As an Online Marketing Director I have been marketing our firm's clients online with Well Designed Websites, Search Engine Optimization, and Social Media Optimization. They have increased branding, leads, and sales. They have businesses that are constantly growing and thriving online. I know because everyday I make sure they are achieving those goals.
I recently started with a new client. She is smart, web savvy, and looking to move into a corporate setting. She wanted to promote herself. She knew that online public relations and marketing is must in our web centric culture.
My new client is ME. I started with a typical resume and cover letter and quickly figured that was getting me NOWHERE fast. I decided to hire the best Online Marketing Director I knew……ME.
Here is my step by step self promotion marketing plan:
1. Create a Marketing Plan for yourself.
· Price : What is your budget of self promotion? Web Design, Business Cards, and paper products are hard costs. Press Releases, Blogs, and Networking can be paid in sweat equity. Promoting yourself will not be free!
· Product : You are your product. What are your goals, strengths, and education? Know all you can about you!
· Place (distribution): What is your target area? Are you looking to promote yourself in your current town, a nearby city, or half way around the world? Are you looking to target CEOs, Human Resources, or a possible client base? Know your audience!
· Promotion: What is your plan of attack? Plan, plan, plan! Then assess through out the process and re-plan.
2. Create Your Website.
· Will you be building your site or hiring a firm to design it? WARNING: If you have never created a website this is not a good place to start. Invest in yourself and have a site created that reflects who you are. A Content Management System is a must if you have never worked with websites. A good web designer will be able to design a CMS site that will allow you to update the website easily. Updating your personal site daily is a MUST. I designed my own website http://www.maryellengibson.com/ in a style that was all me and professional. I know you maybe tempted to put on pictures of your dog, kids, and favorite baseball team. I didn’t, but if you must, keep all your favorite personal information to one page that is not the center of your promotion.
· Start Blogging, Yesterday
You can start this today, though yesterday would have been better because everyday you blog is a chance to promote you. I suggest Blogger and Shine on Yahoo. Blog about your expertise. I have two blogs. I have a blog on Online Marketing and one on Training Management. I try to blog daily. Three times a week should be considered a minimum. Include you name in the Title of your blog, in the body of your blog, and in the tags. This will increase the chances of the Search Engines starting to index your name.
· Content: What will your website contain?
The entire internet runs on content. Content is the information included in your website. These are the musts:
1. Contact Information: Where Can You Be Contacted? I am guessing that you want people to contact you if you are promoting yourself. Have a contact page that includes all ways that you can be reached. Make sure EVERY page of your website has a contact me link. The best locations can be the footer and header.
2. Experience: What have you done? This is not a resume this is active include links to employers websites, online articles about you, linked in account, PROFESSIONAL My Space Page, and organizations that you are involved with. My experience page mainly has my employers. I have created a volunteer page because I do a lot of Non Profit work in my area. Make it work for you.
3. Education: What Have You Learned? I have all of my educational institutions on this page. I have included my degree, area of study, and dates attended in addition to my school’s logo for a nice graphic.
4. Skills: What Can You Do? I have my skills broken up into two categories. You may have more or less, but this is an important area so people know what they can expect from you.
5. References: Who Knows You? Ask your references if they can be included in your website. Include their professional contact information. This makes it easy for future clients or employers to get a second opinion of you.
6. Professional Articles: What Can you Share? Include your PROFESSIONAL blogs on your website. This is great for your Search Engine Optimization and it lets visitors know that you are knowledgeable. I have also included articles that I have used as part of e-mail campaigns. If you are a recent grad include an awesome term paper you wrote.
7. Downloads: Have a downloadable version of your resume on your site. This will allow the visitor to have something to take with them. I also included a media kit and PowerPoint presentation about myself. I am in the process of creating a professional video for the site too. It is always a work in progress
8. Consistency: Keep it Consistent. My resume, media kit, PowerPoint and website are consistent. They use consistent colors, designs and graphics. This is known as branding. Brand yourself consistently.
9. Keep it Professional: There are plenty of places online to post your favorite teams, vacation pictures, and family history. This is not the place to do it. Do not link to these pages either. This is professional website. No animated GIFS or weird fonts. Just say No.
3. Promote Yourself
· Submit Your Website and Blogs to Google & Yahoo.
· Include your website on your resume.
· Include your website on all your e-mails
· Start accounts on Social Media sites (stumble upon, dig, etc. check out my blog on social media optimization)
· Go to Networking opportunities: Chamber Events, Non Profit Organizations, and Community Events. Always carry your personal business card.
· Collect Business Cards and E-mail addresses create a contact list.
