Posts tagged personal brand
Are you big enough to have a brand?
Jun 9th
A brand is your promise to your customers.
It is the personification of your company.
It is defined by …
… everything you do and say
… everything you DON’T do and say
… what your customers say about you
… what your customers have to say about you
To demonstrate the power of the idea of “brand,” let me pose a question. What would you think if Coca-Cola announced it was moving beverage production to China to save money? You would be outraged, right? But why? Thousands of companies have out-sourced overseas with nary a whimper from the public. But Coke … well it’s all American, it’s the real thing. No! Not China.
Right?
So somehow this company has established a personality and a “promise” for sugar water. Pretty neat, huh? Take a look at the images above. Can a single letter elicit an emotion from you? THAT my friend is the power of a brand!
What about you? What do your customers think about when they hear about your company? What are you known for? What is YOUR promise to your customers?
If you can’t answer these questions, you better do some homework. If you haven’t defined your brand, your customers will. And, increasingly, your customers will, to. Through the Internet. everyone is a critic, publisher and reviewer. Word about a bad customer experience could be broadcast within moments of when it happens.
Today an influential blogger had a bad experience with an Apple store. He wrote a scathing article called “Go to hell Apple” … FROM THE STORE!
So yes, you have a brand. And it’s probably your most important business asset. Now go defend it!
Graphic credit: In The Picture Design
Improve your Google-self
Apr 22nd
Yesterday, Google released a new product called Google Me. If you simply enter the word “me” in the Google search bar, you’ll be given an opportunity to establish a profile on YOUR terms and contribute to your online identity.
The easy set-up includes a chance for a short bio, interests, personal information and your website address. However, it does NOT cleanse your search results in any way. Your new “profile” probably won’t even be the lead search result, but it does give you a chance to tell your story YOUR way! It’s the Burger King of apps.
As a service to you, gentle reader, I made myself a guinea pig and tested this service on day one. I googled myself today and the new profile made the first page of results at number 10, squeezed between a different Mark Schaefer in Knoxville and a real estate transfer from last year. It’s the only one with a picture in the search results.
The only downside I can see — the more info you submit in your profile, the more Google is collecting about you, which will allow more targeted ads, etc. I chose to be pretty sparse with my bio information at this point — none of the fields are “required.”
Go forth and set the record straight for future generations!
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-Mark SchaeferFollow Mark
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