Your brand is the perception people have about you. It’s what they think about you. We can’t control other people thoughts. But we can influence them. How you present yourself in real life and online influence people opinion about you as a brand.

Your brand comes from within yourself. First you need to know how you want to be perceived, it is a first step in creating a brand called You. Remember what Brian Tracy says?

You Become What You Think About Most of the Time.

Ps. I talked with Kevin yesterday about the personal branding, this converasion was my inspiration to write about it here. Thanks for the great talk, Kevin.

Branding Strategy blog published a month ago a list of 11 branding & marketing trends for 2011 that I cut to my top 3.

1. They’re Talking to Each Other Before Talking to the Brand- Customers check every brand online, they read reviews, they discuss it in the forums, they share with others long before they they will make a purchase decision. That's why online branding matters. Read more about why branding online matters on BrandOmni. 

2. Engagement is Not a Fad  To succeed brands need to engage the customers, out-dated brand awareness programs such as: logo on employee uniforms, on vehicles, on buildings, the online-brochure style website don't engage customers. Brands need to find different strategy, if customers are engaged they become brand ambassadors and influence friends.  

3. Friends recommendations will be the most valuable. Influence by friends will also increase, people trust friends not the paid ad. Community advise will play a big role in driving customers to the shops for purchasing a particular brand. Check how strong can be a community opinion on the product they love- Insego smarts expats about iPad

Check all 11 Branding And Marketing Trends For 2011

Thinking outside the box means approaching an old problem in a new, innovative way. It's about being creative and open minded while searching for a solution. In branding thinking outside the box is very beneficial and sometime it's worth to approach a problem in this way. 

But seriously you can get inspired and improve your outside the box thinking skills in many ways. For example by checking a totally different industry, recently I figured out how to promote a highly technical product after analyzing  zappos.com- an online shoe and clothing shop. What's about you? What helps you? 

Your brand isn’t what you think and say about yourself. That’s your identity.
Your brand is what other people think & say about you. Branding is combination of many discipline put together.  Actually I’m writing a book about it. It’s my first book so I’m struggling a bit. If you are interested in branding check out this great video from  Jeff Antkowiak. 

Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy is the new face of L'Oreal Paris Men Expert.  The commercial was launched just before the World Cup in South Africa and is featuring van Nistelrooy as an enthusiastic supporter of the Orange team. A slogan of the campaign is "Ruud supports Orange & Men Expert supports you!" 

Celebrity brand endorsement is well known practice in branding.  Rule says that brand-celebrity partnership is successful, if the personal credibility of the celebrity is in place.

In this commercial Ruud van Nistelrooy answers to his real “life” challenges.  A month ago, a Dutch team coach Bert van Marwijk announced that due to contusion van van Nistelrooy will not be a part of Dutch team in Souch Africa. This decision was widely commented by van Nisterlooy supporters.  And suddenly Ruud comes back in L'Oreal commercial.

Once again Ruud van Nistelrooy is a friendly football hero who goes to the extreme with a straightforward no-nonsense attitude to support his team, even he is not longer a member of it. Does he have credibility to support a brand? I say, yes, plenty:)