Branding Information

The Brand Called You


The best brands always try to do the right thing, so that their reputations will remain unsullied. But beyond that they grow, evolve and get better with time, while maintaining their special qualities from the past.

We all have a personal brand with social, cultural, intellectual, and personal needs that may not necessarily be addressed in our daily work. Address these needs and you begin to improve your brand. Here is my agenda for building your brand.

  • Join and participate in community and professional organizations
  • Generate media coverage about your brand
  • Stay in touch, or renew old ties with friends, family and business associates

Let's examine how each one improves your brand.

Join and participate in professional and community organizations
The best brands grow, evolve and get better with time, while maintaining their special qualities from the past.

Professional and community organizations provide ample opportunity to learn and grow.

They provide professional development opportunities. They allow you to network with peers as well as with people you would not necessarily ever meet in the normal course of your workday.

For instance, I am a member and served on the board of our local International Association of Business Communicators chapter. This allowed me to broaden my contacts in the corporate communications world, as well as form a number of friendships I probably never would have developed. I'm also a member of the North Carolina Citizens For Business and Industry. Here I meet people from all walks of life and all work disciplines. Finally, I am involved with Charlotte Reads, a local non-profit that focuses on literacy issues. This allows me to use my communication experience in support of an issue I feel very strongly about.

But it's not enough to just join groups: you must participate to benefit fully. As a participant you have the opportunity to stretch, to gain confidence in yourself. Learn to lead by involvement on the board or in a special project.

If you are a communicator by trade, try being treasurer for the group to exercise the other side of your brain, or take on a special project about which you feel strongly.

Generate media coverage about your brand
All that professional and community involvement will certainly lead to opportunities to leverage that involvement into news about the brand called you. And, of course, there will be promotions, new assignments, and awards at work, too. More opportunities to make headlines.

Your achievements are of interest to local print, broadcast, and online media, particularly the business pages. In Charlotte, the Observer has a weekly feature called On The Move spotlighting someone in a new position. The Charlotte Business Journal has a similar feature called Moving Up. If it is a big enough move and your company won't do it, pay the estimated $150 to place it on BusinessWire or PR Newswire. Consider it an investment in your future. Don't forget trade publications serving your industry and alumni publications.

Seek out speaking engagements and write guest articles, too. This is yet another way to publicize your brand. And don't forget to do news releases when you make a speech or write an article. It's all about merchandising.

To stay top of mind, you might even want to develop your own monthly e-newsletter like Think, the Hoover ink publication. Keep it mostly informational and limit the commercial material.

Stay in touch, or renew old ties with friends, family and business associates
Everyone you know can be a brand ambassador for you, so stay in touch or reach out to those you haven't talked with for a while.

Yet another reason for having a monthly newsletter that shares your expertise.

The network of contacts you have built over your lifetime will be instrumental if you decide to start your own business, or change jobs.

So, heed this word of advice: always deal fairly with people. One bad experience with your brand can negate 10 positive ones.

Now, get out there and start branding.

 

Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR,

http://www.hoover-ink.com. He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Duke Energy,

Levolor, North Carolina Tourism, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX and Verbatim.


MORE RESOURCES:

Thwapr To Expand Into Asia Pacific With Asian Marketing And Branding Company
MarketWatch (press release)
LAS VEGAS, May 24, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Thwapr, Inc. (OBB:THWI) , a mobile video sharing company, has signed an exclusive agreement with a leading marketing and branding company in Asia, Shyalala, to develop new business opportunities by ...
Thwapr, Inc. (OTCBB: THWI) Targeting Massive Mobile Advertising Market in Asia ...OTCEquity.com

all 17 news articles »


2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend® OTC Report: OTC classics dominate Rx-to-OTC brands ...
MarketWatch (press release)
EquiTrend is an annual survey that measures and tracks consumer perception of brand equity for more than 1500 leading brands. While Cold and Allergy, Pain Relief and Digestive Aids have been included as categories in EquiTrend for many years, ...

and more »


VirTra Systems Launches New Branding Initiative and Redesigned Website
MarketWatch (press release)
This was done to shift focus to the "VirTra" component of the company's name and thereby emphasize branding around that element specifically. "The previous website and original VirTra logo has served us well, but it is time to update both items for the ...

and more »


De Vere hotels consolidate online brands through private cloud
ITworld.com
May 24, 2012, 1:38 PM — The De Vere hotel group has created a private cloud architecture to help consolidate its online brands. The company has chosen existing WAN provider Claranet to support the consolidation move. "De Vere's rapid growth was great ...

and more »


Christian Science Monitor

Whose Islands are they? South Korea tries branding in its dispute with Japan
Christian Science Monitor
Japan and Korea have long sparred over the Takeshima/Dokdo islets. The latest bid to promote Korea's claim: Napa Valley wine labels. By Bryan Kay, Correspondent / May 24, 2012 Dokdo island, also known as Takeshima in Japanese, east of Seoul, ...



New York Times

She Has a Pimp's Name Etched on Her
New York Times
We think of branding as something ranchers do to their cattle. But it's also what pimps do to women and girls they control across America. Taz, a 16-year-old girl here in New York City, told me that her pimp had branded three other girls with tattoos ...
Nicholas Kristof Continues His Anti-Backpage CampaignD Magazine

all 4 news articles »


Can South African brands make it globally?
Moneyweb.co.za
JOHANNESBURG – An international brand evaluation consultancy, Brand-Finance, says South African brands have the ability to compete globally with “a bit of sensible planning and support from the South African government”. The London-based company's CEO, ...

and more »


Forbes

American Idol: A Lesson In Branding?
Forbes
American Idol is a great study in American culture and provides a few teachable moments in building a brand at any level. It also shows how acts from the new Heartland have dominated throughout American Idol's eleven year run.



Valuing Apple From A Brand Perspective
Seeking Alpha
Millward Brown's 2012 BrandZ Report estimates the value of 100 of the world's top brands. Apple topped the list while many of its competitors were among the top 20 brands by value: Adding the estimated brand value to net assets allowed for the ...

and more »


Polycom Corporate Branding Shifts Focus To Software
CRN
By Chad Berndtson, CRN Hoping to position itself as a software-centric video collaboration company less tethered to its hardware roots, Polycom on Thursday confirmed the first major branding change in its 22-year history, including a new corporate logo ...
Polycom Launches New Brand Identity, Highlighting Transformation to a Software ...SYS-CON Media (press release)
Polycom Gets a Facelift and a Strategy ChangeNo Jitter (blog)
Polycom launches new brand identityVoxy

all 10 news articles »

Google News

Home | SiteMap