Brand U by Wendy Marx by Wendy Marx
August 15, 2007
09:24 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
What does John F. Kennedy’s challenge to put a man on the moon have to do with personal branding?
A lot it turns out, according to Chip Heath and his brother, Dan Heath, authors of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.
The new book has been getting a lot of buzz online and off and for good reason. It’s the perfect personal branding manifesto.
Getting back to Kennedy for a minute, the authors contend that his challenge of “Let’s put a man on the moon in the decade” is a great example of what they call stickiness. Or we would call personal branding. As the Health brothers explain:. The Kennedy challenge is a simple message. Even a child can understand it. Yet at the same time it’s unexpected. Who in the early sixties would have thought about getting a man on the moon. It’s also concrete. There’s no denying what the end result is to be.
The authors have developed a formula for stickiness (no they are not in the glue business) that they call SUCCESs. It stands for simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional and story and is a great way to think of personal branding.
Think about it. How do you get people to remember what you do?
• You need to have an easily understandable message.
• It needs to separate you from the pack of other people doing what you do.
• You need to be credible and passionate about what you do.
• And, lastly, if you can tie all the pieces together into examples and anecdotes that showcase what you do you have the makings of a great sales pitch. Not to mention a good story.
Now shoot your way to the moon. But before launching, I'd love to hear how you're doing that.
Wendy Marx • Public Relations/Marketing Communications • President, Marx Communications, Inc. •
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August 8, 2007
09:15 am | 0 recommendations | 2 comments
Thank you.
That two-word phrase can go a long way towards smoothing human communication and maintaining relationships. Yet in our hyper-charged, tech-centric world, that phrase often gets lost.
In fact, I don’t see a lot of civility in my workaday life and I don’t believe I’m alone. Ironically, in this always on, never-out-of-touch world, it’s frequently much more difficult to reach people. Once upon a time people might hide behind a secretary’s clipped words to avoid answering a call. But at least you were talking with a human being. Now there’s email and voicemail.
How often have you called someone, left a response-requested message, only to have your phone call remain unreturned? If you’re like me, I’m sure it’s more times than you’d care to admit. Then what happens? Do you resort to email to try to reach the person? I know I’ve gone so far as to call, then email to try to arrange a call only to run up against the email wall. The person just doesn’t want to talk on the phone. Or doesn’t want to take the time to truly engage. You might say, what’s wrong with email? The fact is it doesn’t allow for any give or take, nuance, subtlety, or shades of gray. It’s also lousy at creative problem solving. And it’s one step removed from human life.
Then there’s that old word, “thank you.” How often do people say “thank you” in person or over the phone rather than a quick email “thank you.” I know I’m more than guilty of it.
How refreshing it is, however, when the reverse happens. A person not only calls you back but spends time listening to you and the dialogue is moved forward. Or a person stops in his or her busy day just to say “thank you."
Kind of sad isn’t it, that we can differentiate ourselves and improve our personal brand these days by picking up the phone -- or holey moly seeing someone in person.
What are your experiences regarding civility and email?
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August 1, 2007
08:33 am | 0 recommendations | 10 comments
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
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July 25, 2007
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Sometimes it takes the proverbial fork in the road to discover our true strengths.
Take marketer Marti Barletta, who during her 20-year agency career, never dreamed of being a thriving entrepreneur with three books under her belt and major companies seeking her expertise.
Yet Barletta, 52, is proof that we can remake ourselves at any age. It all comes down to smart personal branding, a well-executed strategy and the confidence to take the road less traveled. All of which Barletta has in spades.
In the late 1990s, Barletta was working at Chicago ad agency Frankel heading up a team researching marketing to women. After immersing herself in the subject for two years, she knew more about the topic than most people -- including the fact that most marketers were clueless about marketing to women. Consider, for example, that 80 percent of purchase decisions in all categories are made by women, including big ticket items like cars. Meanwhile, the prevailing opinion was that women influenced only small purchase decisions like which pasta brand to buy.
