Lessons on Personal Brand Building From Donald Trump and P Diddy

December 31, 2008 at 10:14 pm | In Book Reviews, Interview, People, Personal Branding, entrepreneurship | 1 Comment

Today, I spoke with John Eckberg, who has spoken with many successful entrepreneurs and celebrities, wrapping up his interviews in a book and sharing a few today for this blog. The two we will discuss are Donald Trump and P Diddy, who, in my opinion, truly represent the epitome of personal branding.   Donald Trump understood early in his career that personal branding would give him an edge, while P Diddy figured out that being around people who were smarter than him would help accelerate his business success.

What can Donald Trump teach us about building a powerful brand (personal/product/corporate)?

Donald Trump is one of the few Americans who has turned his success in the fairly stodgy field of real estate in world-renown brand and persona in the milieu of entertainment, retailing and recreation. And while I am no Trump-a-phile, that is, I have not studied his books nor have I pored over the minutia of his career, I do know this much about him: the guy returns phone calls. Maybe it’s because I work at a newspaper and hold a megaphone that reaches hundreds of thousands of people (though I suspect he’d return phone calls to folks who run newsletters) but this mogul is somebody who tends to his telephone messages.

Why is that important in building brand and what does that teach us about creating a brand? Trump (who, by the way, is Mr. Trump to me since he never played centerfield or was a jockey, according to that Ring Lardner newspaperman’s rule of who gets called by their first name in any conversation) understood early on in his career that people with personal brands have an edge when it comes to negotiations, co-ventures, real estate deals and just about everything else in our society. He must have learned this from his father, a man who cut mega-deals with other real estate moguls in the rarified and cut-throat world of Manhattan real estate.

Trump knows that when somebody with a brand walks into a room or picks up the phone, they carry with them subtle but strong personal packaging.

“Trump has embraced the element of human nature, the tendency to elevate others, into a clear advantage.”

He is never off stage, never out of the limelight, either, and knows that subordinates, peers and colleagues are always watching. In fact, they never stop watching.

And here’s something else. We usually think that somebody with baggage means that they have a hurdle to overcome. But that is not the case when you think of a brand as baggage. In that case baggage has a positive impact on a person’s patina – or brand.  Trump has Gucci baggage.

The first and only time I met Donald Trump face-to-face (although we have spoken several times since then) was in the early 1990s at a Super Bowl when the Bengals narrowly lost to the San Francisco 49ers. My job was to chase quotes from locals from the Cincinnati area, who were at the game, and after one interview, I looked to my left and there was Trump. His hair, I might add, was magnificent. As I slid over to chat with him, there on the 10 yard line (what’s he doing on the 10-yard line, I thought but didn’t ask) my heart was in my throat. I mean, this guy is Donald Trump. But within moments the nervousness went away and my natural interview assurance kicked in. Part of it, I realized later, was the Trump charm. This guy puts other people at ease. That’s the part of the Trump brand that does not resonate in Macy’s commercials for his suits, in his show The Apprentice nor in the magazine covers. He has a calm confidence, yes, but it’s also a confidence that is infectious. He makes others feel at ease.

How does he achieve this? Eye-to-eye and a benign and wry smile work wonders. Practice yours in a mirror. It’s the first step toward a personal brand. Exude confidence and that will instill the same in others. That may not make you a billionaire but it is, assuredly, the first step down that path and may be the most important quality you can develop as you move through your job, career and life. The ability to put others at ease will bring you much in return.

What can P Diddy teach us about constructing an empire from the start to the finish?

“Surround yourself with smart people, listen and weigh what they have to say and then take a risk.”

During my interview with Mr. Combs, I wanted to establish early on that I knew a little about his core competency, which at the time was not Making a Band or discovering singers or writing songs, although he was plenty good enough at all that. I was a business reporter who covered what was then Federated Departments Stores (now Macy’s), and what I needed to know was simply this: how much were the annual sales of Sean Jean apparel. So I threw out a number, something I had independently generated – $450 million annually. It was dead on, he confirmed.

And that meant, roughly, that this entertainment icon was netting probably $90 million annually (give or take 300 percent) from the notion that a generation of Americans wanted to dress like Diddy – have style like Diddy. I pushed it one step further and found out something that I still carry with me today.  Smart people keep lots of other smart people around at all times. I jokingly suggested to him that he didn’t need to give me any “points” for an idea I had, that he should brand a car, that is, create a co-venture with a major auto manufacturer and come out with a Sean Jean SUV. “We’re in negotiations with…..” Diddy calmly replied as he noted that his next step in life was to continue to build the empire.

