An Image Branding Mistake: I Make It But You Shouldn’t

September 30, 2008

I don’t usually advise people to do something I don’t do myself. But I’m making a huge image branding mistake that you should avoid at all costs.

Excellent branding is essential to your survival, whether you’re a massive company, or a freelancer going it alone. And it’s becoming far more important for folk to feel like they’re dealing with real people, as opposed to some faceless corporation. So getting your image out there, or the image of a key member of your business is vital, if you want to stand out from your competitors.

Now, I’m not saying you should slap a mugshot of yourself in the middle of your company logo. But it should be on your website or blog and in all your marketing materials, so whenever your customers think of your company, they can immediately picture your face.

I don’t do this - I should but I have my reasons. I’m not wanted by the police and I’m not part of some witness protection program, or anything like that. And I’m exactly who I say I am and I’ve done all the things I’ve claimed to have done, otherwise I wouldn’t use my real name as my internet domain.

The simple truth is, I have a scar on my face. It’s not horrendous - I’m far luckier than some people. But it’s visible - folk who are close to me wouldn’t insult me by telling me it wasn’t. I can’t cover it with make-up - as it’s sunken - it’s right below my left eye and surgery won’t put it right either.

I’m not good at photoshop so, I can’t cover it up that way - if I could, I would. Folk can criticize me for that if they like, or tell me it’s part of me, which I hate. It isn’t, I wasn’t born with it and it reminds me of one of the most terrible moments of my life.

But not using an image of myself in my own personal branding does go against me, which is why I’m advising you to use yours in your own branding - unless you’ve got a good reason not to.

People don’t interview me - for example, Kelly from She Power has wanted to interview me for months but she won’t publish the interview on her blog without a picture, as she doesn’t want to feature folk who have a problem showing their identity in some way. And I guess a lot of other people will feel like that too. But I’ve spent hours trying to get rid of the scar with photoshop, so she can have a picture and it just hasn’t worked.

Think about the people you know on the Internet - there’s very few who don’t use their own image, as a major part of their branding. And when you think about their business, or their website, or blog - you automatically tend to visualise them. Good examples are: Guy Kawasaki, Liz Strauss, Seth Godin, Jeremy Schoemaker and Darren Rowse.

There’s few folk I can think of who are well known and don’t use their own images as part of their branding. The only ones who come to mind are Harry and James of Men With Pens, Barbara Swafford of Blogging Without a Blog and Skellie of Skelliewag. They no doubt have their own reasons for withholding their images and I don’t know if doing so is holding them back too.

Do you prefer to see a person’s image, before you deal with their company? Do you feel that you warm to them more. And is there any circumstances where a company shouldn’t use images as part of their overall branding strategy?

Posted by cathlawson | Filed Under Marketing, Mistakes | 54 Comments

Would Money Problems Drive You To This?

September 29, 2008

We all know money can cause lots of problems. And while there’s nothing wrong with money, or wanting to make lots of money, it can be dangerous if it’s your only motivator. The sad thing is, some people are motivated by nothing but money. But what do they have left if it all falls apart?

I was just reading a newspaper story about a high flying banker who threw himself under a train. Apparently, a close source said that he’d probably lost a lot of money due to the recent credit crunch and he was feeling the pressure.

What kind of world are we living in when folk value money more than their own lives? And it’s not like this reaction to money problems is something new, because there was plenty people jumping off buildings after the 1929 stockmarket crash.

Every time the the stock market, or housing market booms, then crashes, my stomach churns. And it’s not because I feel sorry for those who have lost money. It’s their reaction that terrifies me. If such a huge percentage of our population are so easily motivated by fear and greed, then panic when they lose control, it puts all of us at risk.

As Akemi Gaines explains in this article - money can be dangerous. We’re living in a world where people die for a few hundred dollars and often a lot less.

Akemi is hopeful that the financial downturn will cause people to re-evaluate their priorities and I hope she is right. Although, 7 years on from 9/11, I have to wonder what would need to happen to convince the majority of the world’s population that life is more important than money.

What do you think? Does all this make you feel unsafe? And do you think a recession may help, or will money always cause problems?

If all this is too depressing, check out some more positive & uplifting related reading:

Can Bill Gates Help Africa Feed Itself? Bill Gates and Howard Buffet plan to invest $75 million from their private foundation, to help small farmers in third world countries to sell their crops as food aid.
2500 Children Saved From Death: The story of Irena Sendler who saved 2500 children’s lives during World War II.
Why Blogging Is Like Backpacking: Kelly compares blogging with backpacking and explains how both activities encourage folk to forge deeper relationships.
I Was A Mail Order Bride: An hilarious story from Rita’s Digest on the lengths she went to, to make sure her friend had a birthday to remember.

