Elements of a Personal Brand
Personal empowerment is something near and dear to my heart. When I finally woke up from the realization that I didn’t want to be a corporate worker drone (robots are evil), I realized that I didn’t know the first thing about what to do to change my fate. It took a series of efforts, none of which were easy, but that have led me down a path towards doing what matters to me, being valued for what I do best, and finding friends and supporters along the way who understand me, and who have mutual interests.
Because YOU might be in a place where you’re wondering what to do next, or because you might want to know more about what it’s taken to go from being a guy in a cube named Chris Brogan to a guy people know and want to talk to, here are some elements of personal branding to consider. Your mileage may vary, but maybe these will spark your own ideas, and maybe you’ll share them in the comments.
Here are some elements of a Personal Brand:
Self Esteem First
Absolutely nothing I do would work if I hadn’t worked long and hard on my self-esteem. In my case, I read a bunch of motivational books that got me started down the right path, but my self-esteem didn’t get better until I read (and did all the work inside) a book by Dr. Matthew McKay simply called Self-Esteem. It taught me a lot about how to observe and identify the things I was doing in my head to scuttle everything I wanted to accomplish. The more I learned, the more I have been successful over the last year.
Be Yourself
My friend, Jon Swanson has a great series of “8 things” going on. In the post I linked above, Jon’s 8th tip for increasing stress was “Try to be Chris Brogan if you are built to be Jon Swanson.” It’s really important to be yourself in building a brand. Coke never set out to be just like somebody else. Madonna didn’t try to be someone different. The brands we know and love work because they are their own identity.
In the world of the Internet, with “me too” applications abound, branding is often superfluous, if everyone just figures you’re just like someone else.
Offer Value
Brands stand for something. I don’t buy Apple because the cool kids buy it. I’ve had Apple products since 1983. I buy them because they’re easy to use, they work, they’re designed for my style.
Your brand needs to offer a value. Top of his game in the brand of strategy for the web right now? Jeremiah Owyang. Even before he took his new gig at Forrester, Jeremiah has written amazing papers (blog posts), and given them to his readers for free. Why? Because he already knows about the new ROI (Return On Influence).
For you, consider WHAT you offer, and consider it hard. If you’re not providing a great “product,” and that can be a service that you do for the world, why should I care about your brand in the first place?
Build a Destination
This comes first in giving people a way to reach you, to see you, to know what you’re about. In this case, I mean giving people a website (preferably a blog), a phone number, an email account, a twitter account, a LinkedIN profile, and a Facebook profile. At minimum. Maybe you need other portals, but here’s a good starting point. Tie these things together. Show people how to connect to you at each of these. Why? Because you’re building out a way for people to get to know more about you, to reach you, to let you be there.
Destinations are so Web 1.0, which is why we added in Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIN. Folks should be able to find your brand and interact with it wherever THEY are. Optionally, you can add an IM client, but I find that when I’m on Instant Messenger, I don’t get much work done.
Join the Conversation
Start sharing your ideas. Write from the heart. Speak from the heart. Show people where your passions lie. Help others solve their problems. Listen to what others say and instead of saying, “Yeah! Me too,” try saying back something of added value. Comment all over the place and give people a sense of who YOU are.
Superstar in this department lately: Connie Bensen. She’s really lit up the scene fast, and is definitely someone with good opinions and ideas. I feel the same about Ben Yoskovitz of the Instigator Blog. He’s someone with a great value-add sense to what he’s doing out there.
Innovate
In a world full of people doing somewhat similar stuff, the person who innovates is definitely ahead of the game. Come up with new things all the time. The other day, I posted on Twitter a quick blurb that Dave Winer was a scout while the rest of us were trail guides. This meant that Dave is out there trying and doing new things all the time. It’s not good enough for a new, strong brand to be out there showing people the path from where everyone is to where everyone might go next. What gets really important is when you are DEFINING the path.
Doing something new is a great way to get people to be interested in what you do.
Be Responsible
Lately, I went through a rough patch of not delivering on things I said I would do. I’m still digging out from that a bit. Being reliable is a cornerstone to your brand. If you stop being reliable, it doesn’t matter that you’re a good person, or interesting, etc. It matters that you’re helping people get something done. Execute. Repeat. Execute.
The more you can be responsible, the more your brand will matter.
Your Own Company
Inside my head, I’m the CEO, project manager, and administrative assistant to my own private company. Employees= 1. With this in mind, I look at every job I take as a project. I look at every project as an opportunity. I talk to everyone professionally as if they’re someone looking to partner with me and my company. This helps me frame everything I do.
I don’t think in terms of resume, at least not the way most folks think. Instead, I think about projects that matter to me. This is why inside my last company, I moved laterally a lot of the time. The titles didn’t matter (the more you learn this, the better your life becomes), but instead, the experiences mattered.
Also, learn to look outside the walls of the organization you’re with. NOT so you can leave, but so you can understand how your role works in more dimensions.
These things have worked wonders on my personal brand.
