Personal branding

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I’ve been reading about personal branding today – google’s top rankings on the subject. Expert Dan Schwabel has some pertinent tips on the subject and I wouldn’t disagree with any of his points. But I would say you could simplify this subject. Some people get paid nice chunks of money to analyse who you are and turn you into a ‘brand’.  The media makes us believe we need to fork out thousands of dollars for the privilege of discovering what our personal brand really is. It’s very easy to read all the advice and the analyses and end up feeling, ‘Well, I’ll never be a brand then, I’m just not extrovert enough and can’t afford the Armani suit.’

To develop personal branding, I submit, it’s mostly a business of distilling the POSITIVE YOU from the everyday you. And then turning that essence into persuasion. In many ways it doesn’t matter what type of person you are – quirky, funny, emphatic, sweet, girl-next-door, down-to-earth lad…

The fun part comes from tapping into those parts of you you like, those parts you know your friends and family like. And yes, warts and all. If you can harness those qualities and put them into communicating to people who show an interest in your business, you have the beginnings of a personal brand.

Take Richard Branson. Son of a rich man, had it easy – that’s what people were no doubt saying in his early days. But the guy had passion,  and when he turned a New Oxford Street basement record store into a chain of record stores and a record label, people forgot about his privileged past and locked in on that very British quality he exuded in abundance – that of the (nutty?) explorer. You look at the Virgin brand today. They write the best copy out there. I’m a senior copywriter – and I tell you, I read their copy. Because it’s the best. It’s direct, it’s passionate and not afraid of pushing the communication frontier. Virgin are always ahead of everyone else. So all their copywriters are writing with a certain passion, a certain cheekiness – cheekiness with intelligence, though – because they have been given the license to push the envelope by the spirit of entrepreneurship that Branson projects – his frontiersman spirit of going round the globe in a balloon.

So, to bring things back to you, and your efforts in creating a personal brand, just think about those positive qualities your family appreciate in you. (Let’s hope there’s one or two!) Then work those qualities into your communications with the outside world. And guess what, you’ll have discovered your personal brand.

As a thank you for reading this post, here’s a free report on attraction marketing – relevant to the above.