Image Consultant Sandy Dumont - The Image Architect

The Most Important Brand Is You

By Sandy Dumont, Image Consultant

Corporate giants such as McDonald's and Nike realized long ago that their customers are not buying products, they are buying the experience. Brands exist in your heart, not in your head. You don't have a hamburger, you have a Happy Meal - and get the kids out of your hair for a while. It's not jogging shoes but the whole mystique of fame, excellence and winning that you seek. Branding is about how products make us feel.

But what about branding for people? There are many similarities between product branding and personal branding, but they part company when it comes to time and money expended. Product branding is often a lengthy and costly endeavor. Along the way, a relationship is built and trust and credibility are established. Fortunately, personal branding is neither a lengthy nor a costly process. Unless you are a film star or a politician, you won't have to budget for extensive television and newspaper publicity campaigns or celebrity endorsements. The primary investment is educating yourself on the necessary image/branding skills and applying them to update your professionalimage so that it personifies trust and credibility.

With recent headlines all-but screaming "Financial sleaze diminishes our trust," looking credible and trustworthy often gets you past the first hurdle. Image branding is about creating an image of trust - with the help of an image consultant. Trust, in fact, is the key ingredient in corporate branding as well as branding for individuals. It goes without saying that image/branding skills can't replace talent or integrity, but simply back these things up so that at a single glance, your integrity is presumed. It is no coincidence that on March 2, Lehman Brothers announced that business-casual dress was officially banned. The brokerage firm felt certain that a more professional dress code would give clients an increased sense of trust and security. For more information, click on Sandy's articles, "Yes, Busines Casual May Be Hurting Your Business" and "Business Casual, an Oxymoron?"

A personal branding professional teaches you to craft your image the way a professional speaker crafts his or her speech. You may be surprised to learn that the most dynamic and natural-sounding speeches are the ones that have taken weeks or months to perfect-often with the help of a coach. Branding yourself - and crafting your professional image - is the same. An image consultant can help you develop your signature image that you will brand you as distinctive and head and shoulders above the competition..

And it's worthwhile. Tom Peters, the branding guru, suggests that whether we know it or not we choose our car salespeople, bankers, brokers, insurance agents, real-estate agents and other professionals the same way we choose our soul mates: emotionally-based love at first sight. Something about the way they look emits trust, credibility and a certain distinctiveness. Image.

Remember the tie in the dead-giveaway plain wrapping that was complete with the store's logo? Boring. And then there was the do-it-yourself package that was a little sloppy at the edges. How about the over-the-top package that was a bit on the flashy side? And then you saw the package wrapped in old-money dark green paper that looked as if it were silk. The ribbon and bow were in rich magenta and exquisitely bound. There wasn't a seam or closure that was visible. This package was distinctive and classy looking. And obviously wrapped by a professional.

In both corporate branding and personal branding for individuals, trust and consistency go hand in hand. With McDonald's that means that if you buy a hamburger in Tokyo or Topeka, Kan., it will have a consistent presentation and taste. You can also trust that the kids will be happy, the restrooms will be clean, and the fries crisp - every time.

In personal branding for individuals, consistency doesn't just mean always wearing a suit. It means that your image or persona has a head-to-toe consistency that establishes instant trust and gives you immediate credibility. In plain language, it means that all of the components of your image are in sync. If your hairstyle or clothing looks dated, it will be presumed that your products or services are not state-of-the-art. Poor posture, scruffy shoes, negative body language, colors that detract - all these things undermine your image and credibility. Princess Diana had a chic image, but her insecure demeanor suggested an underlying lack of self-confidence.

Without saying a word, you can be seen as either powerful or passive, as a leader or a follower. Your most powerful message may be the one without words. Your image. IB

Sandy Dumont is a Virginia Beach-based image consultant. She owns THE Image Architect, a personal branding and image consulting company she started more than 20 years ago in Brussels, Belgium.

Source: Inside Business (Richmond and Norfolk editions)
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