Successful professionals know skills and talent are not
enough. It's all about visibility, credibility, strategic
positioning, and self-marketing. In other words, in today's
competitive workplace, it's a "brand you" day.

Regardless of where you work, what you do, when you started
making your mark and why you chose the industry and role
you are in, how you brand yourself is going to make or
break your career success. Think of the job market as a
"free agency" system. You're only as good as your last
season so you want make sure your track record reads MVP.

Everyone can do this. Most people don't or won't. However,
if you want to be paid more, you have to do everything in
your power to be seen as being worth more. It's that simple.

What is a personal success brand?

In a nutshell, it's the promise of value your company will
receive when they decide to hire you and, over time, keep
you on the team.

Anyone can put themselves in expensive clothes, power up a
top-of-the-line laptop, and craft (or pay someone else to
craft) a slick résume. Your personal success
brand is more than that. It's what distinguishes you as
being better than all the fancy packaging money can buy.
It's what you stand for. It's who you are at your core. All
the time. Not just when it suits your mood or is
convenient. It's what defines you outside of your
professional role and job description. Branding is what
makes you stand out from the herd.

How do you create a personal brand?

Can you speak your unique value proposition in two
sentences or less? Successful people can do that. Sure,
they might have had to spend a day or two writing it all
out, editing it down and honing the message. But they make
the time to do that important work. And when opportunity
presents itself, they are prepared and ready.

You can do it too. The easiest way to start is to write up
what you've done lately to stand out – yesterday,
this week, last month. Make a list of your professional
assets. Note the words you think your co-workers would use
to describe you if they were asked to prepare a one-sheet
listing your unique features and benefits as a member of
the team or your functional business unit. What are you
known for? What is your reputation? Your company can pick
anyone they want for project x; why should/would they pick
you?

Start by identifying the qualities or characteristics that
distinguish you from your competitors and colleagues. What
have you done lately - this week - to make yourself stand
out? What would your friends, family and co-workers say is
your greatest and clearest strength? What is your most
noteworthy personal trait?

What do you want to be known for?

The next step takes the question further. If all of the
above represent "you" today, what have you done to market
yourself in a way that capitalizes on it? At the end of the
day, what do you want to be famous for? What is the legacy
you plan to leave behind you?

What are you doing right now to enhance your reputation and
visibility? Does your personal appearance and grooming
speak to your professional success or does it say "not
ready to move ahead?" Rightly or wrongly, we are
immediately judged by our appearance and we are always on
stage. Make sure your "look" is consistent from day to day.
Dress for the job you want, not the job you have. It also
means standing and sitting tall, making eye contact when
you speak to others, and minding your manners.

Do you have a polished consistent "signature" going out on
all email? Do you have an uplifting, concise and clearly
delivered voicemail message? A well organized office? A
memorable and good-looking business card? Do you use
distinctive stationery for your business correspondence and
networking notecards? Are your project materials always
packaged professionally? Status reports delivered on time?
Are your presentations clear and thoughtfully compiled? Do
you express yourself clearly and concisely when speaking?
Are you seen as a person of action? Of ideas? Are you a
problem-solver or a problem-maker?

How are you creating visibility?

Taking on extra work or projects is definitely one way to
get noticed and expand your reach and impact. It always
helps to have others singing your praises. And there's
plenty you can do outside of the company to increase your
standing as a serious, "on-the-move and going-places"
professional. Accepting training assignments inside or
outside of the organization creates visibility while
enhancing your professional reputation.

If you prefer an enhancement with less people contact,
there are contributions you can make through writing and
design. They don't have to be worthy of major media
attention to serve you well. Are you building an online
presence? Volunteering where it counts? (There are many
outlets for contribution within your own organization and
many causes championed by your senior executives you could
be supporting too.)

If you'd rather talk than teach or write, there are
conference panels and other roles that can put you in the
spotlight at any level that fits your comfort zone. The
important thing is to put yourself out there so people can
see you and become familiar with your name and way of
working. Always work toward building your credibility,
internally and externally. How you dress, speak, write,
interact and follow-up tells a story about you. When
promoting "brand you", you want it to be a success story.
Style with substance is your goal. Packaging counts but
it's meaningless if there's nothing behind it.

What are you doing to enhance credibility?

Are you keeping up with technology? Consciously building
your personal relationships and professional network?
Getting comfortable with your reputational power? Expanding
your circles of influence? If not, how will you generate
"buzz" for your work, skills, and abilities? A good part of
building your success brand relies on "word-of-mouth"
marketing. Don't lock into your current job role; it
automatically limits your possibilities.

Additionally, you must know when, where and how to flex
your power muscles. Information is power, but first you
have to acquire it and then you need to know when and how
to use it. (Remember, your influential and reputational
power is mostly a matter of perception but you always
control it.)

One way you do that is in the projects you are offered and
work on. Don't settle for the easy assignments. Take the
ones that stretch your comfort zone, expand your skills and
add incrementally to your base of accomplishments. Build
your project portfolio over time with success stories you
were part of creating and leading. The person who evolves
is the one who survives. Track your results and put them in
that marketing brochure called your résume.
Better yet, dump the term résume; and start
thinking of it as your "professional profile" designed to
sell you as an appreciating asset not as an expense.

Learn to put yourself first and invest in your own future
by putting every effort you can into building your personal
success brand. The job market will reward you for that. Be
known for the company you keep. What's good for you is
great for the company. Always keep your pulse on the market
and your eye on your marketability.

Feedback is the breakfast of champions!

Seek feedback on your performance, not just from the boss
but also from those with whom you interact and where you've
made an impact. It's the only way to have an accurate
reading of your worth on the open market and to make sure
you're always in a strong bargaining position for
leveraging what you've done in a way that gets you what you
want and where you want to go.

Regularly monitor your 4 most important metrics: your
relationships, your professional expertise, your personal
vision, and your business smarts. Stop worrying about
finding the single best or right path to success (there
isn't one) and focus instead on making sure you are on one
and blazing a trail.

Your career can be anything you want it to be. Don't put
yourself in the trap of seeing only one way up the ladder;
the ladder doesn't exist anymore. Instead, concentrate on
showing your progression. How you've expanded your reach.
How you've grown your business knowledge and professional
expertise. Know what you are working for and stay true to
it. Review this regularly. People change. So will you. It's
how you build your brand.

About the Author:

Get 30 free career tips from our Success Secrets audio
series at http://www.smartstartcoach.com
Career advancement expert and mentor Linda M. Lopeke is a
leading authority on how to succeed in the 21st century
workplace and the creator of SMARTSTART Mentoring Programs:
Success-to-go for people working @ the speed of life!