding
Connections. Content. Commerce.

2. Cassie Pruett
Reach Group Consulting
cassie@reachgroupconsulting.com
Presentation at Women 2.1 Summit
KNUST University
Kumasi, Ghana

3. ARE YOU LIKE THE IMPALA?

4. WHAT IS PERSONAL BRANDING?
• Personal Branding is how you share and
market yourself to others.*
• Your personal brand is made up of both
offline and online:
– Connections
– Content
– Commerce
*Adapted from Dan Schawbel’s def.

5. NOT WORRIED ABOUT YOUR BRAND?
Neither was Kevin Colvin…

6. THE STAGES OF BUILDING A P.B.
Learn. Grow. Share.
• Be a student of yourself
• Be a student of others
• Be a storyteller and a teacher

7. BE A STUDENT OF YOURSELF
No one knows you better than you
• Take your interests
seriously
• Notice what other
people see in you
• Pay attention to how
you feel - energized vs
drained
• Write down milestone
moments
• Identify themes

8. WHAT MAKES YOU MEMORABLE?
Give people the opportunity to experience you
• Every person and
brand creates a
feeling, an experience
and an expectation.
• Lead with your
greatest strengths and
project what you want
in the future.
• Show people what
makes you unique.

9. BE A STUDENT OF OTHER PEOPLE
Identify who and what is available to you now and begin
• Tap into your current online and offline communities
and networks
– Friends / Peers / Colleagues
– Faculty / Professors / Alumni
– Professional connections
• Identify other people and organizations that you can
reach out to and learn from
• Challenge: Have 20 people on your list to reach out
to by the end of the month.

10. BE A STUDENT OF INTENTION
Identify who and what is available to you now and begin
• Customize your education by accessing free
information online.
• My favorite ways to learn online:
– Blogs / RSS Feeds
– Google Alerts
– iTunes University / Podcasts
– Slideshare.com
– TED.com
– Wikipedia.com

11. DEFENSE

12. YOUR CURRENT VIRTUAL IDENTITY
What does your brand currently communicate online?
• Step 1: Google your name
• Step 2: Clean up all public profiles
• Step 3: Adjust privacy settings
• Step 4: Distinguish professional from
personal profiles

14. OFFENSE

15. BRAND YOURSELF ONLINE
Share your story, ideas and business with the world
• Create professional profiles on social
networks and have a website
• Create a content strategy using social
media - make your knowledge visible
• Monitor your brand by setting up alerts
for your name and topic(s) of interest

16. CLAIM YOUR NAME
Share your story, ideas and business with the world
• Buy your personal and business domain
name(s) URL (yourname.com,
yourname.com.gh)
• Purchase from sites such as Register.com,
GoDaddy.com
• Grab your name on social networks
• Setup your Google profile

17. YOUR PRIMARY WEBSITE
Share your story, ideas and business with the world
• The Basics
– Contact information and picture
– Description of who you are, areas of
expertise/study, and services you provide
– Testimonials and/or referrals
– Links to appropriate social networks and content
• Options
– Build a website with free and easy-to-use tools
such as Wix.com or hire a web designer
– Forward “www.yourname.com” to another website,
blog, social media CV or social network profile
page

19. Built for free in less than an hour on Weebly.com

20. SOCIAL MEDIA CV
VisualCV.com

21. SOCIAL NETWORK STATISTICS
Share your story, ideas and business with the world
• 80% of jobs come through networking
• 45% of HR managers and 1 in 10 University
admissions officers now use social networks
to research candidates
• First impressions now happen via Google and
Facebook
• Your future employer, customer or client can
get to know you before they ever meet you.

22. SOCIAL NETWORKS
Share your story, ideas and business with the world
• Top Social Networks
– Facebook: 250+ million active users worldwide
– LinkedIn: Professional networking, referrals, online
CV
– MySpace: Music, video, art and other media
– Twitter: Small bits of timely information, share
personality and expertise
– Xing: Professional networking, job boards, read in
16 languages

23. BLOG:
A website with journal-like
entries organized in reverse
chronological order.

24. WHY BLOGS
Share your story, ideas and business with the world
• Websites with blogs get 55% more traffic
than those without (according to HubSpot
survey)
• Share timely information and multimedia
content
• Build community through information
• Easy to start and use
• Wordpress.com, Blogger.com, Typepad.com

25. IF YOU START A BLOG
Share your story, ideas and business with the world
• Have a professional design that reflects your
style
• Have a title and lens that centers around your
expertise, passions, and career goals
• Read, comment on and link to other blogs
with similar or complementary topics and
interests
• Filter, edit and aggregate information
• Have an opinion
• Use multimedia when possible

26. WHAT’S POSSIBLE WITH A BLOG?
Share your story, ideas and business with the world
17 YEAR-OLD JANE ALDRIDGE WRITES THE “SEA OF SHOES”
BLOG AND NOW HAS HER OWN LINE AT URBAN OUTFITTERS

27. WHAT’S POSSIBLE WITH VIDEO?
Share your story, ideas and business with the world
LAUREN LUKE’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL HAS OVER 8.5
MILLION VIEWS. YOU CAN NOW FIND HER MAKEUP LINE
IN SEPHORA

28. EMBRACE WHAT’S COMING
Take advantage of your opportunity. Become a leader.
“The future is already here. It’s
just not very evenly
distributed.”
- Wiliam Gibson
Now, go tell your friends…

29. OTHER FREE RESOURCES
- Over 300+ free and low-cost online tools:
www.FREEAGENTSMARTSOLUTIONS.com
- Free Agent Formula - Download the first chapter:
www.FREEAGENTFORMULA.com
- Find me on Twitter:
www.TWITTER.com/CASSIEPRUETT