I’ve been following this thread of posts from ME “Liz” Strauss. I’m personally interested because, as you might imagine, I’d like to establish myself as a brand in the field of Educational Technology. I know I’m taking some clumsy steps towards this already (including keeping this blog), but these posts have helped raise my awareness about what I am doing and what I could be doing. And of course, because I’ve found it worth reading, I’m sharing it here. Perhaps some of you will find her tips useful as well.
Building a Personal Brand-YOU (Via Successful Blog.): ” It’s your uniqueness, your skills and abilities, your image, your traits, and your potential. Your brand is how you as a person will fill a need in a way that no other person can.” Liz goes on to suggest tips for forging a personal brand.
Raise your hand if you’re a rock star (Via Teach42.) This post is actually from Steve Dembo, but belongs in this thread: “Fame has become such an incredibly relative term lately. We’re all rockstars, and we’re all screaming fans. We’re all famous for fifteen people out there… there are so many teachers that I meet that don’t realize just how much of a rock star they are… that’s what I love about blogs and podcasts. They provide a medium for us all to become rock stars. Even if it’s only for 15 people.” Incidentally, I’d like to thank the 15 of you for reading. ;)
Brand YOU-Capitalize on Your Strengths (Via Successful Blog.): “Your personal brand communicates your unique value in ways that others understand who you are. Developing a personal brand is a process that takes time and requires investment. Your brand develops as you develop self-awareness. You have to know your product to communicate its values–in this case. your personal strengths.” Liz goes on to expand on her tips for identifying and capitalizing on your strengths.
Personal Branding: Strengths Assessment Tool (Via Successful Blog.) Liz takes the last post a step closer to pragmatic: “Here’s a tool to help you assess what you have to work with.”
Brand YOU-What’s the BIG IDEA? (Via Successful Blog.) This may be the heart of the personal brand philosophy: “The big idea of your personal brand is the most powerful point of your unique value. It’s the one sentence that folks can believe in it and can share with others easily.”
Brand YOU-You Are What They See (Via Successful Blog.) This may go back to the venerable dress for success movement, though in a less prescriptive way, and Liz ties it clearly to the personal brand: “Once you start thinking in this direction, you’ll start to see that everything you do is an opportunity to enhance the big idea of your personal brand. It’s not so hard to develop habits that form around your big idea. That’s the key learning to live your brand.”
Your Resume-The Brand YOU Brochure (Via Successful Blog.) Here is another pragmatic, but almost revelatory post: “You’re making a personal branding brochure. Just let other people think it’s a resume. They’ve been confused before.”
Incidentally, this all builds nicely on the idea of a global microbrand, which caught my attention earlier this year.