If you're a consultant, author, Realtor, chiropractor, or other solo professional, you can accelerate your marketing by establishing a personality-based brand for yourself. In this marketing strategy, you are positioning YOU as the brand...you are the expert. And this approach can usually be accomplished successfully even when you have a larger company brand.



When you are marketing the brand as YOU, all of your marketing becomes a personal one-on-one conversation with your customers and prospects. This can be done in your ezine, during speeches, on your website, and while you are networking at an event. You build the power of your ability to influence people. Your prospects begin to perceive you as a credible resource in your field.

Your personality-based brand positions you as the expert in your industry. Experts are sought after, are well-known, command higher fees, and get more business with less effort. The media calls experts to get quotes for articles. Associations call them to speak at their events. People remember them.

Becoming an expert is no accident, but it is a crucial part of your marketing if you want to customers to seek YOU out. Get known as the go-to guy or gal in your field. The more well-known you are, the more prospects will trust you. You become part of their world and will be invited to be other people's center of influence. To build your personality-based brand, you can write a book, publish a blog, begin public speaking, submit articles to your industry publications, offer radio interviews, and send regular press releases to the media.

This approach creates a clear distinction of your brand, reinforcing customer loyalty and creating prospect interest. Your personality-based brand includes your authentic style, your past experience, your unique skills, and everything that you bring to the table to help your clients. You can help to reinforce your personality-based brand by developing proprietary systems and services that are unique to YOU. In this way, you have specific information that your competitors don't. And only you can teach it to your clients the way YOU can.

Have a professional photograph taken as an aspect of your personal brand. This is a great investment because you'll have pictures of yourself that you like and the photos will help build credibility. Include your photo on your business cards, brochures, speakers' sheet, website, flyers, and so on. People who are not good at remembering your name will remember your face. When they see it again, they will be more inclined to look more closely at what you are offering. Even people who don't know you in person but "meet" you on the Internet or by reading your book will feel like they have a closer relationship with you when they can see your picture.

MAVEN ACTION ITEM: Right now, make a list of things that make you credible. This is a list that explains, "What do I know that makes me an expert?" For instance, you may have written a book, published articles, conducted workshops, hold certificates or degrees, have specific expertise, and so on. How can you incorporate these into your marketing and to build a personality-based brand? What else can you do?