How can a world-leading corporate brand theory help your personal brand?
If I am to mention the most important life lesson I learned over the last few years, I would not think twice to say that it is to value, build and protect a personal brand. Like many others, I was one of those naive kids that used to think that what others think does not matter (FYI — I still am a kid). Thanks to many great mentors, friends and family, I started to see the value in building up and maintaining a brand for ourselves.
Out of many inspiring moments that lead up to my full-on commitment to maintaining my brand, one sentence made by a friend/mentor of mine made me see its true value. I am believing that it will do the same for you too.
This blog is not to motivate you to start working on your personal brand. This blog is for everyone who already sees the value in it, to get inspired to do better. BrandAsset valuator is one of the leading trademarked theories that focus on key attributes that contribute to a commercial brand. They are continuously doing extensive research on all major brands in the world and helping companies build their brand. The organization is not at all focused on personal branding. However, when I came across the idea, I noticed some valuable lessons that we can gather for ourselves.
They break down the brand value of a particular organization into four key pillars. Each pillar has its unique attributes, and they are not valued in the same way. I will try to explain each of them one by one and then draw some connections as to how these can help build our personal brands.
Knowledge
This is the first step one might take when they start focusing on their brand. However, it is not something you should stop working on at any point. Letting others know who you are, and what you represent and associate with before they start assuming. You constantly meet people every day, therefore you will have to work on this continuously, with consistency. Being proactive in this will make your life much easier as the first impressions tend to stick with people better.
Differentiation
In most instances, the initial step when creating a brand is identifying its uniqueness. One key attribute that will make that brand stand out among the crowd. Even when it comes to building our own personas, the most significant element of doing all that work is to make others remember us through that. For this, the most effective way is to differentiate yourself from others.
This is where some, who are in desperate need of attention, take some wrong turns by trying to associate negative behaviours to distinguish themselves among the crowds. Start smoking at a young age because none of your friends smokes; so you find it to be differentiating. Or being rude to everyone cause then they all know that you have this unique feature. We might not know we do it for the fame, but it is that need for an identity that pushes many of us in the wrong direction.
Unlike commercial brands, we do have an edge in this. Social interactions are much more complex compared to our relationship with commercial brands. We buy products predominantly for a single element they represent them with, a Toyota for reliability, and a Benz for comfort. When it comes to humans, it is much more complicated than that. You do not need to have a single attribute that defines you. You can have multiple attributes that create a unique cocktail of your own that people will start to associate you with. You can be a helpful, professionally ambitious working mother. A hilarious, academically committed professor. A reserved, financially smart student. The combinations are endless, and each will have its unique values. You do not have to be a different person to differentiate yourself. Think of what matters to you the most, and build upon it.
Relevance
The definition given at BrandAset valuator defines this as how appropriate and meaningful a brand is to the customer. It explains how a customer can relate the attributes of the brand to their lives. If you go deeper, some successful brands have done this soo well, instead of a customer looking for relatable attributes with them in the band, they alter their personality attributes to match the brands they like to associate with. The best examples would be Apple and Nike.
Coming back to the topic in discussion, we love to be among people to that we can relate to. Whenever we meet a new person, we ask a few questions and try to connect some dots, so that we have some things in common. We ask them where they are from or work and try to find some mutual friends. We even take it to some extreme levels at some points. I met people in England who are American, that ask me if I know this one guy they know from their university who is also a Sri Lankan. A for effort but chances are very slim. But we still do it. We create clubs and societies to find reasons to stay among people that share the same interests.
Because of this very reason, it is valuable to maintain your brand with attributes that others can relate to. Of cause, you have many things in common with others. The point is not that. The point is to let them know that you have those attributes. Do not let them second guess before approaching you with something you love. This can attract more and more like-minded people to you which will open up so many opportunities for you.
It won’t just stop there, imagine that you manage to create an amazing brand for yourself. You become a mentor for many and your opinion carries significant value within your circles. This is when people start looking up to you for inspiration. This is when you have built your brand to an equal to Nike or Apple among your peers. At this stage, you will be able to influence the people around you making you a leader. The ability to influence people around you is a must-have skill for a leader. Even among people that report to you at a workplace, they would follow you with passion if they are influenced by you rather than following you because you are “the boss”.
Esteem
Being famous is rather easy, it is being famous and respected for the right reasons that make it interesting. When it comes to your brand, other people’s opinion of you is what matters. Surprisingly, they don’t care about what you think about yourself. In brand-asset valuator, it discusses the idea of understanding the consumer’s opinion of you. They further go on to explain that having high esteem will not always mean that you are on the right path. They talk about legacy brands that still manage to maintain high esteem in terms of the brand but struggle to grow as an organization. Simply because they are fixating on their decades-old brand values instead of focusing on innovation to keep up with the competition.
Esteem is a very attractive trait that everyone would love to have. Because of its attractiveness, it makes it even easier for us to lose track of progress to protect the esteem we built.
Conclusion
Your brand is one key element that will take you to places. By applying BrandAsset valuator’s trademarked insights to our lives, we get to understand the key elements that revolve around building and maintaining a positive temperament for ourselves. This article is not the holy grail for this subject. This is my attempt to connect a world-renowned commercial brand-oriented framework to our lives. Do let me know if you find it helpful and if you have better tools to share!
