Building your brand; How is it developing?

In reading the book, Conversations With Marketing Masters, by Laura Mazur and Louella Miles it occurred to me that each of us, especially with the web as it is now, are in the process of building our brands. All of these marketers spoke of building personal and corporate brands. It used to be that when one thought of brands and brand awareness that you automatically thought of Kellogg’s Raisin Bran or Honey Nut Cheerios, Budweiser Beer, or Coca Cola. Brand building was most obvious on Television, Radio and in the News Paper and when one thought of the term brand they generally thought of large national brands that had become everyday household names.

Of course the term brand originated with cattle branding. One would put the name or symbol of the ranch on cattle by burning a brand into the hide and would thereby show who owned the animal when they ran on the open range. A brand was the way to separate and identify. In marketing the term has come to mean the identification of a company, person or product. For example, corporations with famous and trusted brand names make sure that they include the corporate name in the product or service name.

When you stop to think about it, even before the internet, (are there any readers that remember that time?), in small towns across America, companies and people were known for their brands. A local hardware would be known through out the county, for example Smith’s Hardware Supply…. and along with that went a connotation about the business. It may have been that Mr. Smith was noted for having a large inventory so that you could find anything you needed or, it may have been that he was always ready to give you tips on doing projects…but whatever it was it was a brand that was known by many people in the community. It was not thought of as a brand and was not described that way but, still it was a brand. Along with the identifying name of the business went spoken and unspoken understandings that were built up over a long period of business experience. That very simply is a brand.

You see where this is going…right? Today, with access to the internet and all of the social media websites, yahoo groups, blogs, company and personal websites, people and companies are building brands every day. This brings up the title of this post and the question in it. What is your brand and how is it developing? Is it developing in ways that set you apart as a trusted advisor, the go to person? …or is it developing the idea that you are a spammer, shallow with little to offer? You can decide. You are in control of the content that you offer and the methods that you use. Remember that once you have begun to develop a brand it is very difficult to change. First impressions are lasting impressions all too often.

This is why it is necessary to take it slowly and, I am preaching to myself as much as to others. Using social media to build your own personal brand awareness is an endeavor that should take a lot of thought and time. In fact, I cannot think of a single thing that would be more important. Make sure that when you participate you are offering something that has value to someone…you’re building your brand after all.

You can always reach me at rijMarketing