William’s Words
By William Arruda
A note from the Founder of Reach Personal Branding.

Who is the world’s strongest personal brand?

Your vote will let us know.

I have noticed over the past several years that lists that identify the world’s strongest brands typically include some personal brands sitting among corporate titans like Apple, Coke and Google.

In my keynote presentations and workshops, I use well-known personal brands to demonstrate the techniques of branding. Of course, there are some people who appear in every one of my presentations. I won’t tell you who they are, because I don’t want to influence your response to our new poll.

Please take our poll Who is the world’s strongest personal brand? It’s a one-question survey; and rather than give you a list to select from, we would like you to write in the names of up to three people you think fit the bill.

Complete the survey here. We will publish the results in an upcoming issue of YOUnique.

Thanks for your input!

The Strat
By Valerie Sokolosky
A Reach-certified Personal Brand Strategist offers tips and advice on our favorite topic – personal branding!

Personal Branding: Differentiating Yourself for Greater Marketability

I just spoke at a large church’s unemployment ministry here in the Dallas area, which was one of the most insightful engagements I’ve had recently. Arriving early, I tried to meet as many of the people as possible. Looking around the room and talking with different ones, I was amazed at the diversity of age, experience, industry expertise and attitudes in that room. All of them came to learn more about Personal Branding: Differentiating Yourself for Greater Marketability.

These men and women gave their utmost attention, took notes and asked profound questions, all of which gave me such a sense of humility to be able to share in a short time at least some ideas they could implement immediately. Not only were they appreciative, but many have invited me to join them on LinkedIn. (One of the best business social media sites out there.)

Just after this talk, an article came out in the Dallas Business Journal, and I would like to share some of the information from it. Over 1400 people were polled on “What is the most common mistake job applicants make?” The information is important for all of us who are working on building a stronger personal brand and professional presence, internally or externally.

(Excerpts from the February 26-March 4, 2010 Dallas Business Journal)

Applicants show up with mind and body but not passion and spirit.

Not doing homework. Not enough preparation regarding the people to meet, company information, role expectations, etc.

Failure to bring a pen (or bringing a plastic one!).

Unprofessional business etiquette – arriving late, too much cologne, inappropriate clothing, overconfidence, not taking notes, wimpy handshake. Little things DO count!

Now for the stats:

28% had poor spelling or grammar

27% had weak verbal communication skills

22% were not qualified for the job

12% lacked confidence

9% wore inappropriate dress

3% other

So what’s the learning? Pay attention to the derailers that may seem unimportant to you, but you are sending the message that you are not professionally prepared. There are lots of books on this topic – read up and rev up for your next business opportunity.

Reach Branding Club Speaker Series
Featuring: Catharine Fennell

Date: Thursday, April 8, 2010
Time: 9:00 AM Los Angeles, 12:00 PM New York, 5:00 PM London, and 6:00 PM Paris

CONFERENCE LINE: 1 (218) 486-1616
ACCESS CODE: 726017#

Video-Enhanced Profiles: The Must-Have Web 2.0 Application
It’s not about self promotion, it’s just smart business.

Conquer your fear of video – it is your biggest ally online. There are so many reasons to be using video regularly and often to optimize your website and online profile in web search. Online video, if done right, can be a game changer for your online strategy and in building your personal brand. In this Reach Personal Branding Interview with William Arruda and Catharine Fennell you will learn how video can help you:

Improve search engine rankings.

Control your message online- do not leave it to Google to define your personal brand.

Increase visibility for your social and professional networking profiles.

Make a personal connection with your audience.

Add a new dimension to your professional communications online that will set you apart from your competition.

BIO:
After leaving her corporate executive roles in Internet marketing in 2000, Catharine Fennell has built a reputation as a trailblazing entrepreneur. She launched two successful companies in the last ten years (Market Yourself Smarter.com and SWING Think Inc.) and is responsible for executive producing and syndicating an award winning web t.v. show, currently in its third season.

With her experience in Internet technology, creating community online and short form video, Catharine saw the opportunity to bring together the power of online video, social media platforms and personal branding. In 2008 she created and launched videoBIO.com, a web-based community and turnkey business model for shooting and delivering video biographies and other short video promo segments for professionals and corporations. VideoBIO has quickly established itself as the leader in video bio and promo video delivery for web use.

Catharine speaks regularly to audiences on female entrepreneurship, marketing yourself smarter, video-enhanced social marketing and marketing to women. VideoBIO is committed to changing the way people use professional video online, making it an affordable and accessible communication standard for professionals.

EXUDE Your Brand
By Kristen Jacoway
Online and offline tips on how to grow your brand and make it glow.

HootSuite is a Twitter management tool that I discovered several months ago. HootSuite is your answer to managing and tweeting from multiple Twitter accounts. People who have multiple Twitter accounts say that using HootSuite’s dashboard makes “multi-tweeting” a breeze. A few features are highlighted below:

I circled the dashboard area where Twitter accounts are listed. You could simply check the account you want to tweet from or select “all” accounts. You can tweet now or later. You can schedule your posts by clicking on the little clock icon. You can also be alerted by email when your scheduled tweet is sent.

If you blog you can set up your RSS feed within HootSuite. I use a plug-in on my Wordpress website so this can happen automatically. If you don’t have that functionality in your blog / website, this is a great tool. Scroll down and select “Settings,” click on the tab “RSS/Atom,” then click on the button “Add New Feed.”

You can find your RSS feed’s URL by finding the RSS button (the orange button) within your blog / website URL:

Click on this button and subscribe to the feed. Then, select it within your bookmarks and right click on it. When you right click, select “Properties,” this will give you your RSS feed’s URL address. You can copy and paste it within HootSuite and have your blog posts automatically fed to your Twitter account.

Are you interested in seeing the analytics of a link you have posted? HootSuite has a tool called a “Hootlet” that you can drag and drop on your bookmark toolbar. When you find something of interest that you want to tweet on another website, you can simply click on your Hootlet icon in your bookmark toolbar and it will shorten your URL with the Ow.ly URL shortener. At the bottom of your HootSuite page, you can select “Stats,” click on the tab “Summary Statistics,” select which Twitter account you used, and find out the analytics of that tweet.

Finally, like TweetDeck, you have the opportunity to create groupings. HootSuite has actually integrated the power of the Twitter Lists for your columns. You can click the icon that says “Add Column.” When you click on “Add Column,” you will see this pop-up window:

Select “Twitter Lists” and name your list in the space where it says “List URL.” You can create several lists and divide people into groups, i.e. social media experts, career coaches, recruiters, personal branding, and so on. Separating people whom you follow into groups helps you to engage and participate in the Twitter conversation.

Commercial Break
By William Arruda
What can personal branders learn from TV advertisements? Take a break and take a peak.

Cisco Telepresence

I love this commercial because: I can relate. If you travel for business, you can certainly relate as well. This commercial clearly highlights the benefits of Cisco Telepresence and does so with emotion. It’s a great way to communicate product benefits without being boring or trite.

