Importance of Personal Branding in context of Agile Excellence

Srijan Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Insights into Branding

Prepared by: Rahul Dewan

Why you need to *brand yourself*!

What does it take to be a *good brand*?


What the heck has this got to do with Agile?

Agile value systems –

TRUST

TRANSPARENCY

DISCIPLINE

CLEAR AND HONEST COMMUNICATION

FEEDBACK <--> CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT


Managing a “Brand”

The most difficult thing to crack in running a good

company

It is touchy-feely, and an “art” more than a science


Brand advantages

Brand is a “moat” around the company

There is predictability of a “sales pipeline”

Good branding gives a company “pricing power”

Attracts the right people


What characterizes a brand?

What if they were a person?

What would they look like? (eg: not fat/ thin; but

attributes like young/ caring/ calming, etc)

What would they be wearing?

What would be their *values*?

Think of words that come to your mind while you

portray these brands as people!

Exercise Time!

Let's portray these brands as people!


What characterizes a brand – Maruti

Dependable

Affordable

Safe

Reliable (even if it breaks down there will be a service

center nearby)

Functional

Middle-Aged


What characterizes a brand – Toyota

Quality

Dependable

Functional

Not flamboyant

Safe

Affordable (affordable luxury!)


Insights – Toyota and Maruti

Common value systems? :-)

Globally Toyota struggled launching “luxury” cars; Maruti is

not known for a Sedan/SUV, but for “small cars”

Toyota in India – found brand value systems captured by

Maruti

They, therefore launched with “Qualis”, then “Innova” -- to

target the commercial vehicle systems

Liva, even Etios in the upmarket small-car / sedan – has

been introduced in 2011, after several years in India


Tata vs Reliance

Tata

➔ Trust

➔ Reliable

➔ Mature

➔ High ethics

➔ Solid

➔ Dependable

➔ May not be efficient or

high quality

Reliance

➔ Not trustworthy

➔ Manipulative

➔ Street smart

➔ Will do anything to

make money

➔ Will deliver shareholder

value?

“You are the chief marketing officer for

the brand called *you*, but what others

say about your brand is more impactful

than what you say about yourself.”


So how do we judge a brand?

How come we think all form such opinions?

Is it from their advertisement alone; the image they project?

Or what we read and judge about them?

By how their employees feel? What is their employees'

conviction in the product / company while selling?

By how their 'leaders & managers' live and behave?

And by what they say in media during times of crisis?

How do we judge the character of the organization?


Walk the Talk!

External belief in the brand has to be backed by “each

action” that you take

Both “internal” and “external” stories are essential – to

make the story consistent

Internal belief and

actions consistent with this belief system

makes the external belief (or brand perception) true!

How we live our lives

is an exercise in

branding!

So, who are you going to be?


Insights into Branding

Thank you!

www.srijan.in

Prepared by Rahul Dewan

Learnings and insights to based on interactive session led by: Mohit Satyanand, visiting faculty at www.CIAM.in - a learning

program for business owners and entrepreneurs

Twitter: @rahuldewan

http://www.CIAM.in/

Documents

Importance of Personal Branding in context of Agile Excellence