Recognizing the makings of a business in marketing to women, Barletta thought about starting her own company even though she was a novice entrepreneur. The idea was blessed by her employer Frankel who had decided to go in another direction.
Barletta says she still needed a little push to get started and was fortunate to have found it in a mentor.
“I wasn’t sure I could go on my own. There are a lot of marketing consultants out there,” she recalled. However, her mentor reminded her that she was different and had expertise others lacked. “He told me I had an ability to warm up a room like no one he had ever seen. And that five years from now he’d be telling people he knew Marti when she first started out.”
For Barletta, that was an observation that changed her life. “I had never realized that about myself,” she said, and it was just the inspiration she needed to launch her business, The TrendSight Group.
Barletta also was expert at creating opportunities. Thousands, if not millions of people have probably heard Tom Peters speak and left it at that. Not Barletta. Meeting Tom Peters at a conference, she subsequently wrote to him asking if he would write the foreword to her first book . Peters not only wrote the foreword but also became a big fan of Barletta, inviting her to speak at one of his “Cool Friends” gatherings and referencing her work in his presentations. In addition to her own books, she and Peters in 2005 co-authored a book, Trends, about marketing to women.
Marti’s mentor proved right. Today she is a recognized authority on marketing to women, and a sought after speaker and consultant.
Her advice to people wanting to launch a new venture:
Focus on your ability to solve problems. “While it’s important to establish your credentials and marketing materials, people care less about you and more about your ability to solve their problems.”
Be confident. “People will treat you the way you encourage them to treat you.”
Position yourself as an expert. Consultants are a dime a dozen but experts are unique. “You are treated differently as an expert, especially an expert with a book, than you are as a consultant. As a marketing consultant you’re viewed as temporary and expendable. As an expert, you’re seen as needed and someone worthy of respect.”
Get feedback from others. “Do market research on yourself. You don’t always recognize your own unique abilities. Seek out people you know to help you discover them.”
Wendy Marx • Public Relations/Marketing Communications • President, Marx Communications, Inc.
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July 17, 2007
09:12 am | 0 recommendations | 7 comments
Last week I wrote about how long it takes to become a true expert. Today, I want to look at the opposite side of the equation -- at how quickly it takes to become an instant expert. By instant expert, I mean someone who has a bit more experience than the next person and capitalizes on that. Think about all the bloggers you enjoy reading who were as well known as your Uncle Jim a few years ago and now are “must reads.”
As a fascinating article in the New York Times puts it:
“ A generation ago, you went to the doctor to find out about the pain in your knew; now you go to WebMD, diagnose it yourself and tell him what medicines you want. People used to trust stockbrokers and insurance agents; now they buy and sell at E*Trade and compare policies online. American voters who once looked to newspaper columnists for guidance on politics now blog their own idle punditry. Suddenly, experience is downright suspect.”
Calling it the “cult of the amateur,” the article reflects on the fact that inexperience has almost becoming a qualifier for a US presidential run.
Of course, the article is not advocating inexperience, which often masquerades as arrogance unshaped by judgment. But it is reflecting on the times – the fact that there is now unprecedented opportunity to brand yourself as an expert. Where else, for example, would a junior senator like Barack Obama with just a few years experience on the national scene be running for president? Where else can someone who was unknown last year suddenly become an expert in politics or marketing or podcasting?
Are you taking full advantage of this historic opportunity to brand yourself as an expert and expand your reach of influence? If you are doing just that, I’d love to hear your story.
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July 10, 2007
09:36 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Is outstanding performance born or made?
I just read a fascinating article in the July-August 2007 Harvard Business Review about what makes an expert. Oh, sure, we can all call ourselves expert if we know a little more than the next person, and personal branding is a bit about that. And that’s fine. But what makes a genuine expert, the person who hits it so far out the park everyone looks on in awe?
