pBrand of the week: Matuschke

Matuschik pBrand of the week

Matthias Matuschik has provided me with an absolutely perfect blueprint for rebooting the whole personal branding theme. Last week, he had an exciting breakdown. What was it about? In an astonishingly aggressive manner, he lashed out at the boy band BTS, comparing them to a virus (for which a vaccine should soon be found) and calling the band members „Pisser“. This led to a worldwide shitstorm, a remarkable achievement for a radio host of a public radio station from Bavaria.

pBrand success factors

And that brings us to the middle of one of my two favorite topics, personal branding. Personal branding (pBranding) has a lot to do with generating attention. Mr. Matuschik has managed to do that. However, most want to stand out positively in the perception of their target groups. Mr. Matuschik did not manage to do that. Personal branding also has quite a bit to do with conscious, goal-oriented and deliberate action. However, based on the tone of the recording (https://youtu.be/5TWq_TQuJD4), it is reasonable to assume that his failure had little to do with deliberate action. Rather, Mr. Matuschik apparently talked himself into such a rage that terms such as the comparison with the virus and the expression “pisser” slipped out of his mouth.

Music, like art, is a matter of taste, and if BTS cover Coldplay’s “Fix You,” let them. And if that’s bad in his opinion, so what. I withhold my opinion on the song at this point, otherwise I run the risk of Mr. Matuschik insulting me as well.

Predictable behavior of the fans? Could it be foreseen?

But a shitstorm always involves two parties, and for a long time I have left the fans out of it. To those who have harassed Mr. Matuschik’s family, I would like to say: it is only music and music is a matter of taste. Even if the band members are something like godlike figures for the fans, you don’t have to lead a campaign against another person. It also goes more civilized. Nevertheless, Mr. Matuschik should have been aware that the aggression potential of the fans of a goy group here is very powerful when you start to scratch the godlike status of the band.

And what do we learn from this? Conscious and long-term oriented action is the real core of a person brand.

Other satirists, different reaction?

However, it should be noted at this point that the matter would probably have ended differently if Oliver Kalkofe or Jan Böhmermann (German Satirists) had made this statement. But the two would also have provoked deliberately and on purpose (and perhaps considered possible consequences beforehand).

That was the firstto series pBrand (Personal Brand) of the week.

Stay tuned.

More about Personal Branding …

A Christmas gift for executives – personal branding with how2change

Hey pBranders, thursday next week (17.12.2020) at 6:00 pm there will be an early Christmas present for executives. I’ll be chatting with Christa Wilhelm, Tom Mühlmann and Daniel Frystacki about my favorite topic, personal branding. An interactive online event about personal branding as a success factor for executives.

Personal Branding with how2change

Many many years ago, I worked intensively with Christa Wilhelm – at that time in her function as Head of Marketing at Microsoft Deutschland GmbH – on marketing dashboards, optimization of operational advertising campaigns and on defining value propositions. Then we lost sight of each other, because Christa started her own business how2change and I turned to other topics; still marketing, but other customers.

But you know the saying: you always meet twice in life. Not too long ago, I met Christa again and we talked about our areas of work without any obligation. We talked about personal branding and a few weeks ago I was invited to participate in the next interactive online event. There was not much to think about, I spontaneously said yes, because I personally like the format very much. Not much is revealed about the content, just a few keywords:

  • Why is personal branding more than nice homepage, a fancy LinkedIn account and a little bit kling kling around your person?
  • What exactly can be understood by a journey into one’s own competitiveness?
  • What are the first steps in implementing a personal brand?

The rest is a surprise. I’m looking forward to the date next week and of course I’m also looking forward to a lively participation. Stay tuned.

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How do you implement and improve your Personal Brand?

During my time at Siemens I learned a a lot about concepts and their implementation. In too many cases my colleagues spent too much time developing an exciting and more or less perfect concept. But they completely forgot the implementation and continuous improvement process. Having these situations in mind I developed a simple but effective continuous improvement process for your personal brand. In the video you will find the short overview. Enjoy the video.

