Who are you?

With deference to Pete Townsend and the Who, have you asked yourself recently, who am I ?

An interesting question, especially when I look at it from a brand perspective.

Why brand you ask ?

Because whether you like it or not, you are your own brand and it probably needs some polishing up !

Your brand is not just your outside look (logo) or your favourite lines (snappy slogan or tag line). It’s the tangible and intangible assets that others attribute to you. Your brand is their perception of you and the sum of all your experiences.

As a brand you need to ask yourself some hard questions, “ Am I valueable to my customers ? “ , “ Can I measure my value ? “ , “ Do I have brand loyalty ? “ “ How do I compete with other brands ? “.

To truly excel as a brand, what do you need to have ?

You need a clear vison or a clarity of purpose and there should be no confusion about what you do, where you work and what you can accomplish. You need to be strong on what you stand for and even consider your own personal tag line (no you don’t have to wear it on a sandwich board). One of my favourites has always been, “ If not me, then who ? If not now, then when ? “. Do you have a personal tagline/personal byline or should you be looking for one that best encapsulates your personality ?

All of this is not easy to accomplish, especially depending on where you work but the clarity of your purpose must shine through. You can rise above your environment and be seen as clear of purpose as long as you remain consistant and your client expectations are delivered and exceeded.

You will need a message but what kind of content are we talking about ? When conveyed correctly, your content provided at the right moment and when done right, conveys your emotional, physical and visual perspective to whatever situation or issue you are tackling. Is your message calm and calculated or chaotic and frenzied or even intuitive and emotional ? The right attitude (no not ‘tude !) is constantly seen as a backbone of brand integrity and how you are seen by others in company . People will come to see you over time as someone to be recognised if your consistancy of message is able to resolve and tackle their questions and issues.

People will ask for your opinion if they understand where you are coming from and what you stand for. This is always a good indicator of consistancy in message, the fact that people look to you, for guidance and resolution. You are your message, so you better get it right because there are a lot of confusing people out there talking to your clients and unless you can rescue them from that chaos with your message, you’ll lose them forever. Brand loyalty will see your clients constant commitment to you, established via your strong working relationship and consistant message.

You need to make good on your brand promise and for this there is only one constant, backup it up. Over promising and under delivering will quickly tarnish your brand image and make it difficult to having long term success.

Finally you need to be consistant over time. How long ? Forever . You need to retain your core strengths and never allow your brand integrity and quality to suffer. To this point you must have the strenght to stay true to yourself and not become generic in your responses or resolutions. Clients will want to see you in particular arenas of endeavour, localised to their work environment. They don’t want to see you associated with issues they see as counterproductive to your relationship with them
(yes you need to stay out of the strip clubs). You need to have many touchpoints (how many ways can you be contacted ?) for your clients and each needs to show the consistancy of your vison, message and promise.

With all of the above covered, are you able to command a premium in your marketplace ? If you have a proven track record of accomplishments backed by your personal brand integrity your value within your workplace community is assured.