The Power of Personal Brand

When Steve Rubel left CooperKatz and joined Edelman PR, his former agency fell under the blogosphere's radar screen. We just don't hear about them anymore. Meanwhile, Edelman ,with its blogging CEO, and popular blogging executive Phil Gomes had its brand significantly strengthened.  They are seen as the largest PR agency that "gets it." As more and more traditional enterprises inevitably realize they have few intelligent options that do not embrace social media, the likelihood that they will turn to Edelman, over say, Ketchum, Porter Novelli or Bursten Marsteller increases significantly. 

Edelman has several thousand employees.  Chances are that very few new clients will ever see these three blogging PR executives, except perhaps, during new business presentations. But it doesn't matter. The personal brand of three Edelman team members sufficiently strengthens their corporate brand.  Clients will trust other Edelman team members to know how to guide their first foray into the blogosphere.

Personal brand is not new.  When Babe Ruth was traded from the Red Sox to the Yankees back in 1918, many fans moved their loyalties from Boston to New York along with him. What has changed is that the blogosphere has enormously amplified the number and power of personal brands. Just picture how the perceptions of two companies would shift if --and this is merely theoretical--Robert Scoble, a midlevel employee, moved from Microsoft to Google. Just think what that would to your perception of the two companies.

This is what's new. Scoble, Rubel and a rising number of employees employees have personal brands have personal brands that shape global brands.  The impact is noticeable now as blogging starts to penetrate large traditional companies. It will be immense in coming years.

But there is another, perhaps even more powerful aspect of personal brand. Big companies now have to adjust to personally branded customers.

Examine how you feel about Dell Computers today.  Is it better or worse than a year ago. Dell's ads (dude) haven't changed. Nor has their logo. Their PR campaign is pretty much from the same redundant cookie cutter.  The same official corporate spokespeople serve as their public voice and face.  But something has happened that diminishes trust in the Dell brand in the hearts of a great many people.

A small handful of former Dell customers have used blogs to express disappointment and outrage about Dell's quality of product and service. Dell's corporate brand has been damaged and, I would argue, that it cannot be repaired until customers become champions for the company again. They could spend six godzillian dollars in advertising, and it wouldn't much matter.

The brands--they are a changing.

Comments

[Jane Genova]

This post reinforces what of what Yochai Benkler says in "The Wealth of Networks" about how the goals in commercial life have become very different now. They're no longer about getting a few bucks or recognition for every input on a project but how all that helps add to the project or enhances the overall identity of the group or, as you say, brand.

[Jack Krupansky]

Hmmm... Do I have a "personal brand"? Sure, I suppose so, but in a rather minimal sense. If so, I'm about to intentionally abandon it as I enter the ranks of a certain "big company" in the Pacific Northwest area. I'll have my hands full re-adapting to working deep, deep within the depths of a "big company" and I have no intention of having any public (publicized) identity other than the remains of my past efforts which will persist on the Web for at least the time being (as long as I continue paying my web host providers and Google/Blogger keeps my "free" blogs alive).

A simple question: For whom is a "personal brand" really of value? Sure, if you are an independent, entrepreneurial type (which I was) or a book author or your job involves a public presence and significant public interaction, but otherwise it has significantly less value.

An a soon-to-be employee (May 15), I certainly don't perceive that any prior "personal brand" will have any ongoing value in my career.

If in five or ten years I might decide to once again pursue entrepreneurial endeavors, *then* personal brand will once again become important to me, but it would then be a new brand that I conceive. For the next few (or more) years my lingering "personal brand" will at best gather web-cobwebs.

I expect that I will be far too busy (hopefully) in my new job over the next few years to have any spare energy for blogging, and that's the way it *should* be for *most* employees. Actually, I may in fact pursue *internal* blogging as a communications tool, but that's not something that the world-at-large will ever see.

For the coming period, my focus will be on less brand effort and more team effort.

-- Jack Krupansky

[Shel Israel]

Jack,
Congrats, butI don't think yu can ditch your personal brand. Ask your family, friends and peole like me who have become part of your trusted network. Go to Google where there are 14,300 entries about you. You may fcus on team. So did Babe Ruth. But you bring into that team your personal brand and the team is either stronger or weaker because of it.

[Rick Mahn]

Jack's comment points out how each of us may want to use our personal brand. And Shel is right in pointing out that your personal brand follows each of us.

Our own personal brand is a reflection of who we are. It reflects the perceptions of ourselves to each other and the world at large.

You can control your brand, shape it and mold it to what you want it to be. It will exist whether each of us wants to acknowledge it or not.

The real question is how we each decide to use our personal brand. For "good or evil", or for our own agenda or the company you work for. Its up to you, but understand it is just another way to view how people perceive you.

