Social Media v The Real World

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Simon

 

I’ve just come back from a fantastic trip in the Highlands of Scotland with my family.

We spent time walking in the forests and enjoying the area with its many castles and incredible views.

The weather was wonderful and we had a great time just being together and enjoying each other’s company. There was no signal on my mobile for most of the time so I had no calls and it was so peaceful.

Then last night after we’d flown back I saw that there was a programme on TV titled Inside Facebook.
This was a programme discussing the up and coming floatation of the multi-billion pound company.

The presenter of the show was taken around the offices of Facebook where we could see lots and lots of people all staring at their screens and looking shut off from the outside world.

An online world?
Another section was about the games being created online for Facebook and the presenter was interviewing two gamers (both in their twenties / thirties) about a certain game where you could create your own online world with pets.

At this point I started to feel the tension and the need to turn off the TV or rather throw my controller at it and run out and take the first flight back to Scotland or to run out into our woods to get away from technology.

I’m not a luddite
Now before you think I’m a luddite or crazy I do enjoy social media (I have a big following and engage with many thousands of people online and generate a lot of income from it too) but having spent some quality time away with my family this whole technological online world really hit me between the eyes and made me realise even more that I couldn’t be without my family and friends around me.

The online world is great but we must not neglect the contact with the ‘real’ world.

I have met many, many amazing people online and interviewed some incredible people for my radio show but it’s when I speak to them for more than 140 characters or the limit of Facebook that I get to know them properly

My main point in this post is to say that we mustn’t ignore the real world.

Social media is an amazing way to connect with people and as I’ve said I’ve connected with so many of my time online and some have become good friends and I do mean ‘real’ friends but you cannot beat real connection.

Some of my clients I have never met because they live on the other side of the world, but I have taken time to get to know them. We talk on Skype and we laugh together. I help them build their business but we also talk about what their partners have been doing or what their kids or even their animals are up to.

I take time to get to know them and it is this that builds the strong relationships.

I love spending time chatting to them and hearing great feedback about the recent help I gave them just as much as listening to them tell me about what exciting things have happened in their lives outside of work.

I think what I’m trying to say is be real, be you and really connect with people. Find out about them and get to know who they are.

Being fake won’t pay off
One of the people on the TV programme said that who he is online is only 60-70% genuine, so he is not being real online.

I think this is where we need to change. A fake will get found out eventually.

Every time I’ve filmed an episode for my TV channel and I have talked about a topic that is close to my heart and I have shown genuine emotion it has got more comments and views and this to me shows that being ‘real’ works and people are wanting this approach more and more.

Celebrity nonsense
We live in a world of celebrity nonsense and being told who said what and what ‘they’ think about such and such. But to be honest how do the papers know what ‘they’ are really thinking. It’s guess work and again not ‘real’

Being real works and here’s proof.

I received this from one of my followers recently

“You are a high profile on my twitter and Facebook
Thank you for all the inspiration you have given me and for who you are.

Hoping that you will still continue to inspire others this year with bigger dreams and reaching for higher goals.
Thank you for being you. ”

This really touched me when I read this. I have never met this person but it just goes to show that being real and honest works.

Be real and be YOU
So my friends be real. Be YOU because YOU have lots to share and your readers / viewers or listeners want to hear about whom the real YOU is.

Being real brings great dividends and people will connect with you on a real level instead of a digital 140 character, tagged photo or a ‘liked’ page.

 

Do you share your stories on Social Media?

What experiences have you had when sharing the ‘real’ you online?

 

If you enjoyed this post, please share it, like it and tweet it out.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Simon

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How to get clarity in your business

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Simon

 

Has anyone ever asked you what you do and you’ve found yourself fumbling for the right words to say?

Have you ever tried to explain the work you do and for whom?

Maybe you’ve decided to alter your business, add a new service or go in a different direction and now you’re struggling to give yourself the right title.

If yes then this post is for you.

I’ve talked about creating an elevator pitch before but this topic keeps coming up.
Over the years I have worked with hundreds of clients who have required my services in order to help them gain clarity to create a clear and concise message that will help them attract more clients and gain more referrals whilst marketing their business.

So I’ve decided to give you my quick top 4 tips on creating a clear message and gaining clarity on what you do.

Tip 1. Grab a piece of paper and write your name in the middle of it.
Circle your name and then around the outside of the circle write down key words, which describe what it is you do. Just brainstorm the words. There are no hard and fast rules to this.
For example if you are a coach the words you might write around the outside of your name might be Motivating, Mindset, Empowering and Personal Growth.

Doing this can give you a good idea at a glance of what you do.

