The Convergence of Personal Branding and Corporate Image – Or Not?

What is your “personal brand”? This is an area of growing concern in today’s times as more and more people participate and engage in social networking. Before the Internet revolution, the term “brand” was only used in the context of the business world.The word “brand” brings to mind many variations of the same concept such as: “trade name”, “trademark”, and “a name, sign, symbol, or slogan”. Essentially a brand from a corporate perspective is the embodiment of anything and everything the company says, does, doesn’t say, doesn’t do, how they say it, what others say about them, how others perceive them, etc. The phrase “you are your brand” most effectively exemplifies this concept.Fast forward to 2010 and this age of transparency to look at the term “brand” in the perspective it is used today. This is where the concept of “personal branding” plays a crucial role. Social media networking has enabled everyone to have their own personal brand by way of publicly sharing anything and everything they “say” on the World Wide Web. If you cut through all the semantics and take this concept of personal branding down to the most basic level, what you are left with is simply what is commonly referred to as your “reputation”. Your personal brand is your reputation.What happens in this advanced age of technology and social media marketing to a company’s brand reputation when their employees have their own personal brand? This topic was discussed and debated at great length in Fortune Magazine’s article Building Your Brand (and Keeping Your job) by Josh Hyatt. Josh spoke about Scott Monty, Ford’s first global digital and multimedia communications manager and his use of social media to promote his own personal brand and Ford’s corporate brand. In summary, Scott was a social media guru with a high degree of credibility and 3,500 Twitter followers prior to accepting a position with Ford and had already earned his personal brand reputation. Scott used his social influence to further the goals of Ford and enhance their brand synergistically with his own brand. A perfect match!What ensued after this article was published was an incredible amount of criticism about the way the author portrayed Scott Monty which is really not relevant to the topic of this post. This author sees the mutually-beneficial business relationship between Scott and Ford as an example of how to handle our new age of business that we find ourselves in today. It works for Scott and it works for Ford making this a win-win proposition.However, more often than not, employees don’t capitalize on their personal brand to enhance the image of the company they work for. This is not to say that they wouldn’t want to help out their company, but rather to imply that many people use social media for their own personal use that has nothing to do with where they work. Yet companies are concerned with how their brand may be affected by an employee’s use of social media. Some companies prohibit their employees from using social networking sites in an effort to avert any damage that might be done to their corporate brand.The solution to this potential problem is quite simple. If people would understand the impact their written word has and use good judgment in what they post, there would be no problem. Fortune Magazine also featured a case study called Edit Thyself, a very befitting title. The study discusses a young woman who was just “letting out some frustration” when she Tweeted something about her boss that got her fired. Moral of this story: Don’t let out your frustration in PUBLIC because EVERYONE will see it. Call a friend instead which is exactly what this young woman learned from her experience.The bottom line here is, when using social media, remember that anything and everything you write can and will be read by anyone and everyone. Yes, some of the social networking sites like Facebook have privacy controls set-up, however, these controls change often and it is highly possible that you might forget to control these settings for even one comment that might not sit well with someone in your life – and that someone could be your boss.It is really a matter of common sense. The problem is that, unfortunately, not everyone uses common sense either because they don’t have any or because they are busy doing a million things at once and they forget to think. This puts companies in the position of having to be concerned about their employees’ personal branding. Do they have a right to censor their employees’ personal branding? The answer to that is not clear, but until common sense becomes commonplace, companies do have something to be concerned about.

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Advantage Of Early Childhood Art Classes

Well, think it over. Surely, your family and friends are looking out for the best interest of your child. So, probably enrolling your kid in an art program may be beneficial. This article will show you the importance of exposing your kid in art classes during their early childhood.Art programs are usually overlooked by many academic-minded administrator members of the United States Educational Program. The educational budget cuts on public school are often art programs like music, art and physical education. How will your child learn about art? Now do you understand why family and friends has been nagging you about art program? As parents you can no longer count on the US government or public school to provide your kid with art programs that you once experienced as you were a child. Rather you are forced to get a different option and that’s to enroll your child in a private art institution.Here you will notice a list of advantages of art programs. As you read along you will slowly understand how significant this program will play in your own kid’s life.Creativity – Art class communicates your kid’s creativity in every age. Once a child is being creative they’ll learn how to express themselves and their thoughts. They can also learn to analyze and think outside the box, which everybody knows is an important characteristic to have when entering the work force.Expression – Art class can help develop your child to express their thoughts, feeling and emotions. There are lots of children who have difficulty verbalizing their thoughts and so far the best solution is through art classes. Children can draw or color their expression through their art, which allows parents and teachers to better understand them.As you can see creativity and expression goes hand and hand. It is two elements that are combined that can help your kid to become a happy child. You’ll see that most kids who have the two components are really talkative, sociable and followed by a wild imagination.Focus – Art class can teach your kid to focus and complete the art project. Enjoyable art projects inspire students to stick with the procedure to achieve a finished product. Your kid may slowly discover the feeling of accomplishment after they complete their art projects.Now, do you realize why your family and friends have been nagging you to sign up your kid in art classes? Art class expands beyond just learning the way you use a paintbrush or make a collage by helping to create well-rounded child and improve their abilities in many areas. These are only some of the advantages definitely there are many others if you do your research. So what are you waiting for? Sign up your child in an art institution now!

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Store Branding – Why Is It Important And What Purpose Does It Solve?

Store branding is of utmost importance in a world obsessed with brands. These days, every major brand the world over, have their exclusive stores. And with so many brands available out there, how can a brand attract its targeted consumer. That is where store branding plays an important part and it can help a brand attract potential consumers and increase the overall sales.Still confused? OK then let me try to break it down for you…# Attracting ConsumersOver the years, malls have evolved as the most prominent place where people go shopping. You have been to a mall right? I am sure you have. So tell me, have you ever been attracted to a particular store because of the way it looked? If you answered ‘yes’ to that question, then chances are that the people behind the entire look and feel of the store had done a really commendable job.That is why store branding is important, because if a store is able to attract consumers then it’s bound to make more sales. Also, store branding helps a store…# To Stand OutIn a typical mall, there are literally hundreds of stores all around you. And with so many brands trying to sell you the same stuff, it can get quite difficult to make up your mind, as to whom to buy it from. But suppose what if a particular brand has just come up with the best product in that category and you somehow missed out on those flashy commercials that were shown on TV promoting that product.Does that mean that the brand just lost a potential customer? Well, the answer is no. The brand still has a shot at getting the potential customer to take note of the fact, that there is definitely something better available out there, compared to the other products in the same category. Through store branding, companies can design and redecorate their entire store to make it stand out in such a way, that you would instantly realize that there is a better product available out there.Store branding is one of the most important factors that determine how much sales a company can generate. Consider it a grassroots level marketing (pun intended), where the consumer is targeted on the go to generate sales and increase brand awareness. And currently, it has become more essential than ever to have proper store branding in effect if companies want to survive the rising competition worldwide and gain more customers.If you found this article informative then please do leave your comments and suggestions. And if you feel like criticizing me then you are more than welcome to do so. I love my readers and love to hear what they have to say… So till next time, Godspeed amigos!!

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