People are not cereal boxes!
Lately, it’s all about the image you portray when it comes to landing a job or getting promoted.
At least that’s what many career experts would have you believe.
Today, image building is known by fancy names like personal branding and brand management.
We’re all supposed to be building a brand for ourselves in cyber space and in our industries, or risk being left out in the career cold.
The branding experts say this applies to every type of career, every type of job.
I think that’s bologna.
Maybe you’re happy with the low-key persona you’ve created for yourself. Maybe it’s served you well and you don’t need to be Twittering all the time telling the whole world what you’re up to, or amassing connections on LinkedIn, like me.
And what if you’re not one for tooting your own horn, or someone that likes to remain in the background and just quietly work hard, behind the scenes, in your career? There are a lot of you out there. I hear from readers all the time that they just don’t have the nerve to ask their bosses for more money, or sing their own praises when it comes to getting recognition for their work.
How do people like this get a page on Facebook and let it all hang out? And trust me, the thought of starting a blog is insane to most of the people I talk to.
I think this whole personal branding, image building, etc., stuff is getting a bit out of hand. I really don’t think every employee in this world needs to be worried about it. That said, there are benefits to self selling. But let’s just keep it all in perspective folks.
On this historic Election Day, aka, Branding Big Daddy, I thought it would be a good time to really challenge a branding guru about branding and the average working stiff.
I’ve been informally asking one of my favorite personal branding buddies about this lately on Gmail, so I figured it may be time to have him go formal and actually do a Q&A with the CareerDiva.
I challenged Dan Schawbel, personal branding expert and author of the soon-to-be released branding book “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success,” to a branding/no branding duel:
Q. What if someone thinks this whole personal branding thing is bullshit, and wants to advance their careers the old fashioned way? My dad was a furrier. He didn’t have a personal brand. My grandfather worked in a factory. He had no brand. My hubby’s dad was an engineer at DuPont. He didn’t have a brand. My mother in law was a X-ray technician. She didn’t have a brand. My mom ran a boutique and also was a seamstress. She didn’t have a brand.
A. Eve, as usual, you have great questions and are a great devil’s advocate. I’m a little bias here, but when I present to schools and companies, I always explain that you are your Google results and people are wanting to find you online. If you aren’t visible you don’t exist, nor will get the opportunities you are working hard for. Another important factor is that you need to invest in your self (your personal brand equity), which means that you need to be a content producer, not just consumer. This is how you can command a premium price (higher salary) for your brand name.
Q. What would you say to someone who says they are just too shy to start a blog or really get anything out of social networking sites?
A. Eve, I think it’s hard for someone to get outside of their comfort zone, show their true face to the world and start being overly aggressive using social media tools. I would recommend that people start a private blog on Google blogger and start to write about personal or professional topics. This way, they are performing the acts of blogging, but don’t have to worry about other people seeing it. It’s like a private journal diary of sorts. Once they get comfortable, they may either leverage that content for a public blog or start something else. By not blogging or being apart of social networking sites, you lose the chance at owning your Google results (they rank high in Google), you lose your freedom of speech and you miss valuable opportunities to be recruited or network with others who share your passion.
Q. Is there any way to use a surrogate so you can get your name out in cyber space?
A. You can do anything you want but people will find out and dishonestly spreads virally quicker than honesty. As bloggers or members of the web 2.0 consortium, it is in your best interest to be yourself, especially because everyone else is taken and replicas don’t sell for as much. There have been many stories of ghost writers for CEO’s and they have all been terrorized in the blogosphere for lacking authenticity, integrity and transparency. It’s not a good idea if you want to build brand you.
Q. How can someone convey their brand without tooting their own horn, which is so hard for some folks?
A. It’s actually very hard to do. At some level, I think all of us have to use social media to “indirectly” promote our brands to others. Theres a big difference when your bragging to people directly, relative to showing and demonstrating your knowledge on a blog. We have to market ourselves, or we will go unnoticed, but we have to be smart about it and only self-promote when called for. In an interview, you have to promote yourself or you won’t get the job, but in social situations, theres really no point. It’s better to have your friends or professional contacts spread your brand gospel then for you to do it.
You are the chief marketing officer for the brand called you, but what others say about your brand is more impactful that what you say about yourself. That being said, you should try and get as many endorsements as possible throughout your career.
Q. Does it make sense to hire your own PR person, image consultant?
A. It depends where you are in your career. I’ve never had a PR person before and I’ve been in Fast Company, BusinessWeek and many other publications. The world is still about who you know, but by starting a blog, it enables you to meet a ton of people who can aid in your quest to success. The term “image consultant” is looked down upon by anyone involved in the personal branding space. The difference is that image management is a product of constant manipulation, while personal branding is about sincerity. I think the role of the PR person has changed significantly. I value PR people, not just because I work in a Fortune 500 PR department, but because it’s another person who can help you, when you don’t have time to help yourself.
Q. Are most hiring managers looking for prospective employees that have a strong personal brand? Are there certain industries, professions where this is much more important?
A. I don’t think many hiring managers are in tune with social media and personal branding quite yet. I think their main priority is to hire the best person for their job, rather than worry about branding. This will change soon, as I believe people will be measured in new “innovative” ways. One example that I’ve posted about recently, is hiring managers looking at how many LinkedIn contacts you have. If they have narrowed their pool down to a few candidates, they might choose the candidate with the larger network.
