Category Archives for "Core Message"

Marketing overwhelm...Every twelve seconds your latest tweet gets old…Your Facebook page needs a post at least four times a day…Post a blog at least once a week…Go to at least one decent networking event this month…Update your headshot on Linked-In every six months…And are you on Instagram and SnapChat yet???

OMG!!!

Marketing is exhausting!

The pressure to keep up with everything you ‘should’ be doing to promote your business is ridiculous.

But there is a simple solution...

You might think that using your own name to brand your business is a no brainer.

Although it appears to be a simple solution, in the long term, using your own name is a much more difficult way to create a meaningful brand.

What about Lorna Jane, Donald Trump, Pete Evans or Coco Channel, I hear you say?

Of course it has been done and there are well known 'name based' brands, but what may seem an easy way out at first, could create a rod for your own back.

You see, the human brain ‘sees’ brands with emotion and attaches these to a memory in order to recognise and recall a brand when the need arises.

When you use your name as your brand name, any emotional connection is based on your personal behaviour rather than on a meaningful brand story.

In this disruptive and distracting World, it's vital that your personal brand stands out in order for your ideal prospects not only to see you, but to have a real reason to choose you.

You can make yourself visible using social media, speaking at events, running webinars or workshops and of course writing a book. These tactics are all important, but in order to really stand out, and to do it confidently and consistently, your personal brand needs to have a rock solid foundation.

The fear of rejection could be stopping you from asking the all-important questions that may convert a positive prospect into a raving fan client.

However you really shouldn't worry about it, because hardly anyone actually ever says the word “No”...humans are far too polite for that!

They say No using excuses...I don't have the time, I haven't got the money, I can do it myself, I'll just leave it for now...

Your personal brand is not about what you know, it's about how much you know about your ideal client and how to ask the right questions to overcome barriers.

Read more in my latest article in Sales Mastery Magazine - Click the image below: 

What do you say when somebody asks your opinion about targeting the gay market?
Recently a personal travel consultant asked for my advice about a great idea she had.
She told me she'd like to go after the gay market because they had discretionary income for travel.
Although I thought that was a bit generic, I agreed with her idea because most gay people I know are DINKies - Double Income No Kids, meaning they potentially have more money to spend on things like travel. She might have a point.
So then I asked her how many travel tours for gay people she had managed before.

None she said.

When service providers and consultants discover I'm a Personal Brand Marketing Specialist, they immediately tell me the 3 biggest problems when selling their services they would like help solving are:

The interesting thing is that I see branding take a back seat to marketing on a regular basis in business, especially with service providers, who are "selling the invisible". As a result they really struggle to know how to explain why someone should choose them.

Once you have a personal brand, the marketing becomes easy. You know exactly who you are targeting, what message you want them to engage with and exactly how to explain the transformation that takes place when they use your services.

Winning in business is a lot like winning a gold medal at the olympics.
There’s sweat, tears and so much hard work behind the scenes that no one sees. You have your fans, your competitors and your detractors and in the end, it’s all up to your performance on the day.
Interestingly, the difference between coming in first place; getting the gold medal, standing on the top of the podium, winning respect and having sponsors fall over themselves to help you; and coming second, third or even out of the medals, can be as little as just a miniscule hundredths of a second, or a tiny quarter of a millimetre...

You hear from the champions in their field how they managed to win. They just did that 1% extra; they were prepared to train just a fraction more, push the envelope further or work harder on their technique. They go where their competitors are not prepared to go. It's that extra time spent working on themselves that made all the difference.

• Would your performance in business win you a gold medal right now?
• Where on the podium would you stand apart from your competitors?
• Are you a business champion, confident in your abilities, secure in your training and ready to play int he major leagues?

Perhaps you feel like you are running against the clock, exchanging all the time you have for just enough money to cover your costs and yet all you see on the horizon are competitors clambering for the finish line?

Maybe it’s time to go that little bit extra that will make you stand out from the crowd and propel your business forwards. Maybe it’s time to train yourself like a champion would, so that prospects seek out your advice and assistance, because you have that No1, gold medal quality they are looking for.

What would it be like if you were the respected champion in your field, sought after by the media to provide content for their publications, asked to speak and share your winning ways with audiences full of your ideal prospects, and being paid extraordinarily well, because you are the gold medal winner everyone wants to hear from.

Within months of defining my expertise and becoming a best selling author I began getting requests to speak at exactly the right events. I now have people refer others to me consistently and get requests to contribute articles to leading publications. I’m now charging 500% more than I ever did for my services in the past.

Would you like to know the secret to that 1% that will give you the ability to stand out as a gold medalist?

It’s called tenacity.

Tenacity means the ability to grip to something firmly. To have the determination and persistence to stick to what you are doing until you have reached your goal.

Tenacity means an almost pig-headed attitude to let nothing stop you, to push just that little bit harder and to let go of activities that distract you from your goal.

Having tenacity in order to win in business, means finding that core thing that is exclusively yours to own and stick with that makes you stand out from the crowd.

In order to achieve what everyone in business really wants….winning the race and gaining a reputation as the ‘go-to’ service provider so that people come to them for advice and help instead of you having to chase them…you need to ‘stick to your guns’ and be totally determined and have persistence to become the No1.

To take a firm grip, you can’t keep reaching for all the opportunities that come your way, changing your mind every few days about what it is you do, how you provide your service and who you help.

If you are not 100% sure about who you are, what you do, why you do it and who you help, you will loose your grip and come unstuck fast.

So what is it that you can hold fast to and grip onto in order to stay the distance in business and become a respected gold medal winning expert at?

It’s your personal brand. The uniqueness that is embodied in your DNA. Your personality, natural talent and key skills. Your gold medal is my definition of expertise - the ability to do with ease, something that others find extraordinarily difficult to even imagine doing.

Now is the time for you to pick the pursuit you want to compete in, get set and go for it.

Find out more about how you can refine your expertise and become a gold medal winner for your business - click here.

There is an affliction service providers and consultants are suffering from and it’s killing their businesses.
It’s called FOMO. The Fear Of Missing Out.
And it's becoming an epidemic...If one more person tells me that their target audience is “everyone” …I will scream!
I believe FOMO is one of the main reasons why most service providers struggle to find and communicate their point of difference.

They don’t want to ‘miss out’ on all those potential clients out there by being specific about the distinct type of person they help. They try to be “everything to everyone”.
As a service provider or consultant it can be difficult to narrow down your “inch wide, mile deep” niche, because you believe your service can help almost anyone.

Trouble is, going after everyone is virtually impossible, especially on a zero marketing budget, and it’s detrimental to your brand.
FOMO could be stopping you from becoming known for a specific service, with a specific clientele.
Why is it so important to become known as a specialist?

If you are a service provider you probably spend the majority of your time putting out fires and managing tasks. There is almost zero time left to prospect for new business. Wouldn't it be easier to simply become totally attractive to the best possible prospects?

Here are three things you can do today, to make you and your services more attractive to ideal prospects so they come looking for you.

Trying to absorb all the marketing messages we see each day is a little bit like trying to drink for a fire hydrant!
There is just so much going on. So is it easier or more difficult to get your marketing right these days? Here's what I think:

Why it's more difficult:
1) The power has shifted to the consumer - traditional selling doesn't work anymore because the consumer has all the info, choice, leverage and options available to them.