Many have asked me why I always say that networking will be the rule of the game now. A guy actually said ‘if I have done my part do I need anyone to validate my effort?’ While I quite understand that we cannot substitute hard work for anything, it is also a known fact that there are several ‘hardworkers’ who have not gained any noted ground in their fields. Hardwork alone cannot guarantee success again. There are lots of other ingredients that come to play for individual to make headway.

When you programme your personal branding journey on a   ‘solo frequency’ it will suffer unnecessary hardship. Never forget the African adage that says ‘because snakes do not move in group make it easy for a man to kill them’. No matter how powerful your brand is, it will always be considered as fuzzy, proud and irrelevant when you go solo.

Integration will bring a lot of coverage to the brand when many are talking about it. Come to think about it what is the strength an individual can pull when every effort is concentrated on building a skyscraper by a single hand? How long will it take such an individual? But ensuring you incorporate others will help achieve the goal faster. But a point to note here is that individual must have something of value before it can gain wider acceptance. So what factors will ensure you get necessary attention and positive words of mouth.

Understand your territory: You want to get necessary attention and influence your community? The first step is to understand the terrain you want to operate. This begins with the ability to understand the language your niche speaks. Even if you speak great English but you operate within a French speaking environment, you will still be termed as an illiterate and no one will propagate your thoughts nor follow you

Network: Do not be far from your industry’s event or be afraid to meet up with top leaders in the industry. Do not be afraid to offer them any help your skill can push. Remember, everyone will appreciate helping hands. When you do that consistently, you will get noticed and be recommended for better positions.

Be involved in niche dialogue: being part of a good community and being visible is important. What there is a current issue; ensure you always express your view. Make an intelligent contribution instead of just being part of the conversation. That will enhance your profile.

Guard your tongue and your fingers: Always remember that as huge as a ship is, it is only a small rudder that controls it with the help of a captain. Never assume you know it all. Do not send wrong signals about your brand by using your tongue anyhow. If I must add, your fingers are important now in this age of internet. Watch what you write or post as it has likely influence on whether you will become solo or enjoy all the comradeship

Apology

Sorry for break in transmission, our domain host has issue and therefore the site has been off

That personal branding is the way to remain afloat today is no longer a controversy. Individual must remain committed to building a brand he/she will be proud to stand by. Pretence or being a fake today will not help as much. The demand of the time with the advent of social media gives power as well as leverage to everyone to show what they have to offer to their audience.

What we have noticed these days is the way many ‘would be personal branders’ misrepresent their brands without knowing. When an individual is not very careful or do not have a strategy in place,he/she will be doing a great harm to his/her brand. In the course of our job, we have monitored some ‘personal branders’ both at online and offline and our conclusion is that a little act of carelessness or lack of proper understanding of repercussions associated with  their acts have robbed their brands of greater equity.

Every morning it is part of my routine to drop my daughter at school before heading for the office. Along the route today, I noticed traffic was at standstill on a street lane that led to her school, which is very rare. After five minutes on the same spot, I alighted from the car to find out the cause. The scene I saw made me stared at the two people involved. A well dressed, respectable married woman (apparently a middle level executive) was arguing with a company driver driving his boss’s kids to school. Apparently, the road was small and may not be enough for the two cars to go at a time.

The woman in question insisted the driver should reverse for her own car to go. When they could not resolve that, both of them parked their cars on the road and caused a scene. Other road users appealed to the woman not to demean her status through a public and heated argument with ‘ a mere company driver’. But she would not listen. After a while people started to review their stands on the character of the woman because she has an image to protect than the other company driver.

As an individual, my conclusion is, if this woman in question had placed value on her cherished personal brand, she could have behaved otherwise. she has  a lot to lose than gain in this act. The reason is not far fatched, she might not know who is watching and who is meeting her in that situation for the first time. For me she is misrepresenting her brand without knowing. So this story serves as the motivation for this piece. Today wewant to examine ways we may be misrepresenting our personal brands without knowing.

Social media activities: Many create account on social media platforms without a goal, objective or strategy. This informs why many just upload any form of picture, join any group or fan pages or post any kind of content. When you do not know why you are on any platform, it is certain that you will do a lot of damage to your brand. It will have been better not to create accounts at all than to damage what you have laboured for.

