By Karen Post, on March 16, 2012

Are you ready to fight for your personal brand?

Many brands on their top game suddenly find themselves in a truck full of brand trouble. A scandal, bad judgment, a legal mess, a tragic accident or the result of just taking your eye off the ball, the brand goes bad.

Beat up brands can recover.

I look at brands that have fought their way back from near folds and I’m always amazed at the resiliency and dedication I see. In my latest book, Brand Turnaround, I reveal the steps taken by persistent leaders who overcame major brand shake-ups. I call these seven key concepts Game Changers, and one of them is to not give up.

Seems like an easy enough concept, but how far are you really willing to go if your brand undergoes disastrous, brand-killing times? Do you have a plan? How can you ensure that you’ll persist? Can you handle the pressure and whatever hand you’re dealt—even if that means a trip to jail or a big fat market rejection?

People like Martha Stewart, Michael Vick and Arianna Huffington are proof of how to make the best of a bad situation. Without going into detail about all of their stories (you can find that in my new book, Brand Turnaround), they all have some common traits:

• Taking full responsibility for themselves
• Welcoming change and outside help
• Leveraging what they know
• Being completely honest and transparent
• Being resilient
• Employing a multi-touchpoint tool kit

Now put yourself in their shoes. Imagine you’ve somehow got mixed up with the wrong crowd and ended up making a bad judgment call that lands you in the nightly news. You got a DUI and this time you’re going to jail instead of attending your company’s annual retreat. Your business partners might bail on you, the public may be against you or your employees lose confidence in you—so it’s time to come up with a plan for yourself.

First you must understand failure isn’t permanent. It’s a temporary event unless you choose to stay there. Even if you’ve let a bunch of people down, including yourself, regain your composure and find your inner strength. Yes, fear, anger and shame may feel like an eternal zone, but you can put an end to it—pick up the pieces to move forward.

Whether you’re sent to jail, your brand’s reputation suffered from bad judgment calls or a long series of rejections take you out of the game, stop feeling sorry for yourself, get a grip and take focused actions to change your course from loser to a top brand that people want to buy and associate with.

If you are incarcerated you will have plenty of time to reflect and come up with your plan. If you are still operating, but in a big depressed funk, carve out significant amounts of alone time to reflect, shake off the past and map out your recovery.

Have faith, whether that means, reading, meditating or going into your personal spiritual zone. Then visualize where you want to be.

Reverting to old patterns and ways will keep you in the nightmare. Resiliency will return you to glory and make dreams possible.

While you’re away physically or mentally, don’t let your brand die. This might mean temporarily stepping down in your head role. It’s okay to hire a leader to fill in for you or to trust one of your partners to take the reins while you get your life sorted out. Do whatever is best for your future brand. Do remember that the longer you ponder the further you are from brand recovery.

Once you are back in the game, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Reach out to advisors, business connections or professional firms who can help you reinvent or polish up your brand and reestablish trust with your markets. Leverage community outreach opportunities like volunteering or doing public speaking that relates to your new image or lessons you learned from the bad events that can aid others.

Be honest once you’re back in the limelight. Admit to what you did and explain the steps you’re taking to continue to make yourself a better person and a respected brand—and avoid making the same mistake again. Self-deprecation and being able to laugh at yourself could also work in your favor.

Reengage with the public. Even if your former fan club isn’t as solid as it once was, people liked you/your brand for a reason. Invite them to be a part of your new life by interacting with them via social media and being transparent about your intentions.

Establish new relationships with positive people. You may have lost some partnerships due to your temporary set back, but it doesn’t mean that no one will ever want to partner with you again. In fact, you may find that other successful people have made similar mistakes. Connect with them for advice and strength.

Embrace change. Don’t let the past shape your current thoughts or actions. The past brought you brand- and life-damaging consequences, so if you want different results you must try different actions.

Leverage what you know and are passionate about. Most of the successful brands I’ve seen turnaround—especially personal brands—have aligned their core talents and what they love to do with their game plan forward.

