Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago · 1 min. reading time · ~10 ·

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The bullshit that is personal branding...

The bullshit that is personal branding...

It struck me the other day that the whole idea of "personal branding" is bullshit, and also so very marketing — and this is coming from someone who has spend a fair bit of time in the "field of marketing". Although, I would also be the first person to say you need to develop your "personal brand" (and yes a bit of a contradiction is presenting itself).

Before you call bullshit, hear me out — and believe me I shall be brief.

c9c78817.jpgThe Internet has given rise to many things in such a short period of time; 50 % good and 50 % not so good — and we have all adapted. One of things that has taken off is the concept of personal branding, and although not a new concept, it has very much accelerated because it is next to simple to get a great photograph of yourself, create a YouTube channel, and set up as many social media feeds as you can handle — and if you are reasonably calculated, present yourself in the perfect light, and with the perfect personal branding. Sadly, most will be taken at face value if it looks great and if it's entertaining. Sadder still though, there's also a collective understanding that under the thin veneer that is the internet, there lives an expectation that not everything is really as truthful as portrayed — and we seem to be alright with it. Another example of the adaption to the Internet I suppose.

Becoming lost is the word reputation (and maybe even the concept); you know, the overall quality or character as seen or judged by people. Reputation is a word of substance — something that takes a long time to build, and sadly if you are not careful, can be lost quickly (and maybe never recovered). Your reputation is built upon your character and abilities, and although sometimes masked for a little while, will always truly represent who you are. The personal brand is forever nebulous and changing based on the environment that fosters it, while reputation is solid and built on your character and capability.

Maybe all I am really trying to get across is that if your personal brand is not built upon your character and abilities (your reputation if you will), then it simply is all just bullshit.

iamgpe


PS — For those who may not be familiar with the term

                     bull·shit [ˈbo͝olˌSHit]

                     NOUN — stupid or untrue talk or writing; nonsense.

                     VERB — talk nonsense to (someone), typically to be misleading or deceptive.


"
#YouTube #VERB #iamgpe #NOUN #PS
Comments

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #36

#29
Thanks for the comments and insight Geoffrey Cooling... haha... a gorilla will always be a gorilla...

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #35

#28
Thanks for the comment Stephane \ud83d\udc1d Fenner... I believe you are right when you say honesty and time are very important ingredients....

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #34

#27
Thanks for the comment Paul \... I'm behind on my reading and comments but I will track down you post...

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #33

#26
Thanks for the comment Ren\u00e9e \ud83d\udc1d Cormier

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #32

#22
Thanks for the comments and insight Jerry Fletcher... I look forward to your posts !

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #31

#21
Thanks for the comment and thoughts Jim Murray... my experience is if we don't keep reenforcing the obvious, it gets forgotten ... lol Let me see what I can do with your suggestion of a second post... although what I do know for sure is when someone starts off looking for fame and fortune it never really ends well... thx

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #30

#20
Thanks for the comment Phil Friedman... there is no doubt in many things we see the world the same way so it become hard to be a contrarian with you... lol I think there is definitely a science and a need to branding and it can optimize (and more importantly maintain) the brand that over years has been developed.

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #29

#19
Thanks for the comment

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #28

#18
Thanks for the comment Laurent Boscherini

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #27

#17
Thanks for the comment Aaron \ud83d\udc1d Skogen

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #26

Thanks for the comment Bernard Poulin... you touch on something that does seem to be deteriorating... self respect does seem to be something that is being put to the side... or maybe more accurately the value of self respect (and how it is defined).

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #25

#13
Thanks Randall Burns... there has been some great conversation and thoughts so far!

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #24

#12
Thanks for the comment Brian McKenzie... thought provoking and sad at the same time... it would be better for sure if people said I am someone and this is who I am... perfection is a fallacy for sure but as you suggest something more and more people are striving for in the "inter web"...

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #23

#11
Thanks for your comment Pascal Derrien...

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #22

#9
Thanks for the comment Javier \ud83d\udc1d beBee

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #21

#6
Thanks for the comment Ali \ud83d\udc1d Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee... I think what I was scratching at when I wrote this was reputation drives branding and not branding driving reputation... the substance is in the "reputation"... be it commercial or personal. This is a great conversation and the comments are great food for thought!

