Yes, personal brand continues to be confused with personal marketing
Without denying at all the importance of personal marketing AS PART, the personal brand would be the ALL. It's like marketing (Part) and branding (All).
The personal brand (In English personal brand) is what we leave in others, a footprint, an impression, a legacy. The personal marketing would be a set of strategic routines included in a personal branding process (personal branding) that aims to meet the needs of a professional's clients or stakeholders.
As he claims Ivan Diaz (Branzai), “We all know that the Brand is the result of everything it does, of the experience we live with her. The Brand is what it means to us. And that's about making what we count a reality., for making the words we use a reality.”
Marketing, like branding, it's process, not result
I highlight that “brand is what it means to us”. And I apply it to personal branding. A person is what it means to each of us, and so we could say that each of us prints on the other different personal brand. And in that the difference with marketing is clear. Marketing, like branding, it's process, not result.
Can you imagine that to get to 1.000 impacts with your message you had to pay 1.000 Euros, Dollars…?
Well, that was the case before the year. 2004 (Approx.). If we wanted to be seen by 1.000 individuals corresponding to our target audience, we had to pay. Pay for inserting an ad into a newspaper, in a magazine, pay to broadcast a radio wedge. Pay to buy a database and to start an email marketing action or regular mailing. Personal marketing prior to 2004 used the classic resources of advertising. Few could afford it, out of actions and campaigns with very local effect.
Now we have an opportunity and a threat:
- Opportunity because it's easier to publish a book (Desktop publishing). Because we can all have a site on the Internet, What, properly fed and well-fed personal marketing, can reach large audiences. Because good content management on social networks allows us to reach and consolidate contacts. If not at zero cost (that doesn't exist), at very low cost.
- Threat because when communication is universalized thanks to the previous facilities, separating the grain from the straw becomes difficult. I liked the concept of “attention economy” I read Antonio Nunez in his books You'd better tell it. (Active Company, 2007) And Penguin's strategy (Connects, 2011). It refers to the average Western individual being exposed to 6.000 impacts of business messages every day. And that in this context, differentiation through value is critical. That's the threat..
Traction Marketing
According to the Rae, “traction is the action and effect of pulling something to move it or drag it”. That implies that, regardless of the quality and value of the content, you take it to the target audience (even if it didn't apply). This was for many years the basis of traditional marketing. Here we have advertising actions, RR. Pp, of the Merchandising, Sponsorships, product placement… You don't ask for it., And something interrupts you (an ad) or you show up to become one of your 6.000 daily impacts.
Does that mean it doesn't work? Of course it's still working. Although according to Nielsen, loses bellows every day that passes. But it works. An SEM action, For example, it's traction marketing. You search for anything on Google, For example, and you get several ads before or after organic results (The real ones, Go). But you don't see any ads, but related to the keyword you've searched for; that's known as Affinity.
Attraction Marketing
Term created by Hubspot, refers to an investment in the traditional process. It's not the message that's looking for the target audience, it's quite the opposite. As defined Hubspot, “Attraction marketing (inbound marketing) it's about creating valuable experiences that have a positive impact on people and their business. It attracts customers and prospects to your website and blog through relevant and useful content.
Unlike traction marketing, with attraction marketing we don't compete in the career of the care economy. To generate content specifically designed around a value proposition, we address the problems (pain) and opportunities (gain) of our stakeholders, building trust.
Recommend, if you haven't already, reading the Ebook free of charge Oscar Del Santo and Daniel Alvarez Attraction Marketing 2.0 (2012).
Personal Attraction Marketing
While attraction marketing was initially intended for companies, today we are also implementing it as a strategy personal marketing within personal branding plans. In fact, there's not much difference in focus, maybe there's a budget. Wow, did I say budget? isn't attracting marketing based on content? Yes. But that can also be “Buy”. It's not my case., but in the market there are many specialists in writing and curation of content for third parties. It's a new profession, and goes up the rise.
I would dare to state that the personal attraction marketing is one of the keys to building trust and added value. Keep that in mind in your personal brand management plan.
Cover vector by Bersky23 on Shutterstock

Convinced that everything leaves a mark, I help companies better connect with their stakeholders through personal branding programs (personal brand management) and employee advocacy (programs of branded internal ambassadors).
Socio of Soymimarca's Integra Personal Branding, Brand Directory of Omnia Branding, I also collaborate with Ponte en Valor, Brandergizers, MoreThanLaw, Noema Consulting and Quifer Consultores.
I participate in various programs at IESE, ISDI and EAE, among others. Collegiate advertising, Master in Marketing. Humanities Degree Student.
My advertising DNA comes from 20 years in agencies: Time/BBDO, J.W.T., Bassat Ogilvy, Saatchi & Saatchi, Altraforma and TVLowCost among others.
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Responsible » Guillem Recolons Argenter
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