Personal Branding by Cindy Baldwin

It was a pleasure to welcome Cindy Baldwin to our August meeting to discuss personal branding. With the changing economy, it becomes even more important to know your personal brand and be able to articulate it to others. Below is an excerpt from Monday evenings speech from Cindy.

1. What is Brand YOU? What are your ideas, beliefs, talents? Develop a “two-minute elevator speech” that conveys who YOU are and how YOU want to be perceived.
2. Become an invaluable asset to your colleagues, clients, and peers. Networking is key! Use Linked In, Facebook, professional organizations to stay connected and visible!
3. Position yourself as the “go-to” person with a specific skill or set of skills (i.e. Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Access, etc.). Your VALUE is part of your brand.
4. Gain self-confidence and rise to the occasion! Speak in public! Never lose faith in your abilities. Grab the opportunities to shine!
5. Focus on SOCIAL equity rather than monetary equity. Social networking is key! Pick your friends wisely and carefully! Align yourself with QUALITY social networks.
6. Build that contact list NOW! Who can you count on to help you down the road? Business people, church friends, people with similar hobbies, neighbors, etc. Use Twitter, Facebook contacts, too!
7. Make your brand (YOU) visible to all potential clients! Get out there!
8. Become SO REMARKABLE that complete strangers talk about you all the time! Be aware of your presence and your behavior.
9. Be a content PRODUCER and not a consumer. Post remarks on Twitter & Facebook and other media forms. Don’t be a casual observer. Be mindful of the quality of your content and your intentions.
10. Have an “endorsement” mindset! Embrace things that align with your ideals, your values, your beliefs, and your spirit. KNOW WHO YOU ARE and where you want to go!

Cindy Baldwin’s is the Senior Account Executive of 2.0 Group. The excerpts were taken from a presentation given to EWI of Indianapolis on August 10, 2009. 2.0 Group is a proud member of EWI of Indianapolis.