When personal brand feels fake, try a human-centered approach
The term personal brand has always been a little bit controversial and to a large extent, off-putting.
Over the years, I’ve seen lots of smart, well-meaning brand strategists and marketers explain that having a personal brand doesn’t require being fake. Roberto Blake for example – in this video – explaining how personal branding is not about narcissism, ego or vanity.
I’ve tried to advocate for it too… this idea that you can have an authentic personal brand.
But let’s face it, the phrase authentic personal brand sorta sounds like optimized humanity. A bit ironic. A bit suspect and a bit of a stretch. Not to mention how off-putting it is to think of humans as products to optimize and consume.
In the past I actually preached this idea that the product you’re selling is yourself when you are a service-based solopreneur. Which is kinda true – technically – but it doesn’t sound great.
I wanted solopreneurs to understand that they are the CEO and face of their brand.That people are buying a solution as much as a personal experience with them. (Especially as a coach!)
However, being the face of your brand is uncomfortable. Showing your face, being on camera, sharing your real self and opinions… and people associate that kind of visibility with social media influencers, many of whom are fake, posting non stop, and trying to sell us things we don't need.
Alllll those negative associations are now infused in the term ‘personal brand’.
Like ‘fetch’ in the movie Mean Girls, I think we need to STOP trying to make ‘personal brand’ happen. 😂
Instead, we need a human-centered brand.
I’ve listed some of the key elements below.
| FAKE PERSONAL BRAND | HUMAN-CENTERED BRAND |
|---|---|
| overly polished persona; conforming and socially-acceptable | natural, relatable and unapologetic; embracing individuality |
| performative visibility, pretending and playing a role | authentic expression, grounded in who you are |
| exhausting to maintain | energizing to build |
| seeks to attract a massive following | seeks to attract aligned followers + clients |
| shallow, algorithm-driven content | in-depth, meaningful perspective |
| wondering "how do I stand OUT?" | wondering "how do I stand IN who I am, even more?" (in order to stand out) |
| promoting a luxury lifestyle to signal status and manufacture authority | promoting insights, ideas and values to create impact and build trust |
| focusing on vanity metrics | focusing on relationship-building |
| transactional | creates connection |
| trying to make everything seem effortless | balancing inspiration with hard truths |
| safe | brave |
Does this resonate? I hope so. I believe it’s the way forward.
If you’re ready to evolve your business and brand, check out THE BRAND RESET.
