Who are you fooling with your personal brand?

Did you get taken in by any of the April fools flying around the web on the weekend? What about Virgin’s?

Okay, I admit it, he got me – April Fool. One of my favourite business people Sir Richard Branson announced that due to the uncertainty over currency fluctuations for vacationers he was launching his own currency within Virgin Holidays. Of course the launch was the morning of April 1st!
What made it such a good April fool trick was that given his personal brand this actually could be the kind of stunt he would do! Also it displayed the kind of humour that is also part of his brand. He certainly got me! I doubt he upset anyone with this joke.

This is key to communicating your personal brand. When you are thinking of doing something to get your message noticed consider the following 5 things;

1. Relevance – is it right for your industry and vocation?

You have to be mindful of what is appropriate. In the role you perform will this be viewed as right or a little too out there? Are your peers going to view this as embarrassing to them? If your industry is conservative , something too extreme will certainly be frowned upon.

2. Resonance – does your target audience see easily how it makes sense to them and their brand?

Consider the message you are setting and how it sits in to the bigger goals and messages of all parties involved. Is it going to add value to the experience and conversation?

3. Relation – is everyone able to see the connection to you – easily?

Usually many people are not being completely true to who they are at work. We all hold back. But if humour is a brand attribute you have and want to communicate and you go from no jokes to a 5 minute stand up routine that might be too much of a leap for people to accept initially.

4. Remarkability – does it stand out, will it get noticed?

It does need to be enough though to get noticed AND remembered. You want people to be commenting on it later and relating it straight back to you in a positive way.

5. Real – is it a true reflection of who you are?

Stay authentic and true to you, it will feel more natural and come across that way. If you try too hard it comes across that way and usually fails.

Paul Copcutt first aligned with personal branding after reading Tom Peters ‘Brand You 50’ in 1997. Now a sought after speaker and media resource he has been featured by Forbes, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and Elle. He works on leadership brands with executives, managers and teams for leading Fortune 500 corporations.