This issue of Personal Branding Magazine (which I co-edit) focuses on attracting the affluent. If you do plan to target this demographic, be sure you have a good reason and do so with intent! Most importantly – use your strengths to help the people who need and appreciate you the most!

I found myself nodding vigorously when reading Dan Gershenson’s article suggesting we all use our best strengths and “use them often” (and consistently) when creating a name for ourselves. Maybe everyone is jumping on one tool or another, but you’re doing yourself a disservice if you get involved in something that doesn’t showcase your strong points. Do what you’re good at if you want to succeed. And, don’t forget – you can’t build a reputation without people who believe in you. Jack Humphrey explains the importance of nurturing brand evangelists; he reminds us not to do too much alone. If you are a lone wolf, you are working too hard. Who are your brand’s allies? Keep your eyes (and ears) out and make them your partners.

This is true if you’re a business owner, and equally valid if you are looking for a job.

As a subscriber, you will find interviews with Patti Stanger, who is Bravo TV’s “The Millionaire Matchmaker.” Her clientele? Strictly millionaires who don’t have time to date because they’re too busy running their businesses. Wealthy individuals usually have higher expectations and can be difficult to attract, especially when you’re first starting out. This issue will explain how to go about being a brand that serves them.

Take a look at the features:

• Full paid issue (February 1st):  19 articles total
• Sample issue:  8 articles total
• Interviews with:  Patti Stanger (Bravo TV’s The Millionaire Matchmaker), Ali Velshi (anchor for CNN’s “Your Money), David Novak (CEO of Yum! Brands), Dan Roam (bestselling author) and Meg Hirschberg (Inc. Magazine columnist).
• Free sample URL: http://personalbrandingsample.com
• Paid subscription URL:  http://personalbrandingmag.com
• Facebook page: http://facebook.com/PersonalBrandingMagazine

“Volume 5, Issue 1 is focused on how to use your established brand to unlock new opportunities and beat your competition. Brooke Burke, featured in our cover story, is a great example of someone who’s successfully leveraged her brand. Brooke has taken the success of her TV and modeling career and used it to start her own company called Baboosh Baby. Since she is a well-known brand, she’s able to open doors and create new monetization opportunities. Whether you’re famous or just starting out, this issue will give you the tools and advice you need to create brand leverage in your industry.”

In my introduction for the magazine, I highlight the concept of using personal branding to create your own success. Social networking and brand building offers so much potential; I wanted my new book, Social Networking for Career Success, to include a bullet on the front saying, “Learn how to job search in your sleep,” because you can use your profiles and online networking to attract business prospects and jobs. In this issue, Nikolas Allen reminds readers, “One of the best results of creating a strong, coherent and positive personal brand is that, in time, opportunities start seeking you.” So true.

We all need to remember how much control we have over our career paths. In this issue, Howard Sholkin quotes Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, saying, “Opportunity can be manufactured. Yes, you can wait around for the right set of circumstances to fall into place and then leap into action, but you can also create those sets of circumstances on your own. In doing so, you manufacture your opportunities.”

I think that’s a great way to think about “personal branding” – an opportunity to manufacture your own opportunities.

Features

• Full paid issue (August 1st):  22 articles
• Sample issue (July 25th): 10 articles
• Interviews with: Brooke Burke, Justin Haplern (Shit My DadSays), Jim Craig (Olympic Gold Medalist), Barbara Corcoran (ABC’s Shark Tank), Ali Brown, Adam Bryant (NY Times Columnist), and Peter Shankman (HARO).

• Free sample URL: http://personalbrandingsample.com
• Paid subscription URL:  http://personalbrandingmag.com
• Facebook page: http://facebook.com/PersonalBrandingMagazine

Take a look!

Features:

• Full paid issue (May 1st): 25 articles total
• Sample issue: 9 articles total, including how to make a good first impression, how to manage your digital image, and wardrobe tips.
• Interviews with: Doug Conant (CEO of Campbells), Jim Quigley (CEO of Deloitte), Bob Taylor (CEO of Taylor Guitars), Sam Calagione (CEO of Dogfish Head), Brian Halligan (CEO of Hubspot), and Andy Boynton (Dean of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College).

• Free sample URL:http://personalbrandingsample.com
• Paid subscription URL: http://personalbrandingmag.com
• Facebook page:http://facebook.com/PersonalBrandingMagazine

Be sure to click through or subscribe for useful information, insights and details!

