My EXACT Branding Research Process
I have found that the best way to grow as an entrepreneur is in helping my own clients because it’s in the middle of working with my clients that I develop the systems that help me in my own business. Isn’t there some quote out there about a teacher always being a student and that makes a teacher great? To me that means that I’m a better business woman because of my clients. They force me to think outside the box, develop systems, and hone my craft.
“No matter the industry you work in, you need to build a personal brand. ”
Branding is just one example of this. When I first started my company, I had NO idea about branding or marketing. I seemed to have a natural inclination and picked up on concepts quickly but taking that information and creating one consistent and powerful brand and message was like trying to piece a puzzle together without the box until I accidentally found myself helping others do what I was trying to figure out!
People Buy Benefits Not Products
The first major puzzle piece was the concept that people don’t buy products; they buy benefits. Benefits are the emotional aspects of a problem that you solve with your product. If you solve the internal emotional problem, you’ll be successful. People pay big bucks to entrepreneurs and businesses who solve their internal and external problems.
How do you know what benefits your clients buy from you? You ask them.
I decided that the first step with branding my clients was contacting 8-10 of their happiest clients and asking them what benefits they get from doing business with them. Here are the exact questions I use:
What drew you to FILL IN THE BANK?
What three benefits do you receive from doing business with me?
How do you feel doing business with me?
Anything you’d like to see added or changed?
On question 2, I always explain that benefits are NOT the actual product or service but the emotions felt when you solve their problems. Sometimes you need to read between the lines. For example, I researched benefits for a local bank and kept hearing things like, “They know me by name, I can talk to anyone I need to, friendly, honest, and no hassle.” This was repeatedly stated in different ways. You’ll find a pattern of at least three core benefits when you do your client research.
The benefits are translated as follows:
They know me by name = significance
I cant talk to anyone I need to = significance
Friendly = feel valued
Honest = trust
No hassle = relief that things aren’t complicated
Once you have your benefits, you can take those words and emotions and incorporate them into all of your marketing.
What Makes You Irresistible
Sally Hogshead is a master marketer that has developed a unique assessment that shows you how others see you, which is interesting because most assessments show you, you. Sally measured over 700,000 people over a decade to develop the science of fascination and then used her research to build marketing systems for IBM, Twitter, the YMCA, Coca-Cola and thousands of small businesses.
She discovered seven Fascination Advantages—innovation, passion, power, prestige, trust, mystique, and alert—that when tapped into give you super powers of persuasion and communication that is heard and remembered engaging more customers and increasing your sales. You also communicate more naturally and authentically building stronger rapport with your clients.
Let me translate this into building your brand by giving you a recent example (I’m writing about this couple as a case study in a later blog).
Meet Greg and Lorelei, two people I absolutely love! Greg contacted me about three weeks ago after he took my brand personality quiz and learned he was a magician—inspirational, motivational, passionate, and charismatic—to discuss Facebook ads.
I showed up at his gym (he specializes in Russian KB training) and noticed the huge inspirational sayings spread out over two walls that fit him perfectly. But I also immediately noticed the cinder block wall was Facebook blue. Hmmm…I thought. That doesn’t fit a magician.
We had an amazing first visit with the agreement to get together the next week to discuss the plan. I went home and immediately looked at his website. At first, I thought maybe I’d gone to the wrong website. It was black and white. No color except on a few pictures. A cracked concrete background. Again, this doesn’t fit a magician. Where’s the life, the color, the inspiration, the “YOU CAN DO IT!” vibe? At this point I’m doubting myself thinking I must have missed something.
We met the next week. I shared my thoughts and let him know that I must have missed something because what I’m seeing on his site and even his wall isn’t fitting. I suggested he take the Fascination Advantage assessment at howyoufascinate.com and let’s get together again to discuss the results. He agreed.
We got together the next week, and sure enough he was exactly what I thought. Passion + Innovation = Catalyst. Sight, sounds, textures, color—all the things that make him a magician were missing in his brand causing a cognitive dissidence meaning his personality didn’t match his “brand” and people would be confused like I was. Or scared! I told him that I consider myself an intermediate weight lifter, can leg press my father-in-law, and, yet, I’d be scared to call him! The way things were, he’d only attract first responders, military, and elite athletes not others that are maybe just beginning their fitness journeys.
He painted the wall his favorite color, orange. I rebuilt his website to show his passion fascination advantage and his magician brand personality while still maintaining the high degree of excellence he requires.
We’d never have known any of this if it wasn’t for the assessments he took. And, of course, we’re working on his benefit research. But we had to get his website fixed ASAP because today that is a customer’s first impression.
In Summary
Branding is who you are as a person. Your business is your “baby” and like any baby, it looks like you. Your uniqueness brings others value both through your tangible products and services but also through your intangible core values, personality, and gift sets. Investigating to see how others benefit from that and see you allow you to align your brand with your personality and stand out like a purple cow in a pasture of normal cows.