Developing & Branding Your Personal Competitive Advantage

David, this sounds like a great series. Thanks for the concise explanations.

Wish I had seen this before yesterday's post. But I still maintain that superior quality with directed marketing will take care of the 'personal brand'.

People are trying to market themselves before they really have a product. What's your product, bloggers? Telling other people how to brand themselves?

It just seems like a closed loop.

And Oprah or Warren Buffet didn't start off with personal branding. That was built as what they did gained excellence and specificity. It took care of itself because they weren't 'trying' to be anyone than what they were or do anything they weren't truly interested.

Oprah did not become a 'brand' until she stopped doing the typical daytime talk show on transvestites or baby daddies. When she focused on her vision and her message, THEN she became a brand.

Thanks Hayden, You are correct about people trying to market themselves before they have a product. So that is were the training would begin - value proposition, etc.

To your other points, these examples did have a personal brand already -- brands evolve and strategy helps get you where you want to be. Strategies change too and smart people surround themselves with the teams to get there.

I disagree with Hayden. Oprah did have a brand in her early format and even before she became a household name. Her market grew.

Well put - my personal brand exists in the moment. I realize I evaluate my marketing strategy, products, customer service, office/showroom experience and more to reflect my personal brand.

Being aware of how people perceive and experience you is so important. It becomes more difficult as you grow unless you hire the right people who reflect your values.