Marketing Your Personal Brand: Define, Design and Deliver

Personal branding sounds simple enough, right? If we were to sum it up in the Reader’s Digest version it would be, "define, design and deliver." If you have already defined and designed your personal brand, now it is time to deliver with your launch.  But where do you start?

The first step is to determine who you want your brand to reach.  Is it designed solely for professional purposes?  Or is it designed for personal and professional purposes? (This is what I would recommend.)

Similar to basic marketing campaigns and strategies, the first step is determining who your target market is. The brand launch you create has to encompass how these individuals think, behave and even feel. It’s important to understand at least some basic qualities of your intended market to better reach them.

Regardless of who you are trying to reach, networking is crucial to the success of your personal brand. The age-old principle of "it’s not what you know but who you know" will hold forever true.
But before you start signing yourself up for various networking events, clubs and conferences, keep in mind if you are launching your personal brand you need to identify avenues for networking that fit you. This can be anything from attending events specifically aimed at encouraging networking and building relationships; joining a professional organization; or just volunteering.  It’s never easy to be the new person in a group or setting, but with time and commitment the right relationships can be built and if maintained.

Web presence is also important with personal branding. From social media, blogs and online resumes, it is certain that without a Web presence your personal brand will not succeed. In creating this presence you have to determine what you want the world -- that’s right, the whole world -- to see.

The best way to start this process is to Google yourself and see what is out there about you. You may be surprised how much there may be about you on the Web right now.  I Googled myself and I saw everything from my business to events I have been a part of to volunteer organizations. There were even pictures from my high school reunion -- without me in them.

The point of doing this is that if you are going to decide what you want the world to see you have to determine what it is the world can already see. Then comes the careful balance of how much information is too much information, what is appropriate and inappropriate, and how personal you want to get.  Regardless of what you decide to put out, quality is better than quantity when it comes to content online. 

Although there is no magical formula on how to create the perfect personal marketing/public relations campaign for your personal brand, keep in mind that the definition, design, and launch of your personal brand should always be based on you from start to finish.

MacKenzie River Pizzas opens at Snake River Landing

MacKenzie River Pizza franchisee Colin Higgins, at the benefit Saturday night for Development Workshop. The Idaho Falls restaurant, at Snake River Landing, officially opens today. (Photo by Melissa Bristol)

After a soft opening Saturday night, with a share of the profits going to Development Workshop, MacKenzie River Pizza, 1490 Milligan Road, is officially open today.

This is the 20th restaurant for the Montana-based chain, which began in Bozeman in 1993, and the third in Idaho (Pocatello and Couer d'Alene are the others). It is also the second owned by Colin Higgins of Butte, one of the chain's first franchisees.

Higgins said he is impressed by the reception MacKenzie River has gotten in Idaho Falls. "We had more than 2,000 Facebook likes before we opened our doors," he said. "People are great. People love to eat here."

While the Idaho Falls restaurant retains the "A River Runs Through It" decor that the chain is known for, it has some variations in the menu and layout. "It's a continually evolving brand," Higgins said.

For a look at the menu, click here. The restaurant is managed by Pat O'Rourke. For more information, call (208) 932-2987

Self-serve pet spa opens in Idaho Falls

Tina Dixon, owner of Splash Self-Serve Pet Spa

Splash Self-Serve Pet Spa, 333 W. Broadway, has a special offer going on guaranteed to give you paws: Adopt a dog or cat from the shelter and you have 30 days to bring it in for a free wash.

Owner Tina Dixon said she set the deal up so people could see what she has to offer. Eight pet owners (the split was seven dogs and one cat) took advantage of it Saturday at Splash's grand opening.

When she moved to Idaho Falls last year from Bakersfield, Calif., Dixon knew she wanted to open a pet spa. She'd taken her blue heeler/Rottweiler mix to one and found it way more convenient than trying to lift him in and out of her bathtub.

She also knew she wanted to be downtown, near the Greenbelt and farmer's market.

Located between Chesbro's and Dave's Bike Shop, Splash has custom-built tubs that are big enough for large breeds but can be converted to handle little critters as well, with water temperatures regulated. For $15, you get access, shampoo, towels, ear wipes and a blow dryer.

Dixon said she is gradually expanding the line of toys, food and accessories for sale in the shop. She and her friend David Cooper are adamant about everything in the shop being made in the United States, and if it's made locally that's even better.

For more information, call (208) 881-1021 or visit their Facebook page.

