Marketing YOU

What's the difference between you and outrageously successful people like Bill Gates, Anita Roddick or Richard Branson? Is it their money, their good looks, their education, where they live or who their parents are?

It's none of those things.

The only difference between Bill Gates, Anita Rodick, Richard Branson and you is the way you think. You know those thoughts that go on between your ears, that tell you whether or not you can do something? These guys didn't listen.

These guys had visions that they believed in, and whether they started from a kitchen table or in their garage, they knew that there was no room to entertain self-doubt.

Get Into Action!
They believed in what they were doing and they got into action. When you are in business, whether it is Anita Roddick’s Body Shop - or Jane’s Hair and Beauty Salon -it makes no difference.

To be successful you are going to have to learn how to market YOU. You must learn how to be your own brand and create a niche that represents your talents and your vision.

So let me ask you some questions.

Do your prospects need you?
Do you have any idea how to create an urgent need in people who have not even heard of you?
Do you know how to position yourself as an expert and inspire belief in others so that they say, “yes” far more often than they say “no”?
If you answered yes to the above, then fabulous. I congratulate you on being an expert marketer and having a product or service that this so unique or well priced (or both) that no one can resist climbing on board. You are probably already experiencing well-deserved major league success.

Know Your Niche

However if you replied no to any of the above, then I believe you still have work to do. The vital key is to define your own specific niche. If you are serious about creating a successful business that is sustainable over the long term and that will give you huge returns on your investment of time and money, you must know how to position yourself in the market place.

Every day I coach clients who tell me that they are estate agents, or accountants; coaches, or trainers; dentists or health professionals etc etc.

"Hi, I’m Jill and I’m a Results Coach." " Hello I’m Jim and I’m an Estate Agent." "Good Morning I’m Anna and I’m a herbalist."

When people introduce themselves like that to you, are you excited? Are you running to find out what you need to do to procure their services? Are you walking or even crawling?

I doubt it.

It’s not enough to introduce yourself in generic terms.

Problem Solving

I need to know that you can ease my pain, that you can solve my problem, that you can fulfil my needs.

You need to be very clear, very quickly how you can do that for me because I (like the rest of Joe Public) have a very short attention span.

How many people even hang around even a couple more seconds if a web page doesn’t come to life immediately? Click. And on to the next one. Patience is not a virtue of the 21st Century.

You need to be able to give it to me quickly. I need to be able to connect with you immediately. I need to be left curious and wondering, and wanting to hear more.

Lets take John. He has it right. When anyone asks him what he does, he tells them he shoots things and blows them up.

What on earth does that conjure up for you? How about Elaine? At just under 5ft tall, she told me she was a weight lifter.

She looked very much like she could be blown over in a light breeze! However I was intrigued by both answers. I was surprised and curious. I wanted to find out more.

It turned out that John was a... photographer and Elaine was a... stress counsellor.

Isn’t that great? And I will never forget either of them.

They have niched their businesses and have found a way of telling people what they do in a way that always gets them remembered. This is vital in today’s competitive market.

No question about it. If you are not remembered, guess what? You are forgotten. It’s no longer enough to be ordinary, even if you are excellent at what you do.

Express Yourself

Unless you express yourself in an extra-ordinary way there is nothing to distinguish you from the rest of them. You may as well go back to the day job. Building a sustainable business means finding the edge, expressing yourself in an unforgettable way and making yourself stand out from the crowd.

There are millions of photographers and thousands of stress counsellors, but John and Elaine stand out for me, so who am I likely to go to for my promotional photographs? Who will I recommend my stressed out clients to?

The good news is that this can be learned.

If you have the right set of operating instructions you will succeed. First and foremost you need to know how you want to operate your business and align it with your vision and values.

Strategy

You need to know who your target market is. You need to create a strategy that homes in on the people who need what you have to offer.

You have to find the expert within so that you believe in your soul that you can fulfil the need. You need to be able to express yourself with confidence and create an urgent need in the people you meet.