What The Iron Man 3 Baddie Teaches Us About Personal Branding

Without giving too much away to those who haven’t seen Iron Man 3 (it’s only been out for a few days), there is a lesson that perception shapes the worlds view of you.

This isn’t an article of spoilers, but the main ‘baddie’ uses manipulation to influence behaviour and then a twist in the story proves otherwise. Bringing this to the real world and about your business, what binds everything together is that it’s you, not your product or services that influences others and creates the added value.

All About Positioning

The Iron Man baddie dominated his audience by threats and manipulation, but what he achieved was positioning himself in his ‘marketplace’ so had less ‘selling’ to do ie. when he made his statement of intent, everyone else stopped to listen.

Rather than getting too carried away and the connections with Iron Man 3 and personal branding, what everything boils down to is that branding and identity is based on emotion and it’s this emotion that turns prospects into customers.

Connect With People

Another analogy with the Iron Man 3 baddie and attention with your audience is that people connect with people, not faceless brands that are purely product focuses. The perception of unease from a character that wears an odd oriental cape, army boots, dog tags, anti establishment T-shirts all creates a very disconcerting persona (but I’m not saying for one minute that you need to pop down to town at lunchtime to kit yourself out).

The world connects with you based on your personality, what you say (in other words, your content) and your values. It should never be about the product you deliver or the service you bring. The aim is to create how you want others to see you and what you stand for.

It All Comes Down To Personal Branding

Perception comes down to personal branding and the way that the world sees you. It has nothing to do with a logo or the font you use, it’s about building an audience who will listen and react. The Mandarin, in Iron Man 3, achieved this, but can safely say that he didn’t necessarily create a positive solution for his audience.

 Image: Flickr rights reserved by jakijako29