Ways to Promote Your Personal Brand at Work

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Hi All!

I am on the final stages of writing my newest book, “Make Your Personal Branding Outstanding: How Any Employee Can Create & Promote Their Own Leadership Brand For Massive Career Success!”. I am very excited about how the book is coming together and thrilled with the interest people have expressed in wanting it when it’s published. My Personal Branding Workshop has become one of my most in-demand over the past 2 years, so this is clearly a very hot topic. And companies like eBay, Wells Fargo and Johnson & Johnson wouldn’t be hiring me to conduct it, multiple times, if it wasn’t resonating with their employees…and my audiences are from ALL generations and career levels! Plus, quite a few companies have me conduct this workshop as part of their overall Leadership Training Programs...and all of this plays into improving employee retention (something many companies are taking very seriously these days).

That said, one of the areas I cover in the book and in the workshop, is how to promote “your” brand at work. It’s always a popular segment in my workshops so I thought I’d share part of that chapter here to not only give you a glimpse of tips I will be providing in the book (it’s crammed full of good info!), but to also just to give you helpful tips to think about now.

And, no, the book is NOT just about how to promote your personal brand! The entire first section of it covers “how” to create a personal brand…ideas for promoting yourself come after that section.

Okay! Without further delay, here is a partial excerpt from one chapter in my new book due out in October 2012 on Amazon (in both print and Kindle versions):

You’ve created your Personal Leadership Brand by following the principles outlined in the previous chapters, and now you want to start attracting some notoriety. This is a good thing! However, it’s an area where many employees who want to achieve extreme career success drop the ball.

            Why? Because everyone gets busy and stuck in their department silos. It’s very common, especially if you work for a larger company, to spend a vast majority of your time at work with your department colleagues and rarely expand outside of that world, except to grab lunch somewhere.

            But if you want to achieve bigger career success and become more known throughout your company, there are things you need to do within your department and outside of it. Typically, just “doing your job”, even if you’re great at it, isn’t going to be enough to get you where you REALLY want to go.

            So let’s look at some key strategies for you to consider…

Networking at the Office: If you work for a larger company that has internal networking groups or clubs (like Women in Leadership Group, an African American Group, a softball team, a running club, etc.), have you joined one that matches your interests? And if you have joined one, do you actively participate?

When I ask this question at workshops, not many hands go up. But this is a KEY strategy! You’ve got to leave your department and get to know people all around the company.

And if you work for a company that doesn’t have internal networking groups, when was the last time you coordinated some sort of networking mixer to bring people from ALL departments together for socializing? Don’t wait for other people to do it!

Remember: This is to benefit your Personal Brand, so make the effort. People will appreciate your coordinating something fun for the company to participate in…and they don’t have to know it is part of your own personal “publicity” strategy.

But aside from participating in internal networking groups or clubs, or coordinating events, you can be proactive at introducing yourself to key people in other departments. I know a woman, who was a middle-manager at a Fortune 500 company, who looked at the org chart for each department, contacted VP’s in each one, and invited them individually to coffee. She simply said that she wanted to know more about their department and career path, and would appreciate 30-minutes of their time.

And what was the result? Not ONE VP declined her offer, plus most of those coffee meetings lasted for more than an hour! That’s significant face time, alone, with senior executives she would have probably never met otherwise.

Within a few months she knew most of the key VP’s throughout the company, and more importantly, they knew her. This then led to many invitations to be on special projects outside of her department, invitations to events she would never have known about before, even job offers from other departments, and finding internal Mentors that she could seek advice and support from.

Yes, it took guts and time to do what she did, but the pay-off for building her Personal Brand within the company was huge!

Go Out of Your Way to Help Others: If someone asks for volunteers on a project, or help with something they’re struggling with, or even help with cleaning the break room, do it. I don’t care what level on the org chart you are, if you’re capable and qualified to do what is being asked, do it. It will reflect well on you in a variety of ways and that is important.

Why? Most people WON’T do it because in our own little minds we think we’re the busiest people on the planet and don’t have time to volunteer for something else. Well, the reality is that most of us DO have the time; we just choose not to make the time.

Present Ideas Creatively: Don’t be the person who puts people to sleep when you do presentations. One of the best things you can do for your Personal Brand is become known as a great presenter. And if you know this is an area you struggle with, hire a Speaking Coach to help you or join a local Toast Masters group in your area to get help and feedback on your skills.

            I know employees who have worked on their presentation skills, became very good, and were then asked to do major, high-profile presentations because their boss knew they would do a better job than s/he would. That is huge exposure!

            No one likes a boring presentation. I’m not saying you have to juggle and tell jokes. I’m saying you need to have an air of confidence and that creates rapport and presence. Whether you have to do a presentation for 10 minutes to your co-workers and boss at your Monday morning meeting, or conduct a 45-minute presentation to 200+ people, always make it good. Be prepared, practice a lot, and again, get help with your skills if you need it. Good speakers have magnetism and that benefits your Personal Leadership Brand.

Promote Your News: Did you win an award from a club or org you belong to outside of work? Did you write an article that got published? Did you accomplish something cool like hike up Mt. Everest on vacation? If so, share your news! And if your company has an internal company-wide e-newsletter, send them your news!

You never know who may read about it and want to reach out to you because they share a similar interest. It could be a Sr. Vice President that you may have never met, that is planning to climb Mount Everest in a year, and she wants to pick your brain about your trip there…and who knows where THAT new connection could lead you!

Pat Others on the Back: Do not hold back compliments and kudos. And always share them publicly versus waiting until you’re alone with the person. Also, if you know of something a co-worker has done that is exceptional, or went “above and beyond” to get a project done and no one else knows the extra effort they put in, announce it in meetings and/or send out mass emails sharing the news. No one will forget you did that for them, others will think it’s admirable, and that could lead to people doing it for you at some point…and all of that supports the positive building of your Personal Brand.

Speaking at Work: Are there internal company events where you could think of a topic and submit it for consideration? I’m sure there is. Every big company has events throughout the year (departments or company-wide) where they look for employees to be speakers at. And if you work for a smaller company that doesn’t have internal events, you can create your own. Think of a topic that you know would help others at work or in their personal lives, and do a Brown Bag Lunch session. You can even do this if you work for a large company!

            Again, you can create your own “events” and that increase your brand recognition. And for an internal presentation at your company, the topic doesn’t even have to be around your “work” expertise. If you practice meditation for stress reduction, but your “job” is as a Software Developer, who cares? You can still promote a Brown Bag Lunch session where you’ll share tips and strategies to reduce stress through meditation. You can promote it company-wide and attract ALL types of employees, from all different career levels, who think the topic is interesting. And, by them attending that, they will then get to know “who” you are and “what” you do in your role at the company. See? Now those who wouldn’t otherwise have a reason to know you at work will know you!    

Alright! That concludes the excerpt from my new book due out in October. I hope you found those tips helpful! I also have an entire chapter on how to promote your personal brand outside of work to achieve more notoriety in your industry (not just in the workplace). So be sure to look for my newest book on Amazon this fall…

Bye for now!

Lisa