Matt Dickman was hired based on the brand he established online to be a Director at Fleishman Hillard and Steve Rubel was hired to be an executive at Edelman after achieving blogging fame years ago. Depending on your industry, I believe personal branding will be more of a factor than not. Marketing positions are probably the most important because people are looking for examples of how you can market a product, company or person (same tactics), in order to get results.
Q. What’s up with all this personal branding? Aren’t we all just full of our selves these days?
A. I think that’s half true. People, especially in Gen-Y, are more apt to give out their information freely. They want their friends to see they are attending this awesome Halloween party on Facebook and the pictures of that party the next day. I think the smart people will realize that personal branding is important for protection and promotion and without it, it’s harder to network. Networking is your only insurance policy in a failing economy and social media is proven to help you build a powerful network in the least possible time.
What do you all think? Branding may be able to elect a president, but do you think you need a personal brand to make it through life?
November 4th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Great post! Love the conversation about branding between you both. Yes, we are full of ourselves but social media is an amazing way to brand yourself
November 4th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Thanks for sharing the discussion, I enjoyed the experience. Because I am familiar with the work of both parties (Dan and Eve), I felt the read would be worth the time in all the clutter - nice brand!
I want to add to the discussion that even with no personal marketing, the brand exists. Why people do or do not get the nod to be on the project at work or in the community.
As an executive recruiter, I realized long ago that the culture I was evaluating was a brand run and changed by the brand of leadership existing and/or in the future. I was hiring complimentary brands! Love it. We hire (or don’t) not because of the packaging/marketing, but the feeling…that is brand. I just hope people that campaign on or offline match actual brand experience = trust.
November 4th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
You already have a brand, if you know it or not, so the question should be “should you manage your brand?” Since you already have a brand, I’d think the answer would be “Yes, I should do everything possible to make sure it’s the brand I want it to be?
It means focusing on certain characteristics that tell the world who you are, what to expect from you and why they should place their trust in you and making purposeful decisions every day. Another word for brand is “reputation” and who wouldn’t want to be proactive in managing their reputation.
Your father, grandfather, father-in-law and mother-in-law had brands based on their behavior, their values, the way they did business. They didn’t have Facebook pages or blogs but people who knew them certainly formed opinions about who they were and how they’d act based on their experience with them or on what other people had to say about them. Those people used that brand to decide if they’d buy a fur from your father, ask your grand father to do a job in the factory, assign your father-in-law a design project or ask your mother-in-law to take care of that scared patient.
Active horn-tooting is not part of every person’s brand, so not everybody needs or should have a blog or a Facebook page. Today’s technology only gives us more tools to manage that brand. The Internet is one of the biggest, baddest tool in your toolbox.
Another great tool: Good old-fashioned networking and consistent, reliable and relevant behavior.
-Mark
November 4th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
When studying business management some years ago, I remember a number of discussions on branding. There was, however, one aspect of branding that really stuck with me, and I’m surprised that all of the promoters of personal branding aren’t addressing it: changing the brand. As it turns out, many companies have tried to change their brands over the years, and most of them were complete failures. Then in recent decades, companies got smarter: instead of trying to re-cast an image for an existing brand, they found it was better to start a new brand aimed at the target demographic. What have been, perhaps, the best examples of this are in the auto industry. Lexus, anyone?
So, if someone dives whole-heartedly into this personal branding effort, what should be done when he or she wants to change directions? Will that person need to go out and create new social networking accounts under a new name, and create four times more new web content to help bury the old results?
In the personal realm, the concept of branding is rediculous. There’s an older word (and concept) that predates branding but is closely related to it: reputation. Some might argue that having a great reputation is the result of successful branding. I’d argue that, if a person is successful at coming across like a brand, it is due to reputation.
You build a reputation today the way your parents did it before you: through time and experience. Can your employer trust you to get the job done? Are your results average, or do you go beyond expectations? Does your work get done professionally and in a timely manner? Do you keep your word?
All these things help build a reputation. Develop a good reputation, and you’ll find job changes a bit easier (but still not auto-magical), and retention less of an issue. Why do we, as a society, feel compelled to give new labels to general concepts that have been around for millennia?
November 6th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I couldnt agree more that personal branding isnt for everyone. As you explain in the interview, most of your relatives didnt have a “brand” but still did well in their respective fields. If one is to brand themselves, they usually have a purpose for it, not just to be found when Googled. They want to create a name for themselves and possibly become a thought leader.
In terms of the Y-generation, I think that it is important to brand oneself just due to the sheer numbers of other qualified candidates. As Dan said and what the statistics have shown is that more and more employers are looking online to find “dirt” on any potential employees. This is why you need to create a consistent online presence and make sure that all of your profiles are clean of any inappropriate things.
August 21st, 2009 at 6:11 pm
A Roadmap for Building an Authentic Personal Brand
Authentic Personal Branding is a journey towards a happier and more successful life. Your Personal Brand should therefore emerge from your search for your identity and meaning in life, and it is about getting very clear on what you want, fixing it in your mind, giving it all your positive energy, doing what you love and develop yourself continuously. Your Personal Brand should always reflect your true character, and should be built on your values, strengths, uniqueness, and genius. If you are branded in this organic, authentic and holistic way your Personal Brand will be strong, clear, complete, and valuable to others. You will also create a life that is fulfilling and you will automatically attract the people and opportunities that are a perfect fit for you. If you are not branded in this unique way, if you don’t deliver according to your brand promise, and if you focus mainly on selling, market, and promoting yourself, you will be perceived egocentric, selfish and a unique jerk, and branding will be cosmetic and a dirty business…..read more
http://bit.ly/A0mOj ; http://bit.ly/rT6wU
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