Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Branding Tip: Having Talent is Great but Taking Action is Even Better--Much Better



Does your brand include your action?

The Important Realization

I recently realized something that has been pretty helpful for me.  It's so simple, yet hardly anybody understands it.

You can be fun, and you can be an individual, or you could be extremely serious and follow the crowd.

It does NOT matter!  You could be the most talented person in the entire world, and large crowds of people might be demanding your type of talent (which you happen to be the best at doing--hands down).

The problem is that you're probably not taking action, and your brand is suffering!

People can't notice what you can do, if you aren't doing anything!

I'm not talking about going to the classes, or reading a bunch of articles or blogs.  Although I feel that those things are important, but that is not enough.  I'm talking about creating things yourself (or coordinating to have other people doing them).

I started reflecting on the difference between me and many other people.  In some cases, I might be more intelligent or more talented--and I am entirely fortunate to have to gifts that I've received.  I recognize that I have talents that others do not.

In many other cases, though, I found that I left a conversation thinking that the OTHER person knows more than me or is much more talented than I am.

I notice many people being better than my with all sorts of things.
  • That person knows how to do WordPress really well.
  • That person knows how to program a lot better than me.
  • That other person knows so much more about design than I do.
  • Writing seems to come so much more easily for that other fellow.
  • That person knows how to do a lot of things with video that I don't.
  • That person is so much more sociable than me.   That person always has something to say.
  • That person reads so much better than I do.
...and there are plenty more.  Chances are pretty good that I nailed a few for you, too.

Yet, I've only recently realized something.

Many of these people who know more or have more talent than me---DO A LOT LESS THAN ME.

Doing Something is Better for Your Brand Than Doing Nothing

It occurred to me that it is a WHOLE LOT EASIER to TALK about doing something than it is to ACTUALLY DO IT.

Promises don't pay bills.  You don't get paid until you FULFIL those promises.

Your brand does not begin to build until you start keeping those promises (customer service--priceless) that you made when you were talking that person or company into giving you an order (lip service--cheap, really cheap--basically worthless).

I noticed that I have less talent than over 50% of the internet marketers that I meet.

Yet, the only thing many of the people that I meet get around to accomplishing is criticizing the work that I do.

I don't mind the criticism, especially if it is constructive and brings light to something that did not occur to me.  I am always looking for ways to improve myself, but I can only work to improve the things that I catch myself.

Other people can be a big help with this.  So I don't get upset over criticism when it has a chance of being productive.

However, there are many people who tell me what I should be doing, but they ARE NOT doing it themselves.  Many of these people aren't doing anything, in fact!

Of course, I could be doing better.  I only post blogs for myself twice each week, and I am not using keywords as often as I should.  However, I AM posting twice per week--to market myself, which is two times (2X) more than people who aren't doing anything.

I do a lot of other things, and I STILL should be doing more.

I would like to remind you that DOING SOMETHING is better than DOING NOTHING!

It's So Easy for your Brand to be in the Upper 50%

Do you realize that you could do just a little bit, and you are doing MORE THAN half of the other people.  Frankly, I strongly suspect that more than half might very well be accurately calculated at 80%--possibly more.

Here is an example that I like to tell people.

Let's say, on average, that each book has about 365 pages.

So if you read just 1 page each day, you would finish that "average" book in a year.

Does that sound like much?

It should not, because it really is not very much.

However, if you followed THAT plan, reading ONE (1) book each year would put you on the UPPER HALF of all adults.  Most adults do not read any books--NOT ONE BOOK!

So that little bit of effort would make you a better reader than the average adult.

Now, I admit that if you follow this plan, you are well below the average of the rest of the people who read.  They are doing a better job of reading than you are, but you're still doing a lot better job of reading than most other adults.

Now translate that approach toward your marketing actions...

Imagine if you did one (1) blog post every two (2) weeks.  Honestly, that's not very much, but you would have 26 blog posts at the end of the year--52 posts after two (2) years.

How about if you added one (1) article each month...for twelve (12) at the end of the year.

Now, how about if you added just one (1) press release every two months--for six (6) at the end of the year.

Imagine if you posted three (3) classified ads every two (2) weeks--for 156 at the end of the year.

Does any of that seem to be too hard or demanding?  (I really posted a pretty easy schedule there.)

Despite that light schedule, if you did NOTHING else besides, you would have 196 different advertising pieces that represent you--essentially working for you as free advertising.

Do you think that most other people you know have almost 200 different things representing them?

I (probably) don't know them, but statistics allow me to say ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Make your brand better than more than 50% of the other people and companies.

It's just that easy!

So if you aren't already doing it, why aren't you?  You don't have to be doing everything--even though that's always nice.  You just have to be doing SOMETHING.

Make that your brand...the brand that TAKES ACTION.

Now THAT is customer service that we all can appreciate.

What good is all of that talent you have if you never deliver on it?  (You're not only cheating yourself, but you're cheating the other people who could benefit from your talent.)

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2 comments:

  1. Chris you right on the money. Action is the key. My business came out of what you of what you are talking about. My brand, my niche, and the fulfillment of my passion are all result of the action taking.
    thank you great job of staying what counts!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Mark.

      Truthfully, YOU are one the BEST EXAMPLES of somebody who does this. You really do a great job of taking one of your catch phrases to heart, "Massive Action," as demonstrated in one of your event blog sites.

      Delete

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Chris