Branding is about perception. When Building your Marketing Strategy your Brand and how you want to be represented is crucial for your success. Your Brand is not a campaign it is the commitment you make to yourself and your market place.
Just as surely as building a powerful brand is the key to differentiating a product in the marketplace and therefore building a successful business, so creating a strong personal brand is the key to differentiating yourself from your competitors, thereby ensuring your own success as well as that of your business.
Two great questions you should always be asking are:
- How do you perceive your Business in the Market Place?
- How do others perceive your Business in the market place?
There is always someone watching you. That could sound creepy I know. It means your brand is always on display and there is never a time that it can rest or take time off. You need to be aware that people are always looking at you.
That may be well and good, the reality is that you are visible whether you like it or not. It is not a strategy like some Branding guru’s might have you believe. You don’t implement visibility; you are always visible because you are always being watched. As I said, everything you do is branding. That means;
- Every conversation is branding
- Every person you hang out with is branding
- Everything you wear is branding
- And the list goes on……..
People who learn to think of themselves as a brand tend to be more self-aware than those who don’t. Its self-awareness coupled with a congruent personal brand image as well as the ability to do the job that is helping people around the world to get, keep and scale the career ladder. Here are a few quick ways for you to build your brand in a crowded market place:
- What do you want people to say about you?
- Be your Brand
- Communication
- Be sure of your value offering
- Watch your on-line presence
The number one goal of your marketing should be to establish and position you as an authority in your industry or field. It is this Authority that will lead to your sales being easier and more opportunities presenting themselves to you.
It is your Business brand and your personal brand that determines how people respond to you, whether they listen to you, buy from you, how much they buy, what they are willing to pay, and so on. Your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your Products and services, and it differentiates your offering from the competition’ offering.
Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be, and who people perceive you to be.
The question is: “Are you the innovative maverick in your industry, or the experienced, reliable one?” Is your product the high-cost, high-quality option, or the low-cost, high-high value option? You can’t be both and you can’t be all things to all people Continually look for opportunities to make improvements.
And don’t be afraid to make changes to reflect shifts in the way you do business or new trends in your market.
7 Personal Branding Questions to Ask Yourself:
- What makes you indispensable?
- What ways do you provide value?
- How are you differentiated?
- Do you lead or follow the crowd?
- What does status quo mean to you?
- Why are you the best?
- Why should anybody listen to you?
To help enable you to gain clarity on your Branding and Position in the market place I have loaded an exercise you to do to help you identify your Brand and Position. Through doing this you will be positioning your business firmly in the market place – Enjoy! Download the Branding Worksheet
