When Worlds Collide - Thoughts on Personal Brand

What I find fascinating about the digital world is the enthusiasm with which we attack all social media platforms, eager to bust out our most intimate victories and failures, and the ensuing dread that creeps up our spines as we realize that we have just engaged and committed to a serious exercise in personal brand management.

Oh it seems easy enough to keep your Twitter feeds separate, and your Facebook page pristine, but seriously folks, how long does that really last?

You start to focus on your multiple facets and which social platform best fits each one.. you dissect yourself into audience-appropriate categories. "Wait. I only talk about my Courtney Love conspiracy theory on Facebook.. to this select group.. or through my personal Twitter account on alternate Thursdays...no wait.."

Really? Isn't it hard enough to keep these things sorted in real life? The other day my communication wires got crossed and instead of using the proper and formally scripted well-wishes for a swift recovery generally expected when my 80 year old cottage neighbour showed me his bruised hip, I gleefully exclaimed:

"Ha! You totally just flashed me. You know Jack, there's easier ways of getting my attention than breaking your butt."

He was shocked. I was appalled. And then thankfully things sort of broke into bubbly -albeit awkward- laughter.

#communicationfail

We know that in real life we interact differently with different people. I am a totally unadulterated version of myself with less than 5 people. Everyone else gets a little bit of processing. Kat-the-business-woman, Kat-the-super-mom, Kat-the-media-darling, Kat-the-geek.. You name it. But for as many facets as I have cultivated over my lifetime, I only have one Facebook page, 2 Twitter accounts, and 2 websites/blogs. This is one of them. Talk about editing down.

Am I genuine in all vectors of social media? Yes. But my Facebook page will always be more of a lookbook for those who think they know me by scrolling through a few pictures. And as much as I love Spin the Idea, it's my business. As much as I want to let it all hang out, I can't. I may write frankly and speak my mind, but there's always a final coat of polish added at the end. Recently I've been writing and tweeting so intimately that my @spintheidea account on Twitter has tumbleweed blowing through it. When I do tweet through it, it's usually a double post from my 'real me' account. 

And what is the real me? Well, it's the one that talks about eating Nutella with a spoon, drinking a glass of wine to dull the heart-wrenching cries of my toddler in her full-blown 'I'm not going to bed' campaign. It's the one that talks about business strategy while in her pjs. It's the one that doesn't get everything done. The one that doesn't always know what she's doing, and loves every minute of uncertainty.

Strangely, this 'real me' account and blog, @bumpandhustle and thebumpandhustle.com have more hits and more followers than Spin has ever had. In fact, people know me as '@bumpandhustle' before they even associate me with Spin. If these were two brands I was managing it would be clear whose strategy was more successful, and I'd be tempted to say 'Spin, be more real, just be yourself and connect with people personally'. 

Confusing, yes. And definitely contributing to an identity complex of sorts.

As it stands, it's all me. And I guess to get an idea of who I really am, people have to explore and experience each aspect of me. Maybe they'll figure out what they like and don't like. Maybe they'll only follow one handle, or bookmark one site.

But the message is out there for the world to see.

#noshame 

Does 'Branding' need a new brand strategy?

Whether you’re a mompreneur, or a multinational, brand has never been more relevant, and more misunderstood. 

Branding, let’s face it is as much shield as it is strategic advance.  The word can be a deft and evasive sweep over much of marketing, pr, design, and in between. You want to talk about a product’s positioning? Talk about its brand.  You want to launch a fluff press release just for visibility? Write about brand. The CEO gets caught singing karaoke while bombed on Mai Tais? Spin it around the brand. Seriously? For as much as it is credited with creating business longevity and viability, branding is fast becoming the Heidi and Spencer Pratt of media. It’s no wonder small business owners snort in derision when someone (say, me) starts to address their brand strategy. “Apple has a brand strategy. I don’t need a brand strategy.” Other sound bites: “I have a solid marketing plan. I have a logo. I have a brochure. I don’t need a brand strategy.” Hmm. How’s that working out for you? I never knew differentiation tactics could be so.. well, so conformist.

