DOES “PERSONAL BRANDING” DESERVE ALL ITS HYPE? (ROUND 2)
November 18, 2009 by Jason
Filed under FEATURED, HOME BLOGS, MICRO DEBATE: BUSINESS & MARKETING
POSITION: ABSOLUTELY!
I’d say an unequivocal yes to that question with the proviso that it’s an authentic representation of you. Having a personal brand is very important, particularly in these challenging times, when we all need to be able to distinguish ourselves from the crowd.
Whether you know it or not, you have a personal brand, we all do. It’s about what others say about us; our reputation. For those of you who are interested in defining your brand, a good way to start is to ask a handful of close friends or relatives how they’d describe you to someone who doesn’t know you. Then, compare what they say to what you thought they might say, or what you hoped they’d say. You might be pleasantly surprised.
As far as your brand being authentic is concerned, think about your values, beliefs and what you care most about. For instance, if being positive, communicating well and living a life of integrity and compassion are what drive you, do those qualities come across to others in your interactions with them via words, in writing, body language or actions? Donald Trump says that 90% of success begins with just showing up. Having an authentic Personal Brand will fast-forward you to showing up!
POSITION: NO – ENOUGH ALREADY!
I’m a brand guy at heart, and I believe in its validity for individuals as well as for companies. But the ongoing hype over personal branding has almost reached cult status, in a very creepy Tom Cruise/Scientology sort of way.
The endless babble by the legions of Schawbel-ites (the robot army that ravenously hangs on every word muttered by Dan Schawbel and the like) would have one believe that personal branding is a new practice, sprung from the popularization of social media. It isn’t.
Branding is the sum total of all user experiences with a particular product, service or person, building reputation and future expectations of benefit. It’s no more relevant today than it was 10, 20, 50 years ago. So let’s stop making more of this than we really need to. People weren’t Neanderthals before Google and Twitter. There’s nothing wrong with the concept of personal branding – there’s just nothing new about it either. Before the Web, resumes still highlighted what makes each of us special, and we all put our best foot forward and did what we could to establish and maintain our individuality.
The Web hasn’t changed the means – it’s just slightly evolved the methods.
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One can quickly be inundated with lots of personal branding web chatter – how else does one support ones book publisher:)
I believe a brand is defined by its ongoing actions and behavior online and in person. One can establish an online brand in advance of meeting a recruiter, influencer or your next client. Like it or not, you are going to get googled – try me at “andy church”. I have had many first meetings with prospects that were very cozy…since they read my online profile. I still call on all the other soft skills associated with getting the business.
Online personal branding is simply one part of landing a first job, next job or client.
I do side with Jason on the volume of hype…my suspicion is, personal branding will fade and be replaced by something else. After all, Usenet became discussion boards, then portals, then we landed at social media.
Yes, there’s probably too much hype surrounding personal branding but how does one distinguish oneself? I read Trust Agents recently and that was one of my major lessons. Think about it. If I start a blog about technology or management or both, then it’s going to be tough for me to carve out a niche. However, if I sprinkle in my fixation with 70s music, my favorite movies, and other things that make me unique (I think, anyway), then my site/blog are more compelling (I hope, anyway).
I suppose that, at the end of the day, whether we work for The Man or for ourselves, we only have our own brands to define us. If we want to be defined, that is.