• 75 percent of HR departments are expected to research candidates online
• 89 percent of hiring managers and recruiters review candidates’ professional online data
• 86 percent of employers believe a positive online reputation influences their hiring decisions—and nearly 50 percent say the influence is “to a great extent” and they expect it to increase

Further proving how important it is to be discoverable online is an ExecuNet Inc. research study, 2010 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report:

• 90 percent of search-firm recruiters regularly Google candidates to help draw a complete picture of that individual—up from 75 percent in 2005

If you have a common name, it may be difficult to distinguish yourself online. About 2,000 people on LinkedIn share their name with someone on the FBI’s most wanted list, says James Alexander, founder of Vizibility.com, a company that creates tools to help professionals and companies stand out on the Web.

Read the rest of the post on my U.S. News blog….

photo by dunkr

This is how Dan describes it:

Volume 4, Issue 3 is focused on teaching you out to become internet famous through video, sHowocial networking, and blogging. We’ve collected stories from the most well-known internet superstars to teach you how to do it too! We spoke with Julia Allison, Judson Laipply, and Mr. Chocolate rain himself, Tay Zonday. Gracing the cover is Chamillionaire, who is a Grammy award winning musician, and someone who has pioneers the use of social technologies in the music industry. I’ve always said that visibility creates opportunities, and when more people know you, the possibilities are endless!

Features:

• Full paid issue (November 1st): 22 articles
• Sample issue: 10 articles total, including how to make a good first impression, how to manage your digital image, and wardrobe tips.
• Interviews with: Chamillionaire (Grammy Award Winning Musician), Julia Allison (Co-creator of NonSociety.com), Tay Zonday (creator of the Chocolate Rain viral video), Judson Laipply (creator of the Evolution of Dance viral video), Brian Solis (author of Engage), Amy Marin (Shaquille O’Neal’s social media manager), and Brian Clark (founder of Copyblogger Media).

This is my introduction to the magazine:

Are you taking full advantage of the tools available to enhance your personal brand online? Are you achieving your business and career objectives? This issue’s columnists offer some great tips to help achieve your goals. The first thing to remember? It’s not all about you! Celestine Chua explains how important it is to be a role model. If you write, do you think about what your readers want? Are you sharing valuable information that will make people want to come back again and again? If you make your audience your #1 priority, it’s likely they will appreciate you and your value, which in turn increases your online cache.

Authenticity (as always) holds a lot of weight in this issue. Are you faking it? Michael Durwin makes an important point when he says:  There is no “virtual” you: Your online self is a direct extension of your real world self.” How should you respond? He says, “Be yourself: But try to be the best you can be — your reputation precedes you.” Rich Nadworny agrees, “If you stand for something online, you’d better act that way in real life.”

Once you identify what you offer, it’s much easier to extend your reach. Sam Decker explains that social media “is primarily about an exchange …a personal brand is best built by facilitating give and take. That might look like connecting people, retweeting or contributing to others’ ideas and projects.” Are you making that two-way connection?

One great benefit of using the social web to share information about you is the opportunity to avoid the “push and pray” method in favor of the “pull and stay” approach. Georgina Taylor’s book review notes that Scott Stratten’s book UnMarketing offers a strong case for the latter, which is about “focusing on engagement as a means of building trust, creating value for the customer by giving them a sense of support from your business.” What are you doing to engage your target audience?

Success is about so much more than just being online. In his interview with Harry McCracken, Howard Sholkin, founder of technologizer.com, explains that he attributes some of his success to going “where smart people are, rather than expecting them to come to us.” For him, that meant having a presence on Twitter and Facebook, which was key to growing his site’s traffic. Jack Humphrey echoes this sentiment, noting that “your virtual you must span your own domain and key sites around the Web where your targets hang out.”

Extend it a step further, as being where they are is an important lesson for anyone. When I coach job seekers and entrepreneurs, that is advice I offer: find “your people.” If you are lucky, they are spending time in social media, but maybe it makes more sense to physically go where they are. That may mean attending conferences or speaking engagements in person. It’s worth it.

