Response Magic 
Do
you have trouble standing out from the crowd at work?
The best solution is to reinvent those
tiresome “chores” that your co-workers dread.
By
finding ways to make these tasks more palatable (or even fun!) you can get
noticed at work while building your brand.
Here
are five of the easiest ways to make it happen. Choose the one(s) that helps
you bolster your personal brand.
Make Your Presentations Pop.
Most presentations at most companies are a combination at
bullets and words. Bo-ring! I
was delivering a keynote at a major financial services firm in New York last
week, and the A/V director said to me, “I see dozens of presentations a day,
and there is only one person inside the firm who has interesting ones –
everyone in the firm knows him because his presentations are really wow.” Try
to reduce the number of words on your slides by 90%. Use images to convey your
message instead. Add animations to make it playful, and change the standard
transitions to something that adds excitement and energy. Just don’t overdo it;
you don’t want your message to get lost in the glitz.
Lead fun meetings.
When
you think about what you do each week, attending meetings probably comes to
mind, evoking a sigh of dread. When you lead meetings, use this as an
opportunity to stand out by making every element of the meeting engaging and
interesting .
Start with the invitation. Be original! Begin your meeting with an interesting
activity, short but thought-provoking video or a powerful question that each
participant has to answer. Create materials that are fun and compelling. Hold
your meetings in unusual places – like outside. The ultimate goal is for your
meetings to become so differentiated, interesting and productive that people
throughout the organization actually hope to be invited
Change your voicemail greeting.
I
created my voicemail greeting at an airport, and you can hear the flight
announcements in the background. When people leave a voicemail for me, they
often comment on my outgoing message, telling me it’s on-brand because I am
always traveling. So I have not changed that message in years. Another approach
is to change it every day! This takes commitment and requires getting into the
habit, but has an impact. It makes an impression when someone hears “Today is
Tuesday, December 30th. I will be in workshops all morning, but I will get back
to you this afternoon….” People are sick of the standard “I’m not available
right now but if you leave your name and number and a brief message….” Instead
of saying, “not available,” tell them what you’re doing. This helps callers
learn more about you and the value you provide. Think about how you can make
your voicemail greeting stand out from the pack, and if you’re up to it, change
it daily.
Redecorate.
Most
offices in most companies are beige and boring. One client in the UK painted
her office pink. Another client brought in her Nespresso coffee machine –
making her office a meeting spot for the espresso crowd. A client in Seattle
brought in her own furniture – a glass and chrome desk and leather and chrome
Barcelona chairs because she was working in marketing for the luxury segment
and wanted her office to reflect that. When I was rising through the ranks at
Lotus (a division of IBM) I changed my office to suit my brand attributes of
being health-conscious and collaborative. I replaced one of the two desks in my
office with a round table, and I brought in a glass bowl from home, which I
filled each week with Granny Smith apples. It wasn’t such a giant deviation
from the standard office, but it was enough to get noticed; in fact, it became
known as “the Pottery Barn showroom.” Company rules may limit what you’re able
to do, or your manager may not want you to make major changes, but you can
still work within those constraints. Even in companies with strict rules about
office space, there are things you can do to make yours stand out and reinforce
your brand attributes – like bringing in fresh flowers weekly or changing your
screen-saver and the pictures you post to your wall.
Replace text with images and
video.
Are
you sick of reading emails and instant messages? We see a lot of text each day.
If you want your communications to stand out, use images and video. Create an
infographic to share the latest company statistics. Integrate images into your
email signature. Send video proposals to clients or your boss, and use video to
thank and congratulate team members and colleagues. Hold video meetings instead
of phone conferences, and send video updates to your remotely based team
members. Here’s a piece I wrote with
video resources.
Remember, branding is about differentiation. Think about
these opportunities and choose the ones that feel authentic to you, leading to
everyday habits that bolster your brand.
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