This ad and YOUR personal brand:Know the greatest benefit you offer your employer or clients. Then think about the best way to build emotion around it.

To see more of William’s “Commercial Breaks” click here.

Reach Branding Club Speaker Series
Featuring: John Baldoni

Date: TODAY, Thursday, March 11, 2010
Time: 9:00 AM Los Angeles, 12:00 PM New York, 5:00 PM London, and 6:00 PM Paris

CONFERENCE LINE: 1 (218) 486-1616
ACCESS CODE: 726017#

Lead Your Boss: What That Means and Why It Matters

Frustration and lack of confidence in America’s CEOs and companies abounds in these economically difficult times. What does that mean for employees, whether middle managers or valued team players?

According to John Baldoni, author of “Lead Your Boss”, everyone needs to step into leadership for the greater good of companies and society at large, whether good times or more challenging times. In his inspiring book, John uses the power of stories and examples to showcase individuals who did just that. By using their natural abilities and skills, positive energy, and personal influence, they were able to accomplish great things by “leading from the middle”. In this Reach Personal Branding Interview with William Arruda, John will discuss practical strategies and advice to:

• Think strategically and challenge yourself and your team to be more innovative and effective.
• Cultivate honest feedback for growth and improvement.
• Learn about the 3Cs of working together in a mutually beneficial way.
• Persuade others to listen to your ideas so you can turn influence into leadership.
• Challenge assumptions without challenging the individual.
• Break down resistance to change.
• Turn setbacks into comebacks and increase your resiliency factor.

BIO:

John Baldoni is an internationally recognized leadership consultant, speaker, and author of numerous books, including “Lead Your Boss”, “Lead by Example” and “Great Communications Secrets of Great Leaders.” He writes the “Leadership at Work” column for Harvard Business Publishing which is also syndicated by Bloomberg.com.

John’s articles on leadership have appeared in BusinessWeek.com and FastCompany.com, and he has been featured or quoted in publications such as the New York Times, USA Today, and Investor’s Business Daily. His leadership resource website is www.johnbaldoni.com.

Sign up for your copy of YOUnique- The Personal Branding Newsletter – Click Here.

William’s Words
By William Arruda
A note from the Founder of Reach Personal Branding.

Personal branding has been accepted into universities all over the country – and all over the world. One of my predicted trends for 2010 was the integration of personal branding into more and more university programs. With the jobless recovery, universities are stepping up to help their students prepare for their careers. In just the past month, I delivered a Keynote at New York University’s Stern School, two workshops at UCLA Anderson and a workshop (with our newsletter editor, Rachel Gogos) at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

I have also delivered keynotes and workshops for the University of Michigan, Parson’s School of Design, Fashion Institute of Technology, Wharton, Thunderbird and for many other schools. Many of the Reach-certified Personal Branding Strategists are delivering personal branding programs for colleges as well. For example, Laura Tessinari taught a for-credit personal branding course at Fordham that was so popular there was a waiting list to get in!

Expanding knowledge and learning skills are core to the university experience, but that knowledge and those skills have no value if you don’t have a job to apply them! So, it makes sense to integrate personal branding into the curricula at schools of higher education. I only wish there were personal branding at my college. No, wait a minute, then I wouldn’t have been able to be a pioneer in the personal branding revolution. BRAVO to the schools who get it! Does your school or your kids’ school?

Now you know what’s next – personal branding in high schools. Getting into your desired university can be quite difficult. Personal branding can help. But I’ll save that topic for another issue of YOUnique.

What have you done for YOUR brand today?

The Strat
By Paul Copcutt
A Reach-certified Personal Brand Strategist offers tips and advice on our favorite topic – personal branding!

Are You Hiding Your Talents?

In a recent conversation with a senior management client it was interesting to observe that despite his list of impressive and significant accomplishments he was very reluctant to talk about them, let alone willing to write them down on paper.

This client is working for a Fortune 500 company where a strong internal profile and personal brand is key to getting the next opportunity or promotion, but no-one has shown him how to do it – authentically.

This was his dilemma. How to brag without appearing brash, arrogant or just plain big headed?

Here are 10 ways that you can market your talents without feeling unclean or sleazy!

1. Know exactly what it is you do to or for others.

You need to be able to express this in a very short, memorable sentence, so that when people have particular issues that you can solve they immediately think of you. Most ‘branders’ will tell you it has to be 12 or less words, some say 7, some even say 2 or 3. Whatever the length make it impactful.

2. Make it impossible for someone to say “no” to you after they have met you.

If you have managed to do all the hard work and gained someone’s attention, make sure that you provide them with enough to make them feel as if they cannot leave the interaction without wanting more.

3. Do not shy away from what you do and love what it does for others.

If you are not passionate about what you do, if you are embarrassed when people ask, then it’s negatively impacting all that you do. Find something that connects with your values and delivers a difference. This is perfectly possible in a corporate environment.

4. Do not be like the cobbler and his children.

Quite often I hear the phrase “Typical, its like the cobbler who’s children had no shoes…..” I will admit that even I am guilty of not “walking the talk” sometimes. Bottom line is that we should always be walking our talk – if you are in finance be sure your personal money is in order, if you are in IT don’t have an overflowing in box, if you are in marketing have a portfolio that reflects that.

5. Do more of what you are good at, leverage your talents.

What are you known for? What is your unique ability? How are these talents weaved consistently in to your everyday actions? Become known for something that proves to be invaluable because then you are.

6. Not everyone knows what they want, help them.

Everyone is overwhelmed today – too much e-mail, too many choices, too many requests on their time, not enough resources. Be sure of what it is you can do for people then ensure that you tell them and then demonstrate how that is going to be useful to them. If they can see the relevance the decision is made.

7. Attach the emotions, let people feel the connection.

If you only can explain your talents in very rational terms then the listener is much less likely to be engaged. Be more emotive in describing certain situations before you got involved. Discuss the challenges faced, the feelings associated with those problems and resulting feelings after you were able to help. This will enable others to feel connected to you.

8. Do not leave anything out.

All too often when we are using our unique talents we take a lot of what we are able to do for granted. After all, it just comes so naturally that it is not a strain, isn’t that the same for everyone? No, it’s not. So make sure that those who do utilise your talents are fully aware of all that you bring.

9. Have an answer for the doubting Thomases.

On occasion people will suddenly find a reason to be negative, sarcastic or doubtful of what it is you claim. Be ready with an effective response.

10. Build your brand – everywhere.

Ensure that all you are doing, saying and communicating is a reflection of how you want to be known.

Reach Branding Club Speaker Series
Featuring: John Baldoni

Date: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Time: 9:00 AM Los Angeles, 12:00 PM New York, 5:00 PM London, and 6:00 PM Paris

CONFERENCE LINE: 1 (218) 486-1616
ACCESS CODE: 726017#

Lead Your Boss: What That Means and Why It Matters

Frustration and lack of confidence in America’s CEOs and companies abounds in these economically difficult times. What does that mean for employees, whether middle managers or valued team players?

