Write A Bodacious Bio And Make Your Media Relations Come Alive

All professionals will need a bio at some point in their career. Make sure it’s a good one that gives your experience and achievements the attention and pizzazz they deserve.  Here are some things that you should include in a comprehensive bio, whether it’s a short or long bio. Keep in mind that any of these items can be shortened or expanded upon, depending on the length needed for the bio itself.

Current Position

List what your current position is along with the company.  Make sure you expand on the responsibilities of the position also.  List certain sales levels or budgets that you are accountable for.  Also, if it’s pertinent to the industry that you’re in, list the number of employees reporting to you.  Only include information that would bring credibility to the bio.

Highlights of Experience

You will need to include your experience so you might include your overall experience within a certain industry or your overall experience in a particular field and beyond that you want to include any results that you have achieved especially if you’re a person in sales and you need to include sales information, include some of the percentage increases that you’ve seen with companies that you worked with or even dollar figures of how much you’ve managed.

Educational History

Use your judgment on whether to include your education or not.  When the institution was prestigious or specifically related to the field that you are currently in, it is always a good idea to include your education.  Some people feel uncomfortable listing their education if it isn’t from a specific type of institution or if it isn’t pertinent to their current position.  Again, use your intuition on whether to include your educational history or not.

Achievements

Include honors and awards that you’ve received and achieved during your career.  If you’re in a field like broadcast or advertising, this is important.  Some fields such as finance don’t have such an emphasis on these types of achievements.  If you’ve been named to a top list by a magazine or other publication, be sure to highlight the fact in your bio.

Add Some Pep!

Sometimes people like to have spiffy comments in their bio.  For example, some bios might say you’re the ‘queen’ or ‘king’ of something. Others may have pithy titles that they’ve created.  Explaining an achievement that you’ve accomplished with some sizzle is also a great idea.  Depending on the industry, you may want to include a personal tidbit or two.  For example if you’re in the pet fashion industry, you might want to include what pets you have, their breeds, and names.

Always write a bio that is the correct length for its purpose. A bio for a press kit can be up to a page while a bio for a book or website needs to be much shorter— especially if it’s included on the outside cover, for example.  To make things easier, start out with a lengthy bio and create shorter versions, as they are needed for other purposes.