It's All About the Brand!

What does your brand say about you? One of the most important things you have going for you is ensuring that your brand is one that is recognizable and trusted. Who are you? What do you stand for? And, how are your perceived? Building a dynamic brand can help build an emotional connection between your business and in your personal and professional life. Connecting with customers, humanize yourself and/or your company can set you apart from the competition.

Your brand is how you're is perceived by consumers or the general public. It is want you should want people to know about you. Your brand can make your or break your  and apart from your competitors. Think of it like this. You may have many friends and or acquaintances, but only a few that you go to in certain situations. These are the ones that you trust and respect because of who they are and what they represent. They have branded themselves as a trusted confidante for whom you value their feedback, experience and company. Your personal brand is how you want to be perceived and known. People and either think rationally about you, your product or service, or they can think emotionally about it. A personal brand is the reputation and image that you intentionally create, manage and communicate about, in a way that an audience finds engaging.

You should always ensure to keep a brand fresh, relevant and competitive. While the product may not change, the market does. You do not want your brand to fade away. Always keep it in the forefront of your consumers. When you reinvent, you keep it fresh and noticeable. As Rory Sutherland presented in his Ted Talk about advertising and perception, you can reinvent the way your brand is perceived without actually reinventing the brand. Making something new simply by changing the way consumers perceive it. You can amplify the brand image with a complementing logo, slogan or tagline. This brings recognition and personality with just a glance. For example, what do you think about when you see those “Golden Arches”, or that “Swoosh” (you know what I mean and I did not even need to give you the brand name)? That is brand recognition. Just a glance at a logo and you know exactly what that product is and you emotional connection to it. In today’s world of social media and information overload, companies have to be even more creative and on top of their game. The market is ever changing and even if your business was a big fish in a small pond, now the small fish have a way of nibbling away at you. The playing field has shifted and small business can get in on the game a lot easier than in the past.

With new technology including the internet, mobile phones and tablets, people now want content along with the branding that moves beyond fancy slogans and eye catching logos. When you leverage the power of content, you can elevate your audience to a level of informed knowledge about your product. Using more content will attract and retain the attention of your targeted audience therefore enhancing your brand to a level of interest that readers will share and think is compelling. For example, if someone were to go to your Facebook, Twitter, maybe even your personal blog, what would it say about you? How do you represent yourself? The information gathered through all types of media can increase your brand or even diminish it. Take Paula Dean for example. She has worked years and years to become a public icon in cooking and southern hospitality. All it took was one comment that was stated under oath to destroy her brand. That comment spread through the media and internet waves so fast, that what took years to build was destroyed in a matter of weeks. This was because the public perception of Paula now was that she had racial ideals. When you give the market something to talk about, it can either elevate your brand, or destroy it. Try at every opportunity to put a positive perception and utilizing content that the social media channels will see as engaging. Just be aware, this venue moves at a rapid pace and as easy as your brand recognition can climb, it can also be fall. Your social branding strategies always need to be part of a whole well rounded public relations strategy that will help build strength and repair any weaknesses that my become part of your brand perception.

Utilizing social media marketing to increase your brand allows you, your business or organization to engage and converse with your consumers in a way that is meaningful. You must conduct your branding and social media presence in a skillful way in order to build viability and not be considered over promotional. In a sense, this avenue of marketing opens your brand up to crowdsourcing. You need to ensure that all comments (positive and negative) get a response. The biggest pitfall to avoid is unresponsiveness or deleting negative comments. Everything has flaws, and your will build your brand strength by acknowledging the good and the bad. If you engage them in a persuasive manner, then you can more than likely gain their confidence and respect and maybe swing the odds in your favor. Remember that then internet has made the stages of brand loyalty move much quicker. A person can go from neutral to satisfied to dissatisfied in a matter of minutes.

Remember, your brand is what drives you and your product. Your marketing strategy is what drives your brand. Make sure your strategies are smart, well thought out and content driven. Social media is making consumers better informed and less predictable. Be innovative and keep your brand alive and in the forefront. Make a statement that will stick and set you apart from the competitors. Utilize all avenues, and be aware of each avenue that could bring the wrong message about you. Always remember that in order to keep your brand (personal or professional) ahead of the game, you should not be afraid of change. Stay fresh, focused and informative.

 

 

References

Fundamentals of Personal Branding - Business Insider. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/fundamentals-of-personal-branding-2012-10#!HWUME

 

Sorenson, L. (2012, March 8). How To Keep Your Brand Fresh, Relevant, And Buzzworthy. Retrieved from http://www.starbrandstudio.com/how-to-keep-your-brand-fresh-relevant-and-buzzworthy/

 

Turpin, D. (2014, April 29). Retrieved from www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140429125444-3458678-warning-three-temptations-that-can-seriously-damage-your-brand