 

Tip 2. Ask your clients what benefits you provide them. This may sound crazy but sometimes clients buy our services for something different to what we think.

For example I could believe that clients buy my services purely because they need marketing help when in fact they may need me to guide them through the process of keeping their existing clients.

Asking them is always the best way and ask them to give you an honest answer.

Tip 3. After you’ve received your answers back from your clients, ask yourself if the answers meet with what you are genuinely passionate about. Again this might seem crazy but if you are not passionate about your business then when the dark times happen (and they will) then it’s this passion that will bring you through.

Tip 4. Put all the previous 3 points into one single easy to understand line.
This will form your elevator pitch.
For example again if you are a coach you may write down that you are great at personal growth and motivating people. Your clients have backed you up on this and that you are truly passionate about it, you may then write your elevator pitch as
Passionately motivating business people to be their best.

Take time to do this simple exercise and see what you discover.

As I said getting clarity is vital for business growth. If you’re not clear on what you do then how can you expect your prospective clients to be clear too.

Get clear on what you want
You also need to be clear on what you want. When I first started my business my vision wasn’t that clear and I wasn’t getting a great return on the time and investment on the time I spent promoting the business. Then when I discovered what I actually wanted and created a clear vision along with a clear and concise elevator pitch the clients and opportunities came flooding in.

So be clear and know what you want.

If you require more help in this, I offer a 4 hour 1-2-1 service. Click here to find out how I can help you.

 

Do you have a great well to sell your services?
Have you created a knock out elevator pitch?
I’d love to have your feedback and comments – please leave them below.

To your onwards success

Simon

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What is holding you back?

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Simon

 

Who or What Holds You Back?
Guest post from Annie Lawler from Breaking Space Therapies

Earlier this week, I went to see the film, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” for the second time. I went with a dear friend who only a few weeks ago lost her husband and I was happy to go for a second time.

If you haven’t seen the film, it has a terrific cast (Judi Dench, Maggie Smith etc) and is a kind of bitter sweet story about older people who have fallen on hard times and end up in India. It’s funny, it’s tender and it’s wonderfully insightful. And it’s one of those insights I wanted to share with you in this newsletter.

At a point in the movie when the juvenile lead has almost given up on his dreams, Judi Dench says to him “You can do anything you want. Stop waiting for someone to tell you, you deserve it.” Wow! What a thought!

How many of us unintentionally avoid living life as we would like it because somewhere, back in our subconscious, we don’t believe we deserve it? How often do we avoid doing something because we want to please someone else or because we think we’ll disappoint them or lose their love if we did it? How often do we use these “excuses” as shields and put up barriers so we don’t have to face what we’re scared of doing but would love to do? I know at times, I have certainly done that. How about you? Does this ring a bell with you?

I thought this was a wonderfully inspiring thought and I hope you’ll like it too. If you’re holding off doing something that your heart tells you you want to do, here are a few thoughts on the subject that may help you:

1. What is it that you would love to do in life? Think about what it is and what or who you believe is holding you back. Then ask yourself, is this really what is holding me back or am I unwittingly using this as a barrier because I fear the consequences of actually doing it? Do I truly believe I deserve to be happy and to be fulfilled?

2. As I have found in my coaching/psychotherapy practice, many of us hold false beliefs about our own abilities and worthiness. Often we’re not even aware of these beliefs until we start to dig deeper into why we feel and behave the way we do. Often we wait for a crisis before we choose to examine what we believe and how that affects us and those around us?

3. Take a close look at what it is you want to do and try doing a SWOT analysis on it – a list of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It’s an old marketing technique but I find it works just as well with decision-making and helps clarify what you’re actually taking on.

4. Life is not and never will be risk-free. Sometimes we just have to take that first step forward into the unknown to get to where we want to go. I remember a friend sharing with me the saying “A ship is safest in port, but that’s not what it’s built to do”. Are you prepared to leave safe harbour to do what you came here to do and what you would love to do? What would it take to make it happen?

5. If your ‘dream’ seems too big and overwhelming to handle, break it down into small steps, starting with the very first thing you would need to do to make it happen. If you took one of these small steps every day, before you know it, you’d be on your way to achieving what you set out to do, yet the small steps seem so much less daunting than the overall ‘big picture’.

6. If your ‘dream’ affects someone else, don’t assume what they will think. Discuss your wildest dreams with them and ask them to support and help you in achieving it. One thing I’ve discovered is that even when I’ve taken steps which may have made someone else’s life difficult for a while, if they have truly loved me for who I am, they STILL love me – sometimes because of rather than despite what I’ve done.

