When was the last time you said, “Ooops,” or “Oh, sh&*!” after hitting send? The last time you sent out a letter with a glaring error? Spelled someone’s name wrong? Made a promise you didn’t properly research? Ticked someone off with the way you worded something? Sent something to the wrong person?
If you wear a marketing hat long enough, you’re bound to make some marketing blunders. It happens to the best of us. The real question is: How did you handle it?
I was nearly 40 years old the last time my older brother said, “I’m telling Mom on you.” Here’s how it went down…
Think about your favorite three brands. Just close your eyes, and allow your top three brands to pop into your head.
There are, undoubtedly, a host of reasons you’re attracted to these brands. But whether you realize it or not, one of the things you’re likely most attracted to are their personalities.
I meet a lot of small business owners who believe that logos, colors and fonts drive brands.
When we first begin to “brand,” these are the things we focus on. I hear entrepreneurs say, “I just hired a designer to do my brand,” or “I just branded my website.”
This approach leaves a tremendous amount of unfinished business on the table. And one of the juiciest pieces it overlooks is brand personality.
I challenge my clients to answer this question: If your brand was a person, who would it be?
Do you ever find yourself in the following business situation?
You know you have something to offer the world. You know you’re an expert in your field. You know, if given the chance, you can set the world on fire.
But you just can’t seem to get there, because people don’t see you the way you want to be seen. You’re putting it down, but people aren’t picking it up. You’ve built it, but no one is coming. Because they perceive you as a newbie, an amateur, a youngster… a fledgling enterprise.
I’ve been there. And I’m about to tell you how my husband turned this feeling on its head – and financed my business – with a briefcase full of crackers.
You’ve got a small business and money is tight. The last thing you can afford is a sophisticated ad agency and a complicated brand. So you tell yourself that branding is for the big boys and you move ahead, piecing together your company’s image along the way. You tell yourself it’s not important; that you can do it yourself, that no one expects a small company to have a big brand. You see it as an expense, rather than an investment, and you can’t believe it will ever pay for itself.
Here’s why you’re wrong.
You’ve got a client you’re dying to land.
It’s a big one, and you’re nervous about being seen, being heard, being noticed. It’s a huge, digital world out there, and everyone is clamoring for attention.
I get it. I was once starting out. And I had a list of potential big clients I was dying to nail.
Here’s the way it worked for me.
Thirteen years ago, when I left the corporate world and struck out on my own as a marketing and branding consultant, I had a list of exactly zero clients. I had experience and expertise, but no one knew who I was.
I was desperate for a way to be seen and heard.
But how to get the big boys to listen?
A brand’s reputation is built on touch points. You might also hear these referred to as moments of truth or contact points. If you reverse-engineer a brand that makes you say “wow” – if you go backwards from the point of your last purchase and think about every step where you had an interaction with the brand – you’ll find touch points that were very well-planned and absolutely consistent with the brand’s image and message. Continue reading
How often do you brand yourself with your own thoughts? How many times have you called yourself something based on what you completed, aligned with or joined? How many times have you branded yourself based on something you didn’t do, and then had to climb out from under the weight of your own dangerous labels?
I’ve been labeling myself all my life. From the time I was five I was “Type-A.” I was a Mrs. far too young – before I was an MBA — and after my divorce I was a SWF. Once at a Chemical Brothers concert an insanely high college water polo player called me a MILF. I’ve been a VP and a CEO. Some people call me OCD, but that’s an armchair diagnosis.
There’s no point in beginning relationships unless we do so authentically. When we show who we really are, we attract people who have something in common with us. When we communicate what we truly stand for and what we’re naturally about, we connect. And real connections lead to real relationships.
We all know this, deep inside. So why do business owners brand their companies with the intention of looking like something they’re not, especially where first impressions are concerned?
Why do we read articles with headlines like, “How to Make Your Company Look Bigger than it Really Is,” or “How to Look Like a Fortune 500 Company?”
How often do you feel that things aren’t happening quickly enough? That nothing is materializing in the time frame it should? That you’re lagging or stagnating or just plain ineffective?
Does not being able to make a difference inside of a week, month or even a year lead to a sense of urgency that turns to desperation in moments of self-doubt?
Don’t sweat it. I feel it, too. And so does every other human who makes the attempt to launch a product, build a business, grow a following, self-improve or foster a relationship. Continue reading
