Personal Brand Messaging

Branding involves creating, maintaining, and enhancing the awareness of your product or service. In establishing the credibility and awareness of your brand, third-party endorsements have a tremendous effect. Individual branding is different from business branding in that it requires a continued positive attitude and even stronger relationship building. Unlike business branding, which recommends posting a social ad or banner on a webpage, billboard, or in print collateral, personal branding requires networking— and lots of it. Networking can be done via social networks, local group meetings, and events. In addition, during these networking sessions, the individual needs to be likable and must present good character, knowledge, and a pleasant appearance.

Attitudes toward the message of your brand have an impact on the customer’s purchase and behavioral intentions. To promote your brand, you could invest in advertising, which is a more general means of communication for promoting your brand. Marketing-oriented publicity elicits either positive or negative cognitive responses in customers. A positive cognitive response enhances the brand messaging which has an impact on the customer’s purchasing decision. A negative attitude and cognitive response toward brand messaging reduce the likelihood of a customer making a purchase.

A perfect example of marketing based on customer brand attitude and the use of endorsements is the Beats headphone brand. The brand was introduced without a large budget and focused on building credibility through celebrity endorsements and word-of-mouth. As customers accepted the credibility as positive, they spread the word about the product as being a commodity to those interested in owning the popular brand. With the help of social promotions, celebrity credibility, industry targeted publicity, and brand messaging the brand has developed into a multi-billion dollar company.