According to John Baldoni, author of “Lead Your Boss”, everyone needs to step into leadership for the greater good of companies and society at large, whether good times or more challenging times. In his inspiring book, John uses the power of stories and examples to showcase individuals who did just that. By using their natural abilities and skills, positive energy, and personal influence, they were able to accomplish great things by “leading from the middle”. In this Reach Personal Branding Interview with William Arruda, John will discuss practical strategies and advice to:

• Think strategically and challenge yourself and your team to be more innovative and effective.
• Cultivate honest feedback for growth and improvement.
• Learn about the 3Cs of working together in a mutually beneficial way.
• Persuade others to listen to your ideas so you can turn influence into leadership.
• Challenge assumptions without challenging the individual.
• Break down resistance to change.
• Turn setbacks into comebacks and increase your resiliency factor.

BIO:

John Baldoni is an internationally recognized leadership consultant, speaker, and author of numerous books, including “Lead Your Boss”, “Lead by Example” and “Great Communications Secrets of Great Leaders.” He writes the “Leadership at Work” column for Harvard Business Publishing which is also syndicated by Bloomberg.com.

John’s articles on leadership have appeared in BusinessWeek.com and FastCompany.com, and he has been featured or quoted in publications such as the New York Times, USA Today, and Investor’s Business Daily. His leadership resource website is www.johnbaldoni.com.

William’s Words

By William Arruda

A note from the Founder of Reach Personal Branding.

My top trend in the world of personal branding for 2010 is the explosion of video.

At Reach, we’re delighted to be a part of the effort to use video for career advancement. After all, video provides the best way to truly exude your personal brand (it’s the next best thing to being there!). So here’s what we’re doing to accelerate this trend:

personalbranding.TV (PB.TV)

Today is the official launch of PB.TV. It already contains over 100 videos. It is the definitive, multi-media personal branding resource.

PB.TV features:

• Personal branding how-to videos.
• Videos about and from the amazing Reach-Certified Personal Branding Strategists.
• Audio files from the Reach Personal Branding Interview Series.
• My Commercial Breaks (we moved them from reachpersonalbranding.com).
• Videos from guest experts.

Rachel Gogos, our YOUnique Editor, calls PB.TV “the YouTube of personal branding.” We’ll be adding videos every week. Check it out PB.TV and let us know what you think. If you would like to suggest a guest video for us to include, please check out our submission guidelines.

Watch my video announcement here:

YOUnique William’s Words – Video from William Arruda on Video.

videoBIO Partnership

Video is the best tool for representing your brand on the World Wide Web – it can be a real differentiator. Poorly produced videos can work against you. That’s why we are excited about our strategic partnership with videoBIO.

The folks at videoBIO help you produce high-quality videos that enable you to deliver a powerful and complete communication – all at an extremely affordable price. As part of our partnership, videoBIO has incorporated 360Reach into their process to ensure the bios they produce for clients are on-brand. They understand that if you understand your personal brand, you’ll produce a better, more authentic video.

I am truly excited about how video will change the way we build our brands. I leave you with this question: How can YOU best use the power of video to communicate with your brand community and influence those that are making decisions about you?

EXUDE Your Brand

By Kristen Jacoway

Online and offline tips on how to grow your brand and make it glow.

My latest Career Inspiration video is filled with heartwarming stories of people who faced rejection and obstacles yet persevered and became very successful. The slide with multiple pictures (on both videos) are some of the inventions that are considered to have had a significant impact in history.

My children (ages 5 and 9) helped with this video by telling me which one of these inventions they thought were most meaningful. That makes this video even more special to me, because my children helped to create it!

Maria’s Media Methods

By Maria Elena Duron

Move from being just another “someone” in the crowd to expressing your unique strengths! Keep reading to learn new strategies, practical tips and tactics to engage all communication avenues making you effective in reaching your unique audience.

Video Tips & Tools

A picture is worth a thousand words. A video delivers a sampling of your character, competence and communicates passion, drive and professionalism. Below are some facts and information regarding video.

What can you use video for?

Everything that you can show visually about your personal brand, for example:

• A day in your life.
• What a person in your profession does.
• Snippets from presentations.
• Show what your location or office looks like.
• Video testimonials.
• Interview industry contacts, thought leaders.
• Conference nuggets.

What video formats can you use?

1. Screencasts – This is a video recording of your screen along with audio. Awesome for “how-to” type videos. For slides, you can use SlideShare.net and include audio. To show your screen, you can use Jing, ScreenToaster, GoToWebinar, GoToMeeting and CoolConferenceLive.
2. VideoBlog (Vlog) – Informal, quick and focused like a written blog post. Use a Flip camera and the editing software with the Flip or Windows Movie Maker. Or, use a video camera along with a microphone for sound.
3. WebTV – Like a video blog with a different feel. More editing, music, intro and outro graphics (graphics before and after the video) and has a consistent feel.

How can you use video?

1. Facebook: Use a YouTube box or Involver.com to create a YouTube application and tab.
2. Twitter: Twitwall can be used to distribute video.
3. Create a YouTube Channel – Capture video and upload it to YouTube. Why do I like YouTube? YouTube’s usage and traffic are phenomenal and they are far ahead and first place in traffic count and views. It is also easy to set up a channel!
4. Live Video – can be streaming from a webcam or Power Point slides:

• Free: UStream – there is a chat ability so they can hear you and you can hear them and CoolConferenceLive.
• Paid: GoToWebinar – you don’t even need a microphone, can call in via a land line and show your Power.

Check out my video on PB.TV about “Getting Good on Video”.

