How Trump Leveraged His Personal Brand
Just like corporate brands, personal brands also come with different images so let’s not get into political or moral debate about President Donald Trump, his behaviours or personality with an election weeks away.
Anyways, in this election year regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum, you have to admire the skill and effort Trump has put into his own personal branding to get elected as President of the most powerful country on earth. From trademarking certain words (“you’re fired”) to having his name 50 feet high on skyscrapers certainly places him on the map. What can we learn from him when it comes to personal branding authentic or not? Let’s explore.
If you want to wield the same influence, impact, and authority as a powerful country president, you need to ensure that your own personal branding is up to code. After all, if your name doesn’t elicit a strong reaction (preferably a positive one, although controversy can get attention also — but we are skipping ahead), you don’t stand a chance compared to the competition.
As we mention, someone who does this successfully is Trump. Since he entered real estate in Manhattan (with a small loan of one million dollars), he has strived to make sure that everyone knew his name — as his life depended on it.
Because back then, it did! He wanted to sell new apartments and offices in his buildings, and he wanted a brand to associate with it. Without a brand, he would not stand out from the other property developers hustling in New York. To differentiate, he installed gold fittings in his buildings, build on fantastic locations, and curate a certain air of prestige. These buildings became associated with his name.
Trump could leverage this brand to open up a range of new business ventures, like Trump University, Trump Water, Trump Steaks (a particularly strange one), and Trump Airlines. The latter even had gold fittings in the bathrooms on-board, a very unusual airline experience, although, and this is the smart part, entirely on-brand for Trump.
Because everything aligned and followed the same patterns of established personal branding, Trump could leverage a compounding effect even if the brand extensions ultimately failed. This culminated in the early 2000s with the TV show ‘The Apprentice’, where Trump’s personal brand carried the show (with its catchphrase) — cementing his personal brand in the USA.
From this point, Trump wanted to expand his personal brand internationally. But how could he enter other markets around the world that didn’t live in New York, eat steak or watch reality TV shows? By throwing his hat into the presidential ring to become the most powerful man in the world.
However, there was just one problem — Trump applied his knowledge of personal branding, and it worked — too well.
In an interview with MSNBC, Trumps’ ex-lawyer from the campaign trail, Michael Cohen, said that Trump initially entered the presidential race to cozy up to Russian financial interests. He wanted them to see him as a dynamic and outrageous character who lived fast and followed in Russian President Putin’s steps.
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“This was supposed to be the greatest political infomercial of all time in politics.”
Alas, it worked too well, and Trump not only got onto the radar of his Russian counterparts but also won the ballet.
The key lessons are:
· Beware of your appearance in public and how you are perceived, it matters a lot. If there is an opportunity to put your name to something great, do it.
· Don’t be timid. Audiences only remember the names of those who put themselves out there and take the credit.
· Be contrarian. If you have a chance to go against the grain or present a different take on an issue in your industry, take the risk.
· Stay consistent. Trump was able to build such a powerful personal brand by sticking to it for decades. Nurture your personal brand like you would a corporate one, intentionally position it and watch it prosper over time.
The main takeaway is you don’t have to follow in Trump’s footsteps, however through leveraging personal branding, anyone can become whatever they choose, possibly even the president.
“We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc.”
Tom Peters, Management Guru, best known for “In Search of Excellence”
