What About Me? What You Need To Know About Me-Marketing

What about me? Are you asking yourself this question? If not you should be. Don't wait until you are in crisis mode when you are losing your job or your business before you think "what about me?"

Here are a few points to consider.

No one is indispensable. What's your best option to make yourself essential?
What would happen if you lost your job?
Are you expecting a raise this year? How much?
What would happen if you were asked to locate?
What would you do if you suddenly decide you can't stand your job anymore?

Get the picture. Keep these considerations in mind and put yourself in the forefront of this thought process.

So what about you? Are you waiting for the ax to fall or are you sitting on the sidelines letting events carry you along? Are you actively pursuing avenues that will help you manage your destiny rather than it managing you?

I'm always amazed but the number of colleagues who come out of the woodwork when they get in trouble. I have been providing them with a game plan for years, but it has fallen on deaf ears. When the going gets rough they then call for help.

The best advice I can give is to be proactive. Get a routine established in self- promotion before it's too late. Plan a self promotion activity every week so that you constantly focus on your visibility.

Here are some self promotion ideas for consideration:
Write an article.
Make a speech.
Write a press release.
Enter a competition.
Get an interview.
Start an e-zine.
Get a personal website.
Pick up the phone and call old contacts.
Send out a clever "how are" you card.
Give a testimonial.
Attend a conference.

Does that give you enough ideas? Every week you should schedule at least one of the above activities. The summer is an ideal time to get started because work is a little less hectic. Here's a hint. Use the dog days of summer as a theme. Have a lot of fun with this one with great cards, funny dog cartoons and other creative ideas.

FYI: Dog Days is the name for the sultriest period of summer, from about July 3 to Aug. 11. Named in early times by observers in countries bordering the Mediterranean, the period was reckoned as extending from 20 days before to 20 days after the conjunction of Sirius (the dog star) and the sun.

So happy dog days of self promotion. Get busy because the next time I hear from you I don't want to learn you have "gone to the dogs."

JoAnn Hines' specialty is PACKAGING PEOPLE. Whether you want to be paid more, you just lost your job, or you want to progress in the one you have, Ms. Hines advice and expertise can help you transform your personal brand. She can show you how to package yourself and make your brand a hot commodity. It's easy once you know the ropes and begin to utilize her insider's secrets. She shows you step by step how to increase your visibility, credibility and marketability with easy to use tutorials and templates.

It is time to get started "Packaging Yourself." Email me the Chief People Packager @ pkgcoach@aol.com

In The News:

Yahoo! News: Top Stories

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., holds up a print-out of a New York Times article as he testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008, before a Financial Services Committee hearing on the automotive industry bailout.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)AP - A Democratic Congress, unwilling or unable to approve a $25 billion bailout for Detroit's Big Three, appears ready to punt the automakers' fate to a lame-duck Republican president.



Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008 in Washington, before the House Financial Services Committee.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)AP - Pounded by a fierce financial crisis, the country is sinking deeper into economic despair and is likely to be in the hole well into next year, forcing more Americans into the ranks of the unemployed.



Rev. Amos Brown,  a national board member of the NAACP, raises his hands as he speaks to a large crowd of supporters of same-sex marriage, as they cheer in front of San Francisco City Hall on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008.  Thousands of demonstrators gathered to listen to speakers and protest the passage of Proposition 8, a ballot measure amending California's constitution to ban same-sex marriage. The event is part of a simultaneous protest planned in in hundreds of communities.  (AP Photo/Darryl Bush)AP - California's highest court agreed Wednesday to hear several legal challenges to the state's new ban on same-sex marriage but refused to allow gay couples to resume marrying before it rules.



In this Aug. 27, 2008 file photo, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle speaks during the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Daschle has accepted President-elect Barack Obama's offer to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, Democratic officials said Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AP - Barack Obama is enlisting former Senate leader Tom Daschle as his health secretary, embracing a third Washington insider in the early stages of Cabinet-building by the president-elect who promised change. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the capital's most famous woman for two decades, seemed ever more likely to be his secretary of state.



A gopher frog sits in the hand of Audubon Zoo curator Nick hanna  in New Orleans, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008.  For the first time in 10 years, a pond in south Mississippi got enough rain this year to let gopher frogs, one of the nation's most endangered animals, turn from tadpole to frog without human help.  (AP Photo/Bill Haber)AP - Animals and plants in danger of becoming extinct could lose the protection of government experts who make sure that dams, highways and other projects don't pose a threat, under regulations the Bush administration is set to put in place before President-elect Obama can reverse them.



U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, left, and Vice President Dick Cheney are shown in this 2006 file photo at the White House. Cheney and Gonzales have been indicted on state charges involving federal prisons in a South Texas county that has been a source of bizarre legal and political battles under the outgoing prosecutor. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, file)AP - A Texas judge has set a Friday arraignment for Vice President Dick Cheney, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and others named in indictments accusing them of responsibility for prisoner abuse in a federal detention center.



