During the past two weeks, I have spent a significant amount of time on branding and online marketing. William Arruda was right when he listed happiness as one of the benefits of branding. I have been really happy since I defined my brand. I will share my branding process with my readers now.
1. Focusing on values (again)
William’s workshop defined brand as a unique promise of value. I have done significant work on my vision and mission after the online marketing workshop. So I continued my inquiry about values. I used Barrette’s complimentary personal values assessment in order to become clearer about my top values.
2. Discussing my brand with a coach
Over the years, I have had a few brands drafted and nothing accurately described what the unique offer that I provided. I knew that my brand was within me and I had to figure out how to verbally describe it. So I discussed it with my mentor coach. Since none of my words stand out as a unique promise, he said “Hsuan-hua, I think you have more work to do.” My coach was not eager to help me figure it out since he trusted that I knew the answer. Our conversation did trigger something within me. In 24 hours, I had a brand that is unique and is a promise that I have offered to my clients.
3. Living my brand
My brand is “Leaders Empower Leaders ™”. I have been a leader since I was in kindergarten. I led whenever the opportunity was presented and stepped back to empower others to lead when appropriate. When I came to the United States as a foreign student, culture barriers suppressed my leadership for a few years. I reclaimed it over time when I adapted to the culture. Who I am is an empowerment. With years of coaching training, I have learned how to be an empowering leader and coach. I work with leaders to empower other leaders. It speaks to my mission “empower leaders to serve their teams and customers through the use of technology, business strategy and extraordinary leadership.” Now, I have a cohesive story for online marketing.
A mentee of mine once asked if I had learned marketing in a big corporation that I had left last year. I said “no”. I learned marketing from small business owners. In my mind, small business owners are exceptional leaders. We are learners. We are willing to take risks in order to grow our business and we are an early adopter of technology. If you need help to work on your brand or online marketing, I am available to support you. You may text me at 425-753-7271.
In my next blog, I will discuss a different process for those who haven’t done much work on values.