Increasing the Value of your Brand Currency

How valuable is your brand?

I gave a talk on valuing your brand as currency. My approach to branding is to treat it like your own currency, whether it be your personal or company brand. It could be purely psychological, but as soon as something is related to money, suddenly, we become more conscious of its value.

Sometimes, when thinking about branding, airy fairy creatives making pretty graphics comes to mind. Thinking of a brand as personal or company currency takes on new meaning, and the brand becomes so much more than simply the imagery that represents you. The brand becomes a powerful, holistic representation of your business, including many factors making up public perception.

High, Mediocre, and Low-Value Brand Currency

High Value Brands

A brand, like currency, gets attention if it is soaring high in value. Customers love it, the products are excellent, the imagery is stellar, and everyone recognizes the brand wherever it is virtually and physically seen. This type of brand is newsworthy and highly visible. When your brand is at this level of value, it's time to capitalize on that value and seize the opportunity to release great products, increase the customer base, make strategic announcements and even give back to the community.

Mediocre Brands

If a brand currency is hovering somewhere in the middle and of average value, it risks getting lost in the crowd and is most certainly not newsworthy. The brand may be the same as the next one in their space. It is time to up level, differentiate, reignite the brand, and work on reputation management. Remember that public perception doesn't always have to do with reality. It is all about how the brand is presented and perceived.

Low Value Brands

If a brand currency is low in value, the brand will undoubtedly get noticed, but for all the wrong reasons. The perception of a crappy brand could devalue anything significant a company has going on or to offer, like, fabulous products, a great team, or incredible skills. It is hard to recover from having a craptastic brand and moving it from low to a high value because the public perception already exists. It can be done. In this situation, consider starting from a blank slate and rebuilding from the ground up. Is a rebrand in order? Line up positive announcements, gather social proof of your brand's well-being and begin a campaign to create a solid foundation, communications, and positive brand recognition.

Words of Wisdom

A brand goes well beyond a logo or graphics. It encapsulates the culture, values, attitude, communications and your products and services. Visuals need to be high quality, easily recognizable, not too complex and have 100% alignment with everything that makes up your brand. A tagline is something that not only supports what you do but is fun to say and easy to repeat. Capitalizing on the value of word of mouth is the least costly and generates a huge return when done correctly, so make it easy for anyone to support your brand. Remember, people do business with people, not logos, not products, not corporations, so any information about your company or brand passed on from one person to another has the potential for high ROI or the opposite end of the spectrum.

Finally, your product quality and ability to delight your customer will seal the deal and increase the value of a brand currency. Even if you have a good product, sound imagery, and a good tagline, everything seems okay or even good. You can put it well over the top by providing extra service to your ideal customer. When you think you have finished and everything is delivered, go that extra mile to delight! Invest in quality and differentiate what you offer from the clouded market.

Feeling Bold?

As you know, I am not a fan of just preaching; I have some things for you to do to boost your personal or company brand! If you are feeling bold about your brand, here are some action items on how you can create or increase the value of your brand currency

• Enlist the help of your inner circle. What is the first thing to mind when someone thinks of your brand? Is it what you expected? Is it what you want? How can you change that perception?

• Create or re-examine your brand holistically. Look at everything that makes up your brand, including imagery, product quality, values, company culture, opinions, strategy and communications. Is a part of that puzzle failing or not living up to the image you wish to portray and the perception you want your ideal customers to have? Make a plan to improve it and make it in 100% alignment with your perfect brand.

• Create 5 taglines aligned with your brand and market-test them with your inner circle or key community members. Choose one and run with it!

• Everywhere your brand is present. The Web, social media, print, and email, make it 100% consistent. This way, people will instantly recognize your brand, wherever you are physically or virtually. This includes all social media platforms, your online presence, your offline presence, signage, packaging, and even your promotional bling. BRAND THE HELL OUT OF IT and do it consistently!

• Be the brand you want to portray and behave like you wish to be perceived. Be your brand all day, every day, wherever you are. You may be travelling, at a conference, seminar or going to lunch. You never know who is next to you. It may be your future best customer or even your biggest competitor.

5+1 Steps to Reignite your Brand

It is a brand new year and a perfect opportunity to create or reignite your brand.

Whether you are an employee, solopreneur, or business leader or want to establish your professional persona, your brand enables you to define or even re-invent your public persona how you want to be seen.

Creating a personal brand is an investment in your career, credibility, and success. To create your brand, you don’t need to be a business owner or a well-known personality. Your brand could be a great selling point in the next step in your career!

You are more than just your resume. The brand of YOU represents your skills, education, expertise, values, desires and possibly business offerings if you are transitioning your brand to a business. Think of yourself as a product; building your brand is the first step in marketing that product.

“A personal brand is what people say about you when you leave the room.” Jeff Bezos, Founder, Amazon.com

Here are five steps (+ 1 bonus!) to craft a powerful and memorable personal brand to promote your unique identity and value. Each step asks you a series of questions. Grab a journal or copy and paste the questions below and answer them worksheet style. Answering these questions is the first step in creating or reigniting your brand! 

Let’s get started!

Step 1) Find Your Voice

• What is your intrinsic value?

• What have people said you do well? Not sure? Take a poll!

• What are your key most valuable skills?

• What are three key messages you wish to bring to the world?

• What style represents you? (Formal, Casual, Rebellious, another unique combination?)

Craft your voice so that everything you say, write, and create aligns entirely with who you are and the value you provide. Authenticity makes your brand building easier and ensures you don’t need to wear a mask or act like someone else when it is showtime! Be yourself.

Step 2) Define your Audience

• Who is your ideal audience?

• Why would they care about your message?

• How would your audience benefit from your expertise?

• Where can your audience find you?

• How do you find them?

• What are the best channels of communication with your audience?

Define who your target audience is with great precision. Go beyond demographics and start creating a persona that represents the ideal person/customer/audience. Remember, you can’t serve who you don’t know, and you can’t help everyone—being precise in your declaration of who your audience enables you to focus and provide a clear vision of your value to who you serve.

Step 3) Amplify Your Voice

• What tools/channels can you leverage to reach your audience? (Blog, Vlog, Podcast, Guest Posts/Articles, Speaking Engagements, etc.)

• How can you make it convenient for your audience to hear your voice and interact with you?

• Who can help you spread the word? How can you leverage your network?

• Where can you promote yourself to reach your audience? (Online and offline)

Amplifying your voice doesn’t necessarily mean turning up the volume. It means extending and expanding your reach in ways that will connect you to your perfect audience. Find ways to get to them faster, in a convenient way for them.

Step 4) Create Your Brand “Package”

• What are your top three areas or topics of expertise?

• What are your top three key offerings? 

• What level of online visibility do you need?

• Do you have professional photographs? (Dedicated professional photos of you for this business purpose). If not, who can you hire to take great pro-level photos of you?

• What proof points do you have or can you get to support you? (testimonials, endorsements, case studies)

• What is the best way for people to contact you?

• What type of look & feel do you want for your brand? (see what you wrote for finding your voice)

Think of your brand as an extension of you. It is a virtual package of your personal and professional identity, so you want to get it right. Remember that your brand is an investment. Poor-quality graphics or photos with family/friends/pets cropped out won’t cut it. You want a PROFESSIONAL first impression. Not sure where to start? Think of your favourite actor/singer/musician. Look up their websites and see how they have packaged their brand. Use ones that resonate with you as inspiration.

Step 5) Get Feedback & Tune-Up

• Reading over the information you have gathered, is there anything missing?

• Who in your circle will give you honest and meaningful feedback on your brand? Choose three people who can help you.

• What feedback did you receive? Did you notice any trends?

• Are all of your visual components consistent? (colours, fonts, language, tone, graphics, and photos.)

• Create an action plan to take action and tune.

BONUS STEP!

What can you do to kick it up a few notches? What help do you need? A speaking coach? A stellar graphic designer? A mentor? Better technology? Take stock of where you are and where you want to be. Then operate from where you want to be rather than where you are.