7. Whatever anyone else thinks, you are unique and only you have the exact same experience of life as you. You have a limited time on this physical plain. Only you can know what you need and want to achieve in this time. What do you need to do for you? What legacy do you want to leave? What meaning do you want your life to have?

It takes courage to go for your dreams, but never let fear or a lack of confidence or worthiness hold you back. You know in your heart what it is you need and want to do. So trust your intuition and take the first small step today.

If you need any objective, compassionate and confidential help in achieving your dreams, you know where I am. Remember “You can do anything. Stop waiting for someone to tell you you deserve it.”

With love Annie.

Annie’s website can be found here

You may also like my post on How to conquer a negative mindset. Click here to read

 

If you liked this post please share it, like it and tweet it.

 

Thank you

 

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Why you should not listen to others

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Simon

 

If we listen to everybody’s advice then we would never get to where we want to be.

We have to follow our heart and also our head to make sure we keep a level of perspective and check in with ourselves to make sure we are on course.

But so many people listen to what other people say and end up where they don’t want to be.

How many times has someone said to you “oh I wouldn’t do that because….”

When starting a new business or trying something different this is when the naysayers can come out of the wood work and hamper our progress, but only if we listen to them.

Here’s a great little story I heard many years ago and one that sums it up perfectly.

A grandfather and his grandson are taking a donkey to market.

The young boy is riding on the back of the donkey when they pass a crowd of people.

“Why are you riding the donkey when your pool old Grandfather should be riding it” they shouted. So the young man got down and his Grandfather climbed up on to the donkey’s back.

Further on down the road they past another crowd of people and upon seeing the old man on the donkey with the young boy leading, they all shouted out that it wasn’t fair for the young boy to be walking when the man was surely far more able to walk a longer distance than the boy. So the old man climbed down and they both decided to walk the donkey instead of riding on his back.

A little way down the road another crowd could be heard saying that it was a crazy sight to see two people walking a donkey when surely it would be better for them both to be riding it as donkey’s can handle carrying such a weight. So the grandfather and his grandson both climbed up on the back and continued down the road to market.

Someway on they passed another crowd of people who all looked on in horror and dismay saying that it was animal cruelty to have two people on the back of the donkey and that they should climb down at once.

Much to their annoyance the Grandfather and Grandson both climbed down but this time they decided to show the crowd and carry the donkey instead.

“this will show them” said the Grandfather as they both struggled to carry the donkey on their backs as they headed off to market once more.

As they wobbled down the road they came across a bridge over a river. As they carefully stepped onto the bridge still carrying the donkey on their backs the little boy tripped and stumbled losing his grip on the donkey which made the grandfather also lose his hold and before you could say “what the…..” the donkey had dropped over the edge of the bridge straight into the fast river below never to be seen again.

As they both stood their staring down at the water rushing beneath them they finally realised that…

…if you listen to everyone else’s opinions sooner or later you’ll end up losing your ass.

 

Listen to what you know and ignore the others.

Keep going on your own path. I believe in you.

 

If you enjoyed this post then please share it, like it and tweet it out.

To your onwards success

Simon

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No B.S. I am no guru

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Simon

 

I make no apologies for the title of this post and here’s why…

I was speaking at an event recently and whilst sitting at the speakers table the discussion of ‘gurus’ came up and the general consensus was that we were all getting a bit fed up of these ‘gurus’ telling the world that you can make $1 million dollars in just 7 days by sitting in front of your laptop whilst still in your undergarments and pressing a few keys.

I see it day in and day out. People being led up the garden path, whilst being told that their dream is only over the horizon to find that over the horizon is in fact nothing what they bought into.

Now don’t get me wrong it is possible to make a lot of money quickly BUT and I say BUT in capital letters because it is a big but, because to get to a stage where one can make a lot of money quickly actually isn’t quick and anyone telling you otherwise is lying or a bank robber.

They haven’t got to the stage they are just overnight. They didn’t wake up and press a magic key on their computer, which meant money started pouring out of every orifice. No they got to the stage of being able to make money quickly down to the fact that they have worked bloody hard and spent a lot of time learning, studying and researching into how it works and then putting it all into practice.

I had tears…
When I first started my business back in 2009 the first few years were incredibly hard and at times I would have my head in my hands with tears rolling down my face with sheer frustration but I never gave up on what I wanted.  (watch my video here)

The second year of my business after a lot of hard work I launched my online TV channel and combined with Social Media I took my business from local to global in just 7 months.
Now it didn’t actually take me 7 months because the months beforehand that were spent learning how to script, shoot video, how to edit them and upload to my channel effectively took a lot of time and money.

So making money whilst sitting around the house in your shorts having no experience in this matter just doesn’t happen.