Overdependence on hype: personal brand does not rest on a single legged ‘hype’ platform. Personal brand will excel through the combination of expertise and promotion/hype. If a person concentrates on building the hype at the expense of expertise, it is a matter of time before the house will crumble. So never misrepresent your brand by claiming to be what your skills can not handle.

Not dressing the part: It is essential to invest in personal image and outlook. If you are projecting your brand as a high profile one, never go on a television interview appearing like a maid in the house. You never know who will be watching you. Even if you speak the right language, people will still look at your appearance to judge whether you are the right person on not.

Being unmindful of your daily action: Always live your life in a way that will enhance your profile. Fighting with an underdog will smear your name than the name of the other party. Underdogs are looking for cheap popularity and in most cases they win.

Association: the kind of association you keep may help you to gain right perception or make you lose credibility. The only relationship that is forced on us is our parent. We have a choice of any other association.

My conclusion, be loyal to your brand.

Today Nigerians mourn their President. Yar Adua came, saw, did his best and surrendered to death after fighting hard to win the battle.Musa Yar Adua was born about fifty eight years ago to a great family with good reputation.He was one of the privileged Northerners who had great educational background. He had Masters of Science degree in Analytical chemistry in 1980.

 With working experiences spanning  decades in both public and private organizations, Musa Yar became the Governor of katsina state in 1999 and was re-elected in 2003 before contesting for the president and won in 2007. His incumbency as president of Nigeria was initially welcomed as a great departure from non graduates ruling the Nation. Many believe that as a university graduate he would bring a lot of difference to the governance. But most of the associated ‘joy’ with his enthronement was truncated by his battle with chronic kidney disease. Due to the aforementioned, he frequently attended to his personal health. Be that as it may, our concern here is not political issues, but an honest assessment of Musa Yar Adua’s brand. So here is my assessment of Musa Yar Adua’s brand.

 Vision: One of the strongest weapons that make a personal branding journey easy is ability to know the direction of its voyage. Without a good grasp of where you are going, which is premised on self discovery, no personal brand will go anywhere. No one can deny that Brand Yar Adua had vision of where he was going. Unlike many of his mates, he understood the value of education as a weapon that can enhance his brand’s capacity. He strived hard and got a master’s degree in Analytical chemistry

 Strong passion: No brand can go far without strong passion. Despite brand Yar adua’s ailingh health, he has in built passion, determination to excel, pursue his mission and vision to become the best. While many would not dare because of health issues, Brand Yar adua dare to become his best by pursuing a great dream that would place a demand on his abilities.

 Transparency/honesty: honesty and transparency help a brand to enjoy sympathy when it errs. Brand Yar Adua openly declared his asset when he was sworn in as President. Till date he set a record most of Nigerian public office holders are afraid of. With the status of his health, he might have failed his audience as people expected more. Moral commitment to standards were part of his daily lifestyle.

 Commitment to good causes. As a brand, you must have cuases you belive in and pursue with passion. This will help your audience to see the stuff you are made of . It also often allows those who shared in that causes to buy in to your brand. Brand Musa Yar adua believed in justice and fair play. He gave the judiciary free hands to operate and helped enhance professional practise. To an extent, Brand musa Yar adua promised and did his best to stem corruption but much of his effort were not allowed to germinate as his failing health did not give him enough strength to pursue them to a logical conclusion.His commitment to ensure peace in the Niger Delta which endeared him to people in that region was truncated by his constant ill health that did not allow him to finish that assignment

Pursuit of ideas: ideas rule the world is a common cliche. Any brand that will excel must always look for new idea, try new stuff and be ready to make mistakes.Brand Musa Yar Adua may not be scored high here.It seemed to be slow with taking risk and trying out new ideas. The brand wanted to take it time before going ahead. No brand gains visibility by avoiding to take necessary   innovative actions that are essential.

