How Important is Your Professional Image to Your Brand?

Lizandra Vega, professional careeer and image coach and author of the new book, The Image of Success: Make a Great Impression and Land the Job You Want, ..

Many of my clients think their Personal Brand is just their company name, logo and tagline. This is the furthest from the truth. Your Personal Brand extends to your office environment, your professional appearance, the technology you use and even your networking contacts.  I asked Lizandra Vega, Professional Image Coach to share her viewpoints on image and your Personal Brand. Here are her thoughts:

Much like the consumer brands you endorse, your professional image should communicate trustworthiness, credibility, reliability, authority, and value-characteristics that are appealing assets to the firm that has or plans to hire you. In order to create a strong and memorable brand, one that will be remembered and sought after, you must integrate the various components of your image to project a consistent and favorable story about who you are and what makes you a worthy investment as an employee.

Fit:  Finding apparel pieces that fit and flatter your physical characteristics is necessary to building your brand. Assess your body with honesty and make choices that accentuate, balance and camouflage your physical traits accordingly. This requires research and a commitment to finding garments, accessories and shoes that enhance your professional brand. Avoid throwing your hands up in the air and succumbing to trends. Instead, assume responsibility and make choices that supply you with confidence.

Grooming:  Jagged fingernails, visible dandruff and teeth that look like you've missed your six month check-up on a recurring basis for the past five years portray you as unmotivated, lethargic and apathetic. In this case, if you were a product on display and a customer showed an interest in buying one of you, he or she would ask for a "fresh one" rather than taking the floor sample, even at a huge discount. Employers don't have the time to spruce you up and wait for the ramp up time. You must appear ready to go and hit the ground running.

Protocol:  Since professional image is defined by more than just the outer appearance, business protocol is an area that is hugely ignored, and yet it has an equally vital impact on your branding. Your sense of urgency and timeliness show interest, enthusiasm as well as commitment to your goals, and more specifically, your job. For instance, showing up to a job interview on time implies that if offered the job, the same protocol would be followed when representing the company on a client visit. On the other hand, if you leave an interview and neglect to follow up with written correspondence, or do so a week or two after the appointment, it will be assumed that you will have the same halfhearted attitude in business.

Your professional image is integral to creating a believable brand. Each component is carefully scrutinized by those deciding whether or not they want to be associated with your brand. After all, we are the company we keep, so make sure that the sum of your parts prove to be worthy of keeping.

Lizandra Vega is the author of The Image of Success: Make a Great Impression and Land The Job You Want, (AMACOM Books, May 2010). Cofounder and managing partner of Manhattan-based boutique staffing firm Perennial Resources International (PRI), she is also a certified image coach. She lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband and two children. Please visit Lizandra's website or contact her via Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.  

I read an article recently in Entrepreneur magazine on working from home or running a business from home, and found it interesting how this can end up being a most productive or most destructive situation.

Obviously, if you end up working 24/7 from home, you will self-destruct and, in the long run, not accomplish much at all. So, how do you make this a productive situation? Structure, organization, and discipline are the key ingredients to making this situation work for you.

First, determine if you are self-disciplined enough to work from home or run a business from your home. Ask yourself if you are organized, self-directed, a good communicator, enjoy working alone, and in a quiet place. And, be honest. If you like to collaborate with others in person, enjoy feedback and creative discussion, and the buzz of an office, you shouldn't be looking to isolate yourself at home.

If you have passed this first test, and are convinced this working arrangement is for you, then you need to get organized about setting up a home office, and putting some structure into how you work from home. Try to find a place in your home that will work for you. You don't necessarily need a separate room with a door that closes out any distractions. But it helps! Working in your kitchen can be fraught with distractions.

Next, you will need to create a system to keep you on task. Here are a couple of tips:

·      Set up scheduled hours. And, stick to them!

·      Plan in logical breaks (to stretch your legs, have lunch, etc.).

·      Keep a daily ritual (what you do before, during, and after work).

·      Manage your time well, because you won't have a boss to do this.

·      Prioritize, and then be flexible as work conditions change.

You can make working from home work for you if you are honest with yourself, organized, and flexible. Good luck!

Social media is a hot topic these days, and has been for some time. This new trend is creating new companies and job opportunities. Forrester Research states that social media marketing is expected to grow 34% every year over the next four years and hit $3.1 billion in 2014.

 

Several firms have sprouted up in the Boston area that focus on digital marketing strategies. If this is an area of interest, check out:

 

• Antler Agency in Boston

• Social Grow in Concord

• Espresso in Boston (Toronto-based firm)

• In House Media and Marketing (Launched a social media practice)

 
Of course, traditional ad players such as Arnold Worldwide and Mullen also have deep social media expertise and should not be ignored.

 

• Hubspot

• Campfire

• Burst Media

When working with my clients (either job seekers or small business owners) on their personal brand, the topic of color often arises. This happens as we get to the Express phase of the Personal Branding process and we begin to talk about expressing the client's brand attributes on their business cards and on websites or blogs.

Color is a very powerful personal branding tool and is an important part of your brand identity system. When you think about choosing a color, chose one or several colors that best reflect your brand attributes AND that also are appropriate for your target audience. NOTE: A graphic designer can help with the process of color selection.  Once you have chosen these colors, you can apply these colors to your business card, website, clothing, and office environment; they should be a visual representation of who you are, what you offer and what is authentic about you.

Here is a great video on www.personalbranding.tv that discusses different colors and the brand attributes they stand for:  

http://www.personalbranding.tv/what-color-is-your-personal-brand/   

Boston-Power has just won another round of venture capital worth $60 million, which will help the company plan for its next level of growth. Although manufacturing will take place in Taiwan, Mass will house research, development and marketing operations. The firm plans to DOUBLE its staff in the next few years.

A123 systems in Watertown, which makes lithium ion batteries is planning to open a third Massachusetts location to serve its growing electric grid battery operation. A123 systems expects to make 30% of its revenues longer term from electric grid products, with the remainder coming from batteries for the transportation industry. Currently, the firm is producing batteries for Chrysler, Navistar, BMW and Eaton Corporation.

The expansion in Massachusetts comes as a result of a $5 million loan awarded by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and will enable the firm to add over 250 jobs over the next 4 years.

http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2010/06/14/daily39-A123-planning-third-battery-tech-RD-site-in-Mass.html

Local VCs and even those nationwide have begun to invest more seriously in the growing “energy IT” field, a field which promotes energy efficiency by providing information to consumers about energy usage.

Last year, energy efficiency surpassed energy generation in VC funding, for the first time since 2005, according to Dow Jones Venture Source. The two reasons why this field is so hot is that there are lower capital costs than energy generation and there is a quicker return on investment.

Two companies in the Boston area to watch in this sector include Powerhouse Dynamics and Nexamp.