Authenticity: A Brand’s GPS

How do you know when you have found the passion that drives your brand? You know that passion is fueling purpose when you are able to observe consistent behaviors and actions in your work as well as through interactions with others. For a personal brand, that consistency also plays out in terms of being the same person across different life contexts- home, school, work, social situations- you cannot nor need not turn your brand on and off depending on your environment. This state of consistency is authenticity, which has been described as a “moral inner voice” that develops from our experience. Authenticity is an admired characteristic in corporate brands and personal brands because when we encounter authentic brands we can be assured that what we see is what we get. An authentic brand does not hide its true character behind mission statements or slogans; actions follow beliefs.

What Does it Really Mean to be Authentic?

How do you develop that moral inner voice that aligns daily performance with principles? Some personal branding advocates mistakenly equate authenticity with “being ourselves.” That works as long as who you are is who you want to be! In contrast, marketing expert Seth Godin believes authenticity is based on doing what you promise, not “being who you are.” Marc Ecko, a pharmacy school dropout turned fashion entrepreneur, has built a billion dollar business through a focus on brand authenticity. Ecko has three criteria for assessing the authenticity of his personal brand:

How truthful am I to myself and others
The emotional impact that can be made on others through actions
How flexible I am to change.

Authenticity is not just a buzz word- it is essential to maintain the brand integrity. Creativity expert and author Todd Henry says that you cannot sustain yourself long term on the approval of others.”You cannot keep up with fulfilling promises that are not in line with your personal values.”

My Favorite Authentic Brand (and Band)

Reflections on the significance of brand authenticity surfaced recently when I took a trip to Atlanta to watch my favorite band, Canadian rock trio Rush, play a show on their R40 Tour. The tour marks forty years of making music that continues to resonate with fans.

Rush’s brand authenticity is evident in three ways. First, the band’s music has evolved over forty years, experimenting with new sounds, but it was never done in the quest to sell more albums. Rush’s evolution was about pushing their creative boundaries. Second, Rush has a passionate fan base that appreciates the band’s music of the past and present (and hopefully future). Rush’s music has changed without being labeled as “sellouts” or caving in to whims to boost album sales. Third and most importantly, the members of Rush are committed to practicing their craft at an exceptionally high level. If R40 should happen to be Rush’s last major concert tour, they are hardly going quietly into the night. Their performance intensity and quality is as high as ever. My goal is to be at the top of my professional game after forty years, just like Geddy, Alex, and Neil.

Authenticity ≠ Popularity

Another indicator of the strength of brand authenticity is that it is not necessarily universally loved or embraced. When a brand remains true to its passion and purpose, it will almost surely run into opposition- “haters gonna hate”- if you will. Your decision to follow a path of authenticity will be rejected by some people.

Returning to the Rush example, the band is not a mainstream musical force. In fact, Rush has never won a Grammy award, and it was almost grudgingly inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. Why? The brand’s passion as evidenced in their music does not resonate with some music critics. In the end, Rush received well deserved career achievement accolades, in large part due to a steadfast commitment to brand authenticity.

Image Credit: Cygnus-X1.net

Dispelling 5 Myths of Personal Branding

Personal branding has taken off as a practice for managing one’s professional identity. The ease of communicating via social media channels has lowered the barriers to building a personal brand. I was first exposed to the concept of personal branding in 1997 through Tom Peters’ seminal article “The Brand Called You.” The ideas in Peters’ article were a little unsettling- could you really market yourself like Levi’s markets blue jeans? I was skeptical, but the confluence of less loyalty to employees among corporations and the emergence of the “new economy” brought about by the Internet convinced me that personal branding was going to be very relevant. Today, I encourage my students to apply marketing and branding principles learned in their coursework to managing their professional brands.

