We’ve all been told that personality is an important part of brand and that success comes by being yourself….. And there is a lot to be commended in both concepts.

But… in the real world there are some risks to that approach, which we think should be highlighted.

Firstly, if you work face to face with your clients, you owe it to them not to have a bad day. In a whole range of roles (including ours here at Ruby Star) we have a duty to our client, which involves being considerate, practical and to an extent optimistic. In our real lives we have bad days, but we don’t bring them to work. This means that sometimes, (although not very often) we may not feel as engaged, motivated or even as positive as our clients need us to be. In those cases, it’s right to fake it till you feel it.

Secondly, there is a good chance that no-one cares what you had for breakfast. Many people confuse personality-led branding with a need to over-share. If I am working with a nutritionist I may well care what they eat for breakfast, but I’m unlikely to be as interested in what my accountant ate for brekkie (unless it was prison-gruel).

We don’t think you need to be all work, work, work, but it’s worth being aware that it can be hard for people to forget information once you have shared it with them, and if the information that you share is that you’ve had a crappy day and you are fed up of all your idiot clients, then people might not rush to work with you.

NB – this is from a real example of a professional services provider who uses social networking to provide details of stupid things their clients have done – they don’t name and shame, but it doesn’t make me want to put myself forward for the same treatment.

So…. whilst we know it’s not trendy to say so, in general we are in favour of being yourself, but we’d also recommend keeping a check on whether ALL of the self you are is good for your brand.