I’m no guru, I’m just honest.
I’ve never called myself a guru or an expert for that matter and if I ever have I apologise because I believe to call yourself an expert to me says that you’ve learnt it all.
I for one never stop learning and continue everyday to learn something new which will take my business and life further.
I tell my clients the truth and I do tell them what I know and what I know works and I make sure I break it down into easy to understand no B.S. language, because if they can’t do it or understand it then I’m not doing my job properly.

If you don’t know say so
Now as I said I’m no guru and my clients love the fact that I’m real and honest because that’s what building a good relationship with your clients is all about. If I don’t know something I go and find the answer.

Someone in my mastermind group asked me a question recently and I said that I didn’t know the answer but I would go and find out for them. An hour later I had done my research and came back to them. That for me is about adding value and trust.
I’m not here to take their money, I’m here to make them successful and in return I become successful.

I have made money online
I have made a lot of money in 7 days online and I do know how to package my knowledge in order to make money 24/7 and I have done it time and time again BUT (it’s that big but again) it didn’t just take me 24hrs or 5 minutes to do. No sir, it took me a heck of a lot longer.

Woo Simon!
Now if you’re reading this and thinking ‘woo Simon, I’m not sure I want your advice’ then I’m sorry but you shouldn’t be thinking about being in business. Business is bloody tough, it’s blood sweat and tears and sometimes you get to a stage where you think what the hell am I doing. BUT (there it is again) if you can go through all of that and keep the faith then my friend the rewards are AMAZING and it’s worth putting that word in caps too because it is truly amazing.
I love, love, love what I do and all the hard work is worth it.
I love working with my clients, I love seeing them succeed and I love being there to get them where they want to go. I don’t paint pictures I purely say it how it is but I show them how to get there quicker and not make the mistakes or falls that I’ve done within my learning process.

Everybody fails
Everybody fails and falls down whilst trying to grow their business and there is no getting away from it. The failures are important because they show us what isn’t working and this is what I show my clients before they make them.

I’ve have a coach for my business because I need guidance and my coach also has a coach.
We all need help and guidance in showing us the wood for the trees.

If you can stand tall and expect the hard times in your business and not lose the faith you will get there I promise.

For me, being in business is just wonderful and I can look back and know that I’ve worked hard to get where I am and can share my knowledge to help as many other people as possible so they too can get the success they deserve.

So my final advice is to be honest and if you are showing people how to make money, and gather more clients, lose weight or whatever else then do it with integrity and with the aim to genuinely help them and not just to grab their money and run off to the hills to count it.

Times are changing and we need to earn people’s trust instead of giving them empty promises.

 

Thank you
Thank you for reading this far and if you enjoyed the post then please share it, like it and tweet it out to your followers.

Here’s to helping more people on their path to success.

Simon

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How to challenge negative thinking

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Simon

 

After the success of my last post on how to conquer a negative mindset I have decided to add these 20 questions you can ask yourself that will help you challenge a negative mindset.

In today’s world we are bombarded with negative text, pictures, people, situations and press and this doesn’t lead to a healthy positive outlook. This can also lead to having a negative impact on our lives as well as our businesses.

I truly believe if we can conquer our own mindset then we can achieve whatever we want to.

Here are 20 questions to help you challenge negative thinking

  1. Am I confusing a thought with fact?
  2. Am I jumping to conclusions?
  3. Am I assuming my view of things is the only one possible?
  4. Do negative thoughts help or hinder me?
  5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of thinking this way?
  6. Am I asking questions that have no answers?
  7. Am I thinking in all or nothing terms?
  8. Am I using ultimatum words in my thinking?
  9. Am I telling myself I’m a bad person because of things that have happened recently?
  10. Am I concentrating on my weaknesses and forgetting my strengths?
  11. Am I blaming myself for something that is not really my fault?
  12. Am I taking things personally
  13. Am I expecting myself to be perfect?
  14. Am I using a double standard?
  15. Am I only paying attention to the black side of things?
  16. Am I overestimating the chance of disaster?
  17. Am I exaggerating the importance of events?
  18. Am I worrying about the way the things ought to be rather than dealing with them as they are?
  19. Am I assuming I can do nothing to change my situation?
  20. Am I predicting the future?

Happiness isn’t a given thing
Another thing I would add to this post is that happiness doesn’t just happen; we have to work at it. I hear many stories of people trudging through their week to end up on the sofa on a Friday night with a glass of their usual and expecting to be happy. Happiness is something we need to practice.

If I asked you to walk down your street and pick out all the rubbish that you see, I’m sure you could easily do this.

