Showing Tag: "brand" (Show all posts)

William Arruda's Personal Branding Predictions

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Saturday, February 6, 2010, In : Branding

1. Video, Video, Video

Thanks to greater bandwidth, cheaper storage, and a proliferation of products and services that make shooting, storing, viewing, and sharing video easy (Flip video, iPhone 3GS, YouTube, vimeo, blip.tv, vodpod, etc.), video will be king in 2010. Video is ideal because it allows careerists to deliver a complete communication and convey their personality—a critical component of branding.

2. Hiring Process

Companies will be hiring brands rather than employees. The...

Personal Branding - You Are the Fulcrum

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Tuesday, January 19, 2010, In : Branding

“Give me a place to stand,” said Archimedes, “and I will move the world.”

As you probably know, a fulcrum is the pivot point for a lever. And we know that Archimedes was planning to use a lever to move the world. But a lever by itself is worthless. It needs the fulcrum to actually do the leveraging. You are that fulcrum.

Part of a good brand is being focused on a dream that you want to come true. It is the thing that drives a personal brand. While branding is about creating im...

Your Personal Brand Can Change the World

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 15, 2010, In : Branding

I remember a comment Neil Young had about Live Aid and other similar events. He said "save yourself". I have always thought about that and realized that after I find my true self and act upon that fact - the world will change around me.

Personal Branding - Expertise vs Expert

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Thursday, January 14, 2010, In : Branding

I have found that when we talk about ourselves we might say that we have some particular expertise in something and only rarely do we say "I am an expert". This is a personal branding mistake. For example, I might say that I have expertise in Java Software Architecture. But it would be better expressed as saying "I am a Java Software Architecture Expert".

And another thing, the more you repeat this phrase - the more people will believe it and refer to you as the "Expert". Saying tha...

Internal and External Brand Mantras

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Monday, January 11, 2010, In : Branding

We have all heard about taglines sometimes called "brand" taglines. A tagline is really an external mantra for your customers to resonate with. Its also important when developing a personal career brand to have an internal mantra. Just like the word "OM" - which is chanted to bring inner calm - we need an internal mantra to guide our career and to give it meaning.

Finding an internal mantra that "fits" is not an easy task. It relies on some deep reflection of your core values and then simpl...

Criteria for a Great Brand Name

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Monday, January 11, 2010, In : Branding

DISTINCTIVENESS - always important in branding. You must standout. Ive seen some pretty interesting names lately that have been creative with spelling - apptizr.com as an example. This company provides a smart way to find iphone apps.
BREVITY - Often you want to have your brand name be your domain name. So some brand names or company names are just too long and you are forced to have a domain that is different from your brand. Not that good. The shorter the name the easier it is ...

What is a Personal Brand Tagline

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 8, 2010, In : Branding

Taglines aren't just for companies - they are for individuals. A tagline is a very short expression that conveys meaning to your audience. When developing a career we can use these short expressions in conversation or on our business cards to quickly help others understand who and what we are. A good tagline starts a conversation and provides context for everything that follows. Without any further preamble (Just do it), I am going to list some qualities of a good tagline.

Simple...

Personal Branding is Outcome Thinking

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Thursday, January 7, 2010, In : Branding

Personal Branding - especially for your career has to do with setting and achieving goals. In essence - getting things done. We are not used to setting our own goals - more often we are buffeted about by forces around us. But branding ourselves in our career is about setting some personal goals and actually accomplishing them. In David Allen's book Getting Things Done he uses a term called "Outcome Thinking". He says "Thinking in a concentrated manner to define desired outcomes i...
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Personal Branding is Like Buddhism

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Wednesday, January 6, 2010, In : Branding

One of the reason so much branding fails is that people arent aware enough of their circumstances - personally and in the marketplace. While I dont profess to be a Buddhist, I have benefited from some meditation and slowing down of my crazed monkey brain - thereby starting to notice a bit more nuance in my life. Personal branding is about personal awareness. We could learn a lot from the Buddha.

The Personal Branded Avatar

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Wednesday, January 6, 2010, In : Branding

Its important to present a representative image of yourself in all of your social network profiles. People respond visually and make very quick decisions about you. If your avatar is a cartoon its hard to take you seriously. One caveat to that is - if you are not concerned about your brand then the avatar could be anything. Sometimes you want to be anonymous or be known as something other than what you really are - thats playful and fun - but its not a personal brand.

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Jon Blake - Land Surveyor - Encinitas - San Diego

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Tuesday, January 5, 2010, In : Branding

Authentic • Honest • Experienced

Over 30 Years of Experience in and around San Diego
Specializing in Boundary Disputes and Boundary Surveys
Expert at Boundary Line Determination
The Sherlock Holmes of finding lost markers
Unfailingly willing to go the extra mile to do things right
Always Delivers Exceptional Value
Expert Witness for Federal Court on Boundary Disputes
United States Mineral Surveyor
Accomplished Land Surveyor Instructor
Speaker and Storyteller of San Diego Land ...

Personal Branding Is Made to Stick

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Tuesday, January 5, 2010, In : Branding

Like any branding - its about marketing and the ability to be memorable. Its unfortunate that most of us are terrible at making impressions. The good news is that there is a simple recipe which you can use to improve. I simply cant recommend the book Made To Stick by Chip and Dan Heath enough. You gotta read the whole book to get the whole picture - or at least start reading their columns in Fast Company. These two brothers provide some simple guidelines that can be remembered by the acronym ...
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Personal Branding is the New Black

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Monday, January 4, 2010, In : Branding

A few years ago personal branding was more of a curiosity for individuals. Now we cant read a magazine without hearing about personal branding. I think in some ways branding yourself was considered vain. The "corporate man culture" had not died out. I think those days are gone. Just as women rely on having a black dress in the closet - professionals need to have some sort of personal branding going on - or they will seem out of it. Well I have to admit that many unemployed people I...

Personal Branding - I am the Singularity

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Monday, January 4, 2010, In : Branding

Click to view large

The number one rule of personal branding is to be unique - possibly the best in the world as Seth Godin suggests in his book The Dip. This is not as hard as it might seem - it just takes a bit of self reflection to find the things that differentiate yourself from the rest of the commodities out there in the world. Its a bit about finding your own personality and being ok with it - because being yourself and having a special point of view sometimes makes you at odds ...

The Brand Called You - Tom Peters - Fast Company

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Saturday, January 2, 2010, In : Branding