Many brand owners, drivers often overlook a critical point that can help in making their strategies work. Because of this many brand investments often fail to achieve purpose. This may not be attributed to the veracity of the brand’s strategy but an oversight by the strategists.

In a recent article by Chris Helle, Chris maintained ‘the vast majority of consumer brands fall into the small to mid-sized category. Far too often, they always try to act big- by using big branding formula adopted by leading brands-which is basically use of mass media campaign that gulps their little reserves. Many of these mega brands have wasted resources. Most brands strategy will work when they follow their real opportunity through connecting with target market which may of course be smaller but being a group of highly engaged, motivated customer. For most brand strategies to work out without fail, such must be developed, built, adapted as well as constructed around the daily lives of the target.

We must also remember that a focused strategy that has taken into consideration brand promise and the target daily behavioral tendencies will excel better. Never forget that leading brands do not get to the top overnight. Not that alone, using, allocating big budget to advertising does not always guarantee success. Many of the mega brands often bite their fingers because of lack of proper planning and execution.

Any brand strategy must understands language spoken and the medium it audience uses to make substantial progress. It must reach them with right vocabulary in all brand campaign. There is no need of speaking jaw-breaking grammar to nursery kids. This is what many brand strategists do when crafting a brand position. Brand strategy and positioning that will work must speak directly to the target. Guess we will think about this today.Or do you have a contrary opinion? Please drop your comments.

Quite an age. It is has been close to two weeks of silence. Sure many of our community members out there would be wondering what happened. So sorry about that. I have being working on something and trying to find out a better way to help our community. When that is finalized, we will communicate that to the world. There is no need trying to define what branding is. Sure we should know that off hand by now. Just by recap, I will say it is everything that constitutes the whole. No part can be caught off. Every part of human physiology is important no matter how small or insignificant it may appear. Without the part, human physique will not be in shape.

Recently someone asked me if I were to zero branding to two parts, what will those two parts be? As someone who is passionate about making life simple for people, I thought about that and today’s piece summarizes my own opinion of what that two edge sword of branding will be. Like I always say, I do not claim to know it all neither do I say I am the final authority, but here are my opinion of what two parts branding focus will be.

1. Differentiation: When all is said and done, branding will begin with uniqueness, individual or corporate face in the niche. What makes the brand different from the pack. That answers why should I spend my money on your brand or why should I be associated with you. It talks about the brand values, what make s the brand stand out in the crowd. It goes further to make the brand stick to the mind or memory of the niche. It symbolizes what the brand does in a different and unique way that will enhance great perception and emotional to the brand market segment.

2. Marketing: The second point which constitutes the other edge of branding sword is marketing. Differentiation without communication and strategist of getting recognized, revenue from such activities will make the brand close shop within few months. It is making your differentiation to meet valuable needs that will satisfy a particular yawning of the niche. Like we know, this start with planning, strategy, communication, maintenance, management. A differentiated product, service that is not communicated is like a man winking at a damsel in the dark. That is sheer wasting of valuable time. No one gains anything, efforts are frustrated and no tangible results are achieved. Like we know a sword is useful only when it is sharpened. It does its owner no good if the edges are dull. The owners will have to exert unnecessary energy without results. So if these two-edges of branding are sharpened, the following will be rewards to its owner. First it will generate patronage, robust referrals or network depending on which brand we are talking about. This is sure to boost revenue of the brand. Also, in addition to the above, the brand will have a lot of positive endorsements, testimonial among the premium clients that can pay. It gives the brand a strong position in the mind of the niche as a result of popular perceived endorsement and track records. Lastly, it helps in brand’s diversification as well as personal skill management.

In the course of dealings with individuals in the area of personal and executive branding, I have noticed a flow of thought prevalent among many. People need a quick fix it answers. A tip of a sort. A wheel that one can swing in minutes and get result. My response to that is that there is nothing like overnight success. Every overnight success takes nights to birth. No half-hearted effort can supply great results. I draw a parallel that even HIV does not become a full blown AIDS in a day.

So if an individual really mean to promote his/her personal brand and excel in this, the followings will be worth considering.

1. Distribute value: do you have a unique value, plan to distribute this as much as possible. Never odd the value that you have. Personal branding is not all about you. It is about others who buy your unique value.

2. Focus your skills and promote yourself as a go-to-person: Do not sow your skills in a haphazard manner. Be versatile and yet focused. When you over-stretched yourself in different directions, there is a possibility of brand position coloring and people will not know where you actually belong.