Association: Association plays a key part in what becomes a strong personal brand. A brand is usually weighed by its association. Brand association begins with choice of friends, marriage partner, groups etc. As a professional, I think Brand Musa Yar Adua suffered a bit with some of the associations it connected. My assessment of this is especially focused on when he became the President.I do acknowledge that my opinions are not always final, but I think many of the people around Bran Musa Yar Adua were just go getters who care less of what befell  the brand as long as their egoes are fanned.

This twenty six year old late upcoming Hip Hop artiste was laid to rest on Friday 30th April, 2010. He was such a promising young man with a bright future anyone can think of.He had gone through stuff, his life was a rise from grass to grace. He was favoured also by the creator of universe who helped him.

Given what I read from the Newpapers, he came from a broken and never known what strong family ties meant. Dagrin left home early and hung on to a discovered music talent. He never had opportunity, advantage to pursue education to a level that most people in his age had. He was disciplined enough to give all it would take to excel in music and the universal being was kind enough to crown his efforts with such a resounding success.He also had strong dream.

Dagrin whose real name was Olaonipekun Olaitan was highly creative as exemplified by his work or at least may be he had good advicers and listened. Some people belive he had prophetic unction because he talked about his death even before death came calling. But alas at the time he was supposed to be getting the limelight and settled down dath came calling on this promising star. From Dagrin’s life, I have learnt great lessons that I think our community can also learn from.

Personal Background: Individual’s background plays a key role in what one becomes in life. A healthy and stable background can become a leverage that will stabilize us at every junction of life. That is why parents need to work hard first on themselves so that they can lay a great foundation for their wards.But given this, negative background should not be allowed to dictate the level of our well being. Despite a negative background that was not promising, Dagrin broke through the rank and strived for limelight.

 Education: education is good and it has its own leverage. Formal education prepares individuals and build in capacity to reason differently. But formal education is not all that is, street education and personal learnings can make up. Even though formal eduactions help if one can afford it. Dagrin’s level of educatin did not exceed senior high school. I also understand that the reason he rap in local dialect was his good  grasp of his mother’s tongue over English language. We must learn to improvise on what we have and not what we do have to build strong personal brand.

Dream: Dagrin had dream.To excel in personal barnding journey, a strong dream, aspiration for an achievable end. He made effort and put action into it. Had he lived long enough, we may have seen the achievement of some of his dreams. When you have dreams, you need to avoid distractions on your way. If Dagrin’s track ‘the dream’ is anything to go by, he had a lot of distractions and there was this manifestation of youthful exhuberance.

Talent discovery: To build a strong personal brand, we must discover our talents and work hard on it. Discovery of personal talent will help in making a head way in the journey. Discovery of talent is not enough, we must work hard on it. I understand Dagrin was coming from studio when death snatched him away(?). Work hard on your discovered talents, communicate it, promote it.

Prepare for success: many of us do not understand what success means. Success comes with limelight, fame, money and all the funfare. Success is also like a wild lion, if you do not know how to tame it, it can tear you. Individual on the journey of personal branding needs to develop capacity to manage success especially huge finance. Dagrin was favoured early with success. He worked hard for it though. But whether he prepared for fame before fame showed up at his dooor is left for reasonable people to assess. Is there anyone out there who has learnt lesson from Dagrin’s brand or the guy inspired you? He was just twenty six when he died but many people attended his funeral based on his impact and influence. Though Influence here may mean different thing to different people.Let me read from you, use the comment section.

N.B. I could not make it to the Facebook launch on Friday 30 April,2010 so i may not have update.

Last night I watched glimpse from the ongoing Gulder Ultimate Celebrity Search reality show. This year’s Gulder Ultimate search is a special edition. This is because unlike the other Gulder Ultimate Searches, the ten contestants are celebrities. The names of the celebrities are: Chioma Chukwuka, Emeka Ike, Funke Akindele, Bob Manuel Udokwu, Princess the Comedian, Daddy Showkey, Muma Gee, Darey Art Alade, Weird MC, and Obesere.

This year’s reality show is being anchored by Genevieve Nnaji. In all honesty she is doing a great job based on my assessment of her efforts in the glimpse I watched. Having said that, from the short glimpses I watched, I learnt some lessons in personal branding of these celebrities. From day one of arrival, there seemed to be no hide and seek of what the personalities of these celebrities are made of.

