Great Brand Resources Direct from Brandidos

Personal branding tips from Brandidos

Advice is a great source of information. Recommendations on Good Reads, quality sources to investigate, and ultimately comparative goals that other businesses pursue can be informative and useful, even when they don’t relate directly to you. In other words, they are references you would use to write your own essay on how to conduct your business activities.

"And remember- everything and everyone has something to teach you"  [tweet this].

Books of interest and how they help your BRAND grow

Reading is the ultimate source of learning, and oftentimes offers helpful hints that we can learn from or incorporate into our lives, even if they are fictional. Books contain insights in many forms, even when they aren’t good (we learn to avoid a particular style or approach).

Highly recommended are books such as “Brand Thinking" by Debbie Millman, “Social Marketology” by Ric Dragon, “Engage” by Brian Solis, and “Business Stripped Bare” by Richard Branson. But, it all comes down to what you are looking for in a book. What education and insight do you seek?

What current sites or online resources do you use daily as a Brandido?

Quality resources can begin with keeping track of your client investment. Newswire can be used effectively by searching industry/company to monitor news and updates for clients. Additionally, the New York Times advertising and media section is completely relevant to developing or adapting trending marketing strategies. Other sources might include Smashing Mag, Jakob Nielsen, Mashable, and B2B of course. But, some are convinced that a wider variety of online newsletter content tends to generate numerous ideas. It is good practice to look outside your industry and learn new techniques to apply to your own pursuits. The key here is to seek out multiple sources in order to generate different ideas and visions of the world.

What conferences, seminars or webinars are a MUST in your annual plan

For a majority of the business-minded, the free ones are perhaps the top choice for their economical value. But consider what is free? Time always costs something, so you need to target the right opportunities to gain the most benefit from your experience. Focus on what you need. A good starting point should be tradeshows in your industry and client-focused events that provide quality instruction on how to approach and handle customer situations.

Some even recommend that one save even more time by paying attention to what others have to say such as in social feeds and “unorganized” webinars or irregular coffee conferences. What are people discussing regularly? Despite the unorganized characteristics, there are plenty of opportunities to participate in regular webinars and seminars that are not properly titled, but offer some great information.

For the most part, it is always wise to seek a fresh perspective when possible. Search for new opportunities and avoid the same song and dance. Keep your eyes peeled for fresh and trending material that you can source from to better your business pursuits and search outside of your field to see what new theories and techniques you can apply to your brand.

What is on your list of things to do? 

What's on your bucket list as a branding professional? Consider who you’ve wanted to work with and what you’ve always wanted to do with your brand. Perhaps you’ve wanted to work with the people from the show: Shark Tank, most of who are often great thinkers and artists when it comes to generating new ideas. And while these fantasy ideas are good to have, there are more general targets in mind. Could your target be a region- a city- perhaps an individual?

Looking towards the future is perhaps the most prioritized item on our bucket list- and why? Because it never ends. We are always looking to better ourselves and prepare for tomorrow.

At the end of the day, we all teach each other something, but it is up to us as individuals to learn and adapt those teachings into our brand applications. Consider what others have to say, even if it is bad advice or quality information, because somewhere in your brand, you will learn something.

Brands and Challenges

Overcome personal branding challenges

As trends progress and change with the demands of our audiences, brands must be able to adapt and evolve to accommodate in order to not only survive but thrive as well. Questions on a recent brandchat discussion brought up some very good points of how a company handles the challenges of building their image effectively.

Product innovation

Consider some of the best practices of a brand that reinvents their product. What must they do to accomplish this and how does it ultimately affect their image? Soda companies have been around for a very long time, but have always managed to keep their image and products current. While the brand is the same, it is the fact that there is always constant improvement and evolution of these products. The goal is to adapt and apply their brand to popular trend rather than trying to change their brand to match the trend. Under the leadership of Steve Jobs, Apple reinvented their products and how they applied to the current demands of the generation. The brand was the same, but the image changed from simply producing technology to producing technology that was desirable to its audience. At the same time, they worked to enforce the purpose of the brand, which is ultimately what this challenge must overcome.

