What is your professional brand?

1. Selling the Brand of YOU

2. “Tell Me About Yourself”

3. Personal Brands

4. What is Personal Branding?
Take ownership of the brand called YOU.
How we market ourselves to others.

5. Why Care?
Judgment.
Perception vs. reality
Everyone sells.
Your personal brand is at stake wherever your name
is mentioned, whether it’s by you or someone else.

6. “But I Hate Talking About Myself”
As women, especially women of color, we MUST get
over our issues with
 taking credit and compliments
 negotiating the compensation we deserve
Personal branding is not all about self-promotion.
Stating the Facts
Knowing Your Value
No one can advocate for you, only you can sell YOU.

7. Benefits
Visibility, presence
Opportunities
Job offers, promotions, business
Happiness
Premium compensation
Perks
Thrive even in tough times

8. Benefits
 People will LISTEN to you
 INTRODUCE you
 TRUST you
 BELIEVE in you
 ENCOURAGE you
 HELP when you struggle
 RECOMMEND you
 ENDORSE you and your efforts
 PROMOTE your accomplishments
 WORK with, and even for you
 INVEST in you and your ideas

9. Technology Can Help
Before the web, personal branding was harder.
The web has now made it easier to position yourself
as the expert you are, connect with others, and be
visible.
80% of success is showing up. – Woody Allen

10. 1. Discover, Define, Extract
Who are you? What’s your story?
What do you do better than anyone? What are you
an expert at?
How do you do it?
Where are you now? SWOT
What do you want? Where do you want to be?
Make a development plan to match your goals.
Make a personal marketing plan.

11. 2. Create Your Tools & Platform
Create your personal brand using a ‘tool box’
including traditional tools:
 Business Card
 Professional Portfolio
 Resume
 Cover Letter
 References Document

12. 2. Create Your Tools & Platform
… And new tools, being consistent across all
mediums:
 Success Stories
 Testimonials
 LinkedIn Profile
 Blog
 Twitter
 Video resume

13. 2. Create Your Tools & Platform
Your tools also include:
 Your work
 Your etiquette
 Your appearance
 How you treat others
 The way you represent yourself online
 Your associates
 Your track record & results

14. 3. Connect
Who is your target audience?
Tweak your materials to fit your target audience.
Practice your pitch.
Share!
 Network
 Blog, comment, share value
 Contribute articles, letters to the editor
 Pitch to the media
 Speak

15. A Note About Networking
Not transaction-based. Not forced.
Build before you need.
Relationship-based. Take a genuine interest.
Offer value.
Stay in touch.
Don’t keep score.
Never eat alone.
Long-term investment.

16. 4. Nurture & Sustain
Building your brand takes time; it’s work.
Keep track of your brand.
It’s ever evolving.
Update your tools to reflect every:
 New job
 Award
 Press article
 Victory

17. Your 30-Second Elevator Pitch
Your name
What you do
For who?
What result?
What makes you different?
Your last professional experience?
A key accomplishment
Your what-what

18. Closing Thoughts
People can’t hire you or recommend you if they
don’t know who you are.
They can’t know you if you can’t tell them.
You can’t tell them until you know who you are.

19. Thank You!
To your success!
Ashley Cisneros, M.S.
Ashley Cisneros, Inc.
www.AshleyCisneros.com
Ashley@AshleyCisneros.com

20. Questions?