Right from the first night, individual character’s strengths were on display. It  appears some of the ladies are overlay concerned about moralities, protection of virtues of  womanhood. That is not bad anyway, but considering this is a reality show where everyone applies  for inclusion, it is better if individual  show their stuffs and leave whoever wants to be a dissent to show her colour. This desire to teach what is moral, right or wrong has made some of them (three in all) assumed the role of watchdogs. While one of them is still manifesting a bit of youthful exuberance, these three ladies celebs could not fathom such act of ‘waywardness’. They seem to have forgotten that individuals have their patterns of life.

On the male celebs’ side, there is a particular brand that seems to have forgotten that he is not within his command zone. He is showing raw energy with jungle style. He has confronted or ‘accidentally’ slapped a female celeb. In all there have been signs of gossip, demonstration of wits, fun and we have seen the other sides of these celebrity’s personal brands with regards to managing relationship with others.

The lessons I have learnt from the show so far includes.

 Learn to manage projects: our lives are full of projects. We are daily involved in managing projects and as we are out of one, we are entering another. We must also note that each project has a purpose. Ability to identify, determine the purpose of every project will help us set priority that will make us successful or not. Many of them have forgotten this is a project that involves competition. Competition comes with strategy so each must develop a strategy that will make them win.

Place values on each relationship: success today in business or in anywhere is not a one-man show. It has never been and will continue to be so. Each brand must learn to place value on each relationship. This begins with understanding your mission. Each person you meet will either contribute or mar that vision. Therefore it is expedient that they should have identified and place value on each new relationshi they are making in the camp.if every one of them has placed right values on each other as it were and not as it ought to be, there are possibilities that there would have been no back stabbing, gossip especially among the women celebs. One of the participants I watched with interest is Weird Mc. The guy seems to be cool, calm and calculated. He has not shouted on anyone nor engages in any brawl. At least from what we have seen so far. Obesere seems to be getting along too.

In relationships, everyone wants to be listened to. This is another lesson I learnt watching these celebs’ reality show. Some of these celebs want all action to revolve around them. These may not guarantee success. Life never entirely revolves around one person. Seeking unnecessary attention among fellow stars will not guarantee success. In a competition, one must develop his/her strategy in building strong alliances.

Personal Brand strategy development: Most of the celebrities in the show seem not to have a strategy in place. Winning in competition requires strategy development. Personal brand strategy should include what matters at the moment and what counts in the future. It must also include building fairness into your game strategy. How will this affect my image and my relationship after the reality show? Learning to give first is also important. How many of them are presently giving helping hands to another? Are they taking time to observe other competitors in the game? ‘Just being myself’ strategy will fail. There must be consideration for other parties as well as target audience.

Stop carrying extra baggage: This also is vital in personal branding development. Some of these celebrities carry excess baggage of other people’s opinion, attitude, behaviours in the camp. They always allow these supposed bad attitudes of others to affect their performance and actions.

Has anyone watched the show, please let me know what you think. Use the comment section.

Today we have so much about personal branding with regards tos elf promotion. The noise level is so high that people keep saying image is everything or keep faking it till you get it. As much has I acknowledged that these are important, building on image, will not help much if there is no consistent and concerted effort put into building a solid foundation on personal development that will bring utmost value to your audience. 

 I strongly belive there is no substitute for hard work. Hard work on personal branding begins by a strong determination. Individuals must be willing to pay the price for outstanding success by constantly oiling the wheel that will dictate its success. Anyone who is lazy will soon discovere that life gives back what a person invested into it. First  individual must sit down to chart his course and properly understand how to make right move, learn how to handle mistakes, learn from them. It is also expedient that learning to handle rejection, how to build strong relationship for the future is a must. The art of leraning to speak publickly is also essential. Individual will need to communicate, make presentation.My advice today is that individual concentrate on developing their personal brands outside the hype, self promotion. Even though these may be good, personal brand needs a solid foundation of a depth of knowledge that will differentiate you from others.

