Standing Out in the Crowd: Creating Your Brand Statement: Part V - Brand Promise

A brand statement will help your cover letter or resume stand out from thousands of others! In this series of  blog postings, I will share information with you taken from leading personal branding expert and career advancement coach, Robert Allen Paul, and his �Company Of One� presentation at Buena Vista University. I would recommend his valuable message to every student. (Part I: Your Brand Part II: Core Competencies Part III: Brand Attributes Part IV: Brand Identity) Part V: Brand Promise:

What Will You Do For Me?The problem with trying to build your brand identity by managing word-of-mouth is that it simply takes too long. You don�t have 30 years to do it the way Sony did. You may not even have 30 months. So, what do you do? You think about what you want consumers to say and then teach them how to say it. Marketers call this your Brand Promise, but it�s really just a statement of benefits.

The first step in developing a benefits statement is determining what those benefits might be. Since benefits are usually tied to features, we will define your features as your Brand Attributes. So, once you�ve established those, you will just have to attach some relevant benefits to the back end. Put another way, after you have told me how you do what you do, you will have to tell me what that will do for me.

You may already have an opinion regarding the benefits you provide prospective �customers� (i.e., employers), but by now, you also know it is not your opinion that really matters. What do your current �customers� say? Have you asked them? They�re the only ones who really know what it�s like to work with you, and most of them will be happy to share their thoughts. In fact, most will be delighted you even asked. Asking also helps you develop a little Brand Equity (which will be critical when you start networking).

So ask them. Reach out to your professors and past employers for a quick, simple benefits assessment. Based on your experience with me, what do you like best about the way I work? What are the biggest benefits to you? You may be surprised by the insights you gather �and how different they are from what you had expected.

When you discover your customer benefits from the customer�s point-of-view, you may also be surprised by how naturally they relate to your brand attributes. For instance, if you are majoring in marketing, and you tend to be �analytical, inventive and aggressive� well, as a result, your employer might benefit from �marketing programs that are on target, on time and on purpose.�

Let�s say you have decided the brand attributes that best describe you are �inquisitive, strategic and self-motivated.� What could the resulting benefits of employing such a person be from the employer�s point-of-view? Perhaps you can offer the right company �an opportunity to maximize project results with a minimum of supervision.�

Aside from ensuring your benefits are related to your attributes, the only other key to developing an effective brand promise is to keep it as simple as possible. Remember you want consumers to remember it. So, choose the most common benefits expressed by your �customers,� summarize them in one simple sentence and then include it in everything you do.

It doesn�t have to be catchy. It doesn�t have to be clever. It just has to be crystal clear. Clear enough that both you and your prospective customers can repeat it. Again and again.

Make a list of your customer benefits, and then create a simple brand promise that communicates the most important ones. That sentence should probably begin with the words �I offer the right company� and, once again, be followed by some sort of active verb phrase (�an opportunity to maximize project results,� etc.). Once you�re satisfied with your new brand promise, write it down. My Brand Promise: As a result, I offer the right company _____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Next up: Creating Your Brand Statement: Brand Vision

Standing Out in the Crowd: Creating Your Brand Statement: Part IV - Brand Identity

A brand statement will help your cover letter or resume stand out from thousands of others! In the next several blog postings, I will share information with you taken from leading personal branding expert and career advancement coach, Robert Allen Paul, and his �Company Of One� presentation at Buena Vista University. I would recommend his valuable message to every student. (Part I: Your Brand Part II: Core Competencies Part III: Brand Attributes): Part IV: Brand Identity:

Who Are Your Customers? What Do They Think You Do?
Understanding what you really do and how you do it differently provides you with an advantage when it comes to communicating key benefits to your �customers�. But who are your customers?

Traditionally, a customer �or consumer �is usually defined as anyone who uses or could possibly use your product or service. But in branding, the definition of a consumer also includes all of those who couldn�t or wouldn�t. Because even those consumers who are unlikely to become your customer (or employer) have some influence over those who might. They all participate in creating what marketers refer to as your Brand Identity; which is something different from simple Brand Recognition.

Brand Identity vs. Brand Recognition
What is the difference between Brand Recognition and Brand Identity? Let�s use a party analogy. You go to a party, you see an attractive person, and you walk up to them and introduce yourself with some Brand Advertising: �Hi, I�m (name) and I�m an awesome date.� So they say, �Hmmm. (Name)? I think I�ve heard of you.� That�s Brand Recognition. Now imagine you go to a party, you see an attractive person, you walk up to them and say �Hi, I�m (name).�
Then they say �Oh? You�re (name)? I hear you�re an awesome date.� That�s Brand Identity.

