No one wishes to fail. But our actions or inactions will point to which direction we are all heading. Brand uniqueness guarantees profitability and success. The success of any personal brand is hinge on determination, persistence, strategy, communication with extra commitment to the commitment. Personal Branding is a journey not a destination. As you move along, you evolve the You and discover more of your innate ability that can strengthen the forces in you that makes you stand out. For any engine to function at the right speed, the driver must note the capacity of the engine, understand its shortcomings as well as follow the manufacturer’s instruction to detail. We are all individually wired to stand out in something. Personal discovery of the uniqueness must be followed with designing of the way to go while communication of the designed journey is essential. Effective monitoring and adherence to the journey chart will lead to success. Brand failure is dependent on how well You understand the following factors as well as their contributions to Personal Brand’s well being in the market place.

1. Innovation: Being original, advancing and improving your niche will go a long way to help your standing or failure on the journey. Your personal brand must aim to meet new expectation. There is a need to look at issues from different perspectives.

2. Creating true value: in addition to the above, inability to create value can lead to personal brand’s failure. Creating value starts with an incursion into insights that drive human motivation.

3. Ingredients: Every great soup has ingredients that are mixed together in a proportion that will enhance the final product. Having all the ingredients do not mean different cooks will get the same result. Each ingredient must be used not according to quantity or availability but according to the specification. Do you know what you need to guide against brand You failure, do you have all of them or do you need an expert to guide and give you instruction? If you are in doubt, be ready to attend the forthcoming Personal branding and corporate success seminar holding in Lagos Nigeria on April 17-18, 2009. for participation call 234 07029778785

Editor’s comment: The piece below is a guest post by one of our blog community-Kinglsley obom-Egbulem. This is based on his true experience. The opinion expressed here are his. Happy reading.

There was this new comedy  show on television a couple of months ago. It’s actually a television commercial-the Stanbic IBTC Bank television commercial announcing their take off after the merger. The TV commercial features the main male model washing his face in the bathroom, someone close by anticipates his need for a towel and reaches out to him with one. The same guy steps out of his house and he is closely followed by another guy( obviously personifying Stanbic IBTC Bank) .

 Soon he is driving and while he is driving, this guy (Stanbic IBTC) appears behind his car, seats on the booth while he drives on. Suddenly, every other person is driving with someone behind their car, as a matter of fact, sitting on the booth of their car. By the time the first guy retires to his bed at the end of the day, someone moves into his room, watching while he is asleep. He wakes up, a surprise look on his face and soon he heaves a sigh and then a smile as he discovers it was STANBIC IBTC Bank still watching over him.

 What an effort! An intriguing concept no doubt! For me, that was circus -pure and simple. Of course, that also depends on where you stand when it comes to consuming TV commercials that simply says what it obviously doesn’t mean or do. For God’s sake, how can a bank say they are with you (or will be with you) even when you are asleep? Perhaps the intention is to drive home the fact that they are always there for you. But is that the true picture you get whenever you need your bank or any bank for that matter?

Considering the gap between reality and the Eldorado painted in most bank advertisements, one can only wonder why the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria(APCON) are not making sure such cosmetic claims in bank ads are expunged before being broadcast  to Nigerians. Why would a bank pay millions of naira to a company that will fly models and production crew to South Africa for instance, to shoot an amazing TV commercial just to tell people blatant lies about what they are not doing? The sad thing is they even get awards for this creative deception and nobody has ever bothered to interrogate such anomaly. For those wondering what the point of this article is, please simply watch TV commercials of most banks and see if you can connect with the brand promises or even the claims in the advertisement. For the purpose of comparison, when you hear or see a commercial from a fast food brand, the main element of the message is “come to our outlet, buy our meals and eat it, you will love it, it is hot and delicious”, and so on.

 To test the viability of this promise, you only need to visit the fast food outlet and a trial will convince you( that is, if  it doesn’t confuse you.) Until recently, when most brands decided to join the “brandwagon” of  those opting for motivational advertisements and all forms of campaigns aimed at addressing the human desire to achieve, succeed, dare and so on, advertisement  of banks have always addressed desirable  albeit abstract offers.

