Author Bruce Bendinger visits Texas State’s Mass Communication Week

By Mary Wink

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS -- Bruce Bendinger, advertising industry veteran and author, visited Texas State University on Tuesday to speak to students about the importance of building a personal brand in order to land a job after college.

Mass communication professionals from across the nation visited San Marcos yesterday to speak to students about their perspective fields. Bruce Bendinger, whose book “Brand You!” discusses personal brand development and advertising, offered students strategies on how to build a personal brand that can improve any students chances of getting a job in the mass communication field after college.

Students filled the seats to listen to Bruce Bendinger’s lecture on how to develop a personal brand. He began by giving the key components of building a personal brand such as creating an online presence, and having a database of contacts to refer to when necessary. “Your brand should be strong and simple,” the author said. He also gave an acronym for students to remember when developing their personal brand: K.I.S.S – Keep It Simple, Stupid. There are several factors that combine together to create a personal brand including the evolution of media, sales promotion, and making connections with other professionals. Bendinger emphasized that students must keep up with the evolution of media in order to keep their brand relevant.  Students who manage accounts on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have developed an online presence, and are in the early stages of building a brand. Bendinger referred to these individuals as “broadcasters”. “We are all broadcasters and we can all be a part of the media,” he said. One audience member, Kelly Williams, a junior majoring in Public Relations at Texas State, was surprised to learn social media played a part in the development of a personal brand. “The fact that social media plays into your overall brand and how employers view you is a really scary thing. I know that personally, the brand I have already started to build on social media is not the same one I want to present to an employer.”  Bendinger ended his presentation by telling students to find their path and then follow it. He then opened for questions and chatted with students who raised their hands across the room. Bruce Bendinger’s book “Buy You!” is a more in-depth instructional look at developing a personal brand and can be found among his other works here.