A Personal Brand - Part II

In Friday's post, we discussed the importance of having a personal brand, and that the first step was to create a slogan that provided your customer with a view of how you were going to help them deliver advertising to their clients.

Now this slogan needs to become part of the culture, and every aspect of your business should wrap itself around that branding. Years ago, when we only served the bicycle industry, we came up with the slogan "Enhancing the Bicycling Experience." Each new product needed to somehow make Bicycling more fun, less hassle, faster, easier. You get the idea.

Our sales presentations, catalogs, POS materials, were all produced with the slogan in mind.

If your new slogan were to be a take of on ours, it could be "Enhancing Your Brand." Your opening pitch to a new client could be "Your company is not about your latest product or service, it is really about your brand. The value is not set by a potential buyer based on the ability of the company to sell or make or deliver. The value is in the perceived worth of the brand. My job is to help you build that brand. While we're at it, sales and profits will also improve as you use promotional products strategically."

The brochure you leave, the website you build, the e-mails you send, and the blog posts you write should all point back to this idea.

Now, when the client begins to discuss the next promotion, or the repeat of one they've done for years, you have the opportunity to become a critical resource for them, by pointing out how to make minor or major changes in the plan that will enhance the brand.