14 Ideaz for your Brand in 2012

1. BELIEVE in what you are.
2. Say only what you are. Do not HYPE.
3. DELIVER your Promise. Watch your PROMISE.
4. Exceed the EXPECTATIONS. And then EXCEL.
5. It is alright to go SLOW. Watch your COMPETITION.
6. FACEBOOK is good. Post CAREFULLY. It is about your BRAND. Avoid Repetitions.
7. Take INSPIRATIONS. Offer VALUE.
8. PERSONAL BRANDS will emerge. Do not get overwhelmed. Create ONE if you plan to work CONSTANTLY on the same. Oprah has a personal logo ‘O’. Wait! Do you have it in you?
9. SOCIAL MEDIA will shine further. Use it EFFECTIVELY. Grow your NETWORK.
10. Empower your BRAND on web. Accept PAYMENTS online. (Paypal, Google Wallet etc)
11. Customers are no more looking for Brand Information. Create BRAND EXPERIENCE.
12. Be HONEST with your brand. Work Hard SMARTLY.
13. RESEARCH on Emerging Platforms & Technology. PREPARE and PERFORM.
14. If you are a START-UP brand. Make 2012 – ACTIONABLE.

Anna Hazare: Brand Personified.

Anna Hazare, the man needs no introduction. But why am I writing about him? I am here to write about the Brand Anna.  The factors which created a BRAND out of a common man in the nation which is known to be most depressed, swayed by the westernization, in the corporate race and has practically started adopting corrupt practices as a default virtue.

How 'Brand Anna' Emerged?

1.       The PROMISE.

A Brand is a Promise. Think of all the brands you align with – isn’t it the promise which they keep that keeps you loyal towards the Brand. Anna has only one promise to keep and he with his team is ardent about it. He emerged as a brand because he offered a promise which everybody is seeking. He emerged as it is a brand who is promising a benefit to all with absolute no offence.

2.       Representation of PROMISE – the Connect.

Brand Anna – is not a personal brand. It is a brand which depicts power to powerless, direction to directionless, motive to motto less and a hope to hopeless. With the media intervention the representation has gone up by leaps. People are relating and participating. Engagement has increased – thanks to Social Media. Be it facebook communities, Pic Badges, twitter or you tube videos.

People are connecting by all ways possible. The youth is participating – the college goers, the working class. Even the old and the homemakers are showing enthusiastic participation. Look at the  numbers, this Brand estimates almost 77-80%  coverage on top 10 News Channel for half of August, facebook registered more than 150 pages for the brand, Times Now reports more than 8000 videos to be received for the motion and their No Bribes initiative. For two days, the Twitter hash tag #isupportannahazare was the top-trending topic.  And there is no denying the fact – which thousands have stepped out from their comfort zones to add up to the Brand Power.

3.       Brand Symbolism

Tri-color & Mahatma Gandhi indeed are the prime Brand Ensembles. Both are national symbols and give some kind of rush of emotions to each & every countrymen. I must say, that the symbolism which is created earlier by the brand team and then by the freelancers and now even people are making profits from the Brand Merchandise is amazing. The tri-color is the base element and the creative depictions from t-shirts to Gandhi caps everything is fashionable. I am sure you are aware of the ‘Mein Anna hun ’ caps have reached the ramp at Lakme Fashion Week.

4.       Brand Anna – the way forward.

Brand intentions are good and I support them but somewhere I had doubts on certain ways adopted. Yes, I am proud that we are the nation which started ‘Satyagraha’ but isn’t fasting unto death an undemocratic idea. I mean no democracy allows suicide.

My say on the Brand- Anna would be:

1. Brand Anna is a social brand with honesty as its main ingredient. It should not be harmed or mis-quoted by over-promotion.
2. Brand should be careful about turning more authoritative then participative.
3. The Brand ambassadors need to be very careful in conduct & practice.
4. It is good to be ardent but not rigid
5. Like every brand – ‘Constant Evolvement’ would be the challenge.

The people associated are great but we need to be careful with our Brand Growth formation. After all it is indeed the 'most favored brand of Indians.'
 

Personal Branding – Convenience & Challenge

Wow! Social Media had allowed us to be brands quite easily. The boom is big and is growing. Earlier it was about websites – then it was about blogs and now just your profile, portfolio and fan strength. Boom! You are creating a brand. Your personal brand talking about you as an individual, showing your portfolio, sharing your thoughts with the world and guess what – few or several but you have followers. This sounds like Magic.

Even the word resume would sound obsolete very soon. The recruiters will check your credential on your network profiles. Will read up the recommendations, will scan your posts & updates and then would consider your profile. Your Personal brand is very much there for the world’s disposal.

While the rules of Branding are slightly different and sound complicated, the easy features of social network sites like Facebook actually make you work on your brand, on discovering yourself. They work like wizards and in between leave you to think and explore your personal brand. Most of the start-ups, self-employed people from designers to emcee’s have their personal brand pages on these sites but what matters is – the matter of the brand.

So while you create your brand, make sure that you are,

a. Presentable

b. Appealing & Approachable

c. Communicating without confusions

Warning:  Social media has made it very easy to brand oneself, remember there is an influx; as everybody present there is creating a brand of him/her. You need to be careful about certain things:

1.     Differentiate: 

   

     Keep note, that like you everybody is hooked to social networks and has a public page, blog, a catch line etc. So what matters is How Different you seem then others?

2.      Consistency: 

    

     The idea to magic is consistency; the web is full of dead, obsolete pages. People create and forget passwords, they switch from one network to other and leaving the former profile go stale and hence unnoticed. So you need to work hard to be consistent so that your followers, friends or anyone else who is searching something relevant gets on to the right page.

3.    Growth Plan: 

     Unlike product brands or individual brands, a personal brand can grow all the way through. So every person who is doing Personal Branding must have a growth plan. Sharing & Experience will come with evolvement of the personal brand. But one should always grow on the lines of value creation. That would make it more worthwhile.

So are you a Brand yet?