Summary

The web content emphasizes the importance of personal branding in the digital age, advocating for individuals to take control of their own brand identity and value.

Abstract

The article "The Only Brand In The World That Matters" argues that in a world saturated with corporate brands, the most important brand an individual can cultivate is their personal brand. It defines a brand as a public image or identity that is marketed and promoted, asserting that every aspect of one's life, from job hunting to social interactions, involves branding oneself. The author, Jijo George, encourages readers to identify their unique skills and qualities, nurture them, and market themselves authentically. The article outlines steps to create and monetize a personal brand, including securing a personal domain name, building an ecosystem around the brand, and establishing trust with an audience. It suggests that monetization should be based on genuine trust and transparency, and that scaling a personal brand involves creating systems and relationships that maintain brand value. The conclusion calls for individuals to reclaim their brand value from corporations and highlights the author's journey in personal branding.

Opinions

The author believes that individuals should recognize themselves as the most significant brand they will ever market.
Personal branding is seen as an ongoing process of self-improvement, skill development, and self-promotion.
Owning a personal domain name is considered crucial for long-term control over one's digital presence.
Authenticity and trust are deemed essential for a successful personal brand, with the author stressing the importance of being truthful and transparent.
The article suggests that personal branding can lead to monetization opportunities if based on a unique selling proposition (USP) and proven worth.
The author expresses that personal branding is not just about financial gain but also about helping others build their brands and giving back to the community.
There is a critique of large corporations profiting from individual brand values, with a call to action for individuals to claim their share of the benefits.
The author is confident in their own journey of personal branding and invites readers to join them, expressing optimism about the potential for collective growth and success in brand-building endeavors.

The Only Brand In The World That Matters

Webster defines a brand as “a public image, reputation, or identity conceived of as something to be marketed or promoted”.

From your perspective which brand do you think should be most important for an individual?

In a world full of Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Netflix, and Google pushing out millions of dollars worth of advertisements and promotions to make us aware of their existence, which brand would never have to advertise to you?

If you have not realized it already that brand is ‘You’. If you were sitting next to me right now there is a likelihood that you would have said, ‘Jijo, what nonsense, I am not a brand, I am just <your name>’

And that my friend is where we are mistaken, there is no bigger brand than your personal brand. All your life you are trying to promote yourself, presenting your best in front of strangers so they like you. When you create a profile on Linkedin to get a job, create a dating profile on Tinder, or create a social profile on Meta, you are promoting a brand. The only problem is you are creating your brand by using another brand like Instagram, Facebook, etc, giving them the power to present you to an audience that their algorithm thinks is interested in you. It’s time to change that. It’s time to take the control back.

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What Is A Personal Brand?

A brand is a product that has a proposition to offer others something that they need. YouTube makes it easy to search for everything, and Tinder makes it easy to find dates. Similarly, you would have to identify what is it that your ‘Personal Brand’ has to offer.

You have always had a role to play in your circle. You could be someone who is relied on to give sound relationship or business advice, someone who knows all the best deals when shopping, or simply someone who is good at researching something. Identify these skills. But, just identifying your skill is not sufficient, nurture it, and upskill yourself. In today’s connected world, no information is hidden. Read from the plethora of books, blogs, videos, and tutorials available to enhance your knowledge. Make yourself the best in the skill of your choice. Once satisfied, go out there and promote it.

Create A Personal Brand

Branding simply means knowing who you are and presenting yourself to the world as you are. I personally think that a meaningful life is one where you have identified what makes you unique, and use that uniqueness in service of others. There is no feeling in the world better than the sense of accomplishment when u realize you played a prominent role in helping out another person in life-changing ways. Find something that you would love to do even for free. These are things that would never burn you out. Once identified, do what all brands do, market yourself.

Increase Your Brand Value

In the age of the internet, the most important thing you should do is own your brand. I got jijogeorge.com registered on 1st October 2018, and I am glad it was available since Jijo George is an extremely common name in South India. I registered it and have been renewing it for about $15 per year since. I think you should too before it is too late. You are safe if you have a very unique name like that of my wife. I am pretty sure the likelihood of anyone else having the same name as her is 1 in 7.888 billion as of this point in time.

Having a .com under your name, or a brand you want to create is the most important step to start marketing yourself. Even if you are not actively using it, ensuring the domain is under your name would ensure smooth sailing when you start marketing your personal brand. Once that is done create an ecosystem around your brand name, one that you control. Owning your name on a social media platform is not sufficient, since the Facebook of today could end up being the MySpace of yesterday, but having a domain name gives you long-term authority. You can route your digital presence from this authoritative domain, linking it to your Facebook Page, Medium Page, or any other social media page.

Monetise Your Brand

Now comes the most important part, monetization. Create a service offering like business, life, fitness coaching, or any service based on your USP identified in the previous steps. This may be the toughest part and would largely depend on how strong a presence you created in the previous step. If during the course of your brand building, you were able to create a genuine trust based on transparency and truth, then this would be easier.

A personal brand is something that would be associated with the real you, gone are the days when the world was impressed by just flashy cars and million-dollar mansions. The phase where you could buy your way to fame is long gone, with the internet and social media, the world has become flat. Your life is no longer private, the day you become a brand. A brand not built on trust will fall sooner than later. The moment your followers figure out the persona you created was fake you would lose all credibility. The most important part of monetizing your brand is being truthful. You should have proven your worth in the eyes of your followers, before offering something more at a premium. Even then ensure you continue to deliver to the ones who cannot afford to, and were with you when no one else was.

Build Bigger

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Although not at full potential, the previous step should be enough to sustain a living. You do not need millions of followers to earn a decent living. But in case you really do want more, then create systems. In the process of building a brand, you also need to build systems and relations. These systems and relations can be used to scale your brand such that catering to a larger audience does not dilute its value. At this point, it would no longer be about how much you are bringing in, but how much you are giving back. Now your aim should be to assist others in building other brands and helping the others with the above steps.

Conclusion

It's high time we take control of our brand from the hands of others. The big corporates have been using our brand value to fill their coffers. I think it is about time to get a slice of the pie.

I am on a similar journey. I personally think my USP is researching things, being a great listener, realizing the true potential of an individual, and setting up a system to help them recognize their brand value. I am new to this game but every day I am taking steps to learn more, to upskill, and to create a brand that can be trusted to build someone up. I am confident I will get there, it is just a matter of time. To follow my journey follow me here, and join my journey by subscribing to my newsletter so I can visit your mailbox, once in a while.

Do let me know if you think I am biting off more than I can chew. I personally think it is still early and would love for all of you to join me in this journey so that a few years down the line we can come back here and discuss how this is where we started.