See the difference? Brand Identity isn�t based on what you say about yourself, but on what the consumer is likely to say about you. And, just as with brand positioning, your brand identity isn�t built in the marketplace. It�s built in the mind of the consumer. It consists of more than just the ability to recall your brand name. It consists of the consumer�s 360 degrees experience with your brand �personally and otherwise. In fact, it�s possible to develop a brand identity with all sorts of consumers who�ve never done business with you.

Every year, the Harris organization conducts what they call their Best Brand Survey. It�s a national poll of approximately 3,500 consumers that consists of just one question:
�We would like you to think about brands or names of products and services you know. Considering everything, which three brands do you consider the best?�

Can you guess which brand tops the list? According to American consumers, the best brand in America was Sony. For seven years running. That�s impressive performance by any standard. But what�s even more impressive is that there were years in which the percentage of consumers who named Sony as a best brand was greater than the percentage of consumers who actually own any Sony product.

In other words, you don�t have to have personal experience with a brand to have a definite opinion about that brand.
It can be disturbing to discover that people you don�t know �and who don�t know you �may still have an opinion of you. But that�s the way brand identity works; one impression or observation or interpretation at a time.

If I cut my hair or lose weight. If I�m ten minutes early or two minutes late. The clothes I wear. The car I drive. The way I answer the phone. The way I sign my emails. The way I treat my colleagues or my mother or the students in my class. Every little thing I say or do �or don�t say or don�t do �all make a little deposit in the identity account that exists in the mind of my consumer.

So, to those who might tell you the little things don�t matter, I�d say the little things do matter. More often than not, building positive brand identity is a matter of managing impressions and word-of-mouth.

Next up: Creating Your Brand Statement: Brand Promise

Standing Out in the Crowd: Creating Your Brand Statement - Part III: Brand Attributes

In previous posts about the importance of a personal brand, we concentrated on how to create a personal brand using web tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Now it�s time to create your own personal brand statement. A brand statement will help your cover letter or resume stand out from thousands of others! In the next several blog postings, I will share information with you taken from leading personal branding expert and career advancement coach, Robert Allen Paul, and his �Company Of One� presentation at Buena Vista University. I would recommend his valuable message to every student. (Part I: Your Brand Part II: Core Competencies) Part III: Brand Attributes:

How do you do what you do? Now it�s time to discover your professional personality � or brand attributes. What are your brand attributes? Are you Decisive? Deliberate? Determined? Inventive? Analytical? In other words: How do you do what you do? How you do what you do is how you really set yourself apart.

It�s not always what you say, but how you say it. So it follows that �just as with your core competencies �there are no �bad� attributes. Do people find you impatient? -You�re driven and proactive. Have others accused you of too little tact? -You�re a clear communicator. No matter which adjectives you (or others) might attach to your personality, there�s a positive way of redefining them to communicate your professional approach. And while it�s always easier and more pleasant to lead with the �positives,� you may find that some of those �negatives� are what actually make you successful. And unique!

While you are thinking about how you do what you do, try to think about how you do what you do differently from everyone else who does what you do. Attributes play an important role in making your personal brand unique.

Ask your best friends what three adjectives come to mind when they hear your name � and write down whatever they say. Then use a thesaurus and find a few synonyms that convey those traits in more professional terms. So, once again, just as with your core competency, the most important thing is that you choose attributes that are true. Here are a couple of practical guidelines.

• Compatibility Rule: You can�t be tough and gentle. You can�t be spontaneous and strategic. Don�t choose attributes that appear to be in conflict with one another.


• Two-Thirds Rule: When buying a product there are usually three primary factors that drive purchasing decisions; however we seldom get all three, so choose based on benefits of the other two. If you�re a new college grad, the primary factors prospective employers consider when choosing candidates are likely Education, Experience and Compensation (Price). So, if you�ve earned good grades from a good school, but have no relevant experience, then you may have to offer prospective employers the benefit of lower compensation. If you�ve graduated cum laude from an Ivy League school and worked several related internships, then employers probably shouldn�t expect you to come cheap. Whatever the three factors are in your category, you need to choose the two you�re going to focus on and forget about the third.

Now, write a list of all the adjectives that describe your professional personality. Think about what each adjective might communicate to your �customers�, then circle two or three that you really like. Read them aloud. Read them again in a different order. Do they sound like you? If so, these are your new brand attributes! Write them down. My Brand Attributes: I am __________, __________, and __________.

