When I wrote about the simplicity of branding last week, I was deluged by people wanting some examples of what a decently branded resume, profile or personal marketing piece would look like.
As I said, it just doesn’t require a weekend visionary retreat to be more creative, interesting and even outrageous, if you are so inclined, in talking and writing about you.
Yes, a certain amount of self-perception would be helpful but your friends and colleagues would be more than willing to tell you exactly what they think of you, trust me on that one.
I can’t show you a resume as that would be a violation of client privacy, but I can provide examples of linked in profiles that work as good branding pieces, and unsolicited broadcast emails that I have received.
An Outrageous Headline Can Work
Let’s start with my very favorite job title on Linkedin.com. Linkedin calls it your “professional headline”. Most people insert a job title or multiple job titles if they are consultants doing many things.
Adam Rifkin is a great example of using the headline to describe and brand himself in a unique and interesting way. Here is his headline:
“ Undercaffeinated. Overconnected. And All Man”
Though it’s unforgettable and I have heard others who know him, quote it verbatim, certainly this style is not for everyone. The rest of his Linkedin profile is more traditional in describing a successful bleeding edge high technology CEO, founder of multiple companies and from the doctorate program at Cal Tech Institute of Technology.
I know Adam. What makes him unique to me, is his an outstanding sense of humor. In fact his joke list on his website is hilarious. An unbranded profile might have simply stated something about him having a good sense of humor as an additional attribute. But he demonstrated it instead. That’s good branding.
A Profile that Draws a Picture with Words: Bill Vick
A couple other well-branded profiles from linkedin are two very different styles. The following example is a well known and respected recruiter, Bill Vick. I love his opening line because it grabs you with it’s passion, honesty and directness.
“The passion that drives me is helping others pursue and achieve excellence. Whether it’s an organization or an individual I can help.
By definition I'm a Headhunter, serial entrepreneur, author, publisher, big biller, speaker, recruiting coach, social media and recruiting industry consultant. I believe everybody has the ability to achieve success in life and my goal is to help others succeed. LinkedIn is one of the tools that has changed my business and my life.
I’ve published two books focused on recruiting excellence. LinkedIn For Recruiting about using the LinkedIn network and Big Biller, about million dollar recruiters. Both books are available at http://www.bigbiller.org.
I went from sales and marketing management with fortune 500 companies such as Revlon, Max Factor and Helene Curtis, to the computer and software industries where I launched a chain of computer stores and participated in taking a software company public. I joined Management Recruiters International (MRI) in 1986 and was their National Rookie of the year in 1987. For the last 20 years I have run my own retained executive search business and along the way created a software company focused on software for recruiting and staffing firms, and founded Recruiters OnLine Network (RON), a top 100 site. I sold my software and web businesses in 2002.
I have been a founder and board member of the Pinnacle Society recognizing achievement in the staffing industry, a national speaker for NAPS, served on the Board of Directors of The Texas Association Staffing Services (TAPS), was an officer with the Metroplex Association of Personnel Services (MAAPS) as well as a founder of the local Dallas Independent Recruiters Group (IRG) and a lifetime member of the USMC Force Recon Association (FRA)”
Bill draws you in with his first paragraph and keeps you engaged and reading what could have been a totally boring recitation of his accomplishments. Think of other professionals or your own Linkedin, profile for that matter, do they sound nearly as interesting? It’s not what he has accomplished; it’s how he says it.
How Using First Person Creates Connection, Rapport and intimacy
Here is another example from Scott McMullan’s Linkedin profile that builds rapport and connection with the reader. He ends with a personal revelation that clinches the connection:
"I’m a software entrepreneur, product manager, and evangelist currently working as the Google Apps partner lead for Google Enterprise. I spend my days helping 3rd parties, from startups to F500, build businesses on and around Google Apps.
I joined Google through the acquisition of JotSpot, where I was Director of Developer Relations. JotSpot is a hosted, wiki-based collaborative application platform designed to be extended by 3rd parties. I ran developer and partner programs focused on putting JotSpot's platform to work.
Before JotSpot, I founded collaboration software startup Inovie Software, where I was CTO and product manager. We sold a web-based collaboration suite called TeamCenter and bootstrapped to 120+ customers and a couple million dollars in revenue before being acquired by SDRC, a public software company in the PLM space.
I kicked off my working days as a software developer at Peregrine Systems and NCR, where I developed enterprise network management software and hacked UNIX internals. I have also been a lecturer at UC Berkeley's iSchool in the area of XML and e-business.
