BRAND IMAGE What is a brand? It is not an oversight that we have arrived in chapter 3 before defining a brand.

The discussion has not been inhibited by the lack of a definition and some thoughts will be beginning to settle down. There will also be some questions. Is a brand just a name? Is a brand the name plus any symbolism which is associated with it? What are the links between the brand, the product and the company? David A Aaker, in his book Managing Brand Equity1states:"A brand is a distinguishing name and/or symbol (such as logo, trademark, or package design) intended to identify the goods or services of either one seller or a group of sellers, and to differentiate those goods or services from those of competitors. A brand thus signals to the customer the source of the product, and protects both the customer and the producer from competitors who would attempt to provide products that appear to be identical." David Aaker does not link the brand just to a product but extends the term to cover the source of the product - that is the company itself. The definition also makes it clear that a brand is a mark, a name or symbol, which Differentiates companies, one from the other. The brand aims to sear this mark of differentiation in the mind 1David A Aaker, Managing Brand Equity, The Free Press, New York, 1991 just as the original branding iron burned a mark onto the hide of cattle as indelible proof of ownership. Whereas a product simply performs a task for the user, a brand gives a value over and beyond the product's functional purpose; in some sense it does make the product seem better. The functional benefits of an industrial brand are easy to identify. How do the products perform? What does they do to satisfy intrinsic needs? What are the non-functional benefits of the brand which are more difficult to recognise in industrial products. Loctite is bought for a functional purpose and the strong brand may give buyers confidence that it performs better than a brand which is unknown. The feeling of confidence communicated by the brand can be an important additional benefit to the buyer.

Brand image Definition: The impression in the consumers' mind of a brand's total personality (real and imaginary qualities and shortcomings). Brand image is developed over time through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme, and is authenticated through the consumers' direct experience. See also corporate image. Brand Image Importance: Quick. Name three soda drinks. Did you have to think about it very hard, or did several names pop right up for you? Now, how did you come up with these names? Was it a matter of thinking of flavors of soda and going on from there or did you come up brand names first and flavors second? Does flavor even matter? After all, most people do not add the ancillary description cola to the names of the beverages that they chose; they order a Pepsi or a Coke and know that they are understood. Brand image is important, not only because it locks a product into the consumers mind, but because it does so with a pure economy of words. If a product can come up with a strong enough branding image, all others of its kind will be relegated to the bottom of the heap, unable to climb out from the shadows. Are there off brand, store brand and regional brand cola flavored sodas? Of course the answer to that question is yes, but they only survive in the market by their undercutting prices, not by head to head competition. It is the rare person who says that they prefer a Royal Crown over the two big dogs, Pepsi and Coke, yet RC remains on the shelves and by all accounts probably sells fairly well, all things considered. People brand themselves as well, regardless of whether they are the CEO of a huge corporation, a small business owner or the young graduate just starting at the bottom rung of her career ladder. Even the freelance writer is a brand onto themselves- and depending on how hard they work and hustle, their brand image can be a positive one or leave a lot to be desired. Remember when you were asked to think of three soda drinks? Now think of three people who exemplify the quality of honesty. Did you think of the three people easily or did you have to work at it? Were the names of those you know personally or famous people that you admire? Every person that you come in contact or that you have knowledge of have an image, which becomes their brand. We know them by their brand, their brand image. We know that Phil from accounting is honest and hard working but may not know that he plays baseball every Saturday or that his wifes name is Jillian. His brand, the image that he is known for at the office is what the important factor in this situation is. If we knew Phil from the baseball games, we would possibly not know nor care that he had the highest grade point average of his graduating class or that his accounting department lead thinks that he is a financial genius. What image do you want to present to your professional contacts and coworkers? Whenever you are at a meeting, or on a business trip you present your image, your brand.

If you make a bad impression, you harm your image and may not be asked to go back to represent the company at the upcoming trip. Opportunities may start passing you by because of it. Negative branding may then slow or stall your career. Branding, whether for a product or for personal branding is rarely permanent. As soon as a campaign is released, a new one is already in the works. By the time the marketing images for a product are becoming stale in the target audiences mind, a new one is ready to recapture their attention. The product did not change at all, only the way it was presented to us, and yet we sit up and take notice of it. Personal branding works the same way. So, we made a poor impression at the business meeting last week. A new one this Friday is a new opportunity to really wow them with our knowledge and our poise. We can work hard to learn everything we can about the topic being presented. We can make sure that our physical appearance is beyond approach and that mentally we are laser beam focused on what we need to do. Just as Pepsi changes its image, but not its inherent properties, we can present a different image of ourselves to our coworkers but not have to change who we really are.