3. Treat your brand like a corporate brand: You may not be Nike, chevron, Oando, Cadbury, but find out what they are doing ethically and apply most of these principles to your personal brand.

4. To be remembered, be noteworthy: Many voices are out there trying to impress others. Identify your uniqueness and manifest this in your own way that will make people remember you. Manage the impression well also.

5. Get a personal website/url: No brand can be out rightly successful without a web presence today. A local brand can in some cases though. Take your brand to the global arena. Go to the village square. The World Wide Web is now the new village square.

6. Record positive events, interactions, feedbacks: Some may feel this is arrogance when they document their achievements for others to see. That is also equal to arrogance to some. There is no evil in this if you know how to do it well without attracting negative comments.

7. Measure and implement: constantly measure your personal results, get feedbacks and act on them no matter how much of your ego is affected

Not quite long,I read a recent Harvard Business review which discusses strategy. The article got my whole attention and part of what I learnt is what I shared with you here today. I do think if you have anything to do with idea development or strategy, it will be a good read. In a previous article I have tried to discuss strategy. I did explain that strategy is seen as a plan, pattern, position, ploy and perspective among many other terms. As position, strategy is the stance you take. It is broad and long-ranged. In part it is the preparations made before battle and sometimes it is avoiding the battle at as a whole. But here our discussion is not basically about strategy but a shaping strategy. In a way, every strategy can be viewed as shaping strategy. But shaping strategy focuses on dictating the trend of the market. A shaping strategy is no less than an effort to broadly redefine the terms of competition for a market sector through positive, galvanizing messages that promise benefits to all who adopt the new terms. For instance, Google entrance into telecoms spaces has changed the phase of competitive landscapes from AT&t, Verizon and others.

Shaping strategy is far from just a fantastic coinage of brand’s personality or slogans. It is more of engaging in steps that are built on deep structure. This process is often helped by enabling and powerful infrastructure that enhances brand’s performance and reduces risk exposure.

To benefit from shaping strategy, brand must:

1. Define focus for participating companies: as soon as a brand sets out on the journey of shaping industry focus, it must be ready to define a focus for those who will soon join in the race.

2. Identify opportunities: Before any brand can engage in shaping industry strategy, it must first identify opportunities and ensure that efforts will be compensation through the opportunities that are available.

3. Emphasize big picture: the purpose of any shaping strategy is to emphasis the big picture in the whole process. This has to do with what is the long term value of the strategy and opportunity

4. Change mindset, strong imagination: the question is does your brand feel a strange desire for a positive change in the status quo? Does the brand has a strong imagination for a better way to make the market/industry better? Then there is room to engage in shaping strategy.

Personal assitant/Executive Assistant evolved over the years as result of pressure on senior executive and the need to have someone who can help them solves other important details that they may not have time for. At the beginning, what is today called Executive/Personal  assiatnt is called Confidential secretary among other names.The role they played then was to help type document, keep some documents secret, manage people and the bosses’ itinerary. As time progresses, the role of a Personal Personal Assistant/Executive changed with greater demand for knowledges of activities like scheduling, task and project managements among others. Greater qualifications are now being demanded from an individual who want to fill this role. As long as we still still have executives, the job will remain but at a greater degree. It takes a choice person to get the best in this job. Particularly with the advent of Persaonal digital assiatants/phones. It is easier for executives to schedule their meetings with the assitant of a PDA now. So if all an individual knows is just scheduling, his job is already on the line.This has informed the need to have a strong personal brand as a differentiating factor.So lets examine what counts for a Personal Assistant.

1.Trust,High Integrity: Because a Personal Assistant will have access to clasified information of the senior executive, it is important that the brand You of a personal assistant have a greater dose of Trust. Once again, trust is relaibility and Dependability. If this social capital account is in red, the PA is already out of the job.

2.Excellent People management skill: The role of executive assistant is like the role of chief-of-staff.He must know how to manage internal staff as well as external audience well. Many will insist on seeing the executive because they were old classmates before meanwhile they may not have an appointment. Ability to be diplomatic with such people is important. Many may even claim you are hoarding the executive.

3.Social intelligence: this has become the greatest intelligence that is now required today.Senior executive always attend parties, functions, get together among others. Part of the job duties of PA is to accompany the executive, manage the event to the advantage of the executive so that the image of the executive does not become dented; social intelligience, public relations skill will be required to handle all these so get it by all means.

4.Presence: this has to do with dress sense. Working with top executive demands that you dress for the office. Even if you do not like glamorous lifestyle, your jobs demands that you dress for the position. But if I may add caution here for ladies in this profession, avoid dressing to kill, you will end up in many beds or you may lose the job if you mainatain a ‘no’ stance. One can dress well without unnecessary exposure.Get wisdom to know what is right.

