Recent Articles From EvanCarmichael.com http://www.evancarmichael.com/ http://www.evancarmichael.com/Branding/4274/The-Brand-Provides-The-Key--or-You-Have-What-It-Takes.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Branding/4274/The-Brand-Provides-The-Key--or-You-Have-What-It-Takes.html I have a gardening background, both from spending years as the Brand Manager for Miracle-Gro and from my master gardener mother, who continues to teach me all about how to coax loveliness from a bare patch of earth. She was talking about tomatoes, and it reminded me of a very important personal branding lesson. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Branding/4274/What-Are-YOU-Good-At.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Branding/4274/What-Are-YOU-Good-At.html Recently, during a corporate training session at LEGO, I asked a group of professionals to write down 20 qualities about themselves, 20 strengths of their personal brand. One woman looked completely dumbfounded. She stared down at the blank sheet of paper and finally said, "Rahna, that's got to be the hardest thing you could've asked for!" She was stumped. She had no idea what to write and sadder still, she had no idea what she was good at! This is a woman in a very large, very well-known company that conducts annual formal performance reviews....and still she didn't know. Can you imagine? http://www.evancarmichael.com/Branding/4274/Personal-Branding-From-The-King-of-Pop.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Branding/4274/Personal-Branding-From-The-King-of-Pop.html Yesterday, the world heard the bizarre news that Michael Jackson, the self-proclaimed King of Pop, had died. Talk about a strong personal brand. Here's a guy who was absolutely unique-unlike anyone else. You may love him, you may hate him, but one thing is certain: you know him. You understand who he was, what he has done, what he stood for and what he was all about. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Branding/4274/Digital-Branding-is-Great--But-Dont-Forget-The-Strategy.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Branding/4274/Digital-Branding-is-Great--But-Dont-Forget-The-Strategy.html It has come to my attention recently that many clients are getting frustrated with all the "Social Media experts" because they forget about the strategy. You cannot be enamored with "doing something just to do it." Please remember that e-mail campaigns, Twitter updates, Facebook pages, blogs, and any other digital marketing tool is just that ... a tool ... a vehicle to further your engagement with your consumer. One thing everyone needs to remember: you can't forget the strategy. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Branding/4274/Personal-Branding-Update--Now-Is-The-Time-For-Individual-Employees-To-Shine.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Branding/4274/Personal-Branding-Update--Now-Is-The-Time-For-Individual-Employees-To-Shine.html It's the individual employees that are going to pull America through these troubled times. Everyone has unique skills and abilities to bring to bear, whether you work for a Fortune 500 company or a two-person accounting firm. When people focus on what they're good at and what makes them unique, they get re-energized about what they do and they are inspired to innovate. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Branding/4274/Do-You-Have-a-Social-Media-Strategy.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Branding/4274/Do-You-Have-a-Social-Media-Strategy.html While Social Media is the newfangled thing for everyone to talk about, monitor and watch these days amongst marketers, I see a day in the future when social media will be yet another tool in a marketer's tool belt just as "cable" is now just another line item in a marketer's advertising budget. We will get to a day when marketers can't imagine developing a campaign without at least considering how their brand, or new product or service offering might be expressed digitally across a range of social media options.