William’s Words By William Arruda A note from the Founder of Reach Personal Branding. Give. Give. Give. Even though we may not be doing all we should to build our networks, we are well-aware of how helpful they can be to virtually all aspects of our career. Networking is an important component of the personal branding process. Networks are powerful. They are essential. And when the economy takes a turn south, they become even more meaningful to career-minded professionals. We rarely succeed in life without the help and support of those around us. Network members provide help in finding a new job or sourcing superstars to work for you. And they are great sounding boards and expert resources that enable you to be better at what you do. Effective networking is all about giving. One of the best ways to give to your network members is to help them build their own personal brands. So I decided to put together a list of Web 2.0 “presies” that will help you express your generosity while demonstrating your knowledge of Web 2.0 services. So give to your network! 1. Recommend them on LinkedIn. Nothing says ‘I care about you’ in a Web 2.0 world like a positive reference posted on your LinkedIn profile. Just ensure they are in your network, then click on ‘Recommend.’ You are helping make their LinkedIn profile more valuable and credible – the best kind of personal branding. 2. Give them a link to 360°Reach so they can perform a personal branding assessment. 15-day passwords to the newly launched version of 360°Reach are FREE – everyone’s favorite price! Since users of the tool reach out to colleagues, friends, family, networking contacts, etc, they have an opportunity to reconnect with the members of their brand community. 3. Add them to your Facebook friends. In the world of social networking, virtual popularity is even better than real-world popularity. And once they are in your network, send them a virtual hug! 4. Buy their personal domain name for them (i.e. www.williamarruda.com). For a year, it only costs about $9. You can search for and buy domain names at www.godaddy.com Even if they aren’t ready for their own web site, buying a domain name is like purchasing a plot of land. You own it so that when you are ready you can build on it. 5. Write a blog post about them or reference them on a relevant Blog. To find Blogs around specific topics, enter your keyword at www.technorati.com. You can also link to their web site or Blog or put their Blog in your Blogroll. We all know how much Google loves inbound links. 6. Discover their Google Quotient for them. Use the Online ID Calculator to help them understand how their personal brand shows up online. Use the calculator after googling them, then email them the results. It’s free. And if they are digitally distinct, they’ll get a badge of honor! And if they are not, you can provide advice on how they can improve their score. 7. Quote or reference them in an article you are writing or a presentation you are delivering – and make sure they know about the reference. Post the article or slides online. And if you write a press release about it, include it in all free press release search engines like www.freepressrelease.com. 8. Use photofunia to create a fun and unexpected picture of them. There are dozens of designs to choose from. If you don’t have a photo of them, perform a google image search [http://images.google.com/] to see if you can find a photo there. This may not be a personal brand builder, but it’s a lot of fun! 9. Rate their YouTube video and share the video with others in your network. Creating and uploading videos can be a lot of work, recognize their efforts. Just search their name at www.youtube.com 10. Write a review of their book or ebook and post it at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. For all the authors in your network, this is a gift they will really enjoy! www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com Remember, networking is all about giving; and during this recessionary period, helping people with their personal branding is a valuable and appreciated gift. For other ideas for giving to your network, you can register for complimentary Career Karma tips.

Commercial Break By William Arruda What can personal branders learn from TV advertisements? Take a break and take a peak. Smirnoff: Tea Partay I love this commercial because: The combination of gangsta-rap with Biff and Buffy from New England is just priceless. This commercial is shot as a music video – but with all the irony they could inject into it. I used to live in Newport Rhode Island and think they captured the preppy vibe perfectly. From the second the Saab rounds the corner and you hear ‘P- Unit Forever’ you can’t take your eyes off this commercial (well, I certainly can’t). Very clever! This ad and YOUR personal brand: Is irony right for your brand? How can you inject your passions into how you express your personal brand? To see more of William’s “Commercial Breaks” click here.

Editor’s Note by Rachel Gogos Building a Site to Express Your Brand You know you need to develop your presence online but you’re not sure how. Where should you begin? After contacting a Reach-certified personal brand strategist (wink, wink), you might want to consider developing a website or blog site for yourself. While working with a personal brand strategist you will clarify your communications goals, target audience, mission and purpose – all very necessary before developing a website. The next step will be to develop tools to help you convey and exude your personal brand. One of the most popular tools is the blog site or website. The only difference between the two is that a blog site is a website and blog in one. If you’re going to be a blogger definitely build the “all in one.” If you haven’t already done so you should purchase your own URL – preferably your name – ex: www.rachelgogos.com. If your name doesn’t exist because it may be more popular ex: www.MarySmith.com you can purchase www.MarySmithDentist.com or something like that to describe your profession or expertise. Many sites exist where you can acquire domain names. The one I use is called www.mydomain.com. It will cost $9.95 to own the domain for one year. Your brand attributes and other results from your Reach360 will help you and your personal brand strategist determine the color palette for your site. William Arruda developed an excellent video on YouTube to let you know what personal attribute is associated with a specific color. Developing the navigation, content and logo for your site are the next most important steps. The navigation will be determined by the purpose of your site, the content and your target audience. Your content is completely driven by who your ideal target audience is. Content you should include on your site are a bio, photo of yourself and your contact information. Your logo or signature look can be developed with the help of a graphic designer and your brand strategist. The site itself should be developed by a programmer or a very talented graphic designer who can do both. The most popular tools to build blog sites with these days are WordPress and TypePad. One final VERY important element is search engine optimization or SEO. This too is something your programmer should help you with. It involves meta-tags and adwords if you want to pay for them. If your site is built with SEO, and it should be, it will help it get recognized on Google and other popular search engines. This is a lengthy topic so I will write more in about it in a future issue. This is the super simplified version of building a site for yourself that is developed, branded and exuding your characteristics. It’s a big step towards establishing your presence on the web. It’s a time consuming project but will fill you with great happiness once it’s done.

Commercial Break By William Arruda What can personal branders learn from TV advertisements? Take a break and take a peak. Target: Brand New Day I love this ad because: I love every Target ad. They are always on-brand – demonstrating their creativity and touting their value. This ad and YOUR personal brand: Consistency is key. You recognize an ad is coming from Target within seconds of watching it. Is it the same for your presentations, articles, newletters, etc.? Strong brands are consistent in what they do and how they do it! Make sure your communications are consistent with your personality and deliver on what makes you exceptional. Use the same symbols and design templates for everything you do (presentations, proposals, marketing collateral, your web site, etc.). To see more of William’s “Commercial Breaks” click here.

Reach Personal Branding Speaker Series Leadership Branding for 2010 and Beyond: The 5 Critical Leadership Skills to Drive Performance and Deliver Ongoing Value for Your Customers Presented by: Bea Fields, President of Bea Fields Companies, Inc. Date: Thursday, August 13, 2009 Time: 9:00 AM Los Angeles; 12:00 PM New York; 5:00 PM London; 6:00 PM Paris NIKE’s “Just Do It” brand is a phrase that easily slips off the tongue of the majority of today’s consumers. But did you know that the decision makers at the helm of the company also live their life with a “Just Do It” leadership style? With this mindset, NIKE has been able to differentiate its company to customers, investors and employees. During this presentation, Bea Fields, author of EDGE! A Leadership Story will present the 5 critical leadership skills needed to create a magnetic effect, drawing top tier customers, employees and investors to your company. During this presentation, participants will: -Understand the difference between building a strong company brand for marketing purposes and building a strong leadership brand, -Learn the 5 critical leadership skills needed to develop a rock solid leadership brand – one that will drive performance and deliver ongoing value for both your internal and external customers, -Understand the 3 steps required to begin designing a strong leadership brand, -Learn the 5 main leadership derailment factors which can destroy a leadership brand, and -Gain insight into how a strong leadership brand can strengthen the marketing and branding strategy you present to the world. Look for additional information on this fascinating event soon by clicking here.

