Sunday, August 11, 2013

Importance of Deliberate Brand Management

Corporate enterprises, including public figures, invest significantly in brand recognition and strength.  Understanding your market is a basic premise of effective brand management for corporations.  Companies invest heavily to connect brand image, sound, smell, geometry, texture, and emotion with life experiences that humans appreciate.  They also develop policies and procedures to protect themselves against exposure to experiences that people dislike.  The value of a company is largely determined by the value of its brand.

Target What Gives You the Most Bang for the Buck


For individuals, our character is our brand, our personal brand.  As individuals, we have target markets too.  For example, as young singles, we seek attention from prospective mates.  Our target market includes those people who exhibit or appreciate behaviors and artifacts that we enjoy.  Our market also includes members of society that can influence our ability to earn an income.

As we live life, our goals and plans change, and our target market shifts.  Not only do our desires change, but so do the desires of each member of our target market.  This means that our brand strength shifts over time, even if we do nothing to deliberately manage our brand.

In America, individuals have the freedom to shape their personal brand.  Keep in mind that your personal brand is being measured every day by other members of society, including those in your target market.  Like it or not, social accountability exists, and by looking and planning ahead, you can influence the value of your personal brand, whatever it may be.

If you like it when people tell you how much they admire your character, then "doing the right thing" is probably the right thing to do.  If you appreciate when people admire your artwork, then presenting your art in a way that pleases others is one way to increase your brand strength.  If you want to be considered for that next big job within your company, then complying with company policies, working well with others, and exceeding job goals are qualifiers for moving up.

Members of our target market are constantly weighing our brand strength.  They see us, hear us, hear about us, read about us, etc. and make judgements about our brand.  Corporate recruiters are often in our target market; they often explore social networks to see if our personal brand aligns with their corporate brand.

Some people simply choose to not care, but the fact is, we don't know what is to come.  We can not go back in time.  What we said and did yesterday, is here to stay.  Thankfully, we can off-set what we said and did yesterday with what we say and do in the days ahead.  The bottom line is that we are socially accountable, like it or not.

As technology continues to evolve, more and more of our character will be imprinted on the world, widening the divide between those who care and those who do not.  Your posts, photos, friends, etc. impact your personal brand.

Before you explore new territory, consider not only what is important to you today, but what may be important to you in the future.

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