MODULE 6: POSITIONING YOURSELF FOR SUCCESS

INDEX

1. Positioning Yourself as a Digital Marketer (Pag 2)

1. Advice From Audrey Boyle: On Her Work And The Role of Personal Branding
2. Personal Branding Starts with Telling Your Story: Telling Our Leadership Origin Stories
3. Personal Branding for Professional Success
4. Taking Control of Your Personal Brand as a Digital Marketer

2. Finding the Role for You in Digital Marketing (Pag 13)

1. Advice from Hassan Ali, Creative Director of Potbelly

2. Advice from Shaily Hakimian
3. Creating a New Role for Yourself
4. Tapping into the Power of LinkedIn
5. Emerging Roles in Digital Marketing

3. Networks and Networking → What Kind of Networker Are You? (Pag 20)

4. MIRIAM BROSSEAU MASTERCLASS (Pag 23)

Introduction

As an aspiring digital marketer, you’ve learned—or know intrinsically—how important it is to

present your brand well online. You know the value of thinking strategically, and have the POST
mnemonic to help guide you with that thinking. The tools and technologies you use are only as
good as the insights they offer, and as a result, affect the actions and connections you are able
to produce. Now, let’s think about how to use a similar approach to position you as a digital
marketer.

We already analyzed Digital Marketing through the lens of the needs, goals and purpose of the
profession. Now, let's apply these valuable tools to yourself. This module is about how to position
yourself and set your own path for success. We will study techniques and approaches. Where
and how do I fit in? What ethics do I want to uphold? What are the ways in which I can reach my
audience? Where is the field headed and what role is best for me to play? Through the advice of
working professionals and personal branding strategy, we will explore how to position yourself,
find your role and network effectively to grow in the field.

Learning Objectives: (1) Synthesize personal learning insights from previous modules; (2)
Discover possible career paths in digital marketing; (3) Develop a personal branding statement
and accountability plan to position themselves as an emerging digital marketer

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 1. POSITIONING YOURSELF AS A DIGITAL MARKETER

1. Advice From Audrey Boyle: On Her Work And The Role of Personal Branding

Audrey Boyle is a lecturer with the University of Arizona in their Global Campus, a c-suite
consultant within the world of social media, and a creative director on a project called “How Men
Cry.” Her sphere of genius within the digital marketing arena is that she is a flow catcher. She
captures when people are in their flow, when they’re having a conversation, because she
understands very well how people learn. She does this with images, video, and audio too.

In the following audio clips, we will hear about one quality that every successful digital marketer
has, and some advice that Audrey has for digital marketers.

Learn all the time

I think that one quality that every successful digital marketer has is... I recently learned of a phrase
called the Philomath, and the Philomath is that you love to learn new things because I think digital
media changes so often. So you're naturally a curious person and different styles of learning as
well, so you present things in visual, in auditory or kinesthetic. Like there's the various ways that
you can present the information too, which is digital marketing. But it's all about being curious, it's
all about learning new things because the industry changes so much and you do so many different
things that there's always like a new shiny. Second to that, I would probably say, strategy or be
able to see the bigger picture.

The importance of personal branding

I would say some advice that I would share with a new digital marketer is personal branding. You
know, put on your own oxygen mask first before assisting others. The case is really the same
when it comes to your brand. Understand what your brand is, survey your friends, talk to your
colleagues, and then get a hold of your brand and put your brand out there. I think that then you
can create a foundation of things that you really like doing and that you're good at doing, much
faster.

Another piece of advice that I would say is self-curiosity. You are actually in control in the long
run, of your career, of your life. So self-curiosity, when you're doing something you really like and,
you think in your head, it pops in your head, like, “Oh, this is so fun” What is the action that you're
taking? And so looking at it as an action and not like, oh, “I'm going to do this specific job title.”
So strip the job title away from it and start looking at the specific actions you're taking every day.
I think that that is the way to do it.

If you are going to organize your closet, when it comes to like the KonMari method, the joy of
tidying up. If you're going to organize your closet, the first thing you do is you get all your clothes
out and you throw it in the middle of the room. I think that that's what it's like when it comes to
what you do for a living. It's like get all the stuff that you're doing, throw it on some type of piece

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of paper, and then start to put what you like doing, what you don't like doing. At least you will have
more clarity around what you don't like doing and you can work towards possibly not doing that
in the future. But you will at least have a lot more information and then you will be able to do more
of what you like doing from a future standpoint when it comes to your career. That's my advice.

2. Personal Branding Starts with Telling Your Story: Telling Our Leadership Origin Stories

Definition of Public Narrative: A framework of telling the stories of Self, Us, and Now that
creates shared understanding and investment in the cause or movement, based on the work of
Dr. Marshall Ganz.

Story of Self

When we talk about personal branding, the first thing that we discuss is telling our story—being
able to share who we are, what we're all about, and where we want to go, with the rest of the
world. One really powerful framework that helps us tell our stories is the “Story of Self,” which
helps us to invite others to see and understand what we are trying to achieve as digital marketers.
It is part of a bigger framework pioneered by Dr. Marshall Ganz of Harvard University called
"Public Narrative," in which he posits that there are three core stories that any leader needs to be
able to tell if they would like to make a change in the world.

Those components of a “story of self” are a challenge, a choice, and an outcome:

Challenge: The challenge is something that you came up against. It is an obstacle, something
that stood in the way of what you wanted to do, be, or achieve. Keep in mind that the challenge

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doesn't have to be something dire and terrible. It can be something relatively minor, but it has to
be meaningful to where you land in your outcome. It has to be the root of what got you to where
you are today.

Choice: The choice can come in the form of several paths, possible opportunities, or options
ahead of you of which you decided to take one over another. A choice is a key aspect because
when we show that we had to make a decision in terms of our own stories and our narratives, we
are letting our listeners and our audience know that they too have that same agency. They can
also make a choice. As digital marketers, we are asking them to choose things—to make a
purchase and to make a decision. Therefore, emphasizing choice in the stories that we tell is vital.

Outcome: The outcome is the result of what happened when you faced that challenge and made
that choice. What does that mean for where you are now and what you are doing? The outcome
doesn't have to be perfect and all sunshine, rainbows, and roses. It can be more like saying: "And
that's why I'm here today." It can be a description of what brought you to a particular space, where
you are now, and how you learned new things. It doesn't have to be a perfect culmination; it can
be the beginning of a new story.

CONSIDER: As digital marketers, we are trying to change behaviors and beliefs, and encourage
people to take different actions. We are trying to influence the buying of a product whether that
be buying a product or service, signing onto a petition, or being part of a larger nonprofit mission.
We are marketing leaders who are asking people to make changes so we need to be able to tell
compelling stories about ourselves, our organizations, our companies, and our products.

Story of Self: Leah Neaderthal

Dr. Marshall Ganz, is a Harvard Professor and social activist who posited that there are three
stories every leader should be able to tell if they want to make a change. (1) The story of self; (2)
The story of us (3) The story of Now. He also developed the theory of “Public Narrative”.

Regarding the story of self and how it can help to position yourself as a leader. It is made up of
three parts: The challenge, the choice and the outcome. For example, Leah Neaderthal, coach
and consult businesses of their own to help them make more sales. It is not a resume, it is her
story and it begins with a challenge “When I left my corporate marketing career and started my
first consulting business, I learned three things very quickly. It is harder to sell your own stuff than
someone else´s; Marketing is not selling, and I had no idea how to sell. Her challenge was learning
how to sell. After the challenge comes the choice, so she teached herself how to sell. Now Leah
has hooked us, and we finally see the outcome that emerges from that challenge and the choice
that she made. She says: “Now I am here doing this work with people just like me. Now I teach
what took me years to learn to other entrepreneurs in weeks”. She gave examples of the clients
that she worked with and how she helped implement this version of what she learned for herself.

