What's in a Brand

Just as you associate a brand with the characteristics of the product it markets, likewise, people in your industry must identify you as a brand. When someone sees your name, they should be able to know what special features and skills you bring with you. 'Branding is such a powerful tool in selling products that it makes perfect sense that we as individuals should brand ourselves, thereby creating a strong, positive sense of ourselves and our services that is different and better than what our peers have to offer,' write career coaches and marketing consultants David Andrusia and Rick Haskins, authors of Brand Yourself: How to Create an Identity for a Brilliant Career.

It's time to take a lesson on the importance of brands. What does a brand do? A brand not only identifies a product it is also a promise about its quality and consistency. A brand is a company's most valuable asset. The goal, therefore, is to define a brand that creates an emotional connection between the consumer and the company.

Nike's 'Just do it' swoosh could not have been more definitive, we need not mention the product when we say 'Yeh dil maange more'. This does not mean we too have to go around with a tagline that describes our qualities. But we definitely need a definition. And that's where personal branding comes in. You could be sincere, a people's person or a whiz at marketing. But are you able to get this message across to people? If those around you do not perceive you in the same manner, something is definitely amiss. It is this lack of expression that you need to work on as you march forward in building your career.

How do you transform yourself from an ordinary employee into a powerful brand? First, you must visit your strategic career plan. Understanding your goals will help you develop your strengths, talent and focus on opportunities that will take you towards your career goal.
Don't make the mistake of letting your job describe you. Your designation is not your brand. Look beyond the fancy title that describes your profile in the organisation. What is it that you want to accomplish? What impact do you want to have on others? Once you are clearer about who you are and who you are becoming, you can move forward. Components to consider for your personal brand include: your leadership abilities; strengths, achievements; your personality traits; and your distinctive qualities. Do some outside the box thinking to create a brand that doesn't mirror anyone else's.

You could be heading the marketing division of a company, but your ability to meet targets isn't the only thing that creates your brand value. If you have been able to get rid of the middlemen by using the Net as source of direct sales, you have created brand value for your career.

In our fourth in the series on building your career, we have created some guidelines that will help an employee create a brand equity for his career worth.

CREATE YOUR USP
Your innovative approach to a situation will be your unique selling proposition (USP). Tackle a situation as a specialist would do and voila you have created an identity that is different from your colleagues. Narrow your focus at work. You cannot be good with people, good with customer service, good with presentations and simultaneously good at tackling a crisis. In other words, good at everything.

If you remain good at most of them but focus on specialising in just one, it will help you get noticed by your seniors and colleagues. Aspireto become a specialist in what you do which would lead to an increase in your worth. Package yourself well. Every brand needs packaging, and if you get your image right, everything else will follow. A real life example is Alyque Padamsee, the ad guru and theatre personality, who is credited with turning the loss-making Lintas into one of the top ad agencies in the country. From the Liril campaign to the Lalitaji rage to Cherry Blossom's Chaplin and the Kamasutra advertisement, Padamsee's strength lay in building brands solely by highlighting the USP of the product creatively, sidestepping the need for a brand ambassador. It was this creativity that became his USP, making him a bigger brand than Lintas. In establishing your forte, extensive training would be needed in some cases as expertise can't be garnered overnight. As you revisit your goal, you can focus on the niche areas that are crucial for your career growth thus helping you create your USP.

MARKET YOUR BRAND
Promote your strengths to get value out of your brand. One way to push yourself is to create a website, which provides resources about your subject of interest. You need to let people know about this site by telling them about it when you meet them or mentioning it in some of thelocal listing services. Your own enewsletter also helps if it can provide industry resources, articles, events and links.

Robert Scoble, the author of Scobleizer, the 23rd most highly read blog in the world, according to technorati.com, is a case in point. As a sales support manager for NEC Mobile Solutions, his job was to answer phone calls and e-mails with support requests. He started using blogs to provide tech support and listen to feedback from customers. His blog was noticed by Microsoft's Vic Gundotra and Scoble was offered a job. He joined Microsoft in 2003, where he produced videos that showcased employees and products of the software giant.

He was unusual in the level of access he offered to his users, which included publishing his cell phone number on his blog and urging people to contact him directly with issues. The Economist described Scoble as a minor celebrity among geeks worldwide. In June he joined Podtech.net as a vicepresident. He is also the author of the book Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers.

But there are pitfalls if you go on a marketing overkill. As any good salesman would tell you, you need to avoid all temptations to oversellyourself, and be even more wary not to undersell. It is a fine line to tread.

DEVELOP A BRAND PORTFOLIO
Effective brand portfolio management starts by creating a fact base about the equity in each brand and the brand's economic contribution. Similarly, when you have narrowed down the qualities you want to promote, you should start building on them. Plan for upgrading your skills, acquiring new degrees or taking up specialisation courses. Since brands are intangible assets that can be leveraged to build value, do take the time to develop and customise your portfolio according to each new assignment you take up, be it within or outside the organisation. Work on your resume. Highlight the targets set and how soon and well you managed to meet them. See how best you can meet the company's needs and fulfill all their requirements. Spend time in determining exactly what the company is looking for. In the best circumstances, when you're able to successfully project the image you have defined for yourself, you will become the most important part of your firm's brand.

EVALUATE AND EVOLVE
When T.V. Mohandas Pai remitted the office of chief financial officer at Infosys to lead human resources, it seemed strange to many. Pai had put in place India's first publicly articulated financial policy for the company and had won the 'Best Chief Financial Officer in India' in the AsiaMoney Best Managed Companies Poll 2004. Since technical manpower was the core strength of the company, he decided to focus on this area and made a career switch. To add greater value to the new segment, Pai joined hands with governments and decision-makers across India to improve the quality of education and availability of skilled manpower. He is also involved in Akshaya Patra Foundation, a project that provides mid-day meals to over 4.5 lakh children across India.

To be aware of developments taking place in your career field, and being open to adapt to changes, enhances your brand equity.

Pai's example reinforces the fact that a brand is built on fundamental sustained behaviour. Since you are the brand, you have to lead by example. While staying focused should be your core strength, don't remain transfixed to one idea only. Never lose sight of what makes your talent special, promote your strengths and grow a brand that builds on them. For example, a degree in engineering followed by a specialisation in finance is not only easy for those with a technical bent of mind but also provides a wider area to grow and focus.

As you move up the corporate ladder, your can evolve your USP further to include more skills. Create your specialisation sub-sets as per your professional strengths. This provides you with greater scope to evolve your career and plan a shift as you look for more growth options. Since brand building is all about creating a positive image about the product, in the same manner your personal brand will present you as an employee who is an asset to the organisation. It's this factor that gives you an edge over the others.