Build and Learn Constantly
I’m reading all the time. I learn about things from people all the time. The more you build your personal ability, the more your brand can offer. Learn from all the sources that matter. Read great books. Subscribe to excellent blogs using a good reader like Google Reader, and learn how to absorb information that matters to what you’re passionate about.
The more you learn, the more you can offer back. Keep it consistent with your idea of who you are and what you want to offer the world, but be creative, and constantly strive to make your brand more useful and valuable to others.
Communicate Well
Not just communicate, but do it well. Learn how to blog in a way that people will read what you say. Learn which of your posts are going to do WHAT for your audience. Communicate verbally. Sign up to speak at places and learn how from organizations and individuals who take presenting seriously. Pay attention to how professionals speak, and learn from what they show you.
Always strive to communicate in a way that delivers the payload of your information up front, that makes it all direct and to the point, and that can be taken as a value.
Much More
As I’m blogging and not writing a book, I’ll stop things here. Hopefully, there’s lots to go on.
But instead of me going on, why not you? Tell me what you know about YOUR personal brand? Tell me what’s worked for you in the past. Tell me that you’ve done X and it’s worked well, or that you don’t know how to get past Y. We’ll figure it out. What do YOU think?
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
Great thoughts Chris. Nice to meet you at blogworld as well.
You comment about “not writing a book” got me thinking that “is my blogging one of the reasons I’m not concentrating on the book I should be writing?”
Should I quit blogging so I can finally write the book?
Great article on branding. 2 things I’ve learned:
1) Never sacrifice brand for business.
2) Its easy to grow a brand through someone else. Celebrities, partnerships..etc. (Pixar with Disney)
or we can always walk around saying “Do you know Chris Brogan?”
Great Branding 101. This is where I will now send people on the path to start, no matter where they are on the path.
Because as Julia Cameron (not a bad brand herself) pointed out, the path is a spiral, not a straight line.
Thank you, amazing Chris Brogan.
@Will that’s what I do, ask everyone if they know Chris Brogan, and surprisingly a lot do!
I learned something about my brand the other day, when someone said “I see you connect with a lot of people but what do you do?” Ouch, I never looked at it like that before. The brand I thought I had doesn’t seem to exist. Maybe it never has except in my mind.
This is a great post Chris. It will keep my mind going all day.
Well as I procrastinated about writing a piece for tomorrow on personal branding I of course switched to Twitter. Got a shock when I arrived at this site. Read and then decided mine is going to be far superior in its superficiality so I need not worry.
Chris, I really am learning a lot from your posts.
As a person who is toying with the idea of starting a website about using technology for mind development, personal branding is interesting to me.
I’m having a hard time understanding the differences between branding a product vs. branding a person (or a person’s skillset?). Can you point me where there is a discussion about this, a post of yours, or could you post on that in the future? Thanks!
Do the unpopular.
Don’t fear the Angry.
Tough love.
Moderation in all things.
Look at the mediocre and boring, too.
Pay attention to the hype machine when needed.
Fail.
Be unrelenting.
[…] of a Personal Brand chrisbrogan created an interesting post today on Elements of a Personal BrandHere’s a short […]
This is one the best things I’ve read in a long time, Chris. Thank you. As one who is working on her journey to prosperity, I couldn’t agree more on self-esteem and health being the foundation to EVERYTHING. You mentioned being reliable to others, but in the end that’s also being reliable to yourself. Funny thing, is that yesterday I had to write something down in my prosperity-consciousness class about what my heart truly desired. I knew the answer immediately. This could only come if I implicitly trusted myself and what I have to offer others. I recently re-did my resume based on this principle and I was very pleased with what I saw in the paper in front of me. Truth, trust and faith — it’s all part of the personal package.
[…] been writing this review I’ve just seen a tweet by Chris Brogan mentiong his latest blog post at http://chrisbrogan.com/elements-of-a-personal-brand - worth a […]
[…] been writing this review I’ve just seen a tweet by Chris Brogan mentiong his latest blog post at http://chrisbrogan.com/elements-of-a-personal-brand - worth a […]
More than a few people have told me, that as they watch my video podcasts, that “I look comfortable in my own skin”
Its not really a conscious thing that I do, but it comes across to viewers. I think its the culmination of years to not being myself.
So, be yourself, within reason.
[…] by telecommatt on November 15, 2007 Elements of a Personal Brand : [chrisbrogan.com] When I finally woke up from the realization that I didn’t want to be a corporate worker […]
Here is the Y that I can’t get past: Being relevant is my biggest hurdle. right now its hard to blog about my strongest experiences/thoughts/ideas because they would potentially have an adverse impact with my current job. :)
Mitch Joel (or was it C.C.?) had the best line on this at podcamp boston. He said, “Stop trying to be someone else, because THEY are already taken.” Everyone in the room had to think about it for about 2 seconds and then a burst of insane laugher. Yup, everyone else IS taken. So, just be yourself. (correct me if this is not the exact quote because it was hilarious and I want to get it right.) Of course, if I don’t get it precisely right, I’m just being myself and I guess that’s the point here…
Chris - it’s always good news when you tweet about a new blog post. So I came over & I was nodding my head about Jeremiah O. (you met him first in person - I get my chance in Dec!). But then I was so humbled to see my name called out. Thank you for making my day & sharing my blog with your community. Your friends are my friends. In true Chris Brogan style - let me know how I can help. :)
(and I regret missing PodCamp Boston this year - next year I’ll be there!)
