3D is the place to be!

When I was interviewing Jason Alba on The Engaging Brand podcast we were talking about giving your own personal and company brand a more 3 dimensional feel. I said to Jason that this had set my head racing and that I needed to get my thoughts down in a post and here it is.

Too often as a talented individual you appear as a name on the payroll, or on a CV so how can you make a 3D brand? I am sure if Mitch Joel is reading this he will add to my points...and give us more help in thinking about this concept! In fact if you have not yet listened to Show 51 and 52 then check it out here as Mitch is one of the best thinkers on this area.

1. What are your values and what do you want your brand to be ?
2. How does that translate into the 3 areas of your life:- home, work, community
3. What actions can you take to build each dimension, or your personal brand?
4. How can you promote your brand in each area?

This for me is not about "blowing your own trumpet" it is about ensuring that you are valuing each aspect of your life and allowing others to value you back. For example, if you are going to an interview how can you "sell" the 3D person not talk through the CV which is one dimensional? e.g your personal blog shows your level of thinking and depth of values.

The same goes for the company - I still feel that company's sell based on a 1 dimensional approach via an advert or a website...both are flat, sure they can be appealing and should be part of the package but how can you make it 3D. I would start with the same kind of questions, and then here are some ideas of how you can market your employer brand in a 3 dimensional way.

• Classic answer at the moment, but a blog. Think how the blog can sell the flavor of the place to work, its values etc. I think for this to work well you may need to take risks and let the employees write it like South West.
• Download a podcast from the website that is your leader talking about why talent is so important to the vision and what value the company will bring to the individual.
• Community - this is not about providing money through donations, this is about providing value to the community. Change your mindset from how the PR could help you, and how you could provide value to them
• Employees - build your management approach and performance system again around value. Not how much value they produce but  you create value in their lives.

Then you measure the effect to your bottom line.

These are my initial thoughts but would love people to contribute their ideas on how both a company and employee can show the world a multi dimensional approach - Jason anything to add?

Comments

[JibberJobber Guy]

This was one of the intriguing ideas that came out of our podcast. I have always told people that quantifying their personal brand is just showing the breadth and depth of their expertise and passions. Compare that to succinctly saying that you are taking who you are from 2D to 3D. Pretty cool.

Classic answer is "blog" - I don't see it going away but there is definitely room to improve - and companies should have a blog strategist to implement some of the more sophisticated strategies in the blogosphere.

I'll explore this more sometime soon in the next week or two on my blog :) Thanks again for the great opportunity Anna!

[Mitch Joel]

I've place my thoughts here: http://www.twistimage.com/blog/archives/000837.html

Truth is there was too much food for thought in your post already Anna (as usual) ;)

Let me know what you think.

This is a great topic!