Tag Archives: success

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

Posted on by
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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

More about Personal Branding…

Personal Branding, a journey?

Posted on by

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

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

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…

pBrand of the week: Matuschke

Posted on by
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

Posted on by

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.

More on this topic…

Long live the freedom of theory! The new, practice-oriented approach in my marketing lecture at the THD

Posted on by
Marketing

In this article I would like to introduce a new lecture format. I had nothing else in mind but to develop the perfect marketing lessen. It should combine marketing know-how, SEO knowledge, the professional handling of social networks, and a lot of fun. Did I succeed? More on this in the article.

The basic idea behind the marketing lecture:

Attentive readers of my blog know that I like experiments. During the shutdown in the summer term I started to develop innovative electives based on a new version my personal branding concept. The students should learn to market themselves authentically and credibly. Not just theoretically, but very practically. In addition, the students should not only improve their concepts slowly and coached by me in learning loops, but also transfer this into practice. It was clear to me from the very beginning that the core of the whole subject would be a WordPress blog run by a student team. The students should be completely free to choose their thematic focus, so that the fun of the whole thing is not neglected.

The concrete learning outcomes or how to acquire blogging and marketing know how.

  1. Acquire basic marketing know-how about blogging. Since many companies are looking for ways to present themselves optimally, this is an investment for the student’s professional future. They can also prove that they have really gained practical know-how and have not only heard about blogging in theory. Of course it was obvious to use the secret worldwide standard – WordPress – as a basis for the activities. Especially because there are a lot of interesting, free plugins for optimizing a blog.
  2. Acquire basic SEO know-how. It’s much easier to teach students the SEO-tricks by analyzing and optimizing their blog posts and with the help of the excellent MathRank plugin, rather than spend a long lecture session rambling on this topic.
  3. Professional use of social networks. Most students have social media accounts, but few have thought about how to use them professionally. Especially WordPress is perfectly suited to act as an efficient spider in your own communication network. There are also some plugins (some free of charge, some with a 30-day trial period) that can be used to automatically connect social networks to your own blog in order to efficiently distribute your messages in many different channels. This is also a form of marketing know-how that every student can use in one way or another in his or her professional future.
  4. Through teamwork, students learn to coordinate, develop a communication plan and thus act professionally.

The results of the marketing lecture:

I was really enthusiastic about the results. The students threw themselves into the work with excitement and drive. And produced really interesting and great content. Here are a few notes about the teams and their activities:

  1. thePsyTravelers. Concentrated psychological know-how combined with really great travel descriptions. https://team06-wp.th-deg.de/ https://www.instagram.com/thepsychtravelers/
  2. mere exposure. Psychological knowledge to manage business challenges and about everyday life excitingly prepared. https://team02-wp.th-deg.de/ https://www.instagram.com/mereexposure.official/
  3. unlock your free time. Valuable tips, tempting recipes and exciting stories to make the Corona time worth living again. https://team03-wp.th-deg.de/ https://www.instagram.com/unlockyourfreetime/
  4. simple sustainability. A great blog about sustainability. Lots of valuable ideas and suggestions to encourage people to think about their own behavior and thus to plant sustainability unobtrusively in as many heads as possible. https://team04-wp.th-deg.de/ https://www.instagram.com/thesimplesustainability/
  5. weekly dose. The weekly dose of tips and tricks that make everyday life easier while providing varied entertainment. https://team06-wp.th-deg.de/ https://www.instagram.com/wochendosis/
  6. IGDA. The Road to DJ. A very honest and wonderfully authentic summary of the ups and downs on the way to becoming a professional DJ. With lot of music and many tips. https://igdasroad2dj.wordpress.com https://www.instagram.com/philipigda/

The results are really worth seeing and I would like to invite you to visit all the sites, to like intensively and to comment intensively as well.

More on this topic…

How do you implement and improve your Personal Brand?

Posted on by

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.

More on this topic…

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

Posted on by

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.

More on this topic…

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

Posted on by

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.

More on this topic…

What are the building blocks for a successful personal brand?

Posted on by

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.

More on this topic…

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

Posted on by
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.

More on this topic…