• Free sample URL: http://personalbrandingsample.com
• Paid subscription URL: http://personalbrandingmag.com
• Facebook page: http://facebook.com/PersonalBrandingMagazine

A Reuter’s article quotes Starbucks‘  Chief Executive Howard Schultz as saying, “Even though we have been, and always will be, a coffee company and retailer, it’s possible we’ll have other products with our name on it and no coffee in it.”

It’s not unusual for brand loyalists to revolt when a company makes a major change like this (for example, GAP recently ditched its new logo due to pressure on social media channels). But a new logo without the company name? That is an interesting move.

The Reuters article quoted James Gregory, chief executive of brand consulting firm CoreBrand:

“I think it’s nuts,” he said.  “What’s it going to be — the coffee formerly known as Starbucks?”

The new logo probably will not hurt cafe sales in the near term because most Starbucks customers are enthusiasts, Gregory said. But, he said, a nameless logo was a bad fit for Starbucks products sold by grocery stores and other retailers.

“There you’re dealing with people who aren’t enthusiasts. You’re looking at something that’s almost generic, and it’s not shouting out as something that is Starbucks.”

THAT (bolded) is the quote that really grabbed me, and convinced me to jump on the bandwagon and write about this issue. (Which, admittedly, as many on Twitter have noted, is not a matter of life and death.)

If you’re a typical job seeker, you can’t do what Starbucks is doing — go generic. They are banking on the fact that enough people recognize their logo and brand that they do not even need a name to go with it. Is that what you are doing? Maybe your resume and job search materials are okay if you already know the person you need to meet. (Akin to a Starbucks loyalist shopping in a grocery store who sees a new product, with the nameless logo, but automatically makes the association that it is a trusted brand’s item.)

Going generic is a big gamble, as Gregory noted in his comments. It might work for current customers/people who already are “sold” on you, but, unfortunately, job hunting today is more about impressing the people who DON’T know you already. The people who are NOT already your fans. What are you doing with your materials (and your networking efforts) to impress them?

This situation is a great reminder to job seekers and everyone planning to manage a successful career: look at YOUR materials (they are, essentially, your logo). Look at your resume, LinkedIn profile, social networking bios — are you generic? If you have not already built a name for yourself to the point that employers are knocking on your door, you cannot afford the equivalent of a logo with no name. (It’s possible that it’s not even a good idea for an otherwise very established brand like Starbucks; only time will tell.)

Stay tuned to the blog for tips and tricks to help you stand out online and in person! (And maybe a blog about how Starbucks may be trying to do the equivalent of a career change — and what you can learn from that!)

Here is how Dan describes it:

Summary: Volume 4, Issue 2 is focused on dressing for success both in person and online. What you wear in your online pictures provides a first impression to the majority of the world. What you wear in interviews is just as important as your attire on the first day of work. When it comes to looking professional, stylish and showing personality, this issue will navigate you in the right direction. With interviews from three editor-in-chiefs from Hearst Magazine, you will know how to present yourself  successfully.

Features:

• Full paid issue (November 1st): 23 articles total covering how to become a valuable and indispensable brand.
• Sample issue: 9 articles total, including how to make a good first impression, how to manage your digital image, and wardrobe tips.
• Interviews with: Kate White (Cosmo), Joanna Coles (Marie Claire), Ann Shoket (Seventeen), Nancy Lublin (Founder of Dress for Success), Hitha Prabhakar (CNBC contributor), Patricia Handschiegel and Meghan Cleary (Huffington Post columnists) and Silvia Tcherassi (Latin America’s leading fashion designer).

• Free sample URL: http://personalbrandingsample.com
• Paid subscription URL: http://personalbrandingmag.com
• Facebook page: http://facebook.com/PersonalBrandingMagazine

Be sure to click through for useful information!

Need help getting a job? Check out THE CAREER SUMMIT for lots of great career advice.

The topics include everything from how to think about finding a job you love, to what has changed in search, demystifying the recruiting process, online career management, interviewing and (last but not least) — strategies and tips for your resume, social media profile and job search. Read more HERE or visit the site HERE to learn more.

This is how Dan describes it:

Volume 4, Issue 1 is focused on philanthropy and how you can grow your personal brand if you give back. Helping other people doesn’t only mean donating to charity; it means supporting a cause that aligns with who you are as a person. By targeting a specific nonprofit or charity, you will be more passionate about helping them out, and achieve far greater results. In this issue, we interview Candace Cameron Bure and other philanthropists that are changing the world, one person at a time.

