From time to time on a Friday, we feature guest posts from cool people who are changing the universe one step at a time.  One such person is Mars Dorian. Mars is an enthusiastic guy who is standing out from the crowd and making a big name for himself on his blog.  In case you don’t know Mars he is  a digital crusader who’s in love with creative marketing and branding.  You can find him at marsdorian.com, tweet him and/or inhale his RSS feed today.

Over to you Mars:

No matter what you want to accomplish in the web world, you must ALWAYS consider yourself a brand in today’s age.

With millions of other people out there, it’s a very crowded place, and in order to stand out from the masses, you have to leverage your USP, which is yourself.

Now, Branding isn’t the goal, it’s your guerilla marketing strategies that cost nothing but time and incredible amounts of passion.

I call this the Richard Branson factor :

When he was in the beginning of building his Virgin empire, he didn’t have the funds for mass-media advertising. That’s why he chose the cheapest strategy: He promoted his business through himself

You could do the same with your online presence.

First point to remember:

You are your platform

Yep, and this isn’t some spiritual mumbo-jumbo (maybe a bit) – it’s more about personalizing that cold digital slate you call your blog. Too many people worry about SEO and clear sentence structure, but they should worry more about personal style.

That means: You write in your own, ORIGINAL personal voice. No censoring, no copying, nooo, it’s your writing style – based on YOUR experiences and your mindset. And not only that: your about page, your pics and your design – it’s all part of a overall package called you.

If you manage to make your blog/website a 100% you, then you’ll vaporize 99 % of your competition in a nano-second of a smile.

Remember: Personality begins when comparison ends.

You don’t play Superman

Huh ? Simple: Don’t try to be everywhere – it only works for people can teleport and superheroes (hence the headline), and I assume you don’t fit either category. Focus your precious energy on a few, but powerful hubs (Twitter ? Facebook ? Your favorite blogs /forums) and dominate them. Dive deeply into your chosen community and be super-active and helpful – provide value the fun way.  Be so omnipresent  that when you take a day off, people think about calling the police.

Don’t spread on many, but focus effectively on few.

And Don’t promote yourself

Whaaaat ? Are you crazy ?

Hear me out. Of course you have to promote yourself, but not as much as you like to.

If you’re the only one distributing your content (and people notice it), then you know there’s something seriously wrong here. You want your stuff be so compelling that people LUV to share it !

Check out successful or rising bloggers – they don’t promote themselves as much as they promote other people’s stuff.

Chris Brogan even said that he promotes 90 of other bloggers content and only 10 % his own. I know it’s easy for him to say, but keep in mind:

What other’s say about you is more important then what you say about yourself.

Now if you’re creating marvellous content, and people still don’t promote it as much as you want, try this:

Find like-minded people in the web, who are about the same level as you (or preferably a bit higher !), let’s say  5 – 10 and cross-promote each others stuff. This is effective, especially in the beginning. It gives you that authority-flavor and if your content is share-able, new people will follow.

Wrap-up

Heya, that’s it fellow digital crusaders !  Although these points sound rather basic, they can be highly effective if used on a constant basis. The emphasis lies on CONSTANT.

Breathe – nooo, inhale those 3 tips and go wild with the increase of your brand’s influence.

What do you think ? What’s your take on personal branding, and do you use some crazy-effective technique you want to share with us ?