Why Rebrand?

May 3, 2010
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Recently, I came to a decision to rebrand one of the meetings I organize. BNOW.org, a social enterprise which supports women that I founded 6 years ago, started a meeting called the Business Referral Circle (BRC) in Q3 of 2009.  The objective of the meeting is to bring entrepreneurs, sales, marketing and business development professionals together to proactively network and grow their businesses. Instead of the usual one to one networking style in a social setting or speed-networking, the format is one to group.

The meeting is a great success drawing in many business men and women on a monthly basis.  Towards the end of the year, I received feedback from some of the men that they were pleasantly surprised that the meeting was a mix of men and women. This made me think about the effectiveness of our communication to prospective attendees.  All of the communication states that the meeting is open to males and non-members of BNOW. I realized that most of us are time starved and small details can be easily overlooked. It is incalculable how many times our e-invitation may have been discarded because some believe it is an all women’s meeting.  I thought it might have been an isolated incident and made a mental note to continue to observe and ask for feedback. In Q1, a few more male attendees gave the same feedback.  So, I started brainstorming about how to overcome the issue.

At the end of April, I decided to move the meeting from BNOW.org into BNOWConsulting.com because the latter is a business entity.  The meeting name was changed from Business Referral Circle (BRC) to the Bangkok Business Connections (BBC) so the meeting is given a fresh start with a new name.  Carl from www.webcoursesbangkok.com, who will be giving a talk later this month about Business Success Online: How to use the web to develop your business, thought the logo could do with a little more love and designed a new one for the BBC. As part of the rebranding, we are now having a poll on which logo to use.  To join in on the fun, cast your vote.  Here’s the link to the poll on Linkedin.com, http://polls.linkedin.com/p/87110/iwwho. I will be continuing to observe the public and BBC attendees’ reaction and feedback to make sure our communication is right on target.

For those interested to know, the BBC (The Best Networking Luncheon in Bangkok!) next meeting is May 6th.  For more details on location and how to register, visit http://www.bnowconsulting.com/bbc.html. For details about Carl’s upcoming talk, please visit http://www.bnow.org/next_event.html.

BBC1

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Personal Branding and Marketing…what’s the difference?

March 23, 2010
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Last month, I had the pleasure of interviewing Brenda Bence, a personal branding expert and the author of How Youtm Are Like Shampoo. Some of you may be thinking how’s branding related to marketing.  To me branding is the strategic position that you take and marketing is the execution.  It’s difficult to market something if you haven’t established a brand positioning.  Similar principles apply to personal branding.  Enjoy the article and let me know your thoughts.  Best, PP

Personal Branding Tips from Brenda Bence, the Personal Branding Expert

1) Why did you decide to take your marketing skills acquired as a corporate branding executive and apply them to “personal branding”

A few years back, I combined my passion for corporate branding along with my certification in executive coaching and developed the only personal branding “system” that exists today.  It’s based on how corporations build powerhouse megabrands but it applies to each one of us — as individuals. So now, each one of us can benefit from that same sense of brand loyalty that your favorite name brand products enjoy day in and day out.

Putting it another way, studies show that we run across about 3,000 brands every single day, but out of those 3,000 brands, I’ll bet you have a few brands you’ve grown to love and use regularly.  Maybe it’s a brand of toothpaste or a favorite brand of jeans you always buy. When you think of your chosen brands, they drive feelings of warmth, of connection, of relationship. They stick out from the pack, and we choose those brands over others again and again and again.

That’s the power of branding, and it applies to people too. Think about it: What if you could get people to feel the same way about “YOU™” – The Trademarked You?  That’s how you build a relationship with a potential employer, a work colleague, a boss or a subordinate that will serve you well in your job, your career… and in your life.

2) What are some of the personal branding Dos and DON’Ts advice that you give some of the your clients?

DO’S:

-          DO be clear on what your personal brand stands for.  After all, if you’re not sure, it’s guaranteed that no one else is either. Just like the strongest name brands out there, take the time to carefully define the six elements that go into building your brand:  Audience, Needs, Comparison, Strengths, Reasons Why, and Character.   Learn them, define them, use them – they serve as the “compass” for all that you do on your way toward building and communicating a strong personal brand, leading to greater success.

