September 23rd, 2011
So, you have decided that having a purposeful personal brand is important and you’ve sorted out your goals. Awesome. Now what? Well, like branding for business, you have to figure out who is actually going to care about your brand and therefore “buy it.”
At Broadreach, we always find ourselves reminding clients that they can’t (and shouldn’t) talk to everyone, because ‘everyone’ is not a customer, employee, friend, or general stakeholder in their organization.
For example, if you sell and green/sustainable product, you should be not spending a lot of time trying to convince the Baby Boomer Republican who drives a Suburban and owns a generator that could power a small village to buy that product. Could you win them over as a customer? Yeah, sure, but it’s going to take A LOT more effort (and time and money) than convincing a Millennial Whole Foods shopper who packs a reusable water bottle with them at every step. Pick your battles and pick them wisely.
Figuring out who cares about your brand takes a process that we call “Audience Identification” and is self explanatory. With personal branding, however, determining your target audiences is a bit more complicated and requires you to have a good look at yourself and your goals. It also takes some research.
In my personal branding journey, I want to be seen as a creative, intelligent, fun and successful PR professional. Ok, Why? Maybe I want to be the President of Edelman one day (hey, it could happen). Who are my allies in achieving this goal? Who might be a roadblock? Start a list of people or a type of person that fit these categories and think broad- you can always narrow down the list later.
I’m not going to list all of my potential audiences here, but here are some target ones:
- My family and friends- they are my personal support system and I look to them for help and advice for most everything in my life
- My Broadreach peeps- Obviously, I am learning how to be a great PR professional at Broadreach PR. I wouldn’t be writing this blog post without Broadreach
- PR Industry Leaders- I may not know these people personally, but I keep tabs on who the top pros in my industry are by following top blogs (shout out to Peter Shankman, Todd Defren at Shift Communications, and Ragan’s PRDaily), reading PRWeek for info on the top rated professionals and contributors, noting PRSA Award Winners, and yes, I might moderately stalk these people on Twitter.
- Industry Organizations- In Maine, we have the Maine Public Relations Council. Nationally, there is the PRSA (Public Relations Society of America), The Institute for Public Relations, and a vast many others that get a bit more focused in area of expertise as you drill down.
Yay! I know who I’m talking to! Now it’s time to figure out how to reach them and what I’m going to say…. Stay tuned for The Personal Branding Journey Pt 3- Communication Channels. (the perfect line shouted into the wind will not actually help)
~Kate
Tags: Audience Identification, Branding, broadreach pr, Kate Bachman, Personal branding
Posted in Branding | No Comments »
September 16th, 2011
“How are you marketing yourself?” This is a question that one my marketing professors asked our class about ½ way through our senior year. You might imagine our ‘deer in the headlight” response to this inquiry since most of the semester had been spent on a massive promotional project to increase the interaction of the student body with our surrounding city. We were neck deep in planning a bar crawl, designing T-shirts, and brainstorming promotional slogans, so this question about how we were approaching our personal brands seemed a bit poorly timed. However, with only a few months left in our college careers, it was better late than never. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: brand identity, broadreach pr, broadreach public relations, goals, image, Kate Bachman, markeing, personal brand, Personal branding
Posted in Branding, Broadreach | No Comments »
May 11th, 2011
As you may know, Broadreach PR has moved our offices to 19 Commercial St. in Portland, ME. This is awesome for so many reasons (check out Joanne’s top Ten here), but one especially cool thing is that we make it a point to have team lunches at a different Portland restaurant a few times a month. It gives us some time to reconnect over things outside the office, relax, and recharge. Being able to walk for a bit also helps. :)
Anyway, one of the things we decided to do as part of this ‘team lunch time’ idea was to blog about our experiences at the restaurants we visit. People are starting to ask us where to eat in Portland now and since we’re a social group, it just made sense. So, here we go. 