How to Create Your Brand Image on a Limited Budget A brand is a collection of images or ideas that embody your product, service, or business. Things like name, logo, slogan, and design can contribute to your brand. Creating a strong brand image around your product can help build customer loyalty and encourage your customers to evangelize your business to their friends and family. A strong brand is a value-added aspect of products for many consumers. Often times consumers will buy a product, even at a premium, simply because of the associated brand. For example, consumers might pay extra for Tropicana orange juice rather than buy the generic OJ because of the strong brand associated with the Tropicana name. Name and Slogan Your company name is important. Chances are if youre reading this youve already settled on your company name. Changing your name midstream is never a good idea, so well work with what we have. Memorable brands have short, easy to remember and easy to spell names. If your company name is long, try to shorten it in your marketing by using an abbreviated form. For example, if your company is called OTooles Neighborhood Pharmacy and General Store get in the habit of always referring to it as simply OTooles, because that is what your customers will likely say and it is easier to remember. Slogans are an important part of a companys brand, but have less permanence than the company name. Often, companies will change their slogan in an effort to re-brand their company with a new image or create a new slogan for each marketing campaign they run. To write an effective slogan make a list of the things your store embodies. Things like friendly service, full selection, low prices, etc. Then write out as many

short phrases that succinctly impart that imagekeep it to no more than 5 words! Run your favorite options by friends, family, and employees and pick the most popular one. Image and Logo Your logo and company image are perhaps the most important part of your brand. A proper logo should be simple, easy to read, memorable, and easy to reproduce in a multitude of formats (i.e., on a sign, on your window, on flyers, menus, in ads, on business cards, bags, t-shirts). Designing a logo can be expensive, but there are ways to do it cheaply thanks to the Internet. One of the most popular methods for creating a logo on a budget is to use a design contest. In a design contest, multiple designers submit mock-ups for you to evaluate, and you can generally get a quality logo designed for $150-300. Popular design contest sites include GFXContests.com, DesignContest.net, and Site Point. Another option for quality logo creation on the cheap is Logo Maker, which allows you to quickly and easily create your logo using an online application. Logo Maker also provides tools to put your logo onto promotional products like t-shirts and business cards. Your logo should be prominently displayed across all of your marketing materials: ads, flyers, business cards, on your company car or van, bags, etc. Also, remember to upload it to your ShowMeLocal.com business profile as your main image! Further, develop a color scheme that matches your logo (a designer can help you to do this). Use this color scheme consistently across your marketing. Your business card, the paint job at your store, uniforms for employees, etc. should all match. This will unify all the aspects of your brand image and make your brand more memorable to your customers.

Do Something Memorable Do something to set your store apart from the competition; something simple and memorable and perhaps unusual that will keep your customers thinking about your store. For example, always use purple bags for your merchandise (or whatever color you like and is echoed in your logo!). Or hold a special sale on your birthday every year that is well publicized. Or name items on your menu after people or places in your town, city, or state. Get creative! Something memorable can quickly become part of your image and get people talking about your store. It can also help build brand loyalty where your customers will subconsciously prefer to shop at your store because they are familiar with your quirk. And, it will make something from your store instantly recognizable (i.e., when your customers see someone carrying that purple bag around town theyll instantly think of your storeand the more your customers think of your store, the better!).

