Personality really can rock your brand to the next level; it’s the public face that makes you memorable. All the most outstanding commercial brands have a distinct personality: that green gecko with the funny English accent immediately springs to mind.
The question is what came first, Geico or the gecko? The product came first; the insurance giant was successful before the gecko became a household name, because the finely tuned personality that makes it so memorable backs a solid product.
The finely tuned personality
The personality of a commercial brand can be created quickly, that quirky gecko was created and launched inside of 12 months. But, that engaging public face of Geico only came to us from the blood, sweat and tears of (at least) four, large, highly creative teams of advertising pros, and at the cost of many millions of dollars.
Branding is a means to an end. If you want a brand that helps you succeed professionally, you must consider what your customers want; and then develop a brand that resonates with the priorities of those customers. Did you know that all employers seek a specific set of transferable skills in everyone they hire? That this sequence of learned behaviors and professional values underlie success for all of us, regardless of profession? Developing such “must have” skills is obviously a priority for any believable personal brand.
Let there be no mistake, personality will give real impetus to your brand, but don’t put the cart before the horse: a great product comes before the packaging. The public persona you develop for your brand needs to be based on a firm foundation of skill sets desirable to your customers.
Brand Development takes time. It’s easy to mistake all the hype about branding for an instant solution to all your professional challenges. But you know that your first priority has to be building the core of your brand, those skills, behaviors and values that your customers want most, want now and will want always.
If it takes a major corporation like Geico, the brainpower of hundreds of top creative professionals, millions of dollars, and a year to define a face for their brand, maybe you should give yourself at least as much time for your brand R&D.
The product comes first. Focus on building the back-bone of your brand, so that you embody a product worthy of branding: one that resonates with the priorities of your customers (see Your Mother Doesn’t Work Here to learn the sequence of skills that all employers value).
No one gets hired or promoted because their winning personality trumps their lousy skills. But when your brand supports a product built to meet the needs of your customers, it makes a real contribution to your visibility and your success.
Author:
Martin Yate (CPC) is the author of Knock em Dead The Ultimate Job Search Guide, a NY Times bestseller updated annually for 24 years. He’s been in career management for 34 years: Silicon Valley Headhunter and VP with the seminal and feared Executek, Director of HR for Bell Industries Computer Memory Division, Director of Training and Development for Dunhill . Martin believes that change is your future, branding is critical, but no one has ever taught you how to navigate this stuff.
