How to - not make a mistake with your Personal Brand

 By Stephanie Fierman

 I’ve been a passionate advocate of online personal branding and reputation management since 2007.  That was the year, as some of you know, that I had a personal experience with the power of Google ...
Read more: http://blog.mengonline.com/2010/08/24/playing-both-defense-and-offense-with-your-personal-brand/

Employer Branding as most important strategy in fight for talents

A survey by Personnel Today reveals that HR managers believes branding is vital if an organisation is to recruit the best candidates.

In the war for talent, HR professionals are not being equipped with one of the most important weapons in the recruitment armoury – employer branding.

An exclusive survey of 1,889 Personnel Today readers with responsibility for recruitment reveals that 95% of respondents believe employer branding is ‘important’ (Fig. A), with 80% saying that it will become even more so (Fig. B). And yet only 25% of those surveyed have responsibility for employer branding. 

Many senior HR professionals said they were trying to make their organisation an ‘employer of choice’ in the face of low unemployment and skills shortages.
One said: “There is so much competition for good candidates, those with a good employer brand will be able to pick and choose from the best candidates.” And another added: “People are becoming more inclined to look for roles where the organisation’s values are aligned with their own.”
Recruitment remains the preserve of the HR department. Indeed, the number of people in HR with responsibility for recruiting is increasing.

Employer Branding in social media networks can be rudimentary found on Facebook and LinkedIn, but in the "war for talent" companies are in need to create their brand online in new ways and with more freedom of scope. OXENDO offers companies the right tools to present and monitor their brands with new applications.
We will launch the beta version of OXENDO on the 26th of August. Please feel free to contact me on Twitter/LinkedIn or leave a comment! http://www.oxendo.com/

New Xing & LinkedIn groups for Oxendo

I'd like to invite all readers of this blog to join OXENDO`s beta version in August - it truly will be a new generation of social career networking... I will keep you posted about the exact dates. For everyone as impatient as me - make sure to join us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/global_trend  or  www.twitter.com/oxendo) or our group "Personal Branding - OXENDO" on LinkedIn. Also dont be shy and contact me anytime if you want to find out more about the unique ways of creating your own brand with OXENDO.
We will offer Personal Branding and Employer Branding on a new level.
No matter if company or person - OXENDO shows you new ways and opportunities to better display and brand yourself than on any other network.
Dont waste time thinking about paying for a website to present yourself in a better way – use OXENDO to create your brand. Realize your own ideas of design and functionality.
OXENDO helps individuals to really show all talents, skills and qualifications. Companies can access and compare candidates in order to find the perfect candidate.

You can sign up now for our newsletter on our pre-launch registration page-- www.oxendo.com
We will reveal the full experience of OXENDO very shortly. Please be a bit patient and stay tuned! You will enjoy it.
Among all persons and companies who sign up for the newsletter I will give out 5 free full-year memberships! For further questions make sure to contact me on LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/nicolasullah

The future of personal & employer branding online

Since we started working on Oxendo (the next generation of career networking) I received many requests about online tools that could help to improve a personal brand online.
At the moment we are constantly working on the beta version of OXENDO and i am glad to inform you that we will be online by end of June. OXENDO will offer some amazing tools for Personal Branding + Employer Branding. Technically I am sure to offer you a new generation of social media! Comparing to other career networks OXENDO offers many long term career development tools and better communication with potential employers.

For now you can finally get some first information on www.oxendo.com - make sure to sign up for the Newsletter!

It would be great to get your feedback on functions you could imagine to be part of this network - feel free to contact me as well.

The perfect launch of your personal brand

If you want to speed up the process of creating personal brand equity, become addicted to:
1) being intentional &
2) changing habits

Being intentional:
A lot of people think that once they choose their brand, the rest automatically takes care of itself. This mindset has no application in the world of personal branding, where only doers excel.
If we want to leave the competition behind, we must be more intentional than they are when it comes to every detail of our personal brand. But what is intentionality? One example – if you are preparing for a meeting ask yourself – what do I hope to achieve in this meeting – what do I want to achieve with my presentation? Intentionality is not just having a great idea – it is also to pursue and implement that idea (before having a new one).
DEFINE THE OUTCOME and pursue it with preparation and implementation!!

Change:
Habits, communication style, attitude, etc. – there are many things we can work on. Once we took care of those personal changes, we should move on to supporting props like:
-    Websites & broschures (as mentioned we are working on a professional branding & carreer platform, which will allow its members to perfectly create a brand for themselves – for more questions about that, please leave a comment or contact me directly!!)
-    Office space
-    Systems improvements
Another effective tool is a 15-second commercial. How many times are we asked about what we do for a living. Make sure to create an answer which is different and interesting.

