chrisbrogan.com - Latest Comments in The Real Power of Personal Branding

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Contractors — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 05:47:46 -0000

Personal branding a strong useful marketing technique but can be so easily done badly. If done in the wrong way I think people just close off to anything you have to say and go elsewhere.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

youtube downloader — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 07:33:28 -0000

If I let you down, I’m not keeping the promise of my story. It’s pretty simple, really. And not so much touchy feely. I could say the same thing a different way, and a manager would write it on an annual review. Integrity is another word for this.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

vanithavaidialingam — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:51:43 -0000

While all this is very interesting, I would love to hear your personal story about how you built your brand and your business. How did you start? What did you do? Who was your first client? Did you fail or struggle not to fail? What was your first success? It will make very interesting and inspirational reading.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

chrisbrogan — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:02:29 -0000

Hi Dr. Brown- I think you've come up with a great method there. It sure helps out, that's for sure. Matching against your vision of yourself is an excellent way to keep things in perspective. : ) -- Chris...

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Flora Morris Brown, Ph.D. — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:15:35 -0000

Chris,

I just discovered your blog and your story today, and I'm glad I did.

When I first heard seminar presenters talking about "branding" a few years ago, I was not quite clear what they meant--not really. But after hearing various explanations and now yours, I can say branding makes sense to me.

All that you've shared in this article boils down to being authentic, being true to your inner vision for yourself and your company. I'm easily distracted by many new ideas, techniques and gadgets, but what keeps me on track is asking myself does this fit and advance my story. Can I do this and remain authentic? These questions help keep me on track.

Thanks for sharing this.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Heidi Miller — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:42:08 -0000

Chris, your ideas on your brand telling a story really resonated with me. I've been doing some train the trainer sessions for a communications company, and one of the things we stress is to make the content your own. How? Begin with a story that sets the theme for the day. Keep coming back to that theme and that story, and end the day's seminar with a follow-up and final thought relating to the story. In short, be consistent! So true.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Patty Azzarello — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:09:29 -0000

Personal Brand is a label that some people love and some people hate, but the core message here of "be your best self" is the important part. I have always found that the secret of great leadership is to figure out who you really are and what you're good at and then DO THAT. The most important factor in a successful brand whether personal or corporate is Consistency. They only way you can be consistent is to take some time do decide what you want to be known for and then behave that way on purpose. Focusing your personal brand on being "your best self" also lets you be consistent.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

JC Cameron — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:47:00 -0000

Great article, Chris. I have been very remiss at building my own personal brand over the years (despite knowing how valuable it is). Building your personal brand is a lot like saving money for the future; doing it right, even a little bit at a time, pays off handsomly due to effects of compounding interest (and involvement) over time.

I completely agree on both the value of focusing on your strengths and accepting your weaknesses while at the same time working hard to build both internal and external confidence in yourself. Truly knowing and accepting yourself is the first step to becoming a confident person.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Ben Carcio — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:28:07 -0000

Consistancy, sounds very Machiavellian. Better advice, be yourself, even if it means being inconsistant.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Debra Murphy — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:41:48 -0000

Chris,

It's all about confidence. Consistency, knowledge, style, feeling good about yourself, etc. all gets easier when you have confidence and understand your passion (overused but valid). No matter what you do, if you aren't confident about what you are and what you offer, it won't work. Being authentic and comfortable in yourself is what makes your personal brand real. Owen found his strength and confidence. Robin figured out how to find her confidence. You and many others have it. Other folks I know have it but don't realize it yet. They hopefully will discover their authentic person and realize the confidence they have when they do. Others will continue to look for it.

It's all there to be had - you just have to have the confidence to find it.

Great series of posts, Chris.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Carlos R Hernandez — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:33:05 -0000

I like how you emphasize our personal gifts and talents that can be labeled and touted.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

jennifer jones — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:54:46 -0000

Chris, You do an awesome job at capturing ideas for everyday life. Do what you are best at seems so simple and yet people always feel bad for what they are not. Thanks for your blogging work. Love reading it.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

chrisbrogan — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:31:32 -0000

@OwenMarcus - See that? You had the deck stacked a bit against you and still delivered. Excellent story, and thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

marifromky — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:20:59 -0000

"Why work hard to be what you’re not?"" Yes! I spoke about this in an Utter just the other day: http://mariadkins.com/?p=1664

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Owen Marcus — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:49:52 -0000

Chris,

I agree, move on from fixing ourselves!

