[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKE-oTzTaz0]
I want to thank Diane Bogino over at the Georgia Business Directory Network. She really made the interview a fun experience and I’m very impressed by what she’s been building with her video blog. Thanks for everything!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THhjNMtA4gg]
Well I had some good fun yesterday visiting the High Velocity Radio show, which is part of the RadioX network. Hosts Stone Payton and Todd Schnick really do a great job of making their guests feel welcome and giving them a chance to shine. I had the good fortune to be on the bill with Grant Carter, CEO of Team Doctors, and Marna Friedman, owner of Mpressive Solutions and author of The Small Business that Could for Women. We each had about 15 minutes at the mic and all got hit with Stone’s favorite zinger “Tell us about your biggest mistake.” The whole show is almost an hour, but if you’re in a hurry there is a brief excerpt, which clocks in at 3 min. 44 sec., where I talk about how branding happens whether you intend to or not. I hope you can check it out 🙂
Is your personal brand portable? Is your message easy for others to carry and spread?
Sometimes we get too caught up in our own message – we labor over the words, trying to get the nuance just so; making sure we get the essential essence of our value proposition; delving into details; artistically articulating skills, services and strengths… only to find out that everybody else refers to you as “the guy with the funny hat”, or “you know, that lady who sells real estate”, or “the dude with the stale coffee breath”. It happens. But there is a lesson to be learned here: if you show up often enough people will remember you, but are they remembering you for what you want or for what they find convenient?
What if you could combine the two?
The portable personal brand is about getting known in that straightforward, easy to identify, easy to remember way, but also in a way that points people toward your value. You can’t do this with a complex message: “Oh you know Dave, he’s the guy that went to art school after getting a math degree, and went on to startup companies and then built a career in marketing, blah blah blah…” It is too much. I can’t remember it all and I lived it, how can I expect someone else to carry all that info? And even if they could what would they do with it all? But if I give myself a label, “the brand therapist”, and tell people one thing I can do, “help people brand themselves to get more business” then maybe, just maybe someone might remember that. Maybe then, when someone meets a person with a murky message who is not getting results, they will say “Oh you should talk to Dave, the brand therapist, he can help you”.
Simplicity is portability, but there is a trade-off: there is more I can offer, but I have to leave it out otherwise it is distracting and cumbersome. There is certainly more you can offer than will fit in a sentence or two, but it is unreasonable to expect people to remember it all. And if it isn’t simple it won’t function as a trigger. When you network you will meet great people who are willing to help you, don’t you owe it to them to make that job easier? Equip them to help you with a simple way to understand your value. Build a portable personal brand that makes it a reflex to relay people to you who need your help.
David Cohen interviewed on ThriveAMERICA
I just wanted to give a shout out over to Brent Brooks at Blank Stage Productions and thank him for having me as a guest on their video blog: ThriveAMERICA. As an interviewer Brent was great – friendly, prepared and he went out of his way to make me feel comfortable as a guest. Thanks Brent!
The interview is about a half hour long, but is broken up into 10 minute sections. I hope you’ll take the time to check it out as we discuss the three Rs of branding and the three Cs of communication. Brent even got me talking about some business mistakes I’ve made and some ideas for the future. I hope you enjoy it and if you do, please remember to click on the stars to rank the video.
Thanks!
Pardon me while I toot my own horn for a second – I’m excited to say that I got interviewed for an article in this week’s Atlanta Business Chronicle. Urvaksh Karkaria wrote an article for the Technology in Motion section entitled “Execs using social media sites to brand themselves as well as their companies”. Besides yours truly, Urvaksh interviewed Atlanta-based social media consultant Toby Bloomberg and Boston area branding consultant Kirsten Dixson. Nice to be counted in amongst such talented individuals.
Look for my mug on page 7B.
🙂
"I adore your doodles... I swear looking at those bunnies lowers my blood pressure, calms my mind and makes me smarter. Who needs meditation when there are bunnies?"
Superheroes, a call to arms.
“Superman didn’t become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he’s Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red ‘S’? That’s the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. THOSE are his clothes. What Kent wears – the glasses, the business suit – that’s the costume.” ~Quentin Tarantino
I love that quote because I believe that we all have something authentic to offer, something that makes us special, something that can make us a beacon to others if we would just let that light shine for all to see. However we don’t always trust that talent, that passion, that superpower – we hide it behind a job title, we bury it underneath professional conformity. We’re taught to fit in, not stand out, but branding is about standing out.
Branding requires the risk of being noticed, especially when it comes to personal branding.
If you’re not noticed then your brand never has that seed from which to grow. You may be awesome, heck I’ll even go out on a not-so-skinny limb and say that you are awesome, but if we don’t know you and don’t know you for your awesomeness, well then we can’t help you and sadly we’re not going to give you the opportunity to help us.
My ambition, my purpose, my superpower if you will, is to help you to identify your difference, to give your powers names – so you can accept the mantle of your inner superhero. Yes, I’ve got a soft spot for the mavericks who were born on Krypton, but there are plenty of Earth-born humans who are mutating, who took the super-soldier serum, who’ve been bitten by radioactive spiders and feel that light burning inside. I see them all around me. I meet them every day, but they haven’t all yet come to recognize their powers or to trust them.
Kryptonite! Poisonous vapor of doubt. Kryptonite! Energy-sapping force of the dont-make wave (believed to emanate from meteorites made during the explosion of planet Me-Too). Admit it, it’s not easy to give yourself permission to stop being a face in the crowd. The life of a superhero can be super-risky, even super-embarrassing.
Have you ever worn a cape? It’s a tough look to pull off. Even Clark Kent can’t work that look because it clashes with the briefcase – it is not part of the costume, but when you dare to shrug off the Clark Kent disguise and reveal your authentic super self that’s when the cape fits – it’s not a costume it is a part of who your are. That’s when you’ll pick the color of that cape, stock your utility belt, build your secret lair… and name your powers.
“Look! Up in the sky… It’s a bird… It’s a plane… It’s you!” Super.