Promo

In the light of above, I love to bring to our local audience notice a meeting that is being facilitated by a good friend (Utomi Emmanuel), who is the Chief Executive of PersonalityIn, United Kingdom, a certified life coach/ expert, prolific public  speaker that is based  in United kingdom. He is running two seminars on April 17, 2010 at Elephant cement house Alausa Ikeja Lagos. The first shift runs in the morning  and is focused on Personal Progress while the afternoon shift is focused on The Business of public speaking. I understand  early bird get a discount and pay five thousand naira only. For participation send mail to emmautomi@gmail.com

As we approach the weekend, many will say thank God is Friday while few will embrace the opportunity to work harder on their own brand. The truth is that your personal branding is what lives with you for the rest of your life after you have worked on your 24/7 paid job. Also given what Zig ziglar says “The most influential person who will talk to you all day is you, so you should be very careful about what you say to you”. There is a need for individual to supercharge his/her personal brand irrespective of what the economy or situations around them are saying. At the end you will take responsibility for either personal success or failure. To continuously care so much about what other people are saying about you is to give external people charge  over your life.

I am of the opinion that if a man constantly considers what other people says to determine his action, he will fail without warnings. To supercharge your personal brand, you may need to ask why am I doing what I am doing now? Is it to join the bandwagon or to fulfill a planned objective? That others are doing great is not a reason to kill your own small achievement. Inch by inch progress is made. Ensure you continuously drive towards your own goal.

 Plan to live your life with right principles that will aid your life’s goal achievement. Stop the blame game. It has not taken any one to a better height. It limits the power of human energy and life forces. Looking at the Jones to draw your life’s chart will fail you. To supercharge your brand, you may need a good dose of optimism despite the present challenges you face. Stop accepting what is for what could be. Keep driving while the storm rages, you are only permitted to look back only when you have weathered the storm. That is to look at those who allow the storm to kill their spirits. You will be glad you did not stop in the midst of the storm.

 Keep refreshing your  mind. Keep your information consumption high. Many will not. They have forgotten that when they finished school in 1980. Perhaps if you have been a laggard here, it is never late. Start now, there is still miles to cross with accompany glory. If you do not make an attempt you will miss the rest crowns.

Let me conclude this piece with what an online writer says ‘ Dare to be individual, Dare to develop your own style – instead of following fashion, Dare to study and work to improve yourself in your profession, Dare to have a positive mental attitude and the courage to try. In other words: Dare to take a chance’. This is my thought today.

Increasingly the numbers of job cuts are still in the high side. Downsizing, rightsizing is still the buzz word especially in the banking industry in our environment. I also understand that many who still lay claim to a job are working  under the fear that it may soon become their turns. When it is not new that their salaries have been sliced. With this trend, I also noticed that a few are still changing and getting better attraction in terms of new job opportunities.

As an individual, we all have a dream job. It may be a job we want to start or a new place to work as an employee. For those who want to work for themselves, I will do another piece but for now my focus is on those who want to get a new offer. The followings are my thoughts for anyone who wants to move to a desired job.

1. Be a hard worker: No one will recommend a lazy guy. What I have noticed is that people watch us even if we do not know. So you need to constantly put in your best in anything you do. Many have gotten recommendation to bigger and better job because they have been extra ordinarily committed to a voluntary service, small or dirty jobs.

2. Develop expertise/Sharpen your skill: academic success today may no longer guarantee success again. Add relevant skills to your kitty. Do not just stay with your industry skills; build strong skills that will aid your relevance and multi tasking purposes.

3. Network, Network, and Network: standing alone today may not help much. Even if you think you have great job now and you may not need anyone anymore. Never forget African adage that say ‘because a soothsayer does not have  a clear of view of tomorrow  propels/makes  him to consult his oracle every five, five days’. That you are a reigning champion today does not mean you will always be there tomorrow. I have seen this happened before. Most big names of yesterdays are fading away. Always connect, especially with younger generation. Even if you do not need job, you may need a little bit of information around. If you keep snubbing everyone today, you may bite your fingers tomorrow.

4. Use social media to your advantage: Social media now provides a better platform to showcase your skill. Only that you need to know how to do it properly. Someone somewhere may be monitoring you and may also have a future place in mind where you can fit in. Do not destroy your chances with platform abuse, using ‘F’ words, posting nude pictures etc.

