Personal Branding and My Favorite Shoes

Recently Personal Branding has been something that I've become keenly aware of while conducting a career search.  Now in my new role as a Marketing & Sales Director I see the term used everywhere.  Before, I only noticed it used when describing a celebrity, politician or star athlete and typically not in the best light.  "Their personal brand has been negatively effected," the news reporter would say.  Do you think Kobe Bryant, John Edwards and Lindsay Lohan have strong opinions of the importance of personal branding?  Now, that would be a great round table discussion.  How fun would that be if it was moderated by former Presidential hopeful Herman Cain?  Sorry, I digress.                

While reading more about personal branding I realize that I have been fiercely protecting my own personal brand for many years now.  Every time I start a new cellphone contract I never hesitate by answering "YES" when I'm asked if I want to keep my cell number.  My friends laugh every time they hear my # ends in 2337 or "beer."  Another element to my personal branding strategy is my love for low-cut Chuck Taylor basketball shoes.  I wear them until they literally throw themselves away.  My wife and I are always mystified how they get into the trashcan.      

Chuck T's.  My Favorite

These things are apart of me and my personal brand.  Just like my game-show host hair style.  I've tried other looks but I'm just not comfortable with a flattop.  That makes me think.  Can you imagine if Howie Long had another hair cut?  No way!

What about you? How do you preserve your own personal brand?  If you haven't given it much thought then I encourage you conduct a personal brand assessment with these 3 simple steps:

1.  Start a Pinterest account .  You say you already have an account.  Well then, take a look at the interest boards you've created and realize that you're looking at a snapshot of your personal brand.  Keep pinning, you'll see it.  

2.  Visit all your social media profiles as an outsider.  More specifically, look at these as an employer and a client.  Who are they seeing in your picture galleries, posts, tweet and and pins?  

3.  Determine if you see common, relevant elements.  These must all tell the story of your true self-impression.  If so, you are doing what many great company or product brands strive for everyday.  You are creating brand equity.  Basically, you are placing value on how others perceive you in your personal and professional lives.

As a favor to yourself you need to keep a careful watch on your personal brand.  Don't fall into the Halliburton or Charlie Sheen realm of personal branding. You'll thank yourself for it.  

Note:  We constantly get hit with examples of terrible personal branding so, I thought I would leave you with an example of great personal branding.

    

   

Trinkets & Treasures and Your Brand

The advertising premium ...

Those of us in the wild world of branding call them trinkets & treasures but more often we hear them referred to as trinkets & trash.  Mainly because we have all been given a shiny new logo pen that looks fancy at first but after a short while it becomes a pile of plastic, metal, dried-up ink and a tiny little spring. Even worse if said pen decides to bust in your shirt or pants pocket.  Another popular advertising premium is the company logo baseball cap.  Well, it's popular until the adjustable strap breaks and the cap is reduced to trash.

Do you know what follows that hat into the trash?  A brand.  A brand that was built with blood, sweat and tears.  The same brand that was created after tedious research, customer surveys, and multiple trips to the printer.  The same brand established after hours and hours of overtime.  Countless client diners, lunches, coffees, company retreats and trade shows.  Story upon story of hard work and sacrifices given to build a strong, reputable brand.  Any company that plans to spend hard earned marketing dollars on advertising premiums should keep these stories in mind.      

Think about this next time your vendor gives you a shirt or a coffee mug with their logo proudly displayed.  Look at the quality.  Take a look and see where it was made. Will the stitching fray after the 1st wash or will the ink flake with a slight scratch of your fingernail?  Can you trust that this item will last past it's first use?  "Absolutely," you say.  It has the logo of your most trusted vendor.  It has to be a treasure, right?

Be Responsive to the FBLA [Future Brand Loyalist of America]

Recently, classmates from my early days and I have been reminiscing over Facebook posts of our old classroom photos.  Reflecting upon that time made me realize that my favorite year during elementary school was 4th grade.  I had a teacher that made waking up and going to school easy-peazy.  Mrs. Golightly ... an easy-going teacher with an easy-going name.  But there was one assignment that put her name to the test.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  Actually, I remembered it today when I reached for my morning glass of orange juice. Allow me to explain.

A good place to form brand loyalty

One day in her effervescent style and motherly voice,  Mrs. Golightly started class by announcing, "I want you to write a letter to a company of your choice.  In this letter you will be asking the company for product samples and brochures."  My 4th grade brain thought that Mrs. Golightly has grossly overestimated our writing abilities.  I couldn't spell my 1st name just a few years before that day.  How the heck does she expect us to write a real letter to a real person?  

We looked at each other scratching our heads thinking of which companies we would send our letters.  Mrs. Golightly made things easier by suggesting we write the companies where our parents worked.  This option was not available to me.  My folks worked in the financial industry so, requesting samples of balance sheets would have resulted in serious playground ridicule.

After careful consideration, a light bulb turned on in my head and I started writing to my favorite orange juice maker ______ ... let's just say the brand rhymes with moonfist.  My Mom always had it in the fridge and at the time and I was drinking OJ like it was required to live.  Writing my letter I remember my mind racing as I imagined how great it would be to open a box of oranges or maybe juice boxes that I could share with my classmates.  I would reach an unimaginable level of coolness and it would probably get me the coveted front of the line spot for the monkey bars.  My feet were floating as I stamped my letter and walked it over to Mrs. Golightly's desk.  

A week had passed and our classroom was filled with excitement and corporate responses.  A classmate of mine who's father worked at Duncan Yo-Yos was the envy of the class.  And when the huge box from Frito-Lay arrived it was like Elvis had walked in.  There were sunglasses, soft drinks, hair brushes, t-shirts, pilot wings from the Eastern Airlines and even a toy alligator from The Okefenokee Wildlife refuge.  Know what was missing?  You guess it.  A response for my letter and Mrs. Golightly grew more impatient with each passing day.

Well, after a 2nd week had passed Mrs. Golightly sat me down and congratulated me on a well written letter.  Even though my letter didn't receive a response she handed me a copy of my letter with a great big "80" written in red ink.  Mrs. Golightly added her special touch by making the "0" a smiley face.  You see, I received a 80 because I was unable to complete the assignment which was to write a thank you letter to the company for their kind response.  

From that day forward my parents didn't allow that brand of OJ to return to our fridge.  Years after the 4th grade I ran into Mrs. Golightly.  We had a good laugh when she told me that brand of OJ never darkened her fridge again either.  Now for me, I've have forgiven the unresponsive OJ company long, long ago.  However, this morning when I reached into my fridge for a glass of orange juice I noticed my brand loyalty has been with another company as long as I can remember.  Jeez, maybe I am turning into my parents.  I'm cool with that.