One question I did not ask was this: why does a guy who has $450 million in annual sales from just one initiative – hundreds of millions more likely come in from his branded TV entertainment efforts – why would that guy, who has no formal theatrical training, risk the wrath of the most vicious scribes on the globe and walk out onto a Broadway stage to offer his portrayal of Raisin in the Sun. I mean, he’s already wealthy beyond imagination. Why take a chance on becoming a laughing stock of the Great White Way. I didn’t ask the question and now regret it but I’m pretty sure we all know the answer. Great things stem from great risk. Personalities who do not seek risk are not likely to build much of a brand and certainly will not build an empire. Mr. Combs was a risk-taker but one who was accustomed to success. Nothing will ever change about that, either. With great risk comes great success. But first you have to embrace risk.

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John Eckberg is the author of The Success Effect: Uncommon Conversations with America’s Business Trailblazers.  He is a career journalist with 25 years of experience in the challenging field of daily newspaper reporting. A graduate of Ohio University, he has been a business columnist and business reporter at The Cincinnati Enquirer for more than a decade, where he has covered numerous beats including federal courts, investigative reporter, feature writing, neighborhood columns and urban development. Widely published, his work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, USA Today and many other American print and Web publications. He is the co-author of Road Dog, a true-crime thriller about serial killer Glen Rogers of Hamilton, Ohio.

In 2009 Hire People With Large Social Networks For Free Promotion

December 31, 2008 at 2:12 pm | In Employer Branding, Personal Branding, Recruitment, Success Strategies, marketing, social media | 8 Comments

We’ve spoken about how your network will soon be a job qualification back in October. I think it’s even more than that now, taking the economic climate and the rise of social media as a mainstream vehicle into account. Your network, which is naked online and seen by employers and your management, will become one of the most important promotional items for your company or prospective company.

We should all have a marketing mindset now.  If you don’t, it’s time to start reading this blog and acquire one!

3 different perspectives

The corporate perspective

Company’s are going to be cutting back on marketing budgets for 2009. Most company’s already have set their budgets and they are significantly lower than a year ago this time. Also, marketing departments are being downsized, which means there are less people to get the message out. The problem is that they still need to get their brand out there, in order for people to 1) remember them 2) think positively of them 3) have them in their evoked set (a top-of-mind product/service).

The employee perspective

Employees, especially in the marketing department, are in desperate need of support. With a slim budget, they are still forced to see a return on each dollar they invest in their marketing programs. Many employees aren’t accustomed to social media yet and are still resorting to investing every dollar they have into interrupting random people, hoping they decide to, at a minimum, visit their website. Employees are going to be very irritated and shocked that proving ROI next year is going to be difficult. Most have not taken the past year or two to build out their online network by developing lists that they can market to themselves.

The potential hire perspective

Over a million people have laid off, but how many have taken the time to build up their social lists? I bet very few. Most job seekers are still convinced that the old way of job seeking (how to get a job through social media) is the way to go and, sadly, most fail as a result. Sure, they create a LinkedIn profile and submit their resumes to corporate websites and traditional job banks, such as Monster and Careerbuilder, but they don’t understand that we’re almost in 2009! Attraction-based (or inbound) marketing is the best long-term strategy for never applying for jobs and getting job offers on your doorstep. The few potential hires that are socially-connected should be rewarded with job offers.  They do have to fulfill the job requirements and be exceptional.  That will never change.

Employees MUST BE the brand in 2009

There’s no doubt it my mind that each and every employee is a brand ambassador. There aren’t sign-up forms for employees. The second you accept your job offer, you hold the corporate brand for life. Management has to push their vision at you and make you love your work, despite economic uncertainties. If you meet someone for the first time and tell them you work for XYZ company, you better be able to articulate what the company does, what your role is and smile at the same time. If you commit a crime and do something dumb, at some level, it can hurt your corporate brand. This is the reason why company’s don’t like hiring people that have criminal records.

In 2009, you and your company can only succeed if you live and breath the corporate brand.

Benefits of hiring socially-connected employees

  • Marketing from the inside out for free
  • More connections equals higher productivity
  • Stay ontop of trends
  • Save money on hiring employees with quick and trusted referrals
  • Free consulting, tips and resources from people in their network

Layoff marketers who aren’t socially-connected

This might sound harsh and many of you might get upset, but the reality is that there are many more job seekers (3.3) for every job now.  That being said, it’s easy for a company, especially a small company, to add and remove workers on-demand.  Unless the marketer has provided exceptional ROI over a long period of time, their job is in already in jeopardy.  It doesn’t matter if you’ve put in 10 years or even 25 at your company either.

Marketers that are socially-connected can help you market for free, when you have almost no money.  Wouldn’t you rather hire these individuals, than keep those who can’t help you do this?

Are you socially-connected?

Innovation Requires Personal Brands That Are Rebels

December 31, 2008 at 12:14 am | In Book Reviews, Interview, People, Personal Branding | 2 Comments

Today, I spoke with Hayagreeva Rao, who is a professor at Stanford Business School and author. He talks about what a “market rebel” is, why they are important, some examples of rebels, the benefits and how personal branding relates. Hayagreeva makes a great case why you should become a market rebel to stand out amongst your peers and start innovating to change the world. Although, market rebels aren’t readily visible, they are able to innovate within company’s or as entrepreneurs. Innovation causes change and change is needed for progress!