There are obstacles to putting personal branding into practice. Fortunately, most of the obstacles can be found between our ears- they are our own perceptions and fears about the importance of establishing and managing a personal brand. In my work with students and professionals looking to establish their personal brands, I have observed five misconceptions, or myths about personal branding:

1. Personal Branding is Bragging

Some people are reluctant to embrace personal branding because the idea of promoting one’s abilities and performance can be difficult for someone who is modest or does not like to “toot her own horn.” Yes, promotion is part of personal branding, but a great brand’s true value resides in the product itself and the benefits of the product to users. Promotion is how we communicate our brand’s meaning and makeup to the world, and that messaging needs to be real and relevant.

Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean was once asked how many games he and his brother, Paul, also a pitcher both playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, would win in in the 1934 season. Dizzy Dean predicted they would win 45 games between them and went on to say “It ain’t bragging if you can back it up.” The brothers won 49 games between them that season, and the Cardinals won the World Series. I would say Dizzy Dean wasn’t bragging- his message related the value he and his brother could bring to the team. Personal branding is not bragging; it is backing up your meaning and makeup while communicating your value.

2. Personal Branding = Your Social Media Presence

The huge user numbers for major social networking sites can lead people astray, thinking social media is the key to personal branding success. Social media is a communication channel- nothing more. We can tirelessly work to post updates on Facebook, send tweets on Twitter, make connections on LinkedIn, and so on, but those efforts represent only a small part of the overall management of a personal brand. Social media plays a major role in the implementation of your personal brand, but your brand is not the words you say and images you share through social media.

Personal branding is a process for identifying, developing, and communicating your unique value. The “identifying” and “developing” have to happen before there is anything to “communicate.” Thus, personal branding is by necessity more than one’s social media presence. You can have a brand without using social media, but you cannot communicate using social media independently of your brand.

3. Personal Branding is for Celebrities

You may have heard of personal branding but dismissed it because you believed it was something that only celebrities and other high profile people need to be concerned with their brand image and reputation. And, you are correct- celebrities in entertainment, sports, politics, business, and other fields use personal branding to communicate with their followers and maintain their status as opinion leaders. Social media has given opinion leaders in the “offline world” another channel for exerting their influence.

Remember, most people who have popular social brands already had well known personal brands. For example, Justin Timberlake has more than 39 million fans on Facebook and 45 million followers on Twitter. His brand is so strong online because of the value he has offered through his singing, acting, and performing for nearly 20 years. Social media has elevated the stature of personal brands like Justin Timberlake because fans and admirers can connect with him as well as other people who share an affinity for him. You, too can build a reputation for offering value to others… and it does not require you be a celebrity.

4. Personal Branding Requires You to Act Differently

The prospect of having to “act” like a brand is unsettling to many people. Their thinking is often something like “I’m a person, not a pair of running shoes!” Personal branding might be avoided by some people because of a perception that it requires them to act out of character. Thoughts like “putting on airs,” “phony,” or “arrogant” may cross the minds of those who believe that personal branding requires us to maintain a persona that could differ from who we really are. But, the most admired brands in the world are known for being remarkably consistent (think Amazon, Apple, Disney, and Google). They are authentic.

Building a great brand is not about coming up with a clever slogan or tagline, creating eye-catching brochures, or designing a slick website. Great brands make promises to customers and deliver on those promises. Do they fail sometimes? Of course they do, but even when a customer service failure occurs these companies work hard to recover from those failures to restore customer trust in their brand. So, contrary to the myth that personal branding would require you to act differently, you must act yourself- be authentic!

5. Personal Branding is All about Appearances

A brand is a multi-dimensional concept, with one dimension being observable characteristics or features. Product and service brands use tactics such as logos, color schemes, slogans, distinctive packaging designs, unique fonts, and brand characters to strengthen people’s association with their brands. These tactics help establish mental connection between a brand as observed by the senses and its Meaning and Makeup. Likewise, tactics can be used to associate your personal brand with what you. Your appearance, business cards, wardrobe, and résumé are some of the tactics used communicate your personal brand. But, there is a tendency sometimes to put too much emphasis on these outward expressions of a personal brand.

