Category Archives: personal branding

I am convinced that everyone has the opportunity to differentiate him/herself through his/her performance/offer by intensively dealing with his/her own skills, competencies and know-how and consistently developing these 3 building blocks of an outstanding performance. On this stable foundation you can build your own core identity and stand out from your competitors in a second dimension. The personal brand becomes unique when you promote your own services/offer and your own personality in a way your target groups will find it interesting. Thats requires an intelligent marketing concept. If you are now convinced, welcome to my world of personal branding.

Personal Branding: Coaching. Part 4

Posted on 14/06/2022 by Michelle Stohs

The last topic dealt with the challenge of not only being attractive and appealing to the target group in the short term and on an ad-hoc basis, but also paying attention to one’s community/target group in the long term and being interesting and appealing at the same time. This last post is to round up the input on the topic of personal branding for visual arts and musicians once.

In the coaching you will find further and above all very practical and detailed information that will give you an even deeper insight and through which you will be personally challenged to tackle the creation of the marketing of your person and to handle it yourself. The aim is to get to know yourself – to be able to classify your personality in order to develop your personal brand based on your insights and to extract it from you.

Knowing your personality is the first step to success

Knowing your personality, being able to name and describe it, and above all knowing how to use it or bring it to the surface in a targeted manner and in the right place, is already half the story. Because personality is about our own character traits, qualities and peculiarities, some of which we can develop and acquire throughout our lives. At which moments and in which places can these be combined and used in a purposeful way? To be able to answer these questions, click into the coaching and register – without obligation and free of charge.

Recap

As a short conclusion, we would like to go back to the topics touched in order to give a brief overview and to summarize the key points. First of all, it was about the fact that the own personal brand is becoming more and more important nowadays and therefore the requirements are increasing. Personal branding is about presenting oneself, one’s strengths and thus giving the ‘audience’ the opportunity to be inspired and captivated. What is your passion and how do you want to be perceived by others from the outside? All these answers to those questions take time – your brand and identity you can thus (within a certain framework) further expand, develop and thus consolidate. This process is worth an adventure! And the most important thing: stay yourself, stay authentic – just completely individual.

The representative study results of last year’s 2021 survey can also be helpful. In this context, the focus was on the target group’s perception of the artist.

As the description and title of the series of topics and during the blog posts repeatedly advertised, you have the opportunity to sign up for a free coaching. This explores the individual topics in more depth and guides you through the process of finding your own personality as well as the creation and creation of your own personal brand. You will have the opportunity to enroll and sign up for the tutorial and will be guided to answer the following questions for yourself:

What skills do you want to build on and expand?
What components make up your personality?
How and in what way do you want to promote your personal brand?

Journey and get involved in defining and developing your own brand.

Stay tuned.

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Personal Branding: Coaching. Part 3

Posted on 09/06/2022 by Michelle Stohs

In the last blog post we talked a lot about the work of art and the (self-)presentation. It is important for you as an artist not to get lost in your own doing, but to open your own world and story. Precisely on this path I want to help you and give you ideas as well as the following Coaching.

Staying interesting and attractive

We already mentioned the topic of uniqueness, because that’s what makes you distinctive and not replaceable. You are exceptional and unique with your mix of characteristics and talents, and it is precisely this individuality that you can share with others – your fans and your audience – to engage and inspire them. That’s why it’s so important to market authentically, credibly and honestly – just the way you are.

For this reason, it can be of great help to regularly ask for feedback and opinions from your environment and your circle of acquaintances. This will give you an honest external image and a different perspective/interpretation of your public perception. This is also a step towards staying relevant.

You as a producer and your work are the focus of marketing. An active and target-oriented work can therefore promote your image enormously. You can use a wide variety of content to communicate with your target group.

To sum it up, this process consists of proactive and purposeful action towards your target audience and the public.

Write your own story

Maybe it seems like you can’t even handle the requirements. But all that matters is your goal, your passion! The way you approach, interpret and present things, you have your very own mix, your individual content and style. Be encouraged and continue to do so. Show the others who and what passion, what fire is inside you!

We all have the potential to get a little better every day. And that’s what should motivate you – everyone is on their way to know themselves better and to change – to grow and thereby get the best out of yourself.

Stay tuned.

