Pop culture-celebrated CEO John Scherer, formerly of Video Professor Fame, offers wisdom on how business leaders can become ‘one’ with their brand image.
To help other business leaders become an indelibly connected to their own company or product brand, Scherer imparts this business and marketing methodology wisdom:
1. Ignite a Personal Passion for Your Brand.
Ignite a Personal Passion for Your Brand. If you don’t have a fiery passion for your own brand, if you don’t believe in what you are selling, and if you don’t feel excited about what you are doing, no one else will either. Exude that enthusiasm and energy for what you are offering and others will feel that excitement. Once ignited, that passion will burn in others and fuel a marketplace reverence for you as the figurehead.
2. Define and Shape You as the Brand.
Becoming a brand is all about your image and how you can actually personify a brand and the company image at large. This might be cool, innovative, daring or even cut-throat. Think about how Steve Jobs, Donald Trump, and Richard Branson have defined their image and framed them in the marketplace. Now, you need to do the same for yourself by defining and shaping that image. Think about what makes you different than the crowd in terms of your overall attributes, including strengths, unique talents, skills, values, leadership style, personality and philosophy.
3. Create Brand Messages to Build a Following.
Creating an image is more than looking the part. Nowadays, authenticity and what is inside is more important to customers and your audience. To become the brand, you must talk about your brand in an effective and consistent way. Clearly communicate what you stand for and why you are the best at what you do.
Consistency is also important because this builds confidence and credibility. Customers also need to be reminded repeatedly since they are constantly bombarded by other information and tend to get distracted.
4. Saturate the Market.
With so many others trying to get noticed, your image has to shine above the rest as well as reach the most people. That’s why you must take the megaphone approach with your messaging and saturate the market through as many channels as possible. The more people that hear about you, the more likely you are to become the brand in their eyes. Go visual with your brand through a range of media based on your budget and your image style. This might include online ads, social networking channels, traditional media, direct mail, or as a quoted expert on a print or video news story. This visual representation of your image will resonate with people and help them feel connected to what you represent.
5. Invest in Your Brand to Enhance its Worth.
Beyond just becoming the brand through the image you create, you must also carefully manage it to increase its worth rather than have it become devalued through one seemingly small misstep. Personal interaction makes the brand stick in the minds of your intended audience because you have made an impression and offered a visual image of what the brand represents. Also, by delivering a strong value proposition, clients and prospective customers realize that you can provide what they want and need. Lastly, since corporate social responsibility has become so important after so many years of big business misbehaving, your ethics and integrity can significantly reinforce your image and reputation.
About the guest post author:
Brand embodiment does not happen by accident. Through careful and calculated planning, John Scherer–revered by multiple millions world-wide as “The Video Professor” after 23 years of promoting computer learning solutions on TV–became part of a rare and elite group of CEOs who made themselves as much a part of their company’s brand image as the product itself. Know more about John Scherer here.