Word of Mouth Marketing for Building Your Personal Brand

I'm going to look at the importance of word-of-mouth marketing and being able to confidently communicate who you are and what you do to strangers. Known as your “elevator pitch,” you need to have this pitch refined, perfected, and ready to share at a moment’s notice. Can you describe what you do, what your passions are, and really, who you are? Can you do it in just 30-seconds? What about 10-seconds?

You need to be able to spit out everything about your brand to a boss or networker in just seconds. If you can’t capture their attention, they’re going to move onto the next person in the room who can! No one wants to listen to a 60-second aside about a person and what makes them special. We want the summary and we want it to be cute, clever, and concise. I know you all agree with me!

How do you create your personal branded elevator pitch? Here are a few tips:

• Keep It Brief: Your personal brand pitch should be less than 30-seconds. You don’t need to include your resume or overly promote yourself. Rather, the pitch should recap of who you are and what you do.
• Add in Persuasion: Naturally, if you are networking in an industry like accounting, you may need to add in a little creativity to keep the listener interested. Your speech should be compelling enough to spark the listener’s interest in your idea. Mention something unique about your background, your experience, or what you do. If that’s not interesting, talk about your passion for the industry. No one is ever going to turn an ear to passion.
• Share Your Skills: This is your time to mention your skillset. Try to focus on assets that add values to current requirements from these companies. Maybe accounting firms need well-traveled individuals today. Mention that you are a seasoned travel planner, etc.
• Practice in the Mirror: You don’t have to test this speech out for the first time in a public forum. Why not say it to your mirror, your pet, or your mom? Practice your pitch over and over again so it doesn’t make you nervous in person. People can tell if you are nervous – it will take away from your persuasion.
• Be Positive and Agile: No two settings are ever going to be the same. Read your audience. Are you talking to 80-year-olds or 13-year-olds? Be able to adjust and adapt your pitch depending on who is listening. Additionally, always be positive. Don’t mention your dislike for something or your hatred for a previous job. Talk about positivity.
• Close with Your Goals: Recruiters want to know that you are passionate about this industry and here to stay. The best way to convince them of that is with a mention of your goals. Do you want to be part of this industry for the rest of your life? Do you want to change it for the better? Round out your elevator pitch talking about your goals, no matter how big they may be.

Once your elevator pitch is done, have those business cards available and at the ready. All of this will come together in one culmination of your personal brand: your appearance, your pitch, your cards, and your values. It will be incredibly hard for the listener to forget about you after that.

Additionally, don’t be afraid to reinvent the wheel! You don’t need your pitch to follow this structure word-for-word. The important thing to take away is that it needs to be engaging, authentic, brief, and captivating. Don’t be afraid to embrace some humor, too!