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #20

#4
Thanks for the comment Solomon Jones and I think you are spot on with what you say... I think taking the ownership to "keeping it real" is analogous to taking the high road and scarves us well over the long run...

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #19

#3
Thanks for the comment CityVP \ud83d\udc1d Manjit... I do like the three R's. I think the one of the issues is many have little patience for building a reputation and if you say it, it is true... and if you say it enough people will believe it to be true... even if imperially it isn't.

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #18

#2
Thanks for the comment Kevin Baker... we may have to revisit that ol' say "perception is reality".... I think we are entering a time when what is real is fake, what is fake is real and a growing acceptance that you can't believe anything and that's just the way it is.

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #17

#1
Thanks for the comment Jim Taggart. I can't help think much of this is a result of the barriers of entry is so know low it very easy to get message out there but if you scratch a little there is a lack of substance... it's the way of our new world I think. We definitely are all exploring it.

Jerry Fletcher

6 years ago #16

#23
Okay, we've teed it up. Now I have to find the time to write some observations from the viewpoint of someone that has dealt with this for over 50 years. Stay tuned.

Phil Friedman

6 years ago #15

#22
The concept of "personal branding", Jerry Fletcher, has gone berserk and fallen over the precipice. On social media, we used to be faced with self-ascription and diploma mill degrees (paper bought from non-accredited, private commercial, for-profit firms that for a few bucks and no work would send you a printed degree diploma. But now, I've started to notice even more brazen BS, namely, people sporting "degrees" issued by the very same specious organizations they purport to have founded and whose services they are seeking to sell. Watch for my new MBBS degree (Master of Business BS), issued by the Friedman Institute of Small-Business, LLC. Sound silly? You bet. But it's out there, right in front of us. Do these people have so little regard for us that they believed we will be fooled by these phony sheepskins? I guess only the Shadow knows.

Jerry Fletcher

6 years ago #14

Graham, I love it when one of the annointed calls a spade a spade and drops a mini-bomb on some of societies cherished notions. For the record I'm known as a Brand Poobah (and that alone should tell you how I'm not terribly serious about the title.) Companies have a brand. Products have a brand. Services have a brand. Every person in any kind of service business or professional practice has a brand. They may not like it but a brand accrues to them. They can make it more succinct and memorable but they can't change the fact that it will be based on all actual and perceived actions. The idea that a non-specialized or service related individual can have a brand is relatively new. It is an over-extension of ego run wild. It has its roots in the society that is so intensely interested in celebrity.It is a promise that "even you, a nobody can have greater meaning." Looks like it is time I wrote more about this. Stay tuned.

Jim Murray

6 years ago #13

So if I read this correctly your premise is that personal branding is all bullshit, but it really only is bullshit if you're not building it on your character and your abilities. But isn't that what a personal brand is supposed to be built on in the first place? In other words, a personal brand is bullshit, but only if people screw up their building of it, which by the 80/20 Differential, 80% of people do. I have actually seen very few people here or on LinkedIn who have any sort of personal brand at all. I think you are making a good, albeit it quite obvious point. Maybe you should do a second post that outlines how all those wayward personal brand-challenged souls can right their ships and sail on to fame and fortune on the Blue Ocean of Bubbly Goo. Cheers, jim

Phil Friedman

6 years ago #12

Graham, at one time brands -- whether product or company -- emerged organically from sustained performance in the marketplace and developing a reputation. Then, along came "branding experts" who said never mind working hard and settling in for the long haul, they could "build" a brand for you. Moreover, they said, they could imbue it with "authenticity". By which, of course, they meant they could show you how to fake it. Eventually, appearance displaced reality when it came to brands and branding-- which became like honey-dipped (I choose that term intentionally) bull chips. And authenticity became like something you might shove up your nose. Nice piece. Kudos. And cheers!

Laurent Boscherini

6 years ago #11

Thank you Graham\ud83d\udc1d Edwards for sharing your excellent points. Yes, Personal Branding can be considered as a part of self promotion, using soft skills to educate, provide know-how and let others know who you are. But only if it is steered by self respect and integrity to share trust rather than "marketable" or "bankable" issues.

Randall Burns

6 years ago #10

Great post Graham\ud83d\udc1d Edwards, spot on!

