Personal Brands: Stick It

  • 1 min read

If you were a bumper sticker, what would you say for all the world to see, as we drive by you stuck on a fender?

Would you tell us to give peace a chance?

Would you tell us you’re a fan of mixed martial arts?

Would you boast your kid made honor roll?

Would you boast your kid beat up a kid on honor roll?

During my first week in training at The Coca-Cola Company, I got a mega dose of what big brands know best, and pass on to the people who represent them.

Seven words or less

Memorable brand messages are brief, bold and brilliant. Seven words or less pretty much covers everything they want us to remember. Volvo = safety. Disneyland= happy. Coke: the pause that refreshes (and a litany of other vitality-oriented slogans).

We are connected to these brands and the values they embody – the qualities of an ideal life they promise comes with purchase.

Like the toy in Cracker Jack or the mood ring in Lucky Charms, a brand personality may feel as real as something we hold in our hands. That’s why we welcome brands into our lives. And, why we proudly wear their insignias and logos.

We believe that joy, security, freedom, peace of mind, creativity or success comes with the product – or whatever desirable state of mind we can’t get on our own.

Personal brands: how do you know how we feel about you?

If you blog, and we like your personal brand: we happily subscribe to your missives. We hit “share,” sending out your message like we are sending a gift via email.

Actions provide feedback

We look for you as we duck in and out of our Facebook page. We throw a glance at Tweetdeck zillions of times a day, and hope you pop up with something pithy that we might retweet. If you put in a subject line that is meaningful, we are motivated to open your email.

As personal brands, perhaps attached to bigger brands, we are both consumers and promoters. Unless mass-marketed brands, personal brands don’t act like there is a one-way mirror. We rely on the porous relationship we have with our audiences.

The audiences we compete for are besieged with communication clutter, and at the same time are besotted with messages that are crisp, clear, and relentless.

Are you successful in the trafficking of messages?

The world is driving by you all the time. Consider what’s sticking about you.

Picture of Nance Rosen

Nance Rosen

Nance Rosen is the author of Speak Up! & Succeed. She speaks to business audiences around the world and is a resource for press, including print, broadcast and online journalists and bloggers covering social media and careers.

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