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Are You Branded?
Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.
All of us have heard the word, but few of us know what the heck it means.
Some of us think of burning in a symbol on a cow's hindquarters at the
S Corral. We get it when it comes to burning in images Apple and Nike,
but what about the rest of us? Perhaps the HBO show Entourage can help.
Vince, the "movie star" of the show is aggravated at his agent
Ari and decides to take meetings with new agents who may better recognize
his star potential. Each agency he visits gives him the same "Madison
Avenue" dog and pony show pitch. Vince needs to brand himself, to
become "a brand." In their presentations they put his head in
between logos like McDonalds and Microsoft.
Are we any closer yet? Not me. So I thought I'd educate myself by downloading
"The Ten Commandments of Branding," by Donald Trump. Except
it wasn't written by Donald Trump, but some unknown guy who teaches at
Trump University. Deception isn't good branding. But I did learn a few
things.
1. Building a brand takes time.
Creating perception is a process not a one time event. The statement
"It takes ten years to become an overnight success" applies
here. It also takes time, effort, consistency, strategy, positioning and
keeping track of all your progress. Think about how long it took amazon.com
to become the go-to place online for books or Pixar to establish itself
as the best animation studio in the world surpassing Disney (now they're
merged--smart branding on Disney's part).
2. A brand makes the connection between the person or the company
and a select offering.
What is it exactly you're giving your clients or customers that other
people aren't? Choose several key benefits to doing business with you
or using your product. They need to be things that really matter to your
audience. Be super specific. In my neighborhood there's one place and
one place only you go for good dirt--Martin Brothers. They have soil combinations
to grow the best vegetables and flowers for all weather conditions. Any
serious gardener knows this. They've both niched and branded themselves.
We don't shop anywhere else for dirt.
3. Make it feel good.
Branding is not about the benefit of a product, service or cause but
about the good fuzzies you get when you use it. When I help people develop
their sound bites they often feel secure, confident and happy. The benefit
is that they are prepared for any media interview which helps double or
triple their business, but "the good fuzzy" is the feelings
they have before, during and after a successful interview.
Once you've established yourself as a brand don't dilute it. Deepen the
groove, don't broaden it. For more about branding, what it is and how
you can do it, join the teleclass with me and Krishna De by sending a
blank email to
oprah-192259@autocontactor.com
Upcoming media interviews? Planning a PR campaign? To feel secure about
your sound bites
go
here.
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Susan Harrow, CEO of
http://prsecrets.com, is
a top media coach, marketing strategist and author of
Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul® (HarperCollins),
The
Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah, and
Get a 6-
Figure Book Advance. Clients include Fortune 500 CEOs, bestselling authors and entrepreneurs who have appeared on
Oprah, 60 Minutes, NPR, and in TIME, USA Today, Parade,
People, O, NY Times, WSJ, and Inc. |
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