Screw Branding. Become Unbranded.

There are times when it is difficult to come up with content… period. When I scour the pages and pages of data on the Internet… trying to search for a new idea… I slowly realize that, frankly, it is hard to find a new idea. There is also the sinking feeling that there are no new ideas… just regurgitation… like a collection of hundreds upon hundreds of words from newspapers all over the world…. glued together in a slick, ugly paper mache ball.

When I fail to come up with a new idea… I try to disregard everything and go the exact opposite way. I would like to introduce (not a new idea universally) the idea of being unbranded.

This idea was born from a conversation I had with a friend that surprisingly had something to do with the clothing stores Abercrombie & Fitch and Express. I do not despise the clothing from Express (no comment on Abercrombie) but I do despise when huge logos or brand names or stitched on the front of clothing. I do not mean to pick on the two stores they are just the first that came to my mind.

Frankly… you are unoriginal if you wear obnoxiously branded clothing. You are like… everyone else. And I think we can all agree… being like everyone else does not help you in the world of being an original personal brand.

Why is it important to be original?

  1. You want to be remembered.
  2. Your story is unique and builds your personal brand.
  3. Being original allows you to create ideas that change the way people think.
  4. You can take old ideas and apply your personality to make them new again.

Being unbranded is the foundation for all thing personal branding. If you want a strong personal brand… it is important to create ideas, solutions, and content that is original to your own personality.

Isn’t it better to one instead of one in a million?

Picture of Kyle Lacy

Kyle Lacy

Kyle Lacy writes a regular blog at KyleLacy.com and is founder and CEO of Brandswag, a social media strategy and training company. His blog has been featured on Wall Street Journal’s website and Read Write Web’s daily blog journal. Recently, Kyle was voted as one of the top 150 social media blogs in the world (on two websites), and produces regular keynote speeches across the Midwest. He also just finished writing Twitter Marketing for Dummies by Wiley Publishing.

TRENDING AROUND THE WEB

Why Twingly’s BlogRank still makes sense as a concept

Why Twingly’s BlogRank still makes sense as a concept

The Blog Herald

What the Technorati-Twitter experiment got wrong about content discovery

What the Technorati-Twitter experiment got wrong about content discovery

The Blog Herald

Matt Mullenweg, Microsoft, and the moment that confused everyone

Matt Mullenweg, Microsoft, and the moment that confused everyone

The Blog Herald

People who seem most at peace with their lives tend to practice these 8 things, and none of them involve pretending the hard parts didn’t happen

People who seem most at peace with their lives tend to practice these 8 things, and none of them involve pretending the hard parts didn’t happen

The Vessel

8 small shifts in how you interpret hard seasons that separate the people who grow gentler with age from the ones who quietly harden without ever meaning to

8 small shifts in how you interpret hard seasons that separate the people who grow gentler with age from the ones who quietly harden without ever meaning to

The Vessel

Nobody shares content they agree with — they share content that says what they couldn’t

Nobody shares content they agree with — they share content that says what they couldn’t

The Blog Herald