History can be an effective teacher, and to debunk the myth of personal branding being all about appearances we go back in time to the late 1990s. The commercial Internet began to grow and created opportunities to develop online business models. Entrepreneurs did just that, attracting great interest from investors seeking to profit from the Internet’s growth. But by 2001, many dot-com companies were going bankrupt, having burned through their investment capital while making little (and often no) profits. One reason some companies failed was they spent excessively on marketing, attempting to use marketing tactics like those of popular brands such as Coca-Cola and Chevrolet. The difference between dot-com brands and established brands was that the established brands enjoyed the benefits of decades of marketing. They did not buy their exposure overnight; it was payoff for years of delivering value to customers through their products and advertising.

Let Go of the Myths

Any of these five myths of personal branding could be persuasive in delaying or even foregoing the decision to develop one’s personal brand. Do not let the myths define your brand through inaction. Embrace your responsibility as manager of the world’s most important brand: You.

Note: This post was published originally on July 1, 2013

1 Brand, 3Ms

Today, there are many books, blogs, and podcasts that promote personal branding as a strategy for managing your professional persona. Realizing personal branding is important is one thing, but it is another matter to be able to apply a usable framework to build, maintain, and grow your personal brand. Published works on personal branding are often impassioned pleas by the authors to adopt a personal branding mindset. What is usually missing is how to get there. For example, personal branding experts give advice like “clearly articulate your value proposition” and “cultivate your network of contacts.” Sounds good, but what do they mean and how do you do those things?

The 3Ms of Personal Branding

Let’s simplify personal branding by reducing it to three pieces that can be called the “3Ms” of personal branding:

Meaning – Understanding the purpose, values, and mission that guide what you do
Makeup – Combining traits, talents, skills, training, and attitude that are potential sources of value for the people that you serve
Message – Communicating your brand through face-to-face interactions and online presence.

Manage your personal brand by focusing on these three areas. There is significance to the ordering of the three dimensions of personal branding. Meaning must be clear to you; after all, it is your brand. The other two dimensions are irrelevant without Meaning known and lived on a daily basis. Makeup plays off of Meaning; the knowledge and skills needed to compete in your chosen field are best determined once Meaning is recognized. Message is all about communication, but you will have no idea what the relevant brand messages about you should be unless Meaning and Makeup are clear and are transformed from words on paper into daily actions.

More than Message

Be careful about how you use most personal branding advice dispensed as a large majority of it tends to focus on the Message dimension of your brand. Articles, blogs, and books describing how to create a great LinkedIn profile, recommended timing and frequency of social media posts, and how to stand out via blogging are three topics written about often as personal branding strategies.

The flaw with advice related to these topics is that it assumes, if not disregards the importance of clarifying Meaning and strengthening Makeup. I am not suggesting that most information about personal brand Message is wrong. What is concerning to me is that there is much more work to building a distinctive brand- whether it is a product or personal brand- than having a well orchestrated communications platform.

Once You Start, You Never Stop

Embrace the 3Ms as a framework to manage your professional identity. Once you “open for business” and accept the idea you are a brand, your work will never be complete. Brand building is an ongoing process in which you will evaluate and clarify Meaning, add to the tools that comprise Makeup, and rewrite and update the story of your brand that is Message. Congratulations- you are now manager of the world’s most important brand.

The 24/7 Personal Brand

You and I have been given an awesome privilege: We are managers of the world’s most important brand- our own personal brand. This statement does not reflect an egotistical, “I am the greatest” worldview. Rather, you manage the world’s most important brand in that on one else can define Meaning, shape Makeup, and communicate Message about you like you can.

Here is another fact about your personal brand: Once you open for business you never close. We live in an “always on” world, thus making it difficult to separate your personal and professional lives. Why? Your Facebook posts, Twitter tweets, Instagram photos, and other digital breadcrumbs you leave influence how others perceive you and the value you have to offer.

Caught in the Camera Eye

It almost seems unnecessary to make the above point that your brand is always subject to scrutiny whenever you are interacting with the world around you. But, an incident burning up social media this week serves as a reminder that forgetting that our personal brand “Open” sign is always lit can be costly. Britt McHenry, an ESPN reporter, has been suspended by the network for one week following release of a video in which she berates an employee of a towing company that had towed her car. The video, which you can see by clicking here, shows an irate McHenry lobbing several insults at the female attendant as she is paying to recover her vehicle. The backlash on social media has been brutal for the most part, condemning McHenry for her attitude and actions.

