Three Steps to Building Your Brand and Expanding Business
Three Steps to Building Your Brand and Expanding Business
Gone are the days when your value to your clients was linked solely to your products or services. Today, competition has increased and your clients have myriad offerings they must select among. That means that you have to differentiate yourself from your competitors and build demand for your services among your target market.
Just as with corporate brands, your personal brand is your promise of value. It separates you from your peers and competitors and it allows you to expand your success. Personal branding is not about building a false image for the outside world; it’s about understanding your unique combination of rational and emotional attributes - your strengths, skills, values and passions - and using these attributes to differentiate yourself and guide your business.
When you have built and nurtured a winning brand, you'll reap the many benefits, including:
• Understanding yourself better, increasing your confidence,
• Increasing your visibility and presence among your ideal clients,
• Attracting more clients
• Differentiating yourself from your peers,
• Increasing your fees,
• Thriving during downturns in the economy,
• Expanding into new business areas
Here are three steps to successful personal branding:
Step 1: Unearth Your Brand
Give your brand context. Before you can clearly describe your personal brand, you need to look at the big picture: your vision, and purpose. Your vision is external. It is the essence of what you see possible for the world. Your purpose is internal. It is the role you play in supporting that vision. As Gandhi said, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world." Additionally, your personal brand needs to be tied to your goals. Spend some time thinking about how you would like your life to look in a year. Two years. Five years. Be sure to document your answers. With your goals set down, and with a real understanding of your vision and purpose, you can begin the assessment process required to understand and develop your brand.
Know Yourself. A successful personal brand is authentic. Thus, you need to know yourself before you can build a successful brand. If you are creative, dynamic, outgoing, and whimsical, you will not succeed by communicating the attributes of predictable, steady, and focused. Much the same as Volvo is known for being safe, not for being a speedy sports car. You can describe your personal brand using this complimentary tool: www.reachcc.com/360personalprofiler
Know Your Competitors. How can you stand out unless you know those among whom you're standing? In other words, who are you really competing against? Your current colleagues? Others within your industry? Take another look at your goals and take a closer look at your competition. Branding is all about differentiation. You must know what makes you stand out from your competitors so you can succeed.
Know Your Target. To be wildly successful, it's not enough just to have a personal brand. You need to communicate it to the right people. It would exhaust your resources to aim for the world at large. The key to successful personal branding is focus! You must consistently demonstrate your unique promise of value for your target audience. You must identify your niche and ensure that your offering is relevant and compelling.
Step 2: Express Yourself
Describe the essence of your brand. From the results of Step 1 above, start to create a personal brand profile. List your brand attributes, create a brand statement and even your personal brand tagline. This will help you as you develop a plan to communicate your brand to your target audience.
Find the Right Mix. Once you know yourself, your competitors, and your target, you can identify the ideal combination of communications tools that reach your audience effectively. This can vary widely depending on your goals, but maybe you will want to write articles or a newsletter. Maybe regular speaking gigs are more appropriate for your brand. You need to evaluate all possible communications tools and select the right combination to reach your target audience. Then put a plan in place to maintain visibility with your target.
Manage Your On-Line Identity. According to a Harris Interactive Poll, 23% of professionals admit to googling people before meeting them. And a survey by Recruiters World revealed that nearly two thirds of respondents use google to research candidates. It’s no longer a luxury, it’s essential for you to build and continuously manage your on-line identity. The personal googling phenomenon brings with it an incredible opportunity for you to increase your visibility, demonstrate your thought leadership and build your personal brand.
Being googled is the new millennium version of the reference check. It provides your colleagues and customers with some critical information about you. What they learn from your google results will color their perception of you. Strong personal brands have powerful on-line identities.
Step 3. Exude Your Brand
Mark Everything You Do with Your Brand. Whether you're giving a presentation, participating in a meeting, or writing a report, you never have to leave your brand behind. Always ask yourself how you can connect your brand to every given situation. Every meeting, every project, every business trip every business meal!
Live and Breathe Your Brand. Live in a state of inquiry for two weeks to start. Question everything you do, every tool you use, every article of clothing you wear. Are they consistent with your brand? Do you have a 3G phone but use a printed calendar or a handwritten to-do list? Do you carry a briefcase? Make sure everything communicates the essence of your brand. Get used to living in the inquiry. It's a tool that will help you keep your brand clear, consistent, and constant.
Personal branding is the tool to ensure small business success. Having a strong brand starts with understanding your unique promise of value – what is authentic to you, differentiating from your peers and relevant and compelling to your target audience. Get a handle on your brand and watch your business take off!
Three Steps to Building Your Brand and Expanding Business - To learn more about this author, visit 's Website.
