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Frequently times, individuals at the top of companies believe working long hours inside the office is the secret to growing their enterprise.  This could not be further from the truth!  Since the beginning of time, profits have been driven by the awareness and perceived high quality of the service/product.

CEO’s can not escape the inevitability of the equation: Notoriety = Credibility.

One of the world’s largest PR firms, Burson-Marsteller, completed a survey about the role of the CEO in the company’s perceived image.  The results indicated that, based on the CEO’s reputation:

95% choose whether or not to invest in a business
93% would recommend a business as a very good alliance/merger partner
88% recommend the business as a excellent place to work

These results by themselves show us the importance of a CEO’s reputation to the success of the company.

If you think about it, these outcomes really should not be a surprise.  The CEO is the public face of the company, and quite a few times the CEO will be involved in securing the largest contracts.  If you are a current company owner, you know this is a reality and ought to come to grips with it.

Have you ever wondered why, despite the quantity of sales men and women you bring on and train, you can’t fairly find that 1 individual who can generate as much revenue as you can?  Do you know why that is?  Are you ready?  It is simply because despite the methodologies you use to train a person, they can not clone your image and relationships.  Men and women and businesses are frequently making decisions to do enterprise with your firm simply because of you, the CEO.  Am I suggesting that your organization is totally dependent upon you for sales?  Not at all!  There is a path to make networking, lead generation, sales and increased advertising and marketing return all less difficult to attain.   This path is CEO BRANDING.

CEO branding is the method of developing positive impressions with the general public, media, clients, employees, and investors based on the development of an image and communicating the beliefs of the Chief Executive Officer in a way that highlights the product/service offerings of the organization.

If CEO branding were a toolkit it would be comprised of the following:  all public relation activities, media interviews, philanthropy, articles, books, speaking engagements, and employee treatment.  At Ascendant Technique (www.ascendantstrategy.net) we focus on helping clients translate these activities into individual and corporate profits.  In the next several problems we will discuss how you as a CEO can grow to be involved in these activities and how specifically they will enhance your company’s reputation, enhance the popularity of your company’s services/items and enhance your bottom line.

There is no greater poster-child for the benefits of CEO Branding than Richard Branson; who has single-handedly proven that branded CEO’s are a quite precious commodity. (Branson is, of course, the CEO and architect of the Virgin brand).  Even though Branson obviously has savvy operational skills, the key to him making the transition from prosperous organization man to building a multi-billion dollar enterprise has been the development of his CEO brand.  Branson is recognized for his colorful personality and competitive spirit, he is a media darling and is loved by the public.

Did Branson create this reputation by sitting behind a desk and waiting for men and women to discover Virgin’s items/services?  The answer is a resounding no!  Instead, Branson has attempted to break, and in some cases successfully broken, world records.  He broke world records which includes creating the 1st hot air balloon to fly out of the Atlantic with speeds surpassing 240 mph!  He also has been involved in a number of philanthropic activities, and appears in films and television shows regularly.  Branson has a flare for the dramatic; he gets involved in the newest trends and figures out a way to make his brand relevant.

Branson’s newest initiative is renewable fuels.  When CNN did a feature story on the oil crisis, it was Branson (whose enterprise wasn’t even running at full capacity yet) whom they known as on to be a major contributor.  That is CEO branding at its finest! When you are being interviewed about what your next project is, this indicates a high level of awareness and trust in your service.  As a result of Branson’s CEO Brand, all relevant stakeholders and potential stakeholders for the organization are conscious of what Virgin provides and its reputation.

Raoul Davis is Senior Partner of Ascendant Strategy (www.ascendantstrategy.net).  Mr. Davis can be contacted at info@ascendantstrategy.net or 1.800.838.8152.  We are glad to answer your questions about this newest corporate branding technique.