Christian Dance Academy Empowerment Center

Your mind is your workshop, and, if you are observant, you will see outer reality shaping itself upon the model of your mind. ‪ #‎BobProctor‬

When it comes to building a brand, most entrepreneurs get it all wrong…

They think a brand is just a logo, website name or the color scheme.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The sad reality is that this misconception about branding is costing business owners tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

A simple “branding” mistake personally cost me my entire business and caused me to have to flush 18-months of hard work down the drain. I don’t want that to happen to you…so keep reading.

First of all- what IS a “brand” if it’s not logos or color schemes?

Your brand is actually the soul of your business…it’s your client/customer’s total experience with you and your products/services.

It’s the thought that pops into people’s mind when they hear your name.

When it comes to building a brand, there are 3 really important things that you need to know to build a truly authentic and magnetic brand that will convert prospects into customers.

1. Your Brand should be something that no one can take away from you (unless you choose to sell it).

I’ll illustrate this with two different industries that I worked in…

The Wrong Way: My first experience in entrepreneurship was through a direct sales company. For 18 months I built that company’s brand online through blogging and social media. I was doing well, and was on the verge of quitting my full-time job. Then the company decided to change it’s policies- and banned all distributors (including me) from using the internet to promote their products…

Even worse—they made me delete 18 months of hard work from the internet, or my position with the company would be terminated. So after deleting everything…I had to start from scratch. What a waste of time!

The Right Way: When I started working at a new law firm in a brand new city, I decided to focus on building my PERSONAL brand as an attorney, instead of just promoting my law firm. I decided to specifically position myself as the go-to estate planning & probate attorney for families with $250,000 to $5 Million in net worth. I started a blog, recorded training videos, volunteered for speaking engagements, and entered into leadership roles in trade organizations.

When the time came for me to quit my job so I could go full-time in our online business, my boss said that he was inclined not to accept my resignation letter. Instead, he asked me to stay as “of counsel” which basically meant I got to be my own boss, keep my office and my assistant, and work whenever I wanted to. Now THAT was (and still is) a very sweet gig.

How did that happen? It was 100% the result of the personal brand I built. My boss knew that if I left to start my own part-time law practice, that everyone would follow me, because of the powerful brand I built and He wanted the benefit of that brand.

This is so, so, SO important for you to understand- because in an economy where people were getting laid off, I was being begged to stay- because of my brand. So if you do have a full-time job while you are building your business- you should be building your own brand at your job too!

Side note: I didn’t even have a logo or color scheme for my personal brand! I just created an exceptional client experience that left clients delighted with their experience with me and wanting to refer others to me…

2. You Have To Know Your Ideal Client BEFORE You Build Your Brand.

Most people start to build a brand right after they decide that they want to start a business. This is totally backwards!

You have to know exactly who you want to serve, before you build your brand, so you can ensure that your brand will attract those perfect clients.

There’s an old marketing saying that “if you’re marketing to everyone, you’re marketing to no one.” That is true more so now, than ever before. We are in the ADD era. People are getting bombarded with thousands of marketing messages every single day.

Unless you have the budget of a huge company with money to burn, you’re going to need to narrowly tailor your marketing message so that it makes a MAJOR impact with your ideal audience. This will save you big bucks and will bring you the people who you want to work with and most importantly are willing to PAY you what you want, without complaint.

So make sure that before you start worrying about branding, that you decide on your Ideal Client and then get to know them…their hopes, their fears, their problems, etc. so that you can position yourself as the “go-to person” for their particular needs.

3. Your Brand Follows You Everywhere.
Since your brand is the soul of your business- it’s going to follow you everywhere. When you are interacting with a potential client… whether it’s in person, over the phone, or in a video or sales letter…they are subconsciously taking notes about how the experience (your brand) makes them feel.

Since your brand is going to follow you everywhere, you need to be authentic and consistent in your messaging. Whether it’s on social media, on a blog, at a speaking engagement or networking event or at an initial consultation.

People crave consistency and reliability. When something is reliable, it elicits trust. (Plus, people can smell BS from a mile away)…so when your messaging is in alignment with who YOU really are, it will also foster trustworthiness. This is important because people buy from those whom they know, like and trust.

So be consistent. Be authentic.

I have a near perfect close rate in my law practice for estate planning packages that start at $1,000. Why? Because I have carefully crafted my personal brand in a way (from the moment they see/read about me to our initial conference) that has people reaching for their credit cards with no resistance. I’m authentic and consistent and these things combined with my personal branding plan, have yielded more than a quarter of a million dollars in new revenue in my law firm.

As a bonus tip, I will tell you that the single biggest strategy that my husband and I learned that took us from being struggling entrepreneurs to successful ones, is having a step-by-step plan to build our brand. Having a plan gave us clarity on what we needed to do, when we needed to do it. It helped us focus our advertising efforts (which saves us a ton of time and money).

So make sure that you create a plan to design and monetize your brand! The first step in designing your brand is to figure out who you want to serve with your business. So, I'd love to give you access to our fast-start template called Your Ideal Client that will help you attract your very best clients. You can get your PDF template here: http://natashahazlett.com/client

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