Or: How to create a personal brand, even if you don't think you're a unique snowflake.

^{Photo from EpicureansAnswer.com, which has a great post on Top 10 Chocolate Bars.}

I know - just what you wanted:  Another blog post about personal branding.  But for all that's been written and said about personal branding in the past 5+ years, I still find myself getting asked about it by people who are fantastic at what they do, but who aren't getting the recognition they deserve because they haven't really figured out how to build their own personal brand. 

This is what I tell them.

Chocolate bars:
Four basic ingredients. Almost infinite positioning.

No industry has done a better job of branding a commoditized product than what the North American and British confectionery indutries have done with chocolate bars (or 'candy bars', if you're in certain parts of the USA).

Fundamentally, 99% of chocolate bars are exactly the same:  Around 50g of the same four basic ingredients (chocolate, sugar, caramel and peanuts), combined in different ways.

And yet somehow we know that:

• OHenry bars are for when you're really hungry
• KitKats are for when you just want a 'break'
• MARS bars are good energy for sporty lives
• Smarties provide hours of amusement
• Hershey bars are somehow as patriotic as a bottle of Coca-Cola

I find it amazing that there are so many ways to combine and package the same basic ingredients to create such distinct offerings.

It's time to start thinking of yourself as a chocolate bar.

It's my belief that anyone who takes their career seriously and is even moderately ambitious should create their own personal brand, even if they never want to start their own company or consultancy.  Being 'known' for something is also a great way to get ahead in a 'regular' career, because it helps employers and potential employers reach that 'eureka' moment when they realize that you're a perfect fit for a particular role.

Spend too much time in the twitterverse or blogosphere and it's easy to think that everyone's creating personal brands all over the place these days. But in the real world, most people find it hard to deliver a compelling 2-sentence summary about why they're different and better, let alone come up with a personal brand.  They know it's important; they just aren't doing it.

So what's stopping them?

Most of the time, it's that they don't really believe that they're all that different or special than everyone else.

"I mean, I know I'm pretty good at my job and I think I know a lot about what I do, but I'm not exactly a visionary," they tell me.  "There are lots of other people doing what I do, and I'm not kidding myself that I'm some kind of genius.  So what would my brand be about?"

Worrying that you're not a genius misses the point:  Branding is all about turning a commodity product into a special, premium or beloved one.  You don't have to be a 'genius'; you just have to position your professional equivalent of 50 grams' worth of chocolate, peanuts, caramel and sugar in a way that makes people think:  "Whenever I need to solve [insert relevant business challenge here], I always think of [insert your name here] because s/he is an expert on [insert solution to relevant business challenge here]."

For example:  "Whenever I think about branding in the small business space, I think about Sarah Welstead because she has done such great work for other companies I admire." (!!)

You already have a great USP.
You just don't know what it is (yet).

Here's the thing:  If you really are good at what you do, are committed to getting better at what you do, and are genuinely passionate about what you do for a living, chances are you're already combining your 50g of basic ingredients in some kind of unique way - you just don't realize it.  

So ask 5 colleagues (present and past) for their input:

• Ask your boss why s/he hired you.  What made you stand out from the other applicants?
• Ask your manager what things s/he 'counts' on you to provide (interesting ideas, super-fast work, lateral thinking, etc.)
• Ask your co-workers what they think you're particularly good at - and tell them to include even stuff that seems irrelevant, like "Somehow you always manage to fix the photocopier"
• Ask subordinates/direct reports what they've learned from working with you (this one may be the most revealing, because you may find that you're highly respected for knowledge that you take for granted)
• Ask a trusted client why they like working with you

You'll probably be pleasantly surprised by the responses you get - you may be inspiring or helping people in ways you never realized.  

More importantly, once you know that colleagues think of you as a reliable partner or an inspirational leader, coming up with the basis of your personal brand will suddenly become a lot easier.

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I know you have great ideas. But they're not doing much, just sitting there in your head.

You know you need a blog, or some kind of regularly updated content.  The problem is, you hate writing - well, maybe 'hate' is a strong word, but the last time you had to sit down and write more than 2 paragraphs in a row it took you all afternoon and finally you just gave up and spent the rest of the day making a fun diagram on PowerPoint.

