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Event Recap – Mia Pearson (MSL Group) breaks down branding to give young practitioners a headstart
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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.

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‘Tweet’ or tweet’? Order new CP Caps and Spelling for chance to win
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CPRS members can win prize package by ordering new book or online subscription. 

Is it ‘Tweet’ or tweet’? ‘Zipline’ or ‘Zip line’? Have you ever been in doubt about any of the recent additions to the Canadian lexicon? The new 20th edition of Caps and Spelling released by the Canadian Press (sponsor) is the answer to such frequently arising questions. Containing over 200 pages covering a wide range of new 21st century words and references, the latest publication includes an alphabetical listing of commonly misspelled, hyphenated and compound words, abbreviations, proper names, internet terms, pop culture references and more.

A special prize package for ordering in January

The Canadian Press is offering CPRS Toronto members the chance to win a prize package including a briefcase/ laptop bag, USB stick and baseball cap worth over $150 when they order the new edition of Caps and Spelling. To enter the draw simply visit the Canadian Press website and order a hardcopy version for $20.95, or online subscription for under $6.25/ month. The last day to enter the draw is Friday, January 25, 2013 and the winner will be announced on January 29th, 2013. For quantities over ten ordered per organization, $2 can be saved per book. Orders can be placed online or by calling 1-800-434-7578.

prize

 

Setting the industry standard for press releases, newsletters, websites and all other communication channels, the new Caps and Spelling is an indispensable guide for every communications professional. The electronic version also enables keyword search listings, offers real time alerts of new words added, provides the ability to add notes and allows sharing a common electronic copy within a team to ensure consistency.

About the Canadian Press

The Canadian Press, with its French-language counterpart, La Presse Canadienne, has been keeping Canadians informed by telling people the story of their country for almost a century. Over 200 journalists produce and deliver award-winning stories, photos, graphics, audio, video and multimedia news around the clock and in real time to daily newspapers, and more than 500 radio and TV stations, relying on news coverage from The Canadian Press. In addition, the government, corporations, publishers and associations subscribe to the leading-edge news and information services offered by The Canadian Press for delivery of credible content to thousands of websites, magazines, elevator screens and wireless devices. For public relations and communications professionals, a complete suite of ad delivery, photography, photo distribution and news monitoring services are available at www.thecanadianpress.com.

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Member appreciation event nets largest turnout in recent memory
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How to capture the energy of the 160 CPRS Toronto members who attended our season opener at the historic Enoch Turner Schoolhouse on September 27? Perhaps a few of your stories will do the trick.

CPRS Toronto hosted 160 Members at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse for it’s season opener on September 27, 2012.

In her follow-up note to the event, Carol Panasiuk, APR, LM, says that she appreciated the opportunity to get together with the senior practice group at our private reception, which took place just prior to the main event with all CPRS Toronto members. She found the reception to be a great opportunity to catch up with her peers and has suggested that CPRS Toronto get the senior practice group together a couple of times each year. We’re planning on it, Carol!

Bruce Stock, APR, FCPRS, dropped in on Kathleen Garrett, APR, and the APR study group that had hived themselves off for some exam preparations. He told our APR candidates of his experience as an Oral Examiner in the CPRS Accreditation Program several years ago, revealing that he and the other two examiners had given a perfect score to a candidate. Bruce wanted to impress upon our candidates that, a) it could be done, and b) the key was that the successful candidate was concise with her answers. This APR candidate had spoken succinctly and with purpose and when she was done, she was done. It was great to be in on this particular interaction that will hopefully serve as some inspiration for the CPRS Toronto candidates who are now into an extremely intense part of the accreditation process.

The members heard brief updates from their Board members, learning about our current priorities and numerous upcoming events. These Board reports generated great follow-up discussions with our members and sponsors. I spoke with Emmanuel Caisse with CEDROM-SNi on his way out, for example. He had already connected with our Board liaison to sponsors, Laurie Smith, and was deeply engaged in exploring ways to meet our members’ professional needs.

This event has also jump-started our member volunteer network once again, to the delight of Board members Parm Chohan, who is coordinating volunteer placements with the Board’s working committees, and Jenn Heyes, who heads up our student leadership team.

CPRS Toronto President Vincent Power, APR, had a lively chat with a group of student members who were amused when he told them to be sure to pull their weight in group assignments at school. Vincent advised the students that PR school stories travel far and wide and could ultimately affect their employment. Our new student members were shocked and somewhat horrified to hear this but soon realized that they could relate. According to the students, the time spent on group assignments is the hardest time to like your fellow PR students.

We also heard from members who were unable to attend. Perhaps my favourite exchange was with Andrew Clarke who sent his regrets but didn’t forgo his opportunity to network. Andrew asked us for some support to get in touch with members who, like him, are giving leadership to social media and community relations strategies. We have since offered Andrew some contacts to get started.

Judging by what you said, I think we were successful in providing an appropriate and meaningful networking opportunity for our members at this event. I hope we also adequately conveyed our appreciation for your continuing member support of CPRS Toronto.

The final word here goes out to CPRS Toronto members Amie Zimon, Jessica Delaney and Jenn Heyes who answered our call for volunteer support at this event. Given the number of members who attended, they certainly had their hands full in terms of handling the social graces while also helping to ease our new members into the CPRS family. You did a truly admirable job. Thank you.

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