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I often hear the question, "how do I develop a personal brand statement?" and my answer stays the same most of the time. A strong personal brand statement can be one of the best tools you can have and certainly one of the most critical ones for your branding and marketing toolkit, whether you are a business owner, or a professional working for someone else.

• When and how you will use it - e.g. interview for a job? networking situation? speech?
• Who you're talking to - e.g. language needs to meet the needs of the audience; the message is the same, but the approach should be adaptable

1. Who you are - let the recipient of the statement know your identity, your name
2. What you do - the core service or opportunity you provide
3. Who you do it for - your target audience and/or ideal client you work with
4. How you do it - your style, your unique approach, what distinguishes you

Let me give you an example of how this might work -

"Hi, I'm Tanya Smith of Be Promotable, the No Guesswork Branding & Marketing Resource for women solopreneurs. We show our clients practical, step-by-step online marketing strategies to confidently promote their business and get them noticed."

Now you try it. Add your own P.B.S. with the 4 parts in the comments and I'll share feedback...come on, you can do it!

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable is a premier personal branding & marketing coach. Her creative genius has unlocked the potential of many women solopreneurs, helping them to reinvent themselves as power players in their startup business. Claim your free instant access to a free video and audio download, 5 Secrets to Successfully Starting a Solo Business While Working Full Time at: www.bepromotable.com.

Solo professionals are like big businesses when it comes to the need for a solid marketing strategy. The distinctive thing about solopreneurs, however, is that you get to be the head decision maker for every part of the business. That means it is all the more important to take your strategies from complex to simple whenever possible.

Now is a great time to develop your branding and marketing plan. While you definitely need to consider mapping out a strategy that is more comprehensive to cover you for at least the next twelve months, here are four simple questions you can answer in order to set a basic foundation for promoting your distinctive brand and services you provide:

How will I generate leads?

This is one of the most critical steps to developing a solid branding and marketing strategy. Assuming you have already identified who your ideal clients are, you must now figure out where to find them. Immerse yourself in studying your target market - find out what they read, where they frequent, and what they buy - and put yourself in front of them.

How will prospects get to do a "taste test" with me?

Before a potential client will buy BIG from you, they will want to know what your services are like. Depending on the business you're in, you will need to decide what is most effective and most practical to give away. For example, you might offer a free strategy session, or a free audio, or even an e-book. What can you offer that will be of interest and take little effort or investment on your part?

How will I direct them from one point to the next?

Now that your prospect has had a taste of what you do and they want more, make it simple for them to know what is next. This involves some thinking on your part of what your marketing funnel looks like. Whenever you engage a client in your product or service, be prepared to promote the next thing and make it easy. At the end of your teleseminar, share the next program or info product. This is the time where you can extend even greater value to your new customer - at the point that you have already made good on your initial promise!

How will I follow up?

The client engagement process usually follows a certain path - suspect --> prospect --> client --> advocate/evangelist. In order to move people through these stages, you need some idea of how to continuously follow up and stay in touch. Whether this looks like a series of autoresponder emails, a regular ezine, postcards, etc. consider how you will stay in front of your leads. The key is to add value to their inbox, not being pesky.

I now invite you to claim instant access to a free video and audio download, 5 Secrets to Successfully
Starting a Solo Business While Working Full Time at: http://www.bepromotable.com to learn even more about great solo professional business branding tips. - Tanya Smith, The Solo Business Brand Coach at Be Promotable.

This post was originally published on Tanya Smith's blog. Click here to see the original post.

Goal setting always gets to be pretty popular this time of year. You hear a lot of techniques about how to do it and one of the most common ways is the SMART technique. I'm not writing about that here, because it's so overused now, I don't think you'll care.

