Journalists must build a personal brand: 10 tips

This post was inspired by one written by Joe Grimm, the longtime journalism jobs adviser. DigiDave (Dave Cohn) is a living example of this — and naturally, he has written a blog post about the topic. Ryan Sholin cautions us to be authentic in this pursuit — an honest brand is valuable; a fake or inflated brand is detrimental.

Greg Linch supplied those last two links in a comment on Joe’s blog post. (See Greg on Twitter.)

Lauren Michell Rabaino is a journalism student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and her online portfolio exemplifies many of these points. Check her out on Twitter too.

Here’s my advice for testing whether you’ve built a brand yet:

People in your field should know who you are.
Someone who Googles your first and last name should be able to find out who you are.
Your online self-representation should demonstrate that you are a serious, ethical journalist.
Samples of your best work should be linked to your home page or online (HTML) resume.
Your real work experience should be easy to find and easy to scan quickly. People will want to check this for verification, so dates should be clear, not obfuscated. Example: “June – August 2006″ is clear and honest. “Intern” is honest when “reporter” might not be. Consider “correspondent” or “stringer” too, when accurate. Lists of dodgy freelance work make you appear dodgy. Links to work add credibility. (Use PDFs for work that has been locked behind a pay wall or deleted.)
Make sure your online pages can be read easily on various cell phones, including the iPhone.
If you supply a link to a PDF of your resume, make sure the pertinent job or freelance-experience information is also available via simple HTML (not exclusively in the PDF). Word Docs are not good for online resumes. A Google Doc would be better.
People who might want to hire you need to be able to find your contact info EASILY. Don’t make them hunt all over for it. If you supply an e-mail address, make sure you check mail at that address just about daily, if not more often.
You need to be around, to be visible, to be seen — people should see your name in comments, retweets, etc.
People online should point to you from time to time, as I have pointed to Joe, Dave, Ryan, Greg, and Lauren in this post. This confers authority on you. Brands rest in part on authority, in part on name recognition.

Anything I missed?

Joe Grimm said: “You become a brand by being: Authentic … Exceptional … Valuable … Consistent …” and by Sharing — your work, your knowledge, your considered opinions. That’s a shorter list than mine, and Joe has provided explanations of each one too.

The last time I blogged about this topic was almost a year ago: Promote yourself well, or fail.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 10, 2009, at 11:44 am and is filed under future, ideas, jobs, journalism, journalists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

31 responses to “Journalists must build a personal brand: 10 tips”

Hilary writes:

Having a recognized and respected personal brand as a journalist is a very valuable asset. As you mentioned – authenticity is key. Creating content online that has value to your readers is also important.

I would suggest to anyone interested in building a personal brand and/or having a larger digital footprint to create your own blog or Web site.
August 10, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Tim writes:

You couldn’t be more right on #3 Mindy. I am constantly having to monitor what I’m willing to put out there online, and what photos I’ll upload on Facebook and other sites. I’m finding lots of younger journalists like myself complaining about the industry through Facebook updates and blogs, and even though I want to vent at times, I have been able to catch myself and keep from damaging my reputation. Of course I slip up from time to time, but thankfully they have been pretty minor.
August 10, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Ryan Sholin writes:

Thanks for the mention, Mindy!

The most important thing I did to build my brand as a journalist was to jump in and start blogging. From the start, I haven’t been shy about offering my opinions, and the results of that have been a string of jobs in the news industry that simply wouldn’t have been open to me if I hadn’t shown off my ideas in public online.
August 10, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Joe Grimm writes:

Great advice. Mindy.

You live what you say, so this rings true. Thanks for linking this to the JobsPage. This is valuable stuff at a time when people are looking for answers.