Next up: Creating Your Brand Statement: Brand Identity

Standing Out in the Crowd: Creating Your Brand Statement: Part II - Core Competencies

In previous posts about the importance of a personal brand, we concentrated on how to create a personal brand using web tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Now it�s time to create your own personal brand statement. A brand statement will help your cover letter or resume stand out from thousands of others! In the next several blog postings, I will share information with you taken from leading personal branding expert and career advancement coach, Robert Allen Paul, and his �Company Of One� presentation at Buena Vista University. I would recommend his valuable message to every student. (Part I: Your Brand.) Part II: Core Competencies:

What do you do? What you do is best explained as a summary of your accomplishments. Just as on a resume, you skip the list of responsibilities and lead with accomplishments instead. If you think you haven�t done much yet, you need to change the way you think about what you�ve done � shift your perspective!

Defining your professional core competencies is all about discovering your personal strengths; you need to look beyond what you�ve done in school. Consider everything you�ve done in the rest of your life � college and childhood - what other people think you do well. Those things form the foundation of your core competencies.

Are you a sympathetic listener? A great planner? Well organized? A master at getting others to do what you want? There are professional applications for all these personal aptitudes. Think of several things you do well. Ask others who know you what they think. What do your friends and family see as your personal strengths? How about your professors, counselors, or advisors? Now just identify the common denominators.

Are you hearing your strengths as �you always get your work in on time, or early� or �you have odd ideas� or possibly �you seem to like to argue�? Whatever the common denominator might be, consider it a core competency. Regardless of what your personal skill turns out to be, you can turn it into a professional talent. And no matter what your talent may be, there are hundreds of employers who would love to put it to work. Change �odd ideas� into �a talent for delivering unexpected results�. If you like a good argument, then say you have a talent for critical thinking. If you usually beat deadlines, then you have a talent for exceeding expectations.

Discovering your core competency not only provides you with some personal direction, but some professional confidence, too. So, start making a list of all your strengths and successes, and then look for the common denominator. Once you�ve done that, there�s only one thing left to do: Pick one. But only one.

Focus. It�s critical that you focus your core competencies on a single business category and then do everything you can think of to own it. No matter how many things you do �or how well you may do them �people are likely to recognize you for only one.

You can�t be all things to all people. And when you try to promote yourself as a jack of all trades, you come off as the king of none. People (including employers and recruiters) have very specific needs; they don�t want generalists, they need specialists. So, if you want them to believe you can actually solve their problem, then you�re going to have to focus on it. The real impact of focusing on one core competency isn�t exclusion; it�s inclusion. Summarizing your key talent helps everyone who can really use it find you and add you to their list of candidates.
Make that list of achievements and accomplishments; of personal strengths and skills and successes. Then make a note of any common denominators that might point to a central theme. Are you an instigator or instructor? A promoter or problem solver? What seems to happen with projects or positions you make your own?

In 20 words or less, write down what you do - I have a talent for (so the next word should be some sort of active verb like �developing,� �helping,� �creating,� �delivering). Write down a number of different summary sentences. Read them aloud and think about what they really say. Whatever you decide will be fine � as long as it is clear and concise and true.

Next up: Creating Your Brand Statement � Brand Attributes

Standing Out in the Crowd: Creating your brand statement - Part 1: Your Brand

In previous posts about the importance of a personal brand, we concentrated on how to create a personal brand using web tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Now it�s time to create your own personal brand statement. A brand statement will help your cover letter or resume stand out from thousands of others! In the next several blog postings, I will share information with you taken from leading personal branding expert and career advancement coach, Robert Allen Paul, and his �Company Of One� presentation at Buena Vista University. I would recommend his valuable message to every student.

This is what you need to do:

• Concentrate on what makes you unique; focus on �different� so you stand out in the crowd.
• Identify your unique personal strengths and develop a summary that helps others recognize the professional applications and advantages of those strengths � help employers understand why they might want to read your resume.

