Since soft-launching our Personal Brand consulting in beta earlier this summer, we’ve piqued a lot of interest and raised a lot of questions. It’s even been some hot cocktail party talk – who knew? – which proved to us that people from all walks of life and work “get it” and are interested in our services. Here are highlights of some of the questions we’ve been fielding: 

Isn’t Personal Branding just a fancy way of saying, “get on LinkedIn, Twitter, have a blog, and so on?”

Not really. We’re aware that a great many people are already up and running on those sites, thank you very much, and we don’t want to teach the basics of all that. (Though it still shocks us how many university students and faculty, and other job seekers, aren’t nearly prepared in this area.) Try to think of it this way: You have a story to tell, and to SELL, creatively and with impact, if you want to make a significant leap in your career or your studies, or cement the place you already have. It’s not enough to be present in various social media. You have to be in the conversation of your field, whatever it is, and leading the conversation (or appear to be) if you’re already a pro. Your presence has to be integrated, smart, lively, current, and – as much as possible – unique. Your “story” has to be told in a compelling way, from your LinkedIn summary (don’t make it sound like a CV! Boring!), to your TwitPitch, to the stories you tell (if you do) in your portfolio (if you have one). That’s the stuff we love diving into.

Can’t I do that on my own? 

Good question. We know that even if someone is a decent writer (or, thanks to spell check, might appear to be so), not everyone is a great storyteller. That’s where our many years of experience in writing, editing and design for clients around the world come in. Continue reading →