Personal Branding - is it worth it?

Have you considered "branding" yourself?

Branding ... defined

Here's how one of the leading providers defines branding, with our "take" in italics:

• "Personal branding is the secret to success in the new millennium."
  • The "secret" huh? How many times have I heard that? Sounds like pure hype.
• "[It] is a revolution in the way we manage our careers or businesses ... so that you can greatly expand your success."
  • What does "greatly" mean, exactly, in dollars or percent?
• "[It] is the strategy behind the world's most successful people ... like Oprah, Madonna, Richard Branson and Bill Gates."
  • No it's not. These folks became brands because of what they accomplished. Their "brand" was an outcome, not a strategy.
• "It is the difference between an ordinary career or business and an exceptional one.
  • What does "exceptional" mean, exactly, in dollars and percent?
• "Uncovering, building and nurturing your brand now will ensure that you get out in front of the pack and experience professional success beyond your dreams."
  • Here again, "beyond your dreams" is pure hype.
• "It's the fastest way to a new job."
  • Okay, how fast, or how much faster, exactly? We asked, and the experts don't know.

Their examples include Volvo, Disney, Coca-Cola, Marriott, IBM, Starbucks (and the list goes on).

Getting "branded" by a certified expert typically costs between $2,000 and $20,000.

It started with Fast Company in 1997

"The Brand Called You" signature story in Fast Company in 1997 argued that we should imagine ourselves as brands and manage our professional lives accordingly. That idea is every bit as relevant now as it was then. The difference, as author Tom Peters points out, is that in good times, the Brand Called You was a luxury. Now as companies continue to discard employees like used Kleenex, you have no choice but to actively market your personal brand. [John A Byrne, Editor Fast Company]

And thus, an industry was borne. Now we have "certified" branding experts.

An update from Fast Company in 2005

The very same company that argued FOR branding in 1997 published an update in October 2005. Their Obsessive Branding Disorder article by Lucas Conley presented a VERY different picture. Here are a few highlights:

• "A brand is a result, not a tactic."
• "One cannot go about branding an organization or a product or a service."
• The organization, product, or service is what creates the brand."
• "Remove the hype, and branding is just commonsense strategy, rebranded."
• "To brand, in a corporate sense, is no more a verb than to gorgeous."
• "Run a good business, and your brand will follow."
• "In a brilliant twist, the experts have bottled an end and sold it as a means."
• "McDonald's spent an estimated $1.5 billion on branding efforts last year [2004], producing little more than one day's worth of sales more per store than In-N-Out [Burger]."

You make the call

We've argued on the Value Proposition page that "if you can't measure it, it doesn't count." We asked the branding experts how they measure the value of personal branding, and NONE have measurements. They can't say that branded executives make more money for example, nor can they say that executives with personal brands find a job faster. So, we can't tell you whether or not branding is "worth it."

When our economy gets worse, brand names like Nordstrom and Sharper Image suffer, while stores that are value-proposition-driven, like Wal-Mart and Costco, do well. Since Wal-Mart and Costco were also doing well in the good times, it's not clear if branding has any value.