Timing the changes

What key advice would you give a client as to the "timing" of reinventing or fixing their product and promotion? This is a unique question in that it is incredibly difficult to answer broadly. Depending on the product’s trend cycle, you would have to consider that what is popular today may slip away tomorrow. You must know your audience well, especially their demands and desires. You should only change as a response to customers, not as a response to competition or personal desire. Rebrand because you need to in order to appeal to your audience. Lois Martin once stated, “Carefully consider and plan. Is it a reinvention or simply an update? An expansion? An invite to a new market?” When reinventing and innovating, you must take into consideration what your goal is. Are you upgrading a format, fixing an issue (patching programs or promotions)? Or are you introducing a new line that will draw a new audience? 

Defining a spokesperson

A spokesperson is one of the most beneficial tools to creating audience appeal. How can a brand handle their spokesperson that is created, not a celebrity, and their rise to celebrity status? There is something unique about a created character because while you can make them do what you want, you also have to work to build their image, which means that it’s up to you how successful your spokesperson will be. The primary priority should be to align their values with those of the target audience. The task is to create a personality that your audience can relate to, not just speak to. When an audience can relate to someone, they begin to develop a relationship and word of mouth marketing takes place. People talk about characters they can relate with. Though there is always the other side of the coin which asks at what point a spokesperson-character would begin to draw attention away from a brand; when presented improperly, you can end up with an audience that recognizes a spokesperson but can’t relate them to the brand. That is the other task of developing a character. They must not only relate to the audience but will directly relate your audience to your brand. 

Brand image controversy

What are the best practices of brands on how they handle controversy around their brand? Perhaps the most prominently renowned brand image that had to overcome their controversy was BP and how they handled the gulf oil spill. They acknowledged the accident and quickly became involved in cleanup efforts. The best practices would include avoiding any hesitation and to be direct. Be personable. You never know when controversy will take place, so it’s good to have a personable image that people already enjoy doing business with. You shouldn’t wait for a problem to arise before you address it. Always admit controversy, don’t hide it. This is the first step to turning it around to your advantage. However, you must also be entirely transparent about the situation. An audience will want to know how your brand is addressing the issue and what is being done to prevent it in the future. 

Brands are often challenged with keeping their image current with the audiences’ desires and trends, but at the same time they must also hold on to what defines their brand. Ultimately, the task is to create a brand that is renowned for delivering products and services that customers want. 

Avoid these 3 Twitter Chat Mistakes that will Hurt You

Twitter chat done right for personal branding

Recently I wrote an article about hosting a Twitter chat. It’s an excellent way for you to corner your niche.  Yet, don’t host one if you’ve never been on one – the sheer speed of the event will overwhelm you.

So, attend a Twitter chat – yet, just like anything else done online- guard your brand and ensure that the chat is a positive reflection, not a negative one.

Here’s what to avoid:

     1. Steer clear of me, me, me

Every tweet doesn’t have to be about how you could ‘solve that’.  In fact, tweets like that are seen as spammy and do not engage – yet rather tarnish your brand.
Make your tweets helpful and interactive.  After all you are in a network, the basic networking skills are necessary.

     2.  Sending direct messages to people

During a chat, it’s fast paced.  In fact, I call it high-speed – because it is.  Just lurk on one and you’ll see the truth in that statement!

This is not the time to send direct messages.   People cannot see them.  Worse yet, there are people who want to continue the conversation via direct message with links – about them.  No, no, no (shaking head in disgust).

     3. Putting the hashtag in the middle of the tweet and making your tweets 140 characters

If you want to frustrate someone in a Twitter chat, this is the way to do it.  If they want to retweet you, they’ll need to dissect the #hashtag from the middle and shorten your tweet.  In the meantime, the chat is speeding by them.  That frustration then is linked to you.  Avoid it by not doing it.

Follow the basic rule of thumb that every tweet needs to be 120 characters and watch how you’ll be engaged and retweeted.

Looking for a Twitter chat to “cut your teeth on”, why not join #brandchat on Wednesday, 10 a.m. CST.  You can see recaps here to bring you up to speed!