In a conference we held in February 2010, A multinational (GSK PLC) could not offer money but gave product-drinks –that helped in no small way. MTN Nigeria was able to help out with a check that also helped. We salute these great organizations for being there.

 The essence of this article is based on my personal believe that everyone, brand can give something no matter how small to make a difference in a cause they believe in. Oprah Winfrey once said “I don’t think you ever stop giving. I really don’t. I think it’s an on-going process. And it’s not just about being able to write a check. It’s being able to touch somebody’s life.

In a recent edition of personal branding Magazine (that was just released), I am so happy that the issue of philanthropy is given a major story status. I have come to the conclusion (I stand to be corrected) that only brand that does not know its value will say it has nothing to offer. For instance it takes energy, commitment and dedication to give out free information. That is a form of giving. Many write and sell articles on the net .I am not condemning that act though.

So I strongly believe corporate brands can give through several means. Most corporate brands have experts who can coach, mentor the young ones in schools and colleges. Most can afford to print a few thousands of writing materials, text books and distribute them freely. Most corporate, personal brands can organize competitions among the youths that will project their strong believe in a cause. Most can have a library within their head office where external audience can read, borrow books from. It cost nothing or less to go to orphanage homes and give motivational lectures.

It also cost less to go to remands homes and give reconstructive lessons to some wayward children. What about the Managing Director of a great conglomerate who has sound integrity and can explain how he gets there organizes a three hour session for selected start up entrepreneurs twice or thrice a year in their corporate headquarters’ conference room to avoid incurring cost?

A major point that the Magazine above also stressed is the ability of individual, corporate brands to make their impacts viral through social media by asking your network to help promote the cause. I think most brands that do not do anything have nothing that ignites them. This may be as a result of lack of concern of someone up in the cadre. While we will allow our community to think about what ignites them, I love a quotation by Candance Cameron Bure (that the cover story centres on) when she said “I think that all of us have a responsibility and an obligation to be a voice for those that can’t be a voice for themselves.” If a brand cannot be anything for anybody, it means something is wrong somewhere. What is your brand doing to affect its community and what is the motive of such?

You do not need heavy checks to make impact even though that goes a long way to reach millions when judiciously used. When a brand makes impact with what it has, it can build trust, credibility, engagement, love, passion etc around its name. People watch what you are doing daily with what you have. Time to start with what you have.

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1. Brand’s emotional impacts guage

Most brands suffer from despair, but stand firm with courage. They realise that courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. Like everyone, I love it when it is fast and sure. But hey these words do not go together most times. So today it is my desire to discuss, share my little knowledge on some of the conditions that I know will guarantee your brand’s success any day anywhere.  

Comprehensible and quantifiable objective: No brand will succeed without a road plan. Every brand must see the end before it starts otherwise the challenges of the road will chase many brands to ground zero. So a clear comprehensive as well as quantifiable objective and goal is essential. Have you lost your brand’s objective? There is an opportunity to go back to the drawing board.

Deep insight of consumers’ psychology and behavioural patterns: Since the success of every brand is dependent on customers, brand must understand their sustainers’ psychological and behavioural patterns. The days of assumption and arm-chair researches are gone for go. Brand must go out to the warfront, at the point of desire and ability of their clients.

Learn to provoke, stir up and appeal to customers’ emotional bonding: people buy from those who stir them up of make them feel good and appreciated. Do not bore your customers. Add fun, be the brand that gives them hope and stir them up to reach their dreams.

Reach clients through their preferred medium: Brand does not make any headway by following selfish desires and enforcing that on its audience. Brand must look out for new media that appeals to its audience and follow that part.

Expose your brand’s relevance to clients through your creative stories: brand creative stories today is part of what ensure audience bonding with it your audience. Study and look around you, most channels are obvious for those who will look.

Let me conclude this with this quotation “No one has ever found success by doing the same things tomorrow that resulted in mediocrity today.”