Posted by cathlawson | Filed Under Inspiration and Motivation, Mistakes | 37 Comments

17 Ways To Stand Out From The Crowd

September 28, 2008

Whether you’re a business owner, an artist, or a hooker, you’ve got to stand out from the crowd to get noticed. And the good news is, you don’t have to rely on luck, or special talent to stand out - you just need to rely on yourself.

Make Sure You Offend Plenty Of People: Some folk will be offended no matter what you do. Not everyone will like you ever - even if can walk on water and turn urine into Bollinger. You’ll never please them all - so don’t worry about offending some people. It’s far better than not being noticed at all.

Borrow But Don’t Copy: Watch others who are brilliant in your field and borrow the best bits from each one. But don’t copy them completely. You’ve got to add something unique to the pot, or you’ll never stand out from the crowd.

Don’t Bow To Other People’s Rules: Rules are everywhere. And thanks to the Internet, there’s plenty more people trying to ram their rules down your throat. From what to eat, what to wear, how to have the perfect marriage and even how to blog - you’ll never be short of folk who are happy to tell you the do’s and don’ts. Follow the ones that feel right to you and stick two fingers up at the rest.

Don’t Be A Timewaster: Don’t be one of those people who never has time for marketing. Understand this - no matter how great you are at what you do, you’re wasting your time if nobody knows about it. If you want to sell your talents, or your products, make the time to show them off.

Don’t Try To Be Seen Doing The Right Thing All The Time: When you’re in public - don’t feel obliged to do and say particular things, just because it’s “the right thing to do” in a particular situation. At best - you’ll look like one of those smarmy politicians. At worst, nobody will notice you at all. If you want to wear canary yellow to a funeral, don’t feel like you’ve got to hide it under a black coat.

Make Yourself Lucky: How many times do you hear someone say, “She was just in the right place at the right time.” It’s irritating isn’t it? The truth is, if you put yourself in plenty of places, you’ll eventually wind up in the right place at the right time too - it has nothing to do with luck.

Make Sure You’re Passionate About What You Do: If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, you haven’t got a hope in hell of standing out from the crowd. You’d be far better off trying to find something you are passionate about.

Quit Whining And Get On With It: I get sick and tired of hearing folk whining about others who’ve done well in their particular field, because they think they’ve had some amazing advantage. That kind of talk is just making an excuse for failing before you’ve even tried. Don’t whine - just get on with it and people will take more notice of you.

Always Remember - Nobody Is Better Than You: And you’re not better than anyone else, but that doesn’t mean you’ve got to hang out with deadbeat losers.

Never Promise To Do Anything You Can’t Deliver: But believe that you are capable of achieving anything you want to achieve.

Don’t Be Put Off By The Average Types: You’ll always come across some Mrs or Mr Average, who’ll tell you to think twice before you start a business, because the average business owner only earns X amount. Or not to bother writing a novel, because the average novelist has to take a day job to pay the bills. It’s ok to know these figures but remember - you’re not aiming to be average at anything.

Use Bold Marketing Techniques To Stand Out From The Crowd: You won’t get noticed unless you market yourself well. And whether you’re selling a product, or your talent, if you stick to the same old tired marketing activities that the average performer in your industry is using, you’ll get the same old average results. By all means - do all the tried and tested stuff but do something bold as well.

Ignore The Critics: There will always be someone out there who’s desperate to slate you. But remember this - if the critics really knew what they were talking about, they wouldn’t just be critics. Besides, it’s better to be slated in public than ignored.

Applaud The Successes Of Your Friends Or Associates: Those who get jealous of the folk they hang out with, rarely have much success. Be genuinely excited about the success of your friends and tell the whole world about them. You’ll get far more attention if you’re surrounded by successful people, than if you hang out with a bunch of losers.

Don’t Be Afraid To Pull Shameless Publicity Stunts: Pull as many stunts as you can to get noticed. And don’t worry that some people might criticize your stunts for being obvious. The point is to get attention, not praise.

Remember - Most Publicity Is Good: There’s few things that aren’t worth getting attention for. So long as you don’t do anything to make your customers or fans feel like 24 carat mugs for believing in you.

Don’t Be Afraid To Be Controversial: Ok, so if you go too far, you may have to go into hiding for a few years like Salman Rushdie did, but it will pay off in the end.

