If you are an owner of a service business, or are in private practice, you already know that you have to engage in "personal marketing" to some degree.  That means "selling yourself," your personality, your ethics, your business approach and solutions.  But are you doing everything that you can?  Or that you should?

There are tips for successful personal marketing, some of which are similar or applicable to product marketing.  Although you may not be used to thinking of yourself as a product, if you are going to promote your business, you must also promote yourself.  How do you get started?

When consulting with lawyers, CPAs, architects, engineers, realtors, and financial advisors, I usually suggest that a good place to start a personal marketing program is by developing a Personal Profile.

Consider your Personal Profile the equivalent of your Product Development Plan.  This will help you get a good snapshot of who you are, what market niche you possess, how others see you, what your strengths and areas for growth are.

Some of the elements to consider in developing a Personal Profile are:

Personal Data Overview

History, chargeable hours, clients (type), referral sources, unique aspects, prospects (current list), current marketing including associations and clubs, presentation skills.

Objectives

Primary marketing objectives, client satisfaction objectives, workload objectives, chargeable hours objectives, professional development objectives, personal career goals.

Marketing talents

Writing, speaking, publicity, other.

Special Service Areas and Industry Niches

Primary, secondary and new areas of interest and development.

Top Clients

Group clients in a way that makes it easiest to serve them, communicate with them and market to them.  You can group by industry, priority, service needs, etc.

When I was director of marketing at Ernst & Young in the early 1990s, I found it helped members of the executive team to develop their target lists by describing their Ideal Client Profile.  It is probably not a huge coincidence, for example, that partners often ended up serving clients they personally identified with.

In developing an Ideal Client Profile, you might consider:  Industry, Size of Company, Title, Age, Personality and Values, Characteristics.

It is also useful to spend time organizing your Referral Source List.

Referral Source List

Master group, clients, bankers, attorneys, CPAs, mergers and acquisitions contacts, by industry, by trade or association, financial planners, family, friends and associates, firm alumni, etc.

And finally, another key piece of your Personal Profile should be your Prospect List.  Write it down.

Once you have developed your Personal Profile, you can see your direction more clearly.  You should have a more clearly defined idea of who you are and where you are headed.

In effect, you have "packaged yourself" more like a product.  This preparation can help you set your goals for activity, or how you will spend your marketing time.  Then you can develop your Personal Marketing plan, which we will explore in future articles.