By: Kellie Kuecha
Times have changed and the way in which we interact and sell ourselves has also changed. Never before has it been so easy to peer into the lives of our “friends” and competitors like it is today. It used to be that you would speculate and wonder what you competition was up to and unless you were on someone’s email “list” you really had no way of knowing much about their business. Now with the popularity of social media rising and the newsfeed becoming loaded with pitching, tele-seminars, articles and events coming at you tenfold, people are getting an intimate look into the business practices and lives of scores of entrepreneurs like never before. Is this a good thing? In many ways yes because access to information has never been so plentiful, but for your brand, it could be detrimental. Why because many will feel the need to copy, re-purpose and regurgitate your message. When that happens, you no longer have a unique brand. So the question you must ask yourself is “Do I want BRAND DOMINANCE in my niche or do I want to follow and conform to the masses?” Because today’s unique material and message will become tomorrow’s mass media and so it’s time for radical rebranding. It’s time to set a new standard. Let me explain. Yesterday’s unemployed have become today’s social media experts, branding gurus, life and business coaches and the pool where many of the TRUE experts swam has now become a muddy ocean. What is more alarming is that many of the people that call themselves social media experts, have just a handful of friends themselves and their walls are not interactive in the least! They are not a living example of their message. So you ask, what qualifies someone as a social media expert in the first place? Is it amount of hours spent socializing, is it number of friends one has, is it how proficient you are in using the ever changing platform? In my world it comes down to one thing, how well someone has been able to convert conversations into CASH. At the end of the day socializing to build brand equity is important but if you cannot convert those conversations into clients and ultimately increase you bottom line, you are wasting your time and you are looking to the wrong gurus for help. While there are many fabulous experts in all of the areas mentioned, they can no longer compete the way they used to and neither can you.
While today’s brands must be consistent, we must also be flexible in our evolution because the next two years WILL unfold differently than the last two, hence the re-creation of my own brand that I have been working hard to re-launch. Three years ago many of us weren’t even on Facebook and there were different business issues to concern ourselves with but the entire model has changed and unfortunately one of two things seems to be happening: Many have not adapted culturally to the change and spend the majority of time online pitching rather than creating social currency because they somehow believe that social networking is an invitation to create a pitch fest. Others jump on every new BRAND-WAGON that comes down the newsfeed! Hence the seemly overload of experts and branding coaches everywhere! When I first started speaking and teaching on branding six years ago, very few had ever heard of the term and so I carved myself a nice little niche in the marketplace. But in times where the farm has become overloaded with cattle and the moos and cattle calls all sound the same, it’s time to prepare yourself for brand evolution. Here are my suggestions for keeping you brand fresh and top of mind while sticking to your TRUE core competency:
1. Nickname Yourself – One of the first things I do with my clients (especially those using coach or expert terminology) is come up with a nickname that fits exactly what they do. For instance, I go by the nickname YOU Monetizer. It tells you exactly what I do, shows benefit but still leaves enough ambiguity to entice someone to ask for more. Over the years I have created some fabulous nicknames for my clients many of which have become better branded than the individual’s own personal name. We must think “bottom line” in our promotions – our prospects don’t want to hear long commercials on what we offer and they certainly don’t want to hear that we are just another me too business (coach, realtor, banker, MLMer etc.) They want us to get right to the point and they want to see that we are different! Living in a world where tweeting and texting has conditioned us to speak in 140 characters or less, ours ears and minds have adapted accordingly and we are forced to condense our messages like never before.
2. Have a better and louder MOO than the other cows – In my last article I talked about creating a compelling message and questioned that if shouted your message from the rooftops, would it be powerful enough to get people to stop and listen? Furthermore, would it be compelling enough to not only get folks to stop and listen but in turn get them to stop their friends to listen too? When working with clients I help them condense all of their expertise down into that one key message that they are passionately convicted about and that they feel strongly and qualified enough about to shout it from the rooftops. For instance, a few nights ago I was fortunate enough to work with some Juice Plus reps. Great product, great people. One of them was mixing the business opportunity and product benefits into the same message. Big mistake. The other was focusing on several features of the product in her message, not the benefits. Neither was concisely delivering a message that would cause any of the others in the room to stop and listen. How do I know – we asked the others in the room! So I helped them both focus on their ideal client by asking them “What is the conversation going on in the mind of your idea client RIGHT NOW and how will YOUR product solve that issue?” Then I had them pair that with the message that they felt compelled to shout from the rooftop and wala – a new commercial and key message was formed. Once the compelling moo is established, we are then ready to formulate a clearly defined set of strategies to move the business forward to create cash flow!
3. Use a Powerful Brand Promise in all of your messaging – Throughout my brand you will see the promise “Give me one hour and I will create a brand, business and product uniquely for you!” In my business (and most likely yours) there are many different directions I can go with a client. Although my focus is branding (which by the way I am searching for a new unique term), I look at many other areas of someone’s business. Passive revenue models, missed income streams, inside operations and so much more. So as you can imagine, it wasn’t easy for me to condense my brand promise into that short little sentence. I am sure you believe the same holds true for you and that is ok. That’s why it’s beneficial to have another set of eyes looking at your business. Good brands can’t be all things to all people and a good brand message doesn’t need to divulge you entire scope of expertise. I challenge you to spend some time after reading this article to condense your services down into a one hour promise. See what you come up with and write me with your ahas!
4. OWN your OWN unique terminology – This is one of my favorite areas of business and one of my specialties. It’s called concept marketing. I believe in setting new standards, trendsetting, reinventing rules and creating some abstractness around a brand! Years ago when I first started conducting masterminds I trademarked the term MastHERmind. My target market was women and I didn’t want to have my program lumped in with every other group conducting masterminds. This was something new, hot, curriculum based and unique to my area of expertise. As a result, there was nothing for people to compare it to. Over the years many have attempted to copy the name, create similar versions of the name and emulate the concept. That is to be expected when you endeavor to establish new trends! But this is one of many unique names within my brand and the exact same thing I do with each and every one of my clients. Think about it – if you set a new standard and create a new set of terminology to define that standard, you have carved yourself a unique niche. Better yet, you now have the ability to structure your pricing different from the masses and that my friend is the start of earning what you are truly worth in business!
I hope that you gained some new insight into the need to become a PINK COW and MOOOO differently from the rest of the world! I would love to hear your feedback over at www.thewomanclub.com as your brand begins to evolve and grow from employing these simple techniques!!
Kellie Kuecha is a Marketing and Branding Bombshell specializing in women’s success. She is the CEO and Founder of The W.O.M.A.N. Club, Women that Win, Flow and Grow RICH, KidsBiz Academy and Women’s Wellness Society. Her journey into entrepreneurship began at the ripe age of 12 and she has been building businesses ever since. She has defied all the odds both in life and in business and has mastered the ability to turn adversities into advantages. She travels the world sharing her message and inspiring women to win in all areas of life! She is the mother of two young girls, Kayla and Karina, and has two bonus children, Brandon and Jason, who are all under the age of 12. All four children have their own businesses and are learning great lessons about the value of money, hard work and persistence. Post you articles and blogs a www.thewomanclub.com You can find me a www.KellieKuecha.com, Twitter @kelliekuecha, www.facebook.com/kkuecha
