Reputation Management
Image by Gale-Franey via Flickr
I came across a good article this week at Advertising Age: Stuart Parkin comments on the phenomenon that involves the lack of personal branding amongst marketing executives – who nonetheless insist on it for their clients.
The fact that marketing gurus hypocritically preach branding without practicing it makes us question its very worth. It would be a lot easier to continue in our accustomed anonymity, and not bother with laying a claim to a specific brand. Do we really have to take this stuff seriously, spending time thinking about values and all that? What difference does a brand really make?
Maybe we think we will enjoy a broader appeal if we don’t characterize ourselves too finely. But one of the coolest things about the internet and our global society is that you can be as eccentric as you wish, as long as you’re consistent about it. People love personality in all its quirkiness. Show that you are willing to consistently participate and be truly helpful, and your personal brand can be whatever flavor you choose.
However much we may wish otherwise, reputation is and always has been at the heart of business success. Small-minded, cheap, untrustworthy people may sustain an income, but they never experience success. There’s a big difference between sustaining an income and living a fulfilled life.
How you are perceived by other people makes all the difference to your business accomplishments. What do you do to paint an attractive image of your business in the mind of your market? Or, from the individual’s point of view – whether a solopreneur or an employee – the question may become, what do you do to paint an appealing image of yourself in the minds of people on your radar?
The challenge is to present and share yourself fairly and frankly with the world, or at least with your world. It may be relevant at this juncture to refer to Tiger Woods’ unfortunate dilemma in the current press. His insistence on closely guarded privacy could not protect him in the long run. Our tools, and our culture, now demand that we each own – and own up to – the business that is our Selves. Since ownership includes accountability, personal transparency is critical. To be caught with a brand that lies is a major offense in our culture.
Branding is the work of thoroughly becoming yourself while being authentically compassionate towards those around you. It’s taking responsibility for your reputation, and steering it with purpose towards the best you can be. Branding is articulating the value of You to Other People.
In any service industry, for example in the virtual assistance industry, branding takes on even greater importance. More than people who sell only products, a service provider is selling their brand. You’ll have better luck selling ball point pens or Cadillacs, for instance, if you have an appealing personal brand. But you’ll have no luck at all offering a service like virtual assistance if your brand is unattractive or untrustworthy.
While reputation has always been a factor in adult life, the idea of branding is relatively new, at least on a widespread basis. We’ve not been schooled to develop personal brands, so we hardly know where to begin. If I may make a humble suggestion, you can start by realizing that every post, comment, picture, video, email, newsletter, and other tool you use online in your daily work is a place where your brand is shared. Every single communication you make manifests your brand. You probably want to be sure it reflects your value without compromise.
