Two Self Brand Strategies:
Be the Leader or Be the Opposite of the Leader.
By Catherine Kaputa, founder of SelfBrand (www.selfbrand.com), a brand strategy company that works with people, products and companies.
This article is number two of a series covering ten brand strategies from the commercial world that people can apply to themselves to propel business success. The strategies are excerpts from Catherine’s forthcoming book, U R A BRAND! How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success (Davies-Black Publisher, Hardcover, April 1, 2006, Foreword by Al Ries). Here are strategies #2 and #3.
Strategy No. 2. Be the Leader
There are many ways to define yourself as a leader. You can be the leader of your department, your company, or your favorite charity. Or you can be the leader in sales at your company, or a leader in sales of a segment of the market.
Many professionals have a leadership claim and feel they are doing leadership things, yet they are not perceived as a leader. To be perceived as a leader, you have to lead with ideas and lead by example. As a leader, you have to have to be able to articulate ideas that are worthy of being remembered and you have to be able to inspire others. Ideally, you want to “own” a word or an idea in the minds of your employees (or whoever the target audience is) so they will know what your battle cry is. Most important, you have to underscore your ideas with actions, preferably bold actions that demonstrate what you stand for.
Bianca, had recently been promoted to head a department at her company. Bianca’s first task was to rally her team under her leadership. (Bianca had been promoted over them.) To articulate a department mission, Bianca created a mantra, “Full Engagement.” She wanted to introduce a new sense of “engagement” – a passion for excellence, a focus on clients and innovation.
Bianca asked each of her managers for a five-page memo outlining key initiatives, including what the company should do to get employees more engaged with clients and in its businesses. And she implemented the best suggestions on “engagement.” Her group’s focus on “full engagement” landed more business and created a dynamic spirit at the company. And positioned Biana as a leader.
Strategy No. 3. Be the Opposition
As much as leaders are part of the mythology of our country, so are underdogs. We have a soft spot for the rebel, the lone convention-defier who takes the opposite path of the establishment (the leader).
Volkswagen put the Anti-Leader Position strategy on the map when it introduced the VW Beetle to the United States in the late1960s. The brand was positioned as the antidote to the big car habit with now classic advertising headlines like “Think Small” and “Lemon.”
That’s why being the opposite of the leader can be a good self brand strategy. Michael Moore is a classic example. His movies and books tweak “the establishment,” whether it was big industry (Roger and Me), the NRA and the gun lobby (Bowling for Columbine) or President Bush and the war in Iraq (Farenheit 9/11).
The Anti-position can be very risky, particularly in you work in a corporation (although many of them have a few maverick employees who ride the Anti-position horse). It is a self brand strategy adopted mainly by people who are very confident in their position or have nothing to lose. However, the Anti-Position can be a great positioning strategy for entrepreneurs. You build your point of difference for your company as the antidote to the leader. You and your company symbolize everything the leader is not. You position the leaders strengths as weaknesses.
So, if you like to go against the grain, the Anti-position may be for you. The strategy is simplicity itself. Whatever the leader in your industry or line of work is doing, think of doing the opposite within reason. You could find a market that is looking for someone just like you.
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December 1, 2005 Vol.1, No.6
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U R A BRAND
How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success.
By Catherine Kaputa with foreword by Al Ries.
To be published by Davis Black in February, 2006.
Click to find out more
Who We Are
Catherine Kaputa is a brand strategist, speaker and author. She is president of
SelfBrand, a marketing consultancy that works with companies and individuals
who want to unlock the optimum marketing focus and game plan.
www.selfbrand.com
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