Growing up with Asperger’s and dyslexia I desperately tried to do it the right way, but no amount of effort and determination could make it happen. After a couple of decades of not succeeding, I began to discover my strengths. Now I lead at whatever I do because I do it my unique way. I am getting good at asking for help at the many things I don’t do well. You are right, others want to contribute – my needs allow them a way to help.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Maria Elena Duron — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:10:58 -0000

I agree Chris. It's about being persistent, consistent and authentic.
Great focus and wisdom!
Thanks!

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

crawfordbrand — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:49:40 -0000

Nice work. Thanks. Couldn't agree more about consistency. Second, third and fourth that one. Ultimately, branding is forced discipline. All brands are stories, and, most importantly, they are co-authored. You have to respect your co-author and always honor their independence and free will in participating throughout. Your brand story only really exists if your co-author chooses to rewrite their own personal brand story to include you in it. Fun stuff.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Sue Murphy — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:08:12 -0000

Enjoyed this series very much.

We are all storytellers, which is perhaps what draws the lot of us to social media in the first place. Defining one's own story is essential, not just in this space but in all aspects of life (business, relationships, family).

I too have learned to focus on my strengths. Perhaps that is why my business partner and I work so well. We balance out each other's weaknesses. And we each have our own stories, which, when combined, creates our brand.

You should do more of these types of series, it's an excellent format.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Антимаулнетизм — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 07:50:27 -0000

very good article!

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

chrisbrogan — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 07:19:56 -0000

@Robin - that's so clever. I did a bit of LARP and enjoyed it much more than my attempts at acting (I can't remember lines to save myself). Clever premise. Improv would probably help the slightly-less-geeky do similar things.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Robin Cannon — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:32:07 -0000

The confidence is a huge part of it, and well highlighted.

Here's what I think is a big part of my secret to gaining the confidence, professionally, in-person and online, to be successful...

I'm a bit of a geek in my interests. Geeks generally aren't considered to be confident people. But one of my niche interests is live-roleplaying. In which I started to roleplay characters who were...well...more confident than I was as a person.

Effectively I faked it until I made it. And I found that doing it in a fictional setting transfers perfectly well to a real life setting. If I can pretend to be confident and carry it off successfully, then there's no reason why I shouldn't just *be* confident in myself. :)

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Tammy Lenski — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:11:52 -0000

Chris, I've been sitting here pondering your article and keep finding myself putting consistency and confidence together. When I think of the mediators who come to me wondering how I built my practice, I see a lot of inconsistency of message in their marketing...and thanks to your article, I suspect it's due to lack of real confidence in (a) themselves, (b) what they're offering, and (c) in being business owners.

Thanks for providing me with some new insight.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Ulla — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 04:13:42 -0000

Chris,
the important points I got out of your article are: Concentrate on your strenghts and not your weaknesses, and: the importance of confidence. It sounds simple, but for me it is not, so I have to work on that. Blogging three times a week might be not enough, but to keep it up regularly is good for me; there are a lot of better and more professionally done photographs on the web; but mine are not bad (some people say, they are quite okay) and so on and so forth. Thanks for sharing this article!

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

Raphael Love — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 03:23:39 -0000

Very interesting material here. One challenge I see is to keep the branding message consistent. Sometimes in social networks some of the conversations go off track and you can easily find yourself pulled into a pitfall that could damage the image you are working hard to build.

Re: The Real Power of Personal Branding

LisaN — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:36:04 -0000

Great series of posts, thanks Chris. I find the most difficult task is deciding the best social networks to focus on when it comes to branding your site.

Right now, I'm too spread out, so I'm evaluating which sites help me the most, plus which ones are fun...........:)

Thanks for the great info and direction, especially you, Connie.