Forget Brand Perfection

The aim of this post is not to pass judgment on Britt McHenry; the Twitterverse has taken care of that already. What can we learn from an incident like this in which a person who has worked diligently to craft a professional brand seems to go out of her way to sabotage it. Here are three points to remember:

Brand failure happens. All brands, product and personal, are governed by humans and thus are susceptible to making mistakes. No brand is perfect, and attempts to orchestrate a perfect brand image will inevitably end badly (reference Tiger Woods).
Embrace brand failure. You have two options to deal with mistakes when (not if) they occur: Deny their existence of accept responsibility and learn from the mistake. In this case, McHenry has issued an apology on Twitter (hopefully she will return to the scene and issue a face-to-face apology). How a brand responds to failure can make the difference between instilling confidence and eroding trust.
Make failure part of your story. Instead of hiding failure, weave it and the redemption process into your personal brand story. Pretending you have not experienced failure is denying your reality. Revealing vulnerability is a trait consistent with an authentic brand.

Failure is an Option

Ideally, we learn from the mistakes made by Britt McHenry and others. We like to think we are smarter or more tactful than to let our personal brands get into such an unfavorable light. Hopefully, you or I will never be the scourge of the Internet, even for a few fleeting moments. However, we will make missteps at some point that could damage our brand. How we respond when those missteps occur is crucial to becoming a better steward of the world’s most important brand.

Image Credit: Sally Mahoney, Flickr

3 Reasons Personal Branding is a Default Strategy for Your Career

Whether you realize it or not, you hold the position of managing the world’s most important brand: You. That statement is not meant in a self-centered way, but it is a reminder that you are ultimately the most influential person in shaping your destiny. Many definitions can be found for personal branding. Many of the definitions espoused are incomplete or inaccurately frame the scope of personal branding. I cringe every time I read an article that suggests personal branding consists of a professional photo, up-to-date LinkedIn profile, and active social media presence. Building a great brand for a product or service requires more than communication elements. Similarly, a personal brand is more than communication elements, too. My favorite definition of personal branding is that it is a process for identifying, developing, and communicating your unique value.

Great brands don’t just happen, and you will not develop a distinctive personal brand just by showing up to work everyday. Developing a personal brand strategy is not a question of if you should do it but how you will do it. In other words, personal branding is a default strategy for professional growth… you must commit to a plan for managing what are the 3Ms of a personal brand: Meaning, Makeup, and Message. Specifically, there are three forces that make personal branding a default strategy: Competition, differentiation, and indifference.

You Have Competition

Unless you go to work in the family business or venture out as an entrepreneur, you will be marketing yourself to be hired by someone. And, you will have plenty of other people around you doing the same thing. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, more than 1.8 million undergraduate degrees and 750,000 graduate degrees were awarded by colleges and universities in the United States in 2012-2013. And that is just the number of newly minted graduates entering the professional workforce. Another layer of competition will be those people who are already in your industry of choice as well as graduates who are still looking to land a job in their field of study.

You will have competition even if you are your own boss. Consultants, freelancers, and other contract-based workers must position themselves to compete against others with similar expertise. If you have aspirations of working as a social media professional, you are not alone. A review of Twitter profiles to find social media professionals yielded more than 181,000 mentions such as “experts,” “evangelists,” “gurus,” “consultants,” and other positioning descriptors. That’s a lot of smart people! Personal branding can empower you to craft a distinctive identity that can rise above the noise of thousands of other self-proclaimed “ninjas” and “masters” in your profession.

You Need to Stand Out

Once you have a grasp on the extent of competition you will face to land a job in your field or with a particular company, it is evident that you could easily become lost in a sea of applicants and résumés. For example, sports marketing is a field that attracts many college students as well as people in the workforce looking to make a career change. The appeal of the industry attracts many applicants. It is not uncommon for a professional team to receive hundreds of applications for a single entry level ticket sales job or marketing internship.