Would you do whatever you could to stand out from the crowd? Or do you prefer to play it safe, even if it means not getting noticed?

Posted by cathlawson | Filed Under Inspiration and Motivation | 27 Comments

Don’t Add This Poison To Your Business Cocktail

September 26, 2008

I was sitting here feeling a bit sorry for myself yesterday. I’m choked up with the cold bug from hell. I always get cold or flu around this time of year, when there’s lots of bugs around. It’s the only time I wish it would freeze and kill the little buggers. And my husband - Stuart is away for a few days, so I miss him. I hate having to make my own coffee.

Anyway, I was feeling kind of sad because Stuart and I have decided not to work together anymore, after five years of doing so. First, Stuart worked for me, in my fire and flood restoration business - that is how we met, then we ran another business together.

It’s a smart move - we both have different things we want to do., I shouldn’t have been feeling sad - because I don’t normally throw that lethal poison into my business decisions: emotion. And you shouldn’t either.

Emotion Poisons Your Decisions

Many people do make decisions based on emotion. And plenty of advertisers are aware of that, which is why so many people are up to their eyeballs in debt. But if you allow emotion to influence major business decisions, instead of relying on your head and your gut instinct, you could wind up in serious trouble.

Becoming Too Attached To Your Business Can Prevent You From Moving On

When I sold my fire and flood restoration business, Stuart left at the same time as I did. He admitted feeling sad, on that last day. But I didn’t even allow myself to think about feeling that way. I did love my business - we provided a great service to our customers and I really enjoyed my work.

But I had good reasons for selling. Some real chauvinistic assholes were deliberately making my life difficult (it was a franchise) and I was also tired of getting paid late and in some cases, not getting paid at all. Plus, I’d been planning to sell a couple of years down the line, as I wanted to do something on my own. So for me, it was the right move. Once you’ve made a positive decision to sell a business, you should never allow emotion to cloud it, or you’ll find it impossible to move on.

*If you find you’re feeling emotional when it comes to selling a business, ask yourself if your reasons for selling have changed. If they haven’t, be satisfied that you’ve made the right decision and that the change will be a positive one.

Allowing Emotions To Influence Business Decisions Can Cost You Money

When we made the decision to wind up our plumbing business, once again Stuart felt sad, as we wouldn’t be able to use the same branding again and it was eyecatching and effective. But I quickly reminded him not to think about it anymore. We’d be able to develop better brands in the future.

Once I’d made the decision to wind up the business, I didn’t allow it to upset me at all, because it was a positive decision. I’d only allowed it a year to break even. But a few hiccups had prevented us from meeting that target.

I know a year isn’t long, if you’re putting quite a bit of cash into a business and employing folk right from the start. But, we’d ran out of cash, because I was still owed money from my fire and flood restoration business (I still am - but that’s another story).

If I’d enjoyed the business, I’d have borrowed the money to keep going. But we’d planned to sell it after seven years and I’d realised that I simply didn’t want to commit that amount of time to it. I just didn’t have the passion for that type of business. And we’d made a mistake starting it, but ending it was a smart thing to do.

Too many people avoid winding up a business for the wrong reasons. Sometimes they don’t want to take the financial loss, or they worry about the stigma attached to doing so and often they simply don’t want to admit they were wrong. And all these thoughts prevent them from doing the right thing.

If You Find Yourself Feeling Emotional About Any Aspect Of Business - Stop And Ask Yourself Why. The only reason you should try to save a struggling business is because you really want to, you’re passionate about the business and because you know it can still work.

So, I didn’t allow emotions to effect my decision making in either of those situations. Then why on earth did I get upset that Stuart won’t be joining me in my new business venture? I stopped to ask myself why and the answers were fairly simple.

I have a cold from hell, so that is making me feel week and vulnerable. Plus I have PMT, so that is making me feel a bit down. My husband has been away for a few days, so naturally I miss him but that doesn’t mean I need to work with him.

Reminding me of these things made me realise that I’m not really upset about this new positive change we’ve made. It’s silly little things that are making me feel sad.

So Don’t Forget: If you find yourself using your emotions to make a business decision, ask yourself if other problems are causing you to feel that way.

Image Credit: The Bitten Word

Related Reading

Starting A Business? Don’t Be A 95% Loser.
Gerald Ratner - From Crap Peddler To Dotcom Millionaire.
Oops I Sank A Business
Risk And Money In Business: The Rules

Posted by cathlawson | Filed Under Misc, Mistakes | 23 Comments