Expression vs?Branding

Lessons from my journey building a personal brand.

Those who seek to build a personal brand must realise by now that there is a stark difference in building a brand vs expressing yourself.

Branding is about communicating values (- Steve Jobs), it’s about building trust to a targeted audience. But there comes the kicker, a brand is not for everyone. A brand communicates itself to a certain group of people. Like a character of a movie, a brand is curated to serve and bring value where it is needed, nothing more nothing less. A product that does every everything usually isn’t very good at anything. And a person and by extension brand, who tries to associate himself with everyone, will not connect to any single group effectively.

Some of us are lucky enough to have an amazing personality which itself lends to be an amazing brand. They’re usually celebrities and pop stars, but meet them in person and you’ll often realise that there are more layers to their personality than they’d be willing to routinely project into the world.

“When you see a man at a masquerade who wears no mask, you may rest assured it is his disguise.” — Berthold Auerbach

We are members of society and we must contribute value to it, but we are also individuals and we must save somethings for ourselves. Yes ourselves, not your family nor friends would have access to that purest version of you. It is for yourself to keep. If you give all of you to the world, there won’t be anything left for you to return home to.

As such, in the game of public relations one must not give in tot the temptation of sharing too much with the world. Attraction is based on fantasy, we must let the audience fill in the blanks based on what they themselves wish to see in us. If we show too much, we risk breaking that fantasy and failing to build a relatable brand. It seems counter intuitive, but being too authentic sometimes will deter people away. As much as we call ourselves creatures of ration, we still crave fantasy. Why do you think fiction exist? Brands are products, and if you want to communicate a narrative, you must do so concisely. Just like a writer must focus discussing the core topics of his ideas and not branch away too much and losing the attention of his readers.

Expression however, is a must. We are social creatures and we still wish to share less attractive parts of ourselves into the world. For the sake of leaving a mark and building trust where it matters. And so we must have 2 sides; a Bat and a Wayne, a Spider and a Parker.

“Every man is two men; One is awake in the darkness, the other asleep in the light.” ― Kahlil Gibran

Or as the Japanese philosophy “Honne and Tatemae” suggests, Honne represents your true feelings, thoughts, & desires you may not openly express, while Tatemae is a facade or public persona you present to society.

Perceiving this as inauthentic signals naiveté. People who demands authenticity from others demands others to put their guard down just like they too have put their guards down, or perhaps they don’t have any guards at all. They are naked and vulnerable, and they demand that everyone be as vulnerable as them. What seems to be a virtue may in fact hide something dirtier and meaner.

"Nobody is more inferior than those who insist on being equal." —Friedrich Nietzsche

The fact is, everyone wears a mask. It is neither a good thing or a bad thing, there are no such things. This is just how things are and rejecting to play the game brings no benefit but stagnation.

Spiderman and Batman aren’t just stories in children comics, they’re insights that society surfaces from the depths of our collective unconscious. It teaches real and tangible aspects of human nature; that every one is but two. That we don’t have full equity in ourselves nor does society have full equity in us.

So focus on each one fully rather than trying to integrate them.

When you’re building a personal brand, telling a story, playing a character in a movie. Devote yourself to it. Place yourselves in the eyes of that character and think about what he/she would’ve done. Think also in the perspective of the audience and see what they would expect, then challenge that, creating a constant tension and occasionally satisfaction; a push and pull which breeds attachment. This is how you captivate. We are but storytellers. Our mind think in stories and so we must be storytellers.

And when you’re expressing yourself, do so within a trusted environment. One that won’t judge you too harshly for pushing the boundaries of self expression but one which encourages you to explore deeper parts of yourself thus helping you attain a better understanding of your inner psyche.

You may have deep, unconventional, or controversial thoughts, but expressing them openly in the wrong environment can lead to alienation, backlash, or even danger. Instead, exercise caution and choose the right time and place to express your true ideas?-?preferably in an environment that is receptive and non-judgmental. If you challenge the status quo too openly, people may resist or retaliate, so it's often wiser to conform outwardly while keeping your personal thoughts private or sharing them selectively. - Robert Greene

Good luck ??