About brandiD

As an entrepreneur, as a business owner, your corporate brand is a part of your personal identity. The name brandiD comes from that concept - we recognize that your identity and your brand are nearly one in the same. Understanding your personal brand and communicating it effectively will dramatically affect your businesses' bottom-line. And we'll help you capture, characterize, clarify and communicate that brand.

Conceived in 2007 brandiD is a marketing consulting firm primarily focused on personal branding. We specialize in working with women who are returning to the workforce by creating their own business.

When you hear words such as "Coke", "Tiffany's," and "GE" images are conjured up in your mind. Positive or negative feelings are evoked. These names are brands of products that we all associate with particular things. We are also brands, and when others hear our name thoughts are provoked, images come to mind and positive and negative associations are quickly made. Do you know how your personal brand is perceived?

Through a series of exercises with a Reach Certified Personal Brand Strategist, branding discussions, strategic plans and honest information exchanges we will work together to develop an online and offline marketing program, build the necessary tools to project your brand on the web and monitor progress.

Our number one goal: that our work together helps you and your business to transform and grow.

Team

Rachel Gogos

Founder, brandiD

An entrepreneur, web pioneer and media expert with over 15 years of marketing communications experience, Rachel Gogos puts her passion, creativity and her strong instincts to work for her clients. She has a proven record of crafting and implementing personal branding strategies to help her clients transform their lives. Transformation is a thread that links everything Rachel touches. The product of Greek immigrants and Buffalo-based entrepreneurs, Rachel literally grew up in the restaurant business. As a young entrepreneur, she worked with her family to turn a dilapidated eatery into a hip family restaurant. Developing the strategy, renovating the space, and designing the brand identity ensured success for the restaurant which remains a popular hangout 15 years later.

Rachel understands not only what makes entrepreneurs tick - but also that identity is inseparable from business. Her one-on-one consulting approach goes beyond personal brand strategy, she provides tactical business plan consulting - supported by her breadth and depth of strategic marketing knowledge.

As a Reach Certified Personal Brand Strategist, Rachel was and still is mentored by William Arruda, "the personal branding guru" according to Entrepreneur magazine. Her clients learn to emphasize and employ their unique strengths and brand attributes as well as identify and overcome their 'pain points.' Rachel's clients ultimately take their businesses - and their lives - to the next level. Those who know Rachel well describe her as smart, genuine, relatable, caring and 'real.' These qualities support her keen ability to understand others and create solid, trusting client relationships.

Armed with a Master's degree in Leadership, Technology & Education focusing on Higher Education from New York University, Rachel began her career at the United Nations (UN) before pursuing journalism at The Wall Street Journal. A true internet pioneer, she led the effort to establish the look and feel of the UN's first web site that, 12 years later, remains intact. In addition to editing and a little writing for The Wall Street Journal, Rachel was a founding news editor for dowjones.com (Dow Jones' only free news offering) where she was responsible for marketing and media-related news. Later, she co-founded and oversaw strategic marketing for the Internet incubator SiliconFish.com - a company that helped brand and establish online businesses for both new ventures and existing companies.

Rachel also worked as a business strategist at an Internet consulting company based in Boston before joining the Mayor's office to help bolster his technology programs at the Boston Digital Bridge Foundation - one of his most successful economic development initiatives. Working towards bridging the digital divide between inner-city youth and technology, the foundation educated families and provided them with their own computers upon completion of an intensive training program.

Rachel met her husband Dino while living in Boston and eventually relocated to his hometown of Pittsburgh. She applied her branding expertise to her new hometown as the Vice President of Regional Marketing at an economic development organization, the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, where she marketed the Pittsburgh region for business investment and job creation.

Today, Rachel is not only the proud mother of two young girls, Zoe and Alexa, but she has also joined William Arruda's company, Reach Personal Branding, as the Editor-in-Chief of YOUnique. Rachel has followed her entrepreneurial roots to create her best life. By founding brandiD, she now combines her love of people and entrepreneurship with her vast business and marketing expertise. Her goal? To help her clients find and create their own best life through personal branding.

Thoma Kikis

Creative Director, brandiD

A trend starter and a trend spotter, Thoma Kikis brings a fresh perspective and style to design and development. Thoma is an entrepreneur, designer, filmmaker and personal branding specialist based in New York City.

Thoma is the Creative Founder of brandiD - a personal branding marketing firm. He has developed the brand, website, blog and all creative components of brandiD and serves as the companies' Creative Director. Among other notable designs he has also conceived the brand Ovie, and founded Ovie Entertainment, a production company where he has produced Darkon, a documentary about live action role players and The Funeral Party based on the award winning novel.

While developing Ovie, Thoma had the opportunity to work in Europe, where he developed his expertise in film and TV production, explored new foreign markets, and enhanced his skills in Digital Cinematography. He served as Director of Photography on a European produced digital feature film and as one of the creative producers of ERT TV's magazine show, Hellenic Weekly, focusing on the Athens Olympic Games of 2004.