Pulling It All Together In order to create a strong brand, youll want to start getting your name, slogan, logo, and trademark color scheme out there as much as possible. Below are some places that will help you get your brand out in the world. Vista Print Create business cards and hand them out customers and business associates. Your business card should have information about how to contact you, store hours (if applicable), location, and of course, your logo and slogan. Remember to put your ShowMeLocal.com URL (website address) on your business card and all other promotional material (such as flyers, take-out menus, ads, etc.) so that your customers can find you online! Cafe Press Promotional products are a great way to get your logo out to customers on a regular basis. If you have customers wearing t-shirts, using coffee mugs, calendars, etc. with your logo on it then they are not only seeing it and thinking about your business more often, they are also likely to be sharing it with others without knowing it. Stamps.com Custom stamps with your logo and business name will make all of your correspondence seem more official and give your business the feel of a major corporation for a low cost. Logo Maker Create a professional logo in just minutes. Design A Shirt An important part of branding is making your logo and name recognizable. A great way to do that is to get your customers to wear your advertising. Design A Shirt lets you create t-shirts sporting your name, logo, and/or slogan. print and Vista Print Both print and Vista Print let you put your logo on a number of professionally printed promotional products like flyers, business cards, door hangers, rubber stamps, posters, or stickers. It is important to remember to keep all of your marketing and printed materials consistent across your business with the same logo and design. This will reinforce your brand image and build it into your customers minds. Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business (Guerrilla Marketing) Guerilla Marketing is an excellent book full of creative and often low-cost marketing ideas that will help you get the word out about your business, build and establish your brand, and get customers into your store. American Incorporators , Legal Zoom While not necessarily related to branding, it is important for businesses to incorporate for a number of other reasons. Eventually most businesses will incorporate, and rather than changing all of your marketing and branding material later to include Inc. (or LLC or Corp., etc.) it is a good idea to incorporate now with American Incorporators or Legal Zoom and prepare your branding materials right the first time.

Brand image, on the other hand, is the totality of consumer perceptions about the brand, or how they see it, which may not coincide with the brand identity. Companies have to work hard on the consumer experience to make sure that what customers see and think is what they want them to.

Case studies

How Cadbury's won the battle of worms Three years back, Cadbury's found itself in the eye of a storm, when a few instances of worms in its Dairy Milk bars were reported in Maharashtra [ Images ]. In less than two weeks, the company launched a PR campaign for the trade. And three months later, came an ad campaign featuring Big B [ Images ] and a revamped poly-flow packaging. Marketing and communications experts brought together by AICAR and the Subhash Ghoshal Foundation say that Cadbury moved quickly to bear the cost of damage. And thanks to its equity with the consumers, Cadbury's won back consumer confidence, with hit on sales notwithstanding. In October 2003, just a month before Diwali [Images], customers in Mumbai complained about finding worms in Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates. Quick to respond, the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration seized the chocolate stocks manufactured at Cadbury's Pune plant. In defense, Cadbury issued a statement that the infestation was not possible at the manufacturing stage and poor storage at the retailers was the most likely cause of the reported case of worms. But the FDA didn't buy that. FDA commissioner, Uttam Khobragade told CNBC-TV18, "It was presumed that worms got into it at the storage level, but then what about the packing - packaging was not proper or airtight, either ways it's a manufacturing defect with unhygienic conditions or improper packaging." That was followed by allegations and counter-allegations between Cadbury and FDA. The heat of negative publicity melted Cadbury's sales by 30 per cent, at a time when it sees a festive spike of 15 per cent. For the first time, Cadbury's advertising went off air for a month and a half after Diwali, following the controversy. Consumers seemed to ignore their chocolate cravings.

As a brand under fire, in October itself, Cadbury's launched project 'Vishwas' - a education initiative covering 190,000 retailers in key states. But what the company did in January 2004 is what really helped de-worm the brand. By investing up to Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million) on imported machinery, Cadbury's revamped the packaging of Dairy Milk. The metallic poly-flow, was costlier by 10-15 per cent, but Cadbury didn't hike the pack price. Bharat Puri, managing director, Cadbury's India says, "While we're talking about a few bars of the 30 million we sell every month - we believe that to be a responsible company, consumers need to have complete faith in products. So even if it calls for substantial investment and change, one must not let the consumers confidence erodes." Simultaneously, Cadbury's roped in brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan to do some heavy duty endorsement putting his personal equity on the line for the brand. The company upped ad spends for the Jan-March quarter by over 15 per cent. The recovery began in May 2004, and by June, Cadbury's claimed that consumer confidence was back. These experts believe that the reason for Cadbury's success was that it took crisis headon. And the consumers were more forgiving, because the brand enjoyed an emotional equity in India. Santosh Desai, former president, McCann-Erickson says, "The nature of the relationship that Cadbury's has built with the consumer is responsible for latitude the consumers are giving it. "They are seeing it as a lapse, not a breach of trust - this difference is key. What Cadbury's set out to deliver, it goofed up once but it seemed to be very sincere in its intent to get things right." Even so, other experts felt Cadbury's was itself to blame for the worm crisis. Mahnaz Curmally, PR counsel, explains, "Cadbury's had known for a long time that packaging needed change, so in a sense, they waited for something to happen before they made that change and perhaps in hindsight, they could have made that change voluntarily." Cadbury's could be case study of a sweet recovery from a crisis. It continues to lead the Indian chocolate market with over 70 per cent marketshare. However, the experts feel that today's constantly changing environment should keep the company on guard.