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Personal Branding: Coaching. Part 2

Posted on 02/06/2022 by Michelle Stohs

In the previous blog post, we looked at what defines your personality. Every artist has his own style and yet is part of a large community. That’s why it’s very important to know which style you’re going for, and at the same time to be authentic and put your personality in focus. Be inspired by the blog and the coaching.

Central to all this is the idea of distancing yourself from being irrelevant and replaceable, and instead striving for or achieving an active and purposeful design of the public’s perception of you.

To every good work of art also belongs an artist

Art is something impressive and multifaceted, art is not a utility item. On the market, one usually needs to promote all consumer goods but the works of an artist should have the potential to be expressive. Knowing this, a work of an artist not only has a purpose, but can be interpreted and appreciated and used individually.

If you can achieve that your work triggers not only interest but also desire, you will attract or win your audience for you and your way of expression.

How do you express your personality? Let me tell you again – it’s important that despite all the apparent ‘requirements’ for artists, you put your own character in the spotlight and thus manage to inspire your own followers – just in your own individual way. The results of the study conducted in 2021 also indicate that the artistic work itself (is considered desired content on Instagram), is in the first place – the passion.

What does your target group want to see?

Often artists are very much preoccupied/concerned with themselves and their own productions through the creation and through the constant examination of their own work. Often artists are very much preoccupied with themselves and their own productions through the creation and through the constant examination of their own work. But this world of thought needs to be opened up more and more to the audience and become permeable. This includes, among other things, sharing one’s own career and the process of creation – letting one’s own target audience participate in the journey.

If you manage to make your world, your experiences and your path perceptible to others, you will be a decisive step ahead of your peers and many other artists. Take a step into the change of perspective to be able to understand yourself how others perceive you.

Stay tuned.

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Personal Branding: Coaching

Posted on 30/05/2022 by Michelle Stohs

For way too long, going out to party and feeling the music together was a dream that seemed far in the future and always brought up old memories. But slowly, we as artists are able to step back into the starting gates and share our mixtapes with the dancing crowd. Corona has especially hit artists, but slowly the possibilities are opening up again.

In today’s blog, I’d like to share with you some practical tips based on study results from last year and get you excited about a coaching on the topic of personal branding for visual artists.

Why is it no longer possible without personal branding?

Whether it’s a job interview or convincing others of your idea, you should be aware of what makes you unique. How do you stand out from the crowd? And here we are in the middle of the topic…

Although we are often taught to just go with the flow and adapt or fit in, today’s market is more about sticking out while authentically bringing your personality to the forefront. The trick in doing so is to present yourself without bending over backwards.

Without self-marketing, you won’t get far these days, because with the help of personal branding, your own values and euphoria become tangible and approachable.

Where do I start?

Which archetype can you identify with and which puzzle pieces of your personality do you want to shine through? You can make a difference and have the potential to inspire others with your positive attitude and dynamism.

And as they say: “Step by step”. It only gets exciting when the artist can’t be seen through directly but keeps revealing new traits.

Personal branding is more than building your own website or social media presence. Many artists get lost in self-promotion or have a difficulty in connecting the work with their own character.

What does your target audience actually expect and how can they be inspired – who do you want to reach? More about these questions at the next blog post and the upcoming coaching…

Stay tuned.

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Personal branding for the visual arts: the importance of the artistic work.

Posted on 27/04/2022 by christian zich

Personal Branding für die bildenden Künste

In the last issue of the Atelier magazine, the 2nd part of my article series on personal branding for the visual arts was published. After it became clear in my empirical study that the artistic work is the most important reason for fans and followers to follow an artist and also to remain loyal to him, it was obvious to start exactly with this topic. In this article, I will mainly deal with 3 different building blocks of the artistic work: its uniqueness, its need for explanation and the emotions associated with it. The interesting point here is not the perspective of the artist, but that of the target audience. Nothing more will be revealed; it’s fun to read for yourself.

