Branding for Survival

Rapid technological advances, enterprise-wide systems, dotcom mania, sociological shifts, and other forces are sparking a massive white-collar revolution.

Professionals should become distinctive contributors who make a difference in their work environment; ordinary work should be transformed into memorable (WOW!) projects that rise above mediocrity; and departments should model themselves after professional service firms and do work worth paying for--all the time.

Brand It!

We can find a framework for accomplishing these transformations in the mother of all marketing concepts, branding.

A brand is a stamp of uniqueness, an identity that sets something apart from all the others.

We are all familiar with products and services with a strong brand. Millions and millions of dollars and countless hours are spent building these brands. The result is that their identities--their essences--become carved in customers’ minds, sometimes forever. This is branding OUTSIDE.

Branding INSIDE, however, means building brands around employees and the work that they do. Think of celebrities with a strong brand like Oprah, Michael Jordan, or Martha Stewart. Likewise, an employee who carries a distinct brand in a company will be perceived as unique, distinct, and will be known as a reliable contributor.

Branding inside fosters a culture of distinctive, motivated employees ... who do work that matters and produce memorable (WOW!) projects yielding desirable results.

Employees with a brand will add value to their teams, their departments, and their organizations. They become distinct, make work matter, and deliver inspired performance while aligning with their organization’s brand identity.

This is exactly why branding inside is a promising remedy for a revolution where distinctiveness and flexibility are key. Branding inside and branding outside are tightly connected. Strong branding inside will affect the branding of products and services and improve client relationships.

The Elements of Employee Brand Building

The foundation of branding inside is employee branding. Below are five key steps professionals can take to build their own brands.

Brand You: Inspired Performance.

To build their own brands, professionals can take five steps. They are designed to give you a flavor for branding inside--inspiration for a possible journey that you may want to take sometime in the future.

The five steps are:

1. Exploring the organization brand for context

2. Understanding others’ perceptions of you

3. Defining your brand through self-exploration

4. Constructing a brand portfolio of projects

5. Developing a brand promise you can live up to

Before you begin to explore your own brand, you need an understanding of your organization’s brand. Inquiries and answers are most valuable here. What are your organization’s values? Its mission? Its reputation? How is your organization characterized by its clients, its suppliers, its competitors, and its employees within the organization? How does your organization market itself? What is the essence of the organization?

Start the process by researching and clipping articles on your organization. Compile and review the marketing materials distributed by your company. Comb through any company communiqués. Interview clients and suppliers to see how they perceive your organization. Gather insights from outsiders, which may or may not be equivalent to your insider’s view. Research competitors to see how they position themselves in the marketplace. Interview the marketing department staff to see how they’re positioning your organization.

Granted, this is a bit labour intensive. Yet piecing together the answers provides an essential understanding of the organization brand--what is distinct, what is valued.

An important point: employees’ brands must align with their organization’s brand. Employee branding is about making a difference, making a contribution, doing work that matters. An employee cannot add value and be seen as a player if her own brand doesn’t fit within the organizational context. Think of an organization’s brand as a boundary within which employee brands are viable and thrive.

Understanding Others’ Perceptions

Now’s the time to delve deeply into your own contributions and reputation, as perceived by others. Feedback is immensely helpful here. Find a minimum of four people (the more the better) and ask them how they would describe you to others. You can have them do this anonymously, by sending the feedback in writing with no name attached. One key is to make this a 360-degree assessment. Seek responses from peers, a manager, a supplier (if applicable), and clients. Notice the words used. Does a pattern emerge anywhere? Is the feedback what you expected?

Additionally, take the time to review recent performance reviews, if they’re available. Focus for a change on what’s positive, what you have to contribute, your perceived strengths. Summarize what was said about you as an employee in as few words as possible. Whittle this down until you can capture the essence of how others perceive you in a sentence or two.

Others’ perceptions play a role in forming your default brand. Based on how you come across in the workplace and how you perform, people have formed opinions on your value, your contribution, and who you are. If what you discover through others is completely unexpected, consider your future actions, projects, and persona. You can consciously steer your brand in a different direction and build a new track record, if you’d like to leave your default brand behind.