Build
Your Brand
There
are countless reasons your brand is important, and it starts with
your resume.
By Robert Stanke
from RobertStanke.com
______________________________
When most people think of a “brand”,
they often think of things like food or common consumer goods.
Tide, Frito-Lay, Dole, Coca-Cola, and Brawny are good examples of
brand names that are not uncommon for us to gravitate too. They
indicate to us traits like quality, tradition, and trust. But, does
this mean that those products are actually better than others right
next to them on the shelf – the ones with less familiar names?
Absolutely not!
What those companies that created those
brands did was effectively market them to the public. This is no
different than what each of us needs to do in our careers and every
day life.
There are countless strategies and
methods to building a brand and there is no way possible for me to
list them all here (in fact, there are a tons of books out there
devoted to the subject!), but there is one key element in your
career toolbox that is a major part of your brand - your resume.
Everything from the visual effect to
the content, defines who you are, your past, and where you want to
go. It is a working document - always changing. Some resumes are
well done, some are not. What is important is that your resume
requires the attention it deserves because it is so highly regarded
when you are seeking new employment.
Being a third-party staffing recruiter,
I estimate that I review close to 10,000 resumes a year. A good
resume is like a good book, if it is creative and keeps my
attention, I want to keep reading and it stays in my mind - like a
well branded product!
Good brand managers and marketing gurus
don't just create brand images for a couple hours in one night every
five years! So neither should you! Building a brand takes time and
effort.
Here are some tips for you to consider
when working on your brand:
1. Create a branding plan. You
don't have to be formally trained to do this! Just sit down and
determine who you are and what you strive to be. Write it down!
Illustrate it out if you have too! The main objective is too
understand how you want people to see you.
2. Get a professional resume done. When you
want to create a large presentation for work, you don't build it
from scratch, do you? No, you go and try to find
professional-created templates to start with and get the ideas
flowing. Same concept for your resume. Take the time and money to
get a professional resume done - it will make a huge difference as
opposed to struggling for hours to write your own.
3. Build a brand/career toolbox.
Along with the resume, make sure you have other important supporting
documents: cover letters, references, past work examples, etc. And
while some might think this is overboard, I still believe that a
career/professional toolbox should have uniformity and be well
branded. Make your own custom letterhead, matching business cards,
same font types and sizes throughout all documents.
4. Build a marketing plan. Get
creative or surround yourself with creative people and create a plan
to market yourself. It doesn't have to be just when you are looking
for a new job, in fact, it shouldn't be at all. Always be promoting
yourself through your career/professional toolset, networking with
others, etc. Setup a web presence or blog if you are into that.
Whatever you do, pushing your brand now will ensure success later.
Dove soap has been a success for many, many years, but they still
market and brand the image... You should too!
5. Finally, review your strategy
every three to six months. Change it up once in a while. Be
creative! But no matter what, never worry about self-promotion and
over doing it, unless you start seeing negative results, then scale
back and re-evaluate your strategy.
Building a brand is crucial to your
success, and worth the time to do!
- Robert Stanke
*************************************
Robert Stanke is a professional staffing recruiter
and Managing Director of Viral Effectx, a marketing firm focused
around providing viral marketing solutions to individuals and small
businesses. You can check out Robert's website at:
www. robertstanke.com.
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