Branding is as important to an entrepreneur and an individual as it is to a large company

When I thought of buying a flat, one of the criteria I set for myself was "Buy only something which is ready". There where so many horror stories that I had come across of builders absconding, flats not ready after years of delay etc. etc. that I thought of only buying a flat which could be touched and seen. However when we finally bought a flat which was at least one year away from completion, there was very little to see except for the location and yet we "compromised" on our purchase criteria. The reason- the flat was from a "reputed builder". We felt privileged that we were able to get one of the flats which happened to come on resale and there was very little negotiation. This same dynamics works in any other purchase situation, seemingly strict purchase criteria are made lenient thanks to reputation. Image, Brand, Reputation,Identity does matter in business but is often forgotten in the day to day scramble for the sale.

At the core, there is no shortcut to building this identity, In the words of Jeff Bezos' (founder of Amazon), "A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well." However, this core has to be communicated and that makes the process a lot faster. Large companies have understood the importance of Brands and invest in them and have dedicated Brand managers to manage this, but should "Brand Management" be the sole preserve of large companies? In Tom Peter's words  "It's this simple: You are a brand. You are in charge of your brand."  But how does one go about creating a brand for oneself.  Tom Peter suggests that it starts from simple things like even your email.  "When everybody has email and anybody can send you email, how do you decide whose messages you're going to read and respond to first - and whose you're going to send to the trash unread? The answer: personal branding. The name-of the email sender is every bit as important as a brand - is a brand. It's a promise of the value you'll receive for the time you spend reading the message."

Brand building for your company or yourself in essence is paying attention to the small things and these small things add up to your "Brand". Are all these small things consistent? Do these plethora of messages that you are communicating resonate with that one identity that you or your company stand for or do they send mixed and muddled signals.

The starting point to having a consistent message is to really figure out what that brand (your company or you) really stand for. What meaning, images, associations, feelings do you want the brand to be associated with. Verbalizing these will help you and your team members communicate in a consistent fashion.

Talking specifically about individuals and small businesses like say Chatered Accountants, Architects, Lawyers, Real Estate Agencies, Consultants, reputation matters a lot. Often the reputation is "word of mouth" so an existing customer says, "You can go to my Lawyer, he is good and he charges reasonably." ‘Word of mouth' is fantastic, it gives credibility and trust, it is a great way to get business and build a brand. Yet it has several weaknesses, it does not break new ground, it does not convey what ‘You' can be, it limits your business and image to what was in the past, the service and the price that you provided in the past. It does not build the image; it only carries it to more people. Building the image, highlighting the possibilities and expertise is what Branding is about. Communication and articulating what you stand for leads to brand building.

Writing articles, PR and advertising which reaches your key audience is the way to go. When talking about writing; one question I often hear is, "what do I write about?" The problem with a lot of experts is that they do not value their own expertise. They are so familiar with their own work that they do not see it as special something that will be of curiosity or news value to their audience. For large companies however everything they do is news. If Infosys acquires a new customer it is news, if Tata Steel acquires a new company it is news.

Personal or small company PR is making what you do into news. As a Chartered Accountant if you save taxes for your customer by better tax planning, should that not be news? As a Marketing Consultant if you have an insight into how to plan media spend better should that not be news? And today you have channels that will carry this news for you. These include, Personal Blogs, News Letters, Niche websites and Magazines including www.businessgyan.com and Businessgyan Business Digest. Earlier the lack of niche channels limited ones ability to broadcast ones message, the landscape is fast changing now.

Well in the words of someone who has created a brand out of his name,Tom Peters, "There is no single path to success. And there is no one right way to create the brand called You. Except this: Start today. Or else...."

The author is the Chief Catalyst of businessgyan. His area of interest include business strategy and innovation. For feedback and more information, e mail: www.businessgyan.com/balaji

Issue BG76 July07

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