The Evolution of a Brand, From Business to Personal
Think back to who you were in high school.
Would you classify yourself as a certain “type”, à la The Breakfast Club?
Are you still that “type?”
Hopefully you’ve evolved past your high school persona—especially if you were an unrepentant jerk. As humans, we grow as we age: it’s the evolution of our personal brand, and a function of the world changing around us.
Last week I gave a talk on crisis communications for the Online-First Summit, a virtual conference dedicated to helping others grow recession-proof businesses. All brands are experiencing the current crisis that is a global pandemic right now, and there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution for how to handle what’s happening. But communicating during a crisis is crucial for brands of all sizes and industries, and it comes down to three things:
Acknowledge the crisis. Pretending it’s business as usual and that nothing bad is happening will read as tone-deaf. Turn off automated marketing tools, don’t launch anything new during a crisis, and focus on taking care of your existing customers and fans, not attracting new ones.
Focus your messaging on problem-solving. What is your brand doing to help the situation? Brands are perceived as leaders: people want to be told what to do during a crisis, and your brand should be there to help. (Just remember, help; don’t sell.)
Be consistent, authentic, and empathetic. When you’ve repeated yourself so many times you can’t possibly deliver the same message again is when your audience will start to get it.
Case studies on crisis communication are tough because there are so many variables involved. What constitutes a “crisis” for one organization may not even register for another, and reach and impact vary by industry. Nonetheless, Domino’s is a great case study in the evolution (and resilience) of a now-international brand name. The company has survived multiple crisis situations, from lawsuits stemming from car accidents caused by its drivers literally racing against the clock for their 30-minute delivery guarantee in the ‘90s to a food flap broadcast on YouTube in 2009 to bad press over work conditions during the Coronavirus outbreak.
Domino’s is a brand that refuses to die—sometimes in spite of itself—and is an example of how a brand can retool, repurpose, and grow following multiple crisis situations.
Most of us have neither the budget nor the brand caché of Domino’s, but we can learn from its missteps and apply the lessons to our own personal brands. When we make a mistake, we must own it. Acknowledging if and when we’ve done something wrong builds trust. What we put out there in terms of our own messaging—our social media profiles, comments and engagement with others, bios, résumés and portfolios—should focus on how we’re solving others’ problems. And when we share authentically and consistently, our message sticks.
Has your personal brand evolved over time? Need help finding the right words to express your professional self? Reach out and let’s talk.
(The image from this post is a screenshot of my Online-First Summit presentation taken by Moby Hayat, the creator and founder of the all-digital conference. A huge thanks to Moby and his team for the opportunity to speak—and kudos on a hugely successful event!)