#CMRisk: The Risk In Rebranding Yourself

These days, branding isn’t only for companies. Your personal brand, the way you present yourself personally and professionally, can be the key to getting that job, making that sale, or attracting those clients. From your previous professional experience, to your online presence and even your personal look and style, all make up your personal brand. Your brand is a snapshot and a promise.

Think not just of your favorite magazine or website, but think of your favorite contributor to that magazine, writer on that site. You love and follow them for specific reasons: their voice; their perspective; their choice of topics. All these things are part of their brand and, if it were to change dramatically, you would notice … and you might not like it.

There’s a reason it’s called branding: like a hot, logo-shaped iron applied to a cow’s haunch, it doesn’t fade. It’s yours. And, in this case, you built it. You own it. But what if you decide you want or need to rebrand? What if you feel this brand no longer represents you or you feel you’ve gone as far as your current brand will take you? What if you feel the path that has produced your current brand is simply the wrong one? You need to consider the very real risks involved in rebranding yourself.

Fact is, rebranding is a reality for many creatives. For many of us, our true interests and passions don’t come to us until later in life. What are the chances that the professional choices you made when you were 18 are going to be professionally and personally fulfilling when you are 30, 40, 50? After spending years on one path, simply leaving that path and forging another can be daunting enough, but convincing family and friends, potential employers and investors, that you belong on that path can seem nearly impossible, especially if your previous brand doesn’t seem to translate neatly to your new one.

A friend of mine is dealing with just such a rebranding effort. Prospective employers wonder why she would possibly distance herself from an achievement many would kill for, why she wouldn’t capitalize on what, to most people, is a major strength, if she is overqualified and why she wants to make such a drastic shift. And, given that branding is all about consistency and reliability, they think of this inconsistency as a risky investment.

So what do you do? Do you take the risk to scrub your current brand away, ignoring years of work and effort? Take the risk to ignore your instincts, stick to the current brand by staying on the old path? Or, work to somehow build a stronger link between the two?  All options come with an inherent level of risk. Which path would you take?

Written by Andre Farant and Sophia Kapchinsky

Illustration by Sophia Kapchinsky