This is how to do it:

Your Brand

• The first question posed by the branding process (or any prospective employer) is simply: Who are you? The answer becomes your brand. In simplest terms, a brand is really a name, and that�s where you start � with the name you want on your business correspondence.
• Every name communicates its own unique characteristics � �serious�, �fun�, �friendly�, �reliable� � and so on. [Some international students take on an English name when they study abroad � perhaps because it�s easier for others to remember. Some keep their name, or use a shorter nickname.]
• Just as words have meanings beyond their literal definitions, names are also infused with certain attributes. Whatever name you decide to use, it�s important to choose one that communicates who you really are � or at least who you want to be.
• Your first exercise in building your personal brand is to take a few minutes and choose your personal brand. Write out all the possible names under which you could choose to do business and then go ahead and pick one. Write that name after the words �I Am� �and start thinking about who that person is.

Up next: Creating Your Brand Statement: Core Competencies

To Sleep - Perchance To Dream

Hamlet:
"To sleep, perchance to dream-
ay, there's the rub."


Hamlet (III, i, 65-68)

 Its no accident that by Act III of Hamlet, the title character is struggling to maintain his sanity. Not just haunted by his father's ghost, and beset by the machinations of his dysfunctional family, Hamlet is also suffering from serious sleep deprivation. While most of us never have to struggle with "a sea of troubles" like those faced by the Prince of Denmark, busy complex lives are a fact for 21st century learners. Both adults and students alike never seem to have enough time to get everything done. The demands and pressures can lead to disrupted lives where sleep quickly falls to the bottom of the priority list. Too often seen as an expendable optional activity, sleep is actually essential for maintaining good mental health.


Why we sleep is a hotly researched topic. There are many different theories as to why humans sleep. Whether it is to rest or regenerate the brain and body systems, or whether its just a biological quirk, what's not in dispute is that we all need adequate amounts of sleep, and that the amount needed can vary depending upon our age. Ten hours is a pretty good benchmark for school aged children. Slightly more for younger children, slightly less for teens, the amount can vary person to person. 


Until the 19th century sleep patterns basically followed the sun. The invention of  the electric light bulb changed everything. With lights, television and other electronic distractions available 24/7, sleep time became discretionary and optional. Its little wonder sleep deprivation is a primary source of disrupted learning. The Sleep Research Division at Harvard Medical School reports;


"When persons are sleep deprived, focus, attention, and vigilance drift, making it more difficult to receive information. Without adequate sleep and rest, over-worked neurons can no longer function to coordinate information properly, and people lose their ability to access previously learned information.

In addition, their interpretation of events may be affected. People lose their ability to make sound decisions because they can no longer accurately assess the situation, plan accordingly, and choose the correct behavior. Judgment becomes impaired.

Being chronically tired to the point of fatigue or exhaustion means that a person is less likely to perform well. Neurons do not fire optimally, muscles are not rested, and the body�s organ systems are not synchronized."


Sleep deprivation does not discriminate. Whether one is a learner or a teacher, the need for a good night's rest remains important. Education is a collaborative effort. Whether its exhausted educators or sleep deprived students, the result is still ineffective learning and increased frustration. In a world filled with diversions, new emphasis needs to be put on the importance of a good night's sleep and the discipline people need to exercise to ensure they get it. Adults need to set an example and provide guidelines for children. In her book "Different Learners, Identifying, Preventing and Treating Your Child's Learning Problems", educational psychologist Jane Healy identifies some common sense steps that can assist in ensuring proper sleep levels are achieved. Some of these include:

1. Modeling appropriate routines - children model their behavior after the adults in their lives
2. Establishing and sticking to regular bedtimes
3. Establishing and maintaining a regular sleep routine
4. Avoiding vigorous, exciting, frightening or highly physical activities directly before trying to go to sleep.
5. Limiting evening screen time. Computers, cell phones and other electronic media should be turned off and kept out of the sleeping area. 
6. Prior to bedtime face time should trump screen time every time. Engage in calming pleasant activities
7. Make sleep and self care a top priority.

Although these suggestions are aimed at children they work well for adults too. Ironically, the internet contains dozens if not hundreds of sites with more ideas and information about the need for and value of adequate sleep - just limit your screen time to regular waking hours! 

The last of Healy's suggestions might be the hardest, yet most important. Self care cannot be an optional activity, nor can people assume that mind and body will rebound or recalibrate by default or through extended endurance of poor routines. Doing right by ourselves and our students takes planning, commitment and follow through. Or as Polonius might have put it;

"This above all: to thine own self be true". Getting a good night's sleep and helping others to do the same,  needs to be a priority for maintaining the health and mental sharpness of all learners.

