Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

The question of the best marketing advice I ever received was posed on Sparkplug CEO as part of one of their always awesome contests.  It is a really good question and one I should answer, even if a free wireless printer and logo were not at stake and even if I did not have a world of respect for the gang at Sparkplugging

Marketing and Personal Productivity?

At first, the topics of marketing and personal productivity may not seem to be related.  If I had any advice about marketing a Fortune 500 company, it might not be.  But my experience in entrepreneurship has been promoting Hi Fidelity IT, Inc., some thoughts about Fireadi, and several of my own ventures, all of which are small companies, and all of which required that I market myself.

The Greatest Marketing Advice Ever

Which leads me back to the greatest advice on marketing I ever got:

“YOU are a brand.  Make sure your brand is order before you do anything else.”

There is nothing mystical about this advice.  It is basically the same thing as saying “Be the friend you want to be.”  If you want others to do business with you, you need to be someone you would want to do business with.  There’s also a lot of the Golden Rule in this bit of advice (You know: “Do unto others as you’d have done to you.”  If you want customers to keep doing business with you, be someone they want to keep doing business with.

Getting Yourself In Order

It’s hard to say what getting yourself in order means because we all have our strengths and weaknesses.  For instance, I am very analytical, but sometimes I do not see the forest for the trees.  Other people are so good at generating ideas, they forget someone has to execute them.  Some people are hot headed, while others are not emotional enough.

But ultimately, no matter the journey, overall, the road towards being a good brand is pretty much the same.  And you probably learned it in kindergarten.

• Be trustworthy
• Be honest
• Be professional
• Be courteous

However, the devil is in the details.  I know what is professional in computer software and what is professional in writing for women’s magazines are not the same.  (In one of those disciplines, having a thick beard is considered an advantage, guess which one?)

Still, the secret to success lies in those four precepts.  Master their subtleties and you will master self-branding.  Master self-branding and then you can master business.

Sadly, I cannot blaze the trail for you, not in this blog anyway.  However, you can contact me if you would like and we can start laying down a plan together.

Branding and Personal Productivity

Oh, and since this is a personal productivity blog, I would be remiss in not at least mentioning how branding and personality productivity mix.

Of the four precepts above, being professional and trustworthy are the two most directly linked to good personal productivity.  Professionals accomplish tasks assigned to them and those for which they volunteer.  Those who are trustworthy do what they say, when they say.  Which means not forgetting To Dos when things get hectic.  (Which are areas that the PAR System can address directly.)

In terms of being honest and courteous, these are two areas when the PAR System is less directly applicable.  Still, there is something to be said for writing down on your To Do list or having a DUMB goal that you want to control your temper or that you always want to be upfront when dealing with others.  Writing something down like that every day and prioritizing it certainly cannot hurt.

Ultimately, make self-branding a goal and you can acheive it.  Writing down the steps you will take to meet your goals and keep them prioritized and you will become the brand you want.  Then marketing, sales, and being a busines will all fall into line.