Page 95 - Straight Talk On Project Management IV

When creating a brand, design alone isn’t enough. Saying it isn’t enough. You must do it! And do it.
And do it! You have to live your brand values consistently, not just on the first project, but forever!
Remember what happened when one of the planet’s most consistent brands, Coca Cola, launched
new Coke in the 1980s! There were people in the street pouring it down drains!

The truth is, for all that cutting-edge tech that we deal with, IT Project management is still a touchy
feely, human centred pursuit. Like most industries, IT and IT Project Management is like a village –
and the villagers talk. So, when they talk about you, about your brand, to ensure that it’s all good –
be consistently brilliant.

So how do you measure consistency?

Again, chatting to our Marketing Manager, brands like Stoneseed use marketing metrics to measure
brand effectiveness. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but here are three that we use:

1 - Brand awareness. Are people aware of the brand? When asked to name Colas, do they mention
Pepsi, for instance?

2 – Brand loyalty. Will they buy the brand at a premium price? Would they choose it over competing
products?

3 – Brand recommendation. Do they (would they) recommend the product to friends and
colleagues?

These metrics help identify how marketing and branding activities provide a business with a return
on its investment (ROI) – and it’s no surprise to learn that brands that are consistent score high
against each of the above measures!

So, let’s apply these metrics to your personal professional brand.

Awareness. Are the CIOs signing off on the big projects likely to consider you when putting to
together their team? Are you the go-to manager for business aligned, time crucial projects? If the
hiring managers charged with resourcing the big projects were asked to name PMs or Bas - would
they mention you?

Loyalty. Do you keep getting called up to the big projects? One of my PM friends who works hard on
consistency was told recently by a project leader that without him “there would be no project” –
that’s high praise indeed.

Recommendation. If your last project leader was chatting with a colleague at the water cooler who
was staffing a new project, would they put your name forward? This is a big deal, a bad
recommendation reflects badly on the recommender – basically if you don’t stick your neck out for
someone unless you know they’ll deliver!

In marketing, consistency, quality and clarity of message are very important for building the
reputation credibility and trust in your brand. This applies also to the tone of all your marketing
communications, whether they be written or visual, your brand needs to speak with a consistent
voice.