The quantity of competition may not be as great in other industries, but even if there are fewer applicants vying for the same positions as you it is likely that competition will be intense. So, whether you are up against three or 103 “competitors” for a job, your challenge is to stand out from the pack.You are aiming to develop a distinctive difference that is valued by other people, not possessing something different merely for the sake of being different. Personal branding is a means of developing your value proposition, which can be defined as the most compelling benefits that attract people to take the desired action.

Most People Don’t Think This Way

Yes, you have competition. Luckily for you, most of them will not act like serious threats to your personal brand. Why? Most people do not apply branding principles to their own situation and do a mediocre job of marketing their professional identity. If you choose to apply strategic thinking to career planning, job search, personal branding, and career management, you will have gained an advantage over others who are more task oriented (e.g., “I have to create a résumé,” or “I must apply for five jobs today”). Although there are no definitive statistics on the application of strategic planning principles to personal development, it is widely believed that only a small percentage of people formally establish goals. Estimates on the percentage of goal setters in the population vary, ranging from three percent to 20 percent. The exact percentage is unimportant; the point is that most people do not have a strategy for positioning and developing their personal brand.

The Default Setting

For the sake of your future, do not look at personal branding as something that other people do. Also, do not assume it is not necessary in your field. Yes, personal branding takes on even greater importance in situations in which an individual is the brand such as an author, artist, or entrepreneur, but there are many other professions in which building a brand with a focus on the value you can offer to others can be a growth plan for advancement.

Evaluate the standing of your personal brand today by asking these questions:

Do I see myself as a brand? If no, what are the limiting thoughts or beliefs that prevent me from adopting a personal brand mindset?
Which of the external forces- competition, differentiation, or indifference- gives the most compelling reason to develop a personal brand strategy to position my brand for growth?

Remember, personal branding is not a matter of if it should be done but how you should do it. Relish the challenge of managing the world’s most important brand.

Thought Leadership a Constant in B2B Marketing

Marketing is changing at a pace faster than ever. In one survey of marketers last year, 76% agreed that marketing had changed more in the past two years than the previous 50 years. If you subscribe to this sentiment, then you would likely not be surprised by findings from a recent study about B2B marketing priorities now and in the near future. The Information Technology Services Marketing Association (ITSMA) surveyed B2B marketers to determine their perceptions of leading marketing responsibilities now and what they will be two years from now.

Below is a graphic from eMarketer summarizing the top 5 lists for now and two years out:

A comparison of the top 5 lists for current responsibilities and the priorities in two years suggests B2B marketers anticipate dramatic changes in their roles. The number one priority currently- brand management- does not even make the top 5 list for two years from now. Use of marketing technology tools hits the two-year-out list at number 2. It can be assumed that this increased emphasis on using marketing technology will touch the other four anticipated leading responsibilities. Two observations from the list of anticipated responsibilities are that “understanding buyers” appears at number 1 seemingly out of the blue. But, has that not always been the fundamental job of a marketer? If we do not understand buyers, the destiny of our business is likely assured… and the end is not pretty. The other observation is the constant priority given to thought leadership, landing at number 4 on both lists. It is on this constant that we will examine more closely to understand.

What is Thought Leadership?

In an age in which anyone with Internet access and a keyboard has a voice, establishing a brand (corporate or personal) as a thought leader is crucial for wielding influence, building a community, and ultimately driving business growth. But, what exactly is meant by the term thought leadership? Thought leadership experts Russ Allan Prince and Bruce Rogers offer the following definition of a thought leader:

“A thought leader is an individual or firm that prospects,clients, referral sources, intermediaries and even competitors recognize as one of the foremost authorities in selected areas of specialization, resulting in being the go-to individual or organization for said expertise.”

