So you’re a mommy blogger. Awesome, we have something in common! If you go to a conference or a dinner with bloggers of “authority” someone will try and tell you that YOU are a BRAND. If you haven’t heard this before, I need to hang out where you do. Send me an email and we’ll have a dance party.
Now, why’ll I’m all down for stroking egos and an inflated sense of entitlement, I’m sorry to be the one to set this straight: your personal brand is a whole lotta bullshit.
Let me explain.
Actually, let’s have Annie explain:
She’s right and she’s also in PR, so I made sure I’m not the only one with this opinion. But rarely, will anyone let you know that what you’re creating is not a personal brand unless, well, your Dooce or The Pioneer Woman, and since you’re not, you aren’t.
Here’s the difference: Dooce and The Pioneer Woman “consistently deliver regular value” to their community.
Hell, let me just quote Geoff Livingston who is an author and writes for Mashable about social media and non-profits:
There is a big difference between reputation and personal brands. Reputation is built upon past experiences — good or bad, a real track record. Personal branding is often an ego-based image based on communications. A personal brand can demonstrate a person is there, but it’s often shallow and can be contrived. It’s just like a sport stripe on a car, nice but no engine, no guts, no substance.
So, if you want to be a personal brand, you have to do a whole lot more than be YOU. Being YOU, well, that don’t mean jack unless you’re offering something. And that something can’t be how you’re quirky or make regular t-shirts into sexy on a stick. Or, swear a lot.
Guilty as charged.
The only people who are going to tell you that personal branding is the Be All End All of Success and a true blogging business model are the same people who are trying to make it so; and should not be taken seriously.
For example, a couple of weeks ago I watched as a newbie blogger — someone who turned their journal into a blog and was just getting their public feet wet– was told that they should:
- Come up with a marketable title because it’s her personal brand and she must, at all costs, stick with it.
- All aspects of her online presence should match her blog with no deviation.
- She needs to be different and FIRST at whatever she chooses (good fucking luck with that one!)
And like a good newbie blogger, she took all of this to heart. Poor thing.
I looked like a camp counselor of the Marlo Thomas variety telling her: do what you want and you can always change it. In a sea of: YOU! are Your Brand and Other Delusions of Grandeur, I looked absolutely insane.
Which isn’t such a stretch, but I’m completely right about this. Even if there are exceptions. Exceptions do not create a standard; they create an exception. It’s important to know the difference and, by in large, the people who talk to mommy bloggers do not know it.
Because what they also do not tell you is that creating a “personal brand” does not, in fact, guarantee monetization. Sure you can be Internet Famous and you can make absolutely nothing. So, what’s more important to you: monetizing your slice or internet fame with a day job, a family, and zilch time? With the latter, you’ll be sure to have “personal brand” bragging rights.
Eye roll.
Let’s put it this way, if you replace “personal brand” with “cool,” this makes much more sense. And then let’s go back to the high school hallways and see how “cool” worked out for those folks.
I have been told that I’m a personal brand and it felt really good; better than sex good. I’m narcissistic like that. And it wasn’t at a conference. Someone who trains celebrities for big Barbara Walters interviews told me this. So, I realize how enticing it can be to think you’re something that you’re not. I did it for a day.
Best day of my life.
Just kidding.
I’ve also been around a New York Times bestselling author who, without a college degree, worked his ass off writing to become exactly what he is: a brand. You know how much he talks about branding? Not at all. You know how much he talks about writing? All the time. Every minute of every day, actually. You know how much money he made with his personal brand? None. And how much he made writing: all of it.
To be clear, you have value. But like Annie said, we can’t buy you. Create and hone your craft. Produce. Produce. Produce. Make connections. Meet people. Read. Comment. Change. Learn. Grow. Take jobs. Make jobs. Change again. Believe in yourself and work hard, but don’t let anyone sell you on something that sounds too good to be true.
It’s still infinitely better to give than receive. That, my friends, is how you go about this. Even now.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I think mommy bloggers can become brands, but they aren’t brands based on their own personality. I’m thinking of sites based on coupons, or simple living, or homeschooling. (Niche blogs? I guess?) They are selling product (actually, ideas/lifestyles) so they want to become a “brand”. They want to be seen as a unique authority on whatever it is they’re shilling.
So if I had a friend who wanted to start a Mom Finance blog, I would definitely tell her to pick a name, stick with it, and use it everywhere. And for damn sure, find a unique spin to her finance advice because there are about 5,000 other blogs just like her. And probably within 6 months, she’d make 4 x’s more than I ever did on my blog because real brands would want to work with her.
But for confessional bloggers/journal bloggers/memoir bloggers…we’re telling our stories. In that case I would say, “Just write!” You get to be a Dooce or a top confessional blogger because you’re a great writer and you have a pretty awesome story, not because you branded yourself with a catchy name and worked the shit out of it.
This is one of the problems with all of us living under the title of “Mommy Blogger”, and one of the big downfalls of blog conferences. I’ve wondered if I should go to WRITING conferences instead, and leave the blog conferences to bloggers who want to be branded and have a top parenting website.
Funny that you mention writing conferences. I have been blogging since 2008 but writing professionally since 2003 and while I admit I started blogging with dreams of internet success and fame now my goal is to write and fine tune my voice. I write for me and hey if I get paid, its all good if not I haven’t quit my day job yet.
Writing conferences, completely different beast and, wow, a fresh one at that.
” . . . not because you branded yourself with a catchy name and worked the shit out of it.”
Exactly.
Food for thought, my dear. For me the line blurs between good marketing and “being a brand.” I know I’m a personality in people’s eyes, so do I capitalize on that and develop a brand that is me? I don’t know. It’s a conundrum.
You know how drag queens have drag mothers? Well… can you be my bloggy mother? Prettty Prettty please?
This is a great post (as usual). I do believe people can become brands but underestimate, as you imply, what it takes to get there. Interesting content is great but how do you sell it? How do you get it to market – often it takes talent and dollars, and lots of them. And this is under the assumption that you are actually filling some need (emotional, physical, whatever) for them. And if you do have something great, how do you make it different from the next guy and how do you monetize? A tough problem. Now, can you post about solving it??
Your 2nd to last paragraph said it all: Pursue what you do with passion, drive, and discipline because branding is a by-product of being completely YOU.
I think of my blogging as a narrative, a narrative which has changed over time, and will change in the future. I don’t fit in any particular niche, and I really love that because I can write about pretty much anything I want.
Thanks for a thought-provoking post. I think many people use the word “brand” to mean “identity” and “marketing” in the blogging world these days. True, you can’t buy a blogger and there’s no Six Year Itch board game, but I do think branding in the sense of creating an identity for yourself online that spans the different social media outlets is important if you want to make money as a blogger.
Thanks for a thought-provoking post. I think many people use the word “brand” to mean “identity” and “marketing” in the blogging world these days. True, you can’t buy a blogger and there’s no Six Year Itch board game, but I do think branding in the sense of creating an identity for yourself online that spans the different social media outlets is important if you want to make money as a blogger.
Came back to fully read this post that I’d previously browsed (I was swamped at work!). I think you captured my POV, and that inspired me to post about it too. So thanks:) http://pikpr.blogspot.com/2011/08/few-weeks-ago-my-friend-liz-henry-posed.html
{ 3 trackbacks }