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Brand YOU (r) -- 7 Steps to Cultivate Your Brand & Bring Out
By: Eric Gelb
You have permission to publish this article electronically
or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are
included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be
appreciated -- send to: Eric@PublishingGold.com
Brand YOU (r) -- 7 Steps to Cultivate Your Brand & Bring Out the Best in YOU
Have you ever noticed that some people exhibit a special or
unusual quality, trait, or characteristic? And this feature or
mark identifies the person and draws you to those people?
This is a ‘brand.’ And it is instrumental in helping you build
your business and advance your career. Here are seven (7) secret
ingredients to help you develop your own personal brand.
1.Assess Your Strengths and Key Competencies
What separates you and your business from the pack?
--The value you provide?
--Your unique experience and insight into the marketplace?
--Your ability to solve customers’ problems?
--Reliability: Your ability to deliver on your promise?
--Your customer service?
--The purchase experience?
Make a list of your key standout qualities and expertise.
2.Study Your Market to Determine Which Benefits are Most
Important to Your Target Customers
For example, consider the homeowner who buys a ¼-inch drill;
doesn’t he actually want a ¼-inch hole?
--What benefits do your customers value most?
--Which do they actively and vigorously seek?
Review major trade publications and search the Web for news and
trends about your market and your customer base. Survey your
customers to gather data.
Compile your findings in a list.
3.Compare Your Lists from Steps #1 and #2 Above and Circle
the Matches From The Two Lists
When the benefits you offer match your target market’s key
wants, you have the Highest likelihood of becoming a ‘call brand.’
This means your customers request your products and services by
name.
Then you’ll grow your business, especially repeat business.
Make sure your talents serve your market. And be sure to
cultivate the talents and skills your market seeks but which you
lack. In a free market, the buyers’ needs and wants overpower
the sellers’ individual strengths; this is because the ‘Market
Drives All.’
For example, you could be the world’s top ‘Blue Widget-maker’
but if no one buys Blue Widgets you’ll starve.
4.Select The Top One or Two Benefits from Your List and
Position Them As The Cornerstone of Your Brand
Many marketers call your key benefits and the way in which you
structure your offering a ‘Unique Selling Proposition’ or ‘USP.’
USP encompasses your special attributes, features and
Talents--those particular qualities and traits that make you
special and separate you from your competition. The secret to
building your brand and your business is to define your USP
and organize your offering around your USP, which then becomes
your brand.
5.Bring Your Special Qualifications and Kernels into the
Limelight with a Tagline
In other words, promote your USP & Your Brand to your market.
Give Yourself a Nickname and Name Your Products and Services!
--A nickname, tagline or slogan, similar to a newspaper
headline, helps you stand out and position your offering in your
marketplace…
--Make sure your name is memorable--pleasing to the ears.
Over the years, I’ve accumulated several choice nicknames: ‘The
Recovering Accountant,’ ‘Revenue Generation Specialist,’ and
‘The Gelberator’ to name a few.
Given my past work experience as a CPA, you can guess how The
first nickname began. As a marketing expert and copywriter, one
client bestowed the second name. And one of my attorneys spawned
number three based on my surname; ‘Gelberator’ sounds like an
automobile’s accelerator, and that meshes nicely with my goal of
wanting people to think of me as a motivator.
Perhaps more important, a brand name or tagline makes you [more]
memorable with your target customers and makes you stand out
from your competitors.
6.Create a Domain Name (URL) that Highlights Your Brand
To establish our brand, we purchased the domain
www.PublishingGold.com. To promote our brand and present a
consistent image, we renamed our copywriting and marketing firm
PublishingGold.com, Inc.
Our company name, including the ‘.com’ appears on our business
cards, publications, e-mail signature files, etc., which lure
people to our Site.
Create a matching e-mail address, for example,
Eric@PublishingGold.com
These tactics reinforce your brand and its identity and signal
a professional and consistent image.
7.Feature Your Brand Name On ALL Your Materials, and
Promote Your Brand Actively and Vigorously, 24/7
Broadcast your unique offering--your USP--to your target market.
Make your target customers aware of The Benefits they will get
when they make a purchase from You; this strategy entices buyers
to purchase from you rather than the folks next-door.
Publicize your offering. In other words, ‘Get the Word Out.’
Write articles and special reports; get media coverage (not
advertising); and organize workshops to present on your area of
expertise--your unique brand.
Call attention to yourself and your offering whenever and
wherever you can. Position yourself squarely before your
[target] customers’ eyes so they can’t miss your offer and they
are compelled to make a purchase. Be consistent and persistent.
Then you will really make Your mark in your marketplace.
.
What steps can you take to develop your unique brand to catapult
your business into overdrive?
Even a small yet novel approach, special trait, or standout
quality will help you create your own distinctive brand, which
in turn will set you ablaze in your marketplace. Then you’ll
truly multiply your business fivefold, tenfold, or more.
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Eric Gelb, MBA & CPA, is a copywriter, brand management
consultant, and editor of the Publishing Gold e-zine.
T: 516.374.1387 or Eric@PublishingGold.com
Copyright © 2005 PublishingGold.com, Inc.
About the Author
(Above)
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