Consumers evaluate a seller’s credibility along the dimensions of expertise and trustworthiness. Becoming a thought leader is a way to positively impact both of those judgments made by consumers. Blog posts, how-to videos, and case studies are three examples of how marketers use content to “show what they know” (expertise). A content strategy aimed at building thought leadership can also “humanize” a brand through the stories told and employees featured, tactics for building trust with buyers. Oh, and there is one more part to the definition put forth by Prince and Rogers:

“A thought leader is an individual or firm that significantly profits from being recognized as such.”

This element of the definition means that aspiring to a position of thought leadership is not done for the purposes of stroking ego; it is meant to contribute to business growth.

What It Means to be a Thought Leader

It is human nature that people like to do business with individuals and companies that they like and trust. Let’s add one more qualifier- we like to do business with individuals and companies in which we have confidence in their capabilities (related to trustworthiness but speaks more to expertise). Given this characteristic of buyers, it is not surprising that thought leadership is considered a top priority today and in two years… and in five years and in ten years. Being a thought leader is not saying “Look at me- I am great!” It is about demonstrating your capabilities to solve problems and provide help to others. Having the ability is not enough; it must be communicated to the audiences that stand to benefit from your thought leadership.

What are you waiting for? Make your voice heard by becoming a trusted resource for information, advice, opinion, and action.

To be or not to be Gangsta, That is the Question

This week, I came across a Facebook post with personal branding implications that sparked a lively debate. A well-known copywriting and marketing expert, Bob Bly, lamented in a post on his Facebook page that a young marketing expert congratulated himself on a presentation he had given, referring to himself as “gangsta.” This proclamation led the veteran marketer to question why many people use social media to stroke their egos. And, he suggested that self-promotion on social media was more prevalent among Millennials. His post elicited more than 100 comments, including several exchanges between Bly and his audience. Not surprisingly, some Millennials in his community disagreed with how he characterized their generation. This post is not about whether Bob Bly was right or wrong but rather a reflection on the impact of social media self-promotion on brands.

Stand for Something

This issue is about brand positioning. By definition, positioning is articulating a real point of difference that is relevant to your target market or community. The “young turk” (using Bly’s words) may have insight that tells him his tribe of followers would find his description of gangsta appealing and his product (marketing expertise) interesting. In essence, the young expert appears to have positioned himself as cool and edgy. Such perceptions will likely resonate within a significant part of his community. The worst scenario this marketer (or any brand- product or personal) could face is being irrelevant due to a perception of not standing for something.

Positioning ≠ Popularity

Brand positioning is one of the most important strategic decisions a brand owner faces. Why? The harsh reality is that not everyone likes you or your offering. A whole host of reasons could be cited- price is too high, quality is questionable, you are perceived as too brash because you refer to yourself as gangsta- I’ll cut off the list here or else I would have to go on and on. But, you get the point; marketing is not a popularity contest. Your brand will appeal to a certain audience, and it will not matter to other audiences. You can live with that as long as you are in tune with the audience that cares about you and perceives you care about them. Thus, brand positioning is so important because it guides decisions about who you seek to engage with your brand and how you go about doing so.

Is It OK to be Gangsta?

If you take a bold positioning approach for your personal brand such as the gangsta persona in this example, know that you will turn off some people. The question is whether your position will be relevant to enough people that the value you offer will be rewarded. Also, brand positions often evolve as customers’ needs and market preferences shift. So, the young “gangsta marketer” of 2014 will likely position himself differently at some point in the future. And, positioning, like marketing in general, is about the benefit of your offering to your community. Position your brand to answer “what’s in it for me” that your audience is constantly asking. Understanding how to answer that question will ultimately shape your brand identity.

Can You Pass the Persistence Test?

Your email in which you “applied” for an internship or job opportunity got deleted… and that might be good. The initial reaction to the prospect of your thoughtful, carefully crafted message to a business owner or hiring manager being summarily dismissed with a touch of the Delete key might be dismay or even disgust. “How rude of him to not even acknowledge my email,” you might think. But if you expect a prompt reply (or a reply at all) to an unsolicited email from someone who does not know you, chances are you will be disappointed.