And finally, don’t under estimate the power of visual communications. How you dress, what your marketing materials look like and the tools that best reflect the new you—the brand that has turned around—are critical.

This article is based on content from Karen Post’s latest book Brand Turnaround (McGraw-Hill 2011). This article focuses on personal brands, but the book covers a variety of brands from commercial and destination brands, to nonprofit brands.

By Karen Post, on February 14, 2012

In the spirit of love and affection as many celebrate Valentine’s Day, the day of awesome relationships, frisky friendships, risky affairs and just plain gushy lust, I thought it would be appropriate to mention the everyday occurrence of unavailable brands. You know the kind, the not so healthy, lots of issues, not worth the time and certainly not worth the loyalty—when company brands get so chilly, so unconnected and just straight up are not available to their paying customers who truly want to love them.

The sad fact is there are many brands who behave like this and then wonder why their customers cheat and defect to a younger or more loving competitor.

Here are the red flags to know when it may be time to start dating- I mean shopping around:

• You’ve got a problem and there is no phone number on their website.
• Or it takes way too long and way too much work to find it.
• Or a “contact us” form with no reply or at best a form reply that says: “we are very busy, we’ll try to get to you some day”.
• Or you call them and after 20 minutes in the phone tree jungle, you speak with a customer service rep by the name of Carol, who you can’t understand, and you know darn well no Carols’ live in that country.

It’s unfortunate there are not horse-mounted brand police that would issue costly citations when companies play like this. But then again, unhappy customers now have a voice with social media, word of mouth and on high traffic blogs, just ask Dell, Bank of America and Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Tonight at tennis I asked my buds who they thought were some of the worst offenders, the not available brands, here’s what I heard. Tazo Tea, the Starbuck’s company, Sam’s club, the Walmart Company, Skype and the Microsoft Company. I’m sure you’ve got your list too. It is a shame that these big brands would be so clueless to the basic concept that open communication is essential to keep a relationship red hot.

Smart brands who value relationships with their customers make it easy for them to talk and they listen.

A big kiss and hug to Apple, American Express and Southwest airlines.

How easy is it for your brand to be loved?

To learn about more brand bumps and how the got back on the saddle, view: Brand Turnaround.

By Karen Post, on February 8, 2012

Do you have the skills, mindset and traits to save a sinking brand, no matter how rough the seas get?

Branding guru, CEO, marketing director, head honcho, boss, manager, entrepreneur—whatever your title, one day you may be faced with an unexpected challenge. Lead with courage, you’ll likely turn it around. Manage with mediocrity, and your brand’s life may be very short.

Leading a brand turnaround is no easy role. If it were, there’d be fewer brand casualties.

It takes a special kind of person—one who can lead and battle through brand bumps, uncertainty and the stress that comes with unfortunate situations like product recalls, scandal and controversy.

Having spent close to 30 years sitting in on committee planning meetings and inside boardrooms, and observing brands from around the world, I’ve paid close attention to how leaders act and react during catastrophic storms. Some gasp for air and drown while others take charge and employ strategic change that accelerates their recovery.

Those who pull through display a high degree of focus, resiliency and a sense of urgency throughout the entire ordeal. They are also willing to try new and unproven methods to meet their goals. This style of leadership and set of traits are pivotal in turning around a brand in trouble.

In my new book Brand Turnaround, I studied over 75 brands that were in serious trouble. I looked at their paths back to recovery and the leadership characteristics that helped propel the charge forward. Common behaviors included being:

• Courageous – They don’t fear uncertainty.
• Resilient and tough – They fight while under fire.
• Candid – They are honest, no matter what.
• Charismatic – They empower, inspire and excite.
• Humble – They are innately modest and value others’ worth.
• Gracious – They appreciate all stakeholders.
• Creative – They use imagination to solve problems.
• Generous – They share the rewards.