William’s Words By William Arruda A note from the Founder of Reach Personal Branding. Become a Published Author Sometimes, during a recession, we find ourselves unemployed or underemployed. Although this may not be the ideal situation, it can provide you with more of the most valuable commodity on earth – time. That time could help you achieve a goal that just never made it high enough on your priority list. In my business, I come across a lot of people who want to write a book – but can never find the time. Perhaps this economic downturn is the opportunity. Writing a book – although a major endeavor – is one of the most rewarding things you can do and one of the best personal branding actions you can take. Steven Van Yoder, the author of Get Slightly Famous, interviews authors to provide his contacts with information and advice on book publishing. Recently, he interviewed me about my experience in writing Career Distinction. Below are some excerpts from the interview. 1. What prompted you to target the personal branding niche? I read the article The Brand Called YOU by Tom Peters in Fast Company back in 1997. Tom coined the term and on the day I read that article I decided I was going to have the first and leading personal branding company. It’s at the intersection of my expertise – branding – and my passion – developing people. 2. What steps did you take in devising your niche marketing strategy? I wish I could say I did a lot of research or had a fully thought-out business plan when I launched Reach Personal Branding. I didn’t. What I did have was a fervent passion for the concept of personal branding and unwavering belief that personal branding was going to become critical to having a successful and fulfilling career. My marketing strategy was: I am going to tell everyone I know and everyone I meet about this cool concept called personal branding (not a strategy you see in many MBA textbooks!!!). 3. How successful has the personal branding niche been for your business? When I started Reach Personal Branding, I was one of about five personal branding experts in the world. For the first few years, it was a struggle. I launched Reach a little before the world was ready for it. Now, there are thousands of personal branding companies (over 400 people in 25 countries have been certified by my company alone). None of the other original players are still in the game, but I stuck with it. I don’t know if it was optimism or naivité, or stubbornness – but I stayed in. Perseverance has been great for my business. Now, personal branding has emerged as a proven technique not only for job search but for talent development inside companies (most of my business is with Fortune 500 companies). When you are the pioneer and have had all those years of proving your methodology, building the business and creating visibility, you have a great competitive advantage. That has positioned Reach as the global leader. 4. What role has your book played in growing your business? Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand (the third name for the book) has done things for Reach and for me that nothing else has. It increased credibility, opened conversations with the press and potential clients and further separated Reach from the competition. Being a published author has also been on my long list of goals; so the release of Career Distinction allowed me to remove that goal from the list with an incredible sense of accomplishment. 5. Please describe your overarching PR strategy, both before and after publication of your book, and results you’ve achieved? Before the launch, our goal (I wrote the book with Kirsten Dixson) was to develop a huge list for pre-orders. If I had published the book back in 2002 as originally planned, I would not have had the long list of contacts. By 2006, there were almost 100,000 names on our contact lists. This was a great start. Then, we hired a new publicist – Newman Communications (Boston based). We wanted to have all the press stories and talking points ready before the release. This was easy to do because months went by between submission of the final manuscript to Wiley and the actual book release. It’s a slowwww process! Lastly, we built a web presence for the book – www.careerdistinction.com – web-based marketing was a major element of our book marketing strategy. We wanted the web site in place before release. After the release, I incorporated the book into every one of my speaking engagements, wrote lots of articles based on topics in the book and did lots of radio TV and print interviews. I convinced many of the clients who hired me for keynotes to buy books for participants or make the book available at the event. This had a huge boost on sales, making it a careers bestseller. 6. Can you describe the process of conceiving and writing your book? How did you fit it into your overall schedule? I started writing the book in 2001 with a colleague and incredible coach, Andrea O’Neil. Back then it was called Bulletproof Your Career. A few months into it, she realized that the book didn’t fit into her long-term goals. So I shelved it for years. Then I started writing again in 2006 and asked Kirsten Dixson (one of the first people I certified in the Reach personal branding methodology) to be my coauthor. One of my brand attributes is collaborative. Because I had been in business for so long and had created so much content over the years, it made it easy to write the book. It was more a matter of selecting the right content and refining existing material than creating content from scratch. Although the two chapters on online branding were completely new. When writing a book you have to be willing to say ‘no’ to things – even to potential business. If you want your book published enough, it’s not that hard to say no. 7. How has the internet advanced your reputation as an author and personal branding expert? It has been the single best tool for increasing visibility and credibility. I am the same person I was before the book, but clients, audience members, the press – pretty much everyone (except my parents) – see me a little differently. Being a published author brings more career cache than virtually any other activity. Being a personal branding expert, I knew of the power of publishing, but I am surprised at how impactful it is. 8. When did you first realize you were slightly famous? Several years ago, I was in the British Airways lounge at London Heathrow and someone came up to me and asked “Are you William Arruda? I saw you speak at the Tate Modern last year.” Because a major part of my business is public speaking, I meet tens of thousands of people each year. Of course, I can’t remember everyone in every audience, but clearly, some of them remember me. It’s a good feeling. 9. Any advice to others considering a book as part of their marketing strategy? Write it. Now! Don’t delay. The old adage says that everyone has at least one book in them, and I believe that. It’s the single best way to express your personal brand while increasing your visibility and credibility. It changes everything! **By the way, if you have read Career Distinction, please consider providing your review of the book at Amazon.com (it’s good for your online branding!) Thanks.

Commercial Break By William Arruda What can personal branders learn from TV advertisements? Take a break and take a peak. Apple: I’m a Mac I love this commercial because: It pokes fun at a competitor’s weakness – and most people who know me know that I am an Apple brand ambassador! This ad and the others in the series hit Microsoft so hard (BTW, I am a Microsoft fan as well) that they created their own series of ads rebuking Apple’s claims. This ad and YOUR personal brand: While I think it’s most important to tout your own strengths and what makes you exceptional, when it makes sense, it’s valuable to demonstrate your differentiation by highlighting a glaring weakness in a competitor. What do you do that your competitor’s can’t? To see more of William’s “Commercial Breaks” click here.

Editor’s Note by Rachel Gogos Vanity URL’s Some may still be wondering what a vanity URL is and what all the hype is about. Before you continue reading this, log into your Facebook account, change the URL to www.facebook.com/username, click on “more” then add in your name without any periods but as is, i.e.: rachelgogos. If your name is available – get it right away. For those of us with unique names (Gogos), it’s fairly easy to acquire these unique URL’s but for those who are named “Kelly Smith” or any variation of a commonly seen name, it’s much more difficult. While MySpace has been offering the opportunity to get URL’s with your username in them for years, Facebook, one of the fastest growing social media tools, has not. On June 28th you will also be able to acquire Vanity URL’s for your fan pages, which is great if you have a fan page for your business. So mark the date on your calendar and get that URL. From a personal branding perspective your vanity URL is a must have. As the social media landscape continues to change at the speed of light owning this tiny piece of property in cyberspace is the cheapest, (it’s free) and hottest property you’ll ever own. As Facebook continues to grow and evolve it’s an investment in your future.