Opening with the challenge makes Leah relatable (maybe to our own experience). We see her
choice and that this choice is what she presents to her audience.

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The outcome explains who she is and what is she doing.

Ask to yourself:

1. What is the challenge that lead you where you are today? What led you to explore more
about digital marketing and made you consider a career in this wild and varied field?
2. What is the choice that you ultimately made?
3. What is the outcome? How did that land you from where you were to where you find
yourself now?

Personal stories are the emotional glue that connects your audience to your message.

RECOMMENDED video (from 26:10-29:50). Bozoma Saint John (@badassboz on Instagram)

talks about personal branding and showing up exactly as you are:

- I see your intention and approach to your personal brand. You have an incredibly
influential personal brand and that includes your amazing style and strong physical
presence. It's not just about surface-level things like hair, nails and clothing. These things
can be powerful psychological expressions, especially for those who help others. Could
you tell us more about the choices you've made when it comes to presenting yourself in
the workplace and beyond?

- Yes, it really frustrates me when people say that it's superficial. Who is it superficial for?
We just passed the CROWN Act, which allows people to wear their hair in its natural
textures at work without fear of being fired. It's only superficial for those who have always
had it. So yes, I make a conscious choice to be very black, very fem all the time because
that's who I am. I hope that by doing this, it allows others to be themselves too. I'm not
saying everyone has to dress in multi-colored leopard print or have their nails done or
wear a full face of makeup. But I hope that everyone feels free to express themselves
however they want. When you don't have that freedom, it's hard to do good work.

- I remember when I used to have to conform to a certain way of looking. Sometimes I still
have to do that. There are people who don't think I should show up the way I do now.
There were people who said in August when I was announced for this job that I should do
something differently. But no, I don't think so. The global CMO of Netflix looks like this and
twerks when she wants to, wears a bathing suit when she wants to, reads a ton of books
when she wants to, and listens to R.I.P. DMX when she wants to. That's the freedom to
be able to be as I am, so that all of my energy can be put into my brilliance.

- For me, it's very important that I can show up exactly as I am. It does take a bit of energy
to do that, but in the long run it's so much better. I used to have to be careful about my
tone because sometimes my passion would come off sounding like anger. But sometimes
I'm right and I need to let people know. The ability to be able to be who I am is such a
privilege. For those who are uncomfortable with that privilege, it's time for them to step

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 aside. I'm going to be who I am and I hope we all are.

- My next feat is publishing a book, which is taking my authenticity a step further.

3. Personal Branding for Professional Success

The idea of personal branding is believed to have been first introduced by Tom Peters in a Fast
Company article called “The Brand Called You” back in 1997 (ANNEX 1). In this article, Peters
says, “Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in,
all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies:
Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand
called You. It’s that simple —and that hard. And that inescapable.”

The main core concepts of the article:

- Branding is essential in the modern age, especially in the business world.

- Everyone needs to understand the importance of branding and act as the CEO of their own
company, “Me Inc.”
- Big companies understand the importance of brands and use them to their advantage.
- The Web and email have made branding even more important, as people rely on brand names
to decide which sites and emails are worth visiting.
- Professional services firms are a great example of how to use branding to one’s advantage.
-You are a brand, not just an employee
-Identify what makes you different from your competitors
-Identify your strongest qualities and traits
-Create a feature-benefit model of yourself
-Forget job titles and descriptions
-Focus on what you do that adds value
-Take credit for your accomplishments
-Ask yourself what you want to be famous for
- Visibility is essential to marketing your personal brand
- Enhance your profile by taking on freelance projects, teaching classes, writing articles, and
speaking on panels
- Everything you do and don't do communicates the value and character of your brand
- Word-of-mouth marketing is key to building your brand, so nurture your network of colleagues
consciously
- Power is not a dirty word and is not just about ladder power or who has the biggest office/title
- Power is about influence, reputational power and making a significant contribution
- Consumers are attracted to powerful brands and the same is true in the workplace
- Power can be used responsibly and intelligently in small, slow, and subtle ways
- Power is largely a matter of perception and brand You can be grown through projects and
creating a marketing brochure for yourself

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- Projects create measurables, deliverables and braggables which can be used to boost the
power of brand You
- Loyalty is more important than ever, but it is not blind loyalty to the company.
- Treat your résumé as a marketing brochure and regularly check the market to have a reliable
read on your brand’s value.
- A career is now a checkerboard or a maze of moves that go sideways, forward, slide on the
diagonal, and even go backward when that makes sense.
- Reinvent yourself on a semiregular basis by writing your own mission statement.
- Measure yourself against being a great teammate, an exceptional expert, a broad-gauged
visionary, and a businessperson.
- You are a brand and you are in charge of your brand. There is no single path to success.

A personal brand is what people feel, think and say about you when you are not around. It has to
do with your skills, the impression you leave, how you treat people, how you talk about who you
are, the actions you take as a professional and the way you market yourself.

How you craft your perception? Personal branding is how you intentionally craft the perception
online and offline. Personal branding is an important part of positioning yourself for professional
success.

Regarding the PIE model, only 10% of career advancement can be attributed to performance, the
other 90& comes from image and exposure, both of which can be advanced through creating and
managing your personal brand. Research shows that personal branding helps individuals, attain
positive career outcomes through increasing social capital, which is basically all the good that
comes from our networks of relationships with other people, financial rewards and career
opportunities. But as with any kind of marketing, we need to be careful.

There is a fine line between effective personal branding and fluffy self-promotion. Tom Fishburn,
also known as the Marketoonist, reminds us that thinking of ourselves too much as brands can
take away from what is human and real. If everyone acts too much like a personal brand manager,
all communication can start to feel like marketing. So consider what makes you different. What
excites you or what you would like to be known for and talk about that consistently online and off.
But keep it real along the way. Do not let the talking and creating get in the way of the listening.
Show your authentic self and you will draw in the people who will most appreciate who you really
are.
CONSIDER: What types of personal brands do you already see out in the world, and which are
the most inspiring and appealing to you? As we consider your personal brand, it’s helpful to reflect
on the ones that have most resonated with you, and what it was about them that made them
appealing. Think about how you might replicate that for yourself, in your own way.

Don't just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don't want to look like your
heroes, you want to see like your heroes. (Austin Kleon - NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING
AUTHOR)

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What Is Your Current Personal Brand? How to Find Out and Start Taking Control.

The first step in taking control of your personal brand is to understand what’s already out there—
that means conducting an audit. There are five steps to conducting an audit of your personal
brand online:

1. Google your name.

Do this at least three times a year. You may want to consider setting up a Google Alert for
your name as well, which you can do here: Google Alerts -Monitor the Web for interesting
new content. Be sure to check out image results as well, and look 5–10 pages deep.

Ask: Do I “own” the first page—are the most prominent results all me? Are the results
representative of who I am and how I want to be seen? If you find anything negative, can
it be removed?

You may have to reach out to the person who posted it originally to request its removal.
The other strategy for finding unwanted results is simply to share more current, positive
information, more frequently, so that is what rises to the top of the search results.

Tip: Consider searching for your: first and last name, name and town/city, your name and
current and past email addresses, as well as your current and past usernames to be sure
you’re catching all results.

2. Audit your social media.

Review your accounts, including pics, videos, and comments. Picture yourself in the shoes
of a potential client or employer; what does your online presence say about who you are,
and what you value?