To explain these attributes in context, let’s say you own a vegan restaurant whose brand is suddenly under scrutiny because it was discovered that one of your signature dishes does in fact contain an animal ingredient. Being a good leader, how would you deal with this?

1. Detach yourself without losing sight of lessons learned. Momentarily abandon your emotional connection to your brand, and look at the entire situation as an outsider might.

2. Focus on making things better while avoiding blame. Maybe it’s the vendor’s fault. You were told that the ingredients contained no animal products. Suddenly the vendor drops a bomb saying that their manufacturer realized there in fact was an animal ingredient in the food. Even if this is the case, don’t spend time pointing fingers. It will waste energy and make you look like you’re focusing more on blame than addressing the actual problem and committing to a solution.

3. Have a clear vision of the future that addresses the triple bottom line: finance, society and the environment. Your recovery plan can’t simply be to fix your menu. How will you do this? What can you do to cut costs through the process? How can you make a sincere attempt at not displeasing too many people involved? Will your solution harm the environment in any way?

4. Leverage your own strengths as well as those of your team. Maybe your Marketing Director is a calm, pleasant speaker, able to keep her cool under stress. If this is the case, you might want to have her be the brand spokesperson. If your General Manager is a customer-service specialist, consider assigning him the task of personally talking to patrons about the issue. Just because you’re the leader doesn’t mean the entire road to recovery has to be paved by you. You just need to be the one who leads the way.

5. Embrace new leadership tools including social media and digital communications. Whether or not you have a Facebook, Twitter, YouTube channel or blog, you may want to start one during the shake-up. Have a designated team member manage the platforms and interact directly with consumers to show that your brand cares. Create a video on YouTube to personally express your concern and apology.

6. Be willing to take risks and accept failing forward. If something doesn’t work, try a different route. The main thing is to persist no matter what, because you are the one in the driver’s seat.

7. Be willing to “launch and learn.” Trust your respect for research and confidence in what you think is right. Don’t second-guess yourself too much during this time. If your first thought is to create an apology video via YouTube and then offer all Facebook fans a coupon, go for it. Maybe your video gets negative reviews and the masses bash your sincerity or feel a coupon isn’t enough of a fix. Try something else.

8. Love the game and play to win. Leaders are passionate people. No matter how much stress the customers and media may cause you, stay true to yourself and remember why you took the leader role in the first place.

9. Be willing to mix, mingle and listen to all stakeholders. Have an open mind because you never know who might come up with a good solution. Maybe someone knows of a more trusting vendor or a better way to boost morale. Don’t close yourself off to anyone, even if they belittle you or threaten to cut ties with you. You may even end up seeing some relationships crumble during this tough time. Be accepting and respectful then move forward.

The road to recovery starts with you, so tap into all these leadership traits you possess. This article is based on content from Karen Post’s latest book Brand Turnaround (McGraw-Hill 2011).

About the author
Known by many as the Brand Diva^®, Karen Post is an international branding/marketing expert, professional speaker and author. She helps individuals; businesses and nonprofits around world succeed with powerful, distinct brands.

Karen has written two books: Brand Turnaround: How Brands Gone Bad Returned to Glory… and the 7 Game Changers that Made the Difference (available late 2011) and Brain Tattoos: Creating Unique Brands That Stick in Your Customers’ Minds. For more info on Karen and branding matters, visit the Branding Diva thank you page.

By Karen Post, on September 8, 2011

Continued from a couple days ago.

Like I mentioned before, no brand is immune to a brand shake-up when something unfortunate happens and your brand falls from grace. In my new book Brand Turnaround, I go into detail on some high-profile brands like Pirate’s Booty, Domino’s and The Red Cross.  I look at how they transformed from a brand gone bad to a brand back on their game.

One of the key strategies in these turnarounds was embracing the brand’s essence—its  purpose, distinction, promise and personality—in their recovery plan. With a strong brand essence, you will be more confident in dealing with a shakeup.

