Speaking with Peter Shankman
By Dayna Steele on Oct, 17 2011
Welcome to the inaugural Rock Star Conversation. Every few weeks, I’ll bring you a conversation with a rock star – music, marketing, social media, leadership – whatever it takes to add to your ‘strategy’ for success.
Best place to start? Why, with you of course, with your brand. Are you top of mind, as a leader, in your field, your work, your passion? Angel investor, cat owner and social media consultant Peter Shankman talks about personal branding – what it is, how you do it and why it’s important to your success:
STEELE: Define personal branding.
SHANKMAN: Anything and everything you do. Your brand is everything you do, 24/7. It's not something you "put on" for a speech or meeting. Your brand is your life.
STEELE: What is the importance of branding yourself?
SHANKMAN: If branding didn't matter, all car companies would name their cars "Car." Your brand separates you from the rest of the world.
STEELE: How do you figure out what your brand is?
SHANKMAN: What do you love? What do you get the most pleasure out of doing? That's your brand.
STEELE: How do you 'brand' yourself?
SHANKMAN: Do what you do best. Do it often. Do it well. Become amazing at it.
What is the difference between personal branding and blatant self-promotion?
Self-promotion is icky. Personal branding is helping other people in such a way that they do your own PR for you.
STEELE: What would bad personal branding be?
SHANKMAN: Walking into a bar, going up to a woman, and saying "I'm awesome in bed." She has no reason to believe you. But if her friends tell her how awesome you are, she's intrigued.
You are involved in Brand Camp. Can you explain a little bit about what it is, why you do it and who should attend one?
BrandCamp is a one-day seminar allowing you to grow your "inner-preneur." Some of the best people in the world come to speak about BrandCamp, teaching through real-world examples hoto grow your personal brand to the best it can be. http://www.brandcampu.com/
STEELE: Any more planned soon? Where?
SHANKMAN: Several in 2012, in Detroit, NYC, Boston, Miami, and other cities.
STEELE: If you could change your Peter Shankman brand to anything else in the world, what would your alternate personal brand be?
SHANKMAN: International Spy.
Peter Shankman is the founder of Help a Reporter Out, the largest free small-business publicity tool in the world. He's also the small business evangelist for Vocus, Inc. He travels around the world, teaching companies large and small how to grow their business through branding, marketing, and customer service. He has one very overweight cat, and a very thin fiancée. Find out more at http://www.shankman.com/ and follow Peter on Twitter @petershankman.
Dayna Steele creates rock stars. The author of Rock to the Top: What I Learned about Success from the World’s Greatest Rock Stars travels the world teaching businesses and entrepreneurs the Rock Star Principles of Success. Follow her escapades at http://www.daynasteele.com/ and on Twitter @daynasteele.
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