Who's The Leader of The Brand That's Made For You and Me?

I'm a brand. He's a brand. Wouldn't you like to be a brand, too? Now, you can be ... 

When it comes to personal branding, Tom Peters wrote the book - well, an article actually - for FastCompany magazine way back in 1997, and you can read the reprint here - "The Brand Called You."

How well does Peters' advice hold up ten years later? You can see what this blogger has to say about that here. But even more telling is how many followers Peters seems to have ... people who have given the concept of the personal brand their own twist.

Larry Genkin has taken the concept to new heights with his Personal Branding Power Pack, which you can read about here. Here's Larry's ad ...

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Of late, this ad, by the way, has been running regularly in USA Today. I love the subhead, which I think should be the headline on this ad ...

"Honestly, Do You Chase After Business Opportunities or

Do Opportunities Chase After You?"

Mr. Genkin is the creator of The Thought Leadership Marketing(R) Method, in case you haven't heard of him. Sort of like a Tony Robbins...

He's not the only one to get on the personal branding bandwagon. Dan Schawbel is the leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y. His blog, "Personal Branding Blog(R), Navigating YOU to future success" is worth a look, especially if you want to pump up the volume on your social networking sites. FastCompany magazine called him, a "Personal branding force of nature." Business Week said he's "A leading voice in the area of personal branding." Entrepreneur Magazine called Dan Schawbel the "Gen-Y branding expert." His personal brand, it seems, is personal branding. Kind of like a rose is a rose is a rose, to paraphrase Gertrude Stein. In fact, on a Google search of the words "personal brand," Dan shows up third from the top. Not bad, beaten only by the 1997 Peters' article for FastCompany and a Wikipedia description of the phrase.

I'd say Dan beats Larry on that score!

Nevertheless, all this personal branding stuff got me to thinking ...

It's all wonderful IF you have something to back it up with. You can brand the heck out of something, but if it does not deliver the goods, all you've got is a lot of advertising and no sales. 

I'd rather take the $299 for Mr. Genkin's Personal Branding package and spend it on a course to sharpen my skills, a membership in a professional organization, or certification to boost my credentials.  And read all about how to enhance my personal brand online - for free.