5.Computer skill, correspondence management: For some, their jobs will require preparing presentations for their bossess, this is where a great knowledge of computer skills and corresspondence management will work for your brand. Being a ‘pro’ in managing meetins, organizing will be good for your brand.

6.Constituency relations: The executive always have large constituency. Personal assistants must be able to screen information, liason with several associations, units.

#The other points will be featured in my soon to be released free e-book “Personal Branding For First class Professionals”.

To establish a premium brand-personal or corporate-in any niche is not an easy job but it is achievable. The first thing to do is to match delivery of expectation beyond what is available as well as manage the experience exceptionally. Consistency is also important. Consistency does not imply rigid attachment to old ways that are not working in today’s environment. There is an urgent need to ‘play it as it lays’ while playing the consistency game.

However, when all is said and done, being the first in audience mind always get twice the long-term attention than number two.

Al Ries suggests –I have added my thoughts also- the followings factors that may guarantee premium value brand.

1. Define your target audience: From onset, define your target audience that your brand will help, serve. Please note the words used: serve and help. If the brand is not ready to serve or help a particular audience-in this regard premium- the brand is already on its way to the gallows.

2. Establish high price value and be ready to walk away: when you have identified the target market, you must establish your premium price and be ready to walk away. The logic is not only on the price but on the value, creating something that the target audience will be willing to pay such premium for.

3. Have a valid highly ‘emotional’ brand story: The brand story must be so compelling and value laden that individuals feel associating with the brand is the best thing that can happen to them.

4. Be in the category where audience will be receptive: A premium brand is not out to serve everyone. Marketing activities of premium brands are not also directed to every jack and jerry. It is focused on those who can afford it. Particularly those who are not very price sensitive but value-driven. I remembered some years ago while I was sharing with a friend why I would not buy a particular kind of auto. My major reason was its level of fuel efficiency. The reply I got set me thinking. He said ‘I never thought along that line as long as the auto can satisfy my curiosity, needs, I will go for it’. Unlike me, as long as he could afford it, he goes for anything.

5. Have the perceived value: perceive value is important in premium brand. You may not have to be the best, exceptionally good; all that your target audience needs is that you have a perceived higher value delivery than the average brands in the market or in your niche. What do you think of Jaguar, Lexus, Richard Bradson, Oprah Winfrey and Queen Lateefat etc.

Please do remember ‘premiumship’ is not a game for the boys, otherwise they may starve to death. So get your game plan right.

As brand owners or the brand itself (Personal Branding), it should be a concern to us to build a lasting brand that does not fizzle out before its time. In Africa, very few corporate brands have crossed the two hundred years of existence. Meanwhile, we have up to seven hundred years corporate brands in western world.

This has usually being a source of concern to me as an individual and that is one of the reasons for the creation of this webblog.

I do strongly agree with Charles Darwin’s position when he wrote ‘it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but one most responsible to change’. Charles made some salient points about what determines the survival of any brand. The key words he mentioned were responsiveness to change.

Few brands that have survived hundreds of year are not rigid in approach to issues neither are they strongly attached or controlled by the family of the founders alone. Some of the factors that made age-long brands last are discussed below.

1. Financial conservativeness: most of them are very prudent in the use of financial resources. Decisions on what to spend on what are not at the caprices of few who spend at will just to show off. But financial decisions are based on sound, proven ethics.

2. Sensitivity to the environment: they have their arsenals, radars positioned to comb the environments 24/7.They also act as fast as possible to the feedbacks gotten from environmental monitoring.

3. Strong identity awareness and promotion: every brand has an identity or cultural values in terms of location, culture and their visuals. Most use this to their advantage and promote their traditional values, culture everywhere.  

4. Vulnerable/tolerance of new ideas: Build to last brands are always open to new ideas. They are not afraid of taking calculated risks.

5. Value people: People are the major assets of any build to last brands. So it is not uncommon for some of their staffs to have become part owners of the business. Strong system or not, they are ‘raiser and not users’ of men.

6. Learning culture: Build to last brands place premium on improving the skills of their people. They do not fire people who are good but who made a mistake of judgment once.

Let us weigh our brands’ behavior against these parameter and we can determine the future of the brands with what score we get.

Today, I interviewed number one personal branding expert, blogger, writer, author, podcaster in the world who has larger than life followings. It is amazing how this young man of 25 achieve these. Dan Schawbel says anyone can achieve this feat as well as revealed what makes him an icon in this niche. Dan says ‘passion, creativity, uncommon dedication makes it happen for him. Below is our conversation.

