Be Your Brand

WHO ARE YOU? Before you develop a personal brand and launch it out to the world, it is important to be yourself, authentically. Remember - as I touched on earlier, you actually already have a brand, except it has not been established just yet. You no longer need to hide or search to hide, as you ARE the brand. Realising your potential sooner rather than later is going to go a long way towards helping you establish a truly authentic brand. Start by asking yourself these questions: Who are you? What do you believe about the world? If you were to know, what is your true message that you need the world to hear? What frustrates you? What excites you? And this is just the beginning… The clearer you can get on who YOU actually are, the more powerful, authentic and impactful your brand will be. GETTING CLEAR ON YOUR VISION Let’s chat on vision. Vision is the bigger picture, it’s what is driving you every day. Ultimately your vision should be so powerful that you are willing to die for it. And I don’t say that lightly. It is the essence of your brand, and ultimately in personal branding, the essence of YOU as a unique individual. When it comes to personal branding, your vision often develops into a promise that is intended to characterize how you want your tribe to feel and what you want them to also be empowered by. The promise should become the heart and soul of your brand and set the tone for everything your brand does. It’s the internal battle cry that is intended to set a brand’s expectations for every team member, agent, or representative. It dictates how the brand wants its tribe to feel about their experience. The way you want to unfold is a direction only you can determine. It is not easy to control every life aspect. However, you can develop steps for achieving this and create long term vision as well. The vision of your life needs to make an inclusion of how you see yourself in ten, twenty or even fifty years. Consider your life elements and what makes you smile- a challenging corporate job, a beach house, a family? There are really no wrong or right answers—only the ones that apply to you. Just like everything else, there are a few things you need to do to create your own brand. Basically, what separates you from the rest of the globe is your personal brand. To start creating your own brand you will need to create your own vision for your brand. Do this by organizing your thoughts. Basically, you will want others to perceive you this way and this is also the way you want to live your personal and professional life. To create your vision, it is necessary to really understand the needs of your tribe. If you really want to understand your tribe’s needs, you must walk in their shoes. Ask yourself, how will your brand really enhance your tribe’s lives? What drives you? Why does this drive you? What exactly do you want to achieve? What is the message you want the world to hear, now? When developing your vision, I suggest that you sit down and write… (Location 269)

For instance, your highest values might be family life and your passions might be playing with your kids or going out to dinner with your spouse. There is an intersection of passions and values but these are also different. (Location 341)

THE POWER OF YOUR UNIQUE STORY In personal branding, your story is everything! I always hear people tossing their story to the side and saying that it’s not important, when it is really one of THE most important parts of your brand. Why? Because it allows people to connect with you and your brand on a deeper level and allows people to learn through your life experiences at the same time. (Location 365)

WHAT MAKES YOU STAND OUT? When you are developing a brand, think about what makes you stand out. What do people remember? Human memory has found that the mind remembers things that are and distinctive. The goal is to be perceived as a unique product and not be just one of many in a sea of the same old same old. If you think genuine brands are primarily the reason for marketing departments that burn the midnight oil while advertising messages that push your message across, you wouldn’t be wrong. (Location 385)

CREATING A RISK-FREE PURCHASE Generous policy returns and guarantees are great as a tool for customer satisfaction. Also, they can be your strategic position. If none of the competition offers a money back guarantee of one hundred per cent, then you have the chance to become the logical choice by doing this. (Location 563)

5 STEPS FOR A WINNING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE STATEMENT (Location 595)

ATTRACTING YOUR IDEAL TRIBE The fastest way to get your brand seen and heard about is to establish what I call an ‘obsessed tribe of people who just love you no matter what’ Start asking your list / your tribe what it is that they want, what do they love about you, what do they want to see more of. Step up and be their leader, they are looking for someone to follow. If you don’t give them an offer to follow you, join your list or eventually work with you, they’re not going to come running out of nowhere and beg to do those things! YOU have to lead your tribe! By getting very clear on who it is that you actually want to work with, you develop a filter, which also filters out the people who you don’t want to work with, which is just as important! (Location 829)

ACTION ITEMS: 1. Write down a description of your perfect target audience. Define your customers and prospects as narrowly as you can. What is their age and gender? Are they married, engaged, or single? Where do they live? What are their interests? What are their job titles? Where do they work? What do they talk about? If the answer to some of these questions is: “That doesn’t matter,” then that’s OK. But try to paint as detailed a picture of who your customers are, and who you want them to be, as you can. (Location 883)

The key for an individual to become a successful genuine brand is to focus on providing distinctive and relevant experiences that provide lasting and memorable impressions in all of his or her business-related activities. (Location 915)

If indeed people believe they are brandable, based on talent and accomplishments, then they will need to focus on becoming perceived as unique in a positive way. There are so many talented people in every walk of life that being really good at what you do is only the entry fee that is absolutely necessary to focus on your values, character and what you believe in. As Louise Suggs says, you have to have the right “basics” related to your talent as well as your personal life. (Location 938)

People who desire to be genuine brands should always focus on being known for what they support in a positive way, rather than what they are against. In order to become a genuine celebrity brand, a person needs to focus on being: Good enough at what he or she does so that other people will really care. The desire to be a genuine celebrity brand begins with the enthusiasm and excitement of a star combined with the grace and charm of a real person. BUILDING A PERSONAL BRAND IS HARD WORK. (Location 944)

teaching him the science of “DIN and DIP”—”do it now and do it proper.” Even if you don’t like doing something, you’ve got to do it anyway. He also believes in three principles: The next minute is the most important minute of your life. You are limited only by your own imagination. Your dreams are the blueprints of reality. (Location 960)

One thing that most successful celebrities have in common is that they love what they do, and they work hard. However, even working hard does not guarantee a successful brand. The key to building a genuine celebrity brand is to follow an authentic path such as this one. (Location 977)

“Always start with a big idea, always. (Location 1159)

Here are several real calls to action from clients to help you think about why people should like you: Share your feedback with us at Facebook.com/VerizonFiOS. Win prizes and join the conversation at Facebook.com/1800Flowers. Free support quitting smoking at Facebook.com/NYCquits. Connect with other moms like you at Facebook.com/striderite. (Location 1426)

Content is more important than product quality. A good flip cam will do or the camera on your phone. Short and sweet is almost always better. A good rule of thumb is to have fun. About 30 to 90 secondsper video is good. Video is a great way to showcase your brand’s personality. (Location 1575)

How can you possibly avoid joining the endless parade of marketing and advertising disruptions in the quest to find your consumers? All you have to do is stop thinking like a marketer and start thinking like your consumer. (Location 1727)

The point is, when you delete someone’s comment, it is the ultimate “Screw you.” It’s like collecting someone’s comment card, reading it in front of them, and then ripping it up in his or her face. (Location 1872)

By responding quickly and publicly, you not only respond to someone’s concern, but you also send the message out to the world at large that you’re the kind of company that listens to its customers and fixes problems promptly. (Location 1873)