Reflections of a Square Peg

Happy Halloween

Growing up in the UK Halloween was a big NON-event, although my Dad tells me that over the last few years the trick or treaters have started to come out with greater conviction.

Here in North America of course its huge! A I am one of the biggest kids out there. We have local neighbourhood Scariest House and Best Carved Pumpkin competitions, with funds going to a charity and a whole lot of fun.

The one thing that this Englishman does enjoy is the candy - now with candy even the English can give everyone else a run for their money!

If you do celebrate Halloween have a safe and fun one!

Personal Branding Hits Time Magazine

William Arruda the founder of Reach was interviewed this week for Time magazine about personal branding and specifically about the unique 360 Reach assessment that all of the Reach trained personal brand strategists use with thier clients.

It is a well written article and the journalist had gone to a number of sources to get input and perspective - she seemd to be living up to her brand skills that came up in her 360.

Tomorrow I will continue to be working with 7 more professionals who are going through the Reach personal branding certification program which I deliver for William globally. Them coupled with another half a dozen plus starting in November will get us very close to having 100 certified strategists around the world - its taken time but I really sense a whole new level of appreciation for the subject.

Is Your Message Clear?

On calling a potential coporate client the other day I was greeted with what now seems to be the standard automated reception.

"Thank you for calling XYZ Company, please listen carefully to ALL the options before selecting.

1. If you know the extension number of the person you are calling enter it NOW.

Does that mean I do not have to wait for all the options then? ..........I guess so.

What does your voicemail say about your brand? Is it clear or are there mixed messages or unclear instructions?

Personal Branding Transparency?

People have been asking how I felt about the results and feedback from my own 360. To be honest I felt really good, there were a few home truths, but fair comments based on where my head is at and it was a great exercise to do again with the new version of the tool.

To see my results click here

Equally interesting was the comparison of my results now versus the last time that I took the 360 almost 2 years ago.

My brand has really developed in to something that I am starting to feel comfortable with and following some refinements and honing on my target market I really feel good about the direction I will be taking in 2007.

Some have asked what I will be doing with the results and you will be seeing that over the next weeks and months, but I have started to fully incorporate the results with prospective clients by directing them to my full summary as part of our ‘getting to know each other’.

Would you do the same with yours?

Women Being On Brand

I was one of the speakers today at the Professional Women's Symposium Association in Toronto and was very warmly received by an enthusiastic group of professionals.

It was interesting to hear about some of the many challenges that women face, particularly in the professionals and how many of them had overcome huge obstacles to build their careers.

The theme for the day was 'Defining Professionalism for Yourself' so many of the speakers spoke again to aspects that are covered and very related to personal branding - "Defining yourself", "Core Values", 'Marketing Yourself", "Image"

The Token Male

The technology industry in Canada is booming - its now 2nd only to Silicon Valley in the world!

This was one of the messages I heard at the Wired Woman meeting this week from Mia Wedgbury the President of a specialist technology PR firm - High Road Communications - a firm she started just 10 years ago at the age of 29.

Mia jokingly commented on the fact that I was the only male in the room, but I was good with that because for me there was some real value in the message that both women speakers had to say - and much of it was related back to personal branding.

The second speaker, Leona Hobbs, spoke about the power of blogging and if there is one thing you can do to raise your on line brand faster than anything else its to start blogging.

Are You Influential - Have You Lived?

Quite often we look to certain celebrities, famous people or influential leaders as the source of inspiration or reason that we do things a certain way or support a certain cause.

People like Oprah or Richard Branson for example. But now a book just released "The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived" takes a different look at this and has just listed The Marlboro Man, Big Brother (from Orwells 1984) and King Arthur as the top 3 in this group.

It would appear that the book is not intended as a really serious piece of work, but I am sure just the very subject and list will generate some interesting debate - such as - why was Homer Simpson left off? I am not even a fan of the series but the most successful and longest running cartoon series has to count for something.

And putting Godzilla ahead of Batman - please!

