Advice on personal branding for professional multicultural women.

1. You Inc.
Personal Branding & Professional Success
Jessica Faye Carter // November 12, 2010

2. Why do we need a session on
multicultural women and
personal branding?

3. Discussion points
• Multicultural women
• Elements of branding
• Building your brand
• Communication and technology
• When your brand is in trouble
• Key takeaways
• Q&A

4. Multicultural women
• Distance from locus of power
– Power indicia: whiteness and maleness
• Living Room/Locker Room Syndrome (1)
• No socially-accepted space for white men and
multicultural women to interact
• This distance from power manifests itself in two
major areas at work
– Lack of Access
– Ethnic and Gender Challenges
(1) Source: Kimberlé Crenshaw, quoted in “Women of Color: Why They Are
Finding the Door Instead of the Glass Ceiling,” Perspectives 15:1 (2006).

5. Branding challenges
• Navigating cultural differences
• Bolstering credibility
• Building a consistent brand that is
personally comfortable
• Managing information gaps
• Dealing with stereotypes and related
issues

6. Elements of Branding

7. What is a brand?
A name, term, sign, symbol
or design, or a combination
of them intended to identify
the goods and services of
one seller or group of
sellers and to differentiate
them from those of other
sellers.”
−American Marketing Association

8. Nike
• Nike is the Greek goddess of victory
– Nike is for winners and serious athletes; look
at their spokespeople
• Nike is cool, trendy, hip
– People want to be seen wearing it
• Nike is expensive
– Makes a statement about the wearer’s
economic status (sort of)

9. Why branding matters
• Branding is unavoidable
– You are creating a brand whether you want to
or not; makes sense to manage it
• You are competing against many different
people in the workplace
– Branding helps emphasize the differences
between you and others
• Branding is a good self-assessment
exercise

10. Focus: The 3 Cs
• Clarity
– What three things do you want to be known
for?
• Credibility
– Why would customer/clients trust you?
• Connective
– How does what you do connect emotionally
with others?

11. Focus: Value & Loyalty
• Value
– What is the value of the product/service that
you’re offering?
– Differentiation from other similar
products/services
• Loyalty
– Do clients and colleagues come back for
more?
– Is your product/service offering sustainable
over time?

12. Building Your Brand

13. Model for brand building at
work
• Four (4) dimensions
– Packaging
• Appearance
• Behavior
– Value
• Competencies
• Differentiation

14. Think: Packaging
• Appearance
– Clothing (color, fit, season, price point)
– Grooming (neatness, style)
– Personal style (conservative, trendy)
• Behavior
– General demeanor (friendly, aloof, quiet, angry,
professional)
– Speaking style (voice tone, accent, gestures, laughter)
• Remember, only part of this is about how you see
yourself; the rest is about how others perceive you

15. Think: Value
• Competencies
– What is your primary area of expertise?
– What is your core skill set?
• Differentiation
– What sets you apart from your competition?
– Why would clients choose you over someone
else?
– What do you have that others do not?

16. Building You Inc.
• Think of yourself as a bundle of goods and
services
– Determine your best professional qualities and the
benefits you offer
– Make sure your “packaging” is congruent with the
organization
• Ask yourself - what do I want to be known
for?
– Build relationships/trust
– Market yourself/gain visibility

17. It’s personal...and it isn’t
• Branding is both personal and impersonal
– It’s personal because it involves you
– It’s impersonal because it’s about a package
of goods and services
– If someone doesn’t need your particular
combination of goods and services, it’s not
necessarily about you, it’s about what they
need

18. External influences
• Outside influences on your brand that are
beyond your control (but which you can
affect)
– Manager
– Colleagues
– Grapevine
– Stereotypes
– Opinions

19. Internal vs. external branding
• Internal
– Reputation at employer; relationships with co-
workers; evaluations; manager
• External
– Media mentions, industry involvement, “lists,”
outside engagements
• Expert branding
– Research, publications, conversation partners

20. Branding roadmap
• Self-awareness
– Know thyself; separate your opinion from
others’
• Recognize the factors that you are
managing against
• Identify your 3 attributes and value
proposition
– Use these to debunk stereotypes while
highlighting your attributes
• Get started!

21. Communication & Technology

22. Communicating your brand
• You are communicating your brand all the
time
– In person with self-introductions, meetings,
daily interactions, etc.
– Online through Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter,
etc.
– Communication is not one-size-fits-all
• How you present your brand in person and
online matters

23. Communication
• How do you talk about yourself?
– self-deprecatingly, confidently, arrogantly
• How do you describe what you do?
• How do you communicate with others?
☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
– Feeling/emotional/relationship appeal
– Technical/quantitative appeal, or both
• Are you tailoring your communication style to your
audience?
• Other considerations: sense of humor, laughter,
personality

24. Social Media

25. The “blurred identity”
• Social technologies are blurring the
boundaries between your professional and
personal life online
• Technology has “flattened” the world, but
the underlying relationship dynamics
haven’t really changed
• Managing technology is critical for your
brand

26. Managing the blurred identity
• Privacy Settings
– Limit others’ access to your personal
information; segment friends by interest
– Not foolproof
• Recognize “friending” issues
– Colleagues, clients, managers, family
• Dealing with references/likes
– May be visible to others
– Company policies
• No such thing as anonymity

27. A Technical Situation
You logged into your Facebook account yesterday evening and noticed
several new friend requests. Some are from college friends, one is from
a family member, two are from colleagues in your department, and
another is from a client.
You’re a little uneasy about a few of these requests. One of the
colleagues who contacted you is a friend; the other, more like a
“frenemy.” And while you like the client, who is really cool, you also
know that he can be a little bit sensitive and you have to be careful in
your interactions with him.
It’s getting late, so you accept the requests from your college friends,
but wonder how to handle the others. Do you accept the requests from
both colleagues, or just the one you’re friends with? How do you
respond to the client?

28. When Your Brand is in
Trouble

29. Brand difficulties
• Performance issues
– Underperformance
– Performance at the expense of relationships
• Image concerns
– Professional style
– Communication
• Exposure challenges
– Underexposure
– Overexposure

30. Reinventing Your Brand
• Identify the problem
– Setup a focus group about You Inc.
– Consider performance evaluations
– What’s the buzz about you?
• Determine whether a change is necessary
• Focus on developing relationships
– Sources of feedback
– Support network

31. Key Takeaways

32. Branding is Power
• Take charge of your brand
• Evaluate yourself realistically
• Build a brand that is congruent with your
company and industry (internal/external)
• Position yourself against the competition
• Manage your “online” persona carefully
• Shore up your brand with strategic
relationships (e.g., alliances vs. friends)

33. Thank You
Twitter: @jescarter
http://jessicafayecarter.com
© 2010 Jessica Faye Carter