If I then asked you to walk down the same street again and pick out all the things that make you smile I’m sure you could do that as well. What I’m saying here is you observe and take in what you want to take in. Look for crap and you’ll get crap. Look for happiness and you’ll get happiness.
Focus on the positive instead of the negative and start attracting more of it into your life.

We all have our own demons but we can learn to control the little S.O.B. or we can let them take hold.

Here’s a great little story from my friend and coach Fiona Fay from her book Who Is God? You are.

A grandfather once sat beside a crackling campfire with his grandchildren, and he told them a story of a fight between two wolves. He described the two wolves as being polar opposites.
One wolf represented anger, jealousy, resentment, frustration, anxiousness, negativity, hatred, insecurity, stress, lack of self-belief and self-loathing. The other wolf represented the opposite. He stood for self-belief, certainty, security, love, honesty, fun, fulfillment, compassion, joy, peace, integrity, abundance and laughter. The grandfather described the fight between the two wolves, and then cautioned his grandchildren that the fight was not going on only between the wolves. “The fight”, he told them, “is going on inside each and every one you.” The children gasped, and after a few minutes silence, one of them asked, “Granddad, which wolf won the fight?” The grandfather swiftly responded, “The wolf that wins the fight is the one that you feed the most!”

Which wolf do you feed the most?

 

Share the love
If you enjoyed this post then please feel free to share it, like it and of course Tweet it.

 

I’d love to hear about how you conquer your mindset and what you have overcome.

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How to conquer a negative mindset

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Simon

 

 

Meet my little gremlin. He’s a nasty little S.O.B.
He is always there, always by my side.
If I’m having a good moment he can sometimes pop up and try and ruin it for me saying something like ‘don’t get used to this because it will go bad’

This little sod has always been around ever since I can remember. I call him that because he angers me. I’ve had to come to love his ways and his negative attacks although it has taken me many, many years to get this way about him. I know it’s a him because he comes from me and therefore part of me.

There are times when he is quiet and I forget he is there and then all of a sudden he appears with his vicious onslaught of mud slinging informing me that I’m useless and a failure.

But he is my little gremlin and he always will be so I just deal with him, laugh at him and his words of negativity and just let him be. Other times when he pops up I talk to him and say thanks for his input but he’s not needed at this time.

There is no getting away from him. When I’m about to get out of my comfort zone (which is on a regular basis) my little guy pops up in the form of doubt or there are other times when I’m about to go on stage and he appears as fear. He has many guises but I know it’s him.

I’ve not lost my mind
You’re probably thinking that I’ve lost my mind at this stage of the blog post, but I bet you have one of these little gremlins too. I bet you have a little voice that pops up and tells you that one-day you’ll get found out. That you are really a failure and that you’re not worth it. That you’re not successful and that you’re silly to even think you are, am I right or am I right?

Even the most successful people have them
I bet you didn’t know that some of the biggest and most successful people out there also have these little gremlins. I’ve met and interviewed plenty of stars for my Radio Show and they all have issues with their own little gremlins.

These little voices that tell them that one day they’ll get found out and it could all come crashing down.
You’re no different from them and they are no different from you, except they have learnt to deal with these annoying little gremlins.

The level of income you earn is inline with what you believe you deserve.
Have you ever heard of someone winning the lottery and then in a few years they are right back to where they started. This is called the sudden windfall syndrome. Our wealth is like a thermostat. In a house a thermostat controls the heat in order to keep the temperature at a certain level. If the house gets too cold the heating kicks in and brings it up to the right level. If it’s too warm then the heating goes off until the temperature falls to the correct level again.

This is just like our own success thermostat. We can get lots of money and then end up spending it and end up back where we where again.

Losing it and getting it all back again
There have been many stories of wealthy people losing all their money and then getting it all back again very quickly? This is because their thermostat is set to high and they don’t listen to their own gremlin. They know it’s there but they have just managed to overcome the voice and move on.

Do you have the naysayers?
They say that our friends and family can often be the naysayers, the ones that tell us we shouldn’t try and aim for the stars.

With me it has always been the opposite, I have had nothing but praise from people telling me that I will be successful. It’s been my little gremlin that has told me that it’s all lies and made me doubt myself. It sucks but he now doesn’t get the better of me and I am proving him wrong every day.

I wanted to write this post because if you are not where you want to be then maybe just maybe it’s that little S.O.B doing the same with your head.

You have to master it
One of the biggest things that will stop you from getting to where you want to be, earning the money you want, having the relationship and the life of your dreams is that little voice, that doubt that you don’t have it in you to succeed. That fear of the unknown and backed by your own little gremlin telling you that you will fail so why bother trying.

Mastering that little voice in your head is probably one of the best things you can ever do.

