The Reasons to Become a Brand

Excerpt from Session 1 – Brand Positioning – The Best Thing For You Would Be Me!

Recorded on: 9/30/2002 12 Noon

Dave: So, there's this great quote that I love from Oscar Wilde. He said, "Too many people die with their music still inside them."

• Participant: Ahh. True.
• Dave: It's all about finding your voice. What are you really here to say? What is it? What are you all about? And then how can we craft that into a brand?
• So, just to get us started, kind of in a big picture way, I just wanted to ask you all to share with me some of your ideas about what do you think are some of the reasons why you would want to be a brand. Some of you have been in this conversation before and maybe you have some new insights from the work you've already done in branding. I think probably all of you as solo professionals have done some marketing work and so you've been faced with some of these questions in the past. But, just from what you've learned so far in your work as a solo professional, what would you say are some of the reasons you would want to be a brand?
• Melinda: Dave, this is Melinda.
• Dave: Yeah, Melinda.
• Melinda: I like being a brand because it's a quick sell to a client. It enables them to understand quickly and easily who you are and what you have to offer them.
• Dave: That's a good thing. It's a really good thing. As a matter of fact, I have a client that I've been working with for a while and she always says - many clients actually say the same thing. It's such a common thing. People say, - "I love what I do but I hate marketing." That's just one of the most common things I hear from solo professionals. And, I think one of the things I've discovered is, most people hate marketing because they don't know what to say. That's really no reason. If you know what to say, if someone asks you what you do or you have some kind of an opportunity to do some marketing and you know what to say, you don't hate it anymore. It actually can be fun.
• Participant: Mm
• Dave: And so, I think what Melinda said is so true. It's like a quick sell or it's something quick that you can say that encompasses what you do and that just makes it a lot more fun and a lot easier to get into the whole marketing thing. And, we'll talk about marketing all throughout this program for sure because that's really the main reason to have a brand, so that it's easier to market yourself.
• What else? What are some other reasons you would want to be a brand?
• Coral: This is Coral, Dave.
• Dave: Could you hold on just one second. Was someone else there?
• Jan: This is Jan.
• Dave: Jan, was there someone else?
• DP: DP
• Dave: DP, Great. So, Coral would you go first?
• Coral: Sure. I think it really…you were talking about focus earlier, and I really think it helps you set your focus. I've kind of decided the direction that I want to go to and even though there's…for example, and you know this, Dave. There's a partner I am working with on some women's thing and she wants to deviate and to do something else, another marketing direction also. I really thought about it and I thought, you know, for me, it would really lessen the impact of my brand and what I really envision myself doing and kind of what I put myself out there as being. So, it's just helping me keep more focused.
• Dave: Yeah. That's exactly right. I love that. It's having your brand and knowing it gives you a focus and it gives you almost like an umbrella for all of the things that you want to do. Because we all like to do a lot of different things but you have to have some way of pulling them all together and one of the benefits of having you brand is it makes it easy to decide what you're not going to do.
• Coral: Mm hm. That's really true. I find that to be very, very true.
• Dave: And that's so important because when you're a solo professional, there's so much stuff every day coming across your desk or into your office or into conversations, opportunities to do things. Because you get to decide what you're going to do. Right? But the hardest thing is deciding what you're not going to do. What opportunities are you not going to try to take advantage of. You know, that sort of thing. That's one of the biggest challenges we have as solo professionals. And so I think having your brand clear helps you decide what you're not going to do as much as it helps you decide what you are going to do.
• Coral: Mm. And I think if you are really crystal clear and you really have a vision of what you want, you really don't want to dilute that. You really feel as if you own it and you don't want to mess with that. You don't want to confuse people.
• Dave: Yes. That's exactly right. Yeah, that's exactly right. You don't want to confuse people. That's the key thing. That's great, Coral. Thanks.
• Jan, what was your thought?
• Jan: Mine was that I wanted to attract the right clients.
• Dave: Yes. Exactly. That's such a good point because when you are a solo professional and whether or not you go into an office or work from your home, your clients are the people you're at work with all the time. They're like maybe your work environment. And it's just like when you work with a company, you want to like the people you work with, you want to enjoy them. And if you work with people that you don't like, it can make it very hard to be effective in your work. It's the same kind of thing as a solo professional except instead of your colleagues, it's your clients. Your clients become a key part of your work environment and it is essential to select them with great care. And having a brand will help you to attract, as long as your brand is crafted really well, it will then have you attracting the kinds of clients you would enjoy working with and the kind of clients who would naturally enjoy what you have to offer. And I think that's the big idea…Jan, I'm glad you brought that up, because I think that's the big promise of having a really compelling brand. It's that it begins to attract and gather around people who enjoy you, they admire you. They want to be in whatever you're doing and then you can add value to them in their work, in their lives, just by showing up. Because they're the right kind of people. They already like you. You don't have to prove yourself. You don't have to try to get them to like what you're doing. They already like you. That's why they came to you in the first place.
• Coral: That's why we're here today, Dave.
• Dave: (laugh) Exactly. Because we like you!
• Coral: We like you!
• Dave: Can't argue with that. Thank you, Jan. That's a really great point.
• DP, what was your point?
• DP: I have a point. Can I do 2? It's a 2-part point.
• Dave: I'll give you 2 points. Sure. Go for it.
• DP: One is that I'm getting ready to create a much bigger business and I know that with all my energy , it's kind of like focus, but it's like having that right funnel to put all that juice into.
• Dave: Yeah!
• DP: And have those fireworks in the sky that will attract a lot more people and repel a lot more people. And I also feel like it will make me better at my core of what I do,
• Dave: Mm.
• DP: to focus on it. Because I've been doing different things for different people and I feel like this will really make me commit to that slice of what I can do and a lot better at it.