 What do you stand to benefit from a “Big Strong and Reliable” bank when it’s strength and size cannot move you from penury as its adverts seems to suggest? How reliable is the “reliability” mantra to an ordinary customer in need of credit to finance a project and with no collateral? We all know one bank that claims to be producing a population of “happy customers.” Many of these so called happy customers have complained about this banks “slow progress” in handling inter-bank transactions especially if your bank balance is not too “flabberwhelming”. Yet they continually deceive themselves and incense their customers with their slogan. Well, they do promos and give out cars, generators and other gifts. I guess that will make winning customers happy indeed.

 Recently there was a funny drama in my office. After several months of dormancy, our bank account recorded some activities that stirred our bankers into sending one of their guys after us. The guy who is supposed to be our account officer walked into our office with  grins and wanted to know how his bank can be of assistance. Our banker also has some of these deceptive commercials where they give the impression that they are there to turn your business ideas into reality. If this bank truly lives what its advertisements say, it should have come to ask us “how may we be of assistance” when there was lull  in our account. But like most banks in Nigeria ,they have no space for a struggling customer. All the claims of “we will help you succeed”, we are there with you, all the time”, only begins and ends with the commercial. It’s a different world when you really need them to stand by you.

 We confronted our account officer with this sad reality and unchecked deception. He said  the major obstacle banks in Nigeria have had to grapple with in translating their promises into reality is the dearth of trustworthy people. “My brother, whenever you extend facilities to any customer, you do so at your own risk, put your job and sometimes your life on the line. I’ve got my fingers burnt several times for daring to finance one LPO or the other”. This is a big challenge and a dire situation for budding entrepreneurs as it is not certain how many banks have crystal balls that will afford them a peep into the future so as to know who among those applying for loans will or will not default.

 Until when banks can actually sort out this mystery puzzle, one thing to do is vet their ads and ensure it doesn’t offer false hope. Such as one commercial currently running on TV which depicts several customers frowning into a banking hall only to come out with smiles seconds later.  That is far from reality. Everyone knows that you only come out of a bank with smiles when you are cashing a cheque, collecting money sent to you via money transfer or confirming payment of an expected money from a transaction with a client or customer. In all of these, the bank  plays its role of facilitating payment and transactions between the parties involved and it is not for free.

Perhaps ,their adverts should be specific about such roles and not try to create an impression of what they seldom do. In an era where advertising  is gradually losing its capacity to build brands and being perceived by many as pure entertainment, it would be akin to adding salt to injury if banks in their  advertisements  continue to make promises which they are struggling to fulfill. It really pays to keep it real, else they start sounding like Commissioners of Police who read riot acts to armed robbers whenever they report for duty in their new state while robbers are having a field day 50meters away from where they are speaking.   There is no wisdom in making splendid promises when you are not in control of variable  factors that will engender their fulfillment.  

Kingsley Obom-Egbulem is a social entrepreneur, a brand  and communication specialists.

Reputation has to do with standing, status, repute and character. Every brand must embrace the truth in the saying that says “learn from yesterday, live today and strategize and hope for tomorrow’. Reputation like integrity is a social capital that can be spent tomorrow and especially during recession. But it seems many brands here do not care about such stuff as long as long as they make their money and enjoy patronage. They care less about the fate of their target that spends millions on them weekly.

Interestingly, google is not sleeping. Google is a good information keeper. Google never forget. Google is a good Librarian who keeps information for ages. One day the information can be recalled and used. I am not sure many brands-corporate, personal –are aware of this. If they do they will watch against what is being said about them and protect their hard earned social capital. Today, major brands have not learnt from yesterday in our clime. An issue like ‘DELL HELL’ is still fresh in the mind of that great corporation. A casual neglect of a supposed ‘mere insignificant’ mentioned of DELL Corporation activities sparked a destructive fire for that corporation- I hear someone says ‘that is where internet is king and consumers’ rights are protected’.

A major telecom here associated with YHell may also be going towards seeing hell because of their online reputation. There are about two hackers’ websites that are associated with its game show and their brand management team seems not to care a hoot despite the fact that we have alerted them. One expects they will make this known publicly to their valued customers. They did replied our mail but beyond that we have not seen advert to warn many unsuspecting publics that may fall prey. These set of people may put their experiences online and that may spark a fire.