 
 

         

         

    

A Homeschool Perk for which I am Thankful

Seeing how the holidays are times for families to get together, that also means an unexpected bonus -- grandparents who are willing and eager to babysit.  So my husband and I have had a rare gift of quiet time for just the two of us. While the kids dragged their grandparents off to a jumpy place, we spent some time having a few of those conversations that never seem to occur when children are present.  It is often difficult to discuss real world matters (or even household matters) while enduring the constant barrage of "Mommy, Mommy... Daddy, Daddy" followed by a need for assistance, arbitration or refereeing.    This was followed by a delicious dinner at an Italian restaurant with white tablecloths and excellent service.  It is amazing the dining experience one can have when there is not a french fry or chicken nugget to be had on the menu... but alas that is a topic for another blog entry.

Now we are indulging in the luxury of relaxing in a quiet, local coffee shop. This may very well be bliss.  I understand that Black Friday to many means elbowing through the masses at unholy, early hours fighting for a great deal. Personally, I would rather have every strand of hair on my head pulled out one by one until I was bald.  There is nothing that I either wanted or needed so badly that would justify getting up at "O' Dark Early" and standing in a line waiting for a store to open.  Give me a laptop and an Amazon Lightning Deal any day, if I need to feel a part of the Black Friday shopping frenzy.

So while I am lounging on a comfy sofa, sipping a Salted Carmel Mocha Latte, I got a little contemplative.  Ahh, this is the life.  We have so very much to be thankful for and are truly blessed.  But those of you who have been following my blog, know better than to expect a list of true, actual blessings.  There has to be some sarcasm or something less "touchy-feely" somewhere, right?

Well, thanks for your indulgence.  I do have a "lesser" blessing which is a real perk of homeschooling to be thankful for this season.  One of the most spectacularly wonderful perks of homeschooling is not being intimately tied to an alarm clock.  Having most days begun by the horrendous screech of an alarm clock since I was about eleven years old, this is pretty revolutionary. We still have alarm clocks and I even use them (especially for early morning basketball games), but my life does not revolve around the alarm clock. Hallelujah!

If we are up late for a good reason, for no reason or for any reason at all, we simply start our school day when we wake up.  Georgia does not have a homeschool police that will haul you off to the local public school if you don't start your school work by 8:00 a.m..  You've gotta love that!

Tuesday, my daughter was taking a children's cooking class on pies and pastries at Whole Foods.  This did necessitate the use of an alarm clock to ensure that we were there by 9:15.  We passed by the kids' old private school on the way to Whole Foods.  We could see all the extra cars in the parking lot for Grandparents' Day.  While it is a lovely tradition, I always resented having to get the kids up at 6:30 to be at school for such a short day.  We were usually in the car on our way home by 10:00 a.m. from the early dismissal. It hardly seemed worth the gas and fighting Atlanta traffic to get there before 8:00.  Well, not this year!

Another euphoric moment surrounding not being tied to the alarm clock occurs every week at my seven year old's basketball practice.  His practice starts at 7:30.  After practice, we walk in the door just a little before 9:00 p.m. with a dirty, sweaty, little boy who is wound-up, hungry (again) and in need of a bath.  If he had to be up the next morning by 6:30, I would be a stressed, frantic mom, foaming at the mouth while screaming, "Get to bed!" about every twelve seconds.  Not this year!  I don't resent the program or coach, I don't complain to everyone within ear shot that this is simply too late for little kids on a school night.  My son gets to bed when he gets to bed -- clean and fed (yet again).  I just let him sleep until he wakes up the next morning.

This is a revolutionary lifestyle for me!  Homeschoolers, by the very nature of what they are doing are bucking "the system."  They are stepping outside the norm and doing things in a whole new way.  But little did I know that homeschooling was going to be such a radical change of the way we had always lived our lives up til now.  I am truly grateful to step away from the necessity of a daily alarm clock.

Be honest, how many of your children are grumpy and miserable when they have to be awoken by an alarm clock???  We made jokes all last year about how my daughter could appear on a new Nick show called "iSnarly" because she was so very grumpy in the mornings after the alarm when off.  Last year, she left for school grumpy and returned home exhausted.  It is a true perk to see my child at times when she is not tired and grumpy.

I am only sorry that my husband is still forced to begin the majority of his days with an alarm clock.  The good news is that it does go off later now than when we had to get the kids to school.  But sadly, he still has to use it.  I feel guilty when he is forced to get up and hop in the shower while I am still dozing or giving our dog the attention she constantly craves while I am still warm and snug under the covers.  I genuinely feel guilty, but not so guilty as to set my own alarm clock.  After all, having been raised Catholic, I can live with some guilt.