Shine Communications - In Love With Your Brand

Are You in Love With Your Brand?

What is personal branding?

I believe personal branding is really personal public relations. Public relations is "relationships" with your "public" and it's about how you or your business are seen and how you interact with other people that will build your reputation.

After all business and companies are based on people. People make products for people. People sell to and serve other people and people work with people and for people.

You are the public face of your organisation whether you're the boss or an employee, a teacher or student. You represent what that company stands for.

If we want our business or ourselves to succeed, we need to be in personal alignment with what our company represents. Not everyone loves their job, but boy does it help if our personal aims, vision and values are in alignment with what that organisation represents. Why not share with your employees and customers your values and vision for your company.

According to Kevin Roberts CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi who has written a book on branding called Lovemarks, he says,"To me, it's all about spirit, not about values."

"Lovemarks go beyond the relationships to a loving relationship. If you're not in love with your business, why should your employees or customers be? If you want to create a lovemark, you've got to be passionately in love with your own business. And if you haven't fallen in love, don't expect your employees or your customers to fall in love," says Roberts.

Therefore personal branding is more than just your image and the outer package that you present to the world. Although appearance and packaging does plays a major part in representing yourself and your company in a positive light. Personal branding is the emotional connections between the service or product and the customer.

Shine Through Your Personal Brand

A number of Managing Directors of companies in Australia have recognised the power of personal branding in building a strong company. They have established a memorable face behind the company to add a personal perspective to their business. Examples include Julia Ross (Julia Ross Recruitment) Sonia Amoroso (Skin Doctors), Sarina Russo (Sarina Russo Group), John McGrath (McGrath Real Estate) John Symond (Aussie Home Loans) and Siimon Reynolds (Love Communications). These people are inextricably linked with their companies and are very clear about the image they project.

They are examples of where personality of the company shines through the CEO.

Building a strong personal brand has the added bonus of building further recognition and media exposure. These people are known and used by the media as spokespeople in their area of expertise and as commentators on business issues. They are sought after as keynote speakers, television personalities and are invited to participate in numerous high profile and industry events. Through this personal public relations strategy, the exposure they receive is more credible than advertising.

Are you in love with your company and can you work toward establishing a strong personal brand?

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© Sue Currie Communications Pty Ltd

You have my permission to publish this article or an extract in your PR communications if you include the following information:

Written by business educator Sue Currie, the director of Shine Communications and author of Apprentice to Business Ace – your inside-out guide to personal branding. Sign up for free monthly tips on personal and professional PR at http://www.shinecomms.com.au/subscriber.html and learn more about how you can achieve media recognition, enhance your image and shine.