3. Do damage control as needed.

At some point, most of us have posted something online that we later regretted. If those
posts are still lingering, now is the time to address them. There are a few possible steps
you can take:

● Delete photos, videos, and comments, and untag yourself where needed.
● Review your friends/connections, and consider which relationships are most
important to keep up online, and which may be unhelpful.
● In some cases, it may be appropriate to simply close an old account altogether
and open a new one to start fresh. Start with a new email address and consider
adjusting your name as it appears on your profile (add a middle initial, for instance).

4. Improve your profile’s first impression.

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 Choose a current proline picture that represents how you want to be seen. Rewrite your
tagline or bio to reflect the kind of work/role(s) you hope to find in digital marketing. Make
sure that your contact information is up-to-date.

5. Adjust your privacy settings and set up a monitoring schedule.

Review the settings for each platform where you are active. Who can see what you post?
Make sure you know how they are set, and adjust them to fit your need. Then make a plan
to come back and review them again in a set period of time—in, say, three months.

What Sets You Apart? Your Zone of Genius

In his book “The Big Leap,” psychologist Gay Hendricks coined the term “the zone of genius” and
addresses it from a personal, as well as a professional, perspective. Hendricks posits that there
are four “zones of competence”: The zone of incompetence, the zone of competence, the zone
of excellence and the zone of genius. The zone of genius is where we realize our full potential.
Recognizing yours can not only help you stand out from the crowd, but feel more confident as you
do so.

Zones of Competence

1. Genius

Activity in which I excel and keep developing. Time flies and I feel energized when I’m engaged
in it. It brings me personal satisfaction.
Positive Ratio Satisfaction/ Time

2. Excellence

Activity in which I excel, for which I’m recognised as an expert, it does not challenge me
intellectually and delivers little to no satisfaction.
Neutral Ratio Satisfaction/ Time

3. Incompetence

Activity in which I struggle to accomplish and which I do not like. I receive negative feedback.
Negative Ratio Satisfaction/ Time

4. Competence

Activity in which I achieve to a reasonable standard and that others can do just as well. It brings
me little to no satisfaction.
Negative to Neutral Ratio Satisfaction/ Time

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To find your zone of genius, Hendricks proposes asking yourself the following questions:

● “What do I most love to do?" (I love it so much I can do it for long periods without getting
tired or bored)
● “What work do I do that doesn’t seem like work?”
● “In my work, what produces the highest ratio of abundance and satisfaction to the amount
of time spent?”
● “What is my unique ability?” (What can I do which others are unlikely to be able to do at
this level?)

Finding Ikigai

Another useful framework to think about your professional aspirations, personal fulfillment, and
how that all comes together as you craft your personal brand is the Japanese technique of ikigai.
Ikigai is intended to help you identify what brings you meaning—what gets you out of bed in the
morning. Take some time to review the graphic and consider what might fall into each area for
you. How might you share these aspects of yourself online to help ensure that the brand you’re
crafting on the outside reflects who you are on the inside?

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4. Taking Control of Your Personal Brand as a Digital Marketer

Five Elements of a Personal Brand

Your personal brand already exists—not only on Google, but in the minds of the people you’ve
interacted with. The question is not whether you have one or not; rather, it’s the extent to which
you take control of that brand. There are many ways to approach personal branding. For all of
them, it comes down to finding the best of what’s inside a person, and making sure that it’s
reflected clearly and consistently on the outside. Executive coach and author Heather Backstrom
proposes that there are five core elements of a personal brand: Values, vision, purpose,
authenticity, and perception.

1. Values: What are the values that drive who you are and what you do? There may be a
lot. Consider the ones you will prioritize with the framework below.

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2. Vision: What kind of world do you envision, and what kind of future do you imagine for
yourself? Where are you now, and where do you want to be? This is your vision, which
helps you get clarity on what you’re working towards.

Here’s an exercise to help you think about your own vision: Imagine it’s exactly one year
from today, and you’re looking back on everything that’s happened. Consider questions
like: Where are you? Who are you with? What have you accomplished? What have you
learned? What are you proud of? What changed? Once you’ve thought about it a bit,
complete the sentence, “It’s [the date of one year from today], and it’s been an amazing
year.” Then describe the highlights of that year in one minute. Try it again, testing out
some different ideas. Try it with a friend. As you repeat this exercise you’ll get clarity on
what you really want to accomplish—this is your vision for yourself and the world. Take
this exercise to the next level. Visit this website, and send yourself a message about your
vision today to be delivered in one year. Then, when you receive it, you’ll have a chance
to look back and assess: FutureMe: Write a Letter to your Future Self.

3. Purpose: Your purpose is like your mission. It’s the strategy you take in order to reach
your vision. What do you do in order to get there? How do you treat people along the way?
Purpose is what keeps us focused on our goals, and not caught up in what others are
doing. Consider: What falls at the center of the Ikigai diagram for you? How does that
sense of purpose drive how you act in the world, and the choices you make?

4. Authenticity: When someone is authentic, we sense that the way they present
themselves on the outside is aligned with who they really are on the inside. When you
share your story with honesty and vulnerability, others will notice that, trust you, and have
more interest in joining you in that narrative. Authenticity drives entrepreneur Gary
Vaynerchuck’s advice to “document, don’t create.” He encourages anyone interested in
creating an influential presence online to show up regularly, and share the things that are
important to you (Vaynerchuck 2017). Read more about his ambitious approach here.

5. Perception: We define the world by how we perceive it, and by how others perceive us.
But we can also control that perception. Part of this means being intentional about our
external looks—but that is only our personal image, not our whole personal brand. More
importantly, we can use our language to influence the way people perceive us. Consider
the section on “digital body language” from the previous unit. For instance, what is the
language you use online that tells others about how you want to be seen?

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 2. FINDING THE ROLE FOR YOU IN DIGITAL MARKETING

You’ve learned a lot about the world of digital marketing—how to know your audience, set goals,
be strategic, measure your success, consider humanity and ethics, and stay attuned to the future
of digital marketing. Now the question is: What role(s) in the world of digital marketing will help
you feel fulfilled and successful, and make an impact?

Everyone’s career path is a little different. Let’s hear from a few people already working in the
field about what they have done, and would recommend.

1. Advice from Hassan Ali, Creative Director of Potbelly

Do an industry-relevant passion project: This is a turbo-boost for standing out in the job market.
(E.g. start a podcast, a blog like this, etc.)

Cold-approach a brand you want to work with: You could help them by proposing a solution to
one of their glaring problems—even prepare a PDF presentation.

Follow the money: Understand that #BecauseCOVID, brands will be VERY ROI-focused. For
every effort I'm working on (at least for ones that involve any considerable amount of the
organization's budget), I have to prove it'll bring in revenue on the back-end. If it doesn't directly
grow the business, it's not important. Brands can't explain vague stats like "brand awareness lift"
to their investors / board of directors / employees. It's about the money.

RECOMMENDED READING: Ali’s second suggestion (cold outreach) closely mirrors Ramit
Sethi’s approach to interviews called The Briefcase Technique. “The secret to selling yourself is
SHOW, DON’T TELL.” In this article, "How to Sell Yourself for More Money with the Briefcase
Technique," Ramit Sethi discusses what he recommends for job interviews, promotions, and
freelance negotiations.

2. Advice from Shaily Hakimian (Full interview in ANNEX 2)

• LinkedIn is a great way to show off your special skills and experiences.
• Don't be afraid to share what makes you special and unique.
• You are worth it and should be compensated fairly for your work.
• Leverage LinkedIn to your advantage and use it to make connections.
• Keep an eye out for those who will appreciate you and your work.
• Visit yoursocialmediasherpa.com for more resources.