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In the light of the age we find ourselves today, aimless silence is harmful. There is need to speak out your own side of the matter. It has been proven that being social today is far better than being dumb or silent. Every introvert brand needs to cultivate ability to mix with other brands, potential and actual customers. If you a keen observer, you should have noticed, everyone is talking; conversation is going on with or without your brand’s participation. If by chance, the conversation revolves around you and you are not there to present the complete version of the story, your brand will suffer in silence.

A Nigerian adage says ‘when you hear carry it, carry it and you keep silent, they will drop it at your doorstep/back yard’. The burden of bearing unnecessary loads as a result of keeping  silence may be greater than speaking out your mind. Someone asked me recently what if his brand does not have anything to say? Why trying to answer that question honestly, I stumbled on an article written by Chad levit on questions to ask about personal brand and I believe answering those 49 questions Levit asked in that article will give a brand enough things to say for weeks. In saying something, many feedbacks will be available to the brands to see more opportunities to promote, give value to the target audience.

But before your brand start talking, it will be great  to listen first, have  a strategic plan of what you are going to say and how, when, where to say what you intend to say. For corporate brand’s voice to be more effective, it will be great to get the top management buy-in. Also it is good to have a policy in place that will guide what to say. In addition to the above, honesty, transparence is important. It will be good to prepare for eventualities as there is no guarantee that everything will run smoothly without any hitch.

Brand need to build strong engagement that can help when there is a smoke. Being ready to be on top of breaking your own brand’s news as fast as possible is also essential.

So according to Chad Levit, let us examine some of the relevant things to say which may/will give your brand leverage. What makes you and your brand indispensable, what kind of value do you provide, your brand’s differentiation, expertise, why should anybody listen to you, what trends are shaping your industry presently, do you have success stories, have you contributed to any project achievement, how have you made life simple, bearable for others, what are you doing, do you have any social responsibility initiatives that have impacted lives, do you have photos of events you recently held? These and other questions when answered may give you and your brand a clue to what to say when you already have a plan. Can you share your experience?

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 Brand communication today requires a consistent flow of conversation- not monologue- between the brand and its audience. The equalization of influence provided by the new and digital media allows every brand to have a say instead of being dumb. Brand communication today encourages that each brand becomes social instead of being dumb or silence. Brand communication in this age demands that each brand takes up its own funnel and pour out water of creative, compelling and engaging content that will enhance brand’s perception in the minds of brand’s target. Out of sight is now out of mind. Available media platforms today are enough to ensure brands are not out of sight except the brand chooses to remain so.

 Available media platforms offer untold opportunity to remain in the audience sight all years round. In a recent Forrester research on available media platforms (This result will be the foundation of this write up), many media platforms were identified. I will examine the research report below.

Owned media: These are media channels that are fully controlled by the brand and if I may add, they are used to exchange, share communication with the brand’s audience. Some of these media platforms include brand’s websites, mobile websites, blogs, twitter account, Facebook fan page etc. These platforms are built for a long term relationship with existing and potential audience and takes time to scale.  If I may add, this is where many brands especially in Africa miss it. They want an instance miracle from these platforms. The benefit of these media is in their cost effective, control, versatility, immediacy, niche audience.

Paid media: These are media brands pay for to use. It includes display ads, paid search, and sponsorship. The role of this is in shift in foundation to a catalyst form. Benefit of these includes immediacy, scale control. The disadvantage of this is declining credibility over time

Earned media:  These media make the customers the channel. These include Word Of Mouth, Buzz, viral. It is result of a well executed, well coordinated owned and paid media. These media are most credible, transparent and lives on. The only minus is that it can not be controlled by the brand. Having analyzed these, which of these media is your brand using. The combination of al sound great. Whichever way it goes, all of these increase, populate and shape brand’s perception. Can you share your experience in using these media? Use the comment section.

