It’s nice to be recognized. Gotta love the dopamine hit when a random "like" or "share" happens to one of your posts. It's an even bigger rush if they call you out personally. But just because some folks know who you are, doesn’t mean they know precisely who you are.

Most people do their work, cash their check, and repeat every week without the intention of creating personal brand value. I’m estimating that represents 99.93% of the population today. (Roughly, of course.)

But building brand value is an investment that has proven to pay tremendous dividends. Procter and Gamble, Unilever, General Foods noticed the value of brand back in the 1950s when competitive products started to contend with theirs on price and quality. These "big three" were motivated to create more value in the minds of their customers so these customers would remain, well, customers.

Conversely, the unbranded company or product is only interested in a transaction. Loyalty and fandom don’t matter. These companies invest their time and energy in short-term gains.

Here's a recent example from my life. Since I'm always a little bit injured, my physical therapist recommended I get a set of resistance bands. So, I did like most would do: search Amazon. I typed "resistance bands" and here is the result.

The wall of same.

See if you can make out the brand names. Did you recognize any? I found ZERO differentiation from one product to the next. 

When presented with parity, how do you decide?

Price. 

Which organization is offering me the most product for the least amount of money? Sure, perhaps the reviews might influence, but look at the reviews. They're all fantastic!

I had nothing left to influence my decision other than price. This is the same problem that the big consumer packaged good companies were attempting to avoid. 

When the lines of differentiation are blurred, the customer has to default to price. This is not sustainable for business. This is not sustainable for you. Why? Because there is always someone out there who will do it for less money.

The big three built unique identities for their products to distinguish what was quickly becoming indistinguishable. To create a perceived difference from one product to the next. To build trust, affinity—even love—for their products. And to charge more for that experience.

These same principles hold true for your personal brand. 

If you are interested in protecting yourself from parity, irrelevancy, or brand blur, invest time and energy in your personal brand. Distinguish yourself from the crowd. Transcend anonymity. Build trust, affinity, and even love in the minds of your customers.

Image created by Eliana Marinari: https://elianamarinari.com/