Ask the readers: What would you like to see in a personal branding book?

What I would love to see is a section on finding what makes you unique and interesting. You don’t have a brand until you are unique, and for most people I think that’s really hard to identify.

I look forward to your book! Definitely going to buy it.

I guess different perspectives is one thing I usually miss.

Like our discussion on big and small companies. You have good arguments why big companies are good starting point for personal branding, I myself have done a decent job (if I say so myself) avoiding companies above 100 employees.

And maybe even some downsides to personal branding (like the fact it’s harder to build a company with more employees when you are a personal brand). I recently had a woman say to me, after a digital personal branding training, well, I now know one thing: I don’t want to make myself into a personal brand. And I was happy, because she had paid a lot of attention to my training and decided it clashed with her personality.

I would like to see a section on how you evolve a personal brand. Once you have built up a strong personal brand, how do you change your brand to reflect the new person you are? Companies do rebranding which might include a name change, but what is the equivalent for a personal brand? The brand is too connected to the person for it to change easily, so how would you accomplish this?

Hey Neal, I love the book idea. I think I’d really like to see the nuts and bolts of activities that you do to make your brand. There are some things that are very hot now (e.g. Facebook) that will change over time, but I think you can help people most by being really specific about do’s and don’ts in social media.

Neal,

I’d love to see some sort of an “action plan” for people who are getting starting in defining their personal brand, that perhaps along with some quirky, unorthodox tips might make it interesting and stand out.

I would enjoy seeing the topic of ‘first impressions’ covered. Many people believe first impressions are everything so this surely must go FAR into your personal branding.

Would enjoy reading the book, good luck with it

Awesome Neil. My first print book will actually be published in the next 4 - 6 weeks, so I know your exhilaration!

2 things would be great to include:
1) Anecdotes, examples, real case stories of normal people — not the celebrities we typically think of.

2) Re-branding yourself - mid-career & 2nd career. In fact, one of my clients is an expert on Baby Boomers (aka, “Head Boomer”) staying vital in the workplace (with young-centric age-ism that has ironically blessed us). She may be a good person for you talk to.

Let me know…
~ Vikram
PersonalBrandMarketing.com

Hello Neil,

I’m in line for that book already.

I like the title, but I would never say, “I’m kinda a web developer”. I think it lacks confidence and is a bit arrogant. I’d be drawn more to a person that said “I am a big deal” rather than someone who is in doubt about his/her confidence by saying “I’m Kinda a Big Deal”. Think about it. A vice president could say, “I’m kinda the president” becasue he isn’t THE President. Knw what I mean? Maybe I’m wrong, but I AM excellent at what I do. I’m not KINDA good atwhat I do. Who would hire me with that confidence? Just my 2 cents and I am super interested in what others think. Which sounds more unsure? “I kinda” or “I am”?

I would like to see a section (maybe some examples) on the right people picking the wrong personal brand.

Neil, I think it should cover online/offline branding. Social media has opened up a whole new channel for individuals to create a lasting impression on their audience. It’s important to note that people should discover who they are before communicating a brand value proposition. Once they come to terms with their aspirations, goals, interests/passions, they can connect that to a specific job role or business venture. They then can create marketing material around that and communicate it to their audience (press/network members/etc).

Also, how about a section for narrowing down your skills and abilities into one sentence, such as “Personal Branding Spokesman”, etc etc. Developing that one core brand statement.

You may also want to use example of successful Personal Brands such as Donald Trump and Oprah Winfrey.

just some ideas…ill send you more when I think of them!

I think it would be great to have a section about your personal brand’s style… the look and feel of your brand and yourself. I really liked your post “What does your business card say about you?” but it goes way past your business card.

What do you wear? What do you smell like? How do you speak? What personality quirks do you have? Your office, your briefcase/bag, there are countless visual cues that help build your brand and they all need to be cohesive.

That’s what I would like to see… Something that encompasses all of that kind of stuff.

Most of the things I see written on personal branding is about how to create and market a brand.

But, a personal brand is more than the creation and the marketing — you actually have to behave and act in accordance to the personal brand.

So I would list the hundred ways you can have the brand — but lose it through your behavior. Think Paris Hilton. Or Britney Spears. Or the insurance agent who blows you off on your insurance request while parking his SUV in an handicap spot at a busy restaurant even though his insurance company logo is all over the door of his SUV.

Creating and marketing the brand is easy. Living it is full of pitfalls. It’s worth writing about.

I think it should explain how people should focus on the 4 elements of Personal Branding: personality, appearance, competencies and differentiation. It’s all about delivering a full package to customers/your audience in order to stand out and succeed.

I rebranded myself in college and the most difficult thing for me has been managing the people who I have been reconnecting with since the rebranding. It’s been an uphill battle not to relent and completely revert to some of the characteristics of my former brand. Insight and advice for handling this issue should be covered in your book.