First, I admit, I’m biased. But as a brand strategist and business consultant, I often get treated as a designer with a god-complex. People often ask me to ‘do a logo’ or ‘some cards’ or (my favourite) ‘make this pretty’ and I always cringe internally. Then they cringe when I launch into my ‘branding is not just applied design’ monologue.  But it’s true. All too commonly small business owners leave brand development to the end of the line, making it more a slapped on façade than something that is infrastructural to their business strategies. So when I start to explain that brand is actually a composite sensory experience of any or all of your market touch-points, I generally get a nice, succinct, ‘huh?’ in response.

It is a shock to the system, I know. You should be developing your brand alongside your key business strategies. Why? Because for each and every business strategy, there is an equal brand strategy. Branding is actually more martial art than it is  slight-of-hand sideshow. Branding is born out of the way you do things. It translates policy, procedure, mandates and principals into a handshake.  Yes. The ‘way’ you do things has its own font. Its own copy style. Its own graphics, colours, and iconography. Its own customer service experience design. When a brand is successful, you do get the bulldozer impact of large corporations. Apple is a fine example. But just because you’re a small business it doesn’t mean you can’t take cues from an extremely successful strategy. I am a firm believer in big strategy for small business. Leading a firm of 3 people is just as important, and it doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve recognition for your consistent, powerful messaging, and positioning. Likewise, it also doesn’t mean that you have to use what has become touted as a strange go-to small business marketing mix: logo, business cards, brochure, website, and if you’re living on the edge: a fridge magnet. Sorry folks, but a fridge magnet does not a brand strategy make.

My advice? Before you go to a designer, think about your brand. Revisit that ‘solid marketing plan’. Think about the way you do things, and more importantly the way you don’t do things. Ask yourself how your visual and experiential identity reaffirms those mandates.  How do you want to be received by your consumer community? Do you really want to set yourself apart with the same tri-fold brochure as your competition? Will Tweeting about your lunch give you the relationship you want with your clientele? Does your 12pt standard MS Calibri font really say that you’re a discerning specialist? Does the light blue and brown combo communicate that you’re a partner at a law office? How about those fridge magnets? Again. How’s that working for you?

On my part, I vow to try being a better brand manager for Branding. In the sea of ‘oh-my-God-Justin-Bieber-has-a-line-of-nail-polish’, ‘Heidi-Montag-has-an-album’ , and ‘Kim-Kardashian-is-a-style-expert’ I will try to be an educational beacon, and I know, so will my colleagues.

Branding is what makes your business tactile. It’s the signage, and wayfinding that gets people to you. It’s the web presence that gets people to experience your culture. It’s the story that got you where you are and the story you are writing (both internally and externally) to get you to where you want to be. It’s what creates calm, smooth, client-side procedures in the face of harrowing business busts. It is what engages the fickle ‘I like it’ sensor in both your employees and end-users, and what affirms a big esoteric ‘Yes. That brand (read ‘that way’) is the way I do things too.’

Flex your brain by checking out some fun tools, and rethink your approach to brand. Check out my free downloads at http://www.spintheidea.com/tools

And yes, for the record, I made them pretty.

Experience Design Fail: Up in the Air, A Case Study.

When you are one small part of a conglomerate, mass merger, or joint venture, how do you move ahead and strengthen your brand? Not like this.

Referrals are a very common method for generating business, and having said that it’s not uncommon to see collateral stamped with multiple brands as a result. Wholesaling, brokering, joint ventures… these are all recipes for confusing your prospects. How many times have you seen marketing pieces that sound more like movie credits than anything else? Sunshine Corp., presents a product by Green Grass Inc., in partnership with Big Box Corp. Don’t delay, call the Seemingly Totally Unrelated Group for more information, today. Huh?

I ran into this when I booked our family vacation. I called Bellair Travel to book a Sunquest vacation offered by Thomas Cook Canada, which is owned by Jazz. Hmm. I’ll be honest here, branding was not foremost on my mind, but the Cabo sun was. I didn’t really care about the who and the what so long as I was drinking a margarita and hanging by the pool. Then we got to the airport.

