For those of you that have heard me speak you know that coffee is one of my popular brand examples. After all why drive past five Tim Horton's to get to a Starbucks black coffee – especially now that you can get 4 oz of extra liquid for at least 60 cents less in Tim's new Extra Large cup versus a Venti?
The answer is it's not just about the coffee.
If it was you can just get a regular cup of Joe from the corner convenience store for less, or better still use the same amount of time it takes to sit in the drive through to brew a cup at home for just pennies.
It really is about the emotions you connect to one brand of coffee or one store versus another. It's about the stories you tell yourself and the experiences you have had or heard about (good or bad) that drive your buying decisions.
The same applies to your personal brand. People are not going to promote you or second you on to their great project just because you are good at what you do. They are going to look for emotional connections and listen for stories that apply to you and no-one else.
People are going to want to hire you, work with you and for you based on how they perceive and have experienced your brand, your operating uniqueness.
Great points, Paul, especially on the art of story-telling; in this internet age, people often forget the power of this old oral tradition for passing on beliefs and values across cultures.
A different spin on your coffe analogy is to use chocolate 🙂 Why buy a bulk-barn version of Turtles rather than the real deal? There’s also something to be said for the impulse buy of chocolate and candy near the grocery star checkouts…
Will be presenting at Cannexus on Career Mobile Media® this coming Sunday in Ottawa 🙂
Best,
Mike
http://www.mikedesousa.ca (under construction)
P.S. The best analogy that I can compare one’s Personal Brand is “what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”