• Be ready to answer the “who, what, where, when, why and how” questions.
• Do a thorough inventory of all assets at your exposure and assemble a team of ambassadors.
• Build a narrative to explain the situation and defend your brand.
• Remember to never say, “No Comment,” and to respond in a timely manner to all major media contacts.

Once you’ve done this, it’s imperative to instill proper crisis media management, utilize social media tools, practice leadership, stay relevant and be distinct throughout the ordeal. Think carefully before every move, and know when to play offense, defense or throw in the towel.

All the while, you should understand the importance of change, and make an effort not to resist it. Oftentimes, people and companies as a whole imprison themselves by staying with what is familiar to them. Though this may seem comfortable and like the right thing to do, it can actually be counterproductive. The business world, global marketplace, people, social landscape and other brands are forever changing. Therefore, be adaptable.

Break free from the chains that will hold your brand hostage by:

• Avoiding ego-driven decisions.
• Taking responsibility.
• Not relying on shortcuts.
• Not just going with what you know, as opposed to seeking out new solutions.
• Not denying consequences.
• Not being afraid to lead and take charge.

Though breaking free from old chains may require higher costs, risk and pain, you will find that being open to change can result in your brand overcoming challenges and even becoming stronger in the long run. Remember that even if your brand isn’t guilty of anything, simple changes could be necessary.

Prepare yourself for unforeseen shakeups—both large and small—and consider these key points that can help you immensely when you find yourself scrambling to turn your brand around from a set back.

This blog is an excerpt from Karen Post’s latest book Brand Turnaround (McGraw-Hill 2011).

By Karen Post, on September 4, 2011

Part 1
New brands are created each day. Many will make it, many will not. And many will face unexpected challenges that result in brand breakdowns.

Should your brand go bad from

• A product recall
• A scandal
• A major market shift
• Or  some really bad luck

You can turn your brand around and get back to business.

With the right knowledge, tools and preparation, you can better equip yourself to recover from that evil, intimidating beast—the unforeseen brand shakeup.

Whether commercial, individual, cause or nonprofit, or destination, well-regarded brands reap benefits including customer loyalty, trust, backing by eager ambassadors, a protective shield and countless opportunities. Still, sometime this just isn’t enough to prevent your brand from crumbling when catastrophe arises.

The key point here is that no brand is immune to a breakdown. No matter how strong or popular your brand, always be prepared for the worst. It can happen without warning, and have catastrophic results.

Like any type of beast, a brand shakeup rears its ugly head in many forms. They could be the result of accidents, product recalls, scandals, dramatic market shifts, poor judgment, bad behavior or bad luck, among other things.

Despite the trigger or severity of the shakeup, some brands come out fighting—and make complete turnarounds, sometimes even becoming stronger than they ever were.

The first step in combating a shakeup is to be prepared. Brands undergoing hard times move through five phases:

1. Brand-shaking Event — market shift created by internal or external circumstances.
2. Market Reaction and the Brand’s Reply — public suddenly has negative view of your brand and you lose ambassadors; press management and a spokesperson are crucial here.
3. By-products and Other Hazards That May Follow a Troubled Brand — public media and negative sentiment can grow and brand equity could be lost.
4. Road to Recovery — start to heal when another, more damaging event, enters the news cycle or when your good planning results in execution of recovery strategies and tactics.
5. Return to Glory — maintain progress and respond to new challenges.

Familiarize yourself with this cycle and create a plan for how you will deal with each step. Simultaneously, make an effort to rebuild connections and relationships with core markets. Beyond this, know your brand essence—solidify your purpose, distinction, promise and personality.

See next blog for part 2 and more tips on how to turn your brand around. This content is an excerpt from my new book Brand Turnaround (McGraw-Hill 2011) that released December 16th…

Until then Brand On!

For more information on branding tips, view:
8 must answer questions to grade your personal brand

By Karen Post, on February 25, 2008