This document provides guidance on building a personal brand through effective communication. It discusses defining your brand through attributes like being authentic, distinctive, relative and consistent. It also recommends conducting a SWOT analysis to understand your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Additionally, it advises identifying your target audience and competitors, crafting a positioning statement and value proposition, and proving your brand through work experience, networking and social media platforms like LinkedIn. The overall goal is to strategically shift your brand toward a specific goal and differentiate yourself from others in your field.

1. Build Your Brand
Make A Name For Yourself Through
Effective Communication
By Nathan Young & Joe Barnes

2. What is your Brand?
REPUTATIONIMAGE

3. What is Brand Building?
A strategic plan of action
to shift your brand
toward a specific goal.
“
”

4. Why Build Your Brand?
There is a huge shift going on right now in the business world.

5. Why Build Your Brand?
There is a huge shift going on right now in the business world.

6. Why Build Your Brand?
There is a huge shift going on right now in the business world.

7. Why Build Your Brand?
There is a huge shift going on right now in the business world.

8. Why Build Your Brand?
Businesses are transforming and need help
making the transformation.
You can be that help. But…

9. There’s extreme competition
for jobs.

10. And social media is exploding!

11. Why Build Your Brand?
COULD BRAND MUST BRAND
These two factors shift the importance of personal branding.

12. Positioning

13. Who are you?
Two big questions:
1. How are you perceived?
2. How do you want to be perceived?

14. What is your brand?
Authentic Distinctive Relative Consistent
01 02 03 04
• No smoke and mirrors.
• Your brand is your
strengths elevated and
your weaknesses offset.
• If it doesn’t feel true, it
won’t ring true.
• No copycat-ing.
• Your brand is perceptually
different from everyone
else’s.
• Be different or risk being
ignored.
• You are not an island.
• Your brand will be
compared to the brands
of others. Does your
brand sell you over
everyone else?
• Communicate not just
why you are good, but
why you are better than
others.
• Don’t flip-flop.
• The more consistent your
brand is over time, the
stronger it becomes.
• Growth is good. Shifts are
good. Change is good.
Inconsistency is bad.
• Does your story read
well?

15. Define Your Value
Rational
Value
Emotional
Value
True
Value

16. SWOT Analysis
O T
S W
STRENGTHS:
• What are you great at?
WEAKNESSES:
• Where do you need improvement?
OPPORTUNITIES:
• What are the things you’d like to be great at?
THREATS:
• What are the things going on in the world that
threaten your relevance?

17. Identify Your Target Audience
• Who Do You Want to Reach?
• What Makes Your Target Come to You?

18. Value Proposition
• Communicate your specific value
to the specific organization.
• Take stock of what you’ve been
particularly effective at. Then take
stock of what the company/client
has been struggling with.

19. Identify Your Competitors
• Who are you up against?
• Ask around. Get information about
what certifications, work
experience, and personal projects
successful people in your field hold,
and set goals to get yourself upto
par.
• If you know a large number of
applicants will share a common trait
use that information to differentiate
yourself.

20. We are all unique little snowflakes

21. But we exist in a blizzard of unique snow flakes

22. Differentiation is
how you stand out
in the storm

23. Positioning Statement
• Target Audience (For…)
• Problem Statement (Who need…)
• Category (I am…)
• Value Prop (Who Provides…)
• Competitive Differentiation (Unlike [key competitors], I…)

24. Messaging

25. The Million Dollar Question
How do you prove it?

26. The Million Dollar Question
• Work experience is the best way.
• While working a job, keep track of your major accomplishments
• Rule of Thumb: If what you did created a measureable effect, that’s a major
accomplishment.
• No work experience? No problem.
• Volunteer or do pro-bono.
• Look to your school and personal activities for non-traditional examples.

27. Elevator Pitches
• What I Do / What I Want To Do
• Context
• Evidence

28. Positioning lines
If you were being introduced on a news program, how would you want
to be introduced?
Examples:
• Creative Strategist
• Leading Environmental Activist
• Social Media Evangelist

29. Resume Language
• Avoid Job Description, Be Results Oriented
• EG Responsible for managing office inventory vs Established program to
reduce paper waste resulting in a estimated cost savings of $10,000 per year
• Detail results, but leave room for questions.
• EG Developed a return shipping program the lowered company costs by 20%
• Companies bolded, titles secondary

30. Channels

31. One Truth
The Most Important Place to
Brand is in the Real World

32. Networking vs Social Networking
• Network but don’t social network
• You have a good group of allies to call on, but miss out on opportunities for
others to recognize connections quickly and easily online.
• Social network but don’t network
• Big number of LinkedIn contacts makes you look good, but if you never talk to
them, why would they want to do you a favor when you need it?

33. On Business Cards
• If you have a job, carry your
business cards around
• If you don’t have a job, make your
own business card

34. Social Media
The Big Three for Professionalism
• Showcasing
• Networking
• Searching
• Sharing
• Broadcasting
• Following
• Trending
• Sharing
• Authoring
• Centralizing
• Optimizing
• Sharing

35. Rules for Social Media
• Be careful what you post.
• Know and use privacy settings.
• Only connect with people you know.
• Clean up you personal accounts.
• Keep your personal accounts personal.

36. LinkedIn In Depth
• Use your brand!
• Headline = Positioning Line
• Description = Positioning statement
• Join groups that fit your brand
• Follow industry leaders and companies you are interested in.
• Eliminate inconsistencies between LinkedIn and your resume
• Highlight accomplishments
• Make it easy to contact you

37. ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

38. Nathan Young
Nathan Young is a creative strategist and writer
living in Los Angeles, CA. A former IT
professional, Nathan is a firm believer in the
power of digital, but believes the most
successful brands are not the ones who
measure the most data, but the ones who tell
the best stories.
Nathan specializes in emerging media &
consumer insight, and has consulted with many
large companies including Microsoft, Expedia &
AXS.com.
Pitchily.com
/nathanayoung
@notnathan

39. Joe Barnes
Joseph W. Barnes is a highly sought-after
social/digital media strategist,
conference/keynote speaker and trainer, and
consults with teams and executives on major
strategic communications, public relations and
marketing initiatives. His clients have ranged
from small businesses to Fortune 500
companies, non-profits and leading
government agencies.
He has provided consulting/training to over 80
organizations nationwide and is known for his
marketing results and accomplishments.
Digital3000.net
/joebarnesseattle
@joebarnes