The Power Of Industrial Brands similar in appearance and it is this very similarity which has led to a branding strategy to distinguish one from the other. The diamond blanks for cutting ferrous metals are marketed to toolmakers under the Syndite brand while De Beers' major competitor, GE, brands its equivalent product as Compax. De Beers' diamond blanks for cutting non ferrous metals are marketed under the Amborite brand while GE's is known as BZN. Within these branded groupings are a host of diamond blank sizes and shapes with product codes. However, for both De Beers and GE, the separation of the ferrous and non ferrous diamond blanks is critical not just for promoting them to the market but for making sure that the tool maker orders the right product. In this respect the brand is as much a functional separation as it is a promotional label. Brand values Chapter 2 discussed the associations which people have with a brand, and in the context of this book this means the thoughts and feelings which come to mind when thinking of a company. We have just seen that branding is about distinguishing and differentiating a company (or product or service) from others. How can a company achieve this differentiation? The solution lies in focusing on the issues which determine whether a purchase is made. These are the values of the brand and it is brand values which are at the heart of successful branding. In many industrial markets, companies need to have got certain things absolutely right before they are considered for purchase by a buyer. The things which have to be right we have seen are the vital issues of quality, price and delivery. They are of such momentous importance they override all other issues and they can be regarded as the first division of the factors which drive the buying decision. The rank of importance of these three factors is not always the same and indeed, they will change with time and circumstances. In a recession price rises to the fore while in boom times it is delivery that matters. In a second division, behind quality, price and delivery, are a number of issues which can change in importance from one market to another. They include service issues such as warranty conditions, the level of technical service, the location of the company, the nature of the packaging, the after sales service etc. The third division contains a group of other factors, often rated as relatively unimportant as influences on the buying decision. Typical of these are adverts and promotions. Buyers accept that these things influence others,

but they are usually too defensive to admit that they have been susceptible to the persuasions of an ad. Indeed, they may not be able to unpick the drip, drip effect of promotions that have influenced them slowly over time and so it is not unreasonable that they are dismissive of its effect. The separation of these many factors which influence the decision to choose one company rather than another into three divisions implies that there is a rank order of importance. And so there is. However, all the factors are important even though some may be more important than others, which means that if a company fails on any one, it has to compensate with another if it is to do business. Failure on one of the hygiene factors such as quality, delivery or price would almost certainly write a company out of a market. If the company fails in some aspects - perhaps it has a weak sounding name or a badly designed logo - it will not face immediate failure. It is because issues such as these are not the critical factors effecting immediate survival that they are often neglected. Yet it is attention to such small details which may make the difference between mere hanging-in or successful growth in the market. Since all companies have to get the essential factors right to stay in business, they tend to be viewed as very similar. And it is because these critical factors are so important, and get equalised by competitive forces, that it is often the smaller things which distinguish one company from another. A survey of business travellers sought to find out why they flew with certain airlines across the Atlantic. Not one mentioned the fact that the airline of their choice flew on the route they travelled for it was assumed that this was a given, otherwise it would not have been considered. Nor did they mention the safety record of the airlines as they were all good and, again, had things been otherwise, they would not have been in the frame. Rather they talked about the smaller issues. One had friendlier staff. One had better films than the others. One person said that they flew with an airline because it had an interval in the film during which ice cream was served - just like at the pictures. The ice cream was the small distinguishing feature which, to this traveller, symbolised the extra service he associated with the company. Brand values in industrial marketing are, therefore, the things which cause people to buy one company's product or service rather than another. They can be big issues - the core brand values or they can be small issues - noncore values. Brand values can relate to the products, pricing, the delivery or other aspect of service. They can also relate to intangibles; the feel-good factors, even the smile with the service. Above all they are the things that can differentiate a company and make it seem in some way special and better than its competitors. Brand

values exist in so much as they are perceived - perceived by the company but above all perceived by the marketplace. If potential customers do not experience the values in some sense, they do not exist.