Based on the above story, I have decided to raise brand owners awareness on  how to manage their brands’ reputation at the two major platforms we have now.

1. Physical Space reputation management: This has to do with every platform that anyone can feel, see, and touch etc. This include logo on a paper, car, stationery items, business cards, press releases, advert, magazines, cars, office environment, internal brand’s attitude etc. Proper or inadequate management of this platform may either affect brand’s reputation in the mind of the target audience.

2. Cyber, online space reputation management: Many brands have continued to ignore what is done on the cyber platform because they feel we are not there yet. Interestingly the few that are online are talking, interacting in forums, social media, online ‘think tank’, websites, blogs etc. We have noticed few hackers’ websites that are purported to be owned by the major brands which exist on the cyber space now. Yet these major brands could not detect them early until someone alerts them. Today there are basic internet software that can be used to track mere mention of the brand’s name on the net not to now talk of having a website that carry the brand’s name, logo, disclaimer notice among others. This software can be operated by a designated employee who works as a community manager. This allows easy and early detection. This we have noted in some of our earlier posts.

Does your brand care about its reputation? Are your employees empowered to enhance your brand’s reputation? If you can not answer these questions in affirmative, send your internal brands to PERSONAL BRANDING AND CORPORATE SUCCESS SEMINAR holding in Lagos Nigeria in April 17-18, 2009. For enquiries send text, cal or mail -07029778785, info@michaelsage.org, tunde@michaelsage.org

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Social media has become part of us. No one will deny the fact that social media can be addictive too. Because it has become a veritable weapon to connect and gain visibility for brands: personal, corporate, product.In this new age of personal branding, one of the best tools to craft personal visibility and niche is to embrace social media platforms. Like we know, social media offers the best template to connect an individual with the right people in his niche as long as the individual is willing to give and not out take advantage of others. Most popular and influential people in the world have accounts as well as fans club within different social media available.

As much as these appeals are there for individuals, there is other side of the social media that brands must take notice off. Even though social media have the advantage of enhancing personal brand’s visibility, there is this subtle side of sending a negative image if care is not taken. Many of us sign in or open accounts in most of these social media without considering the implications and responsibilities. As long as it gives the visibility it requires, thoughts are not given to the fact that each is a platform to build relationship through constant connection and sharing. What we have noticed is that many of the accounts we open in most of these sites are dormant for months and some for years. Few of the accounts opened are maintained, lubricated, and oiled. These have damaged the essence of the connection it is supposed to maintain. What this attitude show is that we care less and the individual personal brand involve is just using the medium to gain visibility and nothing more. Most of us forget that the creators of these social media platforms have a need before creating such media.

Well we may argue that many of these abandoned social media platforms do not manage their brands well, but the fact is that we must take responsibility to help them in as much as we can open our account. The other angle to the argument is that we do not have time to maintain the accounts because we are in many places. Will it not be right to concentrate on those media we have time for and which we think offer us the value for our time. When I open an account on a social medial and I try to connect with any individual, I try as much as possible to check the last time the individual visited his/her account in the medium. For me it shows the levels of value anyone who has not visited his account for over six months will offer. That may also affect my perception of the brand.

To get the best of social media I think we should consider the followings when opening an account with any of them:

1. What value will this platform offers me and what are the demands of my signing in?

2. Will this platform connects me with my niche market and right kind of people I want to be associated will?

3. If a recruitment agency finds my profile here, what kind of impression will they form about me?

4. Will I have the time to pay my dues in time of constant request, connection that other members of the platform will ask me?

5. What kind of relationship can I build here?

6. Will I be proud to tell other people my profile, account is in that platform?

7. What will this platform do to my personal brand?

Often, I get called to offer platforms that can help brands to differentiate. Differentiation is the beginning of a long term relationship with a brand. Differentiation is very critical in today’s world. Brand either differentiates or dies. Brand differentiation gives your brand a long term value. Lack of differentiation makes the brand a commodity. Commodity competes on price and has no value. Lack of differentiation can mar your brand. In response to this request I will be offering the following avenues, even though they are what we call the hygiene factors of differentiation, but I still believe it can help.

1. Innovation: this has to do with what difference you are bringing to the market. The good news is that every form is still in its progressive stage, so with a little innovation, your differentiating factor can become pronounced.

