Brenda Bence

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CHICAGO – March 2012. Author Brenda Bence’s latest book, Smarter Branding Without Breaking the Bank: Five Proven Marketing Strategies You Can Use Right Now to Build Your Business at Little or No Cost is a Gold Medal Winner in the Advertising/Marketing/PR/Event Planning category of the 2012 Axiom Business Book Awards.

“This award means a lot to me because we competed with books released by some of the country’s best publishers; plus, I have a lot of respect for the Axiom Awards,” Bence said. “I based this book on one of my workshops that has been in high demand around the world,” she continued, “and my goal behind Smarter Branding is to help small-to-medium enterprises and solo-preneurs learn how they can successfully promote and grow their brands without a ‘big-brand’ budget.”

Bence spent almost all of her corporate career in branding and marketing, building powerhouse brands across 50 countries and four continents for mega-budgeted consumer giants such as Procter & Gamble and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Once she decided to leave the corporate world and start her own company, she began from the ground up with an almost nonexistent budget. Using skills from her branding background, she developed inventive, low-cost marketing methods that built her company and name into a brand that now serves clients in 30 countries with offices in both the U.S. and Asia.

For years, Brenda has passed along her experience across the globe through her Smarter Branding workshops, but when people continuously asked her to capture the information on paper, the Smarter Branding book was born. “I wanted more business owners to realize that they already have assets they can use to build their brands at low-cost or even no-cost that can grow their business and quickly increase their bottom line,” Bence said.

Smarter Branding Without Breaking the Bank is Bence’s fifth book. The Axiom Award is the book’s third since it was released in September of 2011. The three books in her How YOU™ are like Shampoo personal branding book series have won a total of 13 national book awards.

The Axiom Business Book Awards are the largest and most respected critical guidepost for business books in today’s publishing world. These prestigious awards, which are presented by Jenkins Group, Inc, are presented in 21 business categories and serve as the premier list to help readers discover new and innovative works. The winners and finalists this year include books published by Harvard Business Review Press, McGraw-Hill, John Wiley & Sons, Yale University Press, Princeton University Press, Entrepreneur Press, AMACOM, and many independent publishers.

About the Author:
Brenda S. Bence is an internationally-recognized branding expert, powerful speaker and trainer, and certified executive coach. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and spent years developing mega brands across the world for Procter & Gamble and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Brenda is now President of her own company, Brand Development Associates International, and she spends her time traveling the world speaking, training, and coaching individuals and corporations to greater success through creative yet practical brand development.

Brenda is available for television, radio, and press interviews to talk about her book and/or topics related to corporate and personal branding. Visit www.BrendaBence.com, contact +1-312-242-1830, or email Daniel@BrendaBence.com for availability.

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When we were still based in Bangkok, we were looking to hire two college interns to spend their winter school break holidays working for us. The chance to escape blustery winter weather and spend a few weeks working in balmy Bangkok apparently appealed to many, and we ended up with 75 applicants for only two internships. (We’d like to think the college students were really only interested in working for us, but we’re far more realistic than that!)

Anyway, out of the 75 applications, we narrowed it down to five on our short list. On paper, they were all stellar, and my personal favorite resume was from a young man (we’ll call him Jim) who seemed full of promise. Always excited to talk with bright young people, I looked forward to my interview with him.

But that interview never happened.

Why? Jim’s Facebook photos were so … well, embarrassing, that his application immediately went to the “no” pile. Photo one: Jim, shirtless, in a “muscle man” pose, wearing a baseball cap and holding a beer bottle. Photo two: Jim passionately kissing his girlfriend at a party.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m no prude. It’s fine to do all of those things (especially the passionate kissing part!). But, when that is the key visual on your Facebook page, what kind of brand does that communicate to others? And if I hired Jim, and our clients wanted to check out our staff members, do I want those visuals to represent our company brand? Not really.

So, even though Jim was a potentially great candidate for what would have been a fun job, he fell off the list.

Putting Your Best Facebook Forward

The truth is that Facebook has been a liability for quite a few people lately. The news has covered stories of people getting fired or even arrested because of what they disclosed on their Facebook profiles. So, unless you know exactly how to take advantage of Facebook’s privacy settings (and even then, it’s risky), you could set yourself up for a rude awakening – especially if you’re looking for a job.