Thanks.
August 10, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Mindy McAdams writes:

@Ryan Sholin – I can vouch for what you said. You appeared on the online radar and became very visible while you were pursuing your master’s degree. Purely by writing an interesting blog and commenting on others’ blogs, you became well known in online journalism circles.
August 11, 2009 at 7:24 am
Bryan Murley writes:

All good advice. I wish we could find a better word than “brand,” though. Maybe I’m just too used to hearing marketing types use “branding” as a buzzword for whatever they’re selling.
August 11, 2009 at 8:28 am
Mindy McAdams writes:

@Bryan Murley – I agree about the word “brand.” It reeks of marketing — and yet, that is exactly what we are talking about. When you are on the job market, seeking a position, you ARE marketing yourself.
August 11, 2009 at 9:06 am
Bryan Murley writes:

@Mindy – I always liked the term “karma” that used to be used with sites like plastic.com and others (kuro5hin?), in which members of the community built up their reputation through cogent, incisive comments. Maybe journalists could look at it as building their online karma and just use the “brand” term when they’re dealing with business types.
August 11, 2009 at 10:36 am
Greg Linch writes:

Excellent advice. Thanks for the shout-out!

I think another important point is offering value. Your blog, Megan Taylor’s blog and Ryan’s blog were some of the first ones I devoured (which includes extensively crawled the archives). Hat tip to Paul Conley at ACP/CMA 07 for word of Megan and Ryan’s.

For a hungry journalism student, the value was immense. I found dozens of other great, valuable resources and people in the posts and blogrolls — including, very quickly, CICM.

And I kept reading (via RSS) and commenting and learning. Still valuable after all these years.
August 11, 2009 at 11:37 am
links for 2009-08-11 – Innovation in College Media writes:

[...] Journalists must build a personal brand: 10 tips Mindy McAdams sums up how to know if your brand is built. (tags: Media&Journalism branding journalism employment) [...]
August 11, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Mindy McAdams writes:

@Greg Linch – You never stop learning — you never outgrow it. But you knew that.
August 11, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Patrick Yen writes:

Branding effectively is a lot about adding value to your product. What is it you do that separates you from other brands in your field? What skills do you possess that separate you from competing brands?

There’s also key differences in mass-market branding vs. niche market branding. The conventional conservative mass-market pop-culture form of branding is not the way to go with the breakdown of the mediaconomy into smaller niche-sized markets.
August 11, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Mindy McAdams writes:

@Patrick Yen – I think for journalism students, they need not be unique (dictionary definition), but they need to stand out from the pack.

Most journalism students today lack a strong professional Web presence; they lack a demonstrated competency in more than one medium (e.g., they are all photo, or all writing, or all design); they lack evidence that they can dig into a story and produce strong content (e.g., multiple interviews with atypical sources, public records analysis, research).

If a hiring editor opens your Web site and sees that you’ve hit three out of three, you just might get an interview.
August 12, 2009 at 9:31 am
O Jornalista deve saber construir a sua própria marca pessoal: 10 dicas « Jornalismo:em busca de um sonho! writes:

[...] 10 dicas Encontra-se no site Teaching on-line journalism, da autoria de Mindy Mcadams, o post Journalists must build a personal brand: 10 tips. Gostei do que li, e acho que o artigo tem dicas bastante interessantes que jornalistas [...]
August 12, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Tracy Clark writes:

Journalism is taught. Seek writing, respect it as a craft & skill and you’ll cherish what it can do for you and your readers. However, what to write about is touchy. When you are innovative, sometimes it takes an entire decade for others to catch up, by then you’ve moved on to something else, and the cycle is ever trailing. Empty pockets seldom make the grade, and profits don’t come easy. As for one writer with the same talent hoopla is paraded, the other ignored, but stuff produced adored. Keep at it, and many somebodies notice… keep living, and your next generation will get your worth.
August 12, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Jason DeRusha writes:

I also recommend trying to “own” the first page of your Google search. So when you search “Jason DeRusha,” you find my WCCO bio, my blog, my Flickr, my Twitter, my Facebook, etc. I believe almost every thing on that page is something I maintain. That helps you control your brand much better.
August 12, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Preparation for the Fall | CoPress writes:

