More about Ilise here.
More about Peleg here.
More about Colleen here.
If you missed the HOW Design Conference and want to know the highlights of my session, What It Takes to Be Your Own Boss, Courtney Dolloff of NYC-based Seamless Creative, wrote a review of it on her blog, DesignWorkLife. Read that here.
This is an excellent example of a designer's blog, by the way. Lots of images and not so much text.
I don't know if it's Yellow Volkswagen Syndrome or what, but lately, every damned thing I read seems to be either about personal branding or social media (or personal branding via social media.)
Wired.com has jumped into the personal brand-mania pool this week with a poll; they're having readers decide who the most effective self-promoter (i.e., personal brand-er) is.
I have mixed feelings about the list. Maybe it's the Groucho effect; maybe I'm taking it all too seriously. Wouldn't be the first time. Surely there's no big deal about throwing up a silly little poll for fun.
I guess that's it: it doesn't seem like everyone is having fun. A few of the entries are genuinely thought-provoking. Was Jesus the world's best, all-time self-promoter? A rather strong case could be made. Or an equally strong case that our man from Jerusalem was just doing his thing for the sake of the doing, and that people around him leveraged him as a brand.
P.T. Barnum is a good bet—why isn't he higher up? I mean, I love Tim Ferriss as much as the next nerd (hey! I voted for him!), but is he going to have the enduring power of an Edison or even a Muhammed Ali, both extremely savvy self-promoters? And I really don't know—I'm just sayin'.
Or maybe I'm asking. What do you think? Would love for you to bop over to the list, come back and let us know what you think. (Voting optional!)
Reader Lisa Neal sent me a post she wrote, based on a post she saw at CIO, which gave me the idea (not so original, actually) to initiate a similar post here.
The idea is 10 Things You Can Do In Ten Minutes to Promote Yourself.
Here's the first:
Check out one blog and post a comment that links back to your blog or web site. (A little self-serving, I know, but humor me.)
What else?
This past weekend, I was planning to write an article called, "How to Blog without a Blog" -- until I saw the exact same article on Biznik's Learn section.
At first, I was annoyed because I felt like someone had "taken" my idea (as if there are any original ideas). But then I was relieved because this article by Elgé Premeau, who calls herself an "eMarketing Strategist," was so comprehensive that it was clearly better than what I would have written.
Elgé covers:
Enough from me. Read the article here.
The question of whether or not to use a blog as a marketing tool comes up a lot in conversations with clients lately.
So here's an article from one of our favorite NY Times blogs, Marci Alboher's "Shifting Careers," that begins to answer the question: is a blog is a good marketing tool for you?
What do you think?
While searching for an article about blogging in the NY Times' (now free!) archives, I came across an equally interesting article about commenting on blogs (free registration required).
The article talks about a number of people who have become famous (well, relatively speaking) not by having their own blogs and initiating conversation, but by joining in the conversation on other people's sites.
It leads with the story of "DaShiv," a part-time wedding photographer who hit the big time (again, relatively speaking) because of prolific and excellent commenting.
It makes sense: some people are better at initiating conversation, while others excel at dissecting--the old artists vs. art critics thing. And critics aren't a bad thing, necessarily--a lot of times, they illuminate points for others of us who are a little behind in the subject.
Plus, often, they are profoundly hilarious/brilliant in their own right: the comments on salon.com articles can be as good or better than the articles themselves.
In short, if you're not blogging, maybe don't worry about it. Getting out there and just commenting is not only a great way to get the lay of the land--it can also be a great way of leaving your mark.
Any thoughts on this? Comments are open!
One of my favorite self-promoting graphic designers, Jeff Fisher of Logomotives, (whose mantra is, If I don't "toot!" my own horn, no one else will.) has a new book out, Identity Crisis! 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities Into Successful Brands from HOW Design Books.
I haven't read it yet but it promises to be useful not only for designers but for anyone who faces the challenge of branding themselves in a cluttered market. Of course, there's the requisite blog to go along with the book where Jeff has posted links to all the contributors of case studies in the book and much more.
And here's a sneak peek at "what's inside"
Jeff is also the author of The Savvy Designer's Guide to Success: Ideas and tactics for a killer career (HOW Design Books, 2004), for which I wrote the foreword. Jeff will also be speaking at the HOW Design Conference in May 2008 (so will Peleg and I). Check it all out.
Here's a very realistic article by Sarah Needleman from the special section on Small Business in Monday's (8/20/07) Wall Street Journal. It outlines all the different ways people are actually using blogs to market a business and it emphasizes the real time commitment required to make it work, helping you answer the question, “Should I be blogging?”
(BTW, in the Marketing Mentor Store we have a download that offers a lot more nuts 'n bolts on the process, featuring an interview with our own Blog Mistress, The Communicatrix, Colleen Wainwright. Check it out.)
People marvel at what a great blogger Ilise is, but just like everyone else, she was new to it at one point.
In a post on Blogger Stories, Ilise describes how she was lured into the world of blogging (hint: it has something to do with yours truly).
But I think the bigger (blogger) story is that we are all influenced by all sorts of sources, and the source you turn on to x may well be the source who turns you on to y.
That's how it goes, in and out of the blogosphere.
Lea Ann Hutter, a Marketing Mentor friend and client, recently blogged about her experience putting together an AIGA "Shop Talk" event here in Los Angeles on branding for designers.
It's a great example of good blogging in that:
In her email to us about the experience, Lea Ann mentioned that she used the blog post to follow up with people she met with at the event. Way to be a meta-self promoter!
A series of posts documenting Marketing Mentor's search for a new tagline and what happened when we opened up the discussion to the Marketing Mentor community.
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