Today, I promised to share some easy fill-in-the-blank methods to help you compare yourself (your company, product, offering etc.) to something your audience can relate to.

Fill-in-the-blanks:

We are the ______ in our category.

The blank is another brand you compare yourself to that carries the associations you want your brand to be known for.

A classic example is ‘We are the Cadillac in our category’

People have a perception of what Cadillac means. The brand is associated with being premium and stylish. By connecting your brand to a known brand you instantly position yourself in a clear and compelling way.

This assumes of course that your audience thinks and feels the way you want them to about whatever you are comparing yourself to.

Another fill in the blank you can use is:

We are like _____ in these ways, but are different in these important ways _____.

This technique compares your brand with a competitive offering, which the audience likely understands, but then ensures you stand out from them. This technique reinforces how you are similar, which builds familiarity and eases the anxiety of the buyer, and then informs them how you are unique.

An example of this can be found on the website of a highly successful Credit Union based locally in Kitchener/Waterloo. They highlight how they are similar to other financial institutions and then they highlight their differences.

Anchoring your brand to a known entity is the fastest way into the brain. People will compare your brand to something. It’s your responsibility as a marketer to make the connections for prospects. If you do you, it will increase the interest level in your brand or offering as if the flood gates opened and a stampede of buyers came running to your door eager to learn more about your offer.

I’d like to end my series of favorite brand messages with Geico, you know, the company with the cute gecko ads. This strong gecko personality, backed by the strong Geico brand promise of “15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance” increases the appeal of the insurance provider (it does for this guy at least).

I find that the key, and often under utilized principle demonstrated by Geico, is the use of numbers. If Geico’s promise merely stated “we save you money on your car insurance,” it would be a very generic idea that would likely generate ‘same old car insurance company’ response. But by adding hard numbers—“15 minutes can save you 15%”—Geico’s gecko boosts the strength of the company’s brand message and stands out from other insurance providers who stick to broad (and weaker) messages.

Now that I’ve done all the sharing, please give us your two-cents with some examples of your favorite strong brand messages.

Today, as promised, I’m featuring another of my favorite brand messages from eHarmony.

2. eHarmony – The one that gets you married (I’ve defined this key message from the eHarmony website)

While I’ve never used their services, the eHarmony brand marries (pun intended!) two key principles. The first reflects what I discussed in a former post on Brand Essence, which is another way of saying “What business are you REALLY in?”. And eHarmony is in the marriage business, which differentiates them from most other dating sites which don’t go as far as promising they will help you find true love.

The second principle is having credible, convincing brand proof. eHarmony backs up their promise to get you married with compelling testimonials and a one-of-a-kind ‘Compatibility Matching System’ that includes 29 keys areas of compatibility. Their tangible process/system builds solid trust in their brand.

What do you think of eHarmony’s brand message? Is it love at first sight for you?

Stay tuned tomorrow, I’ll share my third and last favorite brand message. But in the meantime, I’d love to hear about the branding that impacts you the most.

In yesterday’s post I shared the first 3 of 7 Personal Branding Laws for Marketers. Just to recap, they were:

1. The Law of Specialization
2. The Law of Leadership
3. The Law of Personality

Today, let’s talk about the remaining 4 Laws:

4. Law of Distinctiveness

Do what others don’t do. Often it’s the little things that make you stand out. The team at MFX Partners sent one of our clients cupcakes with their product crafted out of icing on the top, just for fun. Our client loved them! They felt great, we felt great.

Most people just do their jobs and deliver what ’s expected and think that’s good enough. It’s easy to forget that a little surprise and delight goes a long way. You will matter more and build a desirable personal brand if you do the little things that most don’t do.

Ask yourself: What isn’t anyone doing in your field or industry (or company)? It might be a little crazy, but it would ensure you stand out (while maintaining your integrity of course)?

5. Law of Visibility

You will matter more if you are highly visible and part of key conversations where you can share your point of view. If you hide out and hold back you will fade into the background. You can increase your visibility within an organization by taking on high profile projects or volunteering on teams or boards.

Ask yourself: What single thing could you do on a regular basis to become more visible?

6. Law of Congruency

People prefer those they know, like and trust. If you say one thing and do another you lose the trust of those around you. If you put on a false persona to impress people; they will question your integrity and consciously avoid you.

Ask yourself: Are you putting on a false mask or creating doubt about your integrity? What changes do you need to make to be more authentic?

7. Law of Persistence

Most people give up too soon and fail to make the impact they could have made if they had just stuck with it. Assuming that others have bought into the direction you are headed and your direction makes good sense, if you stick with the plan and build a reputation of being someone that gets things done you will build a solid personal brand.

Ask yourself: What project do you need to add extra energy to in order to push it forward and complete it?

Everyday you are building your personal brand. If you live by the 7 Laws you will be respected, well-regarded and truly unstoppable.

We all want to matter. We all want to be the preferred choice, whether we admit it or not.

