Selling yourself every day is an essential part of career strategy execution. Many career planning frameworks fall short by not outlining what is required to effectively promote your brand promise in the eyes of potential customers. All successful products and services have a marketing plan and so should you.
Your marketing plan should describe what you intend to message, who is the audience and the vehicle that will be used to deliver the message. Here are a few selling methods I have found useful:
- Blogs - blogs are great vehicles for showing thought leadership and collaborating with a broad network to share information. I use TypePad's blogging service for its ease of use, integration with other services such as Facebook and Twitter, and the value for its cost. I also rely on Google Analytics to give insight to web traffic and user profiles that visit this site.
- Twitter - use microblogging to easily collaborate with your network and push messages to a broad ecosystem.
- Linkedin - an online professional profile is a way to communicate your brand, grow a network and have colleagues validate your brand promise through recommendations they post to your profile. I have used this site as a reference for hiring managers to clearly show experience, accomplishments, and credibility. You can integrate Twitter into your Linkedin profile to show status updates to your network as another way to deliver your key messages. I also like the "export to PDF" feature that packages up your profile and recommendations into a Acrobat file that can be easily shared with colleagues and hiring managers. You should always be adding recommendations as a normal course of business and not just when you need a new job. Ask colleagues to highlight successes and qualities that reinforce your brand profile.
- Resume - a resume is a basic given, but ensure it's up-to-date and available for prospective hiring managers. I have my resume hosted on this blog site and referenced in my Linkedin profile.
- External Conferences - professional conferences are an excellent method to grow credibility and sell your value.
- Internal Presentations - when was the last time you gave an informal brown bag presentation? Whether informal or formal, presenting to an audience is an effective way to communicate your knowledge and grow your brand worth.
- Webcasts - video webcasts are a scalable method to communicating thought leadership to a broad audience.
- Articles / Books / Newsletters - writing is a time-tested method of building your brand and net worth. Consider writing an article for a trade magazine, company newsletter or even a book.
- Lunch / Social Outings - it is very easy to put off a lunch with a colleague or bail on a social outing but sometimes these are great opportunities to sell.
- Your Environment - use your office environment to reinforce key qualities and personal brand themes. This may come in the form of visuals, books or general appearance.
- Your appearance - the reality is that people may perceive you in certain ways given your appearance and how you show up each day. Be conscience that you are not sending mixed messages between your appearance and the brand you are trying to sell.
Many people shun from selling given its negative consequences such as nauseating colleagues who are always telling others how great they are. This is not what I am talking about here. Effective selling is authentic and generates value for both you and your network. The bottom line is that you will not get what you want unless your needs are explicit and positioned with your network. One of my favorite selling books is You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself and its short summaries to guide personal success.
I hope you will find a nugget or two from this six-part career planning series and be sure to share any of your secrets to success. Be remembered by the legacy you have outlined in your career plan and not by the forces of your environment. Life is too short so be sure your career is a passion you experience each and every day.
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