DON’T’S:

-          DON’T ignore your “online” personal brand.  If you haven’t “Googled” your own name lately, do so. More and more, people are checking you out in cyber space to see what they can find out about you… before you get called for a job interview, before they decide to give you a raise or a promotion. Don’t underestimate the importance of this!  If your Facebook or MySpace accounts show you stretched out on a friend’s couch wearing your craziest hat and drinking champagne, you may want to consider changing it. It’s not that you can’t be “fun,” but that kind of image won’t help your professional standing. So, think twice before posting crazy photos and remember: Thanks to the Internet, privacy has become a thing of the past.

3) What do you see as the top 3 common issues for personal branding?  How can they be overcome?

The top three issues I see around personal branding are all about how woefully misunderstood it is!  Here are three common myths about personal branding – and why they are indeed “myths.”

1) “Personal branding is all about self-promotion.” Many people believe that branding yourself is about being in the limelight, so I often hear, “You misunderstand me, Brenda – I don’t have or even want a personal brand.” That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Here’s the reality:  Everyone already has a personal brand. Why?  Because personal branding is “the way you want people to perceive, think, and feel about you.” Since those perceptions, thoughts, and feelings already exist, just by interacting with others, you already have a personal brand. The question is: Do you have the personal brand you want?  If not, it’s up to you to take charge and create the brand you want and deserve for yourself.

2) “Personal branding is all about me.” It’s a big surprise for many when they find out their personal brand isn’t about them… indeed, every personal brand starts first and foremost with the “audience” for that brand – the person or people doing the perceiving, thinking, and feeling about you. So, the single most important element of your own personal brand is that audience because your brand exists in their minds. Taking control and making sure that audience perceives, thinks, and feels about you the way you want them to is at the heart of personal branding success.

3) “Personal branding is all about how you look and dress.” How you look is indeed one of the five activities you do every single day that most communicate your personal brand, but – contrary to popular belief – it is not the most important. The other four activities – your actions, reactions, sound, and thoughts – are just as important, if not more. 

4)      Could you give some case studies of personal branding that went right or way off course?

I will share some celebrity examples, but it’s important to remember that personal branding applies to each and every one of us — not just people who have PR firms managing their reputations!

In 2005, Russell Crowe was generally acknowledged as the favorite Oscar nomination for best actor until he had a personal fit and hit a hotel employee with a phone. With the slap of a receiver, there went the Oscar; not because his performance changed in any way, but because Oscar voters were not impressed by his behavior and chose not to make him “their favorite” that year.  Some people speculate he has still never recovered from that “Personal Brand Buster™.”

On the other hand, some examples of strong celebrity personal branders are Bill Gates, Tiger Woods, and Oprah Winfrey.  If you think about those three individuals, they have created and maintained the same brand year after year after year, “consistently consistent” in who they are and what they want to stand for. How do you know? Ask ten people the first five adjectives that come to mind when they think of the name “Oprah Winfrey.” See what people say… and most likely you’ll get the same answer every time. That’s how you know you’ve built a strong brand. (By the way, try this with some friends – can you say the same for yourself?)

It’s absolutely critical to remember that your personal brand is being built 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Just as you form an opinion about a product brand (like McDonald’s or Nike or Starbucks) each and every time you come in contact with those institutions, so people are forming a perception of “YOU™” every time they hear you, see you, or interact with you in any way.

That means the key to success in powerful branding is consistency, consistency, consistency. It holds true for multi-million dollar mega corporate brands – and for YOU™ too.

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Like Media, PR Reshaped by Changed Information Culture

March 23, 2010
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I recently attended a seminar titled Is PR Dead. One of the media interviewed me post event and I’d like to share the article with you.

Like Media, PR Reshaped by Changed Information Culture

Posted: 2010-01-24

http://www.theasiamediaforum.org/node/3126

BANGKOK, Jan. 23 (Asia Media Forum) – Public relations work, whether labeled ‘traditional’ or otherwise, is at a crossroads of an information highway that is lorded over by digital media, PR and communication professionals said at a forum here this week.

While public relations’ aim remains the same, it is far from immune from the changes in information cultures and consumers’ habits due to the Internet and how it has blurred traditional definitions of who are information providers, content makers, producers and receives.

“Very soon, the web is going to take over. (There will be) no more one main centre; we’re all centres in this configuration as content is generated more and more by the user,” Thierry de Gorguette d’Argoeuves, vice president of the International Association of Business Communicators (Thailand), told the AMF on the sidelines of a discussion at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand.

“We become the media, we’re users and we constantly interact with other users who are also the media,” added d’Argoeuves, a Thailand resident for 15 years and a full-time e-commerce lecturer at Assumption University in the Thai capital.