[...] better self-branding is a goal for the fall, then Mindy McAdams has an excellent list of ten tips for you. Notable priorities: making sure someone can find you by googling your first and last name, posting [...]
August 14, 2009 at 5:45 pm
6×6: branding « Adam Westbrook writes:

[...] page as well. Create an image button to make it more attractive. Mindy McAdams says your CV is vital to prove your claims, so “your real work experience should be easy to find and easy to scan quickly. People will [...]
August 17, 2009 at 1:29 am
William P. Davis writes:

Showing up easily in a Google search is easier said than done. Google William Davis and see how many people share my name. If you Google William P. Davis it’s much better, but there’s still a lawyer and an actor that rank above me, plus the newspaper I work for. @Jason – You’re lucky to have a unique name.

I can’t agree more with #8, though. That goes for all Web sites, not just personal ones. The contact information for the owner of the site should always always always be in the footer of the page.

@Tracy – Journalism isn’t taught — it’s learned. I learn more spending five minutes in a newspaper office or out in the field than I do spending a term in a classroom.
August 17, 2009 at 2:38 am
Other Orange Moments « UGA Photojournalism writes:

[...] I’ve done it this semester with one class, though they haven’t realized it yet). But reading Mindy’s post about building a personal brand has me really rolling over those scattered ideas of the last few months, trying to link them into [...]
August 20, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Mindy McAdams writes:

@William P. Davis – It sure is tougher if you have a more common name, but don’t despair. As you build your Web presence, you will become more prominent in Google searches. Also, people searching for you are likely to add a word such as “journalist,” “reporter,” or “designer” once they see that your name is shared by others with more fame.
August 21, 2009 at 10:32 am
Brand Yourself Before Someone Else Does « Print Media Editing / Drake University writes:

[...] even more advice: “Journalists Must Build a Personal Brand: 10 Tips” from Mindy McAdams. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)The Student [...]
August 28, 2009 at 8:16 am
5 reasons why I hate the UK this week « This is KarenAnita writes:

[...] I am so so angry that I had to taint my blog with this and I have just read that “your online self-representation should demonstrate that you are a serious, ethical [...]
August 30, 2009 at 5:00 pm
More Tips on Building a Brand : freelance-coach.com writes:

[...] (and freelance writers alike) to build their personal brand, I came across this article with more tips on building a personal brand you might want to keep in mind if you’re new to this [...]
August 31, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Zlatko Filipovic writes:

Hi Mindy,

I wanted to tell you that I enjoy your blog very much and this article is very useful! Keep it up and thank you!
September 6, 2009 at 1:10 am
Los periodistas estamos obligados a volvernos una marca: diez pasos | Vive Aguascalientes writes:

[...] traducir los diez puntos que esgrime Mindy McAdams en su blog Teaching Online Journalism en este interesantísimo post, y que creo puede servir como guía básica para los jóvenes reporteros y, cómo no, para los [...]
September 8, 2009 at 11:02 am
Journalist need to brand themselve on the Web | Save the Media writes:

[...] great; if it’s not, you need to focus more on branding. Mindy McAdams has a thorough list of why you need to self-brand, and she also pulls together what other bloggers have said on the topic. Alfred Hermida, writing at [...]
September 8, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Mallory Kydd writes:

You are dead on. We are learning about creating our personal brand in my online media class. We are learning how to optimize my SEO. I do not believe you missed anything. The point I most agree with is that you need to be seen. I am continuing to brand myself and will need to in this turning point of journalism.
September 8, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Butler Cain writes:

Creating a personal brand is something new to me (and many others, as we can see). I came up linking my name to the brand of my employer (public radio). That’s just not enough anymore.
September 8, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Brand you | JRN 425: Online Media writes:

[...] Journalists Must Build a Personal Brand: 10 Tips [...]
September 8, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Earning the ‘i’ in ‘journalism’ | Write -30- writes:

[...] a lot of great advice floating around on how to do that. The ever-helpful Mindy McAdams has some excellent tips, as does Vadim Lavrusik over at [...]
January 6, 2010 at 10:11 am