Self Brand Strategy No. 7:
Be Preferred
By Catherine Kaputa, founder of SelfBrand (
www.selfbrand.com), a brand strategy company that works with people, products and companies.
This article is number seven in 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 new book, U R A BRAND! How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success (Davies-Black Publisher, Hardcover, April 1, 2006,
www.urabrand.com
).
We’re all familiar with the line from Aesop’s Fables, “Birds of a feather flock together.” Turns out to be an effective self brand strategy whether you are an executive, an entrepreneur or a professional. You build your positioning strategy around your “users” - the target market that prefers your services - your core group of clients and prospects.
What is often a sure-fire winner is being the preferred choice of an elite group, particularly celebrities. Examples are the financial consultant who manages high society money, the investment banker with the CEO rolodex, the plastic surgeon that’s done Celebrity X’s face. To protect confidentiality, often their clients’ names aren’t publicized, but leaked to the press or passed through word of mouth. Stealth PR like this enhances the preference for that person even more among the cognoscenti.
When you develop this strategy for yourself, the hardest part is getting the first high profile client. Once that is achieved, it is a powerful lure for others to come on board.
But the preference strategy doesn’t have to be based on celebrities or high profile people at all. One of my clients, Cordelia, had a generic executive coaching business that started flourishing when she narrowed the focus of her practice to the client group she was best with: difficult people and the people that work for them. By focusing on the subgroup that “preferred” her coaching business, Cordelia ended up with a larger business. She also got appearances on cable TV talk shows to comment on coping strategies and the like.
There are a lot of other professionals who focus on a piece of the market that appeals to them – be it women or retirees or high net worth investors- - and develop a brand preference strategy. So one way to develop an effective self brand strategy for yourself is to explore who prefers you. Is there a group of clients or customers that you are particularly good with that can become the focus of your business or career?
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April 1, 2006 Vol.2, No.4
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U R A BRAND
How Smart People Brand Themselves for Business Success.
By Catherine Kaputa with foreword by Al Ries.
Order from
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
bn.com
In Bookstores
April 1, 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.
Speaking and Workshops: Visit www.selfbrand.com or
BK Nelson Speakers Bureau
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