You are the BRAND - Gaby Awad

Gaby Awad - “Buying Customers”

S4 Episode 6: You are the BRAND

Introduction

My name is Gaby Awad AKA The Coach on Wheels (you have to watch my YouTube channel to know why 😉), and I am your host for the BUYING CUSTOMERS radio show 🔥🔥🔥

It would be awesome if I could hear from you in real time during the show. If you’re listening live or to one of the recordings, you can always connect and interact with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter at IBGRNetwork.

Listen LIVE every Wednesday 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm: GMT 

 
Show Objectives 

In the information age, personal branding is necessary for the success of any company or individual. A positive brand is necessary for success. 

At the end of this episode, you should be able to:

• Define and master your image
• Understand how to sharpen your brand
• Use social media to your brand’s advantage, and
• Develop a professional appearance

Key Issues 

Taking control of your public image is no longer an option. Identifying and using the tools that affect personal branding correctly will ensure that the public sees the image that you want them to see.

If you don’t, they will… It is easy to underestimate the importance of personal branding and avoid actively improving your brand. The truth, however, is that branding occurs whether you participate in it or not. If you do not take the time to brand yourself, the market will brand you, and it may not do it favorably. 

What You Need to Know 

• How to set sales targets that are aligned to what the business is trying to accomplish
• How to think MSART sales goals
• What to measure and how to measure it?

What Should be Measures 

“Don’t try to be better... Try to be different!” 

USP is all about discovering (or inventing) your special, UNIQUE story and then broadcasting it to your audience or target market.

Our customers, clients, and prospects will always compare our products and services to those of our competitors because they NEED solid, compelling reasons to justify their buying decisions. Therefore, in order to keep our existing customers and obtain new ones, we must ensure we provide these compelling reasons to them. 

I like the saying “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead to where there is no path and leave a trail.”

• A USP must be specific, simple, easy to communicate and easy to understand.
• A USP must appeal to enough prospects.
• A USP should address your clients’ fears, frustrations, needs or desires.
• A USP must be relevant to your market place and have perceived value.
• A USP ideally has no equivalent substitutes and is difficult to imitate.
• A USP should capitalize on the weaknesses of your competitors or a void in the market place.
• A USP may be articulated in a single word, phrase or paragraph. Or it may be communicated by the general appearance of a business, or by the beliefs of employees, or by the way business is conducted.
• A USP may be an appealing promise, a unique feature or a special service.
• A USP must be realistic and consistently deliverable.

Let’s take a look at 4 innovative strategies for doing just that...

Strategy No1: Step outside the box
Strategy No2: Anticipate change
Strategy No3: Take a ‘hybrid’ approach

Choose From the following categories of USPs and don’t limit yourself to choosing from just one category. Instead, choose from as many as you wish, as long as your choices are compatible with each other and the end result is more valuable than the sum of all the individual parts.

‘Lower price’ based USP – I don’t like this one because I always preach that you shouldn’t be competing on price

‘Service’ based USP - Telling potential customers that you offer ‘better service’ than your competitors has little impact. Everyone else is saying exactly the same thing. However, if you DO have better service, explain specifically what you do that makes your service superior.

‘Convenience’ based USP - More convenient locations, more convenient method of distribution, open 7 days a week, no fees until results, book from the comfort of your home, etc.

‘Choice’ based USP - If your business is able to offer your target market a larger choice, it is important that all your customers are aware of this uniqueness.

‘Guarantee’ based USP - Guarantees can embody a powerful USP. Longest guarantee, guarantee a specific performance or result, level of satisfaction, guarantee promising double the money back or money back plus something extra, guarantee to repair or replace, guarantee for the lifetime of the product, or buy-back guarantee. 

‘Innovation’ based USP - New approach, technique, methodology, process or combination. Innovative method of advertising, clever or unusual packaging, or unique way of delivering the service.

‘Technology’ based USP - New technology, or re-invented technology, or patented technology.

‘Niche’ based USP
‘Safety’ based USP
‘Solution’ based USP
Lose weight... WITHOUT DIETS OR EXERCISE!


