Personal branding, or, personal identity. Whatever you call it, it’s one of the core functions of a small business. Making sure people know ‘why you’re different & better,’ is a big job. You don’t want to sound like every other Financial Planner, you don’t want to sound like just another gray suit. People that already know you should think of you as the go to guy for something.
The problem is, that financial planners all wanna be Jim Cramer. Or Suze Orman. Or someone that is a loud and bold talking head. Blogging coaches all wanna be Darren or Brian Clark. Realtors wanna be Donald Trump, or with their blogs Greg Swann. Personal branders wanna be Dan or NameTag Scott.
New bloggers carving their niche fail. Not because those guys are so good, and inimitable (though they are). But because you can’t win by being an echo of someone else. You don’t win by trying to duplicate what someone great wrote. You win by being yourself. By figuring out what that means, and by chiseling out who you are, a post at a time. A good example of that is Cristina Favereau. She’s not someone else, she’s herself. And she’s got a niche. Some traffic. She’s not the #1 blogger in the world, and probably doesn’t want to be. But she’s herself, she’s a voice, and she’s credible.
IF she tried to be Penelope Trunk, she would have failed, because that’s a different set of values, beliefs.
So what do you to to not imitate someone else?
- Get Local. We miss out on acres of diamonds. I’m not the worlds foremost blogging expert. Not even top hundred. But I am in the top hundred in Columbus, OH. And, I’ve done a million dollars worth of local sales on my blogs. Who can say that? There’s plenty of business in your own damn back yard.
- Be Yourself. You can appreciate the good things about what big time bloggers write. Yo u can even link out to them. But bottom line: be yourself. If you disagree, it’s fine. If you agree, it’s cool. If you want to nuance the point, hey, good on ‘ya. If someone says something that you loved, take that ball and run with it.
- A little bit at a time. I’m always tempted to write a manifesto of what the new market’s going to be like. I kind of did that with F#@% therapy. But, I’m better off carving out chunks of things I kind of get than trying to write the post that clarifies all.
- Realize it’s OK to sell Whatever business you’re in, a business blog exists to sell. And, teaching people stuff sells them. Teach ‘em what you know about the products you sell. Not the played and trite consumerist bullcrap, but the real stuff you know works & sells.
- Don’t assume anything is common knowledge. Seriously. A lot of people that are experts start by assuming everyone knows the ‘basics’ of their industry. Accountants and others can seriously win big by teaching some basics on their blog & keeping it all local.
It’s better to grab what you can, by being yourself, by staying local, than it is to try, from day one to compete with the best in the world.
As Kurt Vonnegut said:
” A moderately gifted person who would have been a community treasure a thousand years ago has to give up, has to go into some other line of work, since modern communications put him or her into daily competition with nothing but the world’s champions.”
You can keep it local and expand your turf inch by inch by inch…and be a community treasure by being yourself.
