Happy New Year!!!!!!! (These exclamation points will mean something in 28 seconds)
Most of us won’t have too much brainpower today, so let’s get right to it.
Here’s a quick review of Entrepreneur Magazine’s proposed Exclamation Point Guidelines for 2012. These should help communicate our personal brands as we approach the New Year:
Entrepreneur’s interpretation of current accepted meanings:
! = Mild enthusiasm, possibly feigned.
!! = Legitimate mild enthusiasm.
!!! = Moderate enthusiasm.
!!!! = Considerable enthusiasm.
!!!!! = “Maybe by typing so many exclamation points I can convince myself that such excitement is actually warranted.”
!!!!!! = “What the hell–I’m just going to throw in some more exclamation points.”
Entrepreneur’s proposed new meanings:
! = This is so exciting.
!! = This is revolutionary.
!!! = I am literally about to pass out from excitement.
!!!! = I’m serious. I’m literally passing out right now.
!!!!! = Seriously, I’m in bad shape here. Call 911.
!!!!!! = No, wait. I’m feeling better. But seriously, this is really exciting.
So…Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!
Wendy Brache builds and executes personal branding and online marketing strategy for executives and corporations in the high-tech sector. She is the author of Sales Force Branding: Differentiate from the Competition, and co-creator of the Sales Force Branding program. Wendy is a senior consultant specializing in B2B Corporate Social Media, Demand Generation and Marketing Automation, and is also a featured marketing technology speaker and columnist on renowned websites, such as Maria Shriver’s Women’s Conference, Chopra’s Intent.com and Denver’s GreatIdeasForKids.com.