When I sat down to write the article, I thought that the whole thing would be done in half a day. Far from it. I sat at my desk for two days in total until the manuscript was finished. The challenge, and thus the time-eater, was to leave my own personal opinions about various artists out of the equation and to look at their artistic work from a neutral, scientific perspective. After all, I didn’t want to step on the toes of the readers of this article with a running start and thus annoy them in the long term. According to the motto: Bob Ross also has his justification. To accomplish this, I pored over all my art books to find an example, explain it, and then discard the whole thing. As frustrating as these loops were during the writing process, afterwards I found myself seeing some artworks in a completely different light now. So it was time well spent after all. In issue 241 (June/July 2022) I will continue with the article ranges. Just before that, I finished the next article. I am already looking forward to its publication.

Stay tuned, more stuff is on the way.

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Personal Branding for the Visual Arts.

Posted on 11/04/2022 by christian zich

Short, concise and to the point: I am extremely pleased that I was able to convince Atelier Verlag to publish an article about Personal Branding. I had expected a single, short article and was therefore very pleasantly surprised when Mr. Fritzsche made the offer to write a multi-part series of articles. Since I enjoy writing, I didn’t have to think twice about whether I wanted to do it or not. The first part of the series of articles appeared in issue 1/2022, the topic: do you really need personal branding in the visual arts? The second article has already appeared in the April/May issue and deals with the core of a Personal Brand, the artistic work itself.

Stay tuned.

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4 questions that will make your personal branding project go down the drain.

Posted on 23/02/2022 by christian zich

E-Mail-Ratgeber und Personal-Branding-Canvas gehen in die falsche Richtung.

After we have briefly clarified the essential principle of personal branding in the last article, many are probably already in the starting blocks, scratching their hooves and finally want to get started. Yay, there’s the Internet. If you surf for a while, you’ll come across a few email guides or personal branding canvases relatively quickly. Of course, these offerings are free, but in my opinion they lead you in the wrong direction from the start.

Before I solve the puzzle, briefly on the questions in the canvas or email guides that I personally find problematic:

How do others perceive you? You are supposed to answer this question with friends and acquaintances. Hand on heart, who do you ask? But not the one with whom you don’t get along or with whom you fell out years ago. And this brings us to the first trap. A key insight from social psychology is that people prefer to surround themselves with people who have similar attitudes, views and values to their own. The potential for discovering serious opportunities for improvement and deficits is marginal. In this case, a comparison with product development is allowed, because you get much more interesting input from non-customers than from long-term, loyal customers. I sometimes see the latter as very generous in overlooking certain bugs, while this is not the case with the former. This was one of the most interesting learning effects during my time at Siemens.
In combination with the question just discussed, you then find the hint that you don’t have to take every opinion to heart. What a wonderful invitation to pick out only what fits into one’s own world view. Or, to put it very harshly: a guide to deceiving oneself.
then it usually goes into a self-analysis of one’s strengths, weaknesses, reason whys, benefits, etc. If you have a canvas in front of you, then you can delightfully write something in each column. And when the blackness level of the sheet increases, you eventually put the pen aside and are quite proud of having accomplished a lot. Yuppidu, your own personal brand is almost in place. Let’s move on to the final spurt of self-analysis.
What image do you have at the moment and what image would you like to have in the future? This question may make sense for artists who can position themselves autonomously. But if you are a self-employed person looking for customers or a future employee, your image must not only match your job profile, but also your customers. Just as the strengths, benefits, etc. must fit the customer’s requirements profile and not just exist in the customer’s own imagination.

Navel gazing as a personal branding tool? Does that work?

The catch in all of these questions is the navel-gazing itself. If you are completely honest with yourself, this approach can lead you in the right direction, but I have my doubts about that. Therefore, respect to anyone who can objectively assess themselves with these questions. Nevertheless, these approaches are very popular because they don’t hurt. You look at your personal branding canvas and decide: I’m great, and I have to change a little bit, too. But in doing so, you give away a great opportunity to seriously do something for your own competitiveness. To stay with my metaphor of the journey: DomRep-all-inclusive or couch surfing in Africa? Am I leaving my comfort zone or do I really want to get significantly (!) better?

Is there another way? Yes, of course, in marketing there are so many tools with which you can gradually – even without a consultant – approach a authentic, credible and competitive core of your own personal brand. And, which tools are these?

As always, you should stop just when it’s most exciting and that brings us to today’s cliffhanger. The next post is about reference points that you should definitely consider so that you’re running in the right direction right from the start.

Stay tuned, more stuff is on the way.

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Personal Branding, a journey?

