Tips for Communicators

Create Your Personal Brand

If you could “brand yourself,” how would you define your personal brand?  What qualities make you unique?

Some possibilities:  Perhaps you offer a unique talent to your employer, customers or clients.  Or you have an unusual knowledge of your organization’s history.  Or you are the creator of an unusual product or process.  Perhaps you’re at the center of a complex network of associates or customers.  Or you have an uncanny ability to accomplish tasks at breakneck speed.

What gives you unique brand identity?  Answer this question and promote your personal brand to the people around you.  The result: a competitive advantage for yourself, and long-term success.

Make Anniversaries Work for You

Every anniversary represents a potential news or feature story, sidebar, or Web clip.  And the next twelve months are packed with anniversaries you might not be thinking about.  Consider developing editorial material marking the anniversary of:

• The introduction of a new industry invention
• The births or deaths of leading figures in your industry
• The founding of your trade or professional association
• Your first professional convention
• Sale of the first, thousandth, or millionth of a popular product
• A noteworthy research discovery
• A momentous charitable or civic contribution
• A prestigious award
• The opening of a well-known building
• Approval of legislation that significantly influenced your industry
• Introduction of your product line into a new region or nation
• The founding of your periodical

Stay True to Your Editorial Theme

Let’s say your CEO or publisher gives you an association or corporate theme, and has asked you to carry it through as many editorial features as possible.

When you’re writing or editing a piece, here are ten easy – but powerful – ways you can build the article around your target theme:

1. Integrate the theme into your headline or title.  And don’t forget sub-heads if it’s a long piece.
2. State your theme or objective in a “goal box” or special introduction.
3. Be sure your target theme is tightly integrated into your angle or thesis, ideally in the first paragraph.
4. Use a series of examples that vividly illustrate your theme.
5. Include quotations from proponents of the theme.
6. Include a resource box at the end of the piece, steering readers toward articles, books, media, and Web resources focusing on the target theme.
7. Include a sidebar explaining the theme, or any corporate or association initiative built around the theme.
8. Set powerful quotes and passages aside in pull boxes.
9. Enhance your piece with theme-oriented visuals, such as statistics, graphs or charts.  Even carefully selected bold-faced text can emphasize your thematic point.
10. Reference organizational programs or initiatives focusing on the theme throughout the story.