Why Doing Great Work Isn’t Enough: 7 Steps To Personal Branding.
Talented people are a dime a dozen. If you’re not effectively leveraging Social Media and the Internet to your advantage you’re going to get left in the dust. Here’s how to avoid being the greatest act nobody heard of.
Personal branding is the process whereby people and their careers are marked as brands. The personal branding concept suggests instead that success comes from self-packaging. Further defined as the creation of an asset that pertains to a particular person or individual; this includes but is not limited to the body, clothing, appearance and knowledge contained within (something only you can do better than anybody else), leading to an indelible impression that is uniquely distinguishable.
Most performers don’t like to think of themselves as a brand – I understand. Nobody wants to be compared to a box of cereal. But branding takes on a much deeper meaning when it’s applied to an individual or group.
Why should you care? Because word of mouth is crucial and money is no longer the deciding factor in how you get the word out about your brand.
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Branding 101 as described by those who do it best, courtesy of BNet.com
1. David Meerman Scott: Own Your Google Results 
Known for his bestseller, The New Rules of Marketing And PR, Scott understood early in his career that he needed to stand out online. If you Google “David Scott,” a US Congressman from Georgia ranks first, and a marketing expert, as popular as he may be, can’t compete with a national pol. Scott’s solution: He branded himself as “David Meerman Scott” instead of just “David Scott.” Google that name, and his content shows up first. [photo credit: CC Chapman]
2. Seth Godin: Stand Out from the Pack
A self-described change agent and the author of several bestsellers, including Linchpin, Godin writes a popular blog and is a sought-after speaker due to his consistently iconoclastic thinking. He argues that in an increasingly competitive global economy, doing good work simply isn’t enough. Professionals need to make themselves “indispensable” by being willing to stand apart from the herd and voice their unexpected insights. [photo: Joi Ito]
3. Tim Ferriss: Get People Talking About You
The 4-Hour Workweek author is the master of creating buzz, using online media as well as traditional mainstream media to turn his book into a bestseller. While Ferris was interviewed on the Today Show, he says that a review by a single influential blogger, Robert Scoble, is what really got his book to the number-one spot on the Amazon bestseller list. In fact, since online content never disappears, a mention on a blog can have a long shelf life, helping you to market your brand long after a book or product’s release. [photo: Tim Ferriss]
4. Steve Rubel : Attach Yourself to a Bigger Brand
As a blogger, Rubel is one of the thought leaders in the social-media space. He’s also a senior vice president for Edelman Digital, the online division of the public relations giant. By working for a well-recognized and respected brand, he gained instant credibility and quickly became a prime media source for wisdom on the industry. [photo: Steve Rubel]
5. John Jantsch: Focus, Focus, Focus
Jantsch has built a successful consulting business, Duct Tape Marketing, helping develop marketing solutions for small businesses. The secret to his success: He focused relentlessly on this niche, came up with a catchy name for his brand, and put the name on his blogs, books, columns, and workshops. [photo: John Jantsch]
6. Gary Vaynerchuk: Be Nice to Everyone
Through his video blog, Wine Library TV, Vaynerchuk expanded his liquor business and became a social media guru, publishing the career book Crush It! Gary’s personal credo — be kind to everyone — infuses his stores, book, and blog, and as a result he’s attracted a large following of devoted fans. [photo: vaynermedia.com]
7. Keith Ferrazzi: Give Before You Receive
If you want to build a strong network — people who passionately support and believe in you — you must be generous, says Ferrazi, a business relationship consultant and the author of the best-selling book about networking Never Eat Alone. Instead of asking people for favors, ask, “What can I do for you?” You’ll be amazed at how many acquaintances will turn into fans. [photo: keithferrazzi.com]
This is a business first and entertainment is a brand, but selling yourself doesn’t mean selling out. The sooner we grasp the fact that agents, producers, etc. buy our brand and not our soul, the easier it becomes to cope with the ups and down of the business. Don’t attach your self worth to your talent. Hope this helps!
Kahlil (at) gigsmacked (dot) com
Kahlil, we read from the same shelf. Great post. I could agree more on personal branding. I think the art of personal branding comes down to a very simple, and un-salesy concept: your band is simply your personality and passion well represented and expressed on all the websites, videos and materials that connect people to your work. “Brand” is only a creepy concept, as I see it, when you don’t get that it’s just supposed to be your authentic self and personality well represent to all that might cross your marketing or social media path. What’s creepy is when your materials don’t do a great job representing your authentic self. That’s when I feel like a box of cereal.
For me, I think Great Work is more important than Brand ever will be. And I hitch my worth more to my talent, than I do into my brand. Brand helps me do business – and undoubtedly I leverage it as much as I can. But talent (and attempts to get better at my craft) is where my soul lives. Great Work is what I assume should lead my way to the biggest stages in the world (complimented by good branding). In my book, it’s not that “Great Work isn’t enough.” It’s that “Very good Work isn’t Enough.” So we have to be relentless in our pursuit of moving our work beyond “Very Good” and to “Great Work”. Many artists are accomplishing “Very Good!” work and wondering why they’re not getting propelled into the stratosphere? But what if you look at your “Very Good! Work” and relentlessly say to yourself, “Good, what can I do to make it Great Work?” Great Work is so rare. I believe Great Work is a star maker. I think the star making machine does a damn good job (not perfect) of finding and elevating the Great Work. But there’s a big difference between Very Good! art and Great Art. And so we must never give up on trying to accomplish Great Work knowing that it does in fact open doors. And are talented people really a dime a dozen? Not through my eyes. It seems to me that Underdeveloped Talent is a dime a dozen. Talent – real mind-blowing, jaw-dropping, gobsmacking talent – is truly rare and most often rewarded in show business.
In short, Lead with the relentless pursuit of Great Work and dress it up with good branding! I’m sure we’re saying the same thing Khalil.
PS – None of this is meant to imply anything self-congratulating about my work. My work is Very Good at best, and I’m trying to get it to Great. I’ve set it as my nirvana to someday achieve a real talent. And it’s a journey I absolutely love.
Again, LOVE your article Khalil. Kudos. Bravo. Thank you friend.
Hi Patrick, great points here. Thanks for commenting. I agree with you about Great Work vs Good Work and how our work is who we are. The point I was hoping to make (maybe not clearly enough) is that there are lots of people out there who do great work and nobody has heard of them – how can they get the word out using the massive power of the internet and social media? Gone are the days of getting great reviews and sitting back waiting for the phone to ring. You and I are fortunate. We have hugely successful one person shows and dare I say we have a pretty good understanding of our brands. Hopefully this post will spread the wealth a bit because I truly believe that there’s enough to go around. Good to hear from you and best wishes for continued success!
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