Personal branding is important for both individuals and businesses. It is crucial to differentiate your personal brand by demonstrating your unique value and helping others through your expertise, while maintaining professional discretion online. Your online presence should highlight who you help and how you help them through valuable content and connections, rather than risk offending others. Developing a strategic personal brand across multiple online platforms can help grow your career and business through social engagement.

1. Personal Branding
Sacramento Valley Practice Managers Association
May 13, 2015
Bret L. Simmons, Ph.D.

2. Main Points Today
1. Personal branding is a huge
opportunity and responsibility
2. We are all ambassadors of our
increasingly social businesses
3. Differentiate your personal brand by
demonstrating professional discretion

4. What do you want
to learn today?

7. Your Website

8. More social, less media
(Coine & Babbitt, 2014)
Be more human
(Schaefer, 2015)

9. Professionally
Personal Brand
Ambassadors

10. Professionally Personal
Everything you do reflects on your business

11. Personal Brand
If people don’t select you,
spread the word about
you, or pay a premium for
your services, it’s because
they don’t recognize your
value.
(Seth Godin)

12. Value
What you can do uniquely
well to help others
address issues or solve
problems that matter to
them.

13. Personal Brand
1.Who are you?
2.Who do you want to
help?
3.How do you want to help
them?

14. New business card
www.bluehost.com

15. New business card
1. Associate your name and face
with your value
2. Create content and
connections that will get you
indexed and ranked for your
name and value

16. Social Media
You must be personal and conversant

17. Lead with value
Wrap the personal around your value

20. Never trust any site to
protect your privacy

21. • Never post anything, anytime, anywhere
that you would not be comfortable with
anyone seeing
• If it were posted on the wall of your office,
would it make any of your colleagues,
customers, or employees uncomfortable?
If so, don’t post it online
Operational Privacy

22. Operational Privacy
• The sooner you behave as if you
have no privacy online, the more
effective you will be
• Use your personal brand online to
build bridges, not walls

23. Professional Discretion
Just because you can post,
comment, share, like, etc. does
not mean that you should.

30. Why risk
offending
anyone?

31. Brand: Name, Picture, Purpose
• E-mail
• Linkedin
• Blog
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube

32. Bret.simmons@gmail.com
bret@bretlsimmons.com

41. We don’t need Facebook to
authenticate our lives

42. http://www.mysacvet.com

43. http://wattavenuepethospital.com

44. http://www.muellerpmc.com

45. How to Hire Help

46. Want to look at
your website?

47. Summary
• Social business is here to stay.
• Strategic imperative to immerse
yourself in the process
• Start now, don’t quit
• Taking control of your online brand is
good for your career and your
business

48. Questions?

49. Bret L. Simmons, Ph.D.
www.bretlsimmons.com
Bret.simmons@gmail.com
(775) 336-9576