Mayor of Youville

April 23, 2008

“Personal branding” is a new term, but not a new concept. Going back thousands of years, the legends have been people not companies. It wasn’t until the era of mass marketing that companies became famous. As mass marketing loses its influence, we are moving to an era of individualism; where we trust people people not entities. In other words, this era marks the return of legends. Except instead of Davy Crockett, we have Steve Jobs.

In many ways, personal branding is like running for the mayor of a small town. We call it “Youville”. It has a population of around 10,000. In this race, not everybody needs to know who you are; just enough to create buzz. Of course, doing a little advertising and PR doesn’t hurt - but the real work is going to the Rotary lunches, meeting with influencers, hanging out at the coffee shop, etc.

Let’s take this out of the allegory to the reality. The above scenario applies to anyone that really wants to be relevant. If you are a CEO, you are the face of the company. If you are a consultant or freelancer, you are the product. If you are a salesperson, you know that your customers by from YOU not your company. In short, you have to own your own brand. These means going beyond resumes to create an on-line and off-line presence.

If you want to learn more, we are conducting a workshop about personal branding on May 9, 2008. Click here for more info.

Posted by justin | Filed Under Presentations