Commercial Break By William Arruda What can personal branders learn from TV advertisements? Take a break and take a peak. Trust Condoms: One Love I love this commercial because: It takes a product that can be a little uncomfortable for some people to talk about and cleverly gets the message across thanks to a rainy and windy day. This ad focuses on a major health issue – but does so in a way that would stimulate conversation, not stifle it. If you listen to the words of boy band Blue’s song “One Love” which plays in the background, you get the message of survival – even though there is not one word spoken by the main characters in the ad. This was a well produced piece. Watch the way the windshield wipers move to the beat of the song. This ad and YOUR personal brand: Sometimes it’s important to be provocative. You need to be willing to get your message across – ensuring people will listen even if they don’t agree. Strong brands are not all things to all people. They are willing to take a stand and say what they believe. To see more of William’s “Commercial Breaks” click here.

Reach Personal Branding Speaker Series Eight Steps to a Career Transition and Reinventing Yourself Brian Kurth, Founder & President of www.VocationVacations.com Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009 Time: 9:00 AM Los Angeles; 12:00 PM New York; 5:00 PM London; 6:00 PM Paris The “vocationing process” is a proven, action-oriented and step-by-step process for making career and life transitions. Used by thousands of people across the US and internationally since 2004, when Brian founded VocationVacations.com, this process helps people define what their “great” job is; learn how to deal with their fear; create an action plan; find a mentor; “test drive” their dream job; create their professional brand; utilize networking opportunities, and establish a tolerance threshold. Brian believes that happiness and passion can and should be an integral part of your job. In this guest interview with Brian you can explore this further; specifically, you will learn: -What you can do to discover what truly would make you happy and fulfilled, -How you can address your fears, -What you can do to get moving in the right direction in pursuit of a career or lifestyle transition, -How you can go about finding a mentor, -Why a hands-on, “test-drive” experience of a potential career is beneficial, -What you can do to reinvent yourself beyond rewriting your resume, -How to identify how much risk, uncertainty and challenge you can live with in pursuit of a new career or life style. To learn more about this inspiring event click here.

William’s Words By William Arruda A note from the Founder of Reach Personal Branding. What do you get when you cross a blender with an espresso machine? Me – apparently. I completed my 360°Reach personal branding assessment, using the brand new version – and I learned a lot about myself – and validated some of my own beliefs. Every time I perform a 360°Reach assessment I learn something new and valuable; but what impresses me most is how amazingly creative people are. That takes me back to the blender and espresso machine. As many of you know, we have four projective exercises in the 360°Reach assessment and each user selects two of the four to include in the survey. This is the first time I chose ‘household appliance’ as one of mine and I just loved seeing the responses from the creative group of people I surveyed. In addition to being compared with a blender and an espresso machine, responses included everything from a flat screen TV to a Swiffer. Of course, as with all projective exercises, which household appliance my respondents chose is less important than why they chose it. In the spirit of transparency and to show you how much I believe in this tool, I have posted my complete, unedited assessment results for everyone to see – the good, the bad and the ugly. You can see my 360°Reach results by clicking here. Passwords (15-day Basic accounts) to the new version of 360°Reach are free – everyone’s favorite price! So what are you waiting for? Find out what people think about YOU and how they view you! It’s a critical step in the personal branding process and using 360°Reach is a lot of fun. I say that not only as the person who developed the tool, but as a user as well! As always, thanks for your input, ideas and support.

Commercial Break By William Arruda What can personal branders learn from TV advertisements? Take a break and take a peak. Honda : Cog (UK) I love this commercial because: It held my interest for the entire two minutes. It highlights what Honda is about: cars that work. Perfectly. All the time. They may not be sexy or luxurious, but despite the complexity of automobiles with all those moving parts, Hondas are incredibly reliable. This ad and YOUR personal brand: Think of creative ways you can express your greatest strength – what people expect from – and love about – YOU. What’s YOUR greatest strengths?

Editors Note by Rachel Gogos Hello YOUnique Readers: I recently wrote my first blog post. It wasn’t easy and it took me lots of time. Coming from someone who has been a writer for many, many years this may sound surprising. I’ve written all types of copy from speeches for United Nations Secretary Generals to articles for The Wall Street Journal and other media publications. But writing in your own voice is vastly different than writing in someone else’s voice or writing a factual journalistic piece. To prepare for blog writing I have analyzed lots of blogs. Here is what I learned: Find your voice - be who you are and put your personality into your writing (just don’t forget to spell check)! Keep it short – keep copy to a minimum but get your point across. Keep it real – be honest with your readers. Once your reputation is tarnished it’s very, very hard to fix it. Incorporate your passions – part of your personality has to do with what you are passionate about. If you’re passionate about gardening but you are an HR professional find ways to tie gardening into your HR content. It can be done. Be creative - the more creative you can be but still remain on topic the more interesting your blog post will be and the more likely people will be to read it and recommend it. “Professional” posts - Make sure your content is consistently on topic for what you or your business do. So, if you’re an executive coach you don’t want to write a blog about how to change oil in your car. Also, always spell check and re-read your content before posting. Yes, you can be creative and professional. Connecting to YOU (the author) – having a picture of yourself on your blog and writing in the first person will help readers feel more connected to you. Update often - Often is a relative term. Keep content fresh and blog as often as you think your target audience may be checking for new content. Be YOUnique – by following all of the above you will undoubtedly be unique because there is only one you. Good luck and enjoy the world of blogging.

EXUDE Your Brand By Kristen Jacoway Online and offline tips on how to grow your brand and make it glow. LinkedIn is an online network of more than 30 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries. There are a few features on LinkedIn to help you market your thought leadership. One new feature offered by WordPress and Typepad is the ability to feed your blog into your LinkedIn profile page. I really enjoy finding social aggregate services that allow you to feed from one online application into another. Go to your profile page, select applications, and click on the Wordpress or Typepad (provided that your blog is hosted by one of these). A perfect way to build Google results is to brand your LinkedIn profile link (this tip is in Jason Alba’s book, “I’m on LinkedIn, Now What???“). Go to your profile page and click edit on your “Public Profile” LinkedIn URL. Replace the string of letters and numbers with your first and last name. One last strategy to market your thought leadership is to set aside time each week to answer questions in your area of expertise. You are helping people, and, simultaneously, getting your message out to your target audience.

