You can take the Brand Perception Snap Shot by answering the three questions below:

1. What 5 words would you use to describe your brand today?
2. What 5 words would your customers use to describe your brand today?
3. What 5 words do you want to be used in the future to describe your ultimate brand (i.e., when your brand reaches your biggest, pie-in-the-sky goals)?

To complete your Brand Perception Snap Shot, simply review the words you used to answer the questions above.  Identify the gaps and successes.  These are the areas you need to focus on as you begin to develop your long-term brand strategy and short-term tactics that will help you reach those pie-in-the-sky goals.

Image: stock.xchng

• Cadillac = luxury
• BMW = performance
• Kia = affordability

Think of some of your favorite brands.  What word pops into your head first when you think of those brands?  It’s very possible that the word you think of is the same word that the majority of consumers think of in relation to that brand, and that means the company behind that brand has done an excellent job of positioning the brand and communicating the brand’s message, image and promise to consumers.

Owning a word in consumers’ minds is the ultimate goal for brand managers, and you can do it with your brand, too.

Consider how crowded the Internet is these days.  If you market business online, particularly on the social Web, then you need to find a way to stand out from the clutter.  Working towards owning a word in people’s minds, are critical steps to building brand.

How do you get started?  First, you need to determine what word you want to own in people’s minds.  Ask yourself the following questions to begin to define your brand strategy:

1. What is your brand promise?
2. Is there is niche that isn’t being filled that your brand can fill?
3. How stiff is the competition for the words you might want to “own”?
4. How can you differentiate your brand from others with the word that you own?
5. What are your ultimate goals and what word do you need to associate with your brand to reach them?

Branding is a long-term strategy, so it’s important that once you define the word you want to own in people’s minds that you commit to it for the long haul.  You need to follow the original rules of branding — consistency, persistence and restraint — while listening to consumers and keeping an eye on your competitors to ensure your strategy is working.

It’s possible you might need to rethink your strategy in the future, but the key to success is getting started by positioning your brand relative to your competition so it gets noticed, remembered, and talked about.

Image: Flickr

But what should you do when someone says something negative about you or your business online?

This is one of the most common fears of individuals and businesses considering leveraging the social Web conversation to build their reputations, brands and businesses, and unfortunately, it’s one of the main reasons that people and companies are not getting the results they want and need from their social media efforts.

Don’t be afraid to let the audience take control of the conversation. That’s where the power of the social Web comes from in terms of building brands and businesses. And if someone publishes something negative about you or your business online, don’t try to squash the conversation. Overtly trying to control the conversation can do far more harm to your reputation than good. Instead, follow one of the three paths described below to effectively respond to a negative online buzz about you, your brand, or your business.

1. Fight

While you don’t want to appear controlling nor do you want to stop the online conversation (even if it’s negative), you can fight without looking like a bully. Join the conversation and nudge it in the right direction (i.e., the direction that is best for you and your business) by addressing misconceptions, admitting mistakes, and demonstrating your desire to fix them and put customers first. The more time you spend building your audience of brand advocates across the social Web, the more you’ll start to see those people standing up for you. Therefore, the fight path offers two effective options — nudging conversations yourself and allowing your band of brand advocates to nudge it for you.

2. Flight

While you don’t want to actually run away from negative online conversations about you or your business, you do want to consider the source of those conversations and evaluate whether or not ignoring them is your best course of action. The social Web is filled with people who like to stir the pot under the veil of anonymity. Savvy Web users typically recognize these people and ignore them. It’s perfectly acceptable for you to ignore them, too. Always consider the source of the negativity, evaluate it’s potential to spread further across the social Web, monitor its progress, and determine if by ignoring it, the negative conversation will die a quick death.

3. Flood

While it’s important to consider the source of a negative online buzz about you or your business in terms of both the person talking and the online destinations where those conversations are happening, it’s also important to consider how they affect your overall online reputation. That’s because people who conduct keyword searches using search engines like Google might find those negative conversations. Even worse, those negative conversations might rank higher in search engine results for your target keywords than your own Web site or blog does! That’s a problem. Fortunately, you can fix it by flooding the Internet with amazing, shareworthy content with a focus on search engine optimization to effectively bury negative content in search results.

Each path to respond to a negative online buzz has positives and negatives, and in some cases, you might need to pursue multiple paths to massage the online conversation to best benefit you and your business. The most important thing is that you’re aware of what’s being said about you online (e.g., set up a Google Alert using your name and business name and use tools like Monitter to track Twitter conversations), evaluate those conversations, and follow the appropriate path to respond to them.

Image: stock.xchang

Those five steps are:

1. Publish shareworthy content.
2. Go multimedia.
3. Leverage the features of social media tools.
4. Join organizations and groups that actively seek experts for media opportunities.
5. Integrate and cross promote your efforts.

You can get all the details by following the above link to read the full article.  Also, don’t forget to inject your personality into your online communications!

Here is a snippet from the article:

There is perhaps no other brand in the world which has been so closely aligned with a single person as Playboy has been with Hugh Hefner for over half a century. And there is no arguing the influence that a visible brand champion who truly lives and breathes a brand can have on the success (or failure) of that brand.

You can follow the link to learn more about brand champions and Hugh Hefner as the ultimate brand champion, and you can get my book, Building Brand Value the Playboy Way, for more information about branding lessons you can learn from Playboy.

Who do you think is the ultimate brand champion?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts!

Corporate Branding and Marketing

• Branding from Within: The Importance of Internal Brand Building
• Brands Really Can Connect with Consumers through Online Video Ads
• Apple and Google – Friends or Foes?

Small Business Branding and Marketing

• 20 Questions to Ask and Requirements to Define before You Hire a Business Blogger
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Copywriting

• 3 Ways to Move Consumers to Action

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• Early Adopters have Significant Influence on Brand Success
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• Are You Talking to the Right People about Your Brand Online?

Small Business Branding and Marketing

• Why Your Local Business Must be Online and 20 Easy Ways to Do It
• Affordable and Targeted Small Business Advertising on Facebook
• 3 Reasons Your Small Business Should Have a Mobile App

Women in Business and Careers

• Inspiring Women Business Leaders – Christie Hefner

The article is called Define Your Personal Brand and discusses the importance of developing your personal brand image, message and promise online.

Follow the link above to learn both the why’s and how’s of online personal brand building.

One of my friends and I were able to sneak down from our first tier seats to the floor and ended up in the front row at the center of the stage.  We had a blast, and I still remember her dancing on the roof of my parents’ car in the parking lot afterward and denting the it.  We punched it back into shape, but a small dent lingered that I could always see from my second story bedroom window that overlooked our driveway whenever the car was parked there.  I always wondered if my parents ever noticed it (sorry about that Mom and Dad).

Today, about 20 years later, I read an article on the MediaFreak blog about a new deal Def Leppard is considering that might include an animated series.  I could write all kinds of things about marketing and branding related to this odd development, but I won’t.  Instead, I’ll leave my post with this food for thought …

Pick and choose your brand extensions carefully.  Remain focused and don’t forget your core audience.

I may not have listened to my old Hysteria album in a long time, but I still remember all the words to Pour Some Sugar on Me and I sing out loud when it comes on the radio.  However, I don’t think I’d ever watch a Def Leppard animated series, and I can’t foresee such a series drawing in a broad, new audience either.

How about you?

You can read the full review here!