If you're at the point where you know you need to create content, you've probably got some ideas of what you'd like that content to look like - it's just a matter of getting those ideas out of your head and into the world.

Of course, the easiest way around an aversion to writing content is simply to hire someone - they can interview you, extract all the good ideas you've been thinking about, and then ghost-write your content for you.  The problem is that this tends to be expensive, because anyone you're going to trust enough to be your 'voice' is probably going to cost real money.  

Here's how to get as much content as you can out of your head and into some kind of format that you can use to either write some 350-word blog posts, or hand off to someone to turn into content for you without having to spend a huge amount of money.

Set a reasonable time limit and eliminate distractions

If writing's not your thing, there's nothing worse than telling yourself you're going to spend 'the day' trying to do it.  Instead, just aim to do as much as you can in a 2-hour block.  Turn off your cellphone, shut down your email, disconnect the internet and send the family to the movies so you won't be tempted by procrastination distractions.  Do give yourself a snack food and a glass of wine if that helps.

Don't try to be Hemingway

Many non-writers get sidetracked when they worry about spelling, grammar, sentence structure or style.  When you're just getting started, it's better to just get your thoughts out.  Stick to bullet points if that's easier, and switch to paragraphs when you have a lot to say.  But don't worry about run-on sentences and don't stop to wonder whether 'miscellaneous' is spelled properly - getting your ideas to flow is more important.

Start with your pet peeves about your industry

This is an amazingly inspirational place to start when you're looking for content ideas.  Start with everything that bothers you about the industry in which you work:  The incompetence of other practitioners; the bad customer service; the lack of regulation; the misconceptions and myths; the way the big players are ruining it for smaller players; the things that consumers should know but don't - whatever drives you nuts.  

Don't self-censor at this point - at this point, you're just talking to yourself.  So if you think that 75% of the other people in your industry are total idiots who shouldn't be allowed to speak to clients, write it down.  You can edit yourself later.

Move on to the ways you'd change your industry

From your pet peeves, it's a natural step to talking about how you'd change your industry if you could.  Better education, better customer service, better processes, more ethical practices - what would you change if you had the power to do so?  

These could be small things that you're already doing in your own day-to-day worklife ("I always make sure my team has continuing education opportunities") or big things that you'd do if you were in a position of wide-reaching power ("If I was the president of a global multinational, I'd set up an ombudsman for my industry...").  

Now you can turn on your computer and check other blogs

When you've run out of your own ideas, it's okay to turn on your computer and read blog posts by other big names in your industry.  What are they saying that you agree with?  What are they saying that you definitely don't agree with?  Disagreeing with other bloggers - and offering well-thought-out reasons why you disagree - can be a fruitful area for developing your own ideas and content.

A couple of these sessions, and you may have rewired your brain...

You may never come to love writing, or find it easy to do.  However, once you've done a couple of 2-hour sessions to get your ideas out of your head and into a more share-able format, you'll probably find that the ideas come more easily, because you've given your brain a bit of a structure in which to organize and think about them.  And that book you've always thought about writing may be more doable than you thought.

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^{This is the control panel for a Winnebago.  But I thought it was a nice metaphor for having your social media channels managed from one central, delightfully wood-panelled, location.}

These days I find myself doing a lot of social media consulting, usually helping small businesses start using social media.  And the first question I'm always asked is:  "What social media channels should I be using?"

99% of the time, my answer is the same:  Start with the trifecta of Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

"I get that I should be using Twitter and LinkedIn," they say.  "But Facebook?  Isn't that just for personal stuff, like friends and family?  I don't want the world to see my family pictures.  That's not appropriate for my business.  And Facebook can't help build my business anyway."

When you're a small business, you are your personal network

The thing is, when you're a small business owner, much of your business is going to come from your personal network.  Your sister-in-law, the guy you shared an office with 10 years ago and still keep in touch with, the neighbour you always hang out with on Friday nights when your spouses have other things to do - these are people who are often in a surprisingly good position to refer you, your business and your product to others.  And they're likely to be surprisingly enthusiastic about you.

In fact, they'd probably recommend you to more people more often if they could remember what you do and that you're doing it - and that's where Facebook can help.  