No matter what you use, the new year always kicks us off with a great start, right? But then somehow you lose interest. There is this cycle that we seem to get into and it goes a little something like this:

• Day 1: Whoo hoo, yeah, I'm on it this time. I'm going to [your goal here] -->
• Day 3: This is great. I can't believe how this is changing [enter positive results] for me! I will definitely keep this up. -- >
• Day 5: You know what, I'm just going to take a little bitty break...I'll come back to it, I promise! -- >
• Day 10: What was that thing I was trying to do again?
• Day 20: Start over again or drop it completely..

Positive

Level

Evident

Appropriate

Self-initiated & Maintained

Self-initiated and maintained. Your goal must be something that you can initiate and maintain. It must not be something dependent on other people. Make sure that your goal reflects things that you can directly affect.

If your goal, or outcome is set each time with these criteria in mind, you will have crystal-clear vision that you can hang on to and it will get you past those tough times when you're ready to let go. OR it will bring you back to what you wanted in the first place...SUCCESS!

Share one of your clear outcomes in the comments below.

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable is the "no guesswork" personal branding & marketing coach. Her creative genius has unlocked the potential of many women solopreneurs, helping them to reinvent themselves as power players in their startup business. Claim your free instant access to a free multimedia downloads including 10 Branding Mistakes Made by Solopreneurs and 5 Secrets to Successfully Starting a Solo Business While Working Full Time at: www.bepromotable.com

Every year, my kids and I create a vision board to capture goal highlights for the year using posters, magazine clippings, crayons, glitter, glue sticks -- you name it, it's on the floor on 12/31. We have the music going, candles lit, and complete focus on what we're doing. Here is our process laid out in 5 steps for you. I hope you then enjoy the short video version of my board that was designed using Animoto.com. Head over to Life Vision Boards and get another take on the "how to". They use Animoto as well and you certainly can too - it's a free tool for creating video using images and music. Use theirs or add your own.

5 Steps To Creating Your Vision Board

1. Get yourself to a quiet place
2. Imagine that it is now the end of 2011 and you are reflecting back on your accomplishments for the year
3. Write down a list -- brainstorm freely at first
4. Now highlight the top 3-5 things you really want to focus on for the year
5. Cut, draw, and paste images that represent your goals onto a poster board (you can even make a miniature version on an index card to carry with you)

That's it! Now set a date to get the board finished. ;)

Okay, yes the title may tell you I know a little something about martial arts...but no, I don't. Only as much as the last Karate Kid movie
(which is one of my kids' favorites) and the line from Kung Fu Panda
which says that Kung Fu stands for "excellence of self".

I was thinking about that today after having watched the main character, a Panda named Po, one of 50 jillion times. I think personal brand work is like working out your Kung Fu - it truly stands for mining
and understanding how to portray your self excellence.

I thought I'd share how you can strategically do some kung fu kicks with identifying your personal brand strategy below. One approach is using the SWOT analysis.

SWOT Analysis is a well-known method of identifying your Strengths and Weaknesses, while also examining the Opportunities and Threats you face. All four areas can help you clarify your personal brand and your
distinctive and unique value.

Often carrying out an analysis using the SWOT framework will be enough to reveal changes that need to be made in your plan.

Try to work through the following questions and think about what insights you have from this focused work:

Strengths -

• What do you do well?
• What can you do better than anyone else?
• What comes naturally for you?

Weaknesses -

• What could be improved?
• What might you do poorly?
• What comes with more difficulty for you?

Opportunities -

• In what areas do you see possibilities?
• What resources or circumstances can you leverage?
• What trends might you use to your advantage?

Threats -

• What obstacles are in your way?
• Who is your competition and what are they doing well?
• Are you financially challenged?
• What else do you find yourself up against?

About the Author: Tanya Smith, Career & Personal Brand Coach, offers women professionals, with dual roles in a corporate career & solo side business, access to cutting-edge strategies to help them thrive
and promote themselves as experts in a progressively competitive work and
marketplace. Claim your free instant access to two fill-in-the-blank brand templates and a special report, The Beginner’s Guide to A Successful Career
Brand at: http://www.bepromotable.com.