There seems to be little available in terms of information as to how the citeria for determining the list was established and the writers seems to have avoided any reference to various religous icons or leaders - perhaps for obvious reasons.

For me thinking back to my early years it was probably Clint Eastwood playing the Man with No Name in the spaghetti westerns or Batman & Robin fighting the various equally influential villans.

It does make for an interesting question - rather than who has most influenced you - Who is the most influential person in your life who never lived?

I would be interested to hear what you have to say or aontribute to the authors website 101 Most Influential

Beer Branding 101

Dundas, where I live is part of the mega-city Hamilton and one of the big recent success stories here is Lakeport Brewing.

What Lakeport has been successful at is identifying its target market, appealing to it and sticking to what it knows.

Its Vision is to "dominate and lead the growth of the value beer category" - and their Mission clearly supports that.

They have two beers in the top selling in Ontario, priced at $24 for 24 bottles and the big brewers have tried to follow but with limited success. This is in part because its not part of their core - its just a reaction to losing market share - the same as they did with the premium end when that was a big growth market.

Teresa Cascioli is the CEO and she has taken a small brewery to number 3 in Ontario and has hit particularly Molson and Labatt hard - and perhaps has been indirectly responsible for seeing Sleeman Brewing disappear as a Canadian owned brewery, having been taken over by Sapporo from Japan.

She is high profile with her right target audience - the investors and shareholders, but she allows others in the company to speak to their target audience.

If its marketing its in thanking people for contacting them about sponsorship, but politely pointng out -

Due to the high volume of requests received for sponsorships and donations, please be advised that Lakeport will only respond to e-mails for those requests that fit within our marketing budget and addresses our core consumers.

They are spending their money where it is going to be most effective and on brand for them. Can you be as clear when someone next asks you for a donation?

To the blue collar worker who is buying their beer with what they put on the top of their 24's: "Lakeport is a significant contributor to Ontario's economy. All Lakeport beer is union-made right here in Ontario. Lakeport employs almost 200 people, purchases supplies and services from local firms, pays taxes in Ontario and gives back to the community. All of us here appreciate your support. Your support of Lakeport keeps Ontario strong!" - Norm Cooper, Plant Union Chairman, Teamsters Union Local 938.

Are you as clear about your target market or are you like the big brewers trying to satisfy all and losing share every day?

Do You Exist On Line?

The phrase goes - "If you are not on Google do you really exist?"

I was delivering a workshop yesterday to a group of unemployed professionals at HAPPEN and it was quite evident that the job seeker of today continues to face many challenges in securing their next position that professionals and executives have faced for years.

According to recent recruiter surveys by Recruiters World -

• 73% find it useful to browse social networking sites for candidate information
• 76% say job board scouring alone will not yield the best candidates
• 80% say the best way to find candidates is through referrals

Other surveys have found that 23% of business people are Googling before meeting and 75% of recruiters are Googling candidates - AND - rejecting up to 35% of them based on what they find out about them on line.

The networking approach is still obviously very valid and relevant today - but technology is rapidly changing the way we approach job seeking and we have to make sure that we are both on line and what is being said about us is good and if it is not - we need to know about it.

Does Your Phone Brand You?

As with any thing within your brand environment - your cellphone says something about your brand.

Managing your brand environment is one of the critical steps in the thrid phase of the personal branding process - Exude - and items such as pens, diaries, computers, cars, offices all say something about your brand.

Cellphones are fast becoming an all in one item - phone, camera, MP3 player, diary, e-mail, web browser, TV etc etc. So it is even more critical that the phone you choose is on brand for you.

The phone manufacturers are getting in to this in a big way - colours and faceplates have been around for a while obviously, but now you can also get charms that light up when the phone rings, vaious styles of cases, sequined stickers and even custom labels.

William Arruda the personal branding guru has talked previously on his blog about your brand being determined by both your phone Ring Ring...... and the ringtone that you choose, as well as your laptop - Brand Your Laptop

So whether its the latest Blackberry, or two cans of Coke connected by string - just make sure its on brand.