5. Volunteer: there are many opportunities that will use your expertise today. Become a member of professional organization; join a committee in your religious and local communities, become an intern in your desired company. Use the skills you have to promote your environment. These will position you in the mind of those who will need the service in the future.

6. Be prepared to self promote: have an elevator speech that clearly demonstrate your relevance, differentiation.

7. Alumni association: Great things are happening in Alumni groups. Never be too far from your old friends and colleagues. I recently become active in mine not because I need a job, but great things happen in such association over time.

8. Be enthusiastic, optimistic: whatever you do, wherever you are, you will always need to add these to your kitty. No one wants someone who allows circumstances to dictate what propels them. Even if you have just lost a job, that is not the end of life. Better days are still ahead. Keep a smiling face always.

9. Always maintain your database: Many forget their links immediately they get a job. That is wrong. Keep the relationship solid. Call up your friends, send mails. Always remain in their radar; they may have information that will help you become better.

10. Stay refreshed: stop the complaining; keep refreshing your resume with little achievement as a volunteer. That is part of your experience. Did you help write a letter that save someone a fortune, document it in the resume. You do not have to be in 24/7 employment to gain experience. Has anyone given you a feedback on what you have done? Write that inside your testimonials and feedbacks. The day of resume based on 24/7 work is gone. It is a new day of accomplishments. Also read up materials to stay fresh.

You may need to constantly check what your market value is in case you need to change a new job.

I just took time to read the last edition of Dan Shawbel’s Personal Branding magazine. The cover story actually drew my attention. I am a great fan of Seth Godin because he has achieved what I am trying to achieve despite all the odd in my environment. Most African nations have not come to appreciate knowledge acquisition neither is reading culture part of us. The low levels of infrastructures that will support acquiring knowledge outside the school especially on the internet have not driven enough people to hook up to the net. This statement does not mean I do not value my heritage as I see improvement, but unlike the western world, we are still not there. So anyone with knowledge to share here has to work harder to be noticed.

That is the reason why this interview with Seth Godin really got my attention. Seth defines emotional labor factor as the act of bringing emotion, goodwill and a smile to a situation you do not necessary feel like being in. It is also the acts of giving speech even though you are afraid, and smiling, shaking someone’s hand even though they are shy. For me this is the pointer to success under whatever climate one finds himself while pursuing a goal that is worthwhile. I do believe personal branding project that will excel must be willing to incorporate emotional labor factor to its physical labor. I know most people do not want to blog here because they feel they are not getting enough traffic. I keep saying people here should check the track record of frontline influencers like Seth Godin and many others. Not many of them are overnight success. So there is need to use emotional labor factor to remain afloat. When a person embrace emotional labor factor to his physical labor, he/she will be compensated along the line. I have decided to stick to this.

People should understand today that many live on the receivers’ lane. Especially here. Many want every meal presented to them as a free lunch. The guy who continuously, consistently prepares the meal will one day hit the gold even though he may appear foolish today.  Why did we Africans lose so many discoveries that our fore father made? It was hoarded, never shared? The new age of emotional labor factor is for intending influencers to keep striving for more to share here. In the next five years or more, the equation will have changed.  With emotional labor, a personal brand can make a lot of difference. It can achieve more as a ‘go to person’ than a receiver will. With emotional labor factor, a personal brand will work his ‘ass out’ and crave for more to share even though there is no immediate gratification in view. With the use of emotional labor factor, an individual will step out of the comfort zone; jettison every excuse to drop his thirst for acquisition of knowledge, quality content and sharing that is not immediately valued by audience.

There is a major benefit in embracing the emotional labor factor, the individual’s paradigm usually shift for better. There is no guarantee that he/she would not have made mistakes, been criticized, misunderstood in the process, but what is certain is that such personal brands will eventually be rewarded for making an impact in his/her world. In conclusion, thank you Seth Godin for being such a tremendous influence and let someone out there let him know I heart him, and crave  to share a lunch with him for being a great inspiration.

Silence is golden is an age long cliché. I used to be a fan of this and I am still in love with it. But the events that are unfolding today require that a re examination of what used to be valid truths now require modifications or changes.

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?