There is a lot of confusion out there about the difference between personal marketing and personal branding and how to put together a personal marketing statement.
At Brand-Yourself.com we use this definition for personal branding: “The process of uncovering and marketing your core competencies to meet an audience’s needs, resulting in your financial freedom and fulfillment.”
Personal marketing does not mean big businesses creating a marketing campaign that is customized to their customers. Instead it is talking elements of your personal brand in putting them together in a format that directly targets a niche.
In order to write a gripping personal marketing statement you first need to develop a strong personal branding statement. We have written a few articles about personal branding statements in the past but here is a brief overview of what you should include
- Keep it short and to the point – ideally one or two sentences.
- Have it clearly state who you are
- Describe what your strengths are
- Explain why you are better at your strengths than everyone else
In comparison if you were writing a personal marketing statement you would want a statement that is going to have a call to action. This of a cover letter as an elongated personal marketing statement.
You’re explaining over the course of a page your strengths, and then your call to action is usually “please hire me.” In a personal marketing statement you want to condense everything. I always suggest you starting off with creating a personal branding statement and going from there. Once you have a solid personal branding statement you have a launching pad for greatness.
Sometimes it also helps to think of your marketing statement as an elevator pitch. While you will not be standing in an elevator pitching a business idea to a potential investor you never know when you might come across your dream employer. It is important not to only be confident with this statement on paper but to be able to talk about your skills coherently. This also leads on to the whole discussion of being ready to met a potential employer anywhere but we will get into that later.
In general, in a personal marketing statement you want the include the following:
- Introduce yourself, this can be done by stating your name.
- State what you do exceptionally.
- Explain where your see your talents fit best, this can be a job title or a general job description that would challenge your skills but give your room to grow.
- Provide a method for follow up.
The whole thing can fall apart if there is no way for someone that is interested in your personal marketing statement to get in touch with you. Best of luck and make sure to keep the statement current.
- Author: RJ Sherman