Dan, you have become a phenomenon through your blog, how did this happen within two years as a blogger?

It was a combination of passion, hard work, creativity, focus, luck, community and taking a niche topic that was highly relevant. It seems like a lot, but when everything comes together for you and you make sense of it, things start to happen. For instance, if I worked hard and selected a niche, but wasn’t passionate about it, I wouldn’t be as successful as I am today. Also, I used the blog as the foundation for everything else I’m currently working on, such as a book, magazine and more. My strategy from day 1 was to become the #1 ranked site for “personal branding” in Google and I did for months, until people started linking to Wikipedia and I became #2. In retaliation, I worked twice as hard, posting 10 times a week and got back to #1. The reason why this is so important is because it positioned me as the top expert for personal branding, so I got a lot of attention from the media and from people interested in the topic.

As a young man, what gave you inspiration to follow this path you arefollowing in life?*

This has been more of a journey than a two year success story in my

opinion. I had eight internships during college, seven leadership positions in student-run organizations and I had my own consulting business. I learned how competitive it was to get a job in the marketing field and what it took to stand out and shine. I developed a “personal branding toolkit” when I was younger, even though I didn’t term it as “personal branding” back then. The kit had a business card, website, resume, cover letter, references document and CD portfolio that I used in my interviews and really impressed hiring managers. To me, this was all self-marketing. Then, after working at a Fortune 500 company for about a year, I experimented with social media after reading Tom Peters’ “Brand Called You” article in Fast Company. I aligned my passion with this topic and became a master rather quickly because I loved it and worked hard at it. After the blog, I had awards, then an online TV series, a magazine and now a book called Me 2.0.

Can you please share your experience as a blogger and what were the major steps you took to get your blog this large followings………*

I’ve had a few different phases while blogging. First, as a beginner, I had to learn the ropes, exchange links with other relevant websites, comment on every single blog pertaining to my topic, read countless blog posts to keep a pulse on the industry and reach out to everyone offline. Second, I formed content partnerships, shifted to online video and joined Ning communities and social networks. Third, I guest posted on other blogs, wrote for magazines and interviewed successful business owners. In another week or so, I will start the fourth phase, which is a community blog, under the same name!

Some of the secrets about successful blogging you have shared

includes good content and marketing, can you please expatiate on how to market a blog…*

Marketing a blog is a lot of work. The blog itself is the chief marketing engine because people love good content and will find you if you write well. Commenting on posts, guest blogging, linking, interviewing and other strategies help expedite the blog growing process.

You are a man of many parts i.e. a blogger, employee, podcaster,

author among many other roles, how did you combine all these roles without failing in one?*

I tend to focus my efforts on what’s succeeding and what brings in revenue. For instance, if you ask me what I do now, I’ll lean to the blog, my full-time job, the magazine and the book. Everything else is secondary to these and they all help market each other, with the reoccurring theme of “social media.”

Recently, you published a book Me 2.0, why do you thing PR should

embrace web 2.0? What implications are there to be suffered through

negligent?*

When it comes to business, social media has the great influence,

implications and benefits to the PR function. Most PR agencies have to get involved with social media now because the new influencer’s are bloggers and social networks carry messages quite fast (spread virally). In order to “tap” the new influencer’s, you have to be apart of the conversation and not be isolated with the mainstream press all the time. PR has no choice whether to embrace web 2.0 or not because the media landscape has already been changed forever. What are your guiding principles in maintaining a strong personal brand?

Here are a few important aspects to personal branding, which are noteworthy to those who want to achieve superstardom:

1. Authenticity – be the real you because everyone else is taken and replicas don’t sell for as much.

2. Transparency – be open and honest with everyone because bad press is more visibility and more talked about than good press.

3. Passion – be insanely enthusiastic about your topic or no one else will.

4. Courage – when people stop believing in you or make fun of you, you have to stay confident.

5. Determination – despite obstacles, you need to carry out your goals.

Your focus as a social media expert is on Generation-Y, why did you

chose this generation and do you think that is a great market to approach?

I chose to specifically gear my teachings and content to Gen-Y because they need personal branding more than anyone. During college, they don’t learn how to get a job, yet it is the point of going to school in the first place. Math and English are critical classes, but even they can help you get the job of your dreams. In college, you have many options, such as choosing a major, selecting classes and joining various groups. It is your chance to experiment and figure out your brand, yet many fail to do so. My approach applies to everyone in the world, but starting out at an early age is the best means to success. Heck, I’m only 25!

