is personal branding ultimately about conforming ?

There is no reason why we should look at Personal branding any differently from the other kinds of branding.

According to Kotler
There are 10 things can be marketed.
These products range from goods, services, property, the organization itself etc.
One of the important products is ‘People’
People can be marketed too.

The ultimate purpose of Marketing is ‘Creating a brand’
This brings us to PERSONAL BRANDING!

The only condition when personal branding should be looked at in a different way is when
You are doing personal branding for yourself.

““The only difference between a ‘Personal Brand’ and any other brand
Is the Perception and reality! “

The essence of the quote is that when doing a branding campaign for any person, The approach, mission and tasks are very similar to branding a good, service or property.

However when doing personal branding for yourself the approach is completely different.

And this difference is because ‘PERSONAL BRANDING FOR SELF IS BASED ON REAL DIFFERENCE and not PERCEIVED DIFFERENCE”
Branding 101 teaches us that a brand has two characteristics
1. Perceived differentiation
2. Un-substitutability

The one tings that changes in ‘personal branding fir self ‘is that the differentiation has to be REAL and not PERCEIVED
This being said, lets now get into how the execution is done
There are two main phases for branding
i.e.
1. Creating a promise
2. Delivery of the promise

e.g. let’s take me (product) as an example
My bio – which is like a tagline here, is “ASPIRING BRAND STRATEGIST”
This is like a creating a brand

Answering this question in a way that is perceived to be satisfying reader’s (consumer) expectations that might have been created to through the tagline is delivery of the promise.

How each reader perceives and interprets the brand is very subjective. The standards that the product has to meet and deliver on to satisfy the customer are also very subjective; differs from reader to reader. However, in general the levels may not vary drastically.

I am interpreting the word ‘CONFORMING’ I this context.
If you mean to say that personal branding is about conforming I would say yes
It is! It is about conforming to what you promise.

If you say personal branding is about conforming to the general standards that’s obviously out of question. In one line – ‘BRANDING IS ABOUT CREATING PERCEIVED DIFFERENTIATION ‘

Many times people aren't conscious about personal branding
They might create a promise without intending to do so.

If a girl with a stern face and specks joins your school, you would automatically expect her to be scholarly.
She might not be; she might not intend to be looked at that way.
But we know all worlds a stage. No matter what people say; the reality is that WE ARE ALL JUDGMENTAL.

There are evolutionary reasons for this’ reasons that help protect ourselves and live life in a better way.

If this new girl does not deliver on this promise, she might be further judged. Her personal brand goes down miserably, within seconds, without her even realizing it.

It’s important that we choose a positing for ourselves.
It’s important what we identify one area of expertise, we own one factor, one word and build a positioning around it.
This is way ahead.

Please note that whatever is mentioned here with regard to the consumer is happening subconsciously. Whether brand recall, brand awareness, positioning, perceptions, expectations, judgments etc. if you aware your brand manager you have to rise above the consumer and think like a strategist. It’s your duty to be detached from yourself when branding, thinking like the consumer.


On personal note
I would say if you are very conscious about your personal brand
You have some good reads before you make a strategy
However there are some pointers I would like to mention right away.
· Branding is about creating high perceived differentiation
· Branding is about ensuring minimum substitutability
· Branding is about creating favorable, string and unique brand associations.

(If anything goes wrong here ONE TENDS TO BECOME INFAMOUS)
· The strength of the brand, in this context depends on brand awareness, length and breadth of brand recall.
· You have to appreciate what the consumer is perceiving and interpreting; it is all happening subconsciously. so it’s very difficult to put it in black and white; very difficult to be sure, because it’s all in the mind
· Your brand image is what you leave your consumer with; it might be your picture, an essence of the attitude, your quality of work, the tone of your voice, etc.