Personal Branding Tips

Here's Why the Spice Girls Are Rich and You're Broke!
By Ben Angel
You may think that the Spice Girls are so far removed from you and your business it's ridiculous. Well, believe it or not, they have in fact delivered us one of the most powerful lessons on personal branding in the world. Their personal branding strategy uncovers keys to unlocking a highly successful marketing campaign for your services and your individual brand.

Whether you love them or hate them, this lesson in personal branding has seen them become a worldwide phenomenon since they first broke out onto the scene in 1996. The Spice Girls delivered to their audience five distinct personalities that connected them with various personality types within their core target markets. These personalities were as named by "Top of the Pops" magazine as; Posh, Baby, Scary, Sporty and Ginger.

So what has this got to do with you and your business?

Have you ever asked yourself whether or not you have the personality to make it far in your industry? If you're in business services, is your personality so distinct that it makes you stand out amongst the litter of all of your competitors for all of the right reasons? Is it newsworthy? Are the media compelled to call you when they are putting together a feature on your speciality to ask for your expert advice?

Sadly, most business owners forget to brand themselves separate from and in alignment with their business to increase their credibility and authority in the marketplace they reside. By failing to do so they fall flat on their faces when it comes to distinguishing themselves from their competitors. It is this lack of distinction that hinders their process in successfully creating marketing campaigns that resonate in the ears of their prospective clients.

Which Spice Girl are you?

In developing ones personal brand, many key considerations need to be made. The first and most important one is; what do you want to be known as? Scary Spice, Ginger Spice or even Posh Spice? The reason behind doing this is to develop a "personality/character" that clients can associate with your name. This greatly assists in the retention of your products and services in the minds of your prospective clients. It also places you in a position of authority and credibility and the ability to charge more for your services once you are better known.

It can however take time to build credibility within an industry and for people to start calling you by the label you have created for yourself. This can be propelled forward by regularly attending networking events, presenting keynotes and regularly writing articles for various free and paid publications within your industry.

What do you want to be known for?

In deciding what you want to be known for, realise that the more specific you are the easier it is to generate attention and media. It is also more effective when ultimately marketing your "self." Always keep in mind the personality types and so called "labels' that your target markets are going to potentially flock to. Here are some examples I've created for you to get you thinking about various industries and their potential personalities;

Marketing - The Magnetic Marketing Guru
Business Consultant - The Profit King/Queen
Graphic Designer - The Image Contortionist
Business Accountant - The Personable Accountant

These titles allow individuals to hang their hats on a specific persona that they can seek assistance from. It also assists in creating angles that are more easily digestible by the media.

Is there any real benefit in branding yourself? Absolutely! And even more so now that industries are becoming critically over cluttered with lookalike businesses. It's your personality that can be utilised to attract a new caliber of clientele if you begin to apply some of the simple personal branding techniques the Spice Girls themselves have become so famous for.

So just how rich are the Spice Girls?

Well, according to Forbes.com, their reunion tour took in more than $60 million US, making it the number one income earner for concerts for 2007/2008. And that doesn't even include endorsement deals or the 20 million plus albums they've sold worldwide since their careers began.

ate them or love them, they've got five amazing personal brands that make for one powerful marketing machine when put together.
How powerful is your personal brand? It may be time to start working on it!