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Me, Myself & Inc.: Is Your Personal Brand A Fixer-Upper?
READING TIME: ABOUT 3 MINUTES
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Most professionals ignore their personal brand. In larger wellness
businesses, they're too focused on internal relationships, opportunities and
problems. Smaller businesses and individual practitioners just don't
make the time.
Yet enhancing your professional visibility in your field - creating your personal brand - is vital for
your professional success. It turns you into a "franchise player" for
your employer. And it's also a great source of free publicity for your
wellness business whether you're big or small.
Best of all, it's a portable asset. Your employer and title may
change, but your professional reputation will always travel with you.
Building your reputation and visibility takes time. So start now.
Don't keep putting it off or you'll find yourself wishing you had more chips
on your side of the table later.
Make sure your monthly to-do list always has at least one of these
brand-building activities on it:
- Seek leadership roles or other high-visibility spots on a committee
or taskforce within an industry group or professional association.
Examples range from professional associations like the American Physical
Therapy Association to trade groups like the Medical Fitness
Association.
- Volunteer for activities which will give you an opportunity to reach
out to individuals in related professions that you might not otherwise
encounter.
For example, chiropractors, physical therapists, personal trainers,
acupuncturists and massage therapists could volunteer to provide
post-race treatments at a local running or biking event.
- Respond to articles in your area of professional expertise by
sending a quick email to the reporter with an additional insight or
complicating factor.
For example, we just saw an article about a study which reported that
only about 12% of the estimated 33% of obese Americans have ever been
told by a doctor that they're obese. Almost every health and wellness
professional has an insight to offer on this topic.
- Submit speaker proposals to the top conferences in your professional
field.
Don't assume that you're too insignificant or unknown to be selected.
Choose an interesting and important topic that hasn't been done to death
and you've got an excellent shot at being selected.
- Select promising contacts from the conference brochure for leading
conventions in your field.
Contact them via email or phone a couple of weeks prior to the meeting
and suggest a get acquainted meeting.
- If your city has a local business journal, look for articles written
by the healthcare reporter where it would make sense to email related
comments or potentially useful information that might prompt another
story or a follow-on article.
- Notice which reporters cover style, beauty, health and wellness in
your local newspaper. Apply the same strategy as in #6 above.
- Submit articles to professional publications in your field.
Periodicals that focus on practical application of theory are usually
quicker and easier to publish in compared to peer-reviewed journals. Of
course, if you're in an academic or research setting, make sure you
choose a publication that will enhance your reputation in that setting.
- Start a blog.
It's free at WordPress & Google's Blogger, cheap
at TypePad. This tactic works well if you have a strong and
well-articulated opinion about a particular area within health and
wellness. Here's an example of a
personal training blog
and here's the very user-friendly
HealthQuest blog
sponsored by the state of Kansas. And here's
one from a healthcare
attorney that does a nice of mixing personal and business content.
- Consider creating a MySpace page if your professional interests
intersect with teens and twenty-somethings.
For example, you run a bootcamp for brides. Plenty of businesses show up on MySpace, so you
won't be alone.
- Participate in local charitable organizations devoted to health and
wellness, preferably in your particular area of interest.
For example,
an executive at a workplace wellness provider might find board opportunities
with a local organization focused on fighting obesity or diabetes.
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(C) The Radial Group 2007
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