According to the HBR article, it’s not a high IQ, one’s gender or a God-given talent that makes you a top surgeon, actor, writer, computer programmer, musician...and you name it. The only innate differences that are at all significant, according to the article, are height and body size – and they matter primarily in sports. What truly makes the difference is intense practice.
And, by intense practice, don’t think you can become a real expert in a month’s or even a year’s time. As the HBR article puts it:
“The journey to truly superior performance is neither for the faint of heart nor for the impatient. The development of genuine expertise requires struggle, sacrifice and honest often painful self-assessment. There are no shortcuts. It will take you at least a decade to achieve expertise, and you will need to invest that time wisely, by engaging in ‘deliberate’ practice – practice that focuses on tasks beyond your current level of competence and comfort.”
What does this mean for the workaday world?
• Managing by the gut isn’t expertise. While intuition is valuable in routine situations, informed intuition is the result of deliberate practice. You can’t improve your ability to make good decisions without a lot of practice and self-analysis.
• A new tool won’t make you an expert. While it’s tempting to think our life will change if we only had X,Y or Z gizmo, the fact is that there is no substitute for practice.
• Deliberate practice isn’t practicing over and over what you already do well. It’s improving what you already know and extending the reach and range of skills. It’s practicing with your head not just your hands.
What do you think? What are you doing to become an expert?
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July 3, 2007
09:13 am | 0 recommendations | 3 comments
“Some people get their kicks,
Stompin” on a dream
But I don’t let it, let it get me down,
‘Cause this fine ‘ol world it keeps spinning around.
-Dean Kay and Kelly Gordeon, recorded by Frank Sinatra, “That’s Life”
I came across those lines in Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Wards’ excellent new book, Firing Back, How Great Leaders Rebound After Career Disasters, and thought they shed a lot of light on careers and personal branding.
Sonnenfeld and Ward’s thesis is that bad things happen to good leaders -- just as they happen to all of us. Much as we like to attribute luck to success, the fact is that no one is immune to failure. What sets successful leaders apart from us average Joes, according to the authors, is their extraordinary ability to cope with adversity. Think Donald Trump or Martha Stewart, both of whom faced seemingly unsolvable problems. Trump loaded with debt, Stewart convicted of lying and obstruction of justice, but both today flourishing.
The fact is that successful leaders’ sense of themselves -- their internal personal brand -- is stronger than any external setbacks. As Sonnenfeld and Ward put it, “A defeat merely energized them to rejoin the fray with greater ardor. It is not the proportion of their losses that differentiates these influencers from the rest of us, but how they construed their losses.”
In fact, adversity actually toughens these leaders, energizing them to “rejoin the fray with greater ardor.”
Equally important, the authors pooh pooh much of the success literature and self-help gospels as a lot of hooey. Their point is that these gospels of gooey optimism ignore the fact that the key to success is not based on the "power of positive thinking," but learning how to cope with -- and bounce back from -- failure. Great leaders, the authors note, succeed by mastering the art of failure. Refusing to be held down by obstacles, leaders find within themselves the creativity and stamina to make a comeback.
The authors provide six lessons to “creating triumph from tragedy":
• Failure is a beginning, not an end
• Ignore the advice of friends to lick your wounds
• No matter how dire the circumstances seem, triumphant comeback is possible -- as long as you didn’t kill someone
• While it may seem that the world is against you, there are people who support you and are eager to help if you will let them
• Get your mission clear
• Know your story and tell it in a way that rebuilds your reputation.
• Comeback is not a matter of luck; it is taking a chosen path
Have you fired back? I’d love to hear your story.
jeffrey-sonnenfeld
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June 26, 2007
09:13 am | 0 recommendations | 5 comments
Score another one for the Customer Service Hall of Shame. Companies, especially big behemoths, rarely get it that customer service is part of branding. The latest entrant: Ticketmaster.
