The future of branding is personal

When you think of branding what comes to mind? You will likely think about companies and people. When you think of Nike you think of Michael Jordan. With Apple, you think of Steve Jobs. When you think of Tesla you think of Elon Musk. The interesting one here is whether Tesla is the prominent brand, or whether Elon Musk is the brand in his own right. It follows the pattern of what Naval Ravikant describes as ‘productizing yourself’. With the power of social media, branding is becoming personal. People follow people rather than companies, and it is building the personal brand, associated with the company, that will enable the opportunities to be realized.

Optimize your presence where people consume

The traditional way of marketing has changed. It is no longer about writing publications, but now about social media. That requires mastering in particular YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and also running a podcast. Brands need to use social media smartly; although most brands use it, few optimize its true potential. Using these platforms you can reach every corner of the globe with the message of what you do, and more importantly why you do it. It will keep people up to date with your work, in a way that they like to consume information.

This is further enhanced when individuals linked to the organization have strong personal brands. Take Harvey Spectre from the TV show ‘Suits’. He is a renowned closer. Clients choose the company because they want Harvey to represent them, not…