This 75-minute workshop delivered with Beth Mercier of The Hartford dives into ways to understand, manage, and take control of your personal brand.

1. Personal Branding Workshop: Effectively
Market Yourself for Career Success
IASA 2016 Session #621
Presented on Tuesday, June 14, 2016

2. Speakers
Darin M Reffitt, Director, Demand Generation & Campaign Management, EIS Group
Darin Reffitt is responsible for driving leads into the sales funnel at EIS Group. With nearly
20 years of experience in marketing and communications, his focus is on lead generation
and lead nurturing in marketing core system software to insurance companies. He is also a
volunteer with the IASA and chairs the Solution Provider Enrichment Committee, leading
the efforts of the IASA to better educate vendors and solution providers to meet the
evolving needs of insurance carriers. He volunteers with other organizations, writes about
marketing, social media and networking as a Market Expert for Business.com, and golfs,
poorly.
Beth Mercier, Vice President & CIO, Small Commercial, The Hartford
Beth Mercier is the Chief Information Officer of The Hartford’s Small Commercial
insurance business with premium of approx. $2Billion. Prior to joining The Hartford in
2015, Beth held roles of increasing responsibility in technology, operations, and
strategy at Travelers, Cigna, and Aetna. Beth has been a volunteer with IASA forever;
was President, Board Chair, and held other leadership positions.
Beth is a CPA who holds a MBA from the University of Hartford, a BS in Accounting
from the University of Connecticut, and is a Certified Internal Auditor. Beth received
2012 “Woman in Insurance Leadership” Award and a 2013 “Women in Innovation”
Award. Beth can be found in Connecticut with her husband, Dave (also an insurance
executive) and two sons Rob and Joey – all cheering on the Uconn Huskies!

3. WHAT IS BRANDING?

4. Branding Defined
Branding is the practice of
differentiating a company or
product by developing a unique
name, logo, and/or package and
by then tying them to a consistent,
predictable
customer experience.

5. Elements of a Brand
 Credibility
 Trust
 Value
 Experience
The Cumulative
Levels of Credibility,
Trust, & Value
Brand Equity =

6. Brand Examples
Fast
Affordable
Fun
Consistent
“I’m lovin’ it”

7. Brand Attributes
Original
Happiness
Community
Togetherness
“The Real Thing”

8. Brand Attributes
Playful
Trendy
Affordable
Accessible

9. Branding and Corporate Value*
 Apple’s brand is valued at
$170.3 billion
 The next four most valuable
brands are:
 Google – $120.3 billion
 Coca-Cola – $78.4 billion
 Microsoft – $67.7 billion
 IBM – $65.1 billion
 #23: Facebook – $22 billion
*Source: Interbrand, October, 2015

10. WHAT IS A PERSONAL BRAND?

11. Personal Branding Defined
 First coined by Tom
Peters in Fast Company
in 1997
 Personal Branding is the
process of creating and
maintaining a consistent
image or impression in
the minds of others about
an individual

12. Personal Branding Defined
You already HAVE a
personal brand.
It’s what people hear
about you before they
meet you. It’s what
people say about you
when you leave the
room.

13. Personal Brands Have Value Too
Oprah Winfrey: Buys 10% stake in
Weight Watchers 10/16/15; shares up
88% since that announcement as of mid-
May.
Howard Stern: Signs new 5 year contract
with SiriusXM Dec 2016; departure would
have cost SiriusXM $240 million in lost
annual revenue (per Bloomberg).
Warren Buffett: Apple shares drop after
weak iPhone numbers reported; surge
3.7% on news that Berkshire Hathaway
took a $1 billion stake in Q1.

14. • I.T. Department
• Reliable
• Knowledgeable
• Fast
• Helpful
“Mr. Fix It”
Personal Branding in Action

15. • Marketing Department
• Never responds to emails
• Waits till the last minute to
respond to deadlines
• Holds everything up
“The Bottleneck”
Personal Branding in Action

16. Our Personal Brands
Gregarious
Organized
Creative
Motivated
Gets things done

17. Our Personal Brands
Leader
Friendly/Social
Organizer
Successful

18. Exercise #1: The Basis of Your Brand
Write down 3-5 adjectives that
you believe your boss, peers,
and/or subordinates would use
to describe you.

19. Johari Window
 Developed in 1955 by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham
Known by others
Unknown by others
Known by self Unknown by self
OPEN BLIND
HIDDEN UNKNOWN

20. Why does Personal Branding Matter?
In your career, your personal brand impacts:
 What projects you get assigned
 What promotions you receive
 Amount of face time you get with
senior management
 Degree of freedom and autonomy
you are allowed

21. Authenticity in Branding
Branding is NOT about
faking behaviors or
pretending to be
something you’re not.
You cannot brand
yourself on a lie.