Our personal brands, how people think and feel about us, the reputation we have built, should ideally lead to additional opportunities to do what we love to do. Or it can have the opposite, negative effect if we have not created and nurtured a positive and clear picture in people’s minds as to who we are and what we are great at.

Here are 7 Laws to ensure your personal brand is desirable. I picked these laws up from sales and personal development guru Brian Tracy. I have refined them with marketers in mind.

1. Law of Specialization

If you have a brain tumor do you seek out a family doctor or a brain surgeon? People naturally seek out specialists. Specialists are perceived to offer greater value, are typically in higher demand and can command higher rates. Within the marketing discipline there are many specialties from SEO (search engine optimization) to Social Media marketing, email marketing, webinar marketing etc. Hanging your hat on a highly desirable specialty can create a brand halo that builds a broader perception of what you are capable of.

Key question:
In what areas can I be the best in, that matter deeply to the people I want to work with/serve?

2. Law of Leadership

Marketing today is about being a leader. It is about having a point of view and leading through example. Everyone leads in their own way. Finding your own style of leadership is an essential way to boost your personal brand appeal and the impact you can make. People naturally want to hitch their wagons to people with a clear and compelling vision. The three questions below have helped me think more expansively about who I am and what I’m here to do. Try them on for size.

Key questions:
Why would someone follow me?
Where will they get to if they do?
How will they be treated along the way?

3. Law of Personality

Pleasant and positive personalities are highly preferred over grumpy whiners. You will matter more if your personality is likeable. Thankfully you don’t have to change who you are. A key step when defining a personal brand is to identify your top 1-3 attributes or personality traits that make you highly likeable to the people you are serving (both your colleagues and customers).

Key questions:
What aspects of my personality are highly likable and valued?
What is my defining, strongest personality trait that people would associate with me if I asked them?

I think that is enough for you to chew on for today. Tomorrow I will talk about the last 4 Personal Branding Laws for Marketers

I found yesterday’s post, Small Businesses – What’s in a (brand) name?, particularly valuable. Business names were the topic of the day, and if yours happens to be a one-human operation you should put down that smartphone and listen up!

If you’re a single person acting as employee, owner, marketing department, salesperson, receptionist etc., then you can count yourself amongst the likes of Chanel, Jack Daniels, JC Penny and other owner-named businesses. But before you open an off shore account and start planning your empire’s expansion, take heed that there’s some gray area when it comes to differentiating between brand and owner. For instance, if you rely on social media as a marketing tool, where do your personal tweets stop and your business tweets begin—especially if they all originate from an account using your own personal moniker?

I encourage you to check out the MOO blog’s small biz series. If I owned a small business of my own, I would. Plus, hint, hint … they’re giving away prizes to users who share their real business experiences.

“We believe that life really is too short to settle for second best and that simple, honest pleasures are often the most rewarding.”

This line is on the side panel of my favourite cereal, Dorset Cereal.

While this could simply be clever marketing, I believe it’s an authentic statement of what Dorset Cereals stands for as a brand. Proof of this statement is evident in their blog and their picture gallery, ‘Our Favorite Pleasures’, at the bottom of their homepage. This brand is clearly living their brand essence.

What is Brand Essence?

Brand Essence is the unchanging DNA or core of a company or product.  Some call the concept of brand essence a North Star because it keeps a brand on track or guides the business and brand back to it’s essential purpose if it drifts from the core. The power of defining a Brand Essence lies in it’s ability to tap into the energy, the attitude, the behaviour and the language behind the brand and the people that support it internally (owners, employees) and externally (customers). A good brand essence statement will truly change the way a company and brand is perceived. Take Dorset’s ‘raison d’etre’ as an example—it’s much more than ‘manufacturing great tasting, healthy cereals’. Their brand essence is ’simple, honest pleasures’.

In my experience most organizations don’t define a brand essence. They might have a mission statement or value proposition that speaks about what they do or about the value they promise to deliver, but it’s rare to see a clear articulation of what they stand for or WHY they do what they do. Key Point: it’s not about the physical product you’re buying.

A brand essence gets you excited about what you do. It taps into something deeper, an inner emotional drive, ideology or core belief.

Whether you realize it or not, your organization (and each person within it) has a core driving belief of what they stand for, but it is likely not named. As a result, it’s likely not leveraged to build a stronger brand and business.

Both customers and employees seek brands that mean something and stand for something. Organizations that have a clear sense of what they stand for, tend to build a viral brand that both customers’ and employees are attracted to, and want to share with others. And a strong brand essence can even breathe new life into tired brands and put them back on the map.

Tomorrow we’ll talk more building a brand essence statement, but for now, take a cue from Dorset Cereals and a few successful brands that have a clear sense of what they stand for:

Starbucks stands for sociability more than coffee. Their website states, “We are so much more than what we brew.”

And there’s no doubt that Room to Read stands for educational opportunities for all.