I mean if I had listened to my gremlin I wouldn’t have run the London Marathon and taken my business from local to global in 7 months or published my book. No sir I would have not been able to do any of those things because I wouldn’t have believed in my abilities or my talents.

Before I would worry about so many things and lie awake in bed worrying with him telling me more and more negative ‘stuff’ making me feel weak and useless. I still have those times but now I just talk it thorough with myself and put him back in his place.

This probably all sounds a little woo woo or crazy but why not give it a try. It’s not like you’re sharing it with the world or writing a blog post and sharing your inner most secrets about it are you :)

I urge you to take note and to conquer that little S.O.B and kick him or her in to touch. Because you are worthy of success. You deserve everything you desire. You were born with abundance so why the heck shouldn’t you have it now?

Conquer it
Take your gremlin by the short and curlys and take control. You are not your thoughts; you can either be the victim of your circumstances or the master of your destiny it’s entirely up to you. Just don’t let your own gremlin take control and ruin an incredible life.

Just in case you’re asking – the pic of the gremlin was bought back from the States last year because when I saw him I thought it reminded me of my own bad old self when I used to drink and smoke and now he has become the representation of my gremlin.

 

Share the love
If you liked this post please share it, like it and tweet it out to help more people with their own little gremlins.

 

What about you?
What do you call your gremlin?
How have you mastered your little voice?

I would love to have your thoughts and comments on this post.

Here’s to mastering gremlins

Simon

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How to create a personal brand part 3

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Simon

 

In this third part of my posts on creating a personal brand, I wanted to show an example of a brand and what makes it work so well.

I was recently asked to speak at the National VA Awards event and was booked to stay in a Best Western hotel near the venue.

I walked into the room to set my bags down and did the normal check around the room to see what was on offer including what was available in the bathroom. There was the usual bath and shower bottles and also a shower cap which I have to add I didn’t use but what I thought was so great was the packaging they had used on these very simple products. I thought it was an excellent example of great branding and communication for something so basic and simple. Their packaging was so good I decided to record a quick episode for my TV channel video that explains more and even though this is a corporate brand this is something that will help you get a better idea when creating your own personal brand

Watch and see how I explain how Best Western have used their brand values in such a great way.

So my question to you when creating your own personal brand is is your company a Whisper, a Talk or a Shout kind of brand.

A Whisper brand being one that is understated
A Talk brand is a little more ‘look at me’ and a Shout brand being one that shouts at you and wants you to take notice.

If your business is selling an upmarket product / service to upmarket clients then make sure your marketing reflects this.

Same goes for middle and low market products and services. The value of your product needs to be reflected in your marketing. If it’s expensive make it look expensive, if it’s cheap then match the marketing, but don’t make it look tacky or rubbish.

Some great examples are the following websites from 3 supermarkets in the UK.

Upmarket brand – www.Waitrose.co.uk This is a whisper brand – because it’s quiet and understated.
If you click on this site (or look at the image below) you will see how they have created an upmarket look by the colour scheme they have used, the clean fonts and the general layout of the site. The site shows lifestyle as well as products.

Middle market brand – www.Sainsburys.co.uk This is a talk brand
Look at the colours they use for this brand. Look at the images and the fonts they use to show the quality of this brand. It has an affordable look so as not to deter the lower income families but also not too cheap so it doesn’t put off the more affluent customer.

Low market – www.iceland.co.uk – This is a shout brand.
This supermarket only sells cheap products and goods. Look at the colour they use and the bold strong fonts that shout out the prices. This is not a lifestyle brand but rather a place to go, buy food and leave and it’s as simple as that. That is all they want people to do. It’s not about the experience but more about grabbing your money in exchange for a cheap product. Unlike the upmarket Waitrose supermarket where as soon as you enter one of their stores the lighting is softer, the colours they use are more subdued and the whole experience more appealing and you are happy to hang around and browse the shelves rather than dash in and dash out and this will lead to you buying more.

The brand experience.
Remember your brand is like your personality. When creating your own brand ask yourself what experience you want your clients to have when they come into contact with your business? What do you want them to say about your business?

Go back and read the other posts on branding to understand the process.

Creating your own powerful personal brand


 

Do you want to be known as the go-to resource in your field?
Do you want to be recognised as the expert and have clients coming to you?

Having your own personal brand will help you monetize your offering and create awareness of what you do.
Having your own personal brand makes you stand out from the competition.

Are you unclear on what your offer is?
Do you need help creating a clear message to promote your business?
Do you stumble when asked “what do you do”?

If you’ve answered yes to any of the above then we can help.

Just like I’ve done for hundreds of clients I can help you create your own personal brand and empower you to head into the coming months with total confidence for more clients and more profit.