William’s Words By William Arruda A note from the Founder of Reach Personal Branding. Those who know me know that I am passionate about TV commercials. I have been collecting them since I was young. In fact, I have an enormous collection of advertisements dating back to the 70s. Anytime anyone would visit my home, I would have them sit through some of my favorites. My friend John Palmieri reminds me of this all the time (I’m not sure he was as thrilled as I was about these required commercial breaks!). Sadly, most of my ads are on VHS (I know I am showing my age!). But thanks to the internet and YouTube, I have access to most of the commercials I had collected – Phewww! I admit there are a lot of absolutely trashy, sophomoric, dull, unimpressive and forgettable ads created each year –in fact, most ads fall into these categories; but there are some absolute gems – creative, effective, provocative, interesting, inspiring, memorable. And what makes me love these ads is the talent that’s behind them. How powerful to be able to impact people in just 30 or 60 seconds. Film-makers have 90 minutes, but ad men (and women) have a tiny slice of time to get their message across. I want to share my passion with you, so I will be showcasing my favorite ads of all time in a new feature called Commercial Break (this feature also appears as a weekly feature at marketingprofs.com as a daily chirp). You might expect a commercial break to promote some product from Reach, but in this case, we will be featuring lots of other companies and products. In addition to linking to the ad, I’ll include a brief description of how this ad relates to your personal brand – after all, it’s all about personal branding, isn’t it? Starting this month, you’ll see ‘Commerical Breaks’ in our newsletter. By the way, there are two ads I am looking for that I have not been able to source on the web: 1. The IBM customer service ad that takes place in a boutique in Paris and, 2. the Westin Hotels ad series that was filmed in sepia tone and ends with the tagline: Who’s he/she sleeping with? If you know where I can find these ads, I would be THRILLED to be able to get my hands (or feast my eyes) on them. THANKS! So here’s the first in the series of Commercial Breaks. I wish I could be there watching it with you!! Commercial Break By William Arruda What can personal branders learn from TV advertisements? Take a break and take a peak. The Softer Side of Sears I love this commercial because: Known for its hardware, Sears wanted to change brand perceptions by reminding people of their ’softer’ line of products (fashion and accessories). The alliteration of the tag line and the clever use of hardware terms to describe fashion show the creativity of the ad team. This commercial attracts your attention and reminds you that Sears is more than hammers and household appliances. This ad and YOUR personal brand: Remember to be yourself and show all aspects of what makes you, YOU. Personal branding is permission to be yourself – your BEST self. Do you have a tag line?

Bloggers Corner By Kristen Jacoway Each month I monitor several blogs that pertain to personal branding to bring you some of the most insightful postings that exist on the web. I share a couple of these with you below. If you have any questions or blogs that you recommend keeping an eye on please email me at YOUniquenewsletter@reachcc.com. How To Build Your Personal Brand on Facebook by Dan Schwabel takes an insightful look on leveraging Facebook for career success or as a means to keep in touch with friends and family. He provides 10 tips to help you express your personal brand. Cindy Kraft, the CFO Coach, wrote a post titled Career Protection Plan. This article gives interesting tips on career marketability and expressing your branded value proposition. Abby Locke wrote a blog post about revisiting resume best practices that has excellent strategies for crafting a targeted and marketable resume. She gives tips about brand statements and how to position them within the resume. Walter Akana’s thought-provoking post on job search includes five ideas and links to great resources.

A Day In the Life…of Paul Copcutt Edited by Rachel Gogos A monthly column that brings you up close and personal to a Preferred Personal Brand Strategist. Geographic location: Dundas, Ontario, Canada – about 30 miles west of Toronto URL: www.squarepegsolution.com Target audience: Leaders in Fortune 1000 companies and their teams. Began his business in: 2002 Became a brand strategist in: 2004 1. Do you work from home or an office? Tell us about your workspace. Office is in the house; my daughter actually thinks it’s where I nap. She knocked on the door one day and asked if I had finished sleeping! I do some work, honestly! The desk has plenty of space to work on the computer or write, various notice boards and white boards are all around to keep me on track. There is a big picture of a mountain behind me and various inspirational photos and items around. Also there is a big bookcase with my collection of personal brand books and signed copies of business books. 2. What is a typical day like for you? The great thing about working from home is I can get the kids ready for school and see them off before I start my day most of the time. Next, review workload for the day. If I am in the office it’s typically client work, coaching. 3. Toughest client and how you dealt with it? The one that wants to leap forward to communicating their brand before they really have identified what it is – this can be both damaging and frustrating for them – because very often they have to come back and do the extracting of their brand again. Better to take a little more time and get very clear – then the expressing of that brand really is fun. 4. What do you do really well? Coach, speak and connect people –that is what I try to get across to clients everyday – focus on your strengths and delegate the weaknesses. It energizes and inspires me and others – when I get caught up in what I should not be doing I am not being my best for my clients or me. 5. What is your favorite part of the day? My ten minute review at the end of a day. What needs to get completed, what went well and celebrate that, what could have gone better and how can I learn from that for next time and finally what does the evening bring with my family.

Reach Personal Branding Speaker Series Produced by Susan Guarneri Featuring: Jordan Friedman, author of The Stress Manager’s Manual and co-author of Go Ask Alice Book Of Answers is the former Director of Columbia University’s health education program Date: Thursday, May 21, 2009 Time: 9:00 AM Los Angeles 12:00 PM New York 5:00 PM London 6:00 PM Paris CONFERENCE LINE: 1 (218) 486-1616 1 (218) 486-1616 ACCESS CODE: 726017# Bust Your Stress to Boost Your Success Tense? Anxious? Overwhelmed? Losing sleep? Join the club: 80% recently surveyed by the American Psychological Association say they are seriously stressed by today’s economy, while nearly 30% blame the current financial crisis for keeping them up at night. Stress, whether it’s from money worries, upcoming interviews, travel hassles or rocky relationships, almost always gets in the way of professional success and optimal health. To learn more click here .

William’s Words By William Arruda
Spring has Sprung and So Should Your Brand

The rate of change is speeding up in the corporate world, making job tenure (even during good economic times) shrink. The only constant you have is your personal brand – you need to be the president of Me, Inc. In the future, many of you will be switching between working for Acme, Inc and Me, Inc with shocking regularity. Your brand – or professional reputation – will be your greatest asset as you navigate your new employment landscape. If you lost your job and were lucky enough to receive a package from your employer, now may be the perfect time for you to think about venturing out on your own. The first step is understanding your personal brand by answering this question: what is authentic to me (you), valuable to your target audience (ideal clients) and differentiating from your peers (competitors)? When you are clear about that, you can embark on a business plan for your new venture. In the new world of work, we can’t rely on our employers to manage our careers; we must do so every day in everything we do. And ‘Me-Too’ just won’t cut it. You need to know exactly what makes you unique and valuable and use that to stand out. If you are looking for a job in this economy, that’s critical because there are numerous others touting similar credentials and experience. If you think of yourself as your job title, you won’t make the cut. What makes you stand out?
This is the time of the year to prepare your garden – both metaphorically and literally – not only at home but also for your brand! The grass is getting greener, leaves are growing on trees, flowers are starting to bloom and so should you.
Here are a few tips to help you bloom!

