The current 2.0 obsession is personal branding. I respect some of the ideas. Make a name for yourself, do what it takes to be known. Get followers. Be a rockstar freelancer. Be buzzworthy. Be an event. Be a micro celebrity. That’s what folks want. Seem to be successful, fake it till you make it. Total Crap.
It’s mostly crap, unless it’s a means to communicate how you serve people.
Sure, being known is important. I get it. But people are focusing on getting known first. Before they have skills. Before they focus on what they are here to give, how they are here t help. “Know me.” is the entitled cry that people have. Things become about people in lieu of ideas, and the man and the work get muddled up so that an attack on the work is an attack on the man. When we are all about us, then what happens is not good.
My Dream Personal Branding Workshop
Instead of a Personal Branding Workshop on how to dress, how to appear, how to be successful, how to look good, I’d change the focus. I want to be known for helping small businesses. I want to be known as the guy that taught small businesses how to make money from their blogs. So, my workshop would focus on this: what are you giving to others.
My agenda:
- Developing a valuable giveaway to be known for.
- Creating usefulness for the public.
- Networking with other people that are giving value away.
- Putting the focus on the people you want to help.
- Creating a mindset of service, and the skillset to serve.
That’s it. Customer focused. I don’t matter to the customer. What I look like doesn’t matter. If I have a dog doesn’t matter. What matters is who I’m here to help, what I’m giving to you, and how I can be of service to you. Focusing on image first, without the heart of service will get some results. Not nearly the results though, that are yours by focusing on how you can help other people.
Personal Branding Tips That Matter
But if you focus on helping others FIRST, if you focus on making it so that people win from working on you…you get more. That’s what’s making me wealthy. When I switched my service from “what can Chris get” to “what can Chris do to help,” the world radically changed for me. That is making me financially secure faster than any skill I’ve ever acquired. My personal branding statement isn’t about me, it’s about what I do to help.
- Focus on caring first. People smell BS.
- Focus on giving more to others.
- Focus on being of service in every way.
- Focus on what service you give to others.
That’s it. The people that do this with the highest level of authority and skill are all about this simple idea are all about this. So ask: is your message making you a star, your content a star, or what you’re here to give a star? What is more attractive to others, your success, or your service?
Personal Branding For Small Business and soloprenuers has to be about what you’re doing for others. Period. I’ll hit this more often and do some case studies as time permits.
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YES! I totally agree with you. This sentence is the key: “When I switched my service from ‘what can Chris get’ to ‘what can Chris do to help, the world radically changed for me.” EXCELLENT post, Chris.
I run into this a a lot with clients. The “make the logo bigger” mentality. Branding is about your service, the experience people have with you and what they’ve come to expect from you.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important to appear professional and have the right elements in place to portray your brand and what you represent, but don’t let it overshadow your customer’s needs.
Talk to your customer first, make them feel comfortable and let them know they’re in the right place. They’ll get to your fancy logo on their own time.
I’ve always felt a bit conflicted about the term ‘personal branding’ – I think you hit the nail on the head. I’m only interesting as a person to a limited circle of people. If I can serve a market with interesting content, ideas, or services – that makes me valuable. And it’s those ideas/concepts/services that I want people to talk about – not me.
Humility wins.
Exactly. Who cares about the “brand” if the product sucks or is all smoke and mirrors… Be good at what you do – and you’ll be known for THAT, not the other way around.
Great stuff, Chris.
Well said, my friend. I posted a while back about making sure the value proposition was obvious in the websites we build, but I think I may have missed (or poorly communicated) a critical point. Value isn’t value for me. It’s the value you provide to others. It’s almost too simple – that’s possibly why so many miss the point. Good job.
Great comments and I couldn’t agree more. PB is not about image, its all about adding value and the end result is you become known for what you do and how you do it well. So many people think that its all about the label on the tin, but its really all about the contents!
Agree totally that providing value to your readers/customers is paramount, but it does not have to be an either/or situation. Look at PB as the gift wrap, making the experience a little more memorable, entertaining or whatever your personal touch adds to it. People like to be entertained by personalities as evidenced by the popularity of programs like Big Brother or Hello type magazines, which is really a bunch of nothingnes filled with personalities. PB has its place.
I can think of a number of bloggers and IMs who give excellent value, but who also have such great personality, that you remember them, and look forward to their latest offering for more than just its content. In a crowded world it is also useful to have a hook by which to remember someone, as, fortunately for those of us who consume information online, there are quite a few folk who give excellent value. That little extra helps me to remember who is who more easily.
Great thoughts. I’m with you on the idea that personal branding isn’t about being known. If people focus on knowing themselves — what they love, what makes them tick, where their great value and contribution lies — personal branding is about taking that clarity and understanding and packaging it in a way that a potential client or employer can understand.
It’s about setting expectations. “This is the essential me. When you get me, this is what you get.” It’s up to the client or employer to decide if that message resonates with them.
A-freaking-men.