Examples of Self-Branding
Let us conclude our discussion of self-branding with some specific real examples:
- “As a high-profile, global business leader, he’s energetic, upbeat, and has a can-do attitude. He’s highly entrepreneurial yet dedicates much of his time, energy, and capital to social, educational, and environmental causes. He’s adventurous and not afraid to push the boundaries of what’s possible in both the physical and business worlds. He utilizes social media to its fullest, and he prides himself on being accessible. Who is he?” Answer: Sir Richard Branson. (Arms, 2014, p. 41)
- “Despite what some people may think, personal branding is NOT the same as being the center of attention or creating a cult of your own personality. A good brand is quite the opposite. Let me explain: Think about Steve Jobs. What emotions come to your head… I think: ‘innovative,’ ‘polished,’ and ‘underdog power.’ On the other hand, think about Paris Hilton. What emotions come to your head… I think: ‘conceited,’ ‘spoiled,’ and ‘lost at sea.’” (Waldman, 2013a)
- “Nick Goss had an identity, but it wasn’t positive. ‘I was the annoying Englishman who says, This isn’t going to work.’ Goss started as a strategist at BMC Software. At meetings, he realized his opinions were ignored or greeted skeptically: ‘The questioning got into incredible minutiae,’ he recalls. In a talk with a senior VP, he confirmed that his brand, which he thought was ‘clever and good at coming up with novel solutions,’ wasn’t selling. ‘They didn’t see me as someone who was experienced at what they do, so I didn’t have high credibility with them.’ After that conversation, and others like it, Goss became less theoretical and more helpful.” (Hyatt, 2010)
- With regard to Martha Stewart, Murphy (2010) examined media coverage of her from 1982 to 2007. She (p. 229) found that: “Looking at Stewart’s news releases during the 25 years, they reflected progressive efforts to support her ambitions in the housewares market. Early ones stressed mass tastefulness and lifestyle authority themes to bolster her credibility as a domestic expert; later ones emphasized her acumen as head of a major media company. They focused on business successes and ventures into furniture and home design, as well as association with chains like Macy’s. In the middle of the time period–from the ImClone investigation of June 2002 until Stewart entered prison in October 2004–themes of scandal and corporate survival prevailed, with public relations efforts focused on holding Omnimedia together by reassuring partners, shareholders, and customers that the company was financially solid and its founder innocent. Last in time came the theme of back to fundamentals. This factor appears to reflect a strategic effort to restore Stewart’s original reputation as an approachable domestic authority, and to regain continuity between the post-prison Stewart and the early, better-liked Stewart.”
- Consider Michael Milken’s personal brand redemption, as related by Clark (2011): Milken “was once best known as a 1980s financier jailed for securities violations.” He then “dramatically redeemed his reputation by more than three decades of committed philanthropy. He has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to combat prostate cancer, melanoma, epilepsy, and more.” A Fortune cover story was titled “The Man Who Changed Medicine.”
Conclusions and Recommendations
Although the emphasis of this paper is self-branding, it has been imperative for us to place this concept within the broader constructs of “branding.” Without grasping the fundamentals, complexities, and evolving nature of branding, we cannot properly develop, maintain, and grow our own self-brand. We have had three goals in this paper.
One: To present an in-depth discussion of the evolution of branding, brand positioning, brand equity, the role of communications (including social media), and corporate branding. These are crucial underpinnings for self-branding. In too many cases, the existing literature has presented self-branding as a discrete topic rather than as a type of branding that shares many of the same considerations and perceptions as other brands.
Two: To define and describe self-branding and the self-branding process in a systematic, prescriptive manner. As noted previously: “Self-branding reflects how we want to be perceived by employers, potential employers, peers, and others; and it is a major key to long-term career success. Self-branding occurs when an individual develops and markets him- or herself in the same manner as a brand of a product would be marketed.”
In our analysis of self-branding, we covered such topics as these: why self-branding and self-branding are hard for some people, factors impacting on one’s professional self-brand, steps in self-branding–an honest self-assessment (a personal SWOT analysis), how one’s self-brand can be differentiated/positioned, ways to master to one’s self-brand, managing and re-inventing (when necessary) one’s self-brand, and the online self-brand. Original figures/flowcharts on self-branding have been introduced. Several specific examples of self-branding, both good and bad, are included.
Three: To present an extensive literature review related to branding and self-branding. This literature review includes 125 sources. Importantly, both the academic literature and the trade literature are incorporated. Although academics are typically aware of research in scholarly journals, in the case of self-branding, there is a lot to be learned from trade articles.
As to recommendations, two main ones are offered: First, in developing and managing one’s self-brand, a person should be cognizant of and apply the broader brand concepts we have noted. Second, self-branding must be done in an honest, reflective, process-driven, and continuous way; as with other brands, professional self-brands must evolve as a person moves through his or her career.
Let us end with these observations/recommendations across centuries about personal reputations as cited at Brainy Quote. They are certainly food for thought and put things in perspective:
- “The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” (Socrates)
- “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” (Henry Ford)
- “Associate with men [women] of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.” (George Washington)
- “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn a reputation by trying to do hard things well.” (Jeff Bezos)
- “It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.” (Isaac Asimov)
- “I know I have a reputation that is not so flattering, but I guess I owe it to just being a private person. I don’t mean anyone harm, and I’m not being mean. I just don’t socialize much; I don’t party too much. I don’t know what to say to the media if I’m not talking about a film that I am doing, so yeah, maybe I am perceived as a snob.” (Shahid Kapoor, an Indian actor)
- “Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.” (William Shakespeare)
- Similar thoughts about how easy it is to ruin one’s self-brand–“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” (Benjamin Franklin) “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” (Warren Buffett)