22. Brand Examples
Healthy
High-Quality
Classy

23. Brand Attributes
Low Calorie
Healthy
Good for your teeth

24. Brand Attributes
High-Fashion
Exclusive
High-Quality

25. Our Personal Brands – The Flipside
Ambitious
Pushy
Cocky
Demanding
Gloryhound

26. Our Personal Brands – The Flipside
Demanding
Tactical
Loud
Opinionated
Bossy

27. Exercise #2: The Flipside of Your Brand
Look at your list from Exercise #1.
Are any of the attributes negative?
What negative traits do you think
would come to mind?
List 2-4 adjectives that people might
use that you wouldn’t want to brand.

28. ANALYZING YOUR
PERSONAL BRAND

29. Physical
Appearance
Areas of
Knowledge
Communication
Styles
How You
Dress
Skills and
Abilities
Behaviors
Elements of a Personal Brand:

30. Physical Appearance is tied to Brand

31. “Dress for Success”

32. Other Branding Emblems

33. Other Branding Emblems

34. Other Branding Emblems

35. Exercise #3: Emblems of Success
Examine how your choices impact
your perceived brand:
Emblem Message Consistent with Brand?
Car
Office/Desk Space
Watch
Phone
Computer/Tablet
Dress/Jewelry
Other

36. Communication
Styles
• Word choices
• Speed
• Inflections
• Use of Sarcasm
• Confidence
Elements of a Personal Brand:

37. Exercise #4: Non-Verbal Brand Inputs
Examine how these elements affect
your perceived brand:
Element Weak or Strong? How to Improve?
Posture
Stance
Facial Expressions
Eye Contact
Hand Gestures
Voice – Speed/Volume
Voice – Tone

38. Taking Control of Our Personal Brands
Ambitious
Pushy
Cocky
Demanding
Gloryhound
Driven
Confident

39. Taking Control of Our Personal Brands
Demanding
Tactical
Loud
Opinionated
Bossy
Pragmatic
Enthusiastic
Driver

40. Exercise #5: Keep/Change/Replace
Use your words/phrases from
Exercise #2.
Determine what you’d like to:
 Keep
 Change
 Replace

41. You Can Take Control of Your Brand

42. Behaviors
• Passions
• Habits
• Trust
• Consistency
• Expertise
• Helpfulness
Elements of a Personal Brand:

43. Our Personal Brands – Poor Behaviors
Interrupting people
Being closed to
other people’s
ideas
Not saying “please”
or “thank you”
enough

44. Our Personal Brands – Poor Behaviors
Multi-tasking instead
of focused listening
Not asking enough
questions
Talking too fast
Always organizing
the outside activities

45. Exercise #6: Bad Behaviors
Write down 3-5 behaviors you
think may be tarnishing your
brand.

46. Exercise #7: New Behaviors
Write down 3-5 new or
replacement behaviors to take to
improve your brand.

47. SOCIAL BRANDING

48. Does your Social Brand Reflect You?
*Source: 2014 study from
43% of employers screen candidates
on social media, and rising*
51% of those have found information
on social media that factored into
decisions to NOT hire a candidate*
But 33% of those have found
information on social media that
factored into decisions TO hire a
candidate*

49. Photographic
Appearance
What You
Post
How You
Post
Secondary
Imagery
Where You
Post
Sites You Use
Elements of an Online Brand:

50. How You
Post
• Word choices
• Logic
• Humor
• Use of sarcasm
• Personal attacks
Elements of an Online Brand:

51. LinkedIn vs. Facebook

52. LinkedIn vs. Facebook

53. BRANDING MISSION
STATEMENT

54. Branding Mission Statement
Darin is a person who makes
things happen. He leads by
example and uses his skills
and abilities to create plans,
build consensus, and enable
the team to succeed.

55. Branding Mission Statement
Beth:
 Genuinely cares about
people
 Can be counted on for
relentless execution
 Has her priorities straight
 Is someone you want to
work with, hang out with,
be related to, know.

56. Exercise #8
Write a short branding mission
statement that captures the
behaviors and traits for which
you want to be known.

57. Homework
 Ask three people how they would describe you to someone
new at the company and confirm your self assessment
 Consider the Johari Window
 Check your LinkedIn and Facebook profiles – how do they
communicate your brand or conflict with your ideal brand?
 Read your branding mission each day, and use it to help
guide your day-to-day interactions
 Implement at least two of your actions from exercise on
changing perception of brand.

58. Q&A
Thank you for your time!
Any questions for today’s
speakers?
Darin
Reffitt
Beth
Mercier