Posted on 22/02/2022 by christian zich

Personal branding is one of the topics that are becoming increasingly important and interesting in the age of information overload and endless opportunities for self-expression on social networks. This article is about the core of personal branding, the creation of uniqueness

Why one-size-fits-all? Isn’t everyone unique?

During my two management positions at Siemens – a long time ago – I had to read quite a few applications. After the HR department had already sorted out those who didn’t fit the picture at all, the following picture emerged: all applicants had good grades, had completed their studies on the fast track. In addition, they were highly motivated, goal-oriented, team players and, of course, ideally suited for the position. All of them were convinced that they were unique. All of them were convinced that they were clearly different from the masses. The candidates also demonstrated this eloquently in the interviews. And yet, each offered something similar and thus they were all interchangeable.

And that brings us to the topic: how can you escape this interchangeability through personal branding? Through big mouths and great internet presences?

The easiest way with the least effort is to optimize one’s social media accounts and launch a one-pager with meaningful content. Doesn’t hurt and is done with a manageable effort. With this short-term oriented approach, you definitely reach your goal, and may be invited to an interview (customer/employer). At the latest then you have to “let your pants down” and this can – depending on the competence of the partner – go in the pants or also work. Then, however, the probationary period or the first project approaches and, at the latest during this period, the “Moments of Truth” are already on the mat in the morning and accompany the test person throughout the day. Nevertheless – as examples such as Thomas Middelhoff and Billy McFarland show – you can hold your own for quite a long time even as a “Potemkin village”. But at some point, the charade comes to an end. The only thing that remains is long-term orientation.

In the long term, genuine uniqueness based on clearly recognizable results is the more promising strategy.

What can this look like? In the case of a musician, this would be a distinctive musical style; in the case of a professional, the ability to deliver better results in less time; in the case of a manager, a superior leadership style that combines increased efficiency, employee motivation and superior performance. Easy to say, but how do you create such uniqueness? Acquire knowledge, build competencies, acquire/deepen skills and get a grip on your own hubris. Sounds like a lot of work, blood, sweat and tears? Well, that’s the catch.

But now the good news, the journey to your own competitiveness is fun. Each milestone is another step toward true competence and competitive uniqueness. And it’s amazing what you learn about yourself in the process and how you successively become more efficient, better and more focused. As a side effect, so to speak, you achieve your goals much more effortlessly and easily.

What are we waiting for? Let’s pack our bags and get going.

Stop. What are we packing in our suitcases? We’ll talk about that next time. Stay tuned.

More about Personal Branding…

Personal Branding for musicians.

Posted on 01/11/2021 by christian zich

Personal Branding für Musiker. Ein Artikel auf Delamar.

Already in August this year I wrote an article together with Thorsten Sprengel from delamar on the topic of self-marketing for musicians. Shortly after my vacation – end of September – the article was published. Since I already have my own opinion on the topic of Unique Selling Points of musicians, the actual topic was no problem thanks to my study (https://christianzich.com/category/personal-branding/).

A challenge, however, was the search for good examples. Mr. Sprengel gave me this task right at the beginning of our cooperation. O. k., I thought to myself, it won’t be easy; but I’ll do it. It shouldn’t be that difficult to find a few highlights in the vastness of the social networks. Far from it, I was really surprised how boring musicians are positioning and marketing themselves most of the time.

There’s particularly little to learn from the superstars. Their accounts are perfect, mostly without surprises, corners and edges and thus somehow stainless steel brushed, but boring. The superstars have so many followers because they were already famous in the pre-Instagram era. They are interesting not because of their content, but simply because they have a very high profile. Nevertheless, I found some examples. More about them on the following page:

Selbstvermarktung auf Instagram, Erfolgsgarant für Musiker? https://www.delamar.de/musikbusiness/selbstvermarktung-auf-instagram-61098/

Stay tuned, more stuff is on the way.

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Personal Branding for Artists – the entire study.

Posted on 21/10/2021 by christian zich

Personal Branding, die Ergebnisse der Umfrage/Personal branding, the results of the survey

After publishing all the results of the Personal Branding Study for Artists last month, it’s time to summarize all the posts in one place, or comment on the links.

The 9 parts of the entire study:

Stay tuned, more stuff is on the way.

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