What are market rebels? Why are they important?

“Market rebels are activists who challenge the status quo and defy conventional wisdom.”

The Compact Oxford English Dictionary defines a rebel as one who resists “authority, control or convention”. Market rebels are important because they spearhead collective action that takes the form of social movements. In turn, these social movements can either advance a radical innovation or block it. In either case, market rebels construct ‘hot causes’ to harness the attention of distracted audiences and rely on ‘cool’ techniques to mobilize collective action.

For example, the market rebels at the vanguard of the personal computing movement had a ‘hot cause’ – centralized computer and a computer that could only be touched by a priestly class, and a ‘cool’ technique of mobilization – ‘homebrewing’ clubs where people could assemble their own machine and personalize computing and gain autonomy.

They played a crucial role in in spawning new firms that led to the birth of the personal computer industry. Similarly, deaf rights activists challenged producers of cochlear ear implants and thwarted the spread of the technology. Their ‘hot cause’ was the loss of sign language and the demise of a deaf culture, and their cool techniques of mobilization included public marches and destruction of cochlear ear implants, and even litigation.

What are the benefits of market rebels?

Market rebels promote collective goods and play decisive role when normal market incentives do not work. For example, in the early automobile industry, the car was not culturally accepted and was seen as a devilish monstrosity. Advertising by car producers was widely distrusted. In these circumstances, auto enthusiasts banded together into automobile clubs, and lobbied state governments for speed limits and licensing and prevented a maze of local regulations.

They organized reliability races which paved the way for producers to win them and establish reputations. They also lobbied for good roads. All of this made mass production by Henry Ford possible. Market rebels played similar roles in the birth of the microbrewing industry, and the growth of new styles such as nouvelle cuisine. In all of these cases, they advanced radical innovations. But market rebels also play an important role in blocking thwarting radical innovations. For instance, they championed the cause of small stores and sought to stem the advance of chain stores and they organized an anti-biotechnology movement which prevented German pharmaceutical firms from commercializing bio-technology.

Can you name a few market rebels who have helped build our culture/businesses?

In contemporary times, a wide range of market rebels have played important roles in the evolution of industries. The important thing to keep in mind is that they are individuals who submerge their identity in a common cause and so rarely stand out in the public eye. Instead, it is the organizations they build and the collective action they spark that leaves a lasting imprint.

The free software movement, where “free” means “free” as in “free speech” and not “free beer”, played an important role in the spread of Linux – Linus Torvalds comes to mind. In microbrewing, Charles Papazian laid the foundations of the homebrewing movement, and entrepreneurs such as Fritz Maytag played were influential in the growth of small producers who made beer using authentic ingredients and artisanal techniques. On the other side, investor rights activists such as Evelyn Davis and the Gilbert Brothers and Nell Minnow were at the vanguard of the investor rights movement which improved corporate disclosure and monitoring of executive compensation.

What would the world look like without these market rebels?

We would not have the Automobile Association of America – it was started by auto enthusiasts who formed auto clubs all over the country. There would ne no brewpubs or microbrews in grocery store aisles. Organic food would not have taken root in American culture. All of these are cases, where market rebels were the harbingers of social movements that led to radical innovation. But for market rebels, we would have more Walmarts and Big Box stores all over the country. But for the environmental movement there would be no hybrid cars and consumer interest in the electric car.

If you brand yourself as a market rebel, how will it help your career?

Being a market rebel gives you a distinctive identity and visibility as an outsider. But they come at a price – you are more likely to be in small organizations rather than large bureaucracy and not have large financial resources. Which is why rebels exploit ‘hot causes’ and rely on ‘cool mobilization’ techniques to inspire action. In this sense, it is your cause and techniques that brand you.

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Hayagreeva Rao is the author of Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations. He is the Atholl McBean Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources at Stanford Business School. He has published widely in the fields of management and sociology and studies the social and cultural causes of organizational change. His research has been published in journals such as the Administrative Science Quarterly, American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science and Strategic Management Journal. He has been a Member of the Organizational Innovation and Change Panel of the National Science Foundation. He is a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Science and of the Sociological Research Association. He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management.

Road to Me 2.0: My First Video Interview For the Book

December 30, 2008 at 4:20 pm | In Career Development, Interview, Me 2.0, People, Personal Branding, eBrand, marketing, social media | 4 Comments

Recently, I was interviewed by Rick Burnes of Hubspot about my upcoming book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success. As of today, my book is doing very well on pre-orders, ranking #26 on Amazon for job hunting bestsellers, #54 for web marketing and #70 e-commerce.  I want to thank everyone for helping promote the book so far and for your ongoing support throughout the past few years.  The coolest thing is that the book doesn’t even come out in stores until April 7th of 2009, which means there seems to be a big need for it already!

Part 1 of the interview:

Part 2 of the interview:

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