At the end of every year “experts” like to come up with trends that they believe will spring into our lives in the coming year. I typically enjoy reading those blog posts, but I’m going to take a stab at a list of trends that I hope will die, or at least be on the way out in 2010.

1. Personal Branding — Something about this has always rubbed me the wrong way. So, no better time than now to bury this old 2009 phrase. Personal Branding to me says “job interview.” I don’t want to interact with anyone who’s treating their relationship with me like they’re trying to get a job. You can’t create a personal brand. To say you can suggests you can change your personality. As an adult you pretty much are who you are, right? Sure, we can all change and improve in various aspects of our lives, but ultimately I don’t think we can, or should, alter our personalities. Consider this. Tiger Woods is the same guy he was in October. We just know a bit more about him now. His brand changed in our eyes, not his. See how that works?
   
   
2. Talking about Social Media — The reason we talk so much about social media is probably because of social media. It’s a wonderful tool and I look forward to seeing what new tools are around the corner in web 3.0. However, I don’t want to hear about how to use it. We didn’t have fax machine experts or postage meter consultants when those messaging tools came into existence. Why do we need to talk so much about the benefits of social media? Just play with it. There are no rules and no right or wrongs.
   
   
3. Complaining about Change — One of the biggest reasons clients contact us to help them with their brand strategy is because of some substantial change that has occurred within their industry. They’re not complaining about it, but rather doing something about it. In 2009 all we heard about were the changes in the auto industry and in print media. Yes. It’s changed and it’s continuing to change. Now let’s do some things differently rather than trying to hold on to the old days.

So that’s all I have. It’s a short list of dead trends, but hopefully they die sooner than later. Have a great 2010!