Brands and image

The values which make up a brand exist because they are perceived. They are also evaluated positively or negatively by customers and potential customers. These evaluations come together to form the brand's image. The first thing to accept about image is that it is a perception and need not necessarily be fact. Buyers cannot know in a factual sense all there is to know about a company. What they do not know they may assume or expect without any objective evidence; in simple terms they will hold an opinion. But these perceptions are to the buyer, just as real as those based on harder evidence and almost certainly will influence the purchasing decision. Companies have touch points with their market which create these perceptions. For example there is the company representative. Lets assume that he or she is smart and drives a new car and always makes a good impression. He calls on companies who, without any further knowledge, think well of the supplier because he projects a positive image and this is extended to his company. The company benefits from the `halo' of the representative. All other points of contact with the customer will produce a reaction of some sort or another in the buyer. Some of the other touch points will also influence the relationship. The speed, courtesy and friendliness of the switchboard will have an impact. The appearance of the e-mails or the letterhead, literature and promotions will influence the image. Once the relationship between a supplier and customer gets deeper,

then many other opportunities will arise in which the image can be affected, including the chance to demonstrate the company's performance on substantial issues such as the product quality, reliability of deliveries, after sales service and so on. A positive image is one which will continue to work for a company, even when things start to go wrong. A company with an excellent reputation can suffer an occasional slippage in one area or another and the customer will be forgiving. In contrast, a company with a poor image will be castigated for any default and there will be no exoneration. The strength of the Perrier brand pulled it through after a disastrous contamination of the product by benzene required the complete recall of all its stock of bottles in warehouses, shops and homes. Mercedes were more defensive when its new A class failed the moose test, blaming the driving skills of the Swedish journalists rather than the design of the cars suspension. Cadbury were slow to admit to and recall products that were infected with salmonella and this undoubtedly cost them heavily in lost sales. Image is something which can be taken in the round. This overall image is the pooling of the all the perceptions and feelings which people hold on a company. When we enter the ballot box to place our cross against a politician, it is the overall package we vote for. There will be some things about the politician we dislike but these seem to be outweighed by the virtues. The juggling of the pros and cons are distilled into just one decision - one box, one cross. So it is with brands; perceptions - image - are translated into a purchase decision. A company will be chosen as a supplier if it is at least acceptable on all the essentials (price, delivery, quality) and seen positively for most of the `nice to haves' (innovative, good warranty, easy to do business with). It can even have a negative image in some areas as long as they are not ones critical to the decision. Companies with excellent products which are reasonably priced may get away with long delivery dates. They may even make a feature of their waiting lists by suggesting that they are an indicator of their popularity. Buyers act on perceptions as if they were facts. What else have they got to go on? They cannot be all knowledgeable. They cannot know every nook and cranny of the products they are buying. They cannot be qualified, nor expected to know all about the guts of a machine they are considering buying. The guts of a machine may make it reliable but it is the appearance of the outer casing, the ergonomics of the design and the favourable (or otherwise) comments from service engineers which guide buying judgements. The composition

of a cleaning fluid may be a mystery to a buyer but it is bought because it smells powerful, it looks thick and powerful, and on the pack it says that it is used for cleaning components in the aerospace industry where specifications are known to be amongst the highest. Images are therefore based on less than complete knowledge but still shape action in relation to a supplier even if in only a negative way. A company may not be used as a supplier because of a negative (and in an objective sense, erroneous) image. It is often not understood that potential customers who have never had any dealings with a supplier may hold a strong image of that company. Far from being determined by purchasing experience, image may decide whether a supplier is used at all. The achievement of a positive image, on core values - the really important issues - and any other values which differentiate it should be of the highest priority to any company. However, a very dangerous ploy is to try to alter a company's image without materially improving the underlying defects. In the 70s and 80s Alfa Romeo cars offered heart throbbing design and sparkling performance tinged with a variable reputation for reliability. Twenty years later, when the problems have long been solved, many motorists consider reliability to be a weakness of Alfa cars.

