We’re now two weeks into the Tiger Woods scandal and it has already cost him a lucrative contract with his sponsor Accenture but could he be set to lose more!? It is reported that his deal with Nike is worth $40 million dollars a year.
At this stage Nike is standing strong with Phil Knight, Nike’s chairman supporting Tiger by referring to his shenanigans as a ‘minor blip.’
But what should have Tiger known and what should you know that could potentially kill your personal brand. Take a look at the 7 fatal sins below and see if you are guilty of committing any of them yourself.
1. Everything is Public – With video phones, Facebook, Youtube, Myspace and Twitter suddenly nothing is personal. The fact of the matter is that if you stuff up it is more than likely someone will have some kind of electronic record of it.
In Tiger’s case it was a voicemail, in your case it could be bagging a client on Twitter. If you want your personal brand to be protected then remain transparent and of course honest at all times. That way no one has any ammunition on you. If things are going sour amongst your personal network for any reason, fix it immediately or potentially face the consequences at a later date.
2. Consumer Perception – Building a successful personal brand takes time
Our society has an addiction to Asian Gossips. We Asian Gossips and pass on information (virally) because we obtain a kick out of educating others and the sense of power and need it gives us.
What does this mean for your personal brand? Absolutely everything! Are your customers getting a kick out of sharing great news about your service or are they actively bagging you to others? Trawl the internet to find out what they are really saying. Individuals will always be nice to your face but
when push comes to shove their true colours will always be shown.
Truly delve into your network and be-friend key individuals of influence. If anyone has a bad thing to say about you, your network will alert you to it. When this happens you can act on this information without ever having to diffuse the situation directly with the individual at the heart of the issue.
3. Do Publicists Always Get it Right!? – Of course not, but they can assist you in rectifying a potentially detrimental situation. If your business has upset more than one customer lately then it may be an idea to get advice from a publicist of whose job is to turn a negative situation into a prospective cash spinner.
Will Tiger Woods bounce back? Are you kidding me?! His dollar value will go through the roof in a matter of years after the storm has died down. It may cost him financially in the short term but more so personally in the long term. Family breakdown is never pretty.
4. Not Being Prepared for a Potential Backlash – It is absolutely fine to use controversy in your media campaigns and around your personal brand to cause a stir, the challenge comes when you do not put it into context.
One of the biggest stars on the planet right now is Lady Gaga who has reportedly sold an estimated 300 million plus copies of her debut album ‘the fame.’
In recent times she has been criticized by the media for wearing outlandish outfits to attract attention. In an Ellen interview she put this into context by revealing that in high school she was the outcast and that her performance pieces and outfit’s were simply a part of expressing her true self to therefore encourage others to express themselves.
Understand that you can be outlandish and make risky moves in your business or personal lives but if you aren’t prepared for a potential backlash it could be your downfall. Things always come to light eventually and you will need to express a reason as to why you behaved the way you did.
5. You’ve Got a Bullet to Your Head – The advent of social media has brought about a revolution, consumers will no longer listen to your dribble. If anything is amiss, you’ve as good as got a gun pointed at your head with social media being the bullet. One fire on Twitter, Facebook or Youtube and you could be set to lose clients and thousands in lost revenue. For larger companies this may not be quite so worrying yet but for smaller business with smaller networks the impact could be detrimental.
A number of years ago a well known IT company based in Melbourne Australia built up a substantial net worth via networking. This netwo
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