Be The Brand

Charisma may draw people to you but it gives them no reason to trust you. With character you build trust with others each time you choose integrity over image, truth over convenience or honour over personal gain.

John C. Maxwell

 

 

Courtesy Davidzinger.com

Welcome to a brand new month.  In the past one month we have looked at how to constitute a team and how to ensure that your team works.

This month, I feel we should share a little more on the qualities of a great Leader and ‘Visioneer’.  And I will be dwelling on the subject of being ‘the brand’, rather than the product or service that you are selling or pushing.

Businesses are fast moving away from just manufacturing products and rendering services to building lasting brands and enduring legacies.  In my opinion, your Vision as a brand and legacy will begin with who you are as a brand.

If you remember, when I posted about Vision, I had mentioned that your ability to sell your Vision and get others to buy in will go a long way in determining your success or otherwise, because as you know, no one man can work a dream and succeed alone.  There is always a place for the team.

Now this is the issue, people are no longer buying into Visions or dreams because you asked them to, people now buy into Visions because they believe in the individual and have become influenced by them.  That is why you need to be the brand.  Let people know who you are and what you have on offer, they will therefore choose to follow you because of who you are in character rather than what you claim to be.

Leadership according to John C. Maxwell is influence and to be able to influence someone, they must believe in you and should trust you considerably.  Not by your words but by your lifestyle.

When I started out in business a dear friend told me something I am never going to forget.  He said to be “Bidemi, you have to be ready to be the brand, let the magazine be an expression of who you are, and you will get the followership that you desire.” Wise words, for a green horn like me then.  Now, as I go around trying to run with my dream, I never forget that after all is said and done, I am the brand.

When I talk to people about branding, I always tell them to begin from choosing three words that describe them.  My own words as you may know are Purpose, Integrity and Excellence.  The fact is I am not hundred percent living these words right now, but they are the words that inspire and motivate me, and I am working on making them words that people can easily describe me with.

As I continue to work on branding myself or becoming ‘the brand’, I am constantly hoping that my clients and customers will begin to see that these words form the foundational core of my business.  I want them to be able to say, we know that doing business with Verbatim, or Effectual, means there is a guarantee that our purpose will be pushed.  To trust that they will be treated with integrity and whatever we say to them they can believe, and finally, that whenever they entrust something into our hands we will deliver excellently according to our ability.

All these because in my personal dealings with them, I am living these three words!  From the next post, we will be looking at a whole number of words and how we can use them to brand ourselves and by extension our businesses.  Maybe you can do something for me in the interim; can you post on the comment section your own three words?

Till the next post, always remember, that if you strive to be ‘the brand’ rather than get a PR company, to work on imaging for you, your Vision will become a legacy, NeverTheLess.

Love

Sistar B