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Despite these signs many big brands still cling to the old ways of doing marketing business. The need for adaptation has being nailed by this quotation: Adaptation means not clinging to fixed methods but changing appropriately according to events. We need to realize that in today’s business environment, success does not belong to the strongest of the species or the most intelligent, but those who subscribe early to change, adaptation before it is too late.

 The world is moving more rapidly, Holding to old strategies of doing business is becoming increasingly dangerous, poisonous. Technology keeps expanding and new discoveries are being made everyday. Brand’s strategists, communicators must ensure they are constantly overhauling their skills. Without adaptation, most brands will be lost in the sea of innovation. For many brands to survive today, such brands should be armed with these basic ingredients.

Change mindset/be open: It is not compulsory that we must absorb everything, but gateway to new discovery is a mind that is open and is willing to accommodate new ways of doing business. Never say never.

Plan/ strategize: when your brand is open to new ideas, it will see need to plan ahead. This will necessitate the need to plan for necessary changes or ignore them. This will also lead to strategy formation, deployment of troops ahead of the battle.

Act: never being stranded with inaction. Act on what you think will help build your brand for tomorrow. Begin to sell the idea to decision maker as an employee if you are hired for that purpose otherwise if you keep quiet, you may soon lose your job as a professional who does not know how to guide. That is why you are hired in the first instance. Does anyone has contrary opinion?

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The above now forms the basis for this write up. Opinions are welcome from others who feel otherwise. Trend is changing at an alarming rate. To play the game, brand must understand the rules and adhere to them. Social media has increased the noise level on the web. To be seen today is a daunting task. The days of ‘build it and customers will come’ are gone for good. Many brands are failing in social marketing efforts today because they have hired technologists to do the work that requires social sciences assignment. The human element of social marketing is often ignored by high profile technology application.

While social media is helpful to any brand, over reliance on technology will harm the conversation spirit that social marketing aims to achieve. Social marketing promotes relationship over technology. It is focused on sharing helpful tips, connection, association, friendship, allegiance among real people. Many brands that concentrate on technical tools may live to see that it is becoming interestingly difficult for them to build strong engagement with their brands.

Brand must learn to humanize their social marketing tools to get the best in terms of returns on investment. The demand of today is that brand must listen before it pursues ego laundering through unnecessary use of complicated tools that can harm its objective. Anything short of this will break the back bone of conversation, relationship that social marketing represents. While there is no evil in the application of relevant technology which will enhance productivity and efficiency, over reliance on technology that will confuse the niche will not help brand as much.

For social marketing to be successful, find first what works with your niche in terms of easy accessibility, usage. Remove the cap of a traditional marketer and learn to become what makes you a partner in progress. Remember, social marketing that will be meaningful, interactive, promote solid relationship should concentrate on relieving the stress off the niche market. Reader’s opinions are welcome.

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In preparing also, send reminder, get your entire presentation ready before the deal date and if possible the brand’s team should have a rehearsal to be sure that everything is properly set. This will show professionalism on your part as well as increase brand perception. Remember first impression still counts. If you mess up the first time, you may not get the participants attention when next you call. Be careful also to use easy to understand technology for both your team as well as the participants. You must build excitement throughout the webinar otherwise you may not be able to sustain their interests, Be absolutely prepare for question time. In this regard, get all the props you need to be present before you go life. Be sure the main speaker is interesting and keep a smiling face all through. Do not forget to record the session also for those who can not make it. The recorded version can be sent to them. This add credibility. It also shows that the webinar was held as promised. After the webinar. Make sure you follow up on the decisions that were jointly reached.

The following benefits are accruable to a brand that annexes this method.

Time and cost saving: a webinar allows the brand to safe cost and time on getting all the participants in a physical location. It also helps to reach greater audience and generates lead from unsolicited audience who may have seen the advert on the internet. It helps to build brand as a resource for participants understanding of what the brand stands for. In conclusion, it helps build strong rapport, generates feedback for the brand from potential clients.