For example:  The other day, a friend from grade school posted a note on Facebook about how she was having trouble with her nanny.  I don't speak to her on a regular basis, and she lives in another country, so without Facebook I wouldn't have known that she was having an issue.  As it happened, my cousin-in-law, who runs a babysitting business, had just posted a note about how her company can help find nannies in that area.  So all of a sudden I was able to connect my friend with my cousin-in-law's business.  

It wouldn't have happened on Twitter (since my Twitter feed is too busy and my grade-school friend isn't on there anyway), and it definitely wouldn't have happened on LinkedIn (since 'trouble with nannies' isn't the kind of content that tends to find a place on LinkedIn).

If you aren't linking Facebook to your professional profile, how will these kinds of connections happen?

Stop worrying about the invasion of your personal life

Guess what?  The convergence of your personal and professional life has already happened.  If you're a small business owner who's been out there doing small-business-owner things like meeting people, attending events, publishing articles and making contacts, your personal life isn't a mystical secret.  Anyone with 30 minutes and some basic deduction skills can find out a lot about you, and can probably find a whole heap of photos, too.  

This is a good thing.  You want to be accessible; you want to turn up in Google searches.  The more findable you are, the more credibility you have.  And unless you've been a complete idiot, and posted a whole slew of photos of yourself doing jello shots off the naked torsos of strange men, attaching your Facebook profile to your personal brand - and associating it with the company you lead - isn't going to be a problem.

When you're too private, people wonder why

The other day I wrote about how authenticity and transparency in advertising isn't as popular as the gurus would have you believe. However, where they're right about transparency is when it comes to personal branding, and when you're a small businessperson, personal branding is everything.  

Before you ever get into a meeting with a new client, someone in the decision-making chain is going to Google you.  If they can't find much information about you, they're going to assume you're not as prolific, influential or important as you want them to think you are.  They're simply going to wonder why someone who calls themselves an 'expert' only has 3 search returns.  Facebook can increase your searchable content volume while you're building up your other channels - and that can be a big advantage.

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When Kim Kardashian's marriage dissolved after 72 days, I wrote a blog post about how it was likely to do serious damage to her brand. 

Well, it's true that she's not as visible in ShoeDazzle ads as she used to be, Skechers has replaced her with a bulldog for their new ad campaign, and the comments sections of gossip websites are filled to bursting with requests to stop posting about this "no talent" family, but, sadly, 'Kim and Kourtney Take New York' just got record ratings this past weekend. 

So perhaps the brand implosion hasn't (yet?) happened.  But why?

Because she's using 'Kim and Kourtney' as an extended self-redemption commercial, and the editing is fantastic.

The Kardashian editing team has always been hard-core:  In Season 6, Episode 12 ('Trouble in Paradise'), they did a seamless job of editing Kim's original comment of "When I married a black guy, my father didn't speak to me for 3 months..." to the much less damning "When I married a guy, my father didn't speak to me for 3 months..."  (Watch the episode here:  the comment happens about 5 minutes from the end.)

But the post-divorce editing has been inspired.  The Kris Humphries reaction shots alone - yawning, staring into space, gazing hopefully at his smartphone while string theory is being discussed around him - are doing more for Kim's erstwhile reputation than any soft-serve halfwit Barbara Walters interview could.

And this weekend's episode had a nice setup scene in which Kim tells her mother she's having 'doubts' about the marriage.

The scene is supposed to take place in Dubai, two weeks before Kim officially announces her divorce, but it's happening in a car with darkened windows - it could have been shot any time.  But watch closely:  When the camera cuts away from Kim, they've inserted additional audio in which she sounds much closer to divorce, and much more 'conflicted' about the situation.

I'm sure there are all kinds of other creative editing tricks being used here - I don't watch the Kardashian shows all the time, and these are just a couple of examples which struck me as the most glaring.  But I continue to be kind of stunned that (a) no one else seems to notice this stuff and (b) no one on the Kardashian production team has had the kind of life crisis that prompts them to come forward and say, "You know what?  I don't care if I never work on a Ryan Seacrest production again.  I just can't be a part of this any more..." - and then spill the background details.

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