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Fall 2014

Dear Colleague,

Happy Fall! I am closely approaching a milestone. In January I will be celebrating my tenth year in business! I feel so grateful and blessed to have worked with incredible clients, enhanced long lasting relationships as well as established many new ones and to be fortunate enough to do work that I love that is so rewarding.

Many thanks for your continued support, your business and your referrals! I am appreciative for another active year and welcome the opportunity to be of assistance and continue to provide a variety of talent management consulting and coaching services. Please reach out and share some of your updates, accomplishments and challenges with me! I look forward to hearing from you!

As we get ready to turn back the clocks and prepare for the winter months, it's a good time to start reflecting on how many of our goals we are close to achieving for the year. The good news is we still have a couple of months to follow through and make them happen. We all know how important goal setting is and equally important is execution of those goals. The last piece, which some may leave out of the equation, is having a marketing plan for ourselves to ensure we are ready to initiate and seize opportunities, planned and/or unplanned.

The truth is, in order to compete in a highly specialized marketplace, we need to look for ways to advocate for ourselves and present our value with confidence. Being proactive, strategic and planful in our career planning initiatives is essential. Create a marketing plan will allow us to achieve our goals and ensure we are articulating our value, pursuing our aspirations and building long lasting relationships in the process. See your marketing plan as the vehicle in which you will carry out your goals including strategies, resources and activities for follow through. Here are a few tips to help manage this process.

Create your marketing plan for YOU starting with these steps:

1. Make a list of your accomplishments of the last 12 months

   Highlight key results achieved within your company as well as relevant external accomplishments in order to be ready to discuss and showcase them as opportunities arise and/or need to be created.

2. Establish your goals for the next 12 to 24 months

   Determine specific objectives you aspire to fulfill over the year or two, with actionable tasks and timelines for completion.

3. Target specific professional associations and community involvement

   Raise your visibility within your organization by enhancing and offering content expertise through association and community activities while extending your reach and network in your field and industry.

4. Continue education, training and development

   Personal and professional growth will always provide additional knowledge, making you more marketable internally and externally. On-going learning allows you to leverage strengths while pushing in new ways, trying new things and adding to your portfolio.

5. Build relationships and networking strategies

   Establish, build and nurture long lasting mutually rewarding relation-ships with key stakeholders, inside and outside your organization, that will allow you to increase your influence, give back, and positively enhance your brand, your credibility, and your reputation.

6. Stay current and well-read within your industry, the economy and marketplace

   Read relevant periodicals, papers, trade journals, on-line publications and other important resources that will keep you abreast of market changes, trends, and best practices.

7. Enhance on-going activity of your real and virtual presence

   Create a social media presence that is meaningful, substantive and informing about your knowledge and your accomplishments. Be out there physically as well by putting yourself in positions to meet people and always leave positive and lasting impressions.

8. Seek out strategic alliances and partnerships

   Identify mentors, sponsors, trusted advisors, champions, and coaches who come from different aspects of your professional and personal life, and offer to be the same for others. These people will be key players in your life and provide depth in so many ways to your success, as you will do for them.

Once you create an effective marketing outlook, you will find it to be a natural process that you do not even realize you have engaged. Change your mindset and embrace the art of marketing yourself as a powerful way of fulfilling your purpose, providing value and achieving a high level of accomplishment!

Please read more about how to embrace this concept of marketing yourself as an essential career management strategy in my recently published book, Personal Branding and Marketing Yourself. If you are a young professional starting your career, a seasoned executive with numerous years of experience, or all levels of professionals in between, it's critical to identify your differentiators, your brand and be able to build, enhance and articulate it throughout your career.

Updates…

I have become a 'tweeter' and enjoying the bits of information and resources I am learning about as well as sharing some of my own. Please follow me on twitter @RitaBAllen and let's share!

If you have not done so already, take a moment to visit my revised and updated website at www.ritaballenassociates.com. The feedback has been great - I welcome your on-going thoughts and comments. Please be sure to review all of the pages including the SERVICES page covering executive coaching, career coaching, team coaching, leadership development, management training and career development.

