Editorial - The Value of Building Your Brand

I never really understood much about branding until I had the good fortune to get some branding coaching from an amazing woman I met at a WITI Event a few years after WITI started.

At the time, Karenann was working as an engineer for a world class brand builder at a major corporation. I was grateful when she offered to coach me on the central principles of effective brand building.

Why is this important to you? Think about the women whose names you know because you see them speaking, writing articles, announcing a new project. They are perfect examples of women who have taken the time to build their brand.

Think about it, if two people in your company or somewhere in the world are discussing who they can contact to lead a project, speak at an event, etc., your name will never be on that list if they don't know you exist!

Even if you want to stay in the same company your entire career, we know that when someone in your company reads about you outside of your company, it propels you to bigger possibilities!

Here are many of the principles she shared combined with some things I have learned on my own journey:

Think of building your brand as designing your magnet. You are creating a magnet to pull towards you connections, opportunities, and new possibilities
- a powerful tool I encourage you to add to your toolkit.

Start with an honest analysis of your special gifts, your passion, and where you excel.

Step back and look at yourself as someone might be viewing you. What do you see? Why would you want you on your team, on a project, or chosen for a promotion? What do you do best? Where are the missings?

Write down the 3 things you want someone to think about when they hear your name, for example:

- Creative problem solver
- Great team player
- Pays attention to details, processes
- Contributes to bottom line revenue
- Builds valuable partnerships
- Understands the technology we need for our company

Make sure those 3 features are incorporated into interviews, articles, and networking conversations, so you start shaping your brand. Take the time to submit a column, article, speaking application to start talking about your expertise and generously share your knowledge.

Take advantage of the many platforms your WITI membership provides you to help you more effectively build your brand: WITI Hall of Fame, Women on the Move, WITI Webinars, WITI Spotlight, WITI Network events, WITI Summit - and if you are not a member yet - joining WITI is a smart strategic career move!

Take advantage of WITI's Branding Membership Promo. The first 10 people who sign up for a membership win a free WITI spotlight featured on our website. Beyond all the other membership benefits, this exposure puts you in front of a global audience of more than 2M.

On top of that you'll get 25% off your membership during our 25th Anniversary Membership drive. Just use code spotlight25 when you either join or renew your membership to take advantage of this offer before it runs out!

Sign up here:
www.witi.com/regforms/membership_registration_form.php

Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of WITI.