The Blog on Branding

The Gaga Effect: People as Brands

Even if you’ve been living under a rock, you should be aware there is a global financial crisis. What does that mean? Job losses. Economic hardship. Plus, we get to be extra hard on President Obama. But, every cloud has a silver lining.

How do we make the “life-gives-you-lemons” lemonade during this downturn? Easy—we brand ourselves.

Branding ourselves may seem tough, but with some clever social media tools we can get the edge over other job applicants and land ourselves a new job—and drink a sweet glass of brand-ade.

“How do we make the “life-gives-you-lemons” lemonade during this downturn?”

For more details:

• People as Brands: The Lady Gaga Effect
• How to brand ourselves

People as Brands: The Lady Gaga Effect

Britney Spears: remember when she was the next-door virgin? The cute half of Justin Timberlake? Or the crazy bald mom with the umbrella? Though Britney Spears is tabloid-worthy, she changes what she is trying to say more than a shady pick-up artist at a dive bar. Where Britney Spears lacks a cohesive brand image, Lady Gaga consistently markets herself as a brand and little more.

Lady Gaga can teach us much more than how to dance with crutches—she has done an exceptional job at branding herself into an over-the-top music performer. Anything that she throws at you, from lamp-shades to shoulder pads, you tend to accept and secretly love. (Come on, who hasn’t danced in their bedroom to Poker Face?)

In essence, Lady Gaga has boiled herself down to sequins, glitter and disco sticks. Her brand image is to be “famous”—big, bold and always tabloid-worthy. This branded image works for her, because no matter what she does, she reinforces the image she is portraying.

What can we take away from this?

• First, if we ever want to be famous and rich, we should sell our souls to the tabloids.
• Second, and more relevantly, the ability to brand ourselves is both possible and plausible.

It just requires us to be consistent in our media portrayals. For some, like Gaga and Brit, that media is tabloids. For those of us who will never be on Perez or Page 6, we can help control the Google results and our social media.

“We can help control the Google results and our social media.”

How to brand ourselves

Branding ourselves may seem tough, but with some clever tools—it’s relatively simple.

Virtual World

One method of branding ourselves is the social media resume. This method connects our preferred social medias (e.g. Facebook, Linkedin, etc.) to reach our desired contacts (e.g. recruiters, employers, etc.).

If you aren’t technologically inclined enough to build your own website, then you should use a quicker tool called a Google profile. (Check out my Google profile here.) A Google profile appears on the first page when your name is searched and allows you to choose the content that is shown.

Real World

Unfortunately, our lives have to move past Google results, and you have to interact with people in real life. Fellow brander, Mark Sheffield shared some valuable PR Strategies individuals can use, especially job applicants.

“Our branded image lets employers know that we understand technology and have good manners.”

The Best of Both Worlds

Adopting some of these strategies and combining them into our branded online persona can help give us an edge over the competition. Why?

Our branded image lets employers know that we:

1. Understand technology
2. Have good manners

With your silver lining in place, go out and make that money. Or if worst comes to worst, you can just dance. It’s gonna be okay. (da-dit-doo-doo)

James Harrell James Harrell doesn’t even like Lady Gaga. He just respects strong brand image. Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.