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In a recent ‘chit-chat’ with one of my colleagues, we were discussing certain attitudes that are not recognized as detrimental to brand’s acceptance. In most cases, these signals may not be obvious to the brand owners or individuals, brands involved. It does mean that sometimes, brands may need external opinion to help them assess what the brands signals mean to them. This chat with my friend gave me the inspiration to write this piece.

Brands are like human beings who have personalities; they have all the senses to converse the importance, equity and emotions that encompass their individual brand personality. Brands are not mechanical; they have power to arouse people emotions. Every brand is known to its consumer through many sources of communications. Many recognized a brand by its logo, other rememberl it with the signature tune of the brand. We are all familiar with such tune as ‘now you are talking’, ‘what a wonderful world’ as well as ‘everywhere you go’. All these sources of brand uniqueness serve as brand signals that captures the attention of target consumer on the move. Effective branding is the process of running all the signals in such a way that no one misses the signal it intends to pass across in the right language. Everyday, everywhere we are communicating our own brand. These communication signals when picked by stakeholders either draw them closer or chase them away. Through brand signals, efforts must be made to ensure desired expectations are met. Brand attitude, internal brand behaviors, logo, color, dress sense, office location, interiors are vital ingredients that will expose each brand signal’s meaning to the stakeholders. Brand Signals are substantial cues (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell or action) that openly associate brand with certain behaviors. These multi-sensory signals provide the cues necessary for consumers to understand the deeper brand meaning that lies underneath the surface. The bond between consumer and brand can be affected negatively if the aura being spread is that of unnecessary arrogance, lack of concern or a pursuit of ‘ego-journey’. What action does your brand take when there is problem with your service? Does your brand care about what happens to your brand stakeholders? Do they have to plead to receive due services after making payment? These among others constitute the cues that will either affect your brand’s signal and perception within your brand community and beyond. Let me conclude this with a definition of what brand is as expressed by Black coffee firm which says ‘A brand is an experience living at the intersection of promise and expectation’. What do you think? Use the comment section.

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Communication is a vital key in every endeavor. Nothing succeeds without adequate communication. This has been proved at least in any situation where human beings are involved .Personal brands need to communicate to their bosses, colleagues, relatives, juniors, niche market. Corporate brands need to communicate. In fact when communication is taken out, the whole of human existence becomes chaotic. Interestingly every brand has human beings as the target audience. Even when the product is animal foods; brands need to reach the owners before it can reach the target audience.

Brand communication that will rock has to first look at its plan, objective before a brand communication strategy that works can be crafted.

Let us examine five basic principles that will guarantee a brand communication strategy that will rock.

1. Target definition: Be sure you know who the object of the communication is. For personal brand, is the communication meant for your boss, colleagues, junior, mass or small group, spouses, children etc. The target must go with the objective of the communication, choice of words to be used. There is no need speaking high sounding languages, elevated style to small children. Such communication strategy does not rock. The purpose is already damaged before it goes out.

2. Objective, focus of the message: This has to do with what the brand wants the communication to achieve. Without this, communication result may not be measurable. Each brand must craft the objective and think about this before any communication process can be put in place.

3.360 degree view: View the communication from the angle of the communication recipient. Is there anything in the communication that will be of benefit to the receiver? What is in it for me. Receivers have not stopped listening to WII-FM. Ability to communicate with the audience hinges on understanding the language the brand users speak?

4. Brand communication channels: Using the right channels also matter. Using Television or radio to reach the teenagers now is becoming outdated in many nations. Internet has become the abode of this teeming populace. First, check where the target hibernates before shooting will safe your brand communication from total failure.

5. Timing: When all is said and done, timing is really important. This is key to success of any brand communication that will rock. There is a right timing for any message. Do not ask for pay increase when your boss is angry, when you know the business is at the brink of total collapse or bankruptcy.

Are there other factors that are important?  Let me have your opinion.

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