A techie at heart, I was a PhD student in Computer Science at UC San Diego for a few years. I ultimately dropped out with a Masters after my 6,000 mile motorcycle trip across the US convinced me to pursue entrepreneurship instead of academia :)"
Scott’s profile was just as warm, engaging before Google acquired his company. Both Scott and Bill have written in first person which creates an intimacy that referring to yourself in 3rd person, especially using your last name only, just doesn’t pull off.
However, using the third person can enable branding descriptions that brag, tout, claim, embellish, flaunt, purr, preen and purvey emotions, esteem and credibility which would be hard to pull off in 1st person without sounding over the top. Writing in third person makes it sound like somebody else is writing about you and that can make those less prone to bragging more comfortable in doing just that. Not everyone is an Adam Rifkin. It depends on your personal style and how you want to come across.
A Twist on the Unsolicited Email Job-Seeking Letter
Finally, this is an unsolicited email letter from a job seeker, one of a dozen I get unsolicited a week. This one I actually read. Somehow, people looking for jobs find me and think I am a recruiter so I get these totally predictable letters with their resumes attached, telling me what a good XYZ they are.
However, what made it wonderfully different was the lack of a formal “dear Patti, I am a blah, blah, with a zillion or so years of experience and I think you or your company could use my help”. No, he didn’t do his homework about what I did. It still was an untargeted email blast, but it was well branded and engaging:
“When this top 50 law firm decided to establish a comprehensive firm-wide human resources program, they recruited me as their first global head of human resources. In minimum time and at minimal expense, the firm had a new salary program that insured market competitive salaries, a new on-line competency based performance management system to drive performance and a complete in-depth review and updating of all benefit plans. As these programs were being developed and put in place, we opened new offices in Dubai, Hong Kong, and Beijing, a new recruiting process was implemented and HR policies were reviewed and updated. And how did the business do while all this was happening? Revenues were up 20% with no increase in staff.
At another company, the CEO hired me and said, "Fix it." His company had spent millions relocating its' manufacturing plant to lower production costs. But costs hadn't gone down. Productivity had gone down and costs had gone up! I analyzed the operation, found a unique source for applicants who were motivated and highly productive but didn't have any transportation -- I arranged for a state subsidized vanpool for them. I re-priced all the jobs, created an incentive comp plan and a new training program. Within six weeks costs were coming down, and within six months, we had taken one third of the cost out of each unit, saving millions of dollars. All with no new technology or capital investment. It was "Fixed."
I can accurately identify problems and solutions from the disciplined perspective of a large company, and implement action plans faster and at less cost because of my emerging, fast-growth company experience.
If you need a Human Resources executive who makes things happen, we should talk. To learn more about my background (Michigan State undergrad, Cornell Industrial and Labor Relations grad school, etc.), please call me at _______ (mobile) or 410 _________ (home). I am open to relocation and flexible on compensation depending on location, duties and responsibilities.”
He didn’t tell me about his passion, or his penchant for coffee, or the books he wrote. He merely described his abilities using little descriptive vignettes of his accomplishments. He told a story. He didn’t just deliver the typical tedious PSR (problem solution result) statements. If you aren’t familiar with those, don’t start, because unless you are really good at writing PSRs that are actually relevant to the work you are looking for, they just deaden a resume with a repetitive litany of canned or contrived results.
I responded to his email and asked him who wrote it for him with my compliments. He said that he did. I then offered to help him for free with some contacts. That’s the power of a well-branded statement about yourself.
Bottomline, It Takes You, Showing Up and Being Real
Personal branding isn’t the easiest thing to do. It takes honesty, courage, a willingness to be vulnerable, and an appreciation of your own special ness and uniqueness.
One of my clients put it well during the dot.com boom when she said, “there are lots of good online marketing people out there, but there is only one of me.”
Beyond knowing yourself, you have to like and accept yourself, because it’s too hard to fulfill the expectations of others to be what they want you to be. Some people who don’t appreciate my style have referred to me as blunt and even harsh when I didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear. But my clients and colleagues, think that I am direct and forthright. They say that I am someone they can count on for honesty, a reality check, and solid feedback that’s not sugar-coated to close the deal or keep them happy.
One of my favorite, long-time clients lovingly called me the “Judge Judy of career coaches” when she referred her new husband to me. Now that would be a fun reality show to do.
As I suggested previously, you can engage the services of a good marketing copy writer who will work with you to find the right wording to bring out your uniqueness and establish your brand. In Silicon Valley and the Bay Area there are several organizations that would provide referrals to writers such as: WIC (women in consulting), and SFWOW.org (San Francisco Women on the Web).
Or you can bounce your ideas off your friends and ask them for their honest feedback. Whatever you do, be sure and browse though random linkedin profiles, and other people’s resumes to get a feel of how really boring, dead and uninteresting the descriptions are out there. Anything you do will raise you above the herd of sameness.