You Are Brand!
I’m in the process I have been in the process of re-branding BigIsTheNewSmall.com and it has me thinking about branding in general. Let’s start by defining brand:
Brand- kind, grade, or make, as indicated by a stamp, trademark, or the like… a kind or variety of something distinguished by some distinctive characteristic.
Many times our perception of brand is relative to a name brand and that’s primarily because top brands are the ones that stick out. For instance, the Top 15 Global brands as of 2009 are as follows:
1. Google 2. Microsoft 3. Coca-Cola 4. IBM 5. McDonald’s 6. Apple 7. China Mobile 8. GE 9. Vodafone 10. Marlboro 11. Wal-Mart 12. ICBC-Asia 13. Nokia 14. Toyota 15. UPS
We’ve all heard of each of these brands (maybe with exception of the two Asian brands), and most of us have had some experience with these brands. Even if we don’t have experience with these brands, we have some sort of perceptions. I remember looking at a list from just a few years back and Google was #24 and apple was #32; it’s amazing what the Internet and a consistently good product can do for your brand.
Let’s think about our personal brand for just a minute. What is a personal brand? What are the contributing factors that go into creating your a brand? Many of you may be reading this and thinking, “I’m not trying to create a personal brand!” Whether you’re trying to create a personal brand or not, the bottom line is that your personal brand exists.
One could argue that companies set out to create a brand and that’s what their brand becomes; the other side of that argument is that companies simply produce a product and the market (the people, the consumers) creates the brand for them. I tend to believe that it’s both. The same is true for your personal brand; there are things that we do in our lives that create our brand and on the flip-side you have other people’s perception of who we are that contributes to and even defines our brand.
Just like the Internet coupled with a few years of putting out a consistently good product increased Google and Apple’s brand. The same premise is true for your personal brand; good or bad, positive or negative, your brand can change!
You Are Brand and you must remember that you’re not the only one who defines your brand. Know your brand, live your brand, do everything to accurately define your brand.
Share your thoughts! Do you know your brand?