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3. Creating a New Role for Yourself

Bridgett Colling, a seasoned digital marketer and writer who is currently the Director of Marketing
and Communications at Figo, has carefully crafted every step of her career. In the sections that
follow, we'll learn a little bit about how Bridgett designed a new role for herself inside her previous
company, a digital consultancy. She pivoted from being the Marketing Manager to the Director of
Marketing and People Operations. Her path speaks not only to how you might effectively shift
roles within your own organization, but to the intrinsic link between marketing, customer-centricity,
and company culture.

In considering this shift, Bridgett had already learned from her colleague Lisa Colton that
marketing is all about people Communications, in general, is kind of like the nervous system of
an organization.

Communications is like the nervous system of your organization, coordinating functions internally,
picking up on influences from outside the organization to respond to, and intentionally crafting
how you engage with others. Communications is just as important for getting your internal team
in alignment as it is for activating your supporters and constituents. (Lisa Colton - FOUNDER AND
PRESIDENT, DARIM ONLINE).

Bridgett noticed that at her agency, they were excellent at what they offered, but that’s not what
drew clients to them and had them coming back for more. It was the customer service and the
interactions with the team. She concluded that, for professional services companies, doing good
work is table stakes, or the minimum requirement for a business arrangement. What gets clients
to buy (and keep buying) is the people who are involved in these interactions (Colling 2020).

This is how Zappos developed its whole business model, centered around customer care: “Our
number one priority is company culture. Our whole belief is that if you get the culture right, most
of the other stuff like delivering great customer service or building a long-term enduring brand will
just happen naturally on its own” (Tony Hsieh - CEO ZAPPOS)

What Bridget Did?

Creating a new role for myself

● Identified an unmet need within my organization
● Wrote a job description
● Talked to other folks in people operations
● Hired someone to help take on the work I wanted to delegate
● Waited...

It took a lot of conversations, but eventually the new role came to be. It was worth the work and
the wait.

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Bridgett's New Day-to-Day

The Marketing Side:

● Overseeing blog and social

● Writing email newsletters
● Organizing webinars
● Publishing Videos
● Creating and testing new marketing initiatives (podcasts, original research, online training
initiatives)
● Overseeing SEO vendor and online reviews
● Overseeing rebranding efforts

The People Ops Side.

● D&I work—Identifying gaps in our org chart

● Professional development pathing
● Manager accountability
● Team member recognition and engagement
● Conflict resolution and support

Bridgett has since found a new role, continually pushing herself and evolving her career, and
bringing the insight she gained from previous jobs into her current company.

RECOMMENDED READING: Here are Bridgett Colling's tips for finding a new job, even when
there’s a pandemic happening. In this article, "How I Landed a New Job in 3 Weeks During a
Pandemic Recession," she even includes a template for reaching out to your network to help you
find the perfect role, and specific suggestions for using LinkedIn to find close connections at
companies you’d like to work for.

1. Build your skills: What you know? Build the right kills
2. Leverage your points of difference: What difference you from the crowd? Passions.
3. Develop a narrative.
4. Reintroduce yourself.
5. Prove your worth.

Recommended: Taking Control of Your Personal Brand

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4. Tapping into the Power of LinkedIn

LinkedIn is not the flashiest social network, but it has got significant power when it comes to
personal branding for professional success.

● There are 61 million senior-level influencers and 65 million decision-makers on LinkedIn.

● There are 17 million opinion leaders and 10 million C-Level executives on LinkedIn.
● 80% of people on LinkedIn drive business decisions.
● 6 out of 10 users actively look for industry insights on LinkedIn.
● Of the 756 million users on LinkedIn, only 3 million of them post content weekly. This
makes it a much less noisy, crowded social media platform, so it is an easier place to
stand out.

If you want to catch the attention of folks who are hiring, LinkedIn is an important place to be. To
stand out, try the following:

Update Your Headshot, Banner, And Headline

Update your headshot, banner, and headline to reflect the kind of value you offer. A LinkedIn
headline is often simply used for a job title; this is the place where you have your best opportunity
to introduce yourself. So instead of starting with the role you might hold, lead with what you do:
Start with why. What problem do you solve, and for whom? Name that in your headline, so your
audience can see themselves in what you have to offer. Are you great at helping local businesses
get their social media presence off the ground so they can wow their customers and make more
sales? Do you love helping restaurants make their digital menus look as good as the food tastes?
The sharper you are about what problem you solve, and who you solve it for, the more effective
your presence will be. Cher Hale’s headline below is a great example of leading with the value
she provides—and making it clear who her audience is.

Prune Your Network

Prune your network, then grow it with intention. If you have an existing LinkedIn profile, you’ve
likely connected with a lot of random people along the way. But who do you really want to be in
front of? By focusing your LinkedIn presence on only the people most likely to hire you, you make
it more likely that exactly those people will see the content you share, and you can engage with
theirs. Be brutally honest; cut out irrelevant connections, and seek out those folks you admire and
would like to work with.

Share Regularly

We'll share more about what content you can share that reflects your personal brand a bit later
on, but the rule here is to teach and add value. People on LinkedIn are looking for ideas and
insights, not sales pitches.

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Engage Authentically

Connect with and follow the kinds of people you’d like to learn from and work with. Make regular
time to ask them questions and share thoughtful responses to their posts.

Write and Request Recommendations

Write recommendations, and request them. Lead with generosity—has someone been
particularly influential to you as you navigate your career? Has a current or past co-worker
consistently left you grateful and impressed? Write them a recommendation! They’ll be inclined
to reciprocate. Don’t be afraid to ask a few select people who know you well to publicly share their
thoughts about you in a recommendation. LinkedIn also offers the opportunity to “endorse” people
for various skills, which is a lighter-touch way of recognizing someone’s aptitude.

5. Emerging Roles in Digital Marketing

What are the skills and roles most in demand for up-and-coming marketers in 2022?

Fastest Growing Occupations (YoY Growth)

1. Media Coordinator

2. Search Manager

3. Social Media Coordinator

4. Search Engine Marketing Manager

5. Media Manager

6. Marketing Specialist

7. Search Specialist

8. Email Marketing Specialist

9. Search Engine Optimization Analyst

10. Digital Media Manager

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Most In-Demand Occupations (By Volume of Job postings)

1. Digital Marketing Specialist

2. Digital Account Executive

3. Social Media Manager

4. Digital Marketing Manager

5. Copywriter

6. Marketing Associate

7. Account Supervisor

8. Marketing Assistant

9. Digital Strategist

10. Marketing Manager

What are the skills in demand for top Marketing jobs? These roles reflect the talent and
skills in need in the current environment (last 6 months).

Roles with Highest Growth

● Media Coordinator
● Search Manager
● Social media Coordinator
● Search Engine Marketing Manager
● Media Manager

Skills in Demand

● Social Media Marketing

● Paid Search Strategy
● Social Media
● Search Engine Marketing
● Marketing

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Which of these roles holds the most appeal for you? Is there something not listed here that
sparks your interest more?

Regardless of whether you’re looking for a new position, want to move up in your current
company, or plan on working as a freelancer or consultant, the right relationships will help you
get there. That’s where networking comes in.

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 3. NETWORKS AND NETWORKING

Who’s in your network? Your network is made up of all the people with whom you are
connected. Our networks—our family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances—make our lives
richer and more meaningful, and can be enormously helpful as we begin to craft our careers in
digital marketing.

SELF-STUDY EXERCISE

To begin understanding your current network, try this exercise:

● Write down the names of people in your network who might be able to help you in finding
your next role in digital marketing, or generally in pursuing your career. Start with the
inner circle and move outwards.
● When you have described the network, choose the three most relevant people with
whom you would like to contact.
● Think about what you would like to ask them and why being contacted by you is
beneficial to them.