In this image provided by NASA shows an extravehicular activity (EVA) tool bag drifting away from the International Space Station during the mission's first scheduled spacewalk Tuesday Nov. 18, 2008. The astronaut who lost her tool bag on a spacewalk, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, admitted Wednesday that she made a mistake by not checking to see if the sack was tied down, and said she's still smarting over the whole thing. (AP Photo/NASA)AP - The astronaut who lost her tool bag on a spacewalk admitted Wednesday that she made a mistake by not checking to see if the sack was tied down, and said she's still smarting over the whole thing.



Israeli archaeologist Prof. Ehud Netzer walks in the mausoleum at the fortress of Herodium, in the West Bank, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008, the place where Israeli archaeologists are excavating what they believe is the tomb of biblical King Herod.  Israeli archaeologist Prof. Ehud Netzer announced at a press conference on Wednesday,  that analysis of newly revealed items found at the site of what they believe is King Herod's mausoleum at Herodium, have provided researchers with further proof of the site being the actual grave site of the Jewish King. (AP photos/Bernat Armangue)AP - King Herod may have been buried in a crypt with lavish Roman-style wall paintings of a kind previously unseen in the Middle East, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday. The scientists found such paintings and signs of a regal two-story mausoleum, bolstering their conviction that the ancient Jewish monarch was buried there.



This Sunday, June 1, 2008 file photo shows Benji Madden, of Good Charlotte, and Paris Hilton at the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles. Paris Hilton and her boyfriend of nine months, Benji Madden, have broken up. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, file)AP - Paris Hilton and her boyfriend of nine months, Benji Madden, have broken up.



Dallas Mavericks' Jason Terry (31) drives around Houston Rockets' Luis Scola (4), of Argentina, during the fourth quarter of a NBA basketball game Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008 in Houston. The Mavericks beat the Rockets 96-86. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)AP - The Dallas Mavericks didn't need Josh Howard as much as the Houston Rockets missed Yao Ming on Wednesday night.



A trader talks on the phone on the floor of the Philippine Stock Exchange, which closed down 3.45 percent in today's trading, in Makati City, Manila, November 20, 2008. (Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)Reuters - A 6 percent fall in Asia pushed world stocks to their lowest in 5- years on Thursday, while oil fell below $53 and safe havens such as the yen gained on fears the global recession and a financial crisis will get uglier.



Leaders of the U.S. automotive industry testify at a hearing held by the House Financial Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, November 19, 2008. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)Reuters - Chances dimmed that a last-minute plan being crafted by Republican senators, with White House support, to provide $25 billion to bail out U.S. automakers would receive enough backing from Democrats to pass before the end of this week.



Pedestrians are reflected in the window of a Citibank branch in Hong Kong's financial Central District November 18, 2008. (Bobby Yip/Reuters)Reuters - The U.S. financial system still needs at least $1 trillion to $1.2 trillion of tangible common equity to restore confidence and improve liquidity in the credit markets, Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst Paul Miller said.



The Federal Reserve Board of Governors are seen during a Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington, March 28, 2006. (U.S. Federal Reserve/Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Federal Reserve officials slashed economic growth forecasts through 2009 and some believed even deeper interest rate cuts may be needed if growth slows further, minutes of their October policy meeting show.



Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano speaks during closing ceremonies of the 26th Border Governors Conference at Universal Studios in Los Angeles August 15, 2008. (Fred Prouser/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's top choice to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources.



Newlyweds Sharon Papo (R) and Amber Weiss (2nd R) pick up their marriage certificate after exchanging wedding vows at City Hall on the first full day of legal same-sex marriages in San Francisco, California June 17, 2008. (Erin Siegal/Reuters)Reuters - California's Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a legal challenge against the state's voter-approved ban on gay marriage and let the ban stand in the meantime.



Reuters - A Missouri woman established a fake identity online to torment a vulnerable teenage girl who later committed suicide, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday in a trial that is being closely watched by the burgeoning social networking industry.

Musician Felice Pomeranz plays her harp at her studio in Sudbury, Massachusetts, November 17, 2008. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)Reuters - Wall Street's pain is rippling through U.S. small businesses, as bankers who once pulled in million-dollar bonuses lose their jobs and cut back spending on everything from parties to home improvements.



US auto giant executives wait to testify before the House Finincial Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The heads of the Big Three US car makers -- General Motors (GM), Ford and Chrysler -- have returned to Congress to beg for an emergency bailout.(AFP/Tim Sloan)AFP - Asian stocks tumbled Thursday as global economic gloom deepened following a plunge in Japanese exports and a warning from the Federal Reserve that the United States could be in recession next year.



A picture taken in 2007 shows the Delight cargo ship anchored in the port of Hamburg, Germany. Somali pirate attacks have spun AFP - Russia announced Thursday it would send more warships to combat piracy in the waters around Somalia, as the Saudi owners of the Sirius Star negotiated with the pirates holding their oil tanker.




Don?t Get Caught In the Trap: The BIG Difference Between Personal and Business Branding

When you're all alone in the privacy of your home office, surrounded... Read More

Branding: Bring Back the Jingle!

Did you grow up in the '70s and '80s? If so, you... Read More

Shattering the Branding Myths

If you've been online long, you're sure to have seen many "gurus"... Read More

Branding: All My Exs Live In...

