The Rise of People as Brands

Today, anyone can create a platform around anything they love…

 

 

The Rise of The Services Industry

In the 1970s, the US economy moved from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based information economy.

Today, the service business in the US alone, represents 85% of the US private sector.

As service businesses emerged, the “brand promise” transferred from product quality to a specialized knowledge expertise and skillset.

 

Thus Gave Rise to The Knowledge Business

Business between the 70s and 80s used to be called the “Knowledge Industry”. 

That was soon forgotten in the 90s when the internet was born. The information era came with a new way of delivering information. The world wide web.

 

 

The Knowledge Business was about to become a global business endeavor and competition started to heat up.

 

The Rise of Individuals As Brands

In a 1997 Fast Company article,  Tom Peters sparked a phenomenon when he publicly acknowledged for the first time that developing individual personal brands is a necessity for businesses to compete in a cut-throat digital economy.

The key to getting ahead was then linked to your ability to establish a personal equivalent of the Nike swoosh.

The conclusion: “It’s that simple, that hard, and that inescapable.”

 

 

Fast forward almost 25 years. Peters and his original article still remain a leading authority on the topic.

But now, because anyone can be positioned as an expert, everyone is.

 

 

“The Brand Called “YOU.” You Can’t Move Up if You Don’t Stand Out.”

 

The Rise of Thought Leaders

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a growing rate of increased competition for subject matter experts and ideas.

With so many “experts” right now, how will B2B businesses differentiate themselves to their desired customer in an era when everyone is a consultant, speaker, author, and coach?

How will we find customers in such a crowded space?

The good news is that demand for information is at an all-time high. The bad news?

The rapidly increasing supply of on-demand content. It’s definitely becoming difficult to stand out from the crowded room of other experts.

 

Based on a simple LinkedIn search using titles, there are:

• 22 million consultants
• 12 million authors
• 6 million experts
• 300,000 coaches
• 300,000 trainers
• 40,000 speakers
• 6 Million Experts

 

The Rise of Coaches

6,109,719 people identified themselves as “experts.” There’s an expert on every topic!

Consultants surpassed experts with a whopping 22,009,581 million results.

Fortunately, if anyone desires to be coached, they will only be able to find the best fit by searching and meeting with the 5,904.507 available to assist you.

Even celebrities are coaches. For instance, Gwen Stefani identifies as a “music coach” because she is a judge on “The Voice,” a television show that evaluates musicians for the “next big star.”

 

 

The Rise of Media Brands

Today, every person and business has access to the same distribution tools as the largest publishers and media networks.

Today, anyone can create a brand reputation on any topic.

While it may appear that the rise of people as brands is a relatively new phenomenon, in reality it has been a 50-year overnight development in the making.

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com