Evelyn Salvador’s 12-Step Personal Brand Development Method™

Keeping in mind that a Personal Brand Message should be developed to capitalize on your unique assets, benefits, competitive edge, value proposition, and return on investment to prospective employers, Evelyn Salvador has developed her 12-Step Personal Brand Development Method and Action Plan to work with clients one on one to build and leverage their unique brands. It’s an in-depth process that works really well when all steps are taken.

[For more information on the Personal Branding process, order Evelyn Salvador’s book, “Step-by-Step Cover Letters: Create Your Cover Letter in 10 Easy Steps using Personal Branding” (JIST Publishing].

1. DOCUMENT YOUR CHALLENGE…SPECIFICALLY WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE

★List specific job titles of all positions you seek.
★Research job descriptions online that identify all of the requirements for those positions.
★Determine your target market of prospective employers.
★Determine what you want in a job/career by identifying your specific occupational interests, career values, and motivated skills. (If you need help determining this, see “Career Transition Coaching.”)
★Make a definitive statement describing exactly what you are seeking in your career, including all of its particulars and specifics as it relates to what, when, where, how, and why.
FOR EXAMPLE: “A position in Marketing where I can create innovative high-profiled products or services that will make tons of money for my employer, where I can travel 25% of the time (be specific where if that’s important), and work from home 25% of my work week. One that includes trade show exhibits and Internet research, but not public speaking, for a company that is employee-friendly and I can have autonomy. I don’t mind overtime, but I don’t want a job that takes over my personal life (that is, I want to work to live, not live to work). Salary and a good benefits package is important, but not at the expense of a fun atmosphere I can come to work at daily.” [NOTE: Not for use in a Career Objective statement on your resume!]

2. IDENTIFY YOUR ASSETS (FEATURES)

★Define your personal strengths and assets.
★Identify your core competencies.
★Select relative industry keywords.
★List all of your qualifications that you feel make you an excellent candidate.

3. DETERMINE YOUR BENEFITS

★Determine the benefits of your assets, or "features."
★Select 10 features with the highest value proposition to prospective employers.
★Identify all of the ways the selected features can contribute to an organization.
★Put them in order of their most significance to a prospective employer (based upon the requirements listed in like job descriptions).

4. CONDUCT ONLINE RESEARCH

★Google your web presence (search your name in quotes).
★Identify entries and research related links to extrapolate all related web information.
★Research 10 job descriptions for the position(s) for which you wish to apply.
★Compile, sift through, streamline, and organize collected data.
★Use the Online Identity Calculator (by Reach Branding) to determine your brand position.
(Click on “Digitally Distinct” button.)

5. DECIDE ON YOUR COMPETITIVE EDGE

★Single out your distinctive brand characteristics that help you on the job.
★Evaluate these characteristics against job requirements.
★Make a comparison to like-minded professionals to determine how you are unique or better.
★Determine the areas you excel over others to identify your competitive edge in the marketplace.

6. STRATEGIZE AND POSITION YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

★Identify your career and personal goals.
★Decide on and identify your targeted position titles.
★Determine all of the job requirements and match them up with what you have to offer.
★Single out the areas you excel in over others.
★Determine your unique value proposition you have offer to prospective employers.
★Develop a clear positioning of your unique Personal Brand.
★Calculate your return on investment to your target audience.

7. DEVELOP YOUR PERSONAL BRAND MESSAGE

★Develop your Brand Statement that quantifies those values and what they offer a prospective employer.
★Include absolutely everything of significant value you have to offer and edit it down as concise as possible.

8. WRITE YOUR LONG BIOGRAPHY / SOCIAL NETWORKING PROFILE

★Change up the wording from your Personal Brand Message to create your Long Biography / Social Networking Profile by articulating in marketing-savvy language.
★Test your Personally Branded Biographies’ verbiage against your original challenge:
•Does it say everything about who you are and what you have to offer in the fewest amount of words?
•Is it clear and understandable?
•Does it exhibit your competitive edge over other like-minded job candidates?
•Does it have a “wow” factor, that is, will hiring managers who view your brand say,
“I have to get this person in here as soon as possible before another firm snatches him up and I lose an exceptional candidate who more than pays for his salary through his achievements to the firm”?

9. WRITE YOUR SHORT BIOGRAPHY

★Using your Long Biography / Social Networking Profile, summarize and condense it down.
★Check to be sure that when you condensed your Biography you did not lose anything relevant to your value proposition or Return on Investment to prospective employers.
★Use your short Branded Biography for website entries, articles, publications, trade shows, fliers and sell sheets, and other marketing materials.

10. FINITELY PREPARE YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH

★Condense your Personal Brand Message even further without losing substance into a few carefully articulated, marketing-savvy sentences that convey your benefits, value proposition, return on investment, and personality.
★Use your Elevator Pitch in all Business Communications, be they in print, on the web, in person, or on the phone.

11. LEVERAGE YOUR BRAND ACROSS ALL MARKETING CHANNELS AND
BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS…VERBALLY, IN PRINT, AND ON THE WEB

★Set up your Social Networking Sites and include your Personally Branded Biography.
★Have your Web Resume (YourName.com) developed to include your Personal Brand Message.
★Integrate your Personal Brand Message into your Cover Letter and back it up in your Resume through achievements that prove your stated value proposition.
★Create compelling Case Studies / Success Stories that showcase your Brand.
★Alleviate/minimize "digital dirt" (information not relative or hurtful to your personal brand) on the Internet.

12. MANAGE YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

★Make an Action Plan that problem solves your original challenge.
★Establish goals and set priorities.
★Identify and locate opportunities that fit your brand.
★Leverage your competitive edge in the career marketplace.
★In 60 to 90 days from this point (to allow time for search engines to propagate your information), use the Online Identity Calculator to once again determine your updated online brand position.

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*NOTICE: THE ABOVE IS EVELYN SALVADOR’S COPYRIGHTED 12-STEP PERSONAL BRAND DEVELOPMENT METHOD AND ACTION PLAN. DUPLICATION OF THIS PROPRIETARY PROCESS AND INFORMATION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. IT IS PROVIDED HERE FOR PERSONAL USE AND TO EXHIBIT HOW EVELYN DEVELOPS HER CLIENTS’ PERSONAL BRANDS.

If you would like to excerpt, reprint, or otherwise use any of the information contained herein for other than personal use, contact Evelyn Salvador for permission and specific requirements.

LOOKING FOR SUCCESS?

Everyone who truly wants to succeed and really do well needs to know what their Personal Brand is, have it professionally developed into a Personal Brand Message, and use it consistently throughout all of their business communications; job search functions; and career development, marketing, and management endeavors … be it in print, on the Web, on the phone, or in person.

It’s Not a Luxury.

It’s a Necessity.

ORDER YOUR PERSONAL BRAND TODAY…