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Whether you are a coach, consultant or entrepreneur, managing your personal brand is critical to achieving your business goals.
Gone are the days when your value to your clients was linked solely to your products or services. Today, competition has increased and your clients have myriad offerings they must select among. That means that you have to differentiate yourself from your competitors and build demand for your services among your target market.
Just as with corporate brands, your personal brand is your promise of value. It separates you from your peers and competitors and it allows you to expand your success. Personal branding is not about building a false image for the outside world; it’s about understanding your unique combination of rational and emotional attributes - your strengths, skills, values and passions - and using these attributes to differentiate yourself and guide your business.
When you have built and nurtured a winning brand, you'll reap the many benefits, including:
• Understanding yourself better, increasing your confidence,
• Increasing your visibility and presence among your ideal clients,
• Attracting more clients
• Differentiating yourself from your peers,
• Increasing your fees,
• Thriving during downturns in the economy,
• Expanding into new business areas
Here are three steps to successful personal branding:
Step 1: Unearth Your Brand
Give your brand context. Before you can clearly describe your personal brand, you need to look at the big picture: your vision, and purpose. Your vision is external. It is the essence of what you see possible for the world. Your purpose is internal. It is the role you play in supporting that vision. As Gandhi said, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world." Additionally, your personal brand needs to be tied to your goals. Spend some time thinking about how you would like your life to look in a year. Two years. Five years. Be sure to document your answers. With your goals set down, and with a real understanding of your vision and purpose, you can begin the assessment process required to understand and develop your brand.
Know Yourself. A successful personal brand is authentic. Thus, you need to know yourself before you can build a successful brand. If you are creative, dynamic, outgoing, and whimsical, you will not succeed by communicating the attributes of predictable, steady, and focused. Much the same as Volvo is known for being safe, not for being a speedy sports car. You can describe your personal brand using this complimentary tool: www.reachcc.com/360personalprofiler
Know Your Competitors. How can you stand out unless you know those among whom you're standing? In other words, who are you really competing against? Your current colleagues? Others within your industry? Take another look at your goals and take a closer look at your competition. Branding is all about differentiation. You must know what makes you stand out from your competitors so you can succeed.
Know Your Target. To be wildly successful, it's not enough just to have a personal brand. You need to communicate it to the right people. It would exhaust your resources to aim for the world at large. The key to successful personal branding is focus! You must consistently demonstrate your unique promise of value for your target audience. You must identify your niche and ensure that your offering is relevant and compelling.
Step 2: Express Yourself
Describe the essence of your brand. From the results of Step 1 above, start to create a personal brand profile. List your brand attributes, create a brand statement and even your personal brand tagline. This will help you as you develop a plan to communicate your brand to your target audience.
Find the Right Mix. Once you know yourself, your competitors, and your target, you can identify the ideal combination of communications tools that reach your audience effectively. This can vary widely depending on your goals, but maybe you will want to write articles or a newsletter. Maybe regular speaking gigs are more appropriate for your brand. You need to evaluate all possible communications tools and select the right combination to reach your target audience. Then put a plan in place to maintain visibility with your target.
Manage Your On-Line Identity. According to a Harris Interactive Poll, 23% of professionals admit to googling people before meeting them. And a survey by Recruiters World revealed that nearly two thirds of respondents use google to research candidates. It’s no longer a luxury, it’s essential for you to build and continuously manage your on-line identity. The personal googling phenomenon brings with it an incredible opportunity for you to increase your visibility, demonstrate your thought leadership and build your personal brand.
Being googled is the new millennium version of the reference check. It provides your colleagues and customers with some critical information about you. What they learn from your google results will color their perception of you. Strong personal brands have powerful on-line identities.
Step 3. Exude Your Brand
Mark Everything You Do with Your Brand. Whether you're giving a presentation, participating in a meeting, or writing a report, you never have to leave your brand behind. Always ask yourself how you can connect your brand to every given situation. Every meeting, every project, every business trip every business meal!
Live and Breathe Your Brand. Live in a state of inquiry for two weeks to start. Question everything you do, every tool you use, every article of clothing you wear. Are they consistent with your brand? Do you have a 3G phone but use a printed calendar or a handwritten to-do list? Do you carry a briefcase? Make sure everything communicates the essence of your brand. Get used to living in the inquiry. It's a tool that will help you keep your brand clear, consistent, and constant.
Personal branding is the tool to ensure small business success. Having a strong brand starts with understanding your unique promise of value – what is authentic to you, differentiating from your peers and relevant and compelling to your target audience. Get a handle on your brand and watch your business take off!
Three Steps to Building Your Brand and Expanding Business - To learn more about this author, visit 's Website.
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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