As always, great post, Chris!
One thing that I will add, which I think is important, is to be consistent in your message and communication.
I’ve recently taken on a lot of projects and moved into a new office. Due to these factors, I have stopped blogging as often and have had infrequent, jumbled posts. I feel that the valuable conversations I used to have with peers and clients have significantly decreased because of this.
I’m trying to correct that, because I’ve learned the hard way that an open stream of communication is always good for business, no matter how busy things get.
Thanks!
[…] chrisbrogan added an interesting post on Elements of a Personal Brand.Here’s a small excerpt:In my case, I read a bunch of motivational books that got me started down the right path, but my self-esteem didn’t get better until I read (and did all the work inside) a book by Dr. Matthew McKay simply called Self-Esteem. … […]
Focusing on others, being of service is my mantra. It’s important to remember that it’s the generous web, not the me web. Anytime I feel off course, this service approach sets things straight.
Good tips - I’ll be subscribing to this feed thats for sure. I’ve always just operated on helping others get what they want and you will end up with what you want.
Fabulous post, Chris! Your brand was apparent in the comments.
A company, product service and personal brand are all about experiences people have. Smart strategies make sure message and experience equal to those who value unique value propositions, I see yours is true.
Your brand, Chris is apparent in the comments. The following and respect. I am glad I not so accidentally found your blog!
[…] want universal identification capabilities across social networks. This allows for easier extension of personal brands as well as extension of preferred personal applications across communities. A […]
[…] a lot written on the power of personal branding. Check out Chris Brogan’s recent post on the “Elements of a Personal Brand”. Of course, I should point out that speaking is just one component of the personal brand. This fits […]
[…] Xeni Jardin wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerptHere are some elements of a Personal Brand:. Self Esteem First. Absolutely nothing I do would work if I hadn’t worked long and hard on my self-esteem. In my case, I read a bunch of motivational books that got me started down the right … […]
[…] provoking & his style is to ask ‘What can I do for you’? Chris did a post on personal branding & mentioned various people. Join the […]
[…] of this website began forming. To gain a better understanding of branding, I suggest reading “Elements of a Personal Brand” by social media expert, Chris Brogan. “What’s in a name? That which we call a […]
[…] “Elementi di un Personal Brand,” di Chris Brogan “Managing Your Digital Professional Identity,” di Laura Fries […]
Chris,
Excellent points and well written. Take your blog posts and compile them into a book, self publish it, and taadaa - you have a business “card” that compels others to speak positively on your behalf!
You hit the nail on the head with communication - it’s the internal and external communication you have that will determine your success.
Best,
Maria Elena Duron
[…] or niche? You need to place/position yourself within your organization and your industry. As Chris Brogan, points out, brands “stand for something”. The question leaders must ask themselves is […]
The personal brand is an evolving reflection of who you are at a given moment in time on your life journey. One aspect that is important is to explore the principles that will shape your journey. These principles will guide you and keep you on track.
Two things really stick out that have helped me create my personal brand and accomplish the things I have accomplished.
First thing is I really try and turn my weaknesses into my strengths. Its not taking the path of least resistance but it is the path of most probable success.
Secondly I have had to face my fears of looking or sounding silly. Get yourself out there and put it on the line. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how many people care what you have to say.
[…] Chris Brogan beberapa hal yang harus kita ingat dalam melakukan personal branding online adalah adanya kemauan […]
Just came across your post Chris - great points.
So what do people say about you when you are not there? When we are actually present, we have the opportunity to influence people - perhaps to convince others that we are the right person for the opportunity, the role, the deal. However, more often than not, most of the important decisions are made when we are not present - and this is where our personal brands need to stand up for us.
Great personal brands are built on four key principles - we need to be compelling to our target market or audience, or in other words, memorable, interesting, different, unique. Secondly, we need to be authentic - without this, we are not believable. Next is consistent - it breeds trust. Last but not least, our personal brands need to be well known - no point in being amazing at something if no one knows about it.
Chris
Great points on Personal Branding. I would add something that came across clearly in your post. “Be authentic”. People see through those who are trying to brand themselves as something they are not for the sake of a quick gain or opportunity.
Personal branding is about being a living example of the behaviors and values that you consistently exude to make yourself unique. Consistency is key to branding and as you build a consistent personal brand you build trust. People buy products they trust, and buy into people they trust.
“Madonna didn’t try to be someone different.”
Actually, that’s precisely what she set out to do - but I see your point - be yourself, whatever that is.
I think that’s probably the key place to start - figure out who YOU are - hint: You are not the person that everyone else thinks that you are - their perceptions of you are wrong especially if you still haven’t defined “you” to yourself.
For all the Chris Brogan readers out there - just remember this, “You are unique - there isn’t anyone else like you, and that makes you special.”