What is a Personal Brand ?...

... and other key terms in the Effetti Lexicon of Personal Brand !...
by David Bookout

Everyone seems to be talking about Personal Brand. With today's Google search revealing 990,000 exact uses of ( "Personal Brand" ), within web sites that range from ranting about the ridiculousness of even thinking about Personal Brand, to offers to be your Personal Brand Coach, there is more than a bit of confusion regarding the meaning of the term. There's even more confusion relative to the essential steps someone would need to take to actually build a Personal Brand. This blog; is an offer to change that, to reduce the confusion, and give you a set of clear, actionable steps that can be used to build your distinct Personal Brand.

David Aaker has defined Brand Building within a very clear framework in several books, which I highly recommend. However, these are NOT for the faint of heart, or those looking for a "Cliff Notes" approach to brand building. If your interested in a deeper dive follow the link at the end of this post, and get the books. If your interested in quick surface explorations you might want to sign up for our RSS feed, because that is exactly what this blog is about - quick, surface explorations into strategy, and grounded, proven tactics for Personal Brand Building.

While Aaker's work focuses on company / product / service Brand Building, the same rules apply to Personal Brand Building. Similarly to the world of finance, where there are a specific set of terms, distinctions, tools and rules that apply to the financial concerns of many different types of businesses brand building has its own set. We're going to be using and working through those terms, distinctions, tools and rules for Personal Brand Building right here !

The Effetti Lexicon of Personal Brand:

Personal Brand - a widely held assessment, within groups of people ( constituents ) that matter, that an individual holds critical skills and expertise to successfully address concerns, held by those constituents, in specific domains.

Personal Brand Equity - the total accumulated value or worth; the tangible and intangible assets that an individual contributes to their ability to fund their goals and ambition, both financially and in terms of their personal networks.

Personal Brand Identity - part of the individual's overall equity; the total perception of that person in the marketplace, driven mostly by the positioning of their; personality, skills and expertise.

Personal Brand Positioning - what an individual stands for in the minds of their; customers, prospects, managers, peers, and direct reports relative to their competitors, in terms of benefits and promises.

Personal Brand Personality - an individual's outward perception, the positive and negative traits others assess that that individual naturally exhibits.

Personal Brand Essence - the core or distillation of an individual's Personal Brand Identity.

Personal Brand Character - having to do with the internal constitution of an individual's Personal Brand, how that individual is seen in terms of their integrity, honesty, and trustworthiness.

Personal Brand Soul - related to an individual's Personal Brand Character, defined as the values and emotional core of that individual's Personal Brand.

Personal Brand Image - generally synonymous with either an individual's Personal Brand's strategic personality, or that individual's reputation as a whole.

Aaker Books on Brand Building:

Click here to review and purchase one, or all of these great books by David Aaker: Building Strong Brands, Managing Brand Equity, and Brand Portfolio Strategy.

© Copyright 2009 - Effetti, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.


The article "What is a Personal Brand ?...", the subtitle "... and other key terms in the Effetti Lexicon of Personal Brand !..." and contents herein, unless otherwise specified in writing - by Effetti, Inc. are ALSO licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available by contacting the author through Effetti, Inc. http://www.effettigrowth.com/about-contact.php.

The image "Relax, this won't hurt much" is © Copyright to VisualFountain.com

The Effetti Lexicon of Personal Brand was adapted from "The Lexicon of Branding" - Author Unknown.