The benefits of a strong brand image

High levels of brand awareness and a positive image increase the probability of a product being chosen and decrease the vulnerability to competitive forces. Here are nine specific benefits which a company will obtain from a strong brand image. 1 Premium prices can be obtained. A brand with a positive image will command larger margins and be less susceptible to competitive forces. There will be less pressure to sell at low prices or offer discounts. 2 The product will be demanded. A brand which people think is a good will be asked for specifically. People will search out a brand they really want. 3 Competitive brands will be rejected. A strong brand will act as a barrier to people switching to competitors products. A brand is a defence which is permanently erected. 4 Communications will be more readily accepted. Positive feelings about a product will result in people being able to accept new claims on its performance and they will warm them up so that they can be more easily persuaded to buy more. 5 The brand can be built on. A brand which is well known and well regarded becomes a platform for adding new products as some aspects of the positive imagery will cross over and help in the launch of new products. 6 Customer satisfaction will be improved. A positive image will give customers enhanced satisfaction when they use the product. They will feel more confident about buying it. 7 The product will be pulled through the distribution network. A brand which people ask for can more easily be sold into wholesalers and distributors who are extremely responsive to what their customers want. 8 Licensing opportunities can be opened up. A strong brand may support joint venture deals or allow the brand to be licensed for use in new applications or in other countries. 9 The company will be worth more when it is sold. A company with a good brand name will obtain a higher premium for the goodwill, if and when it is sold. Not only are there considerable benefits for industrial companies in building strong brands, there are serious penalties for those who do not. The alternative is to rely on price cutting, discounts and cost-reduction programmes. Customers will find no reason to buy other than on strongly functional factors which, no doubt, they can find to profusion in any number of suppliers. We should not close this chapter with the impression that the gains from strong branding are all on the part of the supplier and at the expense of the customer. The customer too obtains benefits. There are three important

reasons why customers benefit from products and services with strong brands: 1 A strong brand is a summary of all the values associated with it. Making industrial buying decisions is complicated by the need to weigh up all the details of a product's performance, its price, the delivery, the guarantee etc. A brand with a strong image is a synthesis to the buyer of everything that a supplier stands for and offers. 2 A strong brand makes customers feel confident in their choice. People shop at Marks & Spencer often without comparing products from elsewhere because they trust the brand. Strong industrial branding gives customers the same comforts. 3 A strong brand makes customers feel more satisfied with their purchase. The quality perceptions translate to a `feel good factor' which makes customers happier than if the product had come from an unknown supplier. In the end successful marketing is about convincing customers that they will sleep easier and worry less by using a strongly branded product. The core of branding is differentiation. Products are seen to be different because of their brand name. The successful communication of non-functional benefits (eg confidence in the products) is an important means of achieving differentiation. In consumer markets, brands often cover only a narrow range of products and a company will own and market a number of distinct brands - the company name may be unknown to customers. In industrial markets it is more common for the brand and company name to be one and the same. Smaller markets and other factors are reasons for this difference. Brands must be linked to a wider business strategy and their identity may change as the business focus of a company shifts. Brand values reflect the issues which the market considers to be important influencers in the choice of its suppliers. Core brand values reflect major issues but other values may be the factors which enable a brand to be Effectively differentiated. The perception of brands in a market is brand image made up of the many attributes which surround a brand. Perceptions, the image of brands, shape purchase decisions whether of not they are objectively real. Attention To a brands image is very important for long term success. Branding offers real benefits to companies and directly or indirectly these will be reflected in enhanced profits and the worth of the company. Brands also offer benefits to customers by making it easy to choose products and feel good about that choice.

http://www.b2binternational.com/assets/ebooks/industrial_brands/03_power_of_industria l_brands.pdf

Conclusion
Your personal brand value can be managed just as you manage a brand of a product or service. Brand value is all based on image or perception, an end-to-end experience, trust and a promise of consistent value, and an emotional connection and relationship. The great thing here is that you control your own destiny. After you have a loyal customer, a person will leave only if you fail to deliver on your promise, if you dont adapt to change, or if someone else is more recommended than you are. These are all things that you can control. You can control your own destiny. Brand really is about fact and emotion. Its about what you deliver and the emotional attributes associated with it. This emotional quotient increases as the world becomes more visual, more digital, and more connected. The ability of your personal brand to evoke a strong, positive feeling is a key element of your brands equity. Determine your brands emphasis or your promise. Determine how to generate excitement in getting your personal brand out there. Focus on forming lifetime relationships one at a time. Always ask: Is what I am doing right now consistent with my brand? Never forget that every brand experience is a no neutral transaction!