The following is an excerpt from a recent article:

“2010 will see the arrival of what we can call Atomic Branding.   Thought leader predictions tend toward the conclusion that we will see a personal brand renaissance in 2010.  But let’s expand that.  Atomic Branding is a concept that captures the many-layered and concentric-circled features of human brands.

You have a personal brand.  You have a professional brand.  Your family has a brand.  Your neighborhood has a brand.  Your small business has a brand.  And all of them are tightly connected.  At its most atomic level, atomic branding starts at the unit of the individual human.

I predict that 2010 is the year of Atomic Branding and the “business of one” — the birth of and focus on the individual’s personal and professional brand in the world — that will require a new type of digital promotion, control, and security.  Individuals will yearn for online privacy, something that is under increasing threat as social media sites gather and publish more detail about us every day.  We will all need to manage our online reputations.”

###

The following excerpt from a recent article provides some additional information:

“with major celebrities, it’s difficult to tell whether the product stops and the person begins. The brand equity of major celebrities (think Oprah) is inseparable from their personal lives, which are documented in breathless detail in the magazines lining supermarket checkout aisles around the world. Having jumped from products to celebrities, it was only a matter of time before branding trickled down to the average citizen.  In the process, a promotional tactic devised to sell inanimate products has evolved into a life strategy adopted by millions of people around the world. New generations are already growing up indoctrinated in an age of marketing determined to reinvent us.

As the personal-branding phenomenon works itself deeper into the fabric of modern life, it’s warping how we see each other, and how we see ourselves. Consumers have become enamored with reinventing themselves. The phenomenon comes hand in hand with our media-saturated culture, in which, to embrace a common understanding of success, we are encouraged to think of ourselves as akin to products more than as emotive human beings.

Raymund Jude Guzman Aguilar, with 12 years of experience in advertising and marketing, became one of the most successful business personalities alive. He is currently president of Electronic Commerce Payments Inc., DAJ Property Holdings Corp., Recycle Plus Inc. and Gate Distribution Enterprise Inc., one of the dominant phone-card distributors in the Philippines, serving Philippine Seven Corp., S&R Price Club, WalterMart and other retail establishments. He was previously senior marketing manager of Merck, Sharpe and Dohme Philippines and Ginebra Inc./La Tondeña Distillers Inc. He has also held various senior marketing and advertising positions in McCann Erickson and Philippine Advertising Counsel (PAC-BBDO). He holds a master’s degree in business from the Asian Business Institute of Management, and is currently director of Payment One Inc. and Alliance Plus.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t love advertising anymore—I wouldn’t have stuck at it for so long otherwise—but I craved a change,” Aguilar told this columnist. He chose a far other medium to advance his career coupled with his background in advertising. “I’d say that it was the hunger for new challenges that spurred the changes in my career path. With the experience gained and the education obtained, I felt more confident in leaving the corporate life and striking out on my own. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Many find gratification in corporate life. Some are inclined for public service. Others, myself, included, yearn for independence—to be able to plot our own course. It’s risky but well worth it,” he furthered.

Aguilar encouraged entrepreneurs to better their professional and personal lives by thinking of themselves as brands. Applied to the individual, corporate requirements like developing mission statements and determining asset allocation became inspiring. People envisioned their own metamorphoses in a manner similar to a company rolling out a new logo. Aguilar’s concept is that we, too, can benefit from the tried-and-tested rules of salesmanship. At the end of the day, the word is you. We are the brands. But the point of personal branding is to be noticed and remembered, not to be yourself.”

###

The following excerpt is from an article that provides further information:

Oddly enough, in many large companies, managers don’t have a clear idea of their people’s strengths and capabilities.
The resulting lack of awareness of in-house skills and experience often makes it a lottery when a company is looking for leaders or experts.

This is when effective personal branding becomes a big opportunity for individuals to differentiate themselves.

This is important for companies to nurture, if we consider the concept of ‘hypercompetition’ — a concept formulated by Richard A. D’Aveni which frankly states that advantages don’t last very long before competition, imitation and matching erodes any competitive advantage. Rivals become more efficient, but don’t increase their profitability.

The principles of personal branding help an individual to initially define their goals, identify their strengths and hone leadership qualities, but it also goes on to help establish an appropriate profile with co-workers and management.

This is the kind of environment where leaders spontaneously appear, where people are motivated to improve their skills because the route to greater advancement is very clear.

James Speros, CMO at Ernst and Young U.S. said: “A company, that embraces personal branding as part of their culture… allows individuals to gain recognition for what they do well and move up the career ladder based on their performance, rather than on politics.”

###

The following excerpt from an article provides some further detail:

“Having a strong, consistent personal brand will help you land an entry-level job and build the foundation for your career. Gen Y has mastered the cheap and effective Internet medium to network with peers and share ideas through social networking platforms such as Facebook and blogs. But when it comes time to search for a job, personal branding becomes much more important and mistakes can be costly.