1. Develop a Visibility Strategy. Be seen and be heard. It used to said that– “it’s who you know”, but in this new economy, it’s “who knows you” that matters. To accomplish this strategy, create a blog for your business, use social media such as Twitter and Facebook but don’t forget about affinity groups like LinkedIn and Ning. Create a profile and get active on these sites.
   
2. Be Known for Something. Become a thought leader. Define your strengths. What comes natural to you? What are you good at? What makes you think “I can’t wait to do that again?” Determine whatever it is and become a known leader in that area.
3. Decide Your Style. Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean it’s right for you. When it comes to marketing your business online, there are so many ways to do this. There’s social media, article-writing, press releases, blogs, etc. and so on. Don’t try to do it all. Test them out, then decide what’s right for you and go with that.
4. Manage Your Time. Outsource what you don’t have time to do yourself. A tool like HootSuite is a real time-saver when it comes to posting to your social media accounts. Another way to save time is to hire a virtual assistant or outsource company to handle administrative or marketing tasks you don’t have time to do yourself.
5. Monitor Your Brand. You can measure how well your brand ranks online by using sites like Klout.com and OnlineCalculator.com. These sites will let you know how strong your online brand is currently and give you some tips to leverage your online clout.

I have really begun to mentally process how the discipline of marketing a business and many of the principles that come with it are just as critical for personal success.

There is great value in developing a personal brand marketing strategy that helps you stand out, and that makes you more credible in the eyes of your select audience. Unfortunately, it is way too easy to ignore because of competing priorities for our time.

• Do you have a personal brand marketing plan or do you personally market yourself unintentionally?
• If you have a brand marketing plan, does it include specific promotional activities and are these tied to events?
• Have you taken the time to identify a target customer, or employer? What desired characteristics have you named?
• Does your personal brand strategy identify ways to sell to and maintain your current clients while attracting new ones?
• What are the demographics of your key prospects? What makes you distinctly different, or unique as compared to your competitors?
• What is your personal brand marketing budget? How will you distribute these funds?

About the Author: Expert-ize your personal brand. As a Personal Brand & Marketing Coach, Tanya Smith offers female professionals with dual career & entrepreneurial roles access to cutting-edge strategies to help them thrive and promote themselves as experts in a progressively competitive work and marketplace. Claim
your free instant access to a special report at: http://www.bepromotable.com.

Having a well thought out personal brand strategy is the fastest and best way to promote yourself in any career.

There are, however, 3 key mistakes many professionals make with their brand that keep them from advancing further in their career.

Personal Brand Mistake #1 - Failure to think like an entrepreneur at work. These days it's now more important than ever to recognize that things aren't like they used to be. Whether you work for someone else or not, do not make the mistake of having an employee mindset - you are self-employed.

What to do instead - To boost your perceived value at work so that you are top choice for the best job opportunities, it's time you start thinking like a business owner. Be an independent thinker, offer creative solutions, and always think a couple of steps ahead, strategically positioning yourself for the next action in case (B) happens instead of (A). Get noticed for your ability to be a results-driver who is adaptable to change, because change is happening faster and bigger these days.

Personal Brand Mistake #2 - Failure to track your own accomplishments and articulate them well. You can not rely on your manager to understand the work you do, or to know when recognition is warranted.

What to do instead - Keep track of accomplishments, praise reports, and great results you have achieved with and for your business partners. When the time comes to sit down for that next performance review, be ready to list out how well you have contributed to the company's overall goals. And if that performance review somehow does not get scheduled? Make an appointment yourself to meet with the manager and share your accomplishments, in a way that boosts their confidence in your work as an achiever. This record will also be great for your portfolio when it's time to move on.

Personal Brand Mistake #3 - Failure to connect with people who can be champions for your success. It's great to spend time with your colleagues at work - after all, we spend a large part of the week there. But many people mistake this group as their group of supporters.