• Perform a career inventory. Think about your greatest accomplishments and the times when you were operating at the top of your game. What skills and strengths were you using?
• Ask those around you what makes you interesting and valuable. What are the top three responses? How can you maximize that value? You can use the new version of 360Reach to learn what others think about you. Fifteen day passwords are free! www.reachcc.com/360v4register
• Think about your passions – those things that energize you – and ask yourself how you can bring more of them into what you do or how you do it. Personal branding has become a major movement over the past several years and it is going to explode this year with the turbulent economy and widespread changes to the world of work. Jump on the ‘brandwagon’ now!

Personal branding has become huge over the past several years and it is going to explode this year with the turbulent economy and widespread changes to the world of work. Check out this post at The Personal Branding Blog (previously published at MarketingProfs) which details my nine personal branding predictions for 2009.

I leave you with the question from the footer of every email I send: What have you done for YOUR brand today?

What have you done for YOUR brand today?

Best.

William

www.reachcc.com

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Book Launch: Me 2.0 by Dan Schawbel By William Arruda

A Day In the Life… Edited by Rachel Gogos
A monthly column that brings you up close and personal to a Preferred Personal Brand Strategist

Geographic location: Dundas, Ontario, Canada – about 30 miles west of Toronto

URL: www.squarepegsolution.com

Target Audience: Leaders in Fortune 1000 companies and their teams.

Began his business in: 2002

Became a brand strategist in: 2004

1. Do you work from home or an office? Tell us about your workspace.
Office is in the house, my daughter actually thinks it’s where I nap. She knocked on the door one day and asked if I had finished sleeping! I do some work, honestly! The desk has plenty of space to work on the computer or write, various notice boards and white boards are all around to keep me on track. There is a big picture of a mountain behind me and various inspirational photos and items around. Also there is a big bookcase with my collection of personal brand books and signed copies of business books.

2. What is a typical day like for you? The great thing about working from home is I can get the kids ready for school and see them off before I start my day most of the time. Next, review workload for the day. If I am in the office it’s typically client work, coachins.

3. Toughest client and how you dealt with it?

The one that wants to leap forward to communicating their brand before they really have identified what it is – this can be both damaging and frustrating for them – because very often they have to come back and do the extracting of their brand again. Better to take a little more time and get very clear – then the expressing of that brand really is fun.

4. What do you do really well?

Coach, speak and connect people –that is what I try to get across to clients everyday – focus on your strengths and delegate the weaknesses. It energizes and inspires me and others – when I get caught up in what I should not be doing I am not being my best for my clients or me.

5. What is your favorite part of the day?

My ten minute review at the end of a day. What needs to get completed, what went well and celebrate that, what could have gone better and how can I learn from that for next time and finally what does the evening bring with my family.

Editor’s Note

Change…it’s definitely the mantra for 2009. It’s in the air, it’s in the seasons, and now it’s on everyone’s favorite personal branding site www.reachpersonalbranding.com and the newest “must read” personal branding publication, YOUnique. The newsletter, as you’ll notice, has a new format, new content, new brand and last but not least, a new name. As many of you know we held a contest for the naming of the newsletter. The winner is Paul Copcutt of Square Peg Solutions. Thanks, Paul. It’s a great name.

First, a little about the new team: We’ve added two Assistant Editors. Kristen Jacoway, founder of Career Design Coach and Maria Elena Duron, Buzz To Bucks founder. Both have extensive backgrounds in online and offline media, both are working moms and both are creative and enterprising at what they do.

As for me, I left the excitement of New York City a while ago and have landed in Pittsburgh. The move was for love. My husband is from there. I’ve worked in journalism for many years and, on the other side, as a marketing executive trying to get media placed. I find journalism, especially hard news, captivating because it puts you “in the know” all the time. I’ve worked on many newsletters but I’m most excited about YOUnique and personal branding.

You’ll see lots of new content in the newsletter including columns such as “Maria’s Media Methods,” “Blogger’s Corner,” “A Day in the Life,” and “EXUDing Your Brand.” You’ll learn more about them in the first few issues of the newsletter that will now be delivered to your inbox twice a month.

I hope that you find YOUnique to be both inspiring and insightful. If you have suggestions for additional content, feedback, or questions you can contact me at rgogos@aol.com.

Enjoy,

Rachel Gogos

Maria’s Media Methods

By Maria Elena Duron

Move from being just another “someone” in the crowd to expressing your unique strengths! Keep reading to learn new strategies, practical tips and tactics to engage all communication avenues making you effective in reaching your unique audience.

How To Become An Expert To Print Media by Using Your Blog In 4 Steps

1. Develop a “collaborative” blog – Utilize several authors with their unique strengths.

2. Create consistency in your blog – Post daily and include guest posts to gain visibility.

3. Establish connections – Use your blog to connect those you know to resources they need.

4. Focus like a laser – Be known for what you do best and who you do that for.

Click here to learn more.

Founder’s Note

It’s all new!

Some of you have been reading reachBEYOND! since I founded Reach in 2001 (there were just over 300 subscribers back then) and although the content changes each month, the newsletter has followed pretty much the same format for nearly eight years. Yikes!

Well, it’s time for a major change. And thanks to the addition of three brilliant Reach-Certified Personal Branding Strategists and writers – Rachel Gogos, Kristen Jacoway and Maria Elena Duron – almost everything about the newsletter is changing – and you’re going to love it! The only thing that will stay the same is our focus on content that will stimulate your thinking, enable you to expand your success and hopefully make you chuckle from time to time. Our new editors have put together an amazing new format and have an editorial calendar with some fascinating and insightful content. The newsletter will follow a new design as part of our new super-portal: www.reachpersonalbranding.com.

In addition, to streamline our communications with you, we are going to make the newsletter the primary source of news and information about Reach. We will announce the Reach Personal Branding Interview Series, post access to recordings, link you to the most recent articles, provide a calendar of events and consolidate all the best content on the web related to personal branding – all in one place. To keep content up-to-date we’ll be sending the newsletter twice per month. Look for the first issue of the new – newsletter in a couple of weeks. What’s left? The name. We have always strived to include the Reach brand community (and there are nearly 100,000 of you!) in the design of our offerings. So we would like your input. The Reach-certified Personal Branding Strategists have come up with some really fun and creative names. We decided on four finalists: Revolutions, TradeMarque, Distinctions and YOUnique. Now, it’s up to you to choose among them. Please vote on the one you prefer by Monday, 9 March. We will announce the winner in the first new issue. I am thrilled to be working with Rachel, Maria Elena and Kristen on this next evolution of the Reach Personal Branding newsletter. Two more things… 1. Please remember to re-register to receive this newsletter here. 2. Small Business Owners/Solopreneurs Reach has partnered with the Brand Store USA (TBS-USA) to support entrepreneurs and solopreneurs to build solid, successful businesses. The great people at TBS-USA are considering implementing a series of day-long in-person events and would like your help in designing them. Please take a moment to complete this brief survey. Thanks in advance for your input on the name. And as always, please let me know what’s on your mind. Best. William What have you done for YOUR brand today?