Building Relationships

Like I said in an earlier post - it's not what you know, but who you know. Networking is one of the best ways to market your personal brand. Like Gary Vanerchuk says, "Content is king, but Marketing is queen and the queen runs the household." You can have all of the content regarding your personal brand in the world, but if no one knows about it, then you don't have much.

One way to fix that problem is to build relationships- with everyone you can!

Attending a school like Lindenwood University, students have such an advantage. Every Professor at Lindenwood has had experience within the field they teach in. This is such an advantage for students. It allows for all of the opportunities in the world for students to build valuable relationships and network with the professors they see everyday.

If your not fortunate enough to attend a school such as, or similar to Lindenwood, then still, talk to your professors, you never know who they might know. Talk to friends, a former or current boss, family members, or even co-workers.

The Communications industry is all about building relationship - so if you plan on going into this industry, get use to it. The most rewarding part of my current internship is not landing a placement in the St. Louis Business Journal or on a top-tier blog. For me, the gold medal comes from meeting someone and trying to figure out how I can build a mutually beneficial relationship between that person and myself, and maybe down the road, between that person and my client.

When you really listen to others, you start to gage their interests and passions – with this, you can gain their trust. Trust is the building block to relationships, and relationships should be the foundation of good Communications.

Even though measurement and proving our contributions is fundamental to the success of our profession, it will be easier to do so if we start acting a little more human and a little less like impressions fiends. Don’t get me wrong – I know the value of measurement! It takes time, but so does the creation of any good foundation.