Everyone needs a personal brand to help differentiate themselves in the marketplace. This presentation shows how three consumer brands developed their branding and positioning and how it was then executed in their messaging. A framework is then discussed to help individuals develop their own personal brand and messaging in the job search process. Rick Steinbrenner - The Global Brand Guy (Note: this presentation includes three you tube videos which shows execution of the presented brands positioning. In order to view the videos, you need to do three things. 1) Must have a live internet connection while viewing 2) Download the presentation 3) Then view the presentation in slide show and enable the content when the security alert for macros and active X comes up - this may or may not happen depending on your computers settings.)

1. In Search Of Your Brand
Positioning & Branding in Career
Search
Rick Steinbrenner

2. The “Problem” Job Seekers Face Today
 The “Great Recession” negatively impacted the “top-lines” (sales) of many multi-national
corporations.
This resulted in the loss of 7.5MM jobs pushing the unemployment rate to 10%.
The people who weren’t downsized were asked to “do more with less”…sometimes doing
the job of two people. Working harder than ever before.
End Result: Most competitive job seeker market ever – making it an employers’ market.
 Companies are now focused less on transferrable skills outside their industry to industry specific experience.
 Moreover, employees are working harder than ever to become/remain visible in the marketplace.
- Source: Execunet
Therefore, it’s more important now than ever to focus more on differentiation vs. time and
grade in former positions.
Question is: how does one effectively do this?
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3. The Solution – You MUST Differentiate
You must identify your sustainable competitive advantage:
a) Learn how to assess and position yourself in the marketplace vs. other products/candidates.
b) Translate the competitive advantage into a positioning statement which makes you standout
vs. other product/candidates.
What is a sustainable competitive advantage/positioning (SCA)?
In short, it’s something that:
 You exclusively have
 Your competition doesn’t (or don’t realize they have it)
 Your customers/employers want it
 You need ALL 3 to have one
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4. Positioning/Branding
What it is and What it is not
Branding is not….. Branding is…..
Great advertising Is about their consumer/customer needs
Consumer awareness About solving their problems
Promotions or pricing Product relevancy
Marketplace distribution Product differentiation vs. competition
and/or other adjacent alternatives?
Slogans or taglines Creating marketplace character
Features or good/better/best Long lasting and memorable
# of years experience It’s about your uniqueness in the market
• It’s all about differentiation.
• The brand has to be relevant in the consumer’s mind – not necessarily yours.
• Result is Brand Equity” – as important as any financial item on a balance sheet.
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5. What Exactly Is Positioning?
It’s psychological bond you want to create with your consumer/customer/employer.
Competitors
Marketplace Identify
“Need Gaps”
Address
Features/Benefits
Barriers
 “Positioning is not as much what you do to the product as what you do to the mind”.
- Trout & Ries, “Fathers of Positioning”
 “A particular subjective consumer/customer meaning that a company tries to build into the product
idea”. - Phil Kotler, “Father of Marketing”
 “People don’t buy products, they buy solutions to problems”.
- Ted Levitt, Competitive Strategy - HBS
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6. Why Is Positioning Important?
 Product positioning is as real as any physical feature or attribute!!
 It’s the cornerstone of the marketing/brand strategy and precedes all other strategies
 It should not be changed often. Change only if the environment/product changes
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7. Positioning Statement Template
To: target market, X is a brand
in the frame of reference having a
benefit/point of difference.
Support/Reasons Why:
 #1
 #2
 #3 etc.
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8. What is A Target Market?
 Those consumer/customers having highest predeposition to buy your product.
 Can be defined a number of ways:
 Demographically (age, income, education, sex, segments)
 Psychographically (meaning personalities, values, lifestyles)
 Behaviorally (meaning how they behave)
 Attitudinally (meaning how they think)
 Examples include:
1) Corporate America
Men, 18-24 years old
 People who are fanatics about taking care of their cars
 People who go to sporting events
 Conservative vs. liberal
2) Job Seekers:
 Functionally – Sales, Marketing, Accounting, Operations, etc.
 Hourly vs. Salaried
 Industry – B2C vs. B2B
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9. What Is A Frame Of Reference?
 The frame of reference is either a category or a consumer/customer based solution to
THEIR problems.
 These include either direct category users or acceptable alternatives.
Direct Product Categories Adjacent Categories/Substitutes
Carbonated Soft Drinks All Other Soft Drinks
Table Saw Circular Saw/Hand Saws
Irons Dry Cleaners
Accountants, CPA’s Financial Software
A frame of reference usually has barriers to entry by competitors
- Cathode ray tube TV sets don’t have clear, sharp images
- Accountant usually needs CPA certification
 It has to reflect how the consumer/customer sees the world vs. how the manufacturer,
retailer or employee does.
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10. What Is A Benefit/Point of Difference?
It is the single-minded, ownable product claim or promise to the
marketplace.
Examples:
 Cuts hair drying time
 Gets the job done faster
 Coke is the real thing
 You offer something very few others have
 Point of differences need to address the frame of reference.
 Need to make it meaningful to the consumer/customer/employer so you can own it.
 It can also be a non-rational/emotional point of difference. Not all claims have to be product
or attribute based.
- GE: “Brings good things to life”
- Gillette: “The best shave a man can get”
- Candidates: Creative problem solver
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11. What Are Support/Reason’s Why?
 The product based reason to believe the claim (e.g. the substantiation).
 Ideally, this would be unique to the product and ownable.
- Cuts hair drying time by 50%
- Cuts installation time by 50% vs. other conventional methods
- No other product tastes like Coke (i.e. the “real” thing)
- Developed and launched 20 new products
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12. Understanding What Consumers/Employers REALLY Buy
Linking Features/Benefits
What the consumer/customer buys….defines the business(es) the company is in…..
What
What the consumers REALLY Buy Defines the
Business
The Benefit of What They Sell What the Products
Provide
What They Sell The Products/Services
The Company The Brand/Sub-Brand Name
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13. Corporate Branding Process Summary
How It Works
Marketplace
Analysis
Develop
Define Identify
And/Or
Core Brand
Refine
Brand Growth
Brand
Equity Potential
Equity
New Areas Of
Exploration
Who are we? What can we be? Where can we live? How do we get there?
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14. Actual Positioning Statement
To women and men with busy lives, the Black
& Decker line of small household products
offers a better way of doing things because it
provides smart, innovative solutions for your
home.
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15. Successful Examples
of Branding Applications
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16. What the consumers REALLY Buy
Happiness
The Benefit of What They Sell Refreshment
What They Sell
Soft Drinks
The Company
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17. Happiness Machine

