Your name is your brand

On LinkedIn we want our name to be recognized, as a brand to be seen and remembered as:

• reliable,
• relevant and
• referrable.

Yes, 3 R’s make your personal brand, built over time, throughout technological change, and even through a pandemic.

Consistent adherence to quality. Period.

That’s why we work so hard to express our “why” and eclipse the competition in everything we produce.

But when something gets in the way of a crystal-clear representation of why you are {insert any or all of the 3 R’s}, sometimes you have to:

• resist, and
• refute.

2 More R’s.

Back story:

Some colleagues asked me to contribute an article to an online blog to provide some educational material. There was a finite word count, not to exceed x words.

OK, I was slightly over, but not much, and I edited the drafts many times, trying to meet their limit, but I wanted to include everything the reader needed to implement my teaching, as in 13 steps to take, and I worded it as I did, to make it complete.

I submitted my post. I was done.

It came back, significantly edited down to 6 steps, so much so to make it IMHO incomplete (6/13!) and thus not very effective.

I resisted, telling them: while yes, I would take another stab at it, and because I like and respect them, I was still very happy with my earlier version. I was able to cut out a few words, but still missed their word limitation.

So rather than publish it, as they wanted, I told them I was respectfully rescinding my submission.

Was I being rude? Pushy? Haughty? Self-important?

No. I’ll not publish something weak with my name. My name is my reputation. Nothing goes out from my computer, or any tool, without my best effort. Complete and clear.

I wrote 3 books that way, arguing (professionally) with the editors, and won nearly every point. I am certainly not about to change my brand reputation, now, in a what could be viewed as a substandard blog post I wrote.

In an ensuing phone call, I stood my ground. I resisted the temptation to meet a word limit that would make my professional reputation suffer and misinform the reader by leaving out 7 concepts they needed to master.

I would never appear as {insert as the opposite of any or all of the 3R’s}. Not in this case or any other.

With every new work I expand my brand. That’s where you can find my best work, historically, presently, and in the future, to demonstrate my reliability, relevance, and referability.

My idea was to leave the copy as submitted, in my own voice, but shorten my bio down to just a link to my LinkedIn profile. That seemed to solve the impasse, creatively yet collaboratively. Simply put: here’s the link to me, with no sacrifice of poor copy.

It was published and provides one more place I bring my brand to the market and stand behind it.

All that work, with everything I have to offer, reinforces my brand being:

• reliable,
• relevant and
• referrable.

________________________

I am Marc W. Halpert. Call me Marc.

I am a #linkedinexpert and #evangelist , now over 12+ years.

I teach how to tell #WHY you do what you do via LinkedIn for #selfbranding :

• I coach individuals 1:1 on Zoom,
• I train companies, professional firms, NGOs, and
• I consult on LinkedIn techniques to market events and special projects.

All to be #amazinger than the competition. My word.

I wrote 2 LinkedIn books, 2 online e-courses, and you’ll hear me globally on podcasts.

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My hashtag is #MarcRocksLinkedIn. I do, so follow me on LinkedIn.

(PS I do not connect to people I do not already know or conduct business with.)