What You Need to Do 

Step 1: Start by finding your USP
Ask yourself the hard questions and come up with true unique traits or a hybrid /mix of UPSs. Those could be true UPSs or perceived USPs. List your 3 biggest competitors and ask yourself:
​

• What do they do well? What do they do poorly? What is unique about them?
• What ‘Guarantees’ do they have in place? How genuine are these guarantees?
• What can they do that you can’t?
• What is the one thing that if you could guarantee it, would make you the market leader? 
• What you clients hate about your industry or your business? Is it waiting time, quality, ease of service, what?

If you would like to have me sending you a USP and Guarantee questionnaire that will help you come up with a strong uniqueness, just drop me an email and I will be more than happy to share that with you.

Once your USP / guarantee is clear in your mind, tell everyone about it. So list the marketing and sales tools, platforms, prints, and media that you will develop to communicate your brand across.

Step 2: Give your brand a personality and list physical and digital places where you will contribute to your brand positioning
When you market your products and services with personality, you can’t help but boost your brand awareness because your brand will shine right through. Sure, your consumers will take note of the pants or pasta you’re marketing, but they’ll also experience your personality through your advertising.

Step 3: Put a Default Calendar for Communicating your Brand
Have a weekly calendar set for what and when to communicate with your audience to communicate your brand across. Consider the best timing for online engagement. List the things you are going to do, the blog topics you are going to publish on Mondays, the social media posts you are going to push thought, the newsletters, the videos, live events, etc.. The calendar should be clear as to who will be doing what and when. Once done and to your liking, commit to it. 

Step 4: Content is King – Create valuable and free content
Nowadays, creating content is easier than ever … which is a good thing because today’s consumers turn to the internet for any and all questions, concerns, and DIY projects. 
Content doesn’t have to be in written form, either. You can also create videos, infographics, podcasts and more.  

If your brand isn’t creating content, you might be missing out on some major brand awareness opportunities. Content provides an amazing way to authentically connect with your audience while getting your brand name in front of people.

Step 5: Tests and Measure Brand Awareness
How do you know if your brand awareness efforts are working? How do you know if you need to change direction, top the competition, or fix a crisis? Just like any other metric, you measure it.

But brand awareness can’t be measured in the traditional sense. But, you can still review activities and metrics that’ll help you gauge where your brand stands in terms of popularity and consumer awareness.

Consider researching both Quantitative and Qualitative Brand Awareness Measures. Metrics like:

• Website site traffic numbers
• Social engagements, like increasing number of followers, likes, retweets, comments, and more.
• Social listening… like organic mentions and engagement. Who’s tagging your brand, mentioning it in comments, or using your hashtag in their posts? And 
• Running brand awareness surveys. This process involves getting direct feedback from your brand followers. 

 
These quantitative and qualitative metrics will help you understand your brand awareness among your audience and the general public. It’ll never be a perfect number, but keeping your pulse on this measure will help influence campaigns and stay connected to your audience. 

Tom Peters said “All of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.”

Shows 

• Previous: Meeting Sales Targets
• Next: Season 4 Episode 7 -  Managing sales teams - Leadership, management, communication, hi-performers, motivation, numbers, etc.

 
Written by Gaby Awad 
 
As a Business and Executive Coach, Gaby helps business owners, leaders, and teams grow and achieve their goals through alignment, business re-education, coaching, and mentoring. He has more than 25 years of experience in executive positions and transforming businesses. Currently he is the Franchise Owner of ActionCOACH in Lebanon and in this position he also coaches Business Owners, CEOs and other top level executives. Gaby hold international accreditations as certified coach from ActionCOACH, Marshall Goldsmith, The John Maxwell Team, and Jeffrey Gitomer Sales Academy. Gaby is also the founder of Good Session Coaching,  an online learning platform for executives and business professionals where leaders can go through self-paced learning.

You can connect with Gaby on any of his seriously social platforms
Connect on LinkedIn
Follow on Twitter
Follow on Instagram
Like on Facebook
Send an email: gabyawad@actioncoach.com

​

C2.06.4PM