Category: Personal Branding

A lot of students new to blogging have a hard time with how blogging is useful in marketing.  I have found that this is mainly because when students think of what a blog is, they think of personal blogs filled with diary-style musings about their personal life or a Tumblr-esque cascade of animated GIFs.

I’d like to make sure you have some good examples of professionals who use blogs to promote their personal brand by creating interesting original content.  

Here are a few blogs about marketing that you should take a look at and learn from.

Logic + Emotion
David Armano, VP at Edelman in NYC, is always posting insightful ideas 

Erika Napoletano
Erika is a copywriter who irreverently writes about marketing, advertising, branding, and business from a unique perspective.

Chris Brogan
Chris is a publisher and business consultant. He helps business owners and marketers get up to speed on what he calls the “personal business revolution”.

I’d encourage you to use tools like Google Blog Search to find influential blogs in the topic area(s) surrounding your personal brand.  Set up a blog reading tool like Feedly to check in on them as you would check on news, sports, or Facebook happenings.

Your personal brand creates a unique public identity for yourself that communicates who you are, what you’re interested in, and why you’re passionate about it.  Successful personal brands build a following because they are very clear and articulate about these three points.

The biggest decision you will have to make this semester will be made in the next 1-2 weeks: defining what your personal brand is about.  Many students struggle with this.  Some think of too many things they want to write about.  Others can’t think of anything – though often they actually have thought of something but need some help defining it and some validation that it okay to want to write about.

Here are a few resources to look at as you begin to think about your personal brand:

Don’t forget about your Emotional Appeal
There are many introductory articles about personal branding.  Some are awful.  This one isn’t.  I really like how the first step of defining your brand has to do with what the author calls your “emotional appeal.”  We often forget that we have a personality that can come through in our writing.  The characteristics that make up that personality are powerful branding tools – because they are so personal and elicit emotional responses.

Make your Brand Statement a mantra
I love this helpful post by former Apple Evangelist Guy Kawasaki on creating a concise three or four word mantra rather than a mission statement.  Mantras are memorable – and that makes them powerful.  

An alternate view
This article by Ryan Rancatore appears to recommend not having a personal brand statement – but read a little deeper.  What he’s really saying is that if you have one, you have to really live it. 

Your personal brand does not have to encompass everything you are – just what you want to focus on right now.  Good luck!