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Why is the marketing of one’s own personality an important complement to one’s own performance?

In the second part of my approach to the nature of a personal brand, I briefly dealt with the topic of performance and result orientation. In the third and last part, the focus is on personality. It is the core of the brand identity of a personal brand, similar to the brand identity of product brands. Here, it is primarily a matter of communicating an authentic and trustworthy image based on one’s own psychological profile. The highlights are presented in the video. Have fun watching.

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Why does personal performance play such an important role in the development of a personal brand?

Anyone who has rummaged around in my blog will soon realize that, unlike many other personal branding experts, I don’t focus on personality, but on the performance of a person. Why? If you are a nice guy, but your performance is interchangeable, there is a good chance that your customer will still take the better-priced competitor. Your competitive advantages are limited.

If you are a nice guy and your service is unique and competitive, then a customer will accept a higher price or your future employer is willing to pay a higher salary. However, building a unique offering involves a lot of effort, unlike the little bit of klinkling around presenting yourself. More about this in the video.

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What are the building blocks for a successful personal brand?

In 3 parts I would like to get closer to the answer to this question. In this first part I will focus on the concrete definition of uniqueness.

What is the concrete definition? Have fun watching my video.

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Why you should think intensively about your own brand. I’ll give you 4 reasons.

Personal Branding, Session 1

This article is the prelude to my Personal Branding in (less) than 5 Minutes series. There is nothing more to add, have fun watching the first episodes.

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Personal Branding in (less) than 5 minutes is on the way

Finally the time has come. My concept “Personal Branding in (less) than 5 Minutes” can go to the start. Next week the first short videos will be ready for the start. This summer I took a closer look at some approaches to personal branding and discovered some convictions that I personally do not share.

  • For me, the performance or the offerings of a person are still the most important element of a personal brand. The statement that only the personality counts is a little too short for me. In other words: if you can’t do anything but are a nice guy, you won’t survive as a personal brand in the long run.
  • Anyone who claims that nowadays you can’t distinguish yourself by your performance or by what you offer hasn’t thought long and hard enough. In my VHB course, I have conducted many interviews with completely different managers, entrepreneurs and artists who convinced me that it is very well possible to stand out from the competition by an extraordinary performance. If you think about your own performance, your skills and competences in a goal-oriented and competitive way, then anything is possible. Take a family doctor as an example. At first glance, a family doctor is like any other, at least as far as professional competence is concerned. A thorough examination alone, where the doctor takes his time, is the exception rather than the rule. But there are only very few family doctors who are able to explain to their patients what they have just diagnosed in a friendly, authoritative manner and not in technical jargon. And if they are also empathetic and gently teach their “customers” certain diagnoses, then you can clearly set yourself apart from other competitors.
  • What most approaches skilfully leave out is the fact that although anyone can do personal branding, they can’t be successful with it. Why? If you present a comparable service or offer on a website, a LinkedIn or Xing account, and are not prepared to really stand out as a person, you will still be overlooked. In other words: if you are not prepared to stand out clearly and positively from the competition, you can let the whole thing go. Just being conspicuous a little is almost synonymous with not being conspicuous at all.
    Without a basic knowledge of personality psychology, you won’t get much further with personal branding. A short excursion into classical brand management alone shows its importance in the development of a product and corporate brand. This makes it all the more important to use personality psychology in a personal brand as a tool for convincing external presentation.
  • Most approaches focus only on the one-time development of a personal brand, not on its continuous improvement. I noticed this myself during the revision of my VHB course. It is designed as a one-time project, which is also in the nature of things. In the course of the last few months I have mainly been concerned with the implementation and further development of a defined personal brand and have discovered that many instruments from my professional past can be used in a targeted manner for my own optimization. In doing so, I have mainly thrown change management methods, such as AIP management, KAIZEN, project management and a few other candidates into my conceptual shaker, thus developing an approach that helps everyone to become better in the long run.

In my concept, I therefore place the performance/offer at the center of a personal brand, spice it up with a good portion of individual and social psychology and marry the result with a permanent improvement approach.

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