Before founding Ovie, Thoma cofounded, Siliconfish, an Internet incubator, where he helped develop Harmone.com, a DRM (Digital Rights Management) portal designed to explore revenue models for legal and proprietary ways of licensing music via the Internet.

Combining his passion for music and technology Thoma also worked at MTV Interactive, a unit of Viacom, where he was responsible for projects involving interactive strategy, solutions, branding and design. At MTV, he worked on the redesign of the MTV.com website, on the online branding campaign for the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards, and he helped introduce the first interactive web/TV game show, "webRIOT," starring Ahmet Zappa. He has developed spots for "My VH1 Music Awards" for VH1 and FlashRadio for SonicNet.com.

Prior to his work at MTV, he was a member of the creative production team of The World Mysteries/The Mysteries of Eleusis, a theater and music spectacle presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 1998 Next Wave Festival. Thoma has also worked with such companies as Icon Medialab, Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Columbia University, ERT and Hellenic Broadcasting.

Always creating, rarely sleeping, one of Thoma's latest projects: launching Pulpp.com - an online style magazine. Look for it in the fall of 2009.

Thoma studied at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and the NYFA. He continues to stay involved in the New York and Los Angeles art and culture scenes.

What is Personal Branding?

Personal Branding is a revolution in the way we manage our professions. It means identifying and communicating what makes you unique, relevant and compelling so that you can advance your career or business.

Personal branding is about differentiation. It's about using what makes you outstanding to stand out from the myriad others who offer seemingly similar services. Many professionals compete for the same jobs and clients, and personal branding helps you stand head and shoulders above the competition by highlighting your unique promise of value.

Richard Branson, Madonna, Donald Trump and Oprah are just a few of the incredibly successful people who have used personal branding to achieve great things. They recognize that to reach your goals, you must steadfastly exude something genuine, distinctive and valuable.

In a sentence, personal branding means using who you are to get what you want from life.

William Arruda, Founder of Reach Personal Branding

About Personal Branding: From Wikipedia

Personal branding is the process whereby people and their careers are marked as brands. It has been noted that while previous self-help management techniques were about self-improvement, the personal branding concept suggests instead that success comes from self-packaging. The term is thought to have been first used and discussed in an 1997 article by Tom Peters.

Personal branding often involves the application of one's name to various products. For example, celebrity real-estate mogul Donald Trump uses his last name extensively on his buildings and on the products he endorses (e.g., Trump Steaks)."

Evolution of Personal Branding

The two articles below have been instrumental in starting the Personal Branding revolution. Since these articles appeared several books, articles, blog posts and white papers have been written about personal branding.

• Article: Time Magazine, "It's A Brand - You World" October 30, 2006
• Article: Fast Company, "The Brand Called You" December 18, 2007

Services

Ask Yourself

• What's your elevator pitch?
• What are your brand attributes?
• What does your personal brand say about you?
• Are you a mom returning to the workforce or starting your own business?
• Are you an entrepreneur who needs help branding your business?
• Is your Marketing Plan working for your business?
• After reading that last question are you asking yourself what Marketing Plan?
• What is your Google quotient?
• Are you digitally distinct?

brandiD can help you with personal branding, social media, marketing strategy and developing to tools to get you noticed online and off.

Rachel Gogos, a Reach certified personal branding strategist, will work with you to assess your needs and develop a package tailored just for you.

To help you get started there are three things that you can do for yourself and by yourself right now:

1. Take the Personal Branding Quiz
2. Figure out your "Google Quotient" by using the online ID Calculator
3. Please send me your name, email address and telephone number - in return I will send you, via email, a complimentary Personal Brand Assessment Kit and instructions on how to use it.

Fundamentals of Working Together

Working with you to decipher and develop your brand is an exciting and unique experience. There are some aspects of our work that will be similar from project to project. Those aspects include timing, starting costs and various deliverables.

• Most projects take as little as 10 weeks
• A complete package consists of 4 phases but you can engage in as many of the phases you like - you do not have to delve into all 4 phases.
• The personal branding process will require you to invest your time and dig deep within yourself for the answers. The rewards are many but you'll have to work at getting through the process.
• Most projects cost start at $1975
• Depending on how extensively you want to brand yourself will determine how many of the below deliverables will be created:
  • Develop a very clear summary of your business plan (includes purpose, vision, mission, target audience and goals)
  • Develop a personal brand statement
  • Create a branded biography
  • Define your elevator pitch
  • Create a content wheel
  • Craft your marketing plan
  • Create your unique visual ID pack
  • Build a website & blog
  • Create social media accounts
  • Twitter background page
  • Develop other communications tools
  • Domain hosted Google Apps
  • Net your network

Next Steps

Go ahead and get started without spending any money. Review your results from the Personal Branding Quiz and Online ID Calculator. Next, contact me to receive your complimentary Personal Brand Assessment Kit.

