What does your brand stand for? Probably a lot less than you think. Here’s why you need to rethink it.
Great brands stand for something. That means clearly defining your brand–but how do you do that?
Here’s another in my series in which I pick a topic and connect with someone a lot smarter than me. (Check out some previous installments at the end of the article.)
As an entrepreneur, it can be easy to look at “personal branding” as a luxury and put it off until you have “extra” money. I have come to realize that not only is it a necessary but it’s also a “must have” investment.
As the CEO, you are the lead spokesperson for your company. Your employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders all look to you to personify your brand. Everywhere you go and everything you do says something about your company and its brand.
It’s not a question of whether or not you will be a brand, branding is your life and you are a brand. The question is will be a brand by design, or by default. Your personal brand is actually built from the inside out. It is the essence of who you are. It is your personal values and belief system and how you express them to others.
To make sure the essence of your brand is being communicated at all levels, ask others close to you to describe you with one word. Look for consistencies. This is what defines your personal brand and how others perceive you. Is it a reputation that would make someone feel inspired to work with you?
First impressions are critical to success, and your body language counts for a huge percentage of that first impression. In fact, first impressions are typically made within the first seven seconds of interacting with someone, and of that, body language counts for roughly 50%. Since we are hardwired as a survival mechanism, it’s not possible for you to stop people from instantly judging you. But, you should work towards understanding how the decisions others make of you can be used to work on your behalf. Obviously, this is important in the business community and when networking with new people!
As women entrepreneurs today, one of our most important assignments is to learn to be comfortable in becoming the lead marketer of the brand called “YOU”. Your personal brand is all about combining your unique gifts, skill sets, strengths and personality traits and packaging them into a solid brand.
You are unique and there isn’t any other person in business, be they in the same market you are in or a different market, that is exactly like you.
We are living in a new age of “Celebrity” marketing where individualism is being celebrated putting us in position to be our own news reporter. In 2006 TIME magazine named “You” as the person of the year and printed 6,965,000 copies of their magazine with a reflective mirror on the cover. Their idea was that when the reader picked up the magazine and looked at the cover they would see a reflection of themselves.
It only makes sense to have a brand built around “YOU”. After all, who else can market you better than you?
These days the reality is that there are very few brands that are extraordinary. But, if you are paying attention you will notice that the most successful brands do leave clues as to how they mastered a level of success most brands can only dream about. As a result of working with many successful brands, I have noticed several consistent traits of brands that are truly extraordinary.
Here I want to give you 8 core traits I’ve noticed so you can incorporate them into your business:
In the history of entrepreneurship there has never been a time where “individualism” has been more celebrated. More and more companies are reaching out to individuals like never before in terms of surveying and assessing their relevance and the success of their corporate brands. The personal tastes of individual consumers has garnered so much attention that in 2006 TIME magazine printed 6,965,000 copies of their magazine with a reflective Mylar cover naming “YOU” as the person of the year for 2006. This signified that when a person looked at the cover to see who the “person of the year” was, they saw themselves. With the current market shift of placing attention on the “individual”, it only makes sense that you have a personal brand that will help you to stand out. You are unique! There is not another person exactly like you on the planet.
The personal brand you project affects others’ decisions as to your intelligence, character and ability, and determines whether or not they want to do business with you. The way you dress (and act) has a remarkable impact on the people you meet professionally and socially. This greatly affects how they treat you.
What exactly is a brand? It’s a question that has confounded the academics for decades and eluded the most erudite of scholars. So, coming from the trenches of the real world of branding, we’ve defined the term and given it a comprehensive meaning..
Employing proper business branding strategies could spell success for your business. Although it might be an intangible aspect of your business, it is basically what convinces people to buy or experience your products or services. And when you garner enough sales, only then can your business thrive.
Have you ever considered the importance of color in your brand? Color plays a huge role in memory recall. It stimulates all the senses, instantly conveying a message like no other communication method.
Choosing the right dominant color for your business brand is crucial. This color should appear on all your promotional material. Following is the most common impression each color conveys:
