I wrote this as a response to a question on our FB page :
The QUESTION :
Assume one is endowed with a natural skill set. How does enjoying your natural skills (like driving, swimming, cooking, singing, soccer) relate to your personal branding efforts? Do they follow the same path or they are at variance? Also what happens if there's an absence of natural skills? Yinka Ayeni /PBWKB
MY RESPONSE
If you unmask every major brand, there's something basic and functional about their offering. However, there can be many footballers, but only one David Beckham. There can be many singers but only one Michael Jackson. Underneath all these glories and branding are the skills set. Your skill set is necessary to start a journey of branding. We don't brand lies. You must have something you are offering me. Even Paris Hilton has a Social skill set that graces major events. She does offer something. [ you know that, right?]
One of many ways to measure Brand equity for Personal Branding is Brand depth and breadth. If you are very good at what you do, that is depth. However if you are very good at what you do and you are in people's conversations in other fields apart from your own, that is breadth. You are relevant where you belong but you are trending outside of your local environments.
A PB equity = BD+BB. Brand Depth + Brand Breadth
Take Sharapova in Tennis for instance. In March 2006, Forbes magazine listed her as the highest-paid female athlete in the world, with annual earnings of over US $18 million, the majority of which was from endorsements and sponsorships. She has topped that list every year since, even after her 2007 shoulder injury.
In 2011, Forbes listed Sharapova as No. 29 in their list of 50 top-paid athletes, the only woman on the list. In 2012, she was listed as No. 15, and was joined in the top 20 by Li Na at No. 16 and Serena Williams at No. 17. In April 2005, People named her one of the 50 most beautiful celebrities in the world. In 2006, Maxim ranked Sharapova the hottest athlete in the world for the fourth consecutive year. She posed in a six-page bikini photoshoot spread in the 2006 Valentine's Day issue of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, alongside 25 supermodels.
In a poll run by Britain's FHM magazine, she was voted the seventh most eligible bachelorette,based on both "wealth and looks." Source: Wikipedia .
Now, that's not Tennis. That's some Personal Branding.
Now compare that to Martina Navratilova. Martina is arguably world's ever best tennis player but with only a brand depth in tennis.
Sharapova has a brand breadth that surpasses tennis playing. Breadth is added when you stand for more than is functionally expected of you.
ALL IMAGES ARE SOURCED FROM GOOGLE IMAGES.
I hope no one thinks this is referring to them. I am writing this for my students at Orange Academy and my Personal Branding Community. So, 'Brand Managers' kindly stay off as this may not be suitable for audiences in suits.
Ok. I'm holding my cup of coffee and I'm really thinking: 'should I pour this out?'. I guess you should blame my fingers for all that you read henceforth. These fingers are itching to type.
ASDF;LKJ SPACEBAR.
What really does a Brand Manager manage?
Imagine I have a new chocolate brand coming to town. Let's call it ASDF. As the owner of the brand, I will be seeking how to add Value to ASDF so that it can return on my investments. That's fine. Let's call that BRAND VALUE.
So, I need Market intelligence, Distribution networks, etc. So, I get a Marketing Manager to help me map out the way to the market. Long meetings. Calculations.
Fast forward to 12 years after. I'm no more interested in ASDF due to Sociopolitical issues. Now I need to sell ASDF to an acquirer. Let's say UNILEVER. How does UNILEVER calculate my Brand Value at the exchange? How much is ASDF going to be worth? Do we calculate the BRAND VALUE based on my Market Share or the potential of my brand sold and unsold?
Let's rewind back a bit. Imagine I have a new chocolate brand coming to town. Let's call it ASDF. As the owner of the brand, I will be seeking how to add Value to ASDF so that it can return on my investments. That's fine. Let's call that BRAND VALUE.
Then I realise that a brand is not made in the factory but in the mind. I realise I need to have a share of mind in my Market. I want ASDF to be recalled so easily or mentioned whenever anyone wants to talk about Chocolate. I need people to recommend ASDF to others. I need to have a huge followership for the brand. I want to be in their consideration set. This then is a function of the Mind.
So, I need a Brand Management Specialist. The Brand Manager comes in. She sits with me to unearth a Brand idea for ASDF; something that has a universal human truth in it. She spends time with a potential consumer and she comes up with human insights on why anyone would eat chocolate called ASDF. Lots of Mind work. She tweaks my logo a bit. She changes the colour. She tells me I must not be found in the Shopping Mall based on certain truths. In ten years, this lady has created what I call BRAND EQUITY for my brand. i.e the worth of my brand in the mind of the consumers.
Hmmm. Let me get some more coffee.
Fast forward to 12 years after. I'm no more interested in ASDF due to Sociopolitical issues. Now I need to sell ASDF to an acquirer. Let's say UNILEVER. How does UNILEVER calculate my Brand Value at the exchange? How much is ASDF going to be worth? Do we calculate the BRAND VALUE based on my Market Share or the potential of my brand sold and unsold? [ Share of Mind]
In 1997, Amazon's Jeff Bezos faced his darkest hour. His three year old e-commerce website faced online competition. Wall Street thought it was going down. Jeff called his staff one day and said to them ' I want you to wake up every morning terrified with your sheets drenched in sweat, but don't be afraid of our competitors, be afraid [ instead] of our customers, because those are the people with whom we have a relationship'.
According to Forbes, Amazon's shares have "defied gravity" in 2011, jumping 55 % and adding $6.5 billion to his net worth.
If ASDF needs some quick sales, I know where to go. The Marketing guys. They know how to do those Promos, those sales slashes and Black Fridays sales. They are here to deliver on the figures to run the brand in the short term. Marketing managers call consumers 'target market', Brand Managers called them 'real persons' Marketing people do more of PUSHES than PULLING. Shooting an expensive commercial does not necessarily build a brand equity if it's not coming from a holistic place. These and more are the questions real Brand Managers ask. And I swear [ pardon me, pastors] real Brand Managers are so scarce.Today's ad agencies are torn between these issues. Who briefs the agency? The Brand Manager or a Product/Sales Manager? If the brief is a response to the Market dynamics, be rest assured you are reading one more brief from a Sales Manager dressed disguised in the Robes of a Brand Manager.
Now I think I need another cup of coffee.
A real Brand Manager who specialises in creating brand experience is obsessed with the Brand consumer. She/he wants to know what moves them. They seek to be in their conversations, creating meaningful relationships for the brand. A real Brand Manager is not here to deliver on the short term figures. Leave that to the Sales team. Brand Managers are here to build real equity into the brand; something money cannot really buy.
What's this brand about? What should we be about in the conversations of our consumers? How do we sit along with their other lives? How's the sociological climate changing our ideals? How about technology? How about the economy? What about the political environment?
Coffee please, anyone.
