“Your picture is your avatar in the game of business.” – Nick F. Nelson
Viewing entries tagged
personal branding
“On LinkedIn, most people only look as good as the last job they applied for.” – Cher Jones
To be clear, it is not hard to build a brand. Well, it’s not complicated, at least. It is infuriatingly simple. You only have to let people know why they should care about what you do. It’s as simple as that. Yet, building a brand, and maintaining it, in a noisy world is increasingly difficult and requires some of the best-run companies in the world to invest billions of dollars to ensure that people know what they stand for. Standing is no longer enough. You have to stand out in a sea of others standing.
You don’t want your brand to be a wallflower, the company who no one notices at the dance until it slips away into obscurity. Your brand doesn’t need to be irreverent or brash, but it can’t be shy. It needs self-confidence. It needs to know why it is unique and why it deserves attention. If your brand lacks the courage to be itself, then you might need to mature it. For companies small and large, and even for individuals, this comes down to two things: Clarity and Conviction
Clarity: If you want people to know about your company, products, services, and people, you need to know your brand well enough to introduce it at a cocktail party. What is the one thing that makes it special among the “next best alternatives” in your category? What is it’s value and why are customers willing to pay? Why does it deserve the market share you aspire to? If you have more than one answer about this question, you have more work to do. I love the timeless introduction to Steve Jobs’ speech to introduce the “Think Different” campaign as it speaks to the link between values and brand. To find your “one thing” might be obvious, but for most it requires some research and some soul searching. To find out what customers are buying from you (which may very well be different than what you think you are selling) and what you aspire to become.
Conviction: This is where most brands get into trouble. Companies simply lack the conviction to be clear and talk about their “one thing.” They simply don’t believe enough in their brand position or in their strategy as a company enough to focus on it. They are sustainable, AND fashion-forward AND have the best features. They are value-priced, AND celebrity endorsed AND available for immediate delivery. They are the most established AND the most current AND the safest choice. And because their “but wait, there’s more” approach to brand marketing, leaves customers confused (at best) or creates so much noise, that the signal of their true purpose can never reach their potential customers. And standing, proud enough and long enough to be noticed, requires stamina and perseverance, so can be sure your conviction will be put to the test.
I am as guilty as anyone of taking the “yes, and” approach to branding from time to time. It is human nature to want to please and make our brand relevant to more segments, more customers, and have more value (propositions) than is necessary. Branding is one area where “yes, and” - this communication tool, borrowed from improv - doesn’t apply. You can succeed in negotiations, conflicts, or even creative collaborations using “yes, and” responses, but brand conversations need a lot more “no” and “this, NOT that” clarity. What you say “no” to is the test of strategy and what where you choose not to stand is the test of your brand strategy. It is difficult because you have to fight human nature, sustain under pressure, and have courage. All so that you can stand, with confidence, clarity, and conviction until people think about your “one thing” when they think about your brand.
This article originally appeared on LinkedIn Pulse.
"Be the person your dog thinks you are." - Bert Jacobs, founder of Life is Good
Author and activist Valeria Kahn has spoken that her passionate advocacy being her sword and her law degree being her shield.
Others might consider their looks their sword and their sense of humor their shield. Others might list their customer relationships as their sword and their technical training as their shield.
What is your sword and shield?
"You will never climb Career Mountain and get to the top and shout, 'I made it!' You will rarely feel done or complete or even successful. Most people I know struggle with that complicated soup of feeling slighted on one hand to feeling like a total fraud on the other. Our ego is a monster that loves to sit at the head of the table, and I have learned that my ego is just as rude and loud and hungry as everyone else's. It doesn't matter how much you get; you are left wanting more. Success is filled with MSG."
- Amy Poehler, comedian, actor, and best-selling author
Read about Edward Teach and tell me that he wasn’t the world’s first master brand manager.
He had the look, with his thick black beard and how he’d light his hat on fire to frighten his enemies. He flew the skull and crossbones symbol over his ship (an early example of a logo?). He had the catchy name. He had the reputation that would cause ships to surrender without a fight (useful for a pirate who wants to preserve his crew and his ammunition). He literally got paid more because of his strong brand. And, thanks to creative work of his biographers over the years he has the legacy, having inspired popular lore, books, films, and even amusement park rides.
In Alice Rawsthorn’s TED talk, she talks about “pirates, nurses, and other rebel designers,” and what we can learn from them today. Check it out.
The world said “good bye” to an innovator. Born Prince Rogers Nelson, the singer, songwriter, and style icon made a mark on the world of music and fashion.
In 1993, Prince changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol, something Prince called a “love symbol.” At the time he was reportedly fed up with his record label, was trying to get out of his contract, and wanted to make a break from the past (according to an interview with Larry King in 1999). So, he reached out to graphic designer Mitch Monson, with Trollback and Company in Prince’s hometown of Minneapolis, to design a symbol that represented the artist – androgynous, edgy, and whimsical.