I think your book is a great idea, and I look forward to reading it.

I agree with Matt J McDonald, above, that some unorthodox or unexpected tips will make it interesting. But even those need to have real life application possibilities. Turning conventional wisdom on its head for its own sake may be entertaining, but
meaningless.

I agree with Scot Herrick, above, that behavior (and product, for that matter) must be consistent with your personal brand. Therefore, when is rebranding appropriate, and how would it affect my authenticity, real and perceived?

I would also like to see information on any limitations of personal branding. I think it is a great concept, but there may be situations where, if taken too far, it is either not necessary in its most individualistic form, or could even backfire.

Thanks for the input everyone! I’ll make sure and give you guys credit within the book.

Neil, I’m a long time reader. I think you should consider including a body of reference for best practices in “basic”, but overlooked, personal branding — major books/resources you’ve found effective on cultural best practices, peer and outsider negotiations, and even writing guidelines like CopyBlogger.

I will definitely get the book!

I think maybe taking the 4 elements of personal branding a bit further, then building off of them to the EXTREME.

Personal “real” success stories from individuals who started from scratch and how they got to being a successful brand. Everybody likes personal stories they can aspire to and have hope they can get there too!

1. I would like to find a complete discussion of logo design analyzing the message that color, shape and size communicate.

2. Then I’d appreciate learning about the best software for logo design and branding if you can’t afford an expert.

3. Show your readers that branding can work miracles! Find an
“Eliza Doolittle” of a site and make a lady out of her!

I happen to have such a site if you’d consider it!

How about some good examples of self branders, or people who set good examples to follow.

My latest book from HarperCollins (BIOBLOGS) introduces a new art form for resumes: bioblogs. I conceived bioblogging as a form of personal branding, by employing subtle and powerful images to ‘carry the weight’ of you-as-a-brand, further supported by context and content (words). I can tell you, I am a lone voice in the world of resume-ing: most folks are happy with the status quo. I am promoting the idea that anyone who thinks themselves worthy and special can promote themselves that way (on a resume via a bioblog). The fuzzy concept of ‘personal branding’ may be a little hard for some to grasp, but after identifying one’s personal character (at work) and creative qualities (per se), it is easy to repackage it/them as a whole new self-contained brand. My question is, How can you convince people to take the risk of standing up for themselves? Because to me that’s the real impediment: lack of confidence and perspective.

I would like to see a section on Personal Branding within Corporate Branding. I am a Broker Associate for an internatioanl Brokerage Company; how would I go about developing a personal brand.

One of the important things I’ve learned from trying to build a bit of a personal brand, while working in a company that is NOT mine, is that you have to be honest and open about it.

I’m always honest about working for two benefits, my bosses and my one, and the only way that works is IF your boss can handle that. Otherwise you’ll have to start working on your own soon…

On the other hand, personal branding can boost your career, and create loads and loads of business for your company. Bas says above that it’s harder to build a company of multiple persons on just one “big personal brand”, which I think is true, on the other hand, employers who encourage their employees to build a personal brand themselves can get a LOT of exposure and business through these employees.

The “extra” for them is that people will start thinking “hey there are more great people there, what kind of culture do they have that these people can flourish?” etc. etc.

Anyway, just my 2 cents

Neil, I would enjoy some exploration on the personal brand as something that your customers/clients dictate rather than something you create. The areas where you think you excel may not be the areas your customers/clients think you excel. And your customers/clients are the ones that spread the word-of-mouth.

Also, I would love to see less on the personal brands of people such as Oprah, Jordan, Trump, etc. and more on how your average cubicle worker starts to develop his/her brand.

I’d like to see something on what to do when you behave in a way that you later realise is inconsistent with how you would like to be seen - not just obvious social gaffes, but also errors in presenting yourself. It’s definitely going to happen to everyone one day.

Defining the brand is the most important bit, though, I think.

Great idea, Sean. That has already happened to me once!

I think a good idea would be to talk about how to build your credibility (brand) in your industry. For instance if you are an accountant, how do you become recoginzed as the top accountant? Are there certain places to network, join, nominations, awards, blogging, website, etc. How do you make yourself the most sought after “accountant”, for example?

You should have a chapter called “What’s your stunt?” All the people I know who are somewhat popular have some sort of stunt or milestone that you can associate with them. Two examples you’d recognize are Shoemoney - the check picture was brilliant. Neil you yourself networked Crazy Egg into the limelight. I see references for that everywhere (just saw it again recently in Web Analytics - An Hour A Day) Kudos!

I think it all goes back to providing people in your industry especially with something that takes you outside your comfort zone and seems crazy or remarkable without hurting yourself or anyone else. There are some great examples in the book Citizen Marketers and some great tips in Purple Cow/Free Prize Inside.

What would make the chapter great is to have some references where to look and then a list of places/times where you can expose your “stunt” to the public.

Just my two cents…