This is my introduction to the magazine:

When I talk to clients about social networking, one of the points I always make is that online contacts tend to be much more generous and giving of their time and expertise than you would ever expect. I tell those who are not already engaged on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook that they don’t know what they are missing.

As a power Twitter user, I watch people ask for (and receive) information, ideas, suggestions, solutions and even the occasional job via my Twitter stream. The generosity transcends money, but not to the point of excluding it. When I was a little girl, I used to think about how much money we could raise if everyone in the country donated just one dollar. Today, this concept (ask a little from a lot of people) proves successful over and over. Networking contacts with large communities, moved by a story or event, ask their friends to donate just a little, and many, similarly touched – do just that. Think about how many lives have been changed by a thoughtful individual with a large number of friends and followers motivated by the desire to make a difference. It’s amazing to watch and to participate.

Contributor Jason Dick sums things up well when he explains, “Every day people are starting to see, and understand, that regardless of the amount of money they make, they can make a difference in their world. Philanthropy and fundraising are for people of all ages and wealth demographics. The real power of individual philanthropy starts when people realize the wealth of their own personal networks. It is all about relationships with your friends and a serious desire to make a difference.”

Lori Jacobwith reminds us in her column that “One thing, and one thing only…causes success in life and in fundraising: communication. Clear, bold communication.” I don’t think there is any better way to communicate or share a worthy message than via social media. You have the opportunity to have an impact – an opportunity to take your passions and go viral. And, at the same time, you extend your brand and enhance your ability to serve many people. You may recognize the value of your community via monetary donations you mobilize for a cause or by donations of time and expertise to help someone just when he or she needs it the most. Hopefully, this issue will inspire you to see your brand as being much more than the sum of its parts.

Full paid issue (August 1st): 25 articles – to subscribe click HERE.
Free sample issue: 11 articles, including how to raise money for charity, standing up for what you believe in and a new kind of philanthropy for a new kind of world.
Interviews with: Candace Cameron Bure (DJ Tanner from ABC’s Full House), Bob Costas (NBC Sports Commentator), Tory Johnson (Good Morning America), Beth Kanter (author of The Networked Nonprofit), Monica Van Neumann (Style Expert) and Sam Jones III (Smallville).

So, thanks to @MegGuiseppi for pointing out LinkedIn’s new feature that allows you to easily find your LinkedIn colleagues on Twitter!

First things first, though…You will need to sign up to integrate your Twitter account with your LinkedIn account. (This new application will only alert you to your LinkedIn contacts who have done the same. I do NOT suggest a straight feed of all of your Tweets into LinkedIn…Select the option that requires you to tag your tweets that feed to LinkedIn.)

Visit the  Tweets install page.  Adam Nash (@adamnash) writes on the LinkedIn blog, “Add your Twitter account to your LinkedIn profile… Add it to your homepage to keep track of your twitter lists right from LinkedIn, or add it to your profile if you want to include your most recent tweets.”

Meg shares Adam’s description of the new features listed in his  post on the LinkedIn blog:

• Once you’ve installed the Tweets application, you can easily access it from anywhere on LinkedIn using the “More…” menu at the top of the website.
• The Overview tab has been updated with an improved design to help you easily find everyone you currently follow on Twitter, view their Twitter feed, and tweet from your own account.
• A new module, “Connections to Follow”, has been added to recommend new people for you to follow, based on your LinkedIn connections.
• A new tab has been added to Tweets called “Connections”. On that page, you can see all of your LinkedIn connections who have added Twitter accounts to their LinkedIn profiles. Simple navigation is provided to make it easy to see who you are and aren’t following on Twitter.
• One of the most useful features of the new Tweets application is the ability to save your LinkedIn connections as a dynamic Twitter list.

He suggests you consider installing Company Buzz as well, an application for saving and tracking companies, keywords, brands and products on Twitter.

It is always interesting to see synergies between networks, but it is also important to know when to integrate and share between them and when not to. Recently, I’ve read a lot of tweets from friends bemoaning the integration between Twitter and LinkedIn. These professionals have been imploring Twitter users to use some discretion when Tweeting directly to LinkedIn. Being able to find your contacts is pretty neat, but be sure you think through what you want to do with them!

photo by luc

So, have you thought about what color is brand YOU?

photo by bernatcg