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With the announcement of Ashley Seffernick joining Delightful Communications in January to help us expand our personal brand workshops and overall client offering, we’ve been busy adding more personal branding workshops and training in Seattle to our list of events we’ll be attending, speaking at, and facilitating.

Here’s an example outline of what attendees are likely to expect from one of our personal branding workshops or presentations:

Research from Nielsen says just 50% of people believe what a company has to say about its products and services, while 83% will trust the opinion of a friend, peer or family member.

The explosion in use of digital media has given professionals the opportunity to have their wisdom and experience be discoverable, shareable and memorable like never before. It’s a wonder then that so many people have not grasped this opportunity and insist on having their life’s work generate a mostly mediocre impression on the world.

In this session with Personal Branding Expert, Mel Carson, you’ll:

• Get an introduction into personal branding and why it’s so important for your career and the success of your company.
• Learn how to create a personal branding strategy to help your expertise stand out in your industry.
• Understand what you need to do to establish your professional purpose and create a personal branding statement.
• Receive a whole bunch of tips on how to get the most out of LinkedIn and other social platforms and tools.
• Learn how to establish a communication cadence and success measurement framework to keep your personal brand on track.

If you want us to travel to your part of the world to deliver one of these workshops, then please contact us  for more information on The Personal Brand Lab!

Cheers,

Mel

Next week I’ll be in San Francisco giving attendees at Brightedge’s Share16 conference some ideas on how to be discoverable, shareable and memorable through personal branding examples and strategies.

I’ll be speaking on a track entitled: The Digital Marketing Mind: The Psychology of Self Development

On the panel with me are Adam Audette from Merkle and Dave Lloyd from Adobe, and I’m thrilled to hear them speak too, as I’ve had huge respect for their expertise over the years and can’t wait to hear what they have to say on the subject.

So come and hear my session on Personal Branding at #Share16 in San Francisco 26^th Oct and register with discount code 10%2HearMe  >>  http://brtedg.co/2aqA10E

Hope to see you there,

@MelCarson

Later this month on the 27th October, I’ve been asked to sit on an esteemed panel in Seattle to discuss the US election and give a British perspective and my opinion on how digital and social media has been a factor in the presidential race we have seen so far.

Here’s how my colleagues at the Britsh American Business Council are framing the discussion:

As the US approaches the eve of election night, the country does so facing many of the same instabilities and angst that faced the UK as the vote was cast in favor of a Brexit. While our two countries share some similarity in political situations, each is still unique and the outcome for America still unpredictable. As US voters ready to head to the polls this November, what influences, rhetoric and facts could impact the ultimate result? Join with local experts in a lively, engaging and timely discussion as they explore the rollercoaster dynamics of this year’s US election season, including the connection to UK voter sentiment, media and millennial influences, emotional drivers and the expected aftermath on Nov. 9.

Panellists beyond myself include:

David Postman – Chief of Staff to Washington Governor Jay Inslee

Randy Pepple – President of Persuasion Communications, and Executive Director of the Reform Alliance

Ian Toner – Managing Director of Strategic Research at Verus Investments

John Dickerman – Head of Washington Office Confederation of British Industry (CBI)

Gareth Wade – our brilliant BABC chairman – will be moderating.

I’m looking forward to it as I think I’ll learn a lot from these guys. This election has been an incredible beast and I’m thrilled to have a forum in which to dissect and try and make sense of it!

If you’re interested in attending please register here: Pre-Election Breakfast BABC

Last week, I had the pleasure of addressing 40 young women aged between 16 and 19 at Expedia’s head office in Bellevue, WA.

Earlier in the year (and out of the blue), I had received an invitation to speak at the GirlsWhoCode.org Program near Seattle (one of 78 locations around the US) about my experiences in the tech world, so I offered to talk to them about personal branding.

While my job and career has always entailed enticing consumers to spend more time on the internet (searching and viewing great content), since having two young daughters of my own, I must admit I’m terrified they will make a mistake with their usage of social media sites that then hampers their career at some time in the future.

So, my talk was on how to build a safe personal brand online with great thought and discipline.

I have to say, it was one of the most rewarding hours of my speaking career with lots of nodding heads, ah-ha moments and some great questions at the end.

One young lady even followed up via email apologizing for being on her phone the whole time as she was deleting “silly” old Photobucket accounts she’d set up in 7th grade!

All the girls seemed to love the program Girls Who Code had set up, and the interns at Expedia chaperoning them were really first class as well.

Can’t wait for my girls to be old enough to join in the program, it really does seem like an excellent way to spend the summer holidays!

Cheers,

Mel

Tomorrow I’ll be delivering the keynote speech to kick off the Seattle Business Tradeshow.

Here’s what I wrote about this amazing opportunity on the Delightful Blog………………….

We’re thrilled to announce I’ll be delivering the keynote speech at this year’s Seattle Business Tradeshow on Wednesday 8^th June 2016.

We’re big fans of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and the incredible work they do here in the Puget Sound Area.

To be invited to address the delegates and exhibitors before the tradeshow floor opens is a tremendous honor, and I’m determined to make my talk informative, engaging, entertaining and, above all, actionable!

Here’s the title and what people can expect to take away from my speech:

The Art of Personal Branding: How to Stand Up & Stand Out in Business

Given just 15% of people believe what a brand has to say, while 90% of people will trust the word of a peer, family member or friend, it’s a wonder why more business people are not marketing themselves as well as their companies. The explosion in the use of digital and social media across a myriad of different devices has given professionals an incredible opportunity to stand up and stand out, not just for themselves, but as trusted advocates for their brands as well.

In this session you’ll learn why personal branding should be such an important part of your career plan, how making a better impression through your personal brand can benefit your business, and you’ll get some quick, actionable tips on how to get your wisdom and experience on the right road to being more discoverable, shareable, and memorable.

