When you hear the term, “Personal Branding” an initial thought may be that it’s all about how you look and come across to people but I was very happy to see a very refreshing post at the Personal Brand Blog on the myth that personal branding is about you. Dan, who write and runs the Personal Branding Blog interviewed Daniel Pink about his new book, “The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need.” and one of his favorite quotes from the book is, “You’re here to serve, not to self-actualize.” I love that. What are your thoughts?

If you know me I am a very positive person who rarely complains and always like to take the positive view on things and people.  If I hold a grudge it just makes my life miserable but they are times when I feel it’s important to publicly announce when companies have given bad service or put up stumbling blocks in the path of the success of their resellers. We complained more than once and still we’re on the receiving end of rudeness and bad customer service. I do not post this lightly.

SpinningSilk Multimedia was recently presented with the opportunity of selling a managed service that will bring greater value to our customers internet experience. To sell this service the default method was to go through a company called, Ingram-Micro. I had heard of Ingram-Micro but up until a few weeks ago I had never had any direct experience with them. The following is a short list of road blocks we dealt with in regard to this company.

1.) Ingram Micro does not accept American Express
2.) According to our recent correspondence Ingram Micro’s Net Terms requires a regular purchase of $25,000 or more to qualify.
3.) The only other payment option available with Ingram Micro is an automatic monthly checking account draft–as a small business seeking to grow, this is a difficult proposition.
4.) Ingram Micro’s customer service is just about the worst we have experienced in memory. We received a confusing mailing which consisted or a torn and ripped Hewlett-Packard ink catalog instead of an Ingram-Micro services catalog that was supposed to come in a mailing. We then received a phone call from a rude Ingram Micro representative to explain the mailing and the”customer service” person on the phone said they put those HP catalogs in every mailing but if we “really wanted” the other catalog they would take our name and send us one when they had them in stock!  Why the heck did they send a letter saying otherwise?

Thankfully the service we are looking to resell has agreed to let us work directly through them instead of going through the bureaucratic channel of Ingram-Micro. I realize publicly writing this complaint may prevent us from doing business with Ingram-Micro and working through another another company like Ingram-Micro has put us off from dealing with these kind companies but if a competitor to Ingram-Micro wants show us they can be friendly to a small business who has the potential of becoming a large business one day and puts quality customer service ahead of  bureaucratic roadblocks we will be glad to listen.

If you’re a small business and trying to get to the “next level” be aware of these kind of crazy road blocks. Companies like this should make it easy for rising companies to succeed, not the other way around.  Needless to say the Ingram-Micro “brand” is not on the top of our list. Even if we found out that companies our size were not their target we should have received more courteous treatment. What are your experiences with working with companies like this? Is ours a rare case or coming into contact with a chain of bad customer experiences or is this typical?

What makes groups of people rally behind a brand? Imagine having a product so distinctive and liked that people will form communities around it in order to spread the word, enjoy the company of others and support the continued existence of such a brand. who enjoy the same brand.

A brand community usually develops around a niche product or service. I’m not saying a commodity product or one that has a huge market share can’t foster or have a group or loyal followers but because a product may be a combination of a niche and high quality people will tend to protect it and keep it going.

Perhaps the most well known brand community revolves around the products of Apple, Inc. You still see very active Mac User Groups after a lot of PC User Groups have stopped meeting. I’m currently a member of the Greenville Mac User’s Group as well as maintaining their web site and serving on the leadership board. Some people are such fans of Apple and their products that they are called the “Cult of Mac.”

In recent years to open source operating system, Linux has also given rise to fans and in fact the community aspect is what makes it work as a platform from support to collaborative development, etc.

Outside the world of electronic or computer technology you will find automobile enthusiasts loyal to a particular brand or model. The Corvette has a such a following. A friend of mine has help develop a podcast devoted to the auto. and a few years ago I applied to work for the BMW Car Club of America. Impressive to see such strong support for their brand community.
Another experience I had in recent years involved the fan community of the computer game Myst and other games produced by Cyan Worlds. I even had the priviledge to be a very early tester of one of their more recent games and was listed in the credits as an “Authorized Explorer.” A while you may not hear much about it the fan base for Myst, Riven, Exile, Revelation and Uru has many web forums, an annual gathering of fans called, Mysterium.

In some ways you could say one of the greatest and most successful brand communities that inspired others to develop other brand communities was the fans of the original TV show, Star Trek. It’s a long story but a very active fan base help bring back a TV that only lasted for three seasons in the 1960’s helped bring about many movies and 4 new spin off TV shows that took place in the “same universe.”

How can you go about creating “brand community?” To be pefectly honest it’s very hard to do artificially apart for making your brand distinctive and of great value to the consumer first. Star Trek has a unique message apart from other Science Fiction show, Apple creates products that are easy to use and people are proud to share that they own. The same holds true for special and well-crafted automobiles. When Myst first came out it was unique in terms of the lack of visible violence, great story telling, engaging puzzles and compelling graphics and music. How can you make your product or service so special that people will voluntarily rally behind it?

That being said you can make it easier for your brand community (your super customers if you will) to give feedback, market to other customers voluntarily (viral marketing) and contribute to the future of your brand by giving them communications tools. Do you have a web site designed with interactive features such as a blog, forum and compelling multimedia content? What are some local small business brands do you know of that have community/loyal customer base? I’d especially love to hear of ones in the upstate or even specifically Greenville,SC. as that is where we are based but share regardless.