I'm a believer in personal branding. It's worked wonders for me, especially when I've treated it with the playful irreverence it deserves. I surely read some of the experts out there and apply what they have to say. But just like any fad diet or social media scam, too much hype and expectations make this another trendy balloon that'll surely inflate, explode, then come back under another name. (That's marketing, forsureyabetcha.)
Don't believe me?
Have a look at history: The Secret is just New Thought pseudoscience and Napoleon Hill with less pragmatism. Humans will always be attracted to riches. And what's the motivating basis behind personal branding? Why, making more money by marketing yourself. As I like to say: not a judgment, an observation. (Especially since I'm part of it.) So there's bound to be hucksters and con artists running amuck, using these opportunities to fleece the gullible. They'll get rich selling books and speaking at seminars, you won't. You can count on it as consistently as Sylvia Browne is wrong.
Personal blanding experts
So who are "some of the experts" I listen to? Hint 1: I've named a number on my blog before. Hint 2: most of them don't call themselves experts, at least not "personal branding experts". Not that there's anything inherently wrong with that, but it attracts the wrong people. Perhaps it's not unlike the unspoken taboo of calling yourself cool.
Anyway, I've had a look at a lot of "personal branding experts" and they're pretty boring and don't stand out. They say the same things — ideological incest — like they're copycats of each other, which totally defeats the point of individuality. I'm not saying you have to be the blog equivalent of Buckethead to distinguish yourself, but they aren't exceptional. So if you feel the same way, you're right: it's Emperor's New Clothes time.
Be brave, call out what's not there.
A worthy tangent
Most humans have an inability to identify something without a name. (There are other signifiers… like leitmotif.) So labels become restrictive and tight, and like supermodels are pressured to stay thin to succeed, the same names which afforded us the convenience of identification become a stranglehold — thus, many differing opinions of what "personal branding" means, diffusing, diluting, and making it as worthless as a queer (strange, not gay) currency which isn't accepted on mainland shores. We've seen this in parallel: "social media" and "cloud computing" are suspect. To adapt the words of Stallman (who bears resemblance to Rick Rubin):
"It's stupidity. It's worse than stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign…"
Most people aren't cut out for a strong personal brand. That doesn't make them any less human, but it's simply not who they're meant to be. Just like you may've felt pressured to join a whole bunch of social networks or some offline movement you didn't want to be part of and SOMETIMES WISH THEY WOULD ALL GO AWAY!
An instinctual reaction, perhaps an overreaction — yet there's truth within.
It's not possible…
for most people to succeed with a personal brand: with all the noise fighting for your attention, only a few brands get remembered in your daily life over the long-term. They tend to be the ones with the most resourcefulness to acquire capital, friends (including fake ones), and persistence. Sometimes (I can dream), talent. Benefits are distributed disproportionally, as they prolly always will be, and that's why "power users" in different fields are but a tiny (but valued) minority.
If standing out by selling yourself is your innermost desire, then fantastic. That's what I feel, and am following my heart. Just don't do it because you're under the assumption it's the only way to succeed, for there are many people who don't have strong personal brands or who don't consciously think about it, yet triumph on other merits.
Above all, define success on your own terms.
You'll also want to read
P.S.
The personal branding Wikipedia article is hilariously skimpy. It has to do with Wikipedia's policy being at odds with self-promotion. Obtusely ironic.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I appreciated your take on branding. I don't profess to be an expert on the topic but I thoroughly enjoy the subject. You hit on the very important brand principle of being an individual. Some brands are strong and others are weak but everyone has one. Those characteristics that differentiate us from others are the elements that make up our personal brand. In order to have a stronger brand you need to determine what your strengths are, what makes you different from others, and then highlight those unique characteristics in everything you do and say.
@David Yup, and some people are happy (or in some cases, so they think — they haven't explored the possibilities) to have a "weak" brand. It can be hard because it requires confidence and self-awareness without being narcissistic — self-promotion at the EXPENSE, not for the BENEFIT of others.