Talent matters less than perception does

It is controversial, but in my opinion a great personal brand & average talent BEATS great talent & an average personal brand.
Lets use an easy example. There are thousands of good lawyers and marketing experts in this country some of them offering similar services. Even though the marketplace has shifted from the sale of products to the sale of services in the last ten years (the amount of service sector jobs is still increasing...) the customers purchasing strategy remains the same!! Which means buyers still need to SEE something in order to help them validate their purchasing decisions. SOMETHING must replace the tangible product. That SOMETHING is a PERSONAL BRAND.
Like it or not, most of the success of the lawyers or marketing experts comes down to a little more than a popularity contest. The person with the most likeable personal brand wins. In order for the individual to be comfortable making a commitment, he needs to see something to which he can come emotionally attached. And quality is not nearly as important as the PERCEPTION OF QUALITY. Just look at the famous Pepsi - Coca Cola tast tests in which Pepsi beats Coca Cola on a yearly basis. The message is clear - it doesnt matter who really is the best; what matters is who the people perceive to be the best!!
For more info on how to build your personal brand - go on our website www.globaltrendwatching.com
or check out our social media channels (which are by the way the best way to communicate a personal brand...)

The Honeyed Bear Trap

The Bear hunter does not chase his prey; a bear that knows it is hunted is nearly impossible to catch and is ferocious if cornered. Instead the hunter lays traps baited with honey. He does not exhaust himself and risk his life in pursuit. He baits, then waits.

The point of this is: Do not go hunting and begging for people to use your services. Simply come up with a special interest that can catch your target's attention. Then wait until they can explore, raise their interest and then they will come to you. When forcefully attacking your target, they will turn away and run fast.

When we go shopping we all try to avoid sales personal asking us "can I help you?" "are you looking for something in particular?" The moment those words come out of their mouth you start getting annoyed and simply want to leave. Because they just want to sell you the product. They don't let you walk around and explore on your own a bit and see what can catch your interest. When you are interested in something, you will go looking for THEM all over the store. Same with your business. The moment you push, their interest suddenly disappears. It's more personal when they get to know you first, sniff around, get familiar with you, when they can trust you they will come to you willingly - as the bear trusted the honey's trap, walking straight into it himself because it was familiar.

How to create attention to your business

Here is something you can think about before you would want to start your business.
You are the package people look at and fancy first, before they open to see what's inside. If the package is not appealing people will most likely just leave it with out having the urge to see what is inside it. When using self marketing, you are using attraction marketing to you and your business.
When it comes to people, they are in the world of saturated marketing. Between all the travel advertisements and special fat burners, there is just no more room for a new Business Pitch. The secret IS to Brand yourself first, attract people to yourself as an individual. No one is interested in simply your business pitch, they want to know WHO YOU ARE!!! Show everyone that you know what you are doing and talking about, show that you are a leader, someone who can help others and show the ropes. Everyone is only looking for "what's in it for me" Show them that you can and will accomplish their goals. Only THEN people will take interest in finding out more about your primary business. People will first join YOU! then they will follow your business. That's why Self Branding is the most important check on your "How to start a new business" list or to add to your business improvement plans.

How to start promoting your personal brand #1

A common mistake made by personal branding agencies is the attempt of transforming people into something they can not identify 100%.
The goal in choosing our personal brand is always to discover the strongest and most appealing aspect of our character and then promote that part of us until we become the embodiment of that trait. And there has never been more ways to promote that part of us than nowadays - especially online. Here is where Global Trend Watching helps its clients - promoting this part via the most effective social media networks and websites and suggesting the brand we created with the client to the target group (e.g. marketing departments)
When you start selecting your personal brand, you may decide to relate to an aspect of your physicality. For example when you think of someone famous such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, what is he mostly known for? He is the Terminator.
When you decide to promote your brand identity there is one golden rule: You must never try to be something you are not, something you do not represent or have interest in. Your personal branding must always be a true reflection of who you really are.

If you do not believe in yourself and your plan the others will not believe it either.
Appearance is a very important key to self branding. If your teeth are not welcoming when you are smiling, they will certainly chase your target away.

What is Personal Branding?

A personal brand is a personal identity that stimulates a meaningful emotional response in another person or audience about the qualities or values for which a persona stands.
The goals in selecting our personal brand is to discover the strongest and most appealing aspect of our character and then promote that part of us until we become the embodiment of that trait.