Creating a Frame of Reference...

Famous brands have a very defined Frame of Reference created by marketing teams.  What can we learn from this practice as individuals?  How do you go about creating a Frame of Reference for your personal brand?

When you first start out as a business you want your Frame of Reference to be really easy to work out by the consumers. So initially the context of what you stand for.  Federal Express when they started said they were an overnight courier service, but they wanted to differentiate themselves from existing courier companies.  They added to their Frame that they were superior on speed and dependability.  With the rise of emailing  documents which was quicker than a courier,  Federal Express  needed to update their Frame.  They added a new differentiator of being the most secure and confidential. 

The pitfalls with Frames of Reference is that brands have to be aware of whether their points of parity match all their brands. Dove products are known for soft hands, but when they branched into dishwasher liquid with the claim of softer hands the sales did not go well as people wanted clean dishes first.

Careful analysis shows that there are three types of brand differences:-

• Brand performance associations
• Brand imagery associations
• Consumer insight associations.

Learning from the above as to  how can you best target your message.  What do we want to be known for? What do we want to be famous for?

Create a Frame of Reference - put your name in the middle

Brand performance - Give initial context of what you do as with the example of Federal Express, then answer the following questions:-

• Do you do what you say you are going to do? and what is that? (your point of parity) 
• How reliable are you?
• What is your level of service, your effectiveness?
• Where do you add value (the diffrentiator).

Brand imagery

• Consistency in your look and level of service, what do you want people to see hear and feel when they work with you?

Consumer insight associations

• Who are your customers (your family/friends & work colleagues) what problems do you solve or support them with?
• What would they say about working or living with you?
• How would they describe you?

After working through the above, would you consider you have an established Frame? Do you feel that you have points of parity or USP (unique selling points).  Are the points of difference compelling?

With famous brands they have  to be vigilant and adapt their Frame of Reference, as the world changes, remember as individual we must do the same. 

Please do get in touch for a workshop on Personal Branding or a one to one coaching session bev@nuggetsoflearning.co.uk