Discovering and owning a powerful word that reflects you and your business is the true key of successful branding.
Some organisations invest fortunes in this endeavour but there's nothing stopping any of us from doing the same at a fraction of the cost.
Today I'll introduce you to a simple, low-cost, branding process that will magnetise your business without breaking the bank.
Our discovery begins by answering three simple questions:
* What Are You Like?
* What Do You Do?
* How Do You Do The Things You Do?
So let's begin...
STEP #1 - What Are You Like?
Understanding your names (or nouns) can really help to trigger your imagination. If I were to ask what you'd be if you were an animal, you'd feel a certain affinity with a particular animal and quickly be able to answer... Monkey, Cat, Tiger, Lion, Bird, Fish, Dolphin etc.
If asked for your profession you'd say one or more of the following... Coach, Therapist, Consultant, Teacher, Chef, Speaker, Author, Trainer etc.
If I asked you what you'd be if you were a car you might think... Ferrari, Rover, Mini, Porsche, Maserati, Lexus, Rolls-Royce, BMW etc.
If I asked for your role you might say things like... Man, Woman, Leader, Supporter, Parent, Carer, Entrepreneur, Explorer, Protector, Guardian, Helper etc.
If I asked what thing you sold you might say... Comfort, Books, Time, Inspiration, Words, Tools, Skills etc.
Brainstorm as many of these nouns as you can - it's good to have more than one for each category. This process will trigger all sorts of other ideas to help you to realise your unique coaching name.
Time To Write...
Read the following statements and come up with as many answers as you can for each one:
* If I were an animal I'd be...
* If I were a car I'd be...
* If I were a colour I'd be...
* If I were to announce my occupation I could say...
* If I were to announce what I had to offer I'd say...
* If I were a famous figure from history I'd be...
STEP #2 - What Do You Do?
Once you've got a good list of names you can start asking what you actually do. Spend a good time on this. It may seem a challenge at first to think entirely in terms of what you do so use your lists of people, animals and things for inspiration. What do they do? Here's some ideas...
* Coaches... encourage, listen, support, reflect
* Trainers... share, instil, empower, guide, teach
* Tigers... leap, hunt, run, survive, inspire, stalk
* Birds... fly, soar, see, dive, migrate
* Leaders... lead, inspire, persuade, encourage
* Chefs... cook, create, nourish, feed etc
You'll notice a pattern here, you'll have created a big list of doing words (or verbs).
Time To Write...
Go through your lists and play word association by answering the question... "What does an XYZ do?" for each one.
STEP #3 - How Do You Do The Things You Do?
Once you've got a good list of names and doing words it's time to add spice to the mix...
As the song goes, "T'Ain't What You Do It's The Way That Cha Do It"
Discovering how you do something will give your brand a lot more clout than just knowing what you are and what you do.
We use adjectives to describe how we do something, how we compare to others, what makes us unique or what makes us easy to identify. For example...
A Tiger is... big, bold, fast, fearsome, stealthy
This is good, but it's not all, you can go further by adding adverbs if you're struggling by linking a noun with it's verb to see what happens. Here's another example...
A Tiger Leaps... stealthily, quickly, decisively, smoothly
You can take the "ly" ending off most words to create more appropriate adjectives for your brand. So in this case you'd have a list of words as follows: stealthy, quick, decisive and smooth.
Time To Write...
How do people describe you and what you do?
How would you like people to describe you?
What sets you apart as different? (think about your appearance, voice, manner, style etc)
How do you do what you do? (are you slow and methodical? fast-paced and energetic?)
Now, do the same for your list of animals, cars, roles, famous figures etc until you have a really big and full list of words.
Summary
You've now collected all the information you need to discover your unique business identity. You may already be getting a feel for how this process can give you a lot more ways to view and describe yourself but this is just the first step...
There are two more steps covered in this F'REE eBook, which you can download immediately, entitled Find Your Power Word....
Enjoy the book and thanks for staying tuned!
'Dangerous' Debbie Jenkins
'Dangerous' Debbie Jenkins
[email protected](c) Copyright 2005
www.BookShaker.comSUMMER CAN BE SLOW FOR BUSINESS
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