That is it in a nutshell, it takes time and money to promote yourself, but can you think of a better investment. If you would like to find out more about online self promotion contact ME. MaryEllen Gibson maryellen@companyxinc.com
I recently started with a new client. She is smart, web savvy, and looking to move into a corporate setting. She wanted to promote herself. She knew that online public relations and marketing is must in our web centric culture.
My new client is ME. I started with a typical resume and cover letter and quickly figured that was getting me NOWHERE fast. I decided to hire the best Online Marketing Director I knew……ME.
Here is my step by step self promotion marketing plan:
1. Create a Marketing Plan for yourself.
· Price : What is your budget of self promotion? Web Design, Business Cards, and paper products are hard costs. Press Releases, Blogs, and Networking can be paid in sweat equity. Promoting yourself will not be free!
· Product : You are your product. What are your goals, strengths, and education? Know all you can about you!
· Place (distribution): What is your target area? Are you looking to promote yourself in your current town, a nearby city, or half way around the world? Are you looking to target CEOs, Human Resources, or a possible client base? Know your audience!
· Promotion: What is your plan of attack? Plan, plan, plan! Then assess through out the process and re-plan.
2. Create Your Website.
· Will you be building your site or hiring a firm to design it? WARNING: If you have never created a website this is not a good place to start. Invest in yourself and have a site created that reflects who you are. A Content Management System is a must if you have never worked with websites. A good web designer will be able to design a CMS site that will allow you to update the website easily. Updating your personal site daily is a MUST. I designed my own website http://www.maryellengibson.com/ in a style that was all me and professional. I know you maybe tempted to put on pictures of your dog, kids, and favorite baseball team. I didn’t, but if you must, keep all your favorite personal information to one page that is not the center of your promotion.
· Start Blogging, Yesterday
You can start this today, though yesterday would have been better because everyday you blog is a chance to promote you. I suggest Blogger and Shine on Yahoo. Blog about your expertise. I have two blogs. I have a blog on Online Marketing and one on Training Management. I try to blog daily. Three times a week should be considered a minimum. Include you name in the Title of your blog, in the body of your blog, and in the tags. This will increase the chances of the Search Engines starting to index your name.
· Content: What will your website contain?
The entire internet runs on content. Content is the information included in your website. These are the musts:
1. Contact Information: Where Can You Be Contacted? I am guessing that you want people to contact you if you are promoting yourself. Have a contact page that includes all ways that you can be reached. Make sure EVERY page of your website has a contact me link. The best locations can be the footer and header.
2. Experience: What have you done? This is not a resume this is active include links to employers websites, online articles about you, linked in account, PROFESSIONAL My Space Page, and organizations that you are involved with. My experience page mainly has my employers. I have created a volunteer page because I do a lot of Non Profit work in my area. Make it work for you.
3. Education: What Have You Learned? I have all of my educational institutions on this page. I have included my degree, area of study, and dates attended in addition to my school’s logo for a nice graphic.
4. Skills: What Can You Do? I have my skills broken up into two categories. You may have more or less, but this is an important area so people know what they can expect from you.
5. References: Who Knows You? Ask your references if they can be included in your website. Include their professional contact information. This makes it easy for future clients or employers to get a second opinion of you.
6. Professional Articles: What Can you Share? Include your PROFESSIONAL blogs on your website. This is great for your Search Engine Optimization and it lets visitors know that you are knowledgeable. I have also included articles that I have used as part of e-mail campaigns. If you are a recent grad include an awesome term paper you wrote.
7. Downloads: Have a downloadable version of your resume on your site. This will allow the visitor to have something to take with them. I also included a media kit and PowerPoint presentation about myself. I am in the process of creating a professional video for the site too. It is always a work in progress
8. Consistency: Keep it Consistent. My resume, media kit, PowerPoint and website are consistent. They use consistent colors, designs and graphics. This is known as branding. Brand yourself consistently.
9. Keep it Professional: There are plenty of places online to post your favorite teams, vacation pictures, and family history. This is not the place to do it. Do not link to these pages either. This is professional website. No animated GIFS or weird fonts. Just say No.
3. Promote Yourself
· Submit Your Website and Blogs to Google & Yahoo.
· Include your website on your resume.
· Include your website on all your e-mails
· Start accounts on Social Media sites (stumble upon, dig, etc. check out my blog on social media optimization)
· Go to Networking opportunities: Chamber Events, Non Profit Organizations, and Community Events. Always carry your personal business card.
· Collect Business Cards and E-mail addresses create a contact list.
That is it in a nutshell, it takes time and money to promote yourself, but can you think of a better investment. If you would like to find out more about online self promotion contact ME. MaryEllen Gibson maryellen@companyxinc.com