Pascal Derrien

6 years ago #9

I have read the article but not the comments, tools don't make up an individual if you are smart and honest it will transpire thru how you represent yourself, if you are something else you will be found out internet, branding or not me thinks :-)

Randall Burns

6 years ago #8

#3
@CityVP Manjit, The original three "Rs" is a "tongue in cheek" joke about the importance of the basics of elementary school being, "Reading, riting and rithmatic"

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

6 years ago #7

#8
Ali \ud83d\udc1d Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee we all agree. Reputation is earned over time. This is obvious :)

Ali Anani

6 years ago #6

#7
you know well CityVP \ud83d\udc1d Manjit of my position on personal branding. Your comment herre strengthened my belief that reputation is earned over time whereas branding is artificial. I mockingly used in my first comment branding adaptability to reflect its synthetic nature. If we study cases in which companies changed their branding we shall find that they did this with the sole purpose of getting more customers.

CityVP Manjit

6 years ago #5

#6
For me reputation is a synonym of respect. Respect is earned not manipulated. Here is the difference from the branded approach Solomon Jones would utilize to develop a professional reputation, personal rep is not the same thing as personal brand. Honour as a personal code is a much greater value than trying to be marketable. There are assholes that make millions of dollars but their personal reputation would not have me want to enter their personal space. We are so predicated on meaning derived from work, that we have lost sight of meaning centered in home and more importantly meaning that has a backbone within us, which is our own life values. Somewhere along the line, the mighty dollar turned us into branded rats. The rat race is different today than yesterday, today we are prone to become rats on digital steroids. The billionaire does not make her or his living off their personal brand, they make their living off their ruthless pursuits. If we are bounded by personal brand to make a living, then that is the symbol of our incarceration. As Patrick said in the series The Prisoner "I am not a number, I am a free man" :-)

Ali Anani

6 years ago #4

Graham\ud83d\udc1d Edwards you wrote "The personal brand is forever nebulous and changing based on the environment that fosters it, while reputation is solid and built on your character and capability". This means that branding adapts to the environment, whereas reputation doesn't. Branding self is more flexible than reputation. But I agree with you and CityVP \ud83d\udc1d Manjit. Reputation is what takes time to build. It is one of the facts that we need to be based on solid criteria. Branding serves in selling and marketing and thdat reputation serves for all purposes with seeing the reality and not the faked one.

Ali Anani

6 years ago #3

Interesting buzz and I intengd to play the devil's role. Graham\ud83d\udc1d Edwards you wrote "

CityVP Manjit

6 years ago #2

The Three R's have traditionally been writing, reading and arithmetic, which never made sense to me, other than that writing, arithmetic and reading make the acronym W.A.R. - so I guess if one thought the Beatles wrote hidden messages in their music, I am more sure that the educational system in talking about those 3R's was sending out a far different subliminal message ! What I think the Three R's today should be is REPUTATION RELATIONSHIP RESPONSIBILITY The moment all of those huge R's are wrapped around the word Branding, first they lose what is personal and secondly it turns these three most definite things into a form of witchcraft called "Personal Branding" and instead of "Successful Personal Branding" I wish Javier \ud83d\udc1d beBee would look at the power of 3 as these 3R's - because I totally agree with Graham that word "Reputation" is a powerful "R" word on it's own - why do we need it to be a subset of anything. Usually it is a branding strategist who loves the idea of Personal Branding, because let's face it "Branding Strategist" spells BS. While many branding strategist have many selfies of themselves, I find the accompaniment of hypocrisy also comes with it - and there is no greater hypocrisy and audacity than "BS consultants" addressing issues like narcissism and authenticity !!! So yes, let's make it about the R of Reputation, but also the R of Relationship and the R of Responsibility. Enough said :-)

Jim Taggart

6 years ago #1

Don't apologize Graham; you're bang on. Your last sentence captures the issue succinctly. The personal branding trend, as much as that's where so-called marketing experts and pseudo knowledgable social media folks say we have to focus, is built upon a shaky foundation of expertise, connectedness and self-promotion. Okay, let's just call it bullshit. At the core of this is the "Look at me!" insecure, self-adulation trend, most characterized by Millennials. However, it's broader than that. A case in point is LinkedIn. Now that's bullshit in action.

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