Look in the mirror. What reflection do you see? What’s the answer that you get when you ask, “Who am I?”. It doesn’t matter if it’s a personal mirror or one with a business face – they’re one and the same at the end of the day.
How you view yourself has a lot to do with how you’re viewed by others.
Do you see yourself as the no-nonsense type that doesn’t stand for any bull? Or the caring type that listens to everyone’s questions and concerns and tries to help wherever possible? Maybe the answer is somewhere in-between, or nowhere near either.
Your view, and that of other people, is what shapes your brand, personal and professional. If you want to come across as narcissistic, you will. If you want to be known as the person that never listens to others and does exactly what you want, you will. If you want to be known as the hard-assed boss, you will.
But you know what people buy from? The brand. Sure, the product is important, but generally it plays second fiddle to the service. Your brand gets known for its service and is the currency on which your fortune (or lack of it) will be built.
I’m a consumer. If I hear about two companies that have exactly the same product and price point, but one listens to its customers more than the other, I know where my money’s going.
If I hear that Jim has built his hugely successful business by being a dick to his staff for no reason, I’d rather shop at Joe’s less successful business. Why? Because I’ve heard he knows all his employees’ likes and dislikes and when their birthdays are. He also listens to feedback from staff and customers alike and acts on it to make his service better.
We all know who and what we want to be. Yet we don’t always make the right decisions to get there. Ours isn’t the only opinion that counts – not if we want to be truly successful. We know who we are, but others know who we could be. This is what makes a successful brand.
Your brand is your voice but don’t be afraid to let others shape it.
photo credit: camil tulcan
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Both your personal and business brand offers an answer to how people view you. It also helps shape your success and social equity. So how are you presenting it?
via uberVU
Both your personal and business brand offers an answer to how people view you. It also helps shape your success and social equity. So how are you presenting it?
via uberVU
Both your personal and business brand offers an answer to how people view you. It also helps shape your success and social equity. So how are you presenting it?
via uberVU
Excellent post and so true. And it’s amazing how the internet amplifies the perception of your brand. This is why it’s critical to mind your Ps ad Qs on blogs, be careful what your Facebook status is, watch what you say on message groups. You’re committing career suicide if your public persona doesn’t match your publicly available private one.
That’s a great statement right there, Jeffrey. A lot of people and businesses may feel they can hide behind an online persona, but there’s always someone somewhere watching you. If you emit transparency but it’s false, you’ll soon be found out. And it might not be so easy to recover from.
Great post, Danny, and it’s something I talk about often. It’s not getting to the top, so to speak, as much as how one gets there. I will skip places that offer terrible customer service, no matter how good their products are. Reminds me of Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi; no way I’d have gone after the very first time.
It’s like that old saying (though I can never remember it correctly, so might mess this up!)
“Be careful who you step over on the way up, as it’s just more asses to kiss on the way down.” Or something like that
It’s easy to be mean-spirited but you’re remembered more for your involvement.
Twitter: timjahn
Great (and very important) topic here Danny!
People are interested in what your company stands for and how you act just as much as they are in the products you sell.
People understand that your company is comprised of people just like them. They go to their kids soccer games too.
People aren’t very interested in doing business with the parents who scream with anger at the kids playing soccer and making the game miserable for everyone.
Today, your brand isn’t just what you sell or just what you do or just how you act. Your brand is all of the above.
It’s funny you mention the kids soccer game analogy, Tim. If you can happily scream and holler at a little 6-year old kid just for missing a shot, what does that say about you?
And like you say, every waking minute people are looking and judging. Sometimes blatantly, other times less so. It’s easy to mess up – not as easy to recover.
Danny,
I have found out quite recently that the only way to truly succeed is service. Of course there is business service but it’s service to others that makes real things happen.
I am trying to ask the question on a daily basis of “How can I serve you today?” It does result in some blank stares and muffled chuckles but those are not the norm. In fact, most people are so shocked by the concept that they open up in ways that i couldn’t imagine otherwise.
So, Danny, how can I serve you? What can I do to help you?
Great ethos, Frank, and one that’s a key reason that you have so much respect and how you help people every day.
Good post here. Your personal brand, to the outside world (people who don’t know you), is what they see on your website. That is why your design and writing has to be unique to you. In this world, you can’t get away with trying to be someone else and why would you!
I agree, and I think that’s why there’s such a commotion currently about the question of ghostblogging. If it’s your voice, it actually needs to be your voice and not someone that’s just typing up what they think your readers and visitors want to hear.