Harry Houdini died in 1926. Yet he is still remembered as the greatest escape artist of all time. Even David Copperfield doesn’t come close in terms of brand and name recognition. That is the power of personal branding. Build a solid personal brand and it catapults you to success. Build a really good personal brand and it survives your death. Will your brand survive 80 years after your death? More importantly, will your personal brand help you while you are alive?
Just imagine how difficult it was to build a personal brand at the beginning of the 1900’s. There was no Internet. Houdini didn’t have a webpage or videos on YouTube. And he didn’t have the money to buy expensive newspaper or radio advertisements. So how did Harry Houdini create and publicize his personal brand? What can you learn from his rags-to-riches story?
Be the First
Houdini created a new niche – the escape artist. When you are first in your niche you are the standard. He started with card tricks but there were already lots of magicians. So Eric Weiss (real name) created a new type of entertainer – the escape artist.
Be Bold
Houdini was bold. He issued challenges to prisons around the world challenging them to try to restrain him. He then visited the prisons that accepted his challenge and escaped from them. He was a showman. He dangled upside down from a crane over New York City while escaping from a strait jacket and chains. He looked for unique ways to be the news.
Be Provocative
Houdini was provocative. The publicity photo of him that was most often used shows his muscular body almost nude – draped in chains and locks. That photograph must have attracted women and interested men.
Be Creative
Houdini was creative. He started as a magician but differentiated himself as an escape artist. He invented new stunts and escapes. He made enemies. He challenged spiritualists that claimed they spoke to the dead.
Die mysteriously
You can’t plan this one but it does contribute to the brand – but not always. Harry Houdini died under mysterious circumstances. He was an extremely fit man who died after a punch to the stomach. He had issued a challenge that he could take any punch to his stomach. Something went wrong and he died after an over-eager challenger punched him.
This method also worked to promote the personal brands of Elvis Presley and Bruce Lee. This is an effective way of enhancing the brand. But you don’t need to do this to build your brand.
Harry Houdini did all this and he died in 1926 – long before anyone thought about the concept of personal branding. If you asked Houdini about branding he probably wouldn’t have understood your question. But Houdini sure knew how to build his personal brand. What’s important for you to know is that Houdini did not strive to build a brand. He worked to generate paying customers. All the publicity stunts he did were for the purpose of getting paying customers. Branding was a byproduct.
What can you learn from Harry Houdini, the world’s greatest escape artist, about creating and sustaining your own personal brand?
Don’t focus on building a brand. Instead develop relationships and get more customers. If you build a brand along the way – that’s a nice byproduct.
zipsurvey
ndrs
sizzler
office-and-it
edmontonhumanesociety
broomcompany
smartplus-sec
worldnet
johrh
digitalinspiration
webpopdesign
chinamhp
mypropertyvalue
ciarang
artprecium
unl
icelandichorse
mygaintraining
rampdarknet1
remourban
yunshuren
radicalmotorsport
horby
bestlivenewsonline
nova-expert
offers-unsubscribe
patriotproperties
liquidsandsolids
vill
ringtoneclub
zilingotrade
imabyte
ptspaper
jasa
298pay
stockholmtown
anp
scxytz
pawculture
sandentist
vitamin-o
berlinstory
somos
webmarketingfestival
agecommunity
myframework360
cardonationcenters
thelittlewoodenpeg
assa
esgmedia
euclidanalytics
sxyyled
booklux
midwestnewmedia
lovesbaby
mbfinancial
lmsestudio
rodewayinn
myhotelbreak
becquet
i69m
grizzlydiscoveryctr
galerie-philia
acts-net
writermatt
meuslany
idfoss
appsample
expertproductinquiry
lucky-ibaraki
bigfish
macnewsworld
sadc-cae
gosi
180
proxiserve
clean-fleets
webone
as29011kd29131lkd9339xks193183jkdcl391kksapa28127djs
ai-mi
datvangcuchi
parseek
vezkfh
itecoserv
frontiersusa
sdylj
gymcompany
seomafia
certn
mbo128
lifeandhealth
englewoodchamber
penglai
afeastfortheeyes
kitchendaily
gcp-slack
bestdomainshop
kaandorpcommunicatie
bequge
thepillclub
salutbyebye
obwalden-tourismus
templatesguider
maptiks
pypa
szkolazklasa
imattercolorado
zjrwwl
fiskars
help8
peekaboostudiosllc
moeve
advisoronline
zentera
ycxy
xryglass
mietrecht
zarricomunicazione
sfsm
sioribi
joachim-breitner
100seiten
minnesotaindependent
ululanishawaiianshaveice
janyess
lyter
drupalmodules
mk1
0592fenfa
cdpehs
freetech
seisen-u
ccbjournal
gamecloudstudios
urlaubs-express
miliamarketing
advertise
mpoweryogastudio
kronberg
atc
zaracomunicazione
ehime-shakyo
legalizer
bestfitnes
dipres
forschungsnetzwerk
kensington-international
beach-inspector
wpcoderx
storypirateschangemakers
mediummagazin
webbj
chachongla
ahnx
opiswiss
midagri
nikkoso
monc
respectvictoria
dyson
urbanscapes
playism-games
overhetij
fatek
smart-me
wallpaper
truebluewebsites
adrisedigital
seraku
audiologyisland
hondaotolongan-tanan
53hj
treefort
freeemailtutorials
pacle
lawsondigital
safecosports
juliachildfoundation
166555j
estexturtbirsfolk
maniaqq
tianjinyuangang
flipaclip
repustate
light-it
modernmealmakeover
tihifjps
vlcank
openingthebook
juzhixiang
bpn
dependablewebsitemanagement
elephantroom
durkangroup
oaklandleaf
dcmtk
refari
scu
liuyxin
nanjingfshuist
365960
lcsupply
45
sipky
salpaus
foxfrance
advantagepetcare
nddc
awo-bonn-rhein-sieg
webitop
renaissancenumerique
collectivei
toptenstore
copyrightfriendly
vcab
bewustgroningen
mz-prod-cvm
monetaryunit
mountainviewgrand
freestylelibre
8168666
culture29
hornylines
119tx
hrfuture
triennalebrugge
valent-blog
advocatechildrenshospital
napuarestaurant
avatrade
weboriental
chinawnj
wedofruition
sportaerztezeitung
creativeart
centralbankmalta
happycards
coloradomountainexpress
gd-sct
docsfordevelopers
verifile
radiolombardia
kitchenhouse
pagemarkdesigns
800note
secondariesinvestor
technieken
torstrassenfestival
redactia
xmx555
websiteok
wayn
mexicocity
3neshaneh
younggunof
kinto-usa
rqasgb
mxgp-tv
stade
rdddbwawy
hefeituangou
vomo-leichtbautechnik
diyna
academyofsoundhealing
glasistrenovine
222sohu
iscope
factoryjackson
bioenergyaustralia
mym
lechappee
dwc
simplo
seedmoney
paynetcafe
arcosa
capitello
newsrepublic
routehappy
jugendbuero
malibusurfsidenews
