Do You REALLY Know What A Personal Brand Is?

I suffer from a curse. In fact, we all suffer from a curse.

It’s the Curse of Knowledge.

Don’t get me wrong, knowledge is a wonderful thing, but for every gem of insight you gain, there’s something you lose:

You forget what it’s like to not know what you know.

Once that happens, passing that knowledge on to others becomes harder, because their insight is at ground zero, while yours has already taken the elevator a few floors up. (Or if you’re an expert on a subject, you’ve made it to the penthouse suite.)

I first came across this concept in a book by Chip and Dan Heath entitled Made To Stick – a fascinating look at why some ideas take hold and others fall by the wayside. And it was something I was reminded of when I had an email from someone who’d been on a personal brand workshop I’d run.

It’s not black and white – it’s grey

During the workshop, I’d set out in black and white what a personal brand is and the six elements that go into one. I’d given examples to illustrate each element and shared a case study of a client’s brand to bring it all to life. In other words, I’d conveyed my knowledge with 100% clarity.

Only I hadn’t…

After the workshop, one of the attendees carried on working on his brand – digging deeper into his thinking and forming his brand statements, before sending them to me to look over. That was when the realisation smacked me in the head:

He hadn’t understood.

I don’t mean he’d missed the point completely, more that the finer points hadn’t hit home. For example, he had many of the constituent parts of his brand, but they had been placed in entirely the wrong elements, making for a very messy and ineffective brand. And that got me thinking:

He can’t be the only person out there who I’ve talked to about personal brand (or who’s read this blog) who may not have fully understood.

So I’m going back to basics

In a short series of four bite-sized, take you three-minutes to read blog posts, published daily, I’m going to set out the six elements that make up a personal brand, adding some detail and examples to give added clarity. And in an effort to overcome the Curse of Knowledge, I’m going to try my darnedest to write them in a way that someone starting at ground zero can easily comprehend.

And even if you think you already know what a personal brand is, it’s always good to refresh your knowledge – you may find some nuggets you missed before.

So get ready for your knowledge drip-feed!

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