[Trevor Cook]

Is there any actual evidence that Dell has been damaged by negative blog commentary - other than 'lots of people feel'?

[Shel Israel]

Good question, Trevor. They have missed two out of their last three quarters which is pretty good circumstancial evidence, particularly when HP and Lenova sales are up. But ultimately there are no quanitifiable numbers to assess how people feel about a company and that is how you would measure brand.

[Tim Jackson- Masiguy]

Excellent discussion on a real issue.

I've had this conversation many times over the past year. My "personal brand" is tightly linked to the company I run. This has served to significantly link the two of us together- for better or worse. The company is doing really well, sales are up, brand awareness is up and my "personal" recognition has grown as well. I am tightly linked/ associated with the new success of the brand and that is good for me personally. However, if sales go way south, then I look bad- even if it has nothing to do with me.

If I ever leave the company- which I have no intention of doing- then I will have to fight to regain my own personality away from my current brand. On top of that, the corporate brand will have to fight to distance itself from me and my personality.

What we say and how we build ourselves does, in the end, have significant impact in my opinion and in the minds of many folks I've talked to. That's one of the reasons why the other work I do is different from my brand work, so I can still have a voice that is not so tightly linked to the "day job".

[/pd]

"you do what you are" and thats your personal brand.. regardless if you are employeed with a company or not .. your actions will always follow you where you go.. and thats your brand. Period.

...and it cant get more personal then that !!

[/pd]

btw.. "brand you" by steve yastrow (a tom peter's fellow) is good reading on this subject !! :)-

[B.L. Ochman]

Very thought-provoking post Shel.
"Personal brand" relates very much to what Hugh Macleod calls "global microbrands," which most of us independent bloggers strive to become.

When I launched Ethics Crisis blog (http://www.ethicscrisis.com) last week, a lot of reviews, including Rubel's referred to it as "B.L. Ochman's new blog," even though I am blogging for SRF Global Translations. While I think Ethics Crisis is a really good concept, I have to wonder if we'd have gotten so much attention right out of the box if I didn't have a long-standing online personal brand.

Personal brand is the huge opportunity the Internet offers to anyone with the skill and wherewithall to keep a their own brand fresh and growing.

You're so right about Cooper Katz dropping off the radar. They should have found themselves a blogging voice immediately after Steve announced his resignation.

[Lynann Bradbury]

Over the past month, I’ve kicked around the topic of “you as a brand” with various colleagues and most recently with a group of university journalism students. What I found most interesting was not the topic, but their questions surrounding it: How much of your brand do you consciously define, and how much it is defined by others? How authentic is your style vis a vis the impact of others on it? What values are steadfast in your life, regardless of circumstance? What experience do you want people to have of you?

I believe addressing these questions is fairly easy. The kicker is to consciously live the answers, so that you're living and projecting an authentic self, as opposed to being branded by others. And to decide how much to publicize it, given that the blogosphere provides a global stage. I’d love to have a dialog on this topic, especially to hear from folks in other cultures who may have differing perspectives on branding yourself over your employer, and the ethics/impact of doing that while at work on the employer’s dime.

[Jackie LeCuyer]

I am a journalism student and I have been bombarded with this issue of branding throughout the past week. After much classroom discussion and debate, I have come to the conclusion that branding is entirely unavoidable. Let's use Microsoft as an example; people outside the company brand Microsoft as the holder of the technology monopoly. Is this what Microsoft would brand itself? Perhaps. Or Microsoft might prefer to be branded a world leader in technology. What’s the difference? While Microsoft does hold a monopoly of sorts over technology, it may not want that statement to dominate customers’ thoughts and approaches toward the company. By branding itself a world leader, the negative connotation of the word monopoly is avoided. The problem arises because Microsoft and other companies cannot control how they are branded by customers and other companies. They can create and promote a certain image or brand of their company, but how the media and individuals spin or ignore that brand is out of their control.

[Shel Israel]

Jackie,

I think your last two sentences here are brilliant. Please go to the head of your class. Do you mind if I quote you in my UK debate? Where do you study journalism? What year are you in?

[Billy Smith]

Jackie, great comment to really think about. I am a marketing undergrad student and for some reason our profs really do not talk about the effects of spin and perception might have on our products and services. Thinking about my "personal brand," it is interesting how different people see me, but for the most part I have been the same person around everyone. I think part of the way of controlling your brand is by staying aware of how people see your brand and to make sure the key influencers are the ones who see you in your true manner, not neccesarily who you want to be. That is my problem, I see myself in one light, but in reality I am someone else. This whole person branding is really interesting and it is great to talk about.