Studies show that as many as 60-70% of all employers check Facebook and other social media sites as soon as they get your resume. So, before you even get called for an interview, your resume or CV may end up in the “no” file – just like Jim’s did. And you might never know that your social media activities were the root cause.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, or whether you’re looking for a job or not. Take a look at your Facebook profile like an outsider would (same for Twitter and other social media sites), and check for what kind of personal brand messages are coming across. What do others see? What do your page and your photos say about YOU™? Remember: You’re only as professional as your last post.

Then, take a look at How YOU™ Are Like Shampoo for Job Seekers for more ideas to prevent social media from undermining your job prospects. Remember: Your personal brand has to be consistent everywhere, or you’ll end up confusing the very people you’re looking to impress.

P.S. Curious what employers are looking for when they view your social media pages? Check out this Forbes article for some clues. http://tinyurl.com/7am29ck.

You may not know what a “Brand Triangle™” is, but I guarantee you already have one. The Brand Triangle™ – a model I created – is an approach for how to think about your brand, whether you’re focused on growing a brand for a company, a product, or a service, or whether you’re building your own individual personal brand. While it may not sound quite as exciting as a “romantic triangle,” if you don’t get your Brand Triangle™ right, your brand may very well end up in the Bermuda Triangle – disappearing into thin air, never to be heard from again.

What is a “Brand Triangle™” Anyway?

The Brand Triangle™ is a simple but effective way of finding out how well your brand is doing from three different angles (every pun intended). As the visual here demonstrates, it compares (a) the brand you believe you have now, with (b) the brand you want (your desired brand), with (c) your brand as others see it. If a corporate or personal brand is a great success, you can bet that all three points of its triangle are exactly the same.

Why is that important? Because unless you’re absolutely certain about your brand’s current and ongoing health, you won’t be able to reap the benefits of building a strong brand.  In fact, you could be coming down with a bad case of “brand denial.”

Are You Floating Down the River of ‘Brand Denial?’

I’ve worked with many companies and individuals over the years, helping them to build their brands, and I’ve run across many who were under the mistaken impression that their brand was just fine or at least doing better than it actually was. This is what I call “brand denial,” a syndrome that can keep your brand from growing or even surviving. If you think you may have brand denial, don’t feel bad – it’s a bit like the common cold; almost everybody comes down with it at some point.

But brand denial needs quick medicine, and the Brand Triangle is one of the best diagnostic tools to help. Luckily, there are some easy, quick – and inexpensive – ways to find out exactly how your brand is doing.

Company Brand Strategies

If you’re building on a company, product, or service brand:

• Do an inexpensive online survey, asking your customers pointed questions about what they think of your brand. (See the “Five Words Exercise” below – it works for companies, too!) Online survey services like SurveyMonkey.com  make it easy, low-cost, and even fun – you can watch the tallies come in one at a time!

• Conduct low-cost, in-person focus groups with key clients to find out what you’re doing well and what could be improved. This doesn’t have to be fancy. Just get a small group of your most trusted customers together, and take them out for lunch or dinner with the express intention of talking about their impressions – the good, the bad, and the ugly of your brand.

• Make sure your customers/clients have easy ways to complain. This doesn’t cost a thing, and it will tell you very quickly – and no holds barred – which aspects of your brand you need to improve.

Interested in more low-cost ideas to get clear on the health of your brand? Check out Smarter Branding Without Breaking the Bank.

Personal Brand Strategies

If you’re working on clarifying your personal brand:

Try the “Five Words Exercise.” Here’s how it works: Choose someone you trust as your “Brand Investigator.” Give that person the names of 5 to 10 people – direct reports, peers, your boss, or friends. Ask your Brand Investigator to contact these people individually and pose the following question: “When you think of _______ [insert your name], what are the first five words that come to mind?”

The responders should be asked to give the first five words they think of – a “gut” response without overthinking it. Make sure they know their responses will stay confidential; you won’t be told who said what.

Ask the Brand Investigator to write down the exact words that are said and, then, mix them up. How consistent are the responses? Do you see any trends?

-        If the same words continue to show up, this is a good indication that you’re very consistent in how you act, react, look, sound, and think – e.g., the way you communicate your individual brand.

-        If the words are all over the map,  ask yourself: How am I acting differently with those various groups of people?

Remember: The secret to successful branding – whether for a company or an individual – is consistency. What can you do to become more consistent in how you’re perceived?

Once you uncover the points on your Brand Triangle™ that are mismatched, you can begin to make changes so that all three aspects of your brand are the same. That’s how you build a powerful brand.