“Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our companies: Me (Pty) Ltd. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called “You”. Tom Peters
A brands:
1 Packaging. 2 Promotion. Price
3.
4 Visibility. 5 Delivery
.
Implicity in a brand’s promise of delivery are two important elements: consistency and reliability. Vanessa Bluen, managing director of the Consultant Powerhouse training company, and a wonderful friend and mentor, defines ‘integrity’ as occurring when what you think, what you say and what you do are all aligned.
Brand integrity, then, is when all the marketing elements work
A brand conjures up an emotion. For example, when it comes to Diesel, you think trendy, hip and happening jeans. You will pay R800 for the Diesel label, compared to R80 for another brand. Premium brands demand premium prices.
Right now, all of us have an idea in our minds of the personal brands of our colleagues, bosses, clients and suppliers, whether it has been consciously developed or not. You need to ask yourself: ‘What are people saying about me when I am not in the room?’
No-name brands just don’t generate the same excited feeling of brand delivery. I don’t think anyone gets uncontrollable urges to rush out and buy no-name apple juice from their local supermarkets. In the same way, careers are not built
around no-name brands. To build your personal brand, you need to adopt the same marketing principles that were applied in the establishment of some of the best-loved, most popular brands in the world, for example Coca- Cola Virgin.
Marketing principles to build
together to deliver the brand’s customer experience. For example, Bluen says that if you
were sitting in an aeroplane and noticed a coffee stain on the tray table, you would immediately think that airline’s brand was lacking brand integrity. You would ask yourself: ‘What else have they neglected to check? The aeroplane’s tray table is not consistent with the airline’s brand promise, making you question the airline’s safety standards. If you want your personal brands to be
that of a professional business person, you must keep brand integrity. Brand integrity falls if you are always late, never return phone calls or respond to emails, or don’t groom yourself like a true professional
The way you look, act and speak all contribute to the establishment of your brand.
I often recommend voice coaching for businesswomen whose ideas aren’t being taken seriously, as their voices may be detracting from the presentation of their good ideas. They are then not ‘in brand integrity’. It may seem like a contradiction when
I say:
“Be consistent in building your brand, but at the same time also be the queen (or king) of reinvention”
You may not be a Madonna fan, but she is the queen of branding and reinvention. None of her albums sound or look the same. She has changed her appearance and hair colour more times than I can remember. She has constantly reinvented, updated and improved herself. I used to dance to her music at school discos, and to this day people still dance to her music in clubs. That is an amazing achievement in an industry known for its ‘flavour of the month’ attitude. Madonna recognises that
This is an extract from the book Networking: How to get your belt in business success by Helen Nicholson. For more information please contact Kim Rudman on tel: 011 484 3538 email:
kimr@randomstruik.co.za
a good brand should always stay up to date with its audience – even well-established brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi update their logos and advertising campaigns so that they are never perceived as a has- been brand.
Self-investment is one of the best investments
you can make in
building your personal brand. If you still have the same set of skills
or job description you had five years ago, it’s time to reinvent your brand. Go for coaching, update your image, study further or acquire a new skill. If your CEO or top client was shopping
for an employee or consultant, what would make you stand out on the shelf so that he would choose you and put you in his trolley? I was recently in a meeting at a blue- chip organisation.
the woman I was meeting with received notification that she had been awarded the multimillion-rand deal she had been working on for a year.
While I was there, She was so
excited! The CEO of the organisation walked down the passageway and I said to her, ‘Go and tell him the good news’. She replied, ‘oh no, he’ll hear it from my boss’. This is a classic business mistake – don’t entrust the building of your brand to someone else. You need to know when and how to
toot your own horn. (Make sure people are aware of your strengths in a way that makes you feel comfortable.) You don’t have to tell people about
your achievements in an arrogant or boastful manner; rather as a statement of fact in a newsy kind of way. They then feel like they are being kept up to date with the latest developments.
To be successful, brands need to be visible!
careersuccess • issue 2 17
career feature
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