Who Is in Your Network? You can use the table to help your network mapping exercise.
Exercise and image adapted from: (Interaction Design Foundation 2022)

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→ What Kind of Networker Are You?

If networks are the connections we have with the people around us, networking is the act of
intentionally building and deepening those relationships.

No one does this in exactly the same way, so it’s helpful to understand your networking style.
Marissa King, professor of Organizational Behavior at the Yale School of Management, argues
that there are three basic kinds of networkers:

Expansionists have very large networks and tend to be well known. They tend to be inspiring
in both social and professional settings. In their focus on growing their networks, expansionists
often have few really deep relationships and may often find they are lonely.

Brokers generate value by spanning boundaries and bringing together people from different
social spaces. Their networks tend to wield large information benefits and are great for seeding
innovation. Brokers tend to be adaptive and have a good work-life balance. Brokers, however,
struggle to find any one place where they feel as though they truly fit in.

Conveners build dense networks where all their friends are also friends. They enjoy deep trust
and reputation benefits. Conveners tend to be great listeners. Conveners run the risk of creating
an echo chamber of relationships, and of rarely leaving their bubble.

Learn more about each kind of networker, and the strengths and weaknesses of each approach
on this article and podcast: How to Strengthen Your Network Coaching for Leaders: (podcast)

1. Expansionists have extraordinarily large networks and tend to be well known. They tend
to be inspiring in both social and professional settings.
2. Brokers generate value by bringing together from different social spaces. Their networks
have large information benefits and are innovative. They are adaptive and have better
work-life balance.
3. Conveners build dense networks where all theirs friends are also friends. They enjoy
deep trust and reputation benefits. Conveners tend to be great listeners.

● Maintaining great relationships with your existing network is often more productive than
attempting to grow entirely new relationships.
● Those with very close relationships have been able to weather the storm of the
pandemic with little impact on loneliness.
● We tend to underestimate both the strength of our networks and the willingness of others
to help us.
● A starting point to improve the strength of your exiting network is either to be generous
to someone by helping them in some way or to ask for support with something that might
be helpful to us.

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Share What You’ve Learned, and Keep Learning

Where will your excitement about digital marketing take you next? The choice is up to you! Here
are a few ways you can use what you’ve learned in this course to help you find your fit and
become a leader in the digital marketing world:

● Share your favorite insights from the course: What's stuck with you? What are you
curious about? What questions are you still wrestling with? Share those thoughts online,
out loud, and see what conversations you can facilitate.

● Stay connected!: Reach out to the classmates who have inspired or challenged you.
Connect with them online. Support one another’s content.

● Follow people who inspire you: Look up the digital marketing leaders you’ve been
introduced to throughout this course. Follow them, and continue to learn with and from
them online. Seek out other leaders in the space whose voices and insights excite you,
and don’t be afraid to engage with them.

● Keep learning: You’ve already been introduced to many publications in the digital
marketing world. Subscribe to the ones that most speak to you. Seek out local networks
of digital marketers to connect and collaborate with. Pursue other opportunities for
formal and informal learning alike.

● Find your fit. Get strategic. Stick to your ethical grounding. Step up as a digital leader.
You're ready to start your journey today.

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 4. MIRIAM BROSSEAU MASTERCLASS

The benefits are what make a product unique.

Check how they interact with the customers shows how their internal culture is.

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Benchmarks for non-profits in digital marketing

Industry standard to compare with the competitors.

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 Glossary

Ikigai: A Japanese framework used for identifying professional aspirations and personal
fulfillment.

The Zone of Genius: A term coined by Gay Hendricks that forms part of the four areas of
competence: genius, excellence, competence, and incompetence. Of all areas, the zone of genius
can be used to help realize one´s full potential.

Personal Branding: Personal branding is how you intentionally craft the perception of what
people feel, think and say about you both online and offline.

Public Narrative: A framework of telling the stories of Self, Us, and Now that creates shared
understanding and investment in the cause or movement, based on the work of Doctor Marshall
Ganz.

Story of Self: A framework that is part of the larger "Public Narrative" framework that helps us to
invite others to see and understand what we are trying to achieve as digital marketers.

References
● Abel, Jackie. "Hovering Art Directors." Hovering Art Directors (blog). Tumblr. May 12,
2011. URL.
● Blog Talk Radio. Shaily Hakimian. Photo. Accessed October 7, 2022. URL.
● Bradley, Mitchell. "The Core Values Bullseye Framework." W23 Labs (blog).
Medium. October 17, 2019. URL.
● Clark, Dorie. “Take Control of Your Personal Brand.” Harvard Business Review, April
9, 2013. Video, 3:08. URL.
● Colling, Bridgett. "How I Landed a New Job in 3 Weeks during a Pandemic
Recession." The Startup (blog). Medium. January 10, 2021. URL.
● Fishburne, Tom. "Personal Branding." Marketoonist (blog). September 6, 2021. URL.
● FutureMe. Write a Letter to the Future. Accessed October 7, 2022. URL.
● Google Alerts. Monitor the Web for Interesting New Content. Accessed October 7,
2022. URL.
● Gorbatov, Sergey, Svetlana N. Khapova, and Evgenia I. Lysova. 2019. "Get Noticed
to Get Ahead: The Impact of Personal Branding on Career Success."Frontiers in
Psychology 10 (December). URL.
● Hendricks, Gay. 2010. The Big Leap. New York, NY: HarperCollins e-Books. URL.
● Interaction Design Foundation. "Network Mapping Exercise." Accessed October 7,
2022. PDF.

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 ● Kimura, Johanna. "Reaching Your Audience on Linkedin with Precision: A Primer
[Infographic]." Linkedin Marketing Blog. October 6, 2020. URL.
● King, Marissa. "How to Strengthen Your Network." May 10, 2021. Coaching for
Leaders. Podcast, mp3 audio, 39:51. URL.
● LinkedIn. Audrey Boyle. Photo. Accessed October 7, 2022. URL.
● Lua, Alfred. "The Quick Guide to Linkedin Marketing: 9 Best Practices." Buffer
Library. Accessed October 7, 2022. URL.
● Neaderthal, Leah. "About Leah." Smart Gets Paid. Accessed October 7, 2022. URL.
● Netroots Nation. Bridgett Colling. Photo. Accessed October 7, 2022. URL.
● Omnicore Agency. "81 Linkedin Statistics You Need to Know in 2022." January 4,
2022. URL.
● Ontario Skills Passport. OSP Social Media Resource – Module 3: Building Your
Brand. Ontario, Canada. Ebook. Accessed October 7, 2022. PDF.
● Peters, Tom. "The Brand Called You." Fast Company. August 31, 1997. URL.
● Real Time Academy. Hassan Ali. Photo. Accessed October 7, 2022. URL.
● Saint John, Bozoma, and Jessica Lawson. "Bozoma Saint John, Global Chief
Marketing Officer, Netflix." Published April 13, 2021 by Stanford Graduate School of
Business. YouTube Video, 44:49. URL.
● Saint John, Bozoma (@badassboz). Instagram account. Accessed October 7, 2022.
URL.
● San Juan, Carine. "The Zone of Genius - The Leadership's Sweet Spot." CSJ
Consulting. Accessed October 7, 2022. URL.
● Sethi, Ramit. "How to Sell Yourself for More Money with the Briefcase Technique." I
Will Teach You To Be Rich. January 20, 2017. URL.
● Sy, Lisa. "Marketing’s Evolution: A Look at the Jobs and Training Skills in Highest
Demand." Linkedin Marketing Blog. June 8, 2021. URL.
● Zekluu. "Self-Development - Ikigai: The Meaning of Life." January 25, 2020. URL.

