Branding and authenticity
There are many reasons why branding is an aspect of business that no one can ignore. One of the coolest reasons is that by considering our brand, we anchor our work in sustainable ways that are rooted in authenticity.
The importance of branding increases as we journey deeper into cyber space because it’s through branding that we are able to capitalize on the tools the internet offers. Without our avatar, our “About page,” our profiles, and bios we are nothing on the social networks. These articulations of brand are what constitute our identities.
Of course, these identities can be faked, and there are as well many users who hide the person behind a company name or other mask. An online profile is not automatically good branding.
On or offline, a brand can be deceptive. So how do you know when one is trustworthy? Perhaps more to the point, as a business owner, how can you tell your community that your brand is to be trusted?
You can learn to discern the difference between hype and authenticity in branding by sincerely working on your own process of branding. Once you’ve been through the process, you’ll be able to recognize the phonies right away. How? By their predictability. Pretend-brands are predictable; real ones catch you off-guard, amazing you in some way (Seth Godin’s Purple Cow), sounding in your soul like a summons.
When working on your own branding, you have to constantly remember that brand is reputation, and therefore ultimately out of your control. You work to shape it in the same way we plan and grow a garden, hoping it will turn out as envisioned. We seek to affect, but don’t expect to dominate the end result.
And then, your process of discovery as you ferret out the nature of your brand must be couched in your most honest efforts, or it will lack the gut-wrenching value that makes all the difference. Any modicum of inauthenticity in your seeking will spoil the whole crop. Look for the truth that is, the YOU that is, your particular gifts and skills that help the world go ’round.
Branding is so important because it’s a process that forces us to be brutally honest, matching up our insides and outsides to create something that helps other people. It’s a requirement of adult participation in society that demands that we increase our self-knowledge and become transparent to our communities. It’s part of our evolution as we adapt to the cyber/global age.
Could you use a few ideas to jump start your branding inquiries? I invite you to read my mini-eBook, Discovering Your Brand.
