Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

Today, I had the pleasure of interviewing Marty M. Fahncke. Marty has over 18 years of experience in sales and marketing and has been involved in campaigns responsible for nearly $1 billion in revenue. He is also the mind behind FawnKey & Associates.

___________________________________

Me: Marty, you have a lot of experience through different industries and being a CEO for a few companies. If you were to give a core messaging pitch, how would you summarize your accomplishments?

MMF: My entire career can be summed up by the advice given by Zig Ziglar, which I’ve always tried to follow; “You can have anything in life you want, if you help enough other people get what they want”. You’ll see that quote right on top of my website at http://www.FawnKey.com.

Me: By building your Personal Brand over time, how do you feel it has been either altered or strengthened?

MMF: My personal brand has strengthened over time, as I’ve had the opportunity to serve more people, and technology has allowed those people to share their experiences of my Personal Brand with others.

Me: Did you have mentors or professional help along the way?

MMF: Professional help? You mean like therapy? Just kidding! Actually, in my overall career, I’ve had tons of help…from mentors to paid instructors, and coaches. It’s good to be open to help and advice from others. With regard to Personal Branding, I haven’t really had anyone teach me that…it has just come naturally.

Me: If you could share one Personal Branding strategy with my readers, what would it be?

MMF: ALWAYS keep your personal brand in mind whenever you are communicating with anyone, whether it is face to face, via email, on a blog, or anywhere else. In today’s communication environment, everything you say, you say to the whole world.

Me: As a business owner, how do you feel that your Personal Brand has an affect on your products and/or services?

MMF: I know for a fact that keeping my Personal Brand spotless has had a significant positive impact on the products and services we offer to our clients. As a result, my clients know me and trust me to provide the best possible products and services. Due to this, with both of my companies, we are very careful what we offer and promote to our clients and customers, and they appreciate it.

Me: Is your Personal Brand in real life the same as it is online? How do you match your voice with your customers using both medium and keep it consistent?

MMF: The easiest way to keep it consistent is to just be honest. I’m a very open book, whether online or offline. If someone wants to know who I am, they can easily learn whatever they want to about me, whether it is online by Googling me, or offline by asking my friends, family or business associates.

Me: Any last words?

MMF: The concept of a formal Personal Brand was first introduced to me by Tom Peters through Fast Company magazine in 1997. I immediately started talking about it to everyone I knew, but most people thought I was a bit nuts. They may have been right about the nuts part, but they weren’t right about the Personal Brand part.

A decade later, I’m glad to see people finally starting to talk about it, to acknowledge it, and to pay attention to their own Personal Brands. Daniel, it is people like you who are helping to bring this subject to the mainstream, and I appreciate your work on the subject.

Me: Thank you for your time Marty.