You may not realize it but you are always been judged on your brand. Your clients, customers, and networking contacts will all talk about your brand, and not always in the nicest way. In reality they are talking about you!
Building your brand takes time, and it always amazes me when people do not stay authentic to who they are and their business offering. If you offer a brand that does not fit in with your personality or even your mission statement not only will that confuse people, they may not take you seriously.
If we look at some of the film stars who are in the news and however good an actor they may be the press seems to always jump on the fact that they may have worn the wrong color shoes or their hair looks a mess. Unfortunately this could be because the actor concerned has created an illusion, not a brand. A brand should always be consistent with you, if you veer away from the illusion you created you could be heading for disaster.
When I started to plan my business I had no idea what branding was, I soon picked up on the fact that no one noticed me at networking events, I did not stand out. After researching some famous brands I realized because of my particular business, standing on a stage offering a keynote meant I was in the public eye more often than not. I already knew that by wearing Pink I was helping promote awareness so I decided to make the colour pink a permanent part of my wardrobe and accessories and I soon began to get noticed. The way I speak also became part of my branding, I have an English accent so this is an asset I use effectively. I am naturally a bubbly and friendly outgoing person and whether I am attending a conference as a speaker or a guest I connect with the audience as much as possible and offer my time and tips and generally connect with everyone.
I soon came to the realization that even when I was not working people expected me to be the nicely dressed, happy and motivated person they saw on the stage and if I chose to ignore this fact and be someone else then I was impacting my brand in a negative way. Luckily for me I had built my brand around the real me and this meant I could be myself.
In order for me to gain referrals someone has to like what I offer, once again I stress that very much like when you are being interviewed for any job you are always on your best behavior, but if you pretend to be someone you are not and you are hired, how long can you keep up the pretense?
You are your brand, remember this when you are building your brand, if you are not comfortable being the center of attention and feel that you are not the best person to represent your brand you have some changes to make.