[Andrea Barber]

I think a major problem relating to personal brands is the fact that so many are unaware that their internet activity comprises their world "personality." In my opinion, guidelines need to be set for both potential employers and individuals. For example, I doubt a young, new-to-the-internet user completely understands the impact of their activity on Myspace. Do they really expect that it could terminate possible future careers? For large P2P networks, a disclaimer should be put on the sites. That way, people can fully understand the consequences of their use, just how patients are given a list of possible side effects by a doctor before taking medications

[Shel Israel]

Andrea,
I appreciate your concern. But when you toss in guidelines, I get queasy. Who should set these guidelines? Who should review them? How do you get a guideline repealed?

[Monica Powers]

It's shortsighted to believe your personal brand matters less because you are a cubicle slave or might someday be employed by someone. The lines are blurred these days between professional and personal, between work and the rest of your life, and whether you realize it or not, you have a customer base. For an individual, this is a broad group comprised of potential employers, partners, industry peers, AND potential clients. If you are a wage slave, your employer sees your personal brand as the value you offer--the reason you might deserve any kind of salary at all. And since you will become an element in your future employer's composite "corporate brand," what you do with it matters.

[Lucia]

My views are simple. Being that the person that I am is my brand. I can't change that, I can't change how people perceive me. I blog, I'm honest and I make no excuses for my posts or comments. If I'm wrong or offend somebody with a comment or thought in the blogosphere, I apologize but don't take it back if I mean it.

The key for me is accountability. We are all accountable for our own thoughts and actions. Our thoughts and actions are what brands us. Be accountable for it, be considerate but honest - not everyone is going to like it, but you can't be everything to everyone. It works the same with companies... it is why the whole target market.

For your personal brand, do you have a target market.. and the big questions, should you change yourself to accommodate that - are you willing to compromise who you want to be?

This is a very juicy subject... if your personal brand is tied with your company brand, how much of the true you are you willing to compromise to accommodate your target market, are you willing to compromise not recognizing yourself in the mirror?

[Steve Levitsky]

Interesting dicussion. I just recently went through a conserted effort to define my brand. I have been in environmental and engineering consulting industry for the last 14 years and just recently finished my MBA. I want to get into brand management, and thought how better to sell myself to an agency or consulting firm than to define my brand. One thing mentioned above is inaccurate - "Thinking about my "personal brand," it is interesting how different people see me, but for the most part I have been the same person around everyone." I have questioned 50 individuals - clients, fellow employees, fellow students, friends, family, etc. about my brand, and how you act is different no matter what you think internally. More importantly is the fact that your personal brand can be very different depending on your audience.

[William Arruda]

Just as with corporate brands, your personal brand is your greatest asset. It is your reputation and goes with you regardless of whether you are working in a corporation or for yourself (or doing both intermittently). Personal branding is a revolution in career management and essential in a world where change is the norm and employees (even at the executive level) change jobs every few years (CMOs stay an average of only 23 months, for example).

[cynthia]

sorry, sir, 'm cynthia, from University of Pelita Harapan Indonesia and I really excited in doing research about personal branding as my topic for my final project, can I have more information from you? can I have your email contact? thanks

[Tobias Baeck]

Hi, just wanted to give you some props for the post. Good to see there are more personal branding fanatics out there.. keep up the good work, I will keep on reading!

[David Sandusky]

I am glad I stumbled on this thread with smart discussion on personal branding! I particularly enjoy the thoughts/concerns on how others perceive you. Pay attention, sometimes your brand hijacked might be your differentiators! Have you created evangelist that describe your value better than you can?

[Rob Cuesta]

In the 'old days' (until, say, 12 months ago!) your brand and reputation were spread by word of mouth and by the advertising activities you paid for. The old dictum was that a satisfied customer *might* tell someone else about you, but a dissatisfied one *would* tell ten.

Consumer Generated Media, Web 2.0, blogging and social networks - call it whatever you want - change all that. Suddenly, your dissatisfied customers have global reach; they can reach 10 billion people, and trying to track down *everything* that people are saying about you can be tedious and frustrating.

Then there's the question of what to do about it. Engaging in dialogue with malicious posters can often end up fanning the flames, and you'll find your remarks taken out of context and distorted onto the web (as a number of recent Yahoo news stories have highlighted). Not doing anything, though, will leave that negative Google entry about you visible for all to see.

The Dell example above suggests one of the few effective ways of dealing with it - to get your champions to bury the news by going onto the web and telling people the good stuff about you. But to do that you'll need to clean up your act and get them really on your side

[Maria Elena Duron]

It might be easier to understand personal branding if we call it what it's been called before - reputation management.