18. Eliminates
What the consumers REALLY Buy Speed Bumps of
Daily Living
Better Way of Doing
The Benefit of What They Sell Things (Innovation
Solutions)
What They Sell Power Tools & Home Products
Solutions
The Company
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19. Scumbuster Cordless Wet Scrubber – “Splish Splash”

20. 4-Time NASCAR Champion
Jeff Gordon
What the consumers REALLY Buy Miracles
of Science
Better Way Of Doing
The Benefit of What They Sell Things (Innovation
Solutions)
What They Sell Residential, Agricultural & Automotive
Products
The Company

21. “Trunk Crew” – Featuring 4-Time NASCAR Champion – Jeff Gordon

22. How Effective Positioning
Can Build Your Personal Brand
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23. Your Personal Career Brand
Why Is It So Important?
It’s no longer a luxury, it’s the cost of entry for a successful job search.
Branding is the best version of yourself to the marketplace.
Branding is how people experience you and what you do.
Branding is how people experience themselves in relation to you.
Branding is what you’re known for; what you’re known as and what you’re known for knowing.
- Scott Ginsberg
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24. Understanding Your Competencies is Key!!
Hypothetical: B2C Marketing Executive
Innovation:
Project
R&D/
Management
Engineering
Advertising
Marketing Intellectual
& MARCOM
Research Property
Promotions
Management
Core
Core
Competency:
Competency:
Public Budget P&L Marketing
Marketing Management Management Trade
Relations General Marketing/
Communications
Manager Pricing
Effectiveness Supply Chain
Web/Social
Tracking Management
Media Channel
(Metrics)
Make vs. Buy Management
Collateral
Decisions
You need to understand how your experiences and skills drive your competency(s)
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25. How Your Brand Interacts with External Environment
Networking
Groups/Potential Employers
Personal Brand/Positioning Linked In/
Google
Statement Personal
Searches
Websites
Social Media:
Facebook, Twitter
Think of your brand as a 30 second TV spot selling something to consumers.
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26. All Personal Brand Messaging Needs To Be Consistent
www.globalbrandguy.com
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27. Personal Branding Process
How Do I Get There?
Current Industry
Situation Analysis
Identify Initially
Final
Transferrable Define Your
SCA/Brand
Skills/ Strategic
Messaging
Competencies Competitive
Tools
(SOAR/PAR) Advantage
New Industries/Hunting
Grounds (i.e. B2C and/or B2B)
What do you offer? Who are you? Where can I live? How do you get
there?
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28. Personal Branding Marketplace Trends Today
1) Anywhere Hiring: Companies want to upgrade talent; even at expense of incumbents.
2) Web Purity/Visibility: Need to manage online presence and be easy to find.
 Almost all recruiters “Google” you.
 Services like Vizbility.com use QR bar codes that can help you manage what people
see about you on Google.
3) 3-D Personal Brand: Your resume/business card is no longer the only thing you need.
 Portfolios/Case Studies in problem, action, result format
 Images of your success stories – both still pix and video if possible
 Social Media Venues: Linked in, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter
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29. Personal Branding Marketplace Trends Today - Continued
4) Need to create online personal portals:
 Linked in is a must – a complete profile, it’s not a nice to have anymore; it’s a must have.
 Consider developing a personal website where you can showcase skills
 Consider a personal blog to showcase subject matter expert or thought leader skills.
5) Reviews of you: Accomplishment/career credibility is more important than ever
 What are others saying about the work you do?
 Linked in recommendations
 360 Reach Reviews
 Prior company awards/recognitions
- William Arruda
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30. Applying Branding Concepts In Your Search
Checklist
 Identify your strategic competitive advantage – both current state and future – if change is desired.
 Develop your positioning statement/personal brand.
 Create your brand character – the more creative, the more memorable….
 Global Consumer & Product Marketer
 Corporate Storyteller
 Master of Finance
 Lean Manufacturing Guru
 Apply to job search documents as desired:
 Business cards
 Resumes
 Cover letter
 Portfolios/Case Studies
 Blogs, etc
 Branding is not an one time activity – continually review for relevance and update as needed.
 However, try to maintain brand consistency. People have a hard time forgetting what you’ve done.
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