Anybody else ever lose their brand? Did it hurt?
We lost our Twitter brand temporarily, thanks to some twhackers who made many people's avatars
disappear, to be replaced by the default l'il tweety bird. Not the worst thing, but our ExperienceLive symbol is pretty distinctive, and we're proud of it (not to mention all the great info that gets tweeted every day -- check it out!), and want it back.
In a greater sense, though, brands -- whether corporate or personal -- have become pretty important in our marketing-driven society. So what, you say? What it means for you is that without your own personal brand, you could easily get passed over for a job or a promotion.
Simple example -- you're looking for a new job. Your resume shows off the brand you've built through things you've accomplished in work, organizations that you belong to, causes you've volunteered for, places you've gone and things you've studied. Doesn't matter if you're a recent grad or less recent. The point is that you can craft your resume and cover letter to show consistency, and to show why your brand makes you distinctive.Or not. I've spoken with many recruiters over time, and they all say the same thing -- they're looking for someone who stands out from the crowd, not the play-it-safe, non-descript candidate. They're looking for somebody with a real brand.
I'm not telling you to make things up, and I'm not advocating that you present a shallow marketing image. If you don't think you need to sell yourself as somebody unique, somebody extraordinary, who can make a difference, then go ahead -- tell me I'm wrong! But you better have a good counter-argument ready for me if you do.
On a somewhat related note, congratulations to Jenna, a former contributor to this blog, who has just landed a new job at a new company with the title all marketing people secretly covet -- she's going to become the Director of Buzz. Yes!
1 comments:
YAY JENNA! Pass along my huge congrats. :-)
I've been struggling for years to brand myself and was always worried that my totally scattered-looking resume wasn't quite getting me there...until I realized recently that going a million totally different directions at once *is* my brand in a lot of ways.
It hit me when my academic advisor was trying reassure me that it's OK that I don't have a clear, straight path that I've always followed to a very specific end/goal. That, she said (she is also a redhead, btw, which might explain this), is honestly sort of boring -- "If your resume is standard-issue, in a straight line, that's the kind of job you're going to get. If it's random and twisting and exciting, you're probably going to end up with that kind of job. And that's the kind of job you want."
She might have just been trying to make me feel better, but I'll take it (and it worked). :-)
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