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Olive Cafe Portland, Portland, Restaurant review
Posted in Broadreach, From the Broadreach Desk | No Comments »
May 3rd, 2011
Someone just brought to my attention the confusion on awareness ribbons. She felt bad that she did not know there were ribbons, other than pink, that she should be wearing in honor of various family members who have been afflicted by different things.
After looking into these so called awareness ribbons, it made me wonder what others would think when they saw a purple, blue or teal ribbon. Are they effective at explaining what you are supporting? Do they have any meaning? Do they open up a conversation on what you are supporting? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Broadreach | 1 Comment »
March 9th, 2011
1. Natural light
2. The smell of the ocean air
3. Designated Parking in the Old Port
4. Convenience to the Portland Trails system
5. Being a part of the downtown diversity
6. The culture of the historic working waterfront
7. The view of the cruise ships and fishing vessels
8. It’s a great reason for Broadreach to host a party
9. An abundance of locations to explore for event planning
10. Broadreach has an amazing space that will encourage creativity and a healthy work environment
19 Commercial Street
-Joanne Jordan
Broadreach Public Relations
Joanne Jordan
Tags: Commercail Street, Event Planning, public relations, Waterfront
Posted in Broadreach | 2 Comments »
February 18th, 2011
For some people, the old adage really works: “I don’t care what they say about me, so long as they spell my name right.” Think Snooki or Kim Kardashian.
Most organizations, though, rightfully have a more sophisticated and sensible approach to their brand and public image: They want to people to understand their points of view and be aware of the good things they are doing. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Brand, Branding, Business Relationships, crisis communictions, Facebook, image, public relations, Relationships, Social Networking, twitter
Posted in Branding, Broadreach, social media | No Comments »
February 16th, 2011
Today, it seems we are hearing about social networking everywhere. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn and the like have become a central part of our lives and part of how we inform our friends and colleagues what we are doing. Still, let’s take a moment to reflect on the value of social networking the old fashioned way.
Feed the soul and a rusty connection with lunch. There is something to be said about breaking bread with people you would like to strengthen a connection with. Take the time to discuss what is going on in business, but also pay attention to the personal side of life. This will give you an insight to the person and strengthen your connection with them. Booking a lunch date is the old-school Facebook. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Business Relationships, Joanne Jordan, networking, public relations, Social Networking
Posted in From the Broadreach Desk, networking, social media | 1 Comment »
February 11th, 2011
We recently had a client ask, “Who should we list on a press release as the contact person?” At first blush it would appear obvious, “Of course, your company spokesperson; someone you want speaking with the media.”
After further consideration, I realized that this broad answer didn’t really address the client’s needs. Below is the rule of thumb we’ve experienced over the past few years on advising clients when sending press releases: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: broadreach pr, crisis communictions, press releases, public relations, spokesman, spokesperson
Posted in Broadreach, Traditional Media | No Comments »
February 7th, 2011
When I purchased a house, the insurance company made sure that I installed smoke detectors and bought a small fire extinguisher for the kitchen. So far, knock on wood, these minor investments have never been tested – other than by an occasional burnt piece of toast.
Still, everyone recognizes that these are sensible precautions. In the same way, you should be doing a few small things to ensure that your reputation is protected from disaster, such as an employee incident, product problem or some other unforseen event. Here are some tactics that will help keep your reputation from burning down: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Brand, Change, crisis communictions, eric blom, image, public relations, reputation
Posted in Broadreach, Crisis Communications | No Comments »
February 4th, 2011
Building relationships is an ongoing process, and it is important to use all channels to get your story out there. Press releases are used to communicate with the traditional media, and they can be repurposed for social media, into 140 characters for Twitter, short posts for Facebook, blog posts for updates and often overlooked, personal eblasts to Centers of Influence (COIs). Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Communications, Legacy Media, press releases, public relations, Relationships, social media
Posted in Centers of influence, Traditional Media, email marketing, social media | No Comments »