Resources
Recommended Reading and Media

● Clark, Dorie. “Take Control of Your Personal Brand.” Harvard Business Review, April
9, 2013. Video, 3:08. URL.
● Colling, Bridgett. "How I Landed a New Job in 3 Weeks during a Pandemic
Recession." The Startup (blog). Medium. January 10, 2021. URL.
● King, Marissa. "How to Strengthen Your Network." May 10, 2021. Coaching for
Leaders. Podcast, mp3 audio, 39:51. URL.
● Saint John, Bozoma, and Jessica Lawson. "Bozoma Saint John, Global Chief
Marketing Officer, Netflix." Published April 13, 2021 by Stanford Graduate School of
Business. YouTube Video, 44:49. URL.

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 ● Sethi, Ramit. "How to Sell Yourself for More Money with the Briefcase Technique." I
Will Teach You To Be Rich. January 20, 2017. URL.

Additional Resources

● Backstrom, Heather. "5 Elements of Your Personal Brand." March 2014. Coaching
for Leaders. Podcast, mp3 audio, 46:38. URL.
● Dixon, Abigail, and Burdett, Douglas. "The Whole Marketer: How to Become a
Successful and Fulfilled Marketer by Abigail Dixon." Sales Artillery: The Marketing
Book Podcast. Podcast, mp3 audio, August 13, 2021. URL.
● Kleon, Austin. 2012. Steal like an Artist. New York, NY: Workman Publishing. URL.

ANNEX 1: The Brand Called You

Big companies understand the importance of brands. Today, in the Age of the Individual, you
have to be your own brand. Here’s what it takes to be the CEO of Me Inc.

It’s a new brand world.

That cross-trainer you’re wearing — one look at the distinctive swoosh on the side tells everyone
who’s got you branded. That coffee travel mug you’re carrying — ah, you’re a Starbucks woman!
Your T-shirt with the distinctive Champion “C” on the sleeve, the blue jeans with the prominent
Levi’s rivets, the watch with the hey-this-certifies-I-made-it icon on the face, your fountain pen
with the maker’s symbol crafted into the end …

You’re branded, branded, branded, branded.

It’s time for me — and you — to take a lesson from the big brands, a lesson that’s true for anyone
who’s interested in what it takes to stand out and prosper in the new world of work.

Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of
us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc.
To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.

It’s that simple — and that hard. And that inescapable.

Behemoth companies may take turns buying each other or acquiring every hot startup that
catches their eye — mergers in 1996 set records. Hollywood may be interested in only
blockbusters and book publishers may want to put out only guaranteed best-sellers. But don’t be
fooled by all the frenzy at the humongous end of the size spectrum.

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The real action is at the other end: the main chance is becoming a free agent in an economy of
free agents, looking to have the best season you can imagine in your field, looking to do your best
work and chalk up a remarkable track record, and looking to establish your own micro equivalent
of the Nike swoosh. Because if you do, you’ll not only reach out toward every opportunity within
arm’s (or laptop’s) length, you’ll not only make a noteworthy contribution to your team’s success
— you’ll also put yourself in a great bargaining position for next season’s free-agency market.

The good news — and it is largely good news — is that everyone has a chance to stand out.
Everyone has a chance to learn, improve, and build up their skills. Everyone has a chance to be
a brand worthy of remark.

Who understands this fundamental principle? The big companies do. They’ve come a long way
in a short time: it was just over four years ago, April 2, 1993 to be precise, when Philip Morris cut
the price of Marlboro cigarettes by 40 cents a pack. That was on a Friday. On Monday, the stock
market value of packaged goods companies fell by $25 billion. Everybody agreed: brands were
doomed.

Today brands are everything, and all kinds of products and services — from accounting firms to
sneaker makers to restaurants — are figuring out how to transcend the narrow boundaries of their
categories and become a brand surrounded by a Tommy Hilfiger-like buzz.

Who else understands it? Every single Web site sponsor. In fact, the Web makes the case for
branding more directly than any packaged good or consumer product ever could. Here’s what the
Web says: Anyone can have a Web site. And today, because anyone can … anyone does! So
how do you know which sites are worth visiting, which sites to bookmark, which sites are worth
going to more than once? The answer: branding. The sites you go back to are the sites you trust.
They’re the sites where the brand name tells you that the visit will be worth your time — again
and again. The brand is a promise of the value you’ll receive.

The same holds true for that other killer app of the Net — email. When everybody has email and
anybody can send you email, how do you decide whose messages you’re going to read and
respond to first — and whose you’re going to send to the trash unread? The answer: personal
branding. The name of the email sender is every bit as important a brand — is a brand — as the
name of the Web site you visit. It’s a promise of the value you’ll receive for the time you spend
reading the message.

Nobody understands branding better than professional services firms. Look at McKinsey or Arthur
Andersen for a model of the new rules of branding at the company and personal level. Almost
every professional services firm works with the same business model. They have almost no hard
assets — my guess is that most probably go so far as to rent or lease every tangible item they
possibly can to keep from having to own anything. They have lots of soft assets — more
conventionally known as people, preferably smart, motivated, talented people. And they have
huge revenues — and astounding profits.

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They also have a very clear culture of work and life. You’re hired, you report to work, you join a
team — and you immediately start figuring out how to deliver value to the customer. Along the
way, you learn stuff, develop your skills, hone your abilities, move from project to project. And if
you’re really smart, you figure out how to distinguish yourself from all the other very smart people
walking around with $1,500 suits, high-powered laptops, and well-polished resumes. Along the
way, if you’re really smart, you figure out what it takes to create a distinctive role for yourself —
you create a message and a strategy to promote the brand called You.

What makes You different?

Start right now: as of this moment you’re going to think of yourself differently! You’re not an
“employee” of General Motors, you’re not a “staffer” at General Mills, you’re not a “worker” at
General Electric or a “human resource” at General Dynamics (ooops, it’s gone!). Forget the
Generals! You don’t “belong to” any company for life, and your chief affiliation isn’t to any particular
“function.” You’re not defined by your job title and you’re not confined by your job description.

Starting today you are a brand.

You’re every bit as much a brand as Nike, Coke, Pepsi, or the Body Shop. To start thinking like
your own favorite brand manager, ask yourself the same question the brand managers at Nike,
Coke, Pepsi, or the Body Shop ask themselves: What is it that my product or service does that
makes it different? Give yourself the traditional 15-words-or-less contest challenge. Take the time
to write down your answer. And then take the time to read it. Several times.

If your answer wouldn’t light up the eyes of a prospective client or command a vote of confidence
from a satisfied past client, or — worst of all — if it doesn’t grab you, then you’ve got a big problem.
It’s time to give some serious thought and even more serious effort to imagining and developing
yourself as a brand.

Start by identifying the qualities or characteristics that make you distinctive from your competitors
— or your colleagues. What have you done lately — this week — to make yourself stand out?
What would your colleagues or your customers say is your greatest and clearest strength? Your
most noteworthy (as in, worthy of note) personal trait?

Go back to the comparison between brand You and brand X — the approach the corporate biggies
take to creating a brand. The standard model they use is feature-benefit: every feature they offer
in their product or service yields an identifiable and distinguishable benefit for their customer or
client. A dominant feature of Nordstrom department stores is the personalized service it lavishes
on each and every customer. The customer benefit: a feeling of being accorded individualized
attention — along with all of the choice of a large department store.

So what is the “feature-benefit model” that the brand called You offers? Do you deliver your work
on time, every time? Your internal or external customer gets dependable, reliable service that
meets its strategic needs. Do you anticipate and solve problems before they become crises? Your

39
client saves money and headaches just by having you on the team. Do you always complete your
projects within the allotted budget? I can’t name a single client of a professional services firm who
doesn’t go ballistic at cost overruns.

