Is the way you dress important to how you are perceived?
There is no doubt that clothing, hairstyle, and other elements of your appearance are an important component personal branding. Your style choices and the impression of how much time and effort you put into your appearance are important in developing your personal brand.
Have you ever seen Richard Simmons wearing anything other than a tank top and red shorts? Have you ever seen Donald Trump out of a suit? Both men have built their personal brands over many years and the way they dress is inextricably linked to that. You would never ask Donald Trump to lead an aerobics class. And I suspect that you wouldn’t ask Richard Simmons for investment advice.
The people I have mentioned are celebrities, but these concepts apply to everyone. Here are a few examples of people online that you may or may not have heard of before:
Mari Smith – Mari is a Facebook marketing expert. If you look around at pictures of her on her Facebook page, on her website, and everywhere else, you will find that she is always wearing turquoise or another similar shade of blue. Originally, I didn’t think much of it and suspected that all of the pictures were from the same photo shoot. Recently she posted a picture of herself at a social function and she was wearing the same color. Today, I did a Google image search for her and found that virtually every picture of her has her in this color. She owns this color and it is a major component of her personal brand.
Danyelle Little (aka The Cubicle Chick) – Danyelle is a friend of mine who runs theCubicleChick.com, a website for working covering fashion, entertainment, parenting, and other related subjects. We have worked together on various projects over the past year and I know that whenever I meet up with her, she is going to be impeccably dressed. She doesn’t have a signature color or look that I know of, but she is always well put together. It doesn’t matter if we are meeting up for coffee at Starbucks, dinner out, or she is presenting at a conference, she is always dressed fashionably. I would probably think something was majorly wrong if I ever saw her in a t-shirt, baseball hat, and tennis shoes.
I’m not leaving out the guys…
Dan Schawbel – Dan is a personal branding speaker, writer, and consultant. I have never met Dan in person, but I follow his work. In every single picture and video of him that I have seen he is wearing a well-tailored dark suit. I suspect that he has some business casual clothes in her closet or maybe even some jeans or shorts, but I would never know it from his online persona.
Scott Stratten – Scott is a social media consultant, speaker and writer. He has a website and book titled Unmarketing. He has a much more casual appearance. More often than not, he is wearing a t-shirt, even when speaking at conferences. Scott’s brand persona is all about taking a no B.S. approach to marketing and developing relationships. His appearance seems to fit well with this.
So now that you have read some examples, does your wardrobe and appearance align with your personal branding efforts? How would you describe your style?
