A Simple Lesson in Personal Branding

We often cruise through life not wanting to stand out. When we meet someone new it is a bland conversation about weather, family, weekend activities or work. Not that there’s anything wrong with these conversation topics, mind you. I’m guilty of it, also. It helps to tell people that I’m a voice actor – instant icebreaker.

Recently, I had met a couple that sought to be a bit different. It was a coffee hour gathering and they were wearing nametags. I noticed his nametag first, it offered the tagline: “Married to a reasonable person.” Then I noticed hers: “A reasonable person.”

Naturally, I asked how she knew she was reasonable. Her reply was that she was once unreasonable, but has since become reasonable and that now she “just know[s] it.”  She then asked if I thought she seemed reasonable. I gauged that the couple did not take themselves too seriously before I said: “Often I find if you have to say it, it isn’t true.”

They laughed, thankfully. Sometimes, people who don’t know me find my sense of humor hard to take at first.  As I thought about this encounter, I realized that this couple had created a brand for themselves and natural conversation starter.

So, how do we best create a personal brand without repelling other people? For starters, try to avoid the weather, or jokes about dead bodies buried in the basement. Like the couple I met at the coffee hour, you could focus on some aspect of your personality that makes people take notice. I think I’ll make my nametag say: “Silly man with a serious voice.”