...my senses. I know, you were thinking 'Texas'. Well, if they do... Read More

The Big-Pay Off -- Brand Value

Many CEOs and marketing directors find their time wasted evaluating marketing opportunities... Read More

The Role of a Visual Vocabulary in Brand Identity Design

Visual elements are a major part of your business's brand identity design.... Read More

Creating Powerful Names for Products, Services, and Your Business

The name of your business is important--it's one of the first things... Read More

Branding Your Radio or TV Campaign With A Musical Identity (aka Audo Logo, aka Jingle)

You don't think twice about a business card and letterhead logo for... Read More

Go Ask Alice

One of fiction's finest marketing minds, The Cheshire Cat, once told Alice... Read More

How A Crazy Branding Stunt Can Bring Results For Years

As a beginner, you would be forgiven for thinking that marketing is... Read More

Internet Branding

Having been in the franchising business all my life and understanding how... Read More

Britney Spears Branding

How would you like to sell as much in one year as... Read More

Could Ray Kroc have founded McDonalds in the Era of Sarbaines Oxley?

Over regulation of our free markets is stifling our growth in America... Read More

Brilliant Branding Builds Business

Branding is more than product recognition or a simple logo. It is... Read More

Your Business Logo and Color Scheme

My business logo and color scheme started one lovely spring day in... Read More

Attract More Clients With A Brand Identity

You've probably heard that people buy products and services from people they... Read More

Corporate Internet Branding ? Branding Your Business Online

Let me tell you a story about Pete and a pizza. After... Read More

How a Great Tagline can Help your Business

"Just do it." "We try harder." "The Ultimate Driving Machine." "Be all... Read More

Optimize Your Mailing List For Better Results

A list of customers who have previously bought from you is your... Read More

Branding Your Products Is Important

I was chatting with a couple of friends, all of us are... Read More

Tips for Creating Brilliant Business Names

Imagine if Yahoo! had been named TheInternetDirectoy. Or StarBucks was christened "Premier... Read More

Which Of These Words Attract Your Clients

Whether it's your business card, tagline, article title, web site title and... Read More

Putting You and Your Company in Position to Own Your Market

Americans have always liked their coffee hot. But then Starbucks made hot... Read More

What About Me? What You Need To Know About Me-Marketing

What about me? Are you asking yourself this question? If not you... Read More

Company Vehicles Have Advertising on Them; Tips on Driving in Parking Lots

Try to avoid backing up whenever possible. Occasionally some one in a... Read More

Why Having A Niche Automatically Boosts Your Credibility - Become The Expert by Getting Focused

Yes, yes, we've heard it all before... loads of life coaches, consultants... Read More

Branding Services - Brand Identity Guru

Branding Services is a tactic that marketing executives and managers should not... Read More

How Do You Define a Good Logo Design?

Everyone wants his company logo to be the best but how good... Read More

John Deere and NASCAR; Excellent Use of Brand

We should all recognize the marketing efforts of John Deere especially as... Read More

Wealthiest 10% of Americans Name Top Quality Brands for 8 Products in New Survey

The seventh in a continuing series of twice-yearly surveys by The American... Read More

Articles: The Perfect Branding Tool

If you own a web-based business, you're probably aware of the need... Read More

Quick Tactics To Brand Your Business And Make More Sales

This may come as a surprise... to you, but Branding is more... Read More

No Logo? Launching A Business Without a Logo Can Sabotage You

Initial lack of customers and cash flow often causes a small business... Read More

Standing Under the Umbrella And Still Getting Wet

Make More Money Making a Name for YourselfCalling all realtors, financial planners,... Read More

Brand Image - Brand Identity - Brand Strategy - Brand Identity Guru

Consumers perceive and accept many brands within a certain trade group in... Read More

Play Your Position! - The Only Way to Win in Business

Have you ever watched 5-year-olds play soccer? It should be called "Follow... Read More

The MOST Expensive Mistake You Can Make

Most people who own a small business have a huge passion and... Read More

Introduction to A Branded World: Adventures in Public Relations and the Creation Of Superbrands

You'd have to labor to shield yourself from the power of Branding;... Read More

Business Image

One of the most important things in a business is a clean... Read More

Fast Forwarding Your Business

If you think only big corporate names need to think about things... Read More

Corporate Logo Design ? 6 Keys to Success

A corporate logo design should be highly instrumental in building your corporate... Read More

Planning Ahead With Your Designer: Tips For Design Consistency With Your Logo And Brand Elements

While we recommend that you contract with the same designer or design... Read More

The Aim of the Name

Large corporations spend lavish amounts seeking names for their products that grab... Read More

Brand Lo-o-o-o-o-ve...

So... how have you been building your brand lately?Now, I'm writing this... Read More

Do What Works

"Can you hear me now?"You'd be hard pressed to find someone in... Read More

Boston Brand Building - Brand Identity Guru

"Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir your blood...... Read More

Is Your Logo Helping or Hurting Your Business?

The quality of your logo can mean the difference between success or... Read More