7 Fatal Sins that Will Kill Your Personal Brand - What Tiger Woods Should Have Known!

We're now two weeks into the Tiger Woods scandal and it has already cost him a lucrative contract with his sponsor Accenture but could he be set to lose more!? It is reported that his deal with Nike is worth $40 million dollars a year.

At this stage Nike is standing strong with Phil Knight, Nike's chairman supporting Tiger by referring to his shenanigans as a 'minor blip.'

But what should have Tiger known and what should you know that could potentially kill your personal brand. Take a look at the 7 fatal sins below and see if you are guilty of committing any of them yourself.

1. Everything is Public - With video phones, Facebook, Youtube, Myspace and Twitter suddenly nothing is personal. The fact of the matter is that if you stuff up it is more than likely someone will have some kind of electronic record of it.

In Tiger's case it was a voicemail, in your case it could be bagging a client on Twitter. If you want your personal brand to be protected then remain transparent and of course honest at all times. That way no one has any ammunition on you. If things are going sour amongst your personal network for any reason, fix it immediately or potentially face the consequences at a later date.

2. Consumer Perception - Building a successful personal brand takes time

Our society has an addiction to gossip. We gossip and pass on information (virally) because we obtain a kick out of educating others and the sense of power and need it gives us.

What does this mean for your personal brand? Absolutely everything! Are your customers getting a kick out of sharing great news about your service or are they actively bagging you to others? Trawl the internet to find out what they are really saying. Individuals will always be nice to your face but

when push comes to shove their true colours will always be shown.

Truly delve into your network and be-friend key individuals of influence. If anyone has a bad thing to say about you, your network will alert you to it. When this happens you can act on this information without ever having to diffuse the situation directly with the individual at the heart of the issue.

3. Do Publicists Always Get it Right!? - Of course not, but they can assist you in rectifying a potentially detrimental situation. If your business has upset more than one customer lately then it may be an idea to get advice from a publicist of whose job is to turn a negative situation into a prospective cash spinner.

Will Tiger Woods bounce back? Are you kidding me?! His dollar value will go through the roof in a matter of years after the storm has died down. It may cost him financially in the short term but more so personally in the long term. Family breakdown is never pretty.

4. Not Being Prepared for a Potential Backlash - It is absolutely fine to use controversy in your media campaigns and around your personal brand to cause a stir, the challenge comes when you do not put it into context.

One of the biggest stars on the planet right now is Lady Gaga who has reportedly sold an estimated 300 million plus copies of her debut album 'the fame.'

In recent times she has been criticized by the media for wearing outlandish outfits to attract attention. In an Ellen interview she put this into context by revealing that in high school she was the outcast and that her performance pieces and outfit's were simply a part of expressing her true self to therefore encourage others to express themselves.

Understand that you can be outlandish and make risky moves in your business or personal lives but if you aren't prepared for a potential backlash it could be your downfall. Things always come to light eventually and you will need to express a reason as to why you behaved the way you did.

5. You've Got a Bullet to Your Head - The advent of social media has brought about a revolution, consumers will no longer listen to your dribble. If anything is amiss, you've as good as got a gun pointed at your head with social media being the bullet. One fire on Twitter, Facebook or Youtube and you could be set to lose clients and thousands in lost revenue. For larger companies this may not be quite so worrying yet but for smaller business with smaller networks the impact could be detrimental.

A number of years ago a well known IT company based in Melbourne Australia built up a substantial net worth via networking. This network was well connected with one another via a monthly gathering the company put on. It was this same network that built this business that banded together and took them out when their customer service lagged dangerously behind. And this was

even before Facebook and Twitter was created.

Understand that each action you take has the potential to create a firestorm. Always get third party advice on marketing or pr campaigns to understand the number of ways one situation can be perceived.

6. Tackle it Head on - Some months ago now I was personally bagged on Twitter due to a misunderstanding. They didn't use my name but it was clear as to whom they were talking about.

As soon as I became aware of it I took screenshots of the tweets and rang the female in question directly to confront the issue. This 'so called' social media expert went onto explain that she wrote it in the heat of the moment.

Understand that even if you delete a tweet from your profile it has already appeared on the pages of prospectively thousands of your followers.

If you are confronted with a similar situation, ring the individual up to find out what is going on and come to a solution or to at least get the 'wind up' them so it doesn't happen again. (Yup, that's an Australian term)

What happened to the attacker? It cost her three speaking engagements that I know of and on top of that she educated her Twitter followers that she was quick to anger. Not a great way to build a personal brand.

As far as I'm concerned tweeting when angry is like driving when drunk. It's going to end in a car crash. Just don't do it!

7. Fall from Grace - Every successful individual at some point in their life will go through hardship and have to fight their way back to the top, Donald Trump to name one of them. Let's just hope that you don't have individuals within your network that are screaming for your demise.

Tall poppy syndrome is rife and will never dissipate. Whether you're a well known individual or you keep quietly to yourself there will always be at least one competitor that would love to get their dirty hands on your client base.

One way to get around this is to build up further loyalty within your client network by being honest about your shortcomings. Instead of attacking you, you will no doubt gain a following that respects your honest and down to earth approach.

Some of my biggest business mistakes have resulted in thousands in extra revenue due to the honesty in which I approached the situation. Admitting that you've made a mistake is not only cathartic but it is also a wise business decision to maintaining long term business relations.

After reading my 7 fatal sins you may believe that I am possibly quite a cynic on the nature of human beings. The absolute opposite is the case. However, we all need to understand that the changes in social media come with great benefits but also great challenges. Managing your personal brand is no different to managing your businesses brand. It is absolutely essential. Any client discrepancies must be dealt with immediately or you may end up with A Current Affair knocking down your front door for all of the wrong reasons.

There is no doubt that building a personal brand is valuable. Tiger's brand is estimated to be worth a netted $1billion before the media broke news of his current extramarital affairs. Although your brand may not be worth as much, in relation to the size of your business it could mean your entire

year's income, especially if you are a consultant and source your clients from the same pool of contacts.

Whispers can bring a business down, especially when you don't have the PR firepower behind you to rectify any challenges encountered.

Should you be concerned about what the future holds to your reputation? Yes, because it can take years to re-build after one big hit no matter what size you are.

Tread carefully and protect your personal brand fiercely.