No. B.S. here
I won’t tell you that you can make £1 million in an afternoon just by sending out an email, but I will tell you that having a personal brand is incredibly powerful and will open doors and help you attract more of the clients you want.

If you would like further info on how I can help you create your own personal brand, then send an email by clicking here and put in the subject line ‘Personal Branding’. My PA will then setup a FREE no obligation 1-2-1 strategy call with me to discuss creating your own personal brand and start to really sky rocket your business.

 

If you liked this post and found it useful please share it, like it and retweet it.

What have you done to help your business look different?

What marketing have you created to make your business memorable?

Let me know and leave your comments and questions below.

 

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Personal branding – How to create your brand values

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Simon

 

This is my second post on how to create your personal brand and in this post I want to talk about creating your brand values.

Brand values in essence are the values you wish to portray and have your company live by.

Your brand values are different from a mission statement. Just as you have your own values, such as you wouldn’t buy certain clothes because they wouldn’t suit your style. Or you wouldn’t do certain actions or say certain things because they don’t fit in with your own values the same goes for your business. The key is knowing what these values are and making sure the business sticks to them.

When you have your brand values it then becomes so much easier to remain consistent in your marketing and will help you build yourself a strong, recognisable personal brand.

Where small businesses let themselves down is when they have inconsistent branding. Their website has one look and feel, their stationery another and then the person fronting the business is entirely different and the overall brand is just plain confusing and inconsistent.

In the last post about how to create your personal brand I talked about how the outgoing message on your answer machine sounds to your prospective clients. This may seem unimportant but all of these little items go to build a strong brand.

So how do we go about building the values for your business?

The exercise I use with my clients when building their brand values is by asking them these three following questions.

Question 1. If your business were a supermarket which supermarket would it be?
The reason I chose this sector is because we all have our own opinions on which supermarkets we think are upmarket and which are downmarket.

When you’ve chosen which supermarket you think your business would be like, I then want you to think of the words that spring to mind that best describe the chosen supermarket.

These words you chose also need to be words that you could incorporate into your own business brand.

For example if you choose the word ‘Quality’ as one of the words that best describes the supermarket, you could easily apply this to your own business in terms of the ‘quality’ of service you provide to your customers.

Another word you may chose may be ‘Fresh’. This could easily be applied to how your overall marketing looks. The use of fresh colours such as the green palette and the use of white space and nice clean fonts will also give a good visual feel of ‘freshness’

Keep brainstorming the words for your chosen supermarket until you feel you’ve come up with as much as you can which you feel are a good representation.

Question 2. If your business was a car, what car would it be?
As before write down all the keywords that you feel best describe this particular car.

You may choose Mercedes as the car and the words that you then chose to describe this maybe ‘executive’ or ‘stylish’ or ‘sexy’. Simply brainstorm like before until you feel you’ve exhausted all the words that you feel work best.

Make sure that the words you use can be applied to your business.

If you do chose the word ‘sexy’ for example – think about how you can apply this to your business.

The word also has to be congruent with the business. If you’re a doctor the word ‘sexy’ wouldn’t really be something I would want to apply to this service as it would turn a lot of people off, but if you were selling lingerie then the word ‘sexy’ would be perfect and you could show this by the dark sumptuous colours such as deep red, gold, brown and purple and obviously by the type of photos you use. The fonts could be the ones you see that have lovely curves and look like they are flowing across the page as if they have been hand written with a quill pen.

Question 3. If your business was an airline what airline would it be?
Just like before do the same exercise and write down the words that best suit.

The reason I use 3 different sectors in this exercise is because it’s important to get a wide view of what you want the business to be like. It also needs to be consistent, for example if you chose Wall Mart as the supermarket, then Mercedes for the car and then Virgin for the airline the supermarket is not in the same league so it’s important that all three go together.
This is also called being brand aligned.

Being consistent with your offering
This exercise is vital to creating a strong personal brand. If the service or product you are offering is cheap then it’s important that the business doesn’t look too upmarket which could put prospective buyers off. The same goes for if your business is offering a high quality product or service then your marketing needs to reflect this.

You wouldn’t see an advert for a Ferrari on a back of a packet of cigarettes would you? Or you wouldn’t see an advert for Peanut butter in Vogue magazine would you?

When you know your brand values it helps you know where you should market, how you should market, the tone of voice to use and the overall style and look of your marketing collateral.

All the big corporations have their own brand values. They also have what is known as a brand bible and this document (which I have created many in my time for some of the World’s biggest brands) have all the details regarding the rules on how they want their business to come across.

