You Are Your Brand and Your Brand Is You

Insights from Bud Bilanich, The Common Sense Guy

As a small business owner whose brand is me, I recognize the importance of personal branding. I am a keynote speaker, executive coach, organization effectiveness consultant, and author. I am my business; therefore, my brand needs to speak for me.

When I decided to brand myself, I began by asking everybody I know a simple question. “When you think of me, what is the first thing that comes to mind?” An overwhelming number of people said, “Your common sense approach to business and life.” My first reaction was, “Uh oh, common sense doesn’t make for much of a brand.” Then I started to think about it a little more.

I’d read several very interesting books about personal branding. The best of them was Career Distinction: Standing Out by Building Your Brand, by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson. A few things stood out in my reading:

•  An effective personal brand is authentic--it reflects the true character of the individual being branded.

•  An effective personal brand repels as many people as it attracts.

•  An effective personal brand is consistent.

As I started thinking about what my friends and clients said, I began to get comfortable with common sense as the driver for my brand. However, I was still unsure of a tag line for my brand. I experimented with a few things. “Common Sense Coach” was too narrow. I do things other than coaching. “Common Sense Guru” sounded too pompous and New Age all at once.

One day I was speaking with a friend and lamenting the fact that I couldn’t come up with a good tag line. I said something like, “There’s this guy who calls himself ‘The Goals Guy,’ I wish I had enough guts to call myself ‘The Common Sense Guy.’ She said, “What’s wrong with ‘The Common Sense Guy’?”

I hemmed and hawed and said things like, “It’s kind of pedestrian; it’s too informal; there’s already a goals guy.” As I heard myself speaking, I realized I was rationalizing. I have often said to people who were impressed with something I’d done--graduated from Harvard, started a business, written a book--“I’m just a guy.” And, I had already established that I approach my work in a common sense manner. So why not become The Common Sense Guy?

Anyone in business needs a solid brand. Mine is the Common Sense Guy. However, having a well thought out brand is not enough. All brands need exposure. Blogging is the best way I know to get that type of exposure. I’d urge you to learn all you can about blogging so you can put its brand-building power to work for you.