Written by Nancy MacMillan, CPRS Toronto Board of Directors
Branding is an essential pillar of the public relations services that a practitioner can offer. We create a brand experience and persona for the companies and clients we work with. But when it comes to our own personal branding as PR professionals, we often fall short.
Have you heard of The Judy Project? Inspired by Microsoft executive Judy Elder and facilitated by the Rotman School of Management, The Judy Project is one of Canada’s leading executive training forums, designed specifically to support women as they prepare to take on executive leadership positions.
Mia Pearson, CEO of MSL Canada, is one of several distinguished educators in The Judy Project program. With more than 25 years of experience in PR, social media and brand strategy, Mia is an expert at corporate reputation management, as well as executive thought leadership and brand strategy – and a true authority on the art of personal branding.
At a recent CPRS Toronto PD event, Mia shared that when it comes to personal branding, it’s often not good enough to be great at your job. You have to be seen as being great. You need to become “the CEO of ME Inc.” – and there are three steps to getting there.
Develop three key pillars and focus on those. Build them from your unique, personal experiences. Try creating your pillars in these categories:
- Personal strengths (what are you great at?)
- Company/professional goals
- Industry trends
For those not in senior management positions, it might look more like:
- What you are doing now
- Philanthropic/volunteer work
- Looking toward the future
Develop your personal PR Plan.
Once you’ve got your pillars, then you need to get out there by creating your personal PR plan!
- Get social: Give special attention to LinkedIn, work with a partner to write an amazing summary section, and have a professional looking photo. You should also follow experts who have the same interests as you do (like and share their content and they will often reciprocate!) Remember: LinkedIn is your publishing platform.
- Be visibly competent: Seek out opportunities for third party recognition and awards to add credibility to your brand. Having your work awarded at the CPRS ACE awards, for example, is a nod to others that you excel at what you do.
- Amplify every opportunity: If you are speaking at an event, or if you receive an award, leverage your social networks to announce and celebrate that win!
“We are grateful to Mia Pearson for sharing her time and expertise with our membership. Guests walked away with very direct and actionable next steps for building their personal brand. Thanks to Mia, we’re all on our way to becoming CEO of ‘ME Inc’!” said Erika Manassis, Co-Chair of Professional Development for CPRS Toronto.
Special thank you to Omar Stephenson of OSNAP Photography, who captured professional head shots of our event guests.