Your next step is to cast aside all the usual descriptors that employees and workers depend on
to locate themselves in the company structure. Forget your job title. Ask yourself: What do I do
that adds remarkable, measurable, distinguished, distinctive value? Forget your job description.
Ask yourself: What do I do that I am most proud of? Most of all, forget about the standard rungs
of progression you’ve climbed in your career up to now. Burn that damnable “ladder” and ask
yourself: What have I accomplished that I can unabashedly brag about? If you’re going to be a
brand, you’ve got to become relentlessly focused on what you do that adds value, that you’re
proud of, and most important, that you can shamelessly take credit for.

What’s the pitch for You?

So it’s a cliché: don’t sell the steak, sell the sizzle. it’s also a principle that every corporate brand
understands implicitly, from Omaha Steaks’s through-the-mail sales program to Wendy’s “we’re
just regular folks” ad campaign. No matter how beefy your set of skills, no matter how tasty you’ve
made that feature-benefit proposition, you still have to market the bejesus out of your brand — to
customers, colleagues, and your virtual network of associates.

For most branding campaigns, the first step is visibility. If you’re General Motors, Ford, or Chrysler,
that usually means a full flight of TV and print ads designed to get billions of “impressions” of your
brand in front of the consuming public. If you’re brand You, you’ve got the same need for visibility
— but no budget to buy it.

So how do you market brand You?

There’s literally no limit to the ways you can go about enhancing your profile. Try moonlighting!
Sign up for an extra project inside your organization, just to introduce yourself to new colleagues
and showcase your skills — or work on new ones. Or, if you can carve out the time, take on a
freelance project that gets you in touch with a totally novel group of people. If you can get them
singing your praises, they’ll help spread the word about what a remarkable contributor you are.

If those ideas don’t appeal, try teaching a class at a community college, in an adult education
program, or in your own company. You get credit for being an expert, you increase your standing
as a professional, and you increase the likelihood that people will come back to you with more
requests and more opportunities to stand out from the crowd.

If you’re a better writer than you are a teacher, try contributing a column or an opinion piece to
your local newspaper. And when I say local, I mean local. You don’t have to make the op-ed page
of the New York Times to make the grade. Community newspapers, professional newsletters,
even inhouse company publications have white space they need to fill. Once you get started,
you’ve got a track record — and clips that you can use to snatch more chances.

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And if you’re a better talker than you are teacher or writer, try to get yourself on a panel discussion
at a conference or sign up to make a presentation at a workshop. Visibility has a funny way of
multiplying; the hardest part is getting started. But a couple of good panel presentations can earn
you a chance to give a “little” solo speech — and from there it’s just a few jumps to a major
address at your industry’s annual convention.

The second important thing to remember about your personal visibility campaign is: it all matters.
When you’re promoting brand You, everything you do — and everything you choose not to do —
communicates the value and character of the brand. Everything from the way you handle phone
conversations to the email messages you send to the way you conduct business in a meeting is
part of the larger message you’re sending about your brand.

Partly it’s a matter of substance: what you have to say and how well you get it said. But it’s also
a matter of style. On the Net, do your communications demonstrate a command of the
technology? In meetings, do you keep your contributions short and to the point? It even gets down
to the level of your brand You business card: Have you designed a cool-looking logo for your own
card? Are you demonstrating an appreciation for design that shows you understand that
packaging counts — a lot — in a crowded world?

The key to any personal branding campaign is “word-of-mouth marketing.” Your network of
friends, colleagues, clients, and customers is the most important marketing vehicle you’ve got;
what they say about you and your contributions is what the market will ultimately gauge as the
value of your brand. So the big trick to building your brand is to find ways to nurture your network
of colleagues — consciously.

What’s the real power of You?

If you want to grow your brand, you’ve got to come to terms with power — your own. The key
lesson: power is not a dirty word!

In fact, power for the most part is a badly misunderstood term and a badly misused capability. I’m
talking about a different kind of power than we usually refer to. It’s not ladder power, as in who’s
best at climbing over the adjacent bods. It’s not who’s-got-the-biggest-office-by-six-square-inches
power or who’s-got-the-fanciest-title power.

It’s influence power.

It’s being known for making the most significant contribution in your particular area. It’s
reputational power. If you were a scholar, you’d measure it by the number of times your
publications get cited by other people. If you were a consultant, you’d measure it by the number
of CEOs who’ve got your business card in their Rolodexes. (And better yet, the number who know
your beeper number by heart.)

Getting and using power — intelligently, responsibly, and yes, powerfully — are essential skills
for growing your brand. One of the things that attracts us to certain brands is the power they

41
project. As a consumer, you want to associate with brands whose powerful presence creates a
halo effect that rubs off on you.

It’s the same in the workplace. There are power trips that are worth taking — and that you can
take without appearing to be a self-absorbed, self-aggrandizing megalomaniacal jerk. You can do
it in small, slow, and subtle ways. Is your team having a hard time organizing productive
meetings? Volunteer to write the agenda for the next meeting. You’re contributing to the team,
and you get to decide what’s on and off the agenda. When it’s time to write a post-project report,
does everyone on your team head for the door? Beg for the chance to write the report — because
the hand that holds the pen (or taps the keyboard) gets to write or at least shape the organization’s
history.

Most important, remember that power is largely a matter of perception. If you want people to see
you as a powerful brand, act like a credible leader. When you’re thinking like brand You, you don’t
need org-chart authority to be a leader. The fact is you are a leader. You’re leading You!

One key to growing your power is to recognize the simple fact that we now live in a project world.
Almost all work today is organized into bite-sized packets called projects. A project-based world
is ideal for growing your brand: projects exist around deliverables, they create measurables, and
they leave you with braggables. If you’re not spending at least 70% of your time working on
projects, creating projects, or organizing your (apparently mundane) tasks into projects, you are
sadly living in the past. Today you have to think, breathe, act, and work in projects.

Project World makes it easier for you to assess — and advertise — the strength of brand You.
Once again, think like the giants do. Imagine yourself a brand manager at Procter & Gamble:
When you look at your brand’s assets, what can you add to boost your power and felt presence?
Would you be better off with a simple line extension — taking on a project that adds incrementally
to your existing base of skills and accomplishments? Or would you be better off with a whole new
product line? Is it time to move overseas for a couple of years, venturing outside your comfort
zone (even taking a lateral move — damn the ladders), tackling something new and completely
different?

Whatever you decide, you should look at your brand’s power as an exercise in new-look résumé;
management — an exercise that you start by doing away once and for all with the word “résumé.”
You don’t have an old-fashioned résumé anymore! You’ve got a marketing brochure for brand
You. Instead of a static list of titles held and positions occupied, your marketing brochure brings
to life the skills you’ve mastered, the projects you’ve delivered, the braggables you can take credit
for. And like any good marketing brochure, yours needs constant updating to reflect the growth
— breadth and depth — of brand You.

What’s loyalty to You?

Everyone is saying that loyalty is gone; loyalty is dead; loyalty is over. I think that’s a bunch of
crap.

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I think loyalty is much more important than it ever was in the past. A 40-year career with the same
company once may have been called loyalty; from here it looks a lot like a work life with very few
options, very few opportunities, and very little individual power. That’s what we used to call
indentured servitude.

Today loyalty is the only thing that matters. But it isn’t blind loyalty to the company. It’s loyalty to
your colleagues, loyalty to your team, loyalty to your project, loyalty to your customers, and loyalty
to yourself. I see it as a much deeper sense of loyalty than mindless loyalty to the Company Z
logo.