Testing 1, 2, 3

One question asked frequently about personal branding is how to stand out when so many people have similar credentials (e.g., skills and education). On paper, much of the competition looks the same. The answer to standing out is not cosmetic- bright colored font or paper is just that- cosmetic. Think of how you can differentiate your brand by focusing on intangibles. An intangible that many employers are evaluating in this very scenario of email correspondence is persistence. Are you really hungry and driven to pursue this opportunity, or are you making a halfhearted effort to send résumés to a long list of companies?

The silence on the other end could be a test of your desire.Tim Earnhart, founder of Werkshop Branding, often receives unsolicited résumés from college students interested in an internship. Earnhart’s procedure for handling such inquiries is:

1st inquiry- Delete without reading
2nd inquiry- Read email, review résumé, and delete
3rd inquiry- Reply to sender, giving feedback to the inquiry.

According to Earnhart, an easy way for applicants to stand out is to send that second and third inquiry. Why? Most people give up after the first email they send, showing no persistence in demonstrating their desire for an opportunity to work at Werkshop Branding.

Pass the Persistence Test

Pursuing an internship or job today is easier than ever before because of electronic communications, namely email and job websites. Résumés can be distributed widely and often are sent with little customization by the sender to articulate a fit between applicant and organization. You may not think it is fair or professional, but an employer wants to learn as much about you before committing resources to hire and train you, Testing your persistence is one way intangible attributes can be evaluated. I am not suggesting that persistence in the form of follow-up emails or phone calls is a substitute for required skills or experience, but persistence is a trait you can demonstrate that is hard to convey on a résumé. In short, you may taking a test without even being aware, but you have to pass the Persistence Test.

Be different by being persistent.

Photo Credit: Ervins Strauhmanis, Creative Commons License 2.0

Networking is…

With more than 1,000,000 college degrees granted annually, competition for jobs is great. Of course, that only takes into account newly minted graduates looking to launch their careers. Millions of other professionals already on a career path are looking to move upward to higher positions or on to new opportunities. Networking serves two important roles in building a personal brand to compete in the job market. First, one’s network of contacts can be tapped to acquire more knowledge that enhances skills. Second, a professional network is a communication channel that can be used to meet people, share information, and pursue business opportunities.

Different Approaches to Networking

Perceptions of networking differ among professionals. Some people network relationally, focusing on quality of the interface. Other people network on a transactional scale, valuing the result. Relational networking and relationship marketing share key characteristics. Mirroring relationship marketing, networking includes distinctions of trust, cyclical education, ongoing relationships, maintenance, and a continuous dialog. In contrast, transactional marketing measures a goal by using an object of importance. Furthermore, these transactions are usually discrete with little to no future interdependence.

What is Networking?

It is one thing to espouse the importance of building a network of professional contacts to future business professionals; it is another for them to have a good grasp on exactly what it is you are advocating that they do. So, to assess students’ understanding of professional networking, I have collected data from students enrolled in an undergraduate sports marketing course over the past several semesters. Data have been collected from 151 students so far in this ongoing study. I focused data collection on students studying sports marketing because building a network of professional contacts is vital to establishing a personal brand in sport business and standing out in a highly competitive market.

Data were collected on students’ perceptions of networking by simply asking them to complete the sentence “Networking is…” Definitions were analyzed using content analysis to look for themes or common notions about professional networking. Students’ concept of professional networking as reflected in their definitions reveals a disproportionate emphasis on shallow engagement with others, falling under a category labeled “connections.” A total of 113 students (75%) defined networking as pertaining to building connections with other people. Relationship building was the theme with the next highest frequency of mentions as 45 students (30%) included a reference to relationships in their definitions of professional networking. Two other themes, learning and sharing, received few mentions as elements of networking (5% and 3%, respectively).

Bridging the Gap between Actual and Ideal

Perhaps the findings that perceptions of networking relate to “making connections” is understandable. After all, what is LinkedIn’s label for networking? Connections. Quantified connections, whether it be on LinkedIn, Twitter, or the number of business cards collected at an event are used as proxies for networking ability. This “notches on a belt” approach to networking is troubling in that it is reduced to little more than a game of how many connections can be made (quantity) rather than a focus on providing mutual benefit to someone in your network (quality).

