From Generalist To Specialist: The Age Of The Personal Brand

NEW YORK, Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Labeling yourself simply "lawyer" or "accountant" or any other general name for your profession is yesterday's news; being a "defense litigator" or a "forensics man specializing in tax" is more in tune with today's world. Personal branding is becoming increasingly more relevant, regardless of career choice or service offering, according to Marian Salzman, CEO of Havas PR North America, in "What Brand Is Your Therapist? (Or Lawyer or Accountant?)," the latest post on her Life Is a Brand blog on Forbes.com's CMO Network.

Salzman analyzes the evolution of personal branding, a topic that recently made headlines in a New York Times Magazine article titled "What Brand Is Your Therapist?" and how it is affecting everyone from her lawyer (or litigator) boyfriend to doctors, therapists and beyond. "Never before have people of all stripes had to--or wanted to--work so hard to sell their own unique service proposition," says Salzman in her post. "Mostly that's a good thing for workers and businesses, but lately it has started to seem that it might be spiraling out of control, especially for sole service practitioners, who are both worker and business."

Through the lens of branding, Salzman, in today's new Forbes.com post, has taken on the current topic and used her signature trendspotting technique of pattern recognition to decipher what personal branding means to practitioners today and in the future. In a nutshell, "don't expect this trend to go away," she says.

Go to blogs.forbes.com/mariansalzman to read the full post, plus Salzman's other insights on branding--from ideas conferences as brand builders to how personal brands can reboot (think Lance Armstrong) to the art of placemaking.