There must be something in the water. At least that’s this baby boomer’s answer to the 20-something whiz kids populating the Internet.
A few weeks ago I wrote about personal branding phenom Tim Ferriss and his best selling book, The Four Hour Work Week. Tim, at 29, is an old man next to personal branding maven Dan Schawbel. If you haven’t heard about 23-year old Schawbel, you will. Schawbel is a personal branding force of nature. And force of nature isn’t just meant metaphorically. Even though Schawbel works full-time in marketing for EMC, he manages to find time to comment on virtually every personal branding blog. In addition, he runs his own blog that has a Google page rank of five or six. That’s just for starters.
Flashing a personal press kit – yes a full-fledged press kit all about himself – that would put to shame most experienced marketers – Schawbel hasn’t left any stone unturned in his personal branding mission. His beautifully-done press kit runs 12 pages and includes testimonials from the likes of managers at Reebok, EMC and LoJack. Schwabel says he had eight internships in college, including working at Rebock and LoJack, and seven volunteer leadership positions in organizations.
Want more? Schawbel has created his own personal branding awards with this year’s Gold Winner (there are also silver and bronze winners) Rohit Bhargava, a vice president on interactive marketing Ogilvy Public Relations who also blogs.
Schawbel today launches a personal branding magazine, Personal Branding, with personal branding extraordinaire Donald Trump gracing the inaugural cover. With articles by Guy Kawasaki and other Web luminaries, along with sponsors, the magazine looks like the real deal. Recognizing that you often get more by giving, Schawbel is donating proceeds from the magazine to the American Cancer Society.
In between all of this, he somehow finds time to write about personal branding for outlets like Marketingprofs.com and Success.com.
Then there’s what he calls Personal Branding TV, video interviews with marketing professionals and students he coaches on personal branding.
Schawbel is by far the most determined and persistent 23-year-old I know. In fact, I wouldn’t be writing this post if he hadn’t sought me out in May to comment on my blog and introduce himself. Since then he has conducted an ongoing campaign to get me to write about him, and as you can see, he was successful.
Schawbel has also worked the Internet like a master. As he puts it, “Networking through blogging reigns supreme now. I've had two authors send me their best selling books with their signature and comment on the inside cover, just from a conversation and linkage between blogs.”
Later this month he plans to launch DanSchawbel.com. Having the confidence of a seasoned politician, Schawbel says the site will be “revolutionary because it breaks down my brand into the elements I preach on a recurring basis.”
Here is some advice from Schawbel:
• Remember it's what you do that makes you who you are and how you project that to others that makes you memorable.
• Develop original content and use it as a talking point to network with other professionals to further your career.
• Become known by establishing a blog and use it to network with others. Take risks, reach out to new people and never quit. There are far too many opportunities and people out there to let roadblocks get in your way. Remember that you are the CEO of You, Inc (Tom Peters), so you need to make things happen and not rely on others.
Wendy Marx • Public Relations/Marketing Communications • President, Marx Communications, Inc. • wendy@marxcommunications.com
Related Stories: | Topics:Careers, Dan Schawbel, Science and Technology, Technology, Internet, Media |
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Recent Comments | 10 Total
August 1, 2007 at 12:16pm by Rohit
Hi Wendy,
Thanks for writing about this and mentioning me. I had a similar experience of getting in contact with Daniel after he reached out to me about the award. The magazine and his blog have some great tips for an area that every young (or old) person in the business world should heed. Social media offers a way to make your personality an asset for your career. As more and more people recognize this, the necessity for personal branding will only continue to grow.
August 1, 2007 at 1:28pm by Claudine Vainrub
Dan is a true pride of the personal branding strategists' community. With professionals like him, we know that sooner than later, personal branding will be globally recognized as the leading tool to propel career success.
August 1, 2007 at 3:33pm by Maria Elena Duron
Dan is a "branding force"! He really did an outstanding job with the magazine along with connecting with several of the branding leaders around.
I agree with Dan's pointers and hope that people will begin to see that branding is not just for entrepreneurs - you can still brand yourself within a company or in alignment with your company.
Thanks for shedding more light on personal branding!
Maria Elena Duron
August 1, 2007 at 4:04pm by Lou Longo
Hi Wendy - Great article on Dan. I had the pleasure of getting to know him over the past year as I chair an alumni committee that Dan joined. You hit the nail on the head as I am in awe of his drive, energy and insight after only recently graduating college. I wish I knew then what Dan knows now. I have also bookmarked your site and look forward to future entries and exploring past ones. Best,
Lou Longo
August 1, 2007 at 8:07pm by Claudine Vainrub
Dan is a true pride of the personal branding strategists' community. With professionals like him, we can only expect that sooner than later, personal branding will be globally recognized as the leading tool for career success!
August 1, 2007 at 10:25pm by Vikram Rajan
Like Neil Patel, I like that Dan Schawbel puts a less egotistical spin on personal branding. Donating to charity is a principle every successful person lives by... and many, like Kenneth Cole, leverage cause-beliefs in marketing.
~ Vikram
PersonalBrandMarketing.com
September 9, 2008 at 10:24am by Aretha Gaskin
I love Dan's blog and what I really appreciate is his emphasis on building the success of others first. I believe strongly in this and try to practice it in my own entrepreneurial endeavors.
August 21, 2009 at 7:20pm by Hubert Rampersad
A Roadmap for Building an Authentic Personal Brand
Authentic Personal Branding is a journey towards a happier and more successful life. Your Personal Brand should therefore emerge from your search for your identity and meaning in life, and it is about getting very clear on what you want, fixing it in your mind, giving it all your positive energy, doing what you love and develop yourself continuously. Your Personal Brand should always reflect your true character, and should be built on your values, strengths, uniqueness, and genius. If you are branded in this organic, authentic and holistic way your Personal Brand will be strong, clear, complete, and valuable to others. You will also create a life that is fulfilling and you will automatically attract the people and opportunities that are a perfect fit for you. If you are not branded in this unique way, if you don’t deliver according to your brand promise, and if you focus mainly on selling, market, and promoting yourself, you will be perceived egocentric, selfish and a unique jerk, and branding will be cosmetic and a dirty business.....read more
http://bit.ly/A0mOj ; http://bit.ly/rT6wU
Join our Personal Branding University on Twitter http://twitter.com/PBUniversity
August 21, 2009 at 7:21pm by Hubert Rampersad
A 4-Point Survival Guide for Turning Personal Financial Crisis into Opportunity
Now during the crisis it is a great time to reposition yourself strongly in relation to your competitors, built a strong reputation, develop an effective image of yourself that you want to project in everything you do, and become more creative and innovative...read more
http://pbuniversity.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/a-4-point-survival-guide-fo...
Read more http://bit.ly/A0mOj ; http://bit.ly/rT6wU
Join the Personal Branding University on Twitter http://twitter.com/PBUniversity and LinkedIn http://bit.ly/l2AUA