My favorite definition of professional networking is simple: “Building good relationships.” When we build good relationships, we help others become successful and help them however we can (e.g., make an introduction or write a letter of recommendation). But, you have to make “deposits” in the networking bank with your connections so that when you need to make a withdrawl (i.e., ask a favor), you have available goodwill upon which to draw.

Your Turn

What is your definition of professional networking? And, if you believe that you need to become better at networking, what obstacles or weaknesses are keeping you from being more effective?

Image Credit: flickr.com/baggyjumper, Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

If You Give a Flip about Personal Growth, Try Flipboard

One of the challenges of being a consumer in the Information Age is how to discern value from noise. Filtering through the abundance of information on the Internet is the Paradox of Choice on steroids (if you are unfamiliar with the Paradox of Choice, you have to watch Barry Schwartz’s TED talk on the subject). Information is fuel for our personal growth, but if you put diesel in an engine that runs on unleaded gasoline you have inadvertently caused problems that will cost you time and money.

So, what are valuable resources for gathering information in support of your personal growth and development? One resource that has become a go-to app for me is Flipboard. I have been intrigued by the concept of Flipboard since I first read about it shortly after its release in 2010. Simply put, Flipboard is a social digital magazine. It enables users to collect articles from magazines, blogs, websites, and social networking sites into a single location. Flipboard is like a news reader and thus is not unique in that regard. What sets Flipboard apart is its design- the user experience is outstanding as readers “flip” through articles collected with a swipe of a finger.

More than Cool

Design is important in creating a great user experience, and the cool factor of Flipboard makes using it akin to reading a print magazine. But, being cool is not enough to have utility for users. Specifically, Flipboard can contribute to your personal development in the following ways:

Collect for Yourself – If nothing else, using Flipboard is a platform that allows you to construct a personal magazine based on your interests. You select categories or topics about which you wish to receive content. Flipboard is my newspaper. My consumption rituals include beginning each day catching up on the latest news by reading articles from the Cover Stories and News sections. At lunch, I use Flipboard to read about what is going on in the sports world, checking out articles from the Sports section and delving into subsections on baseball and hockey. I have described only how I use Flipboard for general consumption, but I apply the same practices to read the latest articles and thought in areas such as advertising, content marketing, design, social media, and technology. Selecting topics to include in your Flipboard is like selecting food from a restaurant buffet- you pick what you want whether you desire a wide variety or a limited number of items.
Curate for Others – The “social” part of social platforms like Flipboard is based on sharing. Creating magazines to share with other Flipboard users is a way to be part of a community of people with shared interests. You will find yourself “flipping” articles into your magazines that others have flipped into their magazines as well as other Flipboard users finding value in your flips and flipping into their magazines. For example, I have a Flipboard magazine titled Personal Branding U in which I gather articles related to career preparation, development, and personal branding. These topics are central to my job as a college professor; I am happy to help others by sharing the resources I find.
Express Your Brand – A third use of Flipboard is to use it as a channel to support your brand, whether you are a digital-only brand or one with offline presence. Think of Flipboard as a content marketing channel in which the content you curate can be strategically gathered to support your branding efforts. Another Flipboard magazine I have is titled Sports Biz U. The magazine has dual objectives as being a curated source for others interested in sports business and being a support vehicle for a sports marketing textbook that I have co-authored. The magazine can be used by sports business faculty (whether they are using our book or not) to have access to supply of current events and trends in sports business.

Try It for Yourself

Flipboard has evolved from being only for iPad to being available on iPhone, Android devices, and Kindle Fire. In addition to using it for personal growth, I have incorporated Flipboard magazines into courses that I teach, exposing students to a wider range of news and thought in the marketing field than I have ever been able to do through any single source. Best of all- the Flipboard app is free! Download the app, then check out a good “how to” article on using Flipboard like this one from Jason Evangelho. It takes some time to figure out how to make the most of Flipboard, but once you master it you will have added a valuable new dimension to your personal development efforts.