What further roles do you intend to take in this New Year and what do you think about the future of personal branding?*

In 2009, I plan to build my current blog into a community, where I’ll have multiple blog contributors and a complete redesign (I’ll be taking my own advice!). Also, my book, Me 2.0, comes out on April 7th, and I hope to be closer to the media by the end of this year. I’d like to be on national TV as well. The rest can’t be spoiled until the time is right.

What are your advice for upcoming personal branding experts?*

You need to love being a personal branding expert for you to come off naturally to everyone else. Otherwise, your business model will fold.Also, I recommend that you learn about how web 2.0 has altered first Impressions, how we market ourselves and how it ties in with getting free promotion. Any personal branding expert needs to understand how to build social media campaigns.

You can visit Dan schawbel’s blog www.personalbrandingblog.com

Dan Schawbel is the leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y. He is the author of “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 2009)“. Fast Company calls Dan a “personal branding force of nature.” Dan has introduced a whole new generation to personal branding, as he opens up new opportunities and strives to elevate the practice. His Personal Branding Blog® is consistently ranked in the top 100 marketing blogs in the world by AdAge, and has achieved syndication from Forbes, Reuters and Hoovers. Dan publishes Personal Branding Magazine®, is the head judge for the Personal Brand Awards® and directs Personal Branding TV®. He has written articles in major magazines and online resources such as BrandWeek Magazine, PRWeek, About.com, Web Worker Daily, T & D Magazine, Small Business Opportunities Magazine .He has 8 years of marketing experience, employed at companies such as EMC, Reebok, Lycos, LoJack, and TechTarget. He is on the board of advisers for a geo-social network company called ((Echo)) MyPlace. Also, Dan is keynote speaker at colleges and universities and helps individuals and companies with branding. Also, he was even invited to be one of the inaugural marketing speakers at Google. Dan graduated Magna Cum laude from Bently College (Now University) in 2006.

It’s a great new year. It is a year that promises great dividends for those who know how to harness opportunities inside it. Despite the economic crunch. Knowing what to do will pay. Individual brand must know how to build emotional attachment to its own brand. The foundation of every emotional connection has been traceable to psychology-persuasion in this instance. No brand can actually survive without emotional interaction with the target audience. But the recurrent issue is that many brand strategists do not place emphasis on this foundation. This has accounted for many brands’ failure.

In a recent research by Ulli Appelbaum, he established that ‘reaching, engaging and bonding with customers is becoming increasingly challenging for marketers…consumers have become savvy, critical with higher expectation…evolution and increasing complexity of today’s media environment represent new challenges’. So to be successful in the journey of persuasion, Ulli identified the following steps.

1. Rewards: This is a common motivator for human being. Brand owners must emphasis the reward or what we all call benefits. The advantage of the rewards must be hammered so well that it is clear to all.

2.Threats: No one enjoys a threat to life, so when a brand owner identifies the threat to human existence that the brand can help prevent, emotional connection can begin from here. Antiseptic soap makers have stressed this to their own advantage.

3. Expertise: the brand must demonstrate its expertise and use it to the maximum benefits of the target audience. What is in it for me-WIIFM still holds water.

4. Liking: Be a likeable brand and you will have followings. People sometimes bend rules for those they like and this includes brands too.

5. Scarcity: We all believed that something that is scarce is valuable. That is general perception. Limit your level of exposure, availability. Know when to withdraw your service and your brand from the market.

6. Social proof: One of the reasons why people get connected to a brand is social proof. This has to do with what others have to say about a brand, offerings. Long queue in front of a shop always convince people that it must be a great one while others do not have one customer. Think of how to start building emotional connection with your brand today.

Colin Powel is an Africa-American icon, a respected man who had distinguished himself and had become international phenomenon. He has a strong personal brand as far as we are concerned here. Colin Powel shares some salient points of what made him tick and that is what we are sharing here without any addition or explanation. we believe they are self explanatory. Think about this as we approach the new year

1. It isn’t as bad as you think, it will look better in the morning.

2. Get mad, then get over it.

3. Avoid having your ego so close to your position so that when your position falls, you ego goes not with it.

4. It can be done

5. Becareful what you choose, you may get it.

6. Do not let adverse facts stand in the way of good decisions.

7. You can not make someone else’s choices. You should not let someone else make yours.

8. Check small details.

9. Share credits.

10. Remain calm, be kind.

11. Have a vision, be demanding.

12.Do not take counsel of your fears and naysayers.

13. Perpertual optimism is a force multipliers.