Before a hiring manager ever meets me, they will probably search my name. Whatever they find in that first minute is my real first interview. That is why I built this site, and why my first post is about the product I’ll be marketing for the rest of my career: me.
Why a marketer needs a personal brand
The idea that a person can be managed like a brand is nearly 30 years old. Management writer Tom Peters (1997) urged professionals to see themselves as the head of their own one-person company and to take responsibility for what they stand for. Since then, the idea has moved from the business press into academic research. After reviewing 100 scholarly papers, Gorbatov et al. (2018) define a personal brand as the qualities and values a person shapes into a recognizable story and image, with the goal of standing out to the audience that matters for their career.
The internet makes this easier and harder at the same time. Labrecque et al. (2011) found that most people do try to manage how they come across online, but their efforts often miss the mark or fall short. The task gets hardest during life changes and when speaking to several audiences at once. As a graduate student in National University’s MBA program — pick yours preparing for the next step: a full-time marketing role I am in exactly that kind of transition. So I’m treating my career the way I would treat a client’s brand: with a clear position, proof behind the promise, and a plan.
My strategic positioning
Positioning means owning a specific place in the mind of a specific audience. My audience is hiring managers and recruiters at marketing agencies, in-house brand teams, growing companies, plus small business owners who need marketing that works. Here is my positioning statement:
“For marketing teams that need campaigns to be both creative and accountable, Antranik Zartarian is a digital marketer who connects strategy, content and data. Unlike marketers who specialize in only one of those areas, I build every campaign on a clear strategy, tell the story through content people want to engage with, and measure what actually moved the business.”
That statement drives everything on this site, from my tagline, Building brands people remember and trust, to the topics I’ll write about.
My unique selling point: strategy, content and data together
Many marketers are strong storytellers or strong analysts. Fewer are fluent in both. My unique selling point sits at that intersection, organized around three brand pillars:
- Strategy. Every tactic should trace back to a business goal and a clearly defined audience.
- Content. Good content earns attention instead of renting it, and it powers both search visibility and social engagement.
- Data. Measurement turns marketing from opinion into evidence and tells me what to do next.
The research behind my approach
Two ideas from my digital marketing coursework shape how I’m building this brand.
First, digital marketing never lives on one channel. Roberts and Zahay (2018) frame internet marketing as part of a larger digital ecosystem in which online and offline activities must be integrated rather than run in isolation. Their view of the value ecosystem, where value is created across a network of partners instead of a single linear chain, applies to careers as well. For me, this website is the owned “home base.” LinkedIn, networking events, informational interviews and the people I collaborate with all point back to it and reinforce the same message.
Second, visibility brings risk along with reward. Dwivedi et al. (2021) point out that digital and social channels can cut costs while raising awareness and sales, yet they also expose brands to negative online word of mouth and to a presence audiences find intrusive. My takeaway is that authenticity and consistency beat volume. I would rather publish one genuinely useful post than ten forgettable ones, and every channel I use will carry the same voice, look and promise. That consistency is how I plan to close the gap between intention and execution that Labrecque et al. (2011) observed.
How I’ll grow and measure this brand
This blog is a live case study. Over the rest of this course, I’ll use it to apply search engine optimization, digital advertising and web analytics, and I’ll publish each deliverable here. I’ll measure success the way I would for any campaign:
- Visibility: organic search traffic, and where this site ranks for my name and core topics.
- Engagement: time on page, comments and shares.
- Career outcomes: LinkedIn connections, resume downloads and interview conversations.
Let’s connect
If you’re hiring for a role where creativity has to answer to results, I’d love to talk.
References
Dwivedi, Y. K., Ismagilova, E., Hughes, D. L., Carlson, J., Filieri, R., Jacobson, J., Jain, V., Karjaluoto, H., Kefi, H., Krishen, A. S., Kumar, V., Rahman, M. M., Raman, R., Rauschnabel, P. A., Rowley, J., Salo, J., Tran, G. A., & Wang, Y. (2021). Setting the future of digital and social media marketing research: Perspectives and research propositions. International Journal of Information Management, 59, Article 102168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102168
Gorbatov, S., Khapova, S. N., & Lysova, E. I. (2018). Personal branding: Interdisciplinary systematic review and research agenda. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, Article 2238. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02238
Labrecque, L. I., Markos, E., & Milne, G. R. (2011). Online personal branding: Processes, challenges, and implications. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 25(1), 37–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2010.09.002
Peters, T. (1997, August 31). The brand called you. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/28905/brand-called-you
Roberts, M. L., & Zahay, D. (2018). Internet marketing: Integrating online and offline strategies (4th ed.). Cengage.
Sources checked: Dwivedi et al. record · Gorbatov et al. on PMC · Labrecque et al. on RePEc. The Peters date comes from secondary coverage of the 1997 issue; click its link once to confirm it opens.