The Internet is a new media channel for public relations in that the former will “change the services PR agencies provide for their clients”,” said marketing specialist Pacharee Pantoomano-Pfirsch.

“To create consistent communications to support the clients’ brand, PR practitioners will be required to monitor this new channel and be ready to quickly address issues,” Pacharee, who is also the founder of the Bangkok Network of Women, said in an interview.

“Traditional public relations is an intermediary,” explained d’Argoeuves. “Its role is to entertain relationship with (traditional) media to make sure that the corporate message is disseminated properly.”

But how the ways of information dissemination has changed, he said at the Jan. 20 mini-debate.

For instance, he said, “Digital media means interactivity and direct feedback as opposed to the passivity of users in the traditional public relations and media partnership.”

Bangkok-based Ian Fenwick, author of the book ‘DigiMarketing: The Essential Guide to New Media and Digital Marketing’, agrees that the traditional PR model has been “very much a top-down affair”.

Commenting on the title of the event, ‘Goodbye PR, Hello PR?’, d’Argoeuves remarked that it should be aptly be more about ‘goodbye public relations, hello personal relations’.

In response to the changing information environment, the PR world has also become more flexible and open to exploring new virtual ways of reaching out, they said.

More people are being allowed to speak for the companies PR firms represent, for instance, Fenwick explained. “Messages are less controlled and are more bi-directional. The disadvantage of this is that control is diminishing. On the other hand, communication becomes more organic and authentic, meaning people really care and talk of things they know personally,” he added.

Fenwick cited the case of Frank Eliason, popularly referred to as the Comcast customer-service guy, who with 26,000 followers on Twitter (http://m.twitter.com/comcastCares), is giving PR and customer service a very personal approach.

“He’s a technical support guy who uses Twitter. He’s not traditional PR and is a good example of what a helpful, consumer-oriented communication is like,” said Fenwick.

Marketing specialist Pacharee Pantoomano-Pfirsch, the marketing specialist, adds that the more direct communication relationships that new media allows, will also make room for “more transparency in the relationship” between PR firms and their clients, due to the public’s expectations of accountability from these clients.

“In these days of multi-polarity, the corporate message cannot anymore be controlled from a ‘centre’, for where exactly is the centre in this setup?” said d’Argoeuves. “You can’t insert yourself in the social networks using a third party.”

But seasoned PR professionals Tom Van Blarcom and Daniel Riordan disagree with the assumption that PR is slowly becoming extinct.

“There’s no such thing as traditional PR in the first place. Public relations is evolutionary. It’s all about informing people, persuading people, and integrating people with people,” said Daniel Riordan, managing director of Baldwin Boyle Group, Thailand.

He added that there are channels, including the digital media, for getting the PR message across as these are all part of toolkits to understanding clients.

Total Quality Public Relations-Thailand (TQPR) managing director Tom Van Blarcom concedes that the face of the public relations industry is indeed “changing” but this does not signal a death knell.

“In Thailand, for example, Internet penetration is still low at 19 to 20 percent. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter still have limited impact. Besides, uncontrolled information means an overload of information, not necessarily all true and accurate,” he said.

Pacharee describes the relationship between PR agencies and the Thai media as “symbiotic”.

“There are countless local lifestyle publications in Thailand and much of its content is coming from PR-related events and releases. Thai consumers enjoy society news and because of that, many publications regularly feature pictures from high society events and interviews with prominent personalities in the media,” she said.

The Thai PR industry, like in most countries in the region, is pretty much based on the “relationship and management of those relationships to facilitate communications for the clients”, she said.

One reason why PR circles in Thailand do not feel threatened by the new media is the local’s culture’s preference for tradition and oral transmission of information, explains d’Argoeuves. “Thai writing goes against fast reading. To post an article, for instance, is not in the Thai tradition. SMS messages, online chat and blogs are news ways of writing, a kind of new language being born,” he said.

D’Argoeuves added that the existence of networks based on influences and paternalism might be good for PR in Thailand. “Lobbying therefore is still part of the picture and might justify PR as an intermediary, the old way,” he added.

But whatever — and however fast — the PR world is changing, everyone agrees that there is a need to adapt creatively to this shift.

“We’re now dealing in multiply realities and we can’t escape it,” said d’Argoeuves.

Van Blarcom agrees. “At a certain degree, public relations has to adapt and we need to know how to do this and what language to use, etc. At any rate, PR will keep evolving and changing as it did in the past.” (END/IPSAP/LC/JS/220110)

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