A Publishing and PR Powerhouse: Defining

My Personal Brand

By: Arianna McLaughlin C2

Reading+ lit crit.+ publicity + culture…= my brand

Derek Zoolander: Who am I? Derek’s reflection: I don't know.

Derek: I guess I have a lot of things to ponder.

It took me a while to determine my brand. At first I was too focused on creating the “perfect brand,” instead of finding

out what makes me click.

It came down to what I love and what I see myself doing.

Reading and books have defined each stage of my life. I can’t think of a way of “branding” myself without incorporating

that part of my identity.

Combing my love of reading and my interest in PR was the obvious answer to my branding concerns

My Goals   I want to establish myself as the go-to-girl for

literary PR in Canada

  I want to create a brand that feels natural to me

  I want to create a legitimate and authoritative voice for my brand

  I want a brand that helps me take what I love (reading) and turn it into a career in PR

  I want to be help increase the international profile of Canadian authors

Key Messages

Where I am at now: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

Knowledge about literary criticism

Very limited online presence

Recent blockbusters like Twilight are increasing the online presence of literature

Decreasing interest in reading and print in particular

Distinct perspective

Dedicated and committed to everything I start

Fear of putting my “personal” self out there

Transitional time: traditional publishing to social media

Difficult to establish an authoritative voice both online and in literary community

Writing and reading skills

Beginner in technology

Objectives and Strategies •  Objective: To integrate myself into the Canadian literary

and publishing worlds

•  Strategy: Increase my online presence

•  Tactics:

•  Launch my literary review blog by end of Nov. 2009

•  Establish a presence on Canadian literary blogs like the Quill & Quire by commenting on posts- at least 2 comments per month beginning Nov. 2009

•  Increase the literary/PR focus of my Tweets- min. 3 Tweets a day, beginning Nov. 2009

Objectives and Strategies (cont)

•  Objective: To integrate my love of literature into my PR career path

•  Strategies: Create a brand that integrates literature and PR

•  Tactics: •  Review novels and the publicity they receive- begin

with 2 per month for Nov. 2009-Jan. 2010 •  Focus my school assignments on publishing so I have

specific examples for my portfolio •  Conduct an analysis of Oprah’s current book club

selection and how the novel and author are affected by the process –ongoing

Objectives and Strategies (cont)

  Objective: To make PR and publishing industry connections

  Strategies: Put myself out there online and at events

  Tactics:   Use social networking sites to try to find a

mentor by January 2010   Attend industry events beginning Nov. 2009   Add more industry Twitter contacts- get in

contact with a least 5 by Dec. 2009.

Channels and Tools

New industry contacts-make contact with 5x a month

ReTweet industry ppl. or orgs. 5x a week

TWITTER

Launch my blog- end of Nov. 2009. Update 2x a week

Comment on industry blogs like Quill and Quire to get my name out there

BLOGS

Use Humber NING and LKSU30 NING for contacts

Begin using Facebook as a business tool

SOCIAL NETWORKING

SITES

CRITICAL PATH BLOG TWITTER CONTACTS

• Blog will be launched by end of Nov. 2009

• min. 2 reviews per month for Nov.-Jan 2010

• min. 2 other related posts a month for Nov-Jan 2010 • Comment on other blogs at least 2x a month until Jan. 2010

• Jan.2010: reevaluate blogging progress and success- see if goals should be changed

• Increase industry followers- 5 new industry follower per month

• ReTweet 5 related Tweets per week beginning Nov. 2009

• Min 3 Tweets per day

• Get in touch with 5 Humber PR NING/ LKAU30 NING contacts throughout Nov. and Dec. 2009

• Attend 2 networking events outside Humber by the end of Dec. 2009

• Join CPRS mentorship program by end of Nov. 2009

• Join IABC and CPRS by the end of Nov. 2009

• Engage with 5 members from each org. by Jan. 2010

Self-evaluation   My brand is a work in progress- I am still a beginner in brand

planning and social media . I’m learning as I go along

  I am going to continually update my plan and my brand as I explore what personal branding is all about

  Self-evaluation will be a defining feature of my personal brand plan – I need to know what works for me and what needs to be changed. January 2010 will be a month review and revision

  At the end of the day, I need to…

TAKE CHANCES

PUT MYSELF OUT THERE

EVALUATE