So, as we reflect on the man and his career, what can Prince teach us about branding:
1. The brand does not belong to the company.
It belongs to those with a relationship to the brand.
To reproduce the love symbol in print required a special font (which the label had to send out on floppy discs to editors and journalists). And in the end, most didn’t even try. The media started referring to him as “the artist formerly known as Prince,” a moniker that stuck. This became his brand, even after he started using his name again for stage performances and albums. Even fans, who might have been puzzled by the change, found ways to refer to him. This is a lesson for marketers who think they can control their brand. The brand is truly owned by those who interact with the company, it’s employees, it’s products, and in the end, build both a logical and emotional connection. The best we can do as leaders and brand managers is to influence how people perceive the brand by putting ourselves in their shoes and advocating for what they need.
2. There is power in color
The artist solidified his relationship with the iconic purple shade with his very popular “Purple Rain” album and movie. In memorials all over the world this week, the color purple has been featured prominently. It reminds me that in the world of marketing, which is now dominated by data analysis and ROI discussions, that there are some basics that can’t be ignored and one is the power of color. McDonald’s red and orange, Coca-Cola’s red, IKEA’s blue and yellow, Facebook blue, Amazon’s orange smile (smirk?), John Deere green, Crown Royal’s velvet purple, and many other brand color associations are very strong and help propel the brand’s expansion into new markets and offerings. Most people don’t have a signature color, but when we think of branding, having a distinctive color way is part of what the leading brands and artists rely on to communicate what they want their brand to stand for. Purple was perfect for Prince’s brand, as it speaks to royalty, creativity, and the spiritual. A few years ago, Fast Company published an exceptional article about the impact of color on brand that is worth reading.
3. Brand building involves risk
It is said that his record sales after the name change fell precipitously, but he secured his place as an eccentric and passionate artist who was forging his own path. Other leading brands have reinvented themselves over the years, to emerge stronger and more engaged with their users, but that isn’t without pain in the process. I think of what Netflix did with their DVD customers when they moved the brand to streaming and rebranded it’s DVD service as “Qwikster” (a brand they have since shuttered. We can all think of other rebranding, packaging design, or logo design blunders. But those who live through the transition (and don’t change for change sake), can reap rewards.
And perhaps the most important thing that Prince taught us about branding this week, is that brands are a legacy. They have value. They spark emotion. They are celebrated and mourned. And, no matter what tragedy strikes, they live on.
This article was posted on LinkedIn Pulse.
The Portland chapter of the American Marketing Association is featuring Jennifer Davis' guest blog entitled "Y is for You: What Google's Alphabet Teaches Us About Personal Branding."
I read with interest the restructuring announcements from Google this week, as they rebrand the parent company into Alphabet, building out the letters with innovative products and business models - starting with “G” for Google, which remains a wholly-owned subsidiary. It’s a bold move for a company that doesn’t want to be conventional.
This got me thinking about our own personal branding efforts and how we can apply Google's bold lessons to our own career paths.
1. Your past is only part of your story
Google is known for search and related properties, but the management team saw that strong association as a strength of Google (the products) and a limitation to Google (the company). Making that same distinction between what you do and who you are and want to be, is extremely useful. Early in your career were you known as the person who organized events, the person who could calm agitated customers, or the person who could help someone with their Excel questions? Although those things are useful and might still be part of your portfolio, they are not all that you are, nor do they limit you in the future. You can delegate (as Sergey and Larry did with Sundar taking over Google or Susan running YouTube), train and coach others, and step away from what you were great at in the past, to develop new capabilities. Reinvention isn’t just possible, it’s required, to move forward.
2. Leave room for more
Google is still a huge part of their portfolio, naturally, but with the rebranding effort, they made room for other companies, sub-brands, and initiatives to build out the portfolio. If G is for Google, they literally have left room for 25 other multi-billion dollar ideas. If you thought about what you do as just one letter in your alphabet, how could that shift your thinking? How could you play bigger thinking that your career to date has just been one chapter (or the prologue) of a larger story? No one else knows what you are capable of, maybe not even yourself, unless you apply yourself to this line of thinking.
3. Good times are a great time for change
You have heard the adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I don’t think anyone would say Google’s business model was broken. Yet, they felt urgency and took action to change when things are going well. Some analysts have commented that most companies don’t announce a “restructuring” when things are going well, their stock is flying and their market cap is pointing heaven-wards. Usually, those words are reserved for companies that are struggling and require massive surgery and intervention to stay viable. It is difficult to contemplate a change, especially a big one, when things are going well, but that might be exactly when you need to make a change. Perhaps it is time to retire the “don’t fix what isn’t broken” advice, and rather strive to be a person who is willing to give up good ideas in favor of great ones!