What's Your Authentic Brand?

In May I attended the very powerful "Brand Authenticity" seminar in Tucson, Arizona, led by business/marketing coach Kendall SummerHawk. She's committed to "marrying money and meaning" and bringing a spiritual (yet very grounded and practical) approach into business.

At the seminar I met about 65 wonderful, like-minded entrepreneurs from around the world, and learned lots of good stuff about marketing and branding, in particular about how to brand myself and my business according to my archetype. I'm both an "Alchemist" and an "Artist", with a strong component of - no surprise here - "Jester". That combination means I'm passionate about: transformation, seeing new possibilities for myself and my clients, beauty, creativity, clear expression and challenging the status quo.

One exercise we did at the seminar was to identify our "brand promise" - a bold and juicy statement about what our business offers the world. After lots of soul-searching, and with some wise probing from my classmates, here's what I came up with:

"I lovingly challenge and support sole/soul entrepreneurs to become confident and passionate marketers, so they express the truth of who they really are and succeed in business."

That certainly inspires me to get out of bed in the morning, and I hope it's a lot more compelling to my clients than just "I'm a marketing consultant and coach"!

So what do YOU say to your current and prospective clients, employees and business partners when they ask "What do you do?"? I know you're a lot more than just "a chiropractor" or "an author" or "an accountant" or "a life coach" or "a website designer"...

Here are some tips for crafting your own brand promise:

• Identify your primary target market.
• Include some emotion about the way you work and the result you deliver (because people buy products/services and choose to do business with you because of how they think that will make them FEEL).
• Be fearless about announcing the result you're committed to delivering (regardless of the specifics of your products or services).

You'll find that your brand promise serves as an infallible compass - whenever you come up with a bright idea for a new product or service, and whenever someone offers you an opportunity, measure that against your brand promise. Is the new product or service or opportunity in alignment with your brand promise? If not, your answer is simple, and you'll save lots of time, energy and money. In the week after I got home from Tucson, I used my brand promise to help me decide to say no thank you to a tempting business opportunity that could have pulled me off track.

Lesson: Being clear about your brand promise will give you confidence, and will attract the kinds of clients you want to work with and who value what you offer.

Action steps: Take some time - soon! - to define your own brand promise (it doesn't have to be set in concrete; you can always change it). Involve your team in the exercise so that everyone buys in to the result. I'd love to hear your ideas and your questions, so please contact me.

Copyright Kay Ross, May 2008

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