If you are not a brand, you are a commodity.
Robert Kiyosaki – Rich Dad Author
As the marketplace, customers, and companies disrupt, what communicates core values or a sense of who you are? Once you know this, how can you enhance the Brand You and your reputational equity. Let’s look at your personal attributes.
A personal brand tells VUCANs who you are, what you can do, and what they can count on from you. It’s part of your character and personality. Can you be a recognizable brand? You bet. That’s what social media and influencing is all about. It’s a matter of creating personal buzz and interest. This may mean managing signature projects, vlogging, clever meming, writing best-selling books, influencing, or talking at professional meetings. With social media, it’s easier than ever to create personal buzz.
There are many studies that identify the attributes of product success. What makes a product a success can make you successful. Once a customer or stakeholder is identified, then you can enhance your worth or value by:
- Finding new ways to solve a problem, scratch an itch, or reduce a pain.
- Developing abilities not available from competitors.
- Providing good or higher value for money.
- Finding a better way of meeting customer requirements and needs.
- Providing excellent quality relative to competitor’s products.
- Offering better price performance characteristics than a competitor’s productsor services.
Work Lesson Earned: I ‘got it’ about personal branding and influencing when Martha Stewart, a convicted felon, continued to brand herself as the ‘Taste Goddess.’ When she was incarcerated, I thought she was toast. When released, she rebranded into ‘Taste Maven’ again. Social media influencers with millions of followers could pivot on a dime and quickly reestablish authenticity with their large audience. Influencers have the power of personal branding to have VUCANs buy things. So, what do influencers do in COVID time?