When your brand is YOU

We often get calls asking whether or not we have experience in personal branding. You’ve written a book, are offering performance coaching or seeking to secure more public speaking engagements and, in many cases, are offering all of the above.

In short, your brand is you. Your education, experience, foundational principals, approach, style, energy, and personality drive everything you do with passion and often relentlessly so. The evidence is clear. You have the power to bring positive change to the lives of others. But how do you create a desire for what you’re selling? We’ll get to that in a minute.

I have to admit, I’m a personal performance junkie. Nothing gives me joy quite like cracking the spine of new book about how to take my life and my business to the next level. I don’t read fiction. Amazon seems to know this as they keep offering suggestions as to books I might like. Sometimes I bite but not often. I prefer to purchase books referred to me by trusted sources.

Here’s what you and global leading brands have in common. People have problems and they will purchase the solution that promises to provide effective relief. You are in the relief business, not the book, coaching or public speaking business. That great big beautiful feeling of assurance, relaxation, and empowerment following release from anxiety or distress.

The trick to building awareness and interest in what you are selling is to get specific. Really specific. More importantly, be strategic. Let’s take a look at the questions leading global brand marketing teams ask themselves from the perspective of the consumer.

1.     What are you really selling me?

2.     What rational and emotional problems are you capable of solving?

3.     How are you uniquely qualified to solve these problems?

4.     What are the credible reasons I should believe you?

5.     What is required of me to experience relief?

6.     How will my life be improved or enhanced?

7.     When can I expect relief?

8.     Is relief enduring?

These questions seem simple but in my experience questions three and four are the most difficult to answer. Even big brands get stumped. There are so many solutions available to consumers today that choice has become its own problem. The loudest voice doesn’t always win. The most specific one does.

Don’t try to answer these questions yourself. Remember what you are selling and what people are buying are two different things. Survey your customer base, no matter how small, and you will discover critical insights you can strategically market accurately and distinctively.

To learn more about how to create a survey, contact us at learnmore@leadandanchor.com