For most of my career, I’ve focused most of my attention on telling the stories, through photographs, that my clients have asked me to tell. Whether it was a concept for an ad or portrait of a CEO, I took the message that was being presented and tried to translate it visually to accompany the text that surrounded it.
While that was certainly a valid — and for years, profitable — approach, I believe the culture of transparency we work in is requiring a different approach. It seems that everywhere I turn, I see the word “authentic” being used. It’s as if using the word in communications makes the communication itself more “authentic.”
Increasingly, after hearing the message my clients want to project, I’m asking about the message their clients already own about them. After all, branding is not the message we’re broadcasting, but the message that others already share about us. Authenticity comes from the perception people have, not from the perceptions we tell them to have.
What does surprise me is how unaware most people are of how they personally and their businesses are perceived by others. Awareness of self and others is what leads to authenticity. Lack of awareness of what is truly is a denial of reality.
The place I’m trying to lead my clients to — and the place I always want to be as well — is one of authentic transparency. From there, we spend less time and fewer resources convincing people of what we want them to believe and more of our energy creating the value those people want to experience.
What do you think?
Charles
Tagged as:
Authenticity,
Branding,
Story,
Transparency,
Values
I kind of followed my own advice from my previous blog post when I decided to shut up and do my work. I decided to drop away from most meetings that were not assignment related and almost all extracurricular activities including most social media outlets or any web surfing to get several projects completed.
The primary project has been to get all of my branding materials including website, business cards, documents, emailers, etc. to have one consistent look. No three elements of my materials were consistent in either content or design with each other.
It is amazing to me how few of the businesses that are in the business of working with companies on branding materials have their own materials in order. I’ve been just as guilty, and needed to get my house in order.
Unfortunately, the only way I know to get anything which requires extreme focus done, is to drop away from everything that is not urgent, even if it is important. Because I’ve made a commitment to get the MindFire newsletter out twice each month, I focused particular attention on getting that written and shipped. And of course, there are those assignments which actually keeps the mortgage paid and the power on, not to mention groceries in the cupboards.
But virtually every social and business engagement that is not urgent on any given day got cut. That means having hurt some feelings of people who are important but don’t have urgent needs to respond to. But, of course, when someone thinks their matter is important, it becomes urgent to them. Thus, some singed emotions.
I have been trying for some time to stay slightly engaged on all fronts without any noticeable slippage. But what slips is not seen on the stage necessarily, it’s behind the curtain of life. Most of it comes in the form of diminished mental and physical health when we never let down on our outside appearance of being “on.” The other areas that get a hit are those that require a lot of focused attention such as writing or creating a new vision.
What I’m having to come to accept is that, as an introvert at heart, I need time away from engagement with people to regain energy and focus. I also need my own permission to exit and take this time away. When I do re-enter, I’m always charged up with renewed energy and excitement because some of the pressure to get important stuff done is relieved and I have attention to share with people again. It’s a very good thing. But, as much as I get tired of explaining that to others, I get even more tired of having to explain it to myself.
Charles
Tagged as:
Attitude,
Branding,
Creativity,
Photography
This particular post by Seth Godin struck a chord with me this morning because several times in the past few weeks, people have asked my thoughts or advice either about their portraits on their business cards and/or web sites or they want to know how they can improve the pictures on their web site.
Since we all know folks who ask counsel from everyone they encounter until they get the advice they want to hear, the first issue I must resolve is whether someone really wants an objective response or just wants an “expert” to say what they’re doing is great. My return question is usually along the lines of, “Are you pleased with the images and the results you’re getting from them?” If they are, my job may well be done. I’ve generally found that if someone is satisfied with where they are, they’re just not that interested in moving to new ground.
In other words, if someone’s spouse/child/friend shot their web portrait with a Blackberry and touched it up in Photoshop Elements – at no charge – they don’t want to hear about the poor lighting that makes their face look red or that their web images are simply outdated. Very few people want to hear they lack sophistication. However, in Godin’s words, “We place a high value on sophistication, because we’ve been trained to seek it out as a cue for what lies ahead. We figure that if someone is too clueless to understand our norms, they probably don’t understand how to make us a product or service that we’ll like.”
Let me ask you a question. Say you meet someone at an event who could potentially serve a need you have, for instance, a realtor or a CPA. You’re having an encouraging conversation with strong possibilities of working together when you ask for a card. As you’re talking, you glance down and immediately notice the flimsy card stock, cluttered design and a photo of your companion with his/her company sign in the background and an expression that looks as if it was caught in mid-enema. (The added bonus comes when you flip over to the back to read, “Business Cards are FREE at vistaprint.com!” Classy!)
Is this really the “professional” you want overseeing the details of your business or personal affairs?
In another post by Godin earlier this year, he detailed some of the things you may want to consider when you’re having a business portrait done. It’s a great starting point. One thought I’d add is to have the person shooting your portrait engage you so that you’re relaxed and reveal your true personality.
Admittedly, my interests are served when business people hire me to create their portraits. But this question is raised a lot and I’m more concerned with folks making a decision to do what’s in their best interest.
I believe it’s always best to present one’s image on the same level of business that one wants to be working on, not a level below. Every marketing/branding book and blog I read says that we are in the age of “Brand You”. When the economy and job market are at it’s tightest is the time you need to be most concerned with your image and your “brand”.
What does your portrait say about your market sophistication?
Charles
http://www.charlesguptonphoto.com
On Twitter @ http://twitter.com/CharlesGupton [click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Branding,
Economy,
Photography
There was a story in the Wall St. Journal yesterday indicating that because of the instability in the economy, job recruiters are having difficulty finding candidates for job openings in some companies. It seems that many executives are wary of leaving what they know for a company they don’t know. And there seems to be good evidence that their fears are not unfounded. A number of companies have hired, then almost immediately let go those who have most recently been brought into the fold under the “last hired, first fired” policy many firms have in place.
Although this is not a new insight, what concerns me is the continuing spiral down in the loyalty shown from either the company or the employees to the other. Almost every decision seems to be considered solely on the basis of what can you provide in the short term to fulfill my wants. Without a commitment, a company loses it’s investment in the intellectual and creative capital it’s established.
When people are living in uncertainty and fear, some of the first qualities they drop is their creativity and care for relationships that don’t immediately feed their sense of security. What that translates into for the company is loss of innovation and customer support. Without these two qualities, what does a company really have to offer to distinguish it from a competitor? A lower price point?
The painter Willem de Kooning observed, “The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time.” Whether real or imagined, people are feeling poor at this time. And in feeling poor, they have ditched some of their hope, their vision of what’s possible. That’s not only a loss for their lives, but a loss for the company which employs them.
In his book, Lovemarks, Kevin Roberts states, “I believe that the role of business is to make the world a better place for everyone…by focusing our creative minds on innovating for the greater good.” When a company innovates with its services or products in a manner which genuinely benefits the world, it usually profits as well. Throughout his book, Roberts encourages companies to move beyond thinking about products, services or even brands. He proposes that a company think in terms of serving its customers in such a way as to develop a loyalty or a lovemark with them. But neither loyalty nor love can be sold through advertising. It must be won through the interactions a buyer has with the company. Upper management often seems to forget those interactions happen through people – those very same people whose emotional capital has been spent on just keeping their jobs.
If you want your customers to know your love for them, you gotta show ‘em that love through the people who represent you to them. An employee who doesn’t have a well of love to draw from has no where to share it from.
Charles
http://www.charlesguptonphoto.com
Tagged as:
Branding,
Kevin Roberts,
Lovemarks,
willem de Kooning
