Have you ever had a conversation with a pro athlete, rock star, political leader or famous actor about their career? How about the anchor on your favorite nightly news, popular radio show host or best selling author? If you have, you notice that not only are they always on brand, but you realize they are conscious of their brand at all times. You also recognized that they have learned from pros from the beginning of their profession that personal brand awareness of consistent and projected success have always been part of a strategy in staying relevant.
Whether the brand or values of the brand reach you or not, you notice the discipline and constant innovation of self. You notice big time decisions on growth that the competition follow. You notice a vision and confidence as a result.
The professions mentioned above provide ease to identify the stars because of media culture, but the lesson remains the same. Identify the famous personal brands that impress you and ask yourself what they do to keep popping in your mind. What can you learn from them and apply to your career? How do you communicate to those you influence?
With the Internet medium, the game is more open is it not? I'll bet the personal brand that came to mind has a significant presence online - check. They may even be way ahead on communication tools like twitter - as an example, I started getting active on twitter just recently. Most people are not aware of twitter yet, but the highly influential bloggers out there have huge followings in short time because of their reputation of adding value online. The same people have a great presence online because of the content and experience they bring offline as well. The content came first in other words. The brand is easily extended online.