The most obvious mistake Gen Y makes is a lack of professionalism on their social networking profiles. It is no secret that employers check candidates’ social networking profiles and are apt to make decisions based on what they find. Inappropriate photographs and conversations are the most commonly cited blunders Gen Yers make that hurt their personal brands. Some other mistakes that may cost Gen Yers the job include:

- Not being prepared with good, thoughtful questions to ask at the end of an interview. “

###

The following excerpt from an article provides some additional information:

“The most important thing to consider when creating a personal brand for yourself is that “you” are the most important product. The way you position yourself in the marketplace will determine how hard you have to work in the future to get the results you desire. You want to work smart, not hard. You want to attract the right customers and clients that want what you have.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you want to be able to have the freedom to work when you want, and have the freedom to choose the clients you want to work with. If you’re a business owner, you need to realize that your brand and your business are connected. Neither one can truly succeed without the other. So, the success of your brand will depend on how true it comes to the real you and, how well you manage and communicate that image to the marketplace. Either way, you’ll need to know who you are, what you stand for, and what qualities make you unique.

A personal brand is exciting because it tells the world about you, your values, and your beliefs. When properly crafted, your brand will allow your customers to know, like, and trust you. This feeling will build into a relationship between you and your customer, giving them the confidence to expect the same quality experience with you every time. Don’t try to be something that you’re not. Just be authentic and true to yourself. You’ll go much further in long run.”

###

The following is an excerpt from an article by Dan Schawbel:

“There are thousands of different websites that you can leverage to build your own personal brand, but only a few that will give you both the reach and credibility to make a major impact. Here at Mashable , we’ve provided you with a detailed look at how you can build your personal brand on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  Today, we’ll focus in on the largest video sharing site on the planet, more commonly referred to as YouTube.

With over 120 million U.S. viewers, YouTube is used by President Obama for his weekly State of the Union Address, by universities who share lectures from star academics, and by celebrities such as Miley Cyrus who use it as a lifestream. Aside from the popularity of YouTube, the site exploits the most powerful branding medium of them all, video.

The reason why video is so effective in communicating your personal brand is because your audience will already feel like they’ve met you by the time the video is over.  With video, you get a sense of who someone really is based on their voice, their face and their body motions.  Video can support your branding efforts like no other medium on the web.”

###

SlideShare.com

or click below for Scribd version

Career Branding

The following is an excerpt from Brenda Bence’s article that expands on the leader’s personal branding traits:

How Leaders Earn Brand-Loyalty for Life

The truth is that we all have a personal brand whether we like it or not. Simply by being ourselves in the work place, others perceive, think, and feel about us in a certain way. The question is whether we have created the personal brand we want. This is especially important for those who hold leadership positions. If you lead others, the way they perceive, think, and feel about you as a leader, in relation to other leaders, can make or break your short-term and long-term success. These “others” might consist of your subordinates, colleagues, superiors, or even entire divisions or corporations.

Your leadership personal brand impacts your image, your reputation, your relationships, and your performance. As a result, it will also impact your overall career and your finances. So, unless you create your desired leadership personal brand consciously, negative perceptions can undermine your best efforts.”

###

Traditionally, a “personal branding statement” is the fodder or basis for an elevator pitch as an introductory summation of an individual’s brand.

The “elevator” part reflects the fact that the pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride (thirty seconds and 100-150 words).

The “elevid” is an “elevator video” pitch that is typically thirty or less seconds in length.

Rumors are flying about Twitter’s upcoming micro-vlog or short form video technology, which will dramatically change the way we all communicate in short form about daily events. Of course, these rumors are also fueled by the release of the iPhone 3G S, and it’s video taking and uploading “directly to the web” capabilities.

It doesn’t take Nostradamus to recognize a sea change from text to short video is on its way in a hurry. What will this mean for the varies segments of social networking? Well for the HR world it might mean the ability to preview hundreds of select job candidates in a very short period of time. Of course, getting the right person to view your personal brand elevid is just the beginning. What happens when a viewer wants to see more?

A complete program would allow HR managers to simply click a link to view an expanded version of a personal branding video along with resume and other relevant documentation.

It’s the brave new world of career development and personal branding. The elevid represents just the tip of the iceberg for new forms of social media that are on the way.

Urban Dictionary: Elevid

###

Steve Byrne is Chief Branding Officer for CareerBranding.com, Costa Mesa, CA

Around April 25, Google enhanced its search results to include a personal picture on a listing that points to an individual’s Google profile.  This innovation highlights a person’s name with an attention-grabbing photo that builds brand recognition by connecting online brand presence with a brand image. “A picture is worth a thousand words” seems applicable here.  People with popular names can now be found more easily in search results.  A personal photo or avatar provides instant recognition that enables the correct “John Smith”, for example, to be located.”

###