“I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.” Muhammad Ali
Have you ever wondered why the world seems to be fascinated by Paris Hilton? She isn’t doing breakthrough medical research into a cancer cure, she isn’t a renowned hostage negotiator – she’s actually just famous for … well… being famous.
She’s a brand.
A very powerful and enticing one apparently.
And the truth is, if Paris Hilton can be famous for doing nothing more than being famous, why shouldn’t you be able to build your own brand and be famous for whatever it is you do?
That’s where social media comes in. These days with everyone blogging and having multiple profiles on social networking sites, every one of us has the chance to stand out in one way or another. Every one of us has the chance to be spoken about and remembered for a particular thing.
Maybe for you that will be being remembered for your business.
I want you to ask yourself what is it about the way you do business that sets you apart from everyone else. Do you always ring people back straight away if you miss their call? Do you send thankyou cards out when someone refers you? Do you recommend others regularly on platforms like Twitter and Linkedin?
What is your point of difference?
Apart from all of the simple little things above which might set you apart, the answer most probably is you. You are the one calling people back, you are the one sending out the thankyou cards – you are the reason why people should you and your business.
One of the easiest ways to gauge the power of your own brand is by counting – not how many followers you have on social media platforms – but how many people actually interact with your posts and updates. If you are someone that regularly gets your tweets re-tweeted on Twitter and your links on Facebook followed through back to your website then you already have a very strong brand.
That’s not to say that if that isn’t happening for you yet, it never will. You have the opportunity to influence others on a daily basis, starting with people already in your natural network.
Your natural network consists of people in your family, your friends, people you went to school with, your neighbours, old workmates. All of these people are inherently influenced by you in some way just by virtue of that association they already share with you.
Your acquired network consists of everyone that you have accrued along the way since you started in business, or since you started using social media platforms. The great trick is being able to work your natural network so that they add new people to your acquired network for you.
To make that easier you must have a strong brand.
So how do you build that brand if you don’t have it?
It’s not as difficult as you might think. You need to do two things: build the awareness of ‘brand you’, and become the expert in your field.
Building the awareness of ‘brand you’ can be something as simple as always being known for what you do: “Yeah I know Nick, he’s the family travel guy”. One of the simplest, yet most argued ways to build that awareness instantly, I believe, is by including your own name in your trading name.
This has been hugely successful for me in my first business. By calling that business Nick Bowditch Travel some may argue that I was taking a big risk. It would have been easy to hide behind mistakes, poor public relations incidents and general complacency if I had called the business something like The Aussie Travel Company.
In Nick Bowditch Travel, though, the buck has to stop with me. It’s that kind of direct and personal service that I wanted to become known for. I wanted that to be my brand. And since I was operating in a very crowded market of big multi-national companies whose employees were largely ‘faceless’ and responsibility-free, it really worked for me.
There is, of course, a downside to that notoriety and there were a couple of times where I made big mistakes with peoples’ travel plans and the last thing I wanted to do was be associated with it. I found, however, that if I was honest and put my hand up when I made a big mistake like that, the personal branding was actually an asset rather than a hindrance.
People are generally pretty understanding. The one thing that everyone learns from an early age is that nobody is perfect and people make mistakes. If I had been working for a big travel company rather than my own business which contained my own name, it would have been easy to hide from the responsibility of those errors.
I always found that my brand was actually more empowered when I had to show the world that I was human and not perfect. All of this is brand-building.
Becoming the expert in your field is all about perception.
My brand’s tagline is “Australia’s Family Travel Expert” and has been since I began the business. What makes the national expert on family travel? Not what – who. Me.
I decided early on that specialising in a particular field was the only way that I was going to really be able to grow in a market that is so over-crowded and full of travel companies that try to be everything to everyone.
I would have enquiries each day that varied from retirement couples doing European river cruises worth $10,000 each to school-leavers wanting to do Europe on a Contiki tour to people just wanting that last-minute flight special. There is no way anyone can become an expert at any of those things unless you make it your core business.
I decided I had to specialise and thought that family travel would be the best choice for me since (a) there were very few travel agents or companies specialising in families already and (b) there would also be three or four tickets in each booking meaning three or four commissions rather than just a single fare and a single commission.
So I became Australia’s Family Travel Expert and my branding was born. Then all I had to do was build that brand and, you guessed it, social media was the answer.
All of my corporate branding (including my new logo) on my social networking profiles contained the byline in the user name, I tweeted and posted updates pertaining to families travelling and even made my permanent Facebook URL: http://www.facebook.com/australiasfamilytravelexpert.
Did you know … that I can develop a complete online marketing concept and ID for you and your small business? I also have a great designer in The Bowditch Group who can put together a complete corporate ID, logo, business card design and business cards for you as well. If you would like me to help you with your own personal branding overhaul, call me TODAY on 02 4324 2594 or email me nick@thebowditchgroup.com.
I had decided what it was that I was going to be known for, and my branding just had to catch up. Because I was my brand that actually made it a whole lot easier. The buck still stops with me in both the branding and the perception of my business. I am, after all, the brand.
Is personal branding important to you and your small business? Or have you chosen to go the other way and have a corporate branding that isn’t associated with you and your name in any way?
Please let us know in the comments below. When you leave a comment on this site, it appears straight away – no signing up, no waiting for the comment to be moderated – it will appear below straight after you have posted it.