2. Memorable service: is there any difference in service methods, pattern that is already known. Offering memorable service can help your brand differentiation. This is a clue to quick service restaurants. Audience is being taken for granted in most of these providers.

3. Customer service level: how are your customers being treated at the point of contact and any other avenues they have with you?

4. Better offering: do you have a superior offering than what is available in the industry. You do not need to brag here. Check facts and data available to before making frivolous claims.

5. Time dimension: What is the time lag between when an order is placed and when it is delivered? This can help your differentiation too. FedEx prides itself in “overnight delivery’.

6. Brand environment: This has to do with locations and other associated imagery around your brand. For brand you, what kind of pen do you carry, your mobile phone, and the car you ride etc? For corporate brands, office locations and the interior counts. Remember, it is differentiate or die world.

People believe that hard skills are enough to guarantee their continuous stay on their jobs. But we all know today that they only get you a foot at the door. After your employment other factors contribute to whether you will be a choice employee or a manageable nuisance.

Let   us examine  few other points that affect employees branding at the work place.

1. Table manners: There is a rule of etiquette that guides individual behaviors at the table. The earlier individuals familiarize themselves with it the better.There will be openings at the top for some employees this New year. But some will miss this great opportunity because they are still operating in 1958 table behaviors. As we make progress in our careers, ability to blend with the top executives at the table will count. I must confess that I am still learning the rope, perfecting my acts here.

2. Company events: In addition to the above, every company event is a testing ground for likely selection of top executives. End of the year party must be attended with a lot of caution and putting your arsenals up. Do not over drink because there are plenty of wines-for those who drink. Do not rush for food. Take time to eat at home. There is no off- record behaviors. Some body may be watching your step.  

3. Marriage is a public event: Marriage is not just a private affair as most of us think. It is a public affair and it may color your brand if it is not properly managed. Do not marry someone who will give you trouble. For those who are married, work on what you have and ensure this does not affect your productivity at work. It is also a great idea for subordinates to love the spouses and kids of their bosses. I mean those bosses that cherish the family. This you will know in the way they talk about their families. But please do not poke nose if your boss does not talk about his/her family. All you can do is ask about the family’s welfare.

4. Meeting management: know how to manage meetings very well. Do not call meetings for meeting sakes. As junior officers; meetings may still be a great leveling ground to build your brand. Give meaningful contributions and keep quiet. Never use meetings to settle scores. You will damage your brand. It gives room for suspicion in future contributions that you intend to make.

5. Executive and Royalty management: as we grow in the company, certain positions come with a level of royalty treatments. Everyone will give you reference as well as desires to satisfy your wishes. Beware; corporate politics may be in the game of their reference. Never surround yourself with those who always praise you and can not criticize anything you do. Be accountable to trusted ones who can face you and call you bluff when you misfire.

6. Be ready for attacks: no one gets to the top without being noticed. A golden fish has no place to hide. Be very careful of what you do or say as the press may misquote you. Even some of your colleagues may be looking for opportunities to attack you. I see you moving forward on your ladder of career success.

It’s amazing to see people chase the shadow. The only thing such individuals get at the end is that they do not get anything or what is the value of a shadow? In pursuit of any project in life, the focus needs to be known from inception. This write –up has become necessary by a recurrent question I am asked as expert. It is ‘why I am not getting it right?’

Getting your personal brand right is not a one day job. Does an individual grow to become a man in a day? The simple truth is that many pursue perfection at the expense of progress. Perfection is often an illusion for many. This wastes time and make many dysfunctional. I encourage that individual set up a goal for his personal branding project. When this is done, with little progress you get better each day. You have an antecedent that can boost your morale to continue.

An instant demand for perfection makes one stay on the same stop, place for years. Here are helpful tips.

1. Vision: have a vision of where you are going, act and stick to it no matter what.

2. Note your asset: No one goes far without proper SWOT analysis. Know what you can achieve with what is available.

 3. Strategy: develop strategy to get to where you are going. Develop long time goal with daily action steps.

4. Leadership: Take responsibility for your action and achievement of your life

5. Measure: always have a parameter to measure little achievement. That gives courage to continue.

6. Teamwork: Collaborate, network, seek counsel, and ask for help when necessary.Toast to a great personal brand.