Interesting. So, if Air Canada owns Jazz, and Jazz owns Thomas Cook Canada, where in Terminal 3 did they want us to end up? Hold on.. is Thomas Cook the same as Thomas Cook Canada? Luckily we got dropped off by the right entrance, and the Thomas Cook signage was pretty visible. Or so we thought. We queued up and began to relax into the 20 or so minutes that was our wait-time. After about 10 minutes ticked by, a Thomas Cook employee announced: “This line is for all those who are travelling to Germany. If you are travelling to Mexico you should be in that line.” She waved down to the other end of the terminal. I didn’t see where because my eyes were glazing over.

At this point, my husband was fuming pretty loudly about a lack of signage and a waste of time as were a throng of people behind us. We all trudged over to the other Thomas Cook line where the wait time was reset to 25 minutes and none were too happy. But again, brand, shmand. Maragaritas, warm sun, infinity pool, family time.. service providers are lucky that consumers on vacation have this kind of mantra,  otherwise there would be hell to pay. Although it probably explains the free booze on the flight.

Just when I thought the messy experience was through, I had to fill out my entry card to Mexico and got stumped for a few minutes. There was a space that said ‘Airline’ and another to fill out that said ‘Travel Company’. So, under travel company do I write Bellair Travel, or did they mean Sunquest Vacations? And is the airline Thomas Cook? Thomas Cook Canada? Or Jazz? Nuts.

The vacation was amazing. We were met by a Sunquest rep at the airport (so, was I supposed to write Sunquest after all?) and loaded on to our bus. The rest of the week was a pleasant blur of sun, rest, and relaxation.

On our way home an announcement was made that the ‘Thomas Cook flight would be checked in by West Jet’. I wasn’t even going to ask. Of course there was no signage to indicate this, and there was no incidence of the Thomas Cook logo to be found. And then I saw it. To complete my experience and tattoo the indelible brand imprint of Thomas Cook in my mind, here was my final impression:

 

Excuse the blur, but yes. It does say Thomas Cock.

Ouch. Watch your brand placement people! Apparently windows can turn respectable names into evil nicknames and this is really not good when your nod at experience design is more like ordeal design, bolstered by a nice policy and procedures manual.

Now, was my experience bad? No. Not really. The vacation part was a smashing success and I would go again in a heartbeat. But a little planning and experience follow-through on the part of Thomas Cook..Canada? Jazz? Whoever.. A little planning could actually strengthen their brand, not to mention take pressure off of their limited staff. (I don’t think that nice lady was being paid just to walk around and tell people they were in the wrong line. And if she was, a sandwich board would most certainly mean progress.)

I know the airline industry is rife with mergers, and that branding doesn’t seem to float to the top of the list when you yourself probably don’t know who you work for anymore. But rest assured, the consumer mindshare is still being formed. To start, two signs, one saying ‘MEXICO’ and one saying ‘GERMANY’, are not going to rock the boat. And instead of creating a massive disruption which requires more staff/resource allocation to offset, how about having a greeter ask people which Thomas Cook flight they were on? I know. Revolutionary. I’m not even talking about branded signage, or advertising. I’m just talking about a little bit of way-finding.

I’m not ganging up on Thomas Cook here. This happens all the time. Every industry has its Chinese Checker stacked brand venture just waiting to be promoted. But where that potential confusion lies in wait, Experience Design is the answer. If you walk through a process from a client side, and from your internal staff POV, and design around it, you are going to guarantee less bottle-necks, and a general air of happiness. Here’s a simple design that illustrates what I mean. Below is a small map of our experience going from YYZ to Cabo.

 

Here are a few simple changes mapped from birds-eye view that make everyone’s experience better, from the staff to the travelers.

 

Here’s some food for thought. Wouldn’t it be nice if your vacation started when you got to the airport instead of when you got to the resort? I’m not saying that it would take all the stress out of travel, but it would definitely give some order to the process and smooth over brand confusion created by mergers or just plain weak strategy.

What can I say? Branding still shines at 30,000 ft.