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.

Your Ning Page Done Your Way

Did you know you can change the order of the content on your personal Ning page? I'm sure many of you do, but one thing that I've noticed is that a lot of pages I visit keep the content in the order that Ning provides.

When you first join a Ning network, you are given a standard personal page, but you are not restricted to displaying your content in this order. With a little bit of tweeking to your personal Ning page, you can more-effectively show who you are and what you do.

After you have selected a color theme/background and added your photo/image, it is important that you rearrange your content so visitors can immediately see you. Ning breaks up the content into categories such as "Latest Activity," "Comment Wall," and "Profile Information." Your Profile Information box contains all the important information about who you are -- your company name, website, bio, and links to connect on social media sites. Ning places this section near the bottom of your page, but this information should be at or near the top. It should be one of the first things your visitors see.

If you are blogging on your Ning network, your blog section should also be near the top of your page. I like mine under my profile.

In addition to these two sections, it is a good idea to add sections with your photos and/or videos.

Ning has a link in the left column for "+ Apps." These are various applications you can add to your page to make it more interactive. The app called "My Text Box" allows you to add extra sections to your page to include customized content. You can include more photos, video, widgets, etc. HTML is allowed. Type "my text box" into the search box to locate this app. On my page, I've used this app to add a banner linked to my website and a short description about myself, and I've placed this section first on my page above my profile information and photos.

I choose to put the "Latest Activity" and "Gifts Received" sections at the very bottom of my page below the comments, but you may prefer to have it in a different position on your page.

There are many ways to configure your personal Ning page. Do restrict yourself to what you've been given. I hope that this post is beneficial in helping you to organize your Ning page.

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.

Read more empowering posts on my Women's Life Empowerment Blog.