I know this may sound like selfishness. But being CEO of Me Inc. requires you to act selfishly —
to grow yourself, to promote yourself, to get the market to reward yourself. Of course, the other
side of the selfish coin is that any company you work for ought to applaud every single one of the
efforts you make to develop yourself. After all, everything you do to grow Me Inc. is gravy for
them: the projects you lead, the networks you develop, the customers you delight, the braggables
you create generate credit for the firm. As long as you’re learning, growing, building relationships,
and delivering great results, it’s good for you and it’s great for the company.

That win-win logic holds for as long as you happen to be at that particular company. Which is
precisely where the age of free agency comes into play. If you’re treating your résumé as if it’s a
marketing brochure, you’ve learned the first lesson of free agency. The second lesson is one that
today’s professional athletes have all learned: you’ve got to check with the market on a regular
basis to have a reliable read on your brand’s value. You don’t have to be looking for a job to go
on a job interview. For that matter, you don’t even have to go on an actual job interview to get
useful, important feedback.

The real question is: How is brand You doing? Put together your own “user’s group” — the
personal brand You equivalent of a software review group. Ask for — insist on — honest, helpful
feedback on your performance, your growth, your value. It’s the only way to know what you would
be worth on the open market. It’s the only way to make sure that, when you declare your free
agency, you’ll be in a strong bargaining position. It’s not disloyalty to “them”; it’s responsible brand
management for brand You — which also generates credit for them.

What’s the future of You?

It’s over. No more vertical. No more ladder. That’s not the way careers work anymore. Linearity
is out. A career is now a checkerboard. Or even a maze. It’s full of moves that go sideways,
forward, slide on the diagonal, even go backward when that makes sense. (It often does.) A career
is a portfolio of projects that teach you new skills, gain you new expertise, develop new
capabilities, grow your colleague set, and constantly reinvent you as a brand.

As you scope out the path your “career” will take, remember: the last thing you want to do is
become a manager. Like “résumé,” “manager” is an obsolete term. It’s practically synonymous
with “dead end job.” What you want is a steady diet of more interesting, more challenging, more

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provocative projects. When you look at the progression of a career constructed out of projects,
directionality is not only hard to track — Which way is up? — but it’s also totally irrelevant.

Instead of making yourself a slave to the concept of a career ladder, reinvent yourself on a
semiregular basis. Start by writing your own mission statement, to guide you as CEO of Me Inc.
What turns you on? Learning something new? Gaining recognition for your skills as a technical
wizard? Shepherding new ideas from concept to market? What’s your personal definition of
success? Money? Power? Fame? Or doing what you love? However you answer these questions,
search relentlessly for job or project opportunities that fit your mission statement. And review that
mission statement every six months to make sure you still believe what you wrote.

No matter what you’re doing today, there are four things you’ve got to measure yourself against.
First, you’ve got to be a great teammate and a supportive colleague. Second, you’ve got to be an
exceptional expert at something that has real value. Third, you’ve got to be a broad-gauged
visionary — a leader, a teacher, a farsighted “imagineer.” Fourth, you’ve got to be a
businessperson — you’ve got to be obsessed with pragmatic outcomes.

It’s this simple: You are a brand. You are in charge of your brand. There is no single path to
success. And there is no one right way to create the brand called You. Except this: Start today.
Or else.

Tom Peters (TJPET@aol.com) is the world’s leading brand when it comes to writing, speaking,
or thinking about the new economy. He has just released a CD-ROM, “Tom Peters’ Career
Survival Guide” (Houghton Mifflin interactive). Rob Walker contributed the brand profile sidebars.

ANNEX 2

Find your magic

One of the areas that people know me for is LinkedIn, it's one of the things that I spend a lot of
time on. It's one of the things I should do all the time. One of my clients is a coach for helping
consultants get more business on LinkedIn. I've been coaching this program for two and a half
years, working with over 200 consultants on how to get more out of their network. But another
piece of this puzzle with LinkedIn is empowering people to really share what is wonderful, what is
special about them online. This is common not only for these consultants, but also teenagers and
college students that I've worked with. A lot of times, especially with young women, I find that
they're scared to say what makes them special, and they don't even know what they can say is
special.

One of the fun stories, I have a few fun stories that I can tell you here. One of them is an intern I
had, who really loved event planning, and she loved that kind of stuff. So one of the things I do
with every client, whether it's an adult, a student, or whatever, is figuring out what their magical
strengths are, things that are in their story that they never thought was special, but will make
someone understand exactly how awesome they are. So, I said, you know, I started asking her,

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“Oh, you like event planning? Tell me more like, how did you figure this out? What did you like
about all this stuff.” She eventually tells me that she almost liked, she probably actually end up
liking the planning of her sweet 16 more than actually the party. She loved planning the events,
the invitations, the décor. She loved doing that so much more and I was like, “Hey, why don't you
tell people that like, that's going to tell them how determined you are to be an event planner, how
much you really love it, the fact that you were doing it for your birthday, and it was a dream come
true. That was something special for you.” She had no idea that that was part of her like secret
sauce, right?

People always hear my origin story, in brief is that I learned to make friends on MySpace. I didn't
know that was valuable till I was applying for a position with your professor, with dear Miriam.
When the application said, “Have you ever managed online communities before?” I had said yes,
I had and I talked about this weird hobby community I had on MySpace. She said yes, and she
was the first person to ever pay me to do social media. So, that was a weird story I never thought
was valuable till I was filling out the application and realized how special it was.

The last thing is a LinkedIn training I did for high school students at my former high school. I asked
them, like, “Who do you look up to online?” One of the women just gave me a name. She's like
the person who runs House Party, which is like, the old platform isn't really a big thing anymore.
I was like, well, it wouldn't be cool if you got to talk to her. So, live in the class we looked up this
woman and she was kind of popular on LinkedIn. Then we looked her up on Twitter, nobody was
talking to her yet she was posting every single day. I told the student, everybody was watching,
don't you think she would, you know help you before she'd helped somebody else if you're the
one nice person that engages with her every single day and responds to her comments? They all
like kind of opened up their eyes to how accessible the world was to them. I'm glad that the tools
of the web has opened up the possibilities for the people I serve. That is my success.

Do not get exploited

One advice for you getting into the field. I live in a group called Freelancing Females where you
see a lot of people who are in social media and other fields related, getting exploited on a regular
basis for their skill set. That is something that happens all the time. I've had a few clients when I
was an early social media manager, really try to push the limits of what was expected of me, and
how many hours I worked. It was really, really complicated. I remember one client I had, had to
basically sort of be on reserve up to three hours a day, depending on how busy the social media
account was to respond to comments, kind of like what you know, the Wendy's account is known
for like the funny replies. Basically, if there was only two hours worth of work, I'd get paid for two
hours. But in theory, I was kind of on deck that if she did have all these hours, I would have to
allocate it to whatever her client needed. That felt really weird to me. I would always try to
renegotiate because I knew my worth. But I know for every one of me there was out there, like
there was somebody else who's also getting that very, very low Freelancer rate that I was getting
at the time. That's something that happens all the time, where it's like, oh, we don't have enough
money to pay you or we can't compensate you and all that kind of stuff. I would hate for you to
say no to income. Just keep in mind, you are worth it. Hopefully, you will have your eyes peeled

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for someone who appreciates you and is able to compensate you fairly and has the room and the
trust to grow with you, to appreciate what you have. Your time is valuable. Scope Creep is like a
real thing. That's something that I am always telling people to do. Also, LinkedIn is a huge thing.
It's your free, free platform to really help people see who you are and connect with you when you
don't necessarily have time for an interview. If they can fall in love with your profile, it's going to
make any conversation you have thereafter so so much easier. Those are my tips for now but I
have plenty of other resources at yoursocialmediasherpa.com. Look at the blogs. Have a good
everything. You got this.

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