The branding contest is just about done. It’s been so cool to get submissions and e-mails with your thoughts. Next week we’ll have voting and announcement of the award ($900 + The Planet Earth DVD set, etc.).
One thing I’ve been thinking about for a while is a common theme I’m hearing in your feedback. It all centers around this concept:
The JibberJobber Brand
vs.
The Jason Alba Brand
The purpose of this contest is to help people come to JibberJobber and say “oh, I get this and I need it!!” Or to help in interviews or networking situations so people can so “oh my gosh, that solves one of my life problems… I’m signing up right when I get home!”
When I was in California a couple of weeks ago I would describe JibberJobber like this:
JibberJobber is like a Salesforce.com for you, with an emphasis on career management. Job transitions and networking relationships, you manage it all with JibberJobber.
Sounds kind of weird written out, but it rolled off the tongue when I described it to people on my trip. It would be cool to have something like that on my front page, but it still is not answering the “What’s In It For Me?” question.
Going back to confusion and dilution… a common theme I heard about since the beginning of the brand contest is “Jason Alba is…”
What if “Jason Alba” isn’t around? What is JibberJobber then? It has to stand alone. This is bigger than “Jason Alba.” So no matter what “Jason Alba” is, don’t let that sway you on what JibberJobber is. At the very least, don’t let “Jason Alba” dilute the JibberJobber brand.
Here are the previous posts for this contest:
- What is YOUR Mission (Statement)?
- New York Times & Wired & Newsday and THE CONTEST (which had one submission)
- Branding Contest Update and Recruiter Rant About Job Seekers
- What JibberJobber *Might* Have Been Called (Branding and Names)
- Mark Hovind (JobBait.com) on Brands, Tag Lines, and “Getting Itâ€
- JibberJobber, The Brand, And The Education Factor
- The Issue With JibberJobber’s Brand Is…
- Branding Contest Questions And Answers
- I’ve Got A Branding Problem. And At Least $600 For You, If You Help Fix It.
This contest is sponsored by:
- JibberJobber, of course!
- Deb Dib – Personal Branding Expert for Senior Executives
- Walter Akana – Career and Life Strategist and Personal Branding Expert
- Megan Fitzgerald – Expatriate Career and Personal Branding Expert
- Louri Russel Boilard – Executive Resume Writer and Career Psychologist/Counselor
- Makini Harvey – Career and Resume expert
- An anonymous corporate sponsor – donating The Planet Earth DVD Set
- Mark Hovind – Job Bait: The #1 Way to Land 6 and 7 Figure Jobs
Jason, I think this is a really critical point that a lot of businesses overlook. Personal branding and professional branding are related, but they are not the same thing. Elements of “Jason Alba,” like your approachable style and how you view the world, must exert an impact on the company brand because you are the face of the company and, I assume, you founded it with your values as a major part of what the company does and how those things are accomplished. But regardless, there are two separate entities at play here.
Great post.
Kristen
Jason.. when you were out here, you did use the phrase above.. Of course that ONLY makes sense for people who get Salesforce.com.
You might say:
It _is_ possible to develop a system for your self that will help you manage all of you professional information, contacts, and your job search activities your self. It could be done with MS Excel, or an Access Database, or even using opensource tools, or your own perl scripts. But JibberJobber has built a working system ready for you to use. All you need to do is capture some data, and get the focus back to your Job, or Jobsearch.
Doubtless you will be able to further improve this, but I think the “standalone” nature of this branding statement is more helpful, and definitive.
Hope you can visit us again!
Jonathan
Jason – Sharing your branding journey through the series of posts on the JibberJobber Branding Contest has become a valuable educational tool for your readers. Experiencing the steps of the process along with JibberJobber contributes to a practical understanding of how personal/business branding actually works. Below is a brief summary.
1. Extract Phase
a. Drilling down to determine our unique promise of value to a target audience.
b. Asking for and receiving feedback on how you are perceived from users, clients, colleagues, industry leaders, networking contacts, friends and others.
2. Express Phase
a. Crafting your authentic brand statement.
b. Communicating your brand with clarity, consistency and constantly being there for your users, prospective users, service partners and employers/organizations.
3. Exude Phase
a. Aligning your environment to ensure that everything associated with you represents your brand.
b. Building and nurturing your network to extend your brand.
Soon we will see the increased benefits that your branding work brings to JibberJobber and us, the users.
For anyone interested in the process of building a strong and compelling brand, I recommend reading all of the contest posts from the beginning and search related resources on this site.
Murray