Why you need a branding blacklist

There are situations that are just bad news for your business and brand. These situations include individuals, websites, events, companies and certain locations. Anything that has negatively affected your brand should live on the one list, updated regularly, that is for your eyes exclusively. I like to call this the blacklist.
The truth is, the more you achieve and the higher your profile becomes, you’ll gain more detractors. As the film about Mark Zuckerberg’s meteoric rise as the creator of Facebook notes: “You can’t have 400 million friends without a few enemies.”
So, what are the signs that someone or something is potentially poisonous for your brand?
And what happens if you identify an alliance that could be bad for your brand, and worst yet – if you’re in the middle of working on a project together? Have that conversation as soon as possible. Check your emotions at the door and approach them calmly, by simply stating: “Your behaviour/profile/history is affecting my brand and I cannot afford to be associated with it.”
This is business, it is not personal – even if the alliance you are dismantling may be offended. Regardless of their response, stick to your guns and hold your head high and don’t look back: fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
Amanda Rose connects CEOs, directors, businesses, government and communities on mutually beneficial projects. She is the executive producer and host of The Business Woman radio program.