Some insights into the electronic facets of car repair

The bay at C&S Auto Repair, 2435 East Iona Road

I had an interesting visit recently with Chris Neal of C&S Auto Repair, where I have taken my car for years (and which, for the sake of full disclosure, is an advertiser on BizMojo Idaho.) It used to be that when you noticed a belt squeaking it was time to get busy with a socket wrench, but these days auto maintenance is more about keeping up with the manufacturer's latest technical service bulletins and flashes.

Neal said his shop on Iona Road has finally gotten everything they need to do high-end diagnostics on GM, Ford and Chrysler vehicles. While they can't do factory warranty work, he and his four mechanics can now do pretty much everything else.

In addition to having the right equipment, an independent repair shop must subscribe to the bulletins and receiving the flash codes that manufacturers send out.

For example, GMC became aware of an issue with the air conditioning units in its SUVs and trucks. In the winter, when people weren't using AC, oil would pool in the bottom of the unit. Although an owner can take care of this by turning on the AC once a week, not everyone is going to remember.

So GM sent a flash code that instructs the computer to turn on the unit automatically when it hasn't cycled for a certain period. "From the manufacturer's standpoint, it's getting the vehicle to take care of itself," Neal said.

Another example is the new high-beam headlights,which are too bright for oncoming vehicles. Rather than recalling the bulbs, a flash allows technicians to set the high beams to a microsecond on-off pulse, cutting the brightness without having to replace the bulb.

Clark honored at Boise business women's banquet

Pam Clark

Pam Clark of Zions Bank was among 50 women honored Feb. 18 by the Idaho Business Review at its annual Idaho Business Women of the Year banquet.

Clark, vice president and executive banking team leader, joined Zions in 2006, and has held a variety of positions in commercial lending and executive banking. A dedicated volunteer, she serves as vice chairwoman of the Idaho Falls Arts Council board of directors. She also has been involved in Zions Bank's Mentor Program, designed to support future leaders by providing learning, shadowing and skill building opportunities as employees polish work to strengthen their careers.

Clark lives in Swan Valley with her husband, Dave, and enjoys spending time with her two children and four grandchildren.

Walgreen's files final building plans with city of I.F.

The layout of the new Walgreen's store being built this year on Idaho Falls' west side.

Walgreen's has its building plans filed at the city of Idaho Falls Building Department for the store it plans to build at 635 Skyline Drive.

John Walker, owner of Walker's, said the property owner, Kingston Properties, has told them they have until April 30 to clear out, with demolition to begin the following day. He said the plan is for them to move to a strip mall Kingston is building to the east on Broadway, between Los Albertos and Arby's.

The new Walgreen's, Store No. 15973, according to the plans filed with the building office, will be 14,490 square feet, with most of the room taken up with a general sales area of 10,620 square feet and a 1,220-square-foot pharmacy. Walgreen's has been doing business on Idaho Falls' west side for years in the old Westgate Drug building. The new store will be much like the two it has in Idaho Falls and the one in Ammon.

Blog comments leave me scratching my head

Every blogger likes to get comments, right? It means people are reading the posts and engaging with the person responsible for them.

Not so fast. Although my stats from Blogspot say I've gotten 353 comments, it would take a careful count to find out how many are acutally related to the items I post. More and more seem to be like these:

 

I can't understand why these are appearing, but I'm sure there are some of you out there who can enlighten me. Are these people posting to my site in hopes of boosting their own visibility online? Is this what people engaged in search engine optimization do for their clients? Are these comments being generated by people at all? And what makes them want to glom onto my humble, hyper-local contribution to the new age of communications?

It's a strange world we live in. This week, I've been substitute teaching a class at Idaho Falls High School, where Rob Morris, a teacher's teacher if there ever was one, flattered me by asking me to do four periods on newswriting while he was bringing his mother back from Oregon to live here.

I concocted a pageful of notes for a not-entirely routine police story: 11-year-old girl deters would-be burglar by whacking his hand with a baseball bat; suspect later arrested while seeking treatment at emergency room.

I wrote a standard news lede, the kind I would have written in 1984, when I was doing cops and courts for the Post Register. The verdict? Boring. "This is why I don't read newspapers," said one of the students, a freshman girl.

Before the period ended, I told them their homework was to write a lead and two or three paragraphs. More than a few of them groaned. Maybe I should have asked them how they would tell their friends about this on Facebook.

In the meantime, anyone who can enlighten me on the gobbledygook I'm getting on this blog, I'd appreciate it.