In our highly competitive, always-on culture, a brand can make or break you. It can mean the difference between getting work and not. It can mean the difference between you getting hired if your goal is to still have a job. It separates you from just being average. Not all branding needs to be in your name. If you want to step out of the spotlight and create a brand around a company, that’s possible too.
I wasn’t always sold on branding. I spent a little time in the direct response copywriting world where just mentioning building a brand, as a form of advertising, was as taboo as it got. If you’re not familiar with direct response advertising, open up one of those pieces of junk mail that fill your mailbox every month. Long sales letters trying to sell you everything from life insurance to some magical sprinkler for your garden.
Or, better yet, flip on the television in the middle of the night and watch a couple of those shows trying to sell you the latest cooking utensil, or a ballistic fat-burning exercise program. It’s all direct response at its best. What we are talking about with branding is that mental image that pops into your head when you see a famous actor or actress cruising effortlessly down the road at a seemingly high rate of speed with only one hand on the wheel of a car. What image does that put in your head about the car?
That is brand building. This is what I think everyone needs to create for themselves to compete in this New Economy. Before the direct response naysayers shut me down completely, let’s look at why I think you need a brand.
Brand Yourself Reason #1; You are creating an identifiable profile you can use to sell
So, now we get into the nitty-gritty of what a brand is. We all think of a brand as being Coca-Cola. A brand is something recognizable where interaction with it will produce an expectable result. A brand can be anything. Let’s say you are trying to sell writing services. Branding yourself as a specific type of writer will give people a general feel for the kind of quality to expect every time. That is if you have taken the time to create a brand of quality around yourself. If you have taken the time to build that expectation of quality.
This just sounds like people becoming familiar with you, but it goes a little beyond that. A brand goes beyond a basic circle of influence. Cadillac cars have created a brand of excellence. You don’t even need to have owned one or driven one, but if you see one on the road it leaves a high-value thought in your mind.
That is unless you had a bad experience with one. There will always be people who have negative experiences with brands which will taint their image. Once you have created a good branding image for yourself in the marketplace, like Cadillac, your goods and services will be much easier to sell. If you have a resume with a positively branded image sitting next to someone else’s nobody knows, yours will get picked nine times out of ten.
The hard part is to be diligent when creating your brand. If too many customers have bad experiences dealing with you, this will hurt your brand. You need to give the customer a positive experience every time.
Brand Yourself Reason #2; Set a unique position in the marketplace
Let’s say several resumes are sitting next to each other and all have a branded profile associated with them. If all are known to be quality writers, but you are known as the quick turnaround expert. Which one will get picked when a company is in a time crunch?
We have a lawyer in our area who has branded himself as the ‘no hassle’, ‘we’ll take care of everything law practice’. He has a simple phrase in his advertisements, ‘One Call That’s All’. He has created a brand around himself of simplicity and not having to worry about anything, as long as you give him a call. If you need a prompt response to your question, contact the Bakersfield, CA personal injury lawyers for assistance.
I think anyone who wants to sell themselves in a particular market needs to start developing their unique brand to set themselves apart from the rest.
Brand Yourself Reason #3; Make yourself more recession-proof than the average worker
In a recession, work is scarce. There is more competition. Having a branded image associated with you will keep you working. Even when others are having trouble finding jobs. That is why it is so important to begin creating your brand now. Brands are so powerful, you might not even need a resume or to have a pitch. Having a high-profile brand in the marketplace could put you way ahead of the competition.
Brand Yourself Reason #4; Become a marketable asset to sell to advertisers
What if you don’t want to sell a service? But, you would like to sell advertisements around you, a website or a team. Use branding to create a following or a circle of influence. Advertisers want to advertise in front of the largest group possible. The larger your radius of influence, the more money you can expect from advertisements.
Are you familiar with the term ‘Influencers’? I figured it out recently after hearing that buzzword roll around quite a bit. Influencers are people who have created large social media followings and now have advertisers paying them to be seen with their products. This is especially popular on Instagram. People are being paid to take pictures of these products in the shots. It is similar to the popular product placement model in movies and TV shows. The advertising dollars are there, you just need to create a large enough following to cash in.
Brand Yourself Reason #5; Enjoy the perception of being an expert in your field
In a field with no branding, only individuals, you can be seen as the expert even if your skills are the same as everyone else. Brand recognition can do something magical. I think the idea is that most people think a brand is somewhat bestowed on exceptional people or businesses. I think it’s an award mentality.
If it is a popular brand, it must be good. In actuality, a brand can be developed or created through a carefully laid out process. Here is how to make your brand stand out.
- Spread yourself out.
- Get your name or logo everywhere.
- Get your ideas and work in front of as many people as you can.
- Be the expert in your field. This will open doors for you you’ve never imagined.
Have you ever heard of HARO? It stands for Help a Reporter Out. This is an email subscription service for reporters looking for experts to interview in a particular field. Reporters fill in a description for the type of interview they are looking for and twice a day the email goes out to anyone who signs up. If you can land one of these types of gigs, this can propel you pretty quickly into expert status.
Building your brand will take time. This is not something you do over the weekend and the Late Show is calling you on Monday for an interview. A brand is not only a physical and mental image you portray but the emotional response you give to your followers. If you are a writer, your brand is as much more about your words than the physical picture on the back of your book.
Branding takes time to hone. It’s continuously monitoring how the public perceives you and tweaking it along the way. I don’t think you’ll ever be done building your brand. This will be an ever-evolving process.
Be Safe,
Kevin