• Your words account for only 7% of the message you convey (the other 93% comes from non-verbal communication like tone and body language)
• We comprehend 25% of what we hear.
• We are distracted, preoccupied or forgetful 75% of the time
• We read 28% of the words on a web page

This being the case, what is the chance of ever getting your point across or influencing the perception of others?

Barack Obama understood this.  There has been plenty (almost too much) written about Obama and his use of web 2.0 tools, but this is not the only ‘channel’ or tool he used to influence the voters and communicate his Personal Brand.

Barack Obama understood that YOUR PERSONAL BRAND needs to be everywhere; it needs to appeal to all the senses, through all the channels and yet continue to deliver the same messages!  To further reinforce this message, the hottest ticket item following Barack Obama’s recent success in the US Presidential Campaign has been the humble newspaper! (read more here about this)

So if your Personal Branding strategy only includes online tools, and is limited to your blog and a few social media sites, then you may not be communicating your Personal Brand as effectively as you could be!

A few points to consider to communicate your personal brand more widely, and hence increase your chances of influence are;

• If you have a blog - use video, audio, text and images to relay your message,
• If you like to write - then write in forums, your local newspaper, and produce white papers for clients and prospecrs
• Never forget the influential power of being seen and associated with other influential people (your network!)
• Create a resume or bio online and in print (use Tasty Nectar or LinkedIn).  Consider a video bio also!
• Get to know you local member of parliament, the respected academics in your community, the influencers in the media and the local business community - these 4 pillars will serve you well!

I hope this post gets you thinking more broadly about your Personal Brand…and reminds you that even the most impressive Personal Brand we have known; Barack Obama used more than the Internet alone to communicate his personal brand!

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US Politics, and the impending election just gets more and more interesting!

John McCain’s recent announcement of his running mate, Sarah Palin (aka The Barracuda) has definitely stirred a response from all quarters!

I was reading a little about Palin this morning, and I got thinking about politicians and how important Personal Branding is to their campaign, popularity, and ultimately their chances of getting elected!

We continue to hear stories of triumph and ‘firsts’ from the Obama camp, and there are stories of McCain, frail, unclear and wavering….yet the polls still have the November election race as level pegging!  This must be concerning Obama…by now you would think he would have a commanding lead in the polls.  At an intimate luncheon I attended during the week, where our former Prime Minister, John Howard addressed a small gathering of 20 or so of us, he remarked that “Barack Obama and his team would be concerned that they were not further apart in the polls at this point in the campaign”

And then McCain delivers this bombshell…the little known, inexperienced 44 y.o mother of 5, Palin is to be his running mate.  To this I say bravo!

Let’s be clear, I am a huge fan of Barack Obama and all he stands for (there you go I have stated my allegiance!), but with all the quips about McCains age and conservative views on things, it was a pleasure to see a Vice Presidential running mate with the following characteristics;

• She has been a Governor for less than 2 years, and a previous Mayor of a town of 9,000 population
• She was runner up in the 1984 Miss Alaska contest
• Palin has used Marijuana before - when it was legal in Alaska (but she did not like it)
• Her husband, Todd is a 4 time winner of ‘The Iron Dog’ the longest snowmobile race in the world across Alaska (R.E.S.P.E.C.T)
• They have 2 sons and 3 daughters - the youngest is a 4 month old son who has down syndrome
• She is the first woman ever to be on a Republican Presidential ticket!

Like Obama, this woman has a story, and character..she has the ‘Personal Brand’ to evoke some emotion and no doubt bring voters to the polls come November.

Camp McCain has made a pretty big call with this nomination - but I like it!

Bring on November, and to an election that I believe will mean change in the world like we have not seen for some time!

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