Today at the DevNexus conference, my colleagues and I from the Nashville Java Users Group synched up and put on our awesome t-shirts that Jeremy put together. This has already had immediate payoff. As other members of our group showed up, it was incredibly easy for them to find us in a room of 400+ people. Another fellow from middle Tennessee spotted us, and joined our table, totally unaware that there was a Nashville JUG. He said he used to be a member of the Middle TN JUG years ago.

This goes to show that proper branding to communicate who and what you are is important. And having a consistent, well used brand quickly conveys useful information. I first heard this mentioned by Steve Yeggee at the 2007 OSCON conference, and his point is very clear.

Branding is important.

Rod Johnson mentioned this briefly at last year’s QCON keynote in the context of personal brand. Investing in your own personal brand is just as important as your company’s brand. Brands communicate quality, content, and integrity, and it starts with you. Your brand should also be visible in your office or workplace by placing clear and appealing 3d Signs all around.

Keith Donald, a founder of SpringSource, discusses the important of having a good brand that aligns with your business, so the two serve each other in communicating things clearly to clients.

All of these people are pointing out that investing time and effort away from coding and instead in developing a good brand can have just as much, if not more, positive impact to the business you are conducting.