I recently called the ticket company to order tickets for the King Tut exhibit in Philadelphia. When I learned I’d have to pay an extra $11 of service charges for the privilege of ordering online, I thought I’d save the extra charges by going to my local outlet. It just happened that I was going to my local mall where there is a Ticketmaster office. I confirmed with the Ticketmaster rep that I could buy the tickets locally and save some service fees.
Or so I thought. I patiently waited in line at Ticketmaster. When it’s my turn, the local rep types the information into her system only to get a message that she can’t sell me the King Tut tickets. They’re only available online.
I call Ticketmaster’s customer service number again and go through the “I’m not allowed” routine. I’m beginning to think there is an inborn gene with customer service reps where they instinctively chirp, “I’d love to help you but I’m not allowed.” What were they not allowed to do? Sell me tickets online and waive any of the service fee. Not even a dollar, mind you.
I thought I’d see if I could break the “I’m not allowed” barrier. Three supervisor levels later I was still at “Not allowed.”
Did I buy the tickets? Yes, but not through Ticketmaster. I called my hotel concierge who easily booked them for me without a service charge.
Do I care about the chump change I saved? Of course, not. But I care that Ticketmaster doesn’t give a you know what about its customers.
Why are big companies so risk adverse when it comes to giving their reps a little autonomy to please customers? Remember that every time we interact with a customer or prospect, we have a chance to recreate our personal brand. Now, if only Ticketmaster would learn that.
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June 20, 2007
08:31 am | 0 recommendations | 5 comments
We’ve now entered the silly season politically speaking and as the latest exhibit consider the just released video and campaign song by Hillary Clinton. Clinton and former President Bill Clinton spoof the controversial last scene of the Sopranos with Hillary standing in for Tony Soprano. The screen goes black just when her campaign theme song is to be unveiled. One click takes you to the theme song which is “You and I” by Celine Dion.
Yes, it’s cute if you’re running for student council president. And, yes, it’s creating an Internet buzz. But, what does it do for Hillary’s personal brand? Why associate yourself with a fictional mobster and criminal no matter how popular he is? Didn’t the Clinton’s have enough problems with all the real life sleazy characters they have been associated with -- not to mention some of their less than savory behavior. Think Monica and Whitewater and all the allegations that they had their hands in the wrong pots.
Then that Celine Dion song. Does that make you just a little sick thinking about such a saccharine song as the theme anthem for a down and dirty political campaign? Were she a doey-eyed young thing it might make sense. But what does “I can see your love shining like a light,” as the song puts it have to do with her campaign? She would have been much better off to have selected a song that matches her image -- that is upbeat, charged and gets people excited.
What do you think her song should be?
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June 19, 2007
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In honor of summer casualness, here's a diz dat list -- a bit of diz, a bit of dat.
For those on linkedin, check out this article which tells you how to use the business networking site more effectively. And for those not yet on the site, get your fingers moving .
By now you've probably heard of Timothy Ferriss, a 29-year-old self-described wunderkind who is the PT Barnum of self-promotion and the author of The 4-Hour Workweek. Ferriss is so over the top as to be almost a caricature when he talks about himself, yet at the same time you want to sit up and marvel. He's managed to get himself quoted everywhere and as of today is Number 20 on Amazon's bestseller list. Steve Rubel in Ad Age explains how Ferriss worked the blogosphere to build buzz for his book. (You need a subscription for Ad Age so email me if you want to see the article.)
Ferriss' book is also chuck full of good advice for personal branders -- a lot of it worth paying attention to, especially his advice on becoming a top expert. A few Ferriss suggestions:
* Join trade associations.
* Give free one-to-three hour seminars
* Write articles for trade magazines
*Join ProfNet, an expert service of PR Newswire
Beware, however. Ferriss, who has the cockiness galore of a young pup, makes it all sound as easy as sliced bread. In fact, it takes time and continual effort for most people to establish their street and online cred. However, much of what he says will work over time. Just don't expect to be an overnight wonder unless you're Timothy Ferriss.
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