You have tweaked, fine-tuned, edited, and massaged your resume to perfection. Each job description includes quantitative, concrete results, the intro starts off with a memorable value proposition and tag line, and everything from layout to the choice of font and colors is spot on. There’s just one problem. No matter how great the contents, your … Continue reading
Some instances of personal brand communication require an advanced form of micro-targeting and customization of your pitch. For example, you might be planning a potentially career-changing presentation to the executive board of your company, are about to pitch an important client, or are preparing a heavily customized resume and cover letter to the prospective employer … Continue reading
One of the important memory systems in the brain is called episodic memory. It creates a mental map of events, places, times, and associated emotions. This type of memory is extremely powerful, automatically engaged and can readily be leveraged for boosting learning and recall. You may have experienced the power of episodic memory by revisiting … Continue reading
Creating an effective resume and LinkedIn profile is an important part of the second “M” – Messaging – in the 4M Personal Branding™ system. Your core value proposition, benefit statements, hook, and properly structured experience sections should all work together to portray your personal brand in the best possible light. You may want to revisit … Continue reading
A common bit of advice for writing effective resumes is to structure each job description around specific results delivered for the employer or client. This writing principle is sometimes expressed as the acronym SAR - ”Situation-Action-Result” or SPAR – “Situation-Problem-Action-Result.” By focusing on concrete results, resume writers can avoid the temptation of speaking in generic terms about activities … Continue reading
You have refined your personal value propositions using the techniques of exponential differentiation and the Three Circles. You have even developed a punchy tag line and hook for your email signature and business card with a slightly modified version for verbal delivery during mixers and industry events. This article will introduce the MAC technique of … Continue reading
One of the most elegant and simple frameworks for comprehensively analyzing your competitive field is Urbany and Davis’ 3 Circle model. It uses a simple Venn diagram with overlapping circles representing “customers,” ”competitors,” and “company” to comprehensively describe a series of important factors in your competitive environment. Some of the most important elements of the … Continue reading
We all bring a unique mix of skills, experiences, and competencies to prospective employers and clients. Each one of them individually may be attractive or marginally differentiated, but competing against a large set of “me-too” offers out there. Let’s say we have successfully translated a generic commodity skill – such as PHP programming – into … Continue reading
When you hear “location-aware” or “location-based” advertising you may think of amazing 4G mobile device technology that serves highly targeted ads with pinpoint geo-coded accuracy. This post deals with a different kind of low-tech location-based advertising. I am referring to the ingeniously “localized” advertising posters for Manhattan Mini Storage displayed on billboards and subway cars … Continue reading
You may have heard of an elevator pitch – a one to three sentence summary of a product, service, company, vision or personal value proposition that can be delivered in 30 seconds or less. A good personal elevator pitch contains relevant experience, credibility builders (such as education or awards) and – importantly – your impact … Continue reading
