In this episode, we’re discussing how to create and manage your personal brand reputation. 

This is a super interesting topic for me because for most of my corporate career, I’ve been a brand strategist. That means that I’ve spent my career creating and reinventing the brand images of the companies I’ve worked for.

It’s a fun and creative field and there are a lot of things that go into creation of a brand reputation. But one of the most important elements of a brand’s reputation is the type of brand experience they create for their customers. That is, to intentionally shape valuable and memorable experiences that customers will have with your brand. These things create trust, loyalty and passion among a brand’s customers.  

This is important because more than the things a company says through its advertising or marketing, the actual experience customers have with the brand will do more to shape its image and reputation than almost anything else a brand can do. 

That’s where hardcore brand loyalty comes from. And, once that image is established in the minds of customers – whether it’s good OR bad – it can be difficult to change. And they can do all the strategy work and spend millions and millions of dollars in advertising trying to reposition, but if a certain image or reputation exists, it can be really hard for a brand to shift out of that. 

Meaning, if a brand is beloved by customers they’ll put up with mistakes and stumbles, unfortunate decisions, price increases, lack of inventory and more before they’ll stop buying. It’s like a well of trust has been built and it can take quite awhile before that goodwill starts to erode. Anyone remember the see-through yoga pants scandal from Lululemon a few years ago? For a more fledgling brand, this could have been devastating. But for Lululemon’s customer base, it was barely a blip on the radar. Or how about the diehard loyalty of Apple enthusiasts. I know I’m one of them. So much so that I’d never even consider a phone or tablet from another manufacturer, and I don’t even look at their attributes or price compare. For me, it’s just always going to be an Apple iPhone and that’s that.

Conversely, for a brand that hasn’t built up a lot of customer goodwill, it only takes one or two significant blunders before its reputation or sales nosedive. That’s because there’s a lack of brand reputation and trust so whatever goodwill they might have built up is shallower and erodes faster.

But what I wanted to ask you today is whether you’ve thought about this same paradigm when it comes to YOUR personal brand reputation within your career, business or life? Because it’s the same for you as it is for the companies I just described.

Within the businesses we work in, each of us are ‘known’ for a set of things. And every time we do something or interact with people – our boss, our teammates, or colleagues – whether it’s in a formal setting, around the watercooler or on Zoom, the things we say and do combine and build to become how we’re perceived by others.

Most of us recognize this to the extent that we know the quality of work we do is important. 

BUT what many of us DON’T know is how the more informal things we do – the day-to-day or moment-to-moment interaction we have with others – comes together to create the reputation we have with our colleagues. And once we’re known for a set of things – whether good or bad or whether fair or unfair in our view – it can be very hard to shift that image in the minds of our boss or colleagues.

This is important to know and understand. And in this episode, I’ll walk you through the things to keep in mind when it comes to creating and keeping the personal brand reputation you want.

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