When you create a compelling brand you attract
people who want the promise of your brand
- Dave Buck

Companies spend enormous amounts of money creating and disseminating their brands—they ask themselves ‘what is it that our product or service does that separates us from the pack? What’s our distinction on the shelf? How do we want consumers to think about us?’

Companies do this because they know that no matter how fabulous their product or service, they need to stand out if they’re going to succeed and the consumer needs to know what they stand out for. Each of us could take a page from their marketing books. Though we don’t think of ourselves this way, we are each CEOs of our own selves—and if we do not make the effort to craft our brand and sell it powerfully within our organizations, we risk becoming indistinguishable from the many other talented people we work with. And that is a good recipe for going nowhere fast.

Creating your brand
So how can you start to identify the brand that is you? Ask yourself the same questions that mega-companies ask themselves: what makes me different from my colleagues or competitors? 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? See if you can write it down in 15 words or less.

If what you wrote is boring, your brand needs some remedial work! Your language and your clarity about who you are, what you offer, what you want to be known and recognized for must be crisp, compelling and indelible.

If you’re having a hard time getting started, think about what your colleagues or customers would say is your greatest strength. The model that companies use is the feature-benefit model. Every feature or service they provide is clearly married to an identifiable and distinguishable benefit to the consumer or client. So what’s your feature-benefit offer?

Selling your brand
Now that you have your brand created, it’s no good to you if you don’t create more visibility for yourself. You must enhance your profile within your company by marketing your brand. Link your brand to fresh opportunities – take on a new project, write for your company newsletter, teach a class in house or present a talk on your area of expertise. You are looking for opportunities to stand out from the crowd that are consistent with your brand. Don’t be shy.

Your visibility campaign must embrace every aspect of how you show up at work. It all matters: how you run a meeting, how you answer an email, how you frame your questions and responses, how you handle phone conversations. Everything counts. To communicate the value and character of your brand you must be consistent and clear.

Your personal branding campaign will rely most fundamentally on the buzz about you that is generated by your network of friends, colleagues, clients and customers. Your success depends on how well you can nurture your network so that they talk about you eagerly, honestly and with pleasure. Begin to share more consciously your successes and your passions and the future goals you have in your sights. If you do this with humor and humility, you will not be bragging or grandstanding. Instead you will enroll others in your dreams as well as your excellence. Next time your company is looking for someone to spearhead a new project, or form a new team around a key initiative, if a member of your network is at the table you can bet your name will come up.

And finally, once you’ve done the hard work of identifying and marketing your brand, make sure it stays fresh and in synch with how you are growing. Revisit this conversation with yourself every 6 months or so and make sure what you think and say about yourself is still right on the money.

The best leaders of all, the people know not they exist.
They turn to each other and say ‘We did it ourselves.’
~ Zen Saying

Dina Silver, MCC, is the Principal of Pegasus Coaching Group.

I specialize in leadership coaching working with senior executives and their teams to create great leaders and high impact groups. I have enjoyed success working with technically proficient people who need guidance in developing the interpersonal skills that are essential to effective and compelling leadership.

My background in the entertainment industry as a feature film and interactive game producer effectively assists me in helping leaders develop powerful executive presence so that ideas and challenging initiatives are met with keen interest and excitement. In order to lead, people must be excited to follow!

I have enjoyed trusted advisor status with high performance individuals, teams and organizations, coaching in high tech, entertainment, banking, and marketing.

I hold a B.A. in United States History from Princeton University. I am a Master Certified Coach (MCC) and hold my credentialing through the International Coach Federation. In addition, I am certified in a range of assessment tools including DISC and PIAV, and am an active member of Professional Coaches and Mentors Association (PCMA) and the International Coach Federation (ICF). I am married, have two teenage kids, two fat black cats and live in Santa Monica, CA.

If you are interested in learning more about how my work may be of value to you and your organization, please get in touch. I am happy to offer interested prospects a complimentary and confidential half hour coaching session so you can take me and coaching for a test drive.