Let's start from the beginning: What is Branding?

By definition, branding is a marketing strategy in which a firm produces a name, symbol, or design that is instantly recognized as being associated with it.

What is personal branding, exactly? Finding your distinctiveness, establishing a recognition for the things you want to be known for, and then allowing yourself to be known for them are all part of personal branding.

As you can see, these two concepts are not that dissimilar; in fact, humanizing Branding makes it easier to comprehend. Keep in mind that a brand is a collection of emotions, and successful brands elicit both emotions and strong associations with their customers.

Both aim to produce a 'perceived value' that

i. delivers a message

ii. can be monetized in the end.

LinkedIn is an example of Personal Branding because it allows professionals to publish and connect in order to gain greater possibilities.

Similarly, for brands like Zomato and Amul, increasing reach and frequency to accomplish the organization's top/bottom line would be the primary goal.

Let's focus on "how to grow & manage brands?" now that we know what "Branding" and "Personal Branding" are all about.

Five crucial steps are outlined below:

Get to recognize yourself

Today's brands are subjected to ever-increasing levels of scrutiny as a result of technology and simple access to information. As a result, a brand must understand who they are, what they stand for, why they exist, where they want to display themselves, and when and how they engage with their customers.

To know who you are as a company, you must first understand your past / background (this may limit what you can do in the future based on what you have done in the past). The Jack Daniel Distillery, for example, only resumed production of Jack Daniel's in 1947 after good-quality corn became available, thus preserving its reputation for making high-quality Tennessee whiskey.

What's more crucial is to recognize what you aren't. This is a safety net that will keep a brand from becoming viral by jumping on every hot topic. Remember Nike's "Dream Crazy" commercial with Colin Kaepernick?

Maintain Relationships

"Trust" has become the new currency in our collaborative ecology. Organizations are now synchronizing their business processes to enable their employees (internal customers) to live and act like the brand's external consumers. For example, during Covid-19, Airbnb's honesty over recent layoffs resulted in higher levels of confidence for both Airbnb and its CEO Brian Chesky.

Maintain Consistency

Consistency in positioning, communication, and the 4Ps is critical for building strong brand connections in the minds of target consumers. Customers today have an attention span smaller than a goldfish, thus consistency and context are essential when building brands.

In comparison to Pepsi, Coke had to rebrand 'Coke Zero' as 'Coca-Cola without Sugar' since customers didn't link Coke Zero with Coca-Cola despite the brand's logo remaining consistent since 1900.

Another example is McDonald's, where you will be familiar with the menu, taste, quality, and price of the food on offer, and will consequently rely on McDonald's when in doubt owing to its consistency.

Make an appearance

The primary goal of branding is to maximize physical and mental availability, or to make sure that your brand is

(a) simple to buy

(b) well-known so that people remember to choose you (evidence for this argument can be found in a book How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp).

This purchase behavior was also observed during Covid-19, with consumers bringing strong brands that gave comfort while also picking up products that appeared on the shelf.

Because of Covid-19, individuals not only cut down on their shopping frequency by buying bulk packets, but they also cut down on their browsing time, thus brands with strong connections and presence on the shelves were carried home.

Go over it again to refresh your memory and then do it again.

Because the impression of your target clients is your reality, assessing the perceived worth of your brand is a must. Rory Sutherland had a fantastic TED talk in which he said, "What good is reality if the perception is bad?"

As a result, assess your target customers' perceptions of you/your brand at least twice a year in order to modify their perceptions and hence change the reality. Connecting with your key advocates / consumers through in-depth conversations is one way to do this, as it will reveal insights for you to work on in order to generate the perception you want.