What to do instead - Make sure you are connecting with people of influence outside of your normal circle. Tap into knowledge and experience that will help you broaden your thinking. Share solutions and creative ideas when you meet with mentors - formally or informally. They might just be your champion behind the scenes when you need it most.

I would like to invite you to claim FREE Instant Access to my Beginner's Guide to a Successful Career Brand when you visit http://bepromotable.com. You'll get a set of 3 great articles, along with a Promotability Quiz. Are you promotable?

From Tanya Smith, The Expert Brand Coach and The CareerPreneur Success Circle.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tanya_M._Smith

Hello Superwomen,

I'm sharing the free audio from my recent teleclass, Your Career Marketing style, at http://thepromotablebrand.com/. You can download the handout there too.

You are invited to listen in at no cost to get great tips on five ways to professionally market your brand & to find out more about the upcoming 6 week program for designing an attractive personal brand that will powerfully enhance & sustain your career and/or solo side business.

It's called The Promotable Brand: How to Get Clear, Get Known, and Get Paid in Your Career or Solo Side Business.

You will say, after participating, that the rewards of this 6 week program are to have:

• A greater sense of security knowing you have confidence in your ability to promote yourself and your services;
• Enhanced professional skills that carry over on-the-job and in your side business;
• Greater recognition from your clients as well as your work colleagues - where it counts;
• Higher level of trust in your purpose and faith in case the unexpected happens;
• A more attractive professional brand when you compete for positions you choose
• Success on your own personal terms and based on what's important to you
  

Early bird for the program - The Promotable Brand: How to Get Clear, Get Known, and Get Paid in Your Career or Solo Side Business ends tomorrow at midnight, so check it out soon and save big...seriously. I'm also throwing in my recent 12-CD telesummit as a gift for people who act quickly: http://thepromotablebrand.com.

As always - to your success,

Tanya Smith, Your Career Strategy Partner
BePromotable.com

“I don’t know how to navigate the professional world. It is like I am an outsider looking in. As an African American woman, I don’t have any willing connections in my family. I am actively networking, taking classes to gain new skills, writing blogs, and interning; this way I can groom myself into the professional I want to be…”

My answer went like this:

Thank you for your note & for expressing your challenges so honestly. I will share that I have been mentored and I have mentored. In most cases where I was on the receiving end, I actively pursued the
relationship. There have been both good AND bad experiences on either
side – I chose to learn from both.

One of the conversations that came out of the recent Women of Color Career Success telesummit I hosted focused on the topic of mentoring and where to find them. There were 3 strategies highlighted from the panel:

1. Pursue mentoring relationships with people who already at a level for which you are aspiring – seeking a combination of mentors with similar backgrounds as you AND those who can share a completely
   different perspective;
2. Peer-to-peer mentoring – reach out to positive, motivated colleagues and others within your field for idea/resource sharing; and
3. “remote” mentoring – seek out books, presentations, and media that may have messages you can apply to your own situation for growth. If something really appeals to you, consider contacting the author, etc to
   let them know how their ideas have helped you – social media really
   opens possibilities here. You never know until you try.

“Mentoring” was very loosely defined in each case but the ultimate message was that you can learn from just about anyone’s experiences.

Lastly I will add these tips:

* Don’t be intimidated to ask anyone you have identified as a possible mentor for you. The worst they can do is say no. * You should not expect
someone else to invest in you what you don’t invest in yourself and
others. Definitely look at ways you can mentor and give back. * And if
you happen to run into that not-so-great experience, you can learn
lessons from that too. It just may be “what not to do”.

I hope others will chime in and offer their advice and perspectives on your questions.

Best success to you, Tanya

What are your thoughts around mentoring and what advice would you offer someone for finding a mentor?

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable helps ambitious professional women of color develop a competitive personal brand strategy for the career of their dreams. To get instant access to
her free special report on Simple Steps High Performing Sistas Need to Know for Career Success stop by and visit http://www.bepromotable.com.

