Learn business on-line

A few weeks ago I’ve created PICANT Knowledge – a blog where I post videos with lectures and speeches that I consider useful for the people who want to learn about business in general and marketing and management in particular.

There are also a few videos in Romanian.

I hope you enjoy the videos I’ve selected. http://picantknowledge.blogspot.com/

Why it is so difficult to build a personal brand and still be authentic ?

According to Landor Lexicon a "Brand is The sum of all the characteristics, tangible and intangible, that make the offer unique".

This definition is accurate for brands of products, services or companies and for personal brands.

The main difference between a commercial brand (product, service or company) and a personal brand is that a personal brand is a human brand. A human is what he or she is and can’t be transformed in what the target group wants and expects and still be authentic.

If your target group for a cheap family car (product brand) wants a big trunk, a car manufacturer can produce that.

But if your target group for a personal brand wants something that the man or woman does not have it’s impossible to deliver it and still be authentic.

So for personal brands it is much more difficult to deliver something that the man or women does not have and still be authentic.

It’s not very difficult to know what your target group wants and expects from you as a brand.

It’s hard to deliver what they want when you don’t have that… so it means that your brand positioning is not the correct one.

In order to build a strong an authentic personal brand it’s very important to know yourself in depth, to understand who you are and what makes you special and desirable.

Many think that building a personal brand is about being known and having a nice blog and communicate on twitter about everything you do, being on Linked in and having as many connections as possible. Well that’s just the top of the iceberg of a personal brand. It’s similar to advertising and PR for a commercial brand.

Most important in a personal brand (and in a commercial brand) is the brand essence.

What is you personal brand’s brand essence?

Brand Evolution and the Progress Mark

In The evolution of brands there are some stages of development.

The first stage is the Trademark. It’s the first stage of development for an incipient brand, which is at the level of legally protecting its elements of intellectual property. This stage is inferior comparing to the usual brand, accepting that a brand is more than a Trademark.

The second stage is the “usual brand” – a brand that has reached a certain development. These brands are known by their target and are associated with various ideas or characteristics. Most times they are known for something good, for something different or something good and different.

The third stage of development is the Trustmark – a brand that succeeded in earning the trust of its customers. A trustmark developed further than a “usual brand” because it is not just known for something good and different, but it gained the trust of a large part of its target group. A trust mark benefits of the trust of its consumers.

The fourth stage of development is the LoveMark – a brand that is loved by its customers, that benefits of loyalty beyond reason. The lovemarks are the brands that gained not only the trust of their target group, but also have strong emotional links with the individuals in their target group.

I believe that another brand concept exists: The Progress Mark. A progress mark can be also a trust mark or a love mark. It is not another stage of brand development, but is a particular case for brands that are successful.

A progressmark is a brand that pursues the personal and / or professional development of its customers. A progress mark has the trust of the public and has created some emotional links with its target group.

A progressmark is something that people use when they want to be better professionally or personally.

A very good example of a progressmark is a good university. Somebody buys the university’s services for professional development (the actual knowledge received) and personal development (being a part of an elite group).
The customer of an university wants to progress in his or her career and life, and knows that that university will help him or her make that progress.

Another example of a progressmark is that of a publishing house. The customers of a publishing house buy the books or magazines for their intellectual development (professional or cultural).
Universities, training companies, publishing houses are obvious examples for a progress mark, but progress marks are not only about education and culture.

For example a tool manufacturer can develop a new tool that will help its customers work better and faster. For sure this is a progressmark because the customer made a considerable progress in being more efficient in his or her work.

Even a store can be a progress mark if it helps people find faster what they are looking for, or having trained personnel that helps people making the best decision and not spending money on something that they don’t need.

I gave some examples of categories of products or services where progressmarks can develop, but these are not the only categories and not all members in these categories can become ProgressMarks.

Great example for cultural marketing

Watch the hole video.

I would go to Moscow to see such a show