Your Brand Matters!

Tip one –  you must first decide what it is you want other people to say about you.

Before you can create and promote your brand you must be clear about what you want to project about yourself or business. The management guru Michael Porter suggests that businesses should have a unique core differentiator to stand out from the competition. Creating a brand will require you to find what the uniqueness could be. When I used to run my accountancy practice I remember people who enquired about our services asking if we were cheap. Many of them were surprised to hear me say that they will probably pay a lot more for my services than they would pay my competitors. You see the quality of service that I offered couldn’t be delivered cheaply. When people spoke about me or my business my wish was that people spoke about how good we were, not how cheap we were.  Certain business sectors require people who have integrity, confidentiality overall professionalism as their core characteristics and to hint otherwise would be detrimental to their image or brand. Take a doctor, accountant or a lawyer as an example. Others need to promote their gregarious nature, ability to network and entertain, perhaps a marketing professional. So before you go any further with your brand decide what makes you unique or different, what do you stand for and what do you want people to say about you.

 

Tip two – let people know you are there

You could be the greatest potential employee, or have the greatest product or service but if no one knows who you are and where you are then you will not be able to get that job or close that sale. You have to get out there to promote the unique characteristics that you have identified. The way to achieve this is to t-network b-network and i-network. Let me explain the t, the b and the i of networking. The first type of networking or traditional network as I would call it means getting out to events as frequently and to as many events as possible. You should aim to make your presence known by helping to solve people’s problems, introducing them to your network and solutions that you have to offer. In this category I also include sitting on boards and committees and if you can’t find enough events to go to with the people you want to meet then put on your own. What I call book networking is next, this means getting your presence known by contributing to magazines, newspapers and other similar media with your written word. You can really raise the game by doing a press release for a new service or product if you can find an interesting angle, or carry out and launch a survey for example. The final one is internet based networking or using social media. I shouldn’t have to mention the opportunity that twitter, linked in and having a website and a blog can do for your profile particularly if you have thought properly about what you want to be known for.  So get out there network!

 

Tip three –  let others say it for you

The most important thing you can do to develop your relationships is to let people know that you care. Do you know what the number one reason that people lose customers or clients is? I bet that you would think that it is being too expensive or not delivering on time or even providing bad quality. Obviously if you get price, timing or quality extremely wrong you will lose custom, however if price and the like are within a reasonable range that won’t be a deciding factor. So what is? Well the interesting fact is that it is actually perceived indifference, yes the perception that you don’t care. We lose more custom for this reason than anything else, so how does this impact what I am sharing about your brand. It is imperative that not only that you do care about your customers and key relationships but you show them that you care. Don’t just satisfy them, as Tom Peters would say “wow” your clientele by doing more to please them than they could imagine. When you do this sincerely and with commitment you won’t have to do the marketing of your brand, people will say it for you; they literally become your fans.

 

It’s up to you now to make the three tips work for you; it is the core to the many campaigns, businesses and concepts that I have pioneered. Not to mention the many times I have re-invented myself over the years. I have changed my brand many times black accountant, to community leader, to accountant, to coach and now governance expert. I have a little formula for myself when thinking about close relationships in business or otherwise. That is to do business with people I know, like, trust, respect and can help. So why not make sure people know who you are by networking, like you because you take an interest in them, trust and respect you because you are clear about your identity and need you because you help them.