Personal brand marketing is a solid career management technique. When you are doing the work to clearly identify your personal brand - or theoverall collection of perceptions that you want others to have aboutyou - it may not be as simple as jotting down a few notes on a memo pad.

Developing a personal brand strategy that describes the irresistible, brilliantyou can take some work, but once you have it, you can apply the piecesto everything you communicate - e.g. resume, interview remarks, onlinemedia, etc.

Below, I will share with you some of the components I used in developing my own brand marketing statement.

Here are the first five concepts to focus on with a brief definition ofeach, and an example taken from my own personal brand library:

• 
  
• Objective - what outcome are you trying to achieve for yourself or for your targetaudience (e.g. To develop highly successful, professional women of colorto be competitors for advanced leadership positions.)
• Core message - the primary mindset that you want anyone who comes in contact withyou to adopt (e.g. You can successfully advance your career when youincrease your brand visibility in a smart, authentic, and consistentway.)
• Target audience - who do you want to share the message with (e.g. Professional women of color, age 30-55,seeking career advancement, career change, or business start-up.)**Later, we can talk about who the ideal client is for you within thistarget - yes, there is a distinction.
• Brand Statement - what do you do and who do you work with (e.g., I work with professionalwomen of color seeking career advancement or transitioning into solobusiness. I show them how to develop a brand strategy for their careerthat connects them with their target audience & key influencers.)
• Unique position - what makes you different than anyone else who does this work (e.g.,My strategy is based on a 60/40 combination of proven career managementtechniques and online brand expertise. I also have a powerhouse networkof branding resources to help my clients implement the plan once the itis put on paper.)
• 
  

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable shows ambitious working professionals howto get the promotion of their dreams. To get instant access to her freespecial report on surefire steps to getting the ideal job promotion stopby and visit http://www.bepromotable.com.

1. Make it Memorable
   Your slogan must be memorable. Make it easy to remember, something they want to brand in their memory and possibly even repeat to others. Take for example the above slogans, when you first heard them what was it that made them stick with you?

2. Key Benefits
   Your slogan must contain a key benefit of the product or service. Give them a reason to remember it.

3. Differentiate Your Brand
   It must differentiate your brand. Does it bring out the character of the product or services that sets it apart from your competitors?

4. Solidify the Brand
   It must recall the brand name otherwise who cares who remembers it. The brand can be depicted in the words you use or in the image of your logo.

5. Rhythm and Rhyme
   Create rhythm and rhyme. Does it rhyme? Does it have a ring to it? The rhythm of the tagline will help to stick in the memories of those that read it or hear it.

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Hi ladies!

This is a post I recently wrote on my blog. Hope this helps someone:

• Get a fabulous and effective website. By having a design that's professionally created (or at least looks like it), you'll gain credibility- and it's not as expensive as you might imagine. Two options to consider: 1) Use a theme that everyone and their grandma isn't using, or 2) Use a little money to hire a designer to modify an available, free theme.
• Be serious about SEO (search engine optimization). Whatever business you're in, you don't want to spend a lot of time looking for clients/customers- you want to use your time to make money. If you take the time to work on your SEO, your name (or business's) will come up higher in search results; so, when someone is searching for the service/product you offer, they'll be more likely to choose you first.
• Create compelling copy. You want the words on your website to convince others to purchase your product or service. However, it can be hard for you to write about how awesome you are, so you may want to think about hiring a copywriter. He or she can objectively convey why individuals should choose you.
• Convey your brand to others. It's easier to form a brand following when you can "piggy-back on top of an exisiting brand." And with blogging being so popular, gaining recognition is pretty simple- one way to do this is by writing guest posts on other blogs.
• Make a product to establish your authority. Having a product or download shows prospective clients that you know what you're doing. A couple of options: Write an ebook, or provide a free download that's related to your business's experience.

Check out more business and writing tips on Mocha Writer's Blog.

Happy Branding!