My talk will start at 2 pm on Wednesday 8^th June at The Washington Convention Center.

Hope to see you there!

Also, check out our new post on the Best Employee Advocacy Platforms >> it’s a cracker!

Cheers,

Mel

I am beyond thrilled to have been invited by industry peer and friend, Rob Garner, to speak at a Workhacker.org event in Dallas on 28th June >> sign up here.

The whole idea of these events is to give people a steer and help them with their career aspirations, so I’m delighted to be giving them a talk on personal branding.

Here’s the blurb:

Discoverable, Shareable and Memorable – How People Need to Define and Amplify their Personal Brands to Compete Effectively in the New World of Work

Research from Nielsen says just 15% of people believe what a company has to say about its products and services, while 90% will trust the opinion of a friend, peer or family member.

The explosion in use of digital media has given professionals the opportunity to have their wisdom and experience be discoverable, shareable and memorable like never before. It’s a wonder then that so many people have not grasped this opportunity and insist on having their life’s work generate a mostly mediocre impression on the world.

In this session with Personal Branding Expert, Mel Carson, you’ll:

• Get an introduction into personal branding and why it’s so important for your career and the success of your company.
• Learn how to create a personal branding strategy to help your expertise standout in your industry.
• Understand what you need to do to establish your professional purpose and create a personal branding statement.
• Receive a whole bunch of tips on how to get the most out of LinkedIn and other social platforms and tools.
• Learn how to establish a communication cadence and success measurement framework to keep your personal brand on track.

Will I see you in Dallas?

Sign up to the event here!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of appearing on King 5 TV’s New Day NW chat show and was quizzed by the fabulous Margaret Larson on what makes social media activity engaging and how to gain more followers.

The eight-and-a-half minutes went super-quickly but we got good feedback from people who saw it live and on Twitter & Facebook that I’d struck the right balance (didn’t get too techy) and got the authenticity message across well.

Take a peek at the recording by clicking here and let me know what you think.

Below are a few more pictures of the studio before we went on air, a Green Room shot of me and PNW gardening legend, Ciscoe Morris, and pics sent to me by friends!

The delightful people at Brandwatch have asked me to join a blab next week entitled: Prioritizing engagement to build better communities on social and I can’t wait!

As digital channels get more cluttered with companies trying to capture the attention of consumers, engagement is a key metric for measuring whether your content is having any effect and helps lead your efforts toward more meaningful dialogue with your target audience.

I’ll be joined by Martin Jones, Alexandra Samuel and Dinah Alobeid so this is going to be a fantastic session expounding a lot of experience and know-how!

You can subscribe for free at the link below:

Prioritizing engagement to build better communities on social

We are delighted to announce my new book(let) has gone live on Amazon:

Introduction to Personal Branding: 10 Steps Toward a New Professional You

With the rise of digital and social media in the past few years, the internet has presented professionals with a magnificent opportunity to build, polish, and own outstanding personal brands. It’s also becoming more and more important for individuals to understand the practices and disciplines of personal branding to present themselves in an approachable, endearing and enduring way both in the digital world and in-person.

Personal branding benefits you and your business by:

• Establishing Credibility & Thought Leadership
• Growing Your Network
• Attracting New Opportunities
• Increasing Sales
• Helping You Reach Your Business Goals

This Introduction to Personal Branding is based on a blog post series from last year. It is a one-stop-shop introduction to personal branding outlining the key concepts and strategies with actionable tactics you can employ immediately in order to start becoming more discoverable, shareable, and memorable within your industry.

The book is designed to be short and clean to read (under an hour,) and with the new edits you will get a systematic and well-designed step-by-step crash course in personal branding fundamentals.

Here’s a sneak peek of the highlight chapters:

• Establish Your Professional Purpose
• Embrace and Expound Your Experience
• Analyze Your Competitors as You Build Your Personal Brand
• Get a New Headshot – Your New Image Starts with an Image
• How to Craft Your Personal Branding Statement
• Make Your Personal Brand Discoverable
• How to Re-engineer Your Digital Presence
• Take 5 and Practice Writing
• How to Learn to Listen and Practice Empathy
• Social By Design: Make Your Personal Brand Stand Out. Always.

Who is this book for?

• CEOs, Executives, and Business Owners who want to position themselves as industry thought leaders and stand out from the competition.
• Individual Contributors & Academics who want to get ahead in their careers and want to understand how to have their expertise and experience be more discoverable.
• HR & Training Managers who want to understand personal branding to help train employees on social media branding and social selling.
• PR Agencies & Exec Comms Managers who need inspiration and training on personal branding strategies for their clients, CEOs, or themselves.

So please download it from Amazon today:

Introduction to Personal Branding: 10 Steps Toward a New Professional You – US Version

 Introduction to Personal Branding: 10 Steps Toward a New Professional You – UK Version

I hope you enjoy reading the book and can’t wait to hear what you think!

Cheers, Mel

Well I’m just thrilled to be asked back to San Francisco for a second time to speak at the BrightEdge Share15 conference from 21st to 23rd September 2015.

Last time my talk was all about how to use link data from Majestic.com for digital marketing beyond SEO > like digital PR and content marketing strategy.

This year I’ve been asked to give a little wisdom on influencer marketing strategy and how we at Delightful Communications work with companies on influencer marketing initiatives AND help their executives become influencers in their own right through their personal brands.

The agenda looks amazing and I’m thoroughly looking forward to seeing friends old and new, learning a ton of fantastic things from my peers and being entertained to the max by the awesome crew at BrightEdge.

If you’re interested in coming to the conference you can get a discounted ticket by registering here http://brtedg.co/1R6sJO6 and using the code AttendShare15

Looking forward to see you there!