Take a few minutes to think about what you want professionally, what are your goals and about the items we will develop throughout this process. If it sounds like personal branding can help you move forward and transform your life for the positive then take one more step - contact me to set up a complimentary consult to discuss your results from the above area and next steps you want to take.

Looking forward to working with you and helping you create your best life. Together we will develop your brand - the ONLY one that fits.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is branding?

Branding is a way to differentiate one product from another by clearly defining its unique qualities and values to its target audience.

What is personal branding?

It's branding a person instead of a product. By helping people clarify and communicate what makes them different, special and valuable they can stand out in a job hunt, in the workplace, and in many other aspects of their lives. Think of Oprah, Suze Orman, Bono and Barack Obama as excellent examples of personal branding.

Who is personal branding for?

Personal branding is for anyone who wants to achieve greater consistency between how they are perceived, whom they really are and their strengths. It can be used by CEO's, Founders, Entrepreneurs, Professionals, Consultants, Authors, Speakers, Administrative Assistants, Politicians and many others.

Why should you personally brand yourself?

Personal branding will help you get very clear on how others perceive you versus how you want to be perceived. The process will help you authentically identify what characteristics you should be conveying about yourself. It will help you clarify your mission and purpose, increase your personal confidence and attract your ideal clients, constituents or customers. Being clear about yourself and who you are = communicating more effectively and yielding greater results.

What other aspects of my life will personal branding impact?

Personal branding affects your entire "brand environment." Your brand environment is comprised of everything from your business card to your clothing, your office furniture to your website. It can even include the car you drive and the gadgets you use.

How long does personal branding take?

The personal branding process is driven by you. If you are eager to accomplish the process you can complete it in as little as two months. It's also driven by other factors such as how extensively do you want to brand yourself? For example - do you want a new resume, website & blog, business cards, social media profiles, and more? If yes, it will take more than two months.

What are some of the outcomes of the personal branding process?

For starters, you'll know more about yourself, your communications will be more consistent and you will have a better understanding of how to market yourself authentically. You will also have many other helpful outcomes depending on how far we take the personal branding process - you can have a new logo for yourself and your business, a personal brand statement, biography, a new website, newsletter, social media profile, resume and much, much more.

How much does the personal branding process cost?

Some personal branding tools are available to you for free via this website. Depending on your needs a package will be developed for you - the most essential first phase of the personal branding process begins at an investment of $1975.

Why is the Reach methodology the leading personal branding process?

The REACH method is the only personal branding process that includes a 360 assessment. It's the most precise program available.

Contact

• Want to get started with your project?
• Do you have questions about our process?
• Questions about brandiD™?

Contact us below:

email: info@thebrandiD.com
phone: (724) 260-0026

Client Testimonials

"The process of defining and describing one's business and life's work through a logo, website and other marketing materials can be quite challenging! I found in brandiD services an intelligent path to get clearer on the specific and unique niches of my coaching and consulting business. The brand coaching that I received from Rachel assisted me in "fanning out the layers" of the business. Thoma and Rachel together offer an informed energy and wise counsel that supported me in capturing and articulating the kernel of my business specialty as well as the multidimensionality of what the Perla Group has to offer and, ultimately, ways to attract more clients."

--Rosemarie Perla, President, Perla Group Coaching & Consulting
http://www.perlagroup.com

"Rachel was recommended to me to design my website by a mutual friend. I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to work with her. She took the project from conception to launch without a hitch. Her creative style, professionalism and vast experience produced superlative results and a website that captures every aspect of what I wanted. Rachel is a very talented, well rounded, creative, marketing professional. She delivers intelligent creative design and handles client interaction with professionalism and attention to detail. I would highly recommend her."

--Danita Hughes, Ph.D.
http://www.danitajohnsonhughes.com

Current Clients

Welcome. You have taken your first step towards understanding the brand called YOU and improving your online brand. Congratulations!

The path ahead is full of self discovery, "a-ha" moments and many tips, tools and actions to make yourself and your business "digitally distinct" on the web.

To get started please download and fill out the Introductory Questionnaire and email it to rgogos@thebrandiD.com

Key links for current clients

• Basecamp - add your personal login and password
• Reach Branding Club - add your personal login and password
• Career Distinction Workbook Jibber Jobber
• Recommended Reading
  • Career Distinction - Stand Out by Building Your Brand by William Arruda & Kirsten Dixson
  • Strengths Finder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths
  • I'm on LinkedIn--Now What??? A Guide to Getting the Most Out of LinkedIn by Jason Alba
  • I'm on Facebook--Now What???: How to Get Personal, Business, and Professional Value from Facebook by Jason Alba & Jesse Stay