15 Oct 2008

What is Your Brand?

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Image by Mleak

The time has come for personal brands to shine. As the image of the company brand falters in these uncertain times, personal brands are poised to become the new face of business and marketing. You’ve already seen it in action, but you probably weren’t paying attention.

Lance Armstrong’s personal brand dominated the sport of cycling and used hip, yellow armbands to promote his message and build his cancer foundation. “Live Strong” became the new “Just Do It.”
Tim Ferriss created a personal brand with his “New Rich” philosophy and the 80/20 lifestyle. He has proven that you don’t have to work 80 hours a week to enjoy life.
Oprah…she is everywhere. Enough Said
Dean Karnazes branded himself as The Ultramarathon Man and although he isn’t the most respected in his sport, he is certainly the most well known.
Emeril branded himself long ago and I am willing to bet that most of you have yelled out a “Bam!” once or twice in your life.
Donald Trump owns the phrase “You’re Fired!” and he brands everything he owns with the Trump logo.
Martha Stewart has become a household brand.
Gary Vaynerchuk is the wine guy, Robert Kiyosaki is the Rich Dad Poor Dad Guy, and Ty Pennington has replaced Bob Villa as the home guy.

Personal branding is all around you. Nearly every celebrity or athlete has a blog and more of us “average joe’s” are starting our own blogs every day. People are literally building empires out of nothing using only their name and some smart marketing. Branding is the wave of the future in business and I couldn’t be more excited about it. This is the age of business where we have the change to be players again.

The Bubble Has Burst, and I Am Happy

The more I hear the pundits talk about how bad the economy is getting, the more i get excited. Why? Because this is how the playing field gets leveled so that those of us without a giant inheritance or large sums of money can join the party. All you need to get started is a domain name and some time and you can develop a personal brand capable of reaching out to millions of people worldwide. Just think of the power behind that. Personal brands are going to replace big business because we are innovative, new, and most of all we know how to operate on a shoestring. We can compete with the big boys because we know what people want. We can build communities much easier and much more quickly than any bloated corporation could. We, as webrepreneurs, have our hands on the pulse of the people and we can own this new age.

Who Are You?

So what is your brand? Are you an artist, an athlete, a scientist, a discoverer, an animal activist, zen master, or something else entirely? What is at your core that you can turn into something concrete…something that you can own as a brand. Branding is fun because you are in control of your own image. You can be anything you want to be, whatever you feel you need to be. You are capable of taking back your destiny. Don’t play by the rules, make your own rules and become what you need to be. The future is yours, are you willing to take it?