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Personal branding is starting to be discussed more and more in the blogosphere and in the real world, which is awesome, but I think some of the messages out there are misleading. The latest threat to this topic comes from a Mediabistro event starring Gary Vaynerchuk, Loren Feldman and Julia Allison. Gary, as we all know, is known for Wine Library TV, a video podcast series that has attracted a vast audience, and has therefore promoted his products and overall “Wine Library” corporate brand. Loren Feldman, owner of 1938 Media, is a video producer for companies and a “puppitier.” He has used his “controversial” and “transparent” personal brand in support of his corporate brand. Julia Allison is “known for being known.” She is famous for a collection of videos starring herself.
Do you need a company or product to brand yourself?
Loren feels you do and I disagree wholeheartedly. Aside from explaining that we are all brands because we are being constantly judged and always have to market ourselves, the other really important point is that you represent your company. Each and every employee counts, has a voice and can build or destroy a corporate brand. People can completely seperate themselves from a company and a product by becoming the product or company. For instance, if you’re an actor, you are what movie directors are “purchasing.” They don’t get anything else besides YOU (by way of your reputation).
I don’t have a company right now. I have a series of products that support my personal brand. The majority of people know me as the personal branding expert, before they mention my blog or magazine. This may change over time because certain people may be exposed to my book or blog before they know about me personally. Those products will be their first impression of me, so they will label me as “Dan Schawbel the author” or “Dan Schawbel the blogger.”
Do you benefit from aligning yourself with a company or product?
Yes, you most definitely do! A personal brand cannot scale. Sure you can use your name as your companies name, such as what Tom Peters has done, but he has an entire team to assist him. As a company grows, it has to hire more and more people to support it. When you are just starting out in your career, a big brand name company can help build your personal brand. For instance, if you worked at Nike or Gillette, then people will have more respect for you out of their trust with those brands. When it comes to products, if you have a book, or a blog, or a magazine or a clothing line, then you have a stronger reach.
If a product brand is successful, the personal brand and corporate brand achieves the same fate. In this way, success is interchangeable and all brands benefit. This can also happen in the reverse, of course. A company will allow you to scale and a product will allow people to “touch you.”
It’s what you do that makes you who you are!
Every time you meet a new person, you introduce yourself and they likewise, they introduce themself to you. After that quick exchange of names, the next question that always comes up is “so what do you do” or “what do you do for work” or “what classes are you taking” or “what do you do for fun on weekends.” All the responses are geared towards the activities you participate in. All conversations start out this way and the beginning of each conversation is your first impression, therefore what you do makes you who you are and how you project that to the other person, makes you memorable.
The point here is that everyone needs to keep busy, in order to have a response and seem interesting to others.
