Branding 101

I want to move the public relations talk on this blog into branding. For the rest of June, I am going to focus on branding basics because I feel there is a disconnect between the term itself and what it actually entails.

No matter how much effort or money you place into a branding campaign, credibility is going to make or break you. It is important for me to state this because too many people focus on trying to buy their way past the credibility factor.  While this may work at first, the method doesn’t have anything substantial or sustainable to it.

Every time you over-promise and come up short, your credibility takes a hit. I always tell people to be up front with their clients. If you know their brand and PR campaign is going to take a year to start generating press, state that.  You can play up your skills and be realistic at the same time. If the client doesn’t like this, you don’t need that client. They have poor expectations of branding and publicity.

Your credibility in business is going to be your number one asset. I really want my readers to understand this.  Target lost its credibility when hackers breached the store’s financial data, which left several customers with money missing out of their bank accounts.  Target still has customers, but they don’t have a lot of credibility when it comes to cyber security.

Spend some time this weekend reviewing and then writing down three things that make you credible and two things that breach your credibility. Next, make a plan on how you can amplify your credibility and overcome your challenges.

Until tomorrow,

Coco the CEO