What is Your Personal Brand?

During a recent meeting with a client the discussion of branding came up and whether individuals have a brand.  Not celebrities, but every day folk like you and me.  There was a spirited discussion about this, with some stating that we do not have a personal brand while others proclaimed we most certainly do.  I fell on the side of the latter.

While it’s easy to feel small at times in this great big world of ours, especially when you consider the relatively short amount of time we have on this earth, it’s important to remember that we touch many lives each day.  This is not necessarily a philosophical point as it is practical.

I’m a member of MIMA (Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association) and there are tons of creative minds that attend scheduled functions. I’m always amazed at how “creative” so many people appear.  On one end there are people who are pretty corporate in their attire and on the other end of the spectrum are the really hip guys with the spiked or long hair, mod glasses, usually jeans, dress shirt untucked, maybe a tatoo or piercings, etc. Each has their own message and just as in advertising and marketing are they not trying to quickly say, “this is who I am”?

We live in an alarmingly fast paced time in history.  First impressions are paramount and quick messaging is becoming a trademark of this period. If we are the “product,” which is often the case in service industries, we have an instant to create a first impression that says, “this is who I am, this is what I stand for and this is what I’m all about.”  Now, I’m just a former telephone salesman, turned television news reporter, turned business owner, but isn’t that sort of what branding is about?

Ed Heil is the owner and president of StoryTeller Media & Communications an inbound marketing and public relations agency and video production company based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Ed blogs on topics related to inbound marketing, social media, media relations, news media, video production and crisis communications.

Tags: brands, MIMA, Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association, personal brand

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