Everything from the minimum size of their logo. What colours are allowed to be used. The style of photography. The fonts that can be used, and what tone of voice all communications need to be written in. It’s these brand values that keep the company’s image looking strong and consistent and the companies will protect these brand rules at all costs.

Help your designer
Having your brand values formulated will mean that when you commission any creative work such as a new website, leaflets or stationery means that the designer will have a very good idea of what you want and how your business should look.

In the next post I will give some examples of great branding from upmarket brands to downmarket brands and how the companies have created their look.

CLICK HERE TO READ PART 3 of How to create a personal brand

 

Creating your own powerful personal brand


 

Do you want to be known as the go to resource in your field?
Do you want to have a constant stream of paying clients coming to your door?

Having your own personal brand will help you monetize your offering and create awareness of what you do.
Having your own personal brand makes you stand out from the competition.
When I created my own personal brand it helped me take my business from local to global in just 7 months and my bank balance went crazy too.

If you would like further info on how I can help you create your own powerful personal brand, then send me an email by clicking here and put in the subject line ‘Personal Branding’. We can then setup a free no obligation 1-2-1 strategy call to discuss creating your own personal brand and start to really sky rocket your business.

 

If you liked this post and found it useful please share it, like it and retweet it.

What have you done to help your business look different?

What marketing have you created to make your business memorable?

Let me know and leave your comments and questions below.

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How to create a personal brand

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Simon

 

Creating a personal brand is a sure-fire way to get recognised for what you do and will generate more referrals for your business.

With traditional advertising methods this would have been a costly exercise and very time consuming but with the advent of Social Media and the Internet the world of the small business owner has expanded dramatically and we are able to connect with our target market at a fraction of the cost of what we would have spent.

This is great news for our budgets and our time, but we also need to make sure we communicate effectively and clearly.

We need to make sure we are consistent with our brand.

What is a brand?

A brand is more than just a logo. A brand is the personality of your business.

A brand is lots of things that go to make up your company. It’s the way you engage with your target market, the way you look after your clients. It’s how people feel about your company. Just as your personality is more than just your name so a brand is more than just a logo on a letterhead or business card. This is why it’s important when you go to create your brand that you take into account all of the facets that go to create this very important part of your business.

So how do we create a brand?

The first thing I would ask you is – are you the face of the business?
What I mean by that is are you the person who fronts the business? Are you the person that clients come to work with?

Are you the person that promotes the business and does the selling?

If the answer is yes then my next question is…

Why do people buy from you?

This is something that many small business owners overlook.

It’s important to know why your clients buy from you.

Because a sale is based on emotion and we buy from people we know, like and trust, it’s important when building a personal brand that we know why people buy from us.

Obviously you need to be good at what you do, but before people purchase from you, it’s great to know what it was that attracted them to you and your business.

Was it your passion?

Was it your infectious enthusiasm?

Was it your friendliness and general warmth?

Was it your great source of knowledge?

Was it because you are so helpful?

 

How do I find answers to these questions?

The simple answer is to ask your clients.

You can do this by providing a simple questionnaire or by phoning them.

If you would like to do it via the internet you can use an online questionnaire by using a company such as SurveyMonkey.com If you decide to use this service I suggest that you make the questionnaire as simple to fill in as possible. You could also offer a gift for each form filled in – if this questionnaire helps you progress your business then a small investment of a gift is worth it.

When you have the answers to these questions you can then look at your current marketing collateral, this includes everything that is used to promote you and your business, from your website to your business card, how you dress to the outgoing message on your answer machine. Yes believe it or not even the message your prospective clients hear on your answer machine all goes to build your brand.

If you are aiming to have a professional brand and then when someone calls you and listens to your answer machine message and it has kids playing in the background or a dog barking this isn’t consistent or professional.

It may sound petty but it’s these little details that matter.

If you truly want to build a strong and memorable personal brand then all of these need to be thought about.

In my next post I will be talking about how to create the brand values for your business.

Creating your own powerful personal brand


 

Do you want to be known as the go to resource in your field?
Do you want to have a constant stream of paying clients coming to your door?

Having your own personal brand will help you monetize your offering and create awareness of what you do.
Having your own personal brand makes you stand out from the competition.
When I created my own personal brand it helped me take my business from local to global in just 7 months and my bank balance went crazy too.

If you would like further info on how I can help you create your own powerful personal brand, then send me an email by clicking here and put in the subject line ‘Personal Branding’. We can then setup a free no obligation 1-2-1 strategy call to discuss creating your own personal brand and start to really sky rocket your business.


What does your business say about you? What do you do different to make your business stand out?

I love hearing your comments and feedback so please leave them below.

If you found this post helpful please share it and like it.

 

Thank you I appreciate you.

Simon

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