Recent and Upcoming Presentations…

• BMC Engage Global Software User Conference, Personal Branding and Marketing Yourself October 14, 2014, Orlando, FL www.eventmgmt.aimia.com

• Society of Women Engineers, Personal Branding and Marketing Yourself October 15, 2014, www.sweboston.org

• FX Conference Webinar, Becoming a Better Facilitator,
  October 21, 2014

• ASTD Forum Webcast, Accelerating Talent through Personal Branding October 22, 2014, www.astd.org/forum

• 11th Annual Best Companies, Best Practices: Keeping the Competitive Edge Executive Forum, November 17, 2014, in partnership with Rita B. Allen Associates, Bentley University and Gatti & Associates

• mosaicHUB and Foley Hoag sponsor Women in Entrepreneurship Series, Tips for Building your Personal and Business Brand,
  November 18, 2014, 6:00 - 8:00 PM Foley Hoag, Seaport location

• FX Conference Webinar, Building Individual and Team Leadership - Unleashing Potential at all Levels, November 25, 2014

• Women in Science Engineering and Technology, Personal Branding and Marketing Yourself, January 29, 2015, www.westorg.org

A big thank you to many of you who have purchased my book and for your incredible words of support, encouragement and positive feedback! It has been a fabulous experience! Here's a snippet of what's inside:

When We Hear the Term "Marketing," We Likely Think of
Products, Services & Commodities.

HOW ABOUT OURSELVES?

Whether you are seeking a new position, changing roles within an organization, or taking charge of your career planning, marketing yourself is the best way to seize these opportunities. Yet few of us are ready and able to talk about our talents, accomplishments, and the value we have to offer. In this engaging, timely, and informative book, acclaimed career and executive coach, trainer, and consultant Rita Balian Allen makes the case for personal branding as an essential ingredient for a successful career. For Rita and the many people who have sought her guidance, the Three Ps Marketing Technique has been the key:

Preparation
Identify & Define Your Brand

Packaging
Create & Build Your Brand

Presentation
Enhance & Articulate Your Brand

Personal Branding and Marketing Yourself by Rita Balian Allen This book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble Rita discusses her new book with Mike Mullaney on Mix 104.1 Radio

IT'S TIME TO FIND OUT WHAT MAKES YOU, YOU.

Complete with worksheets, checklists, and proven advice, Personal Branding and Marketing Yourself is a powerful toolkit for developing the ease, confidence, and comfort to learn about, maintain, and communicate our best professional selves.

What people are saying about this book:

"Learn the secrets to taking charge of your career! This book is full of practical tips, advice and tools for any stage of your career and provides guidance so you can get started today!"

Carol O'Donnell,
Former VP of Human Resources
New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc.

"Every page of this book is filled with tips and techniques for taking control of your career. It helps to put it all together in a way that is practical and easy to follow while keeping you engaged through real stories."

Deborah Varao-Martin,
Sr. Director, Talent Development
Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA

"Personal Branding and Marketing Yourself is a must read! The definition of the JOB is changing as we shift from career employment to career employability. It is no longer just what you know, but how best to tell the world what it is you know. Allen's book will take professionals in all stages of their careers through a discovery process on how best to capture and promote what is unique about oneself - keys to maximizing one's potential."

Bob Kelleher
Best Selling Author, "Louder Than Words, 10 Practical
Employee Engagement Steps…that Drive Results" and
Chief Engagement Officer and Founder
The Employee Engagement Group

"Having known Rita for several years, I've seen her as a dedicated practitioner, colleague, consultant and friend. She has applied her years of talent management experience, knowledge and research to writing this book as an effective guide to taking charge of your career for any and all professionals. Her book captures her ability to attract the attention of sizable audiences on a variety of related topics as well as conducting one-on-one exercises with a client reflecting how desirable her expertise is regarded."

Bob Gatti
President
Gatti & Associates

Best Regards,

Rita Balian Allen

Rita B. Allen Associates | 460 Totten Pond Road, Suite 110 | Waltham, MA 02451
781-890-6803 | rita@ritaballenassociates.com | www.ritaballenassociates.com