Brand Yourself
For coaches just starting out, it can be challenging to make a name for yourself and get people to take notice of what you do. How do you carve out your niche from a world that is full of coaches and consultants?
One way is to brand yourself: Create a short description of who you are and what you do so that when people describe you to other people, they will automatically know what you do. It needs to be clear, memorable, and distinctive.
CLEAR: If you want a clear brand, you need to describe exactly what you do. Simply calling yourself a business coach might be okay but it is hard for people to differentiate you from the many other business coaches out there. What do you coach on? What don’t you coach on? Don’t leave it wide open. If you coach on a few things and you don’t coach on a few other things, find a way to explain it in just a few words.
MEMORABLE: When I say "memorable" I don’t mean that your brand needs to be so hilariously clever that people won’t stop talking about it. That’s a hard brand to attain and maintain and it gets old fast. I mean that it should be easy to remember, not complicated.
DISTINCTIVE: This is similar to the above-mentioned "clear" brand, but it takes it one step further. To call yourself a "social media coach" is definitely a clear brand, but it is not a distinctive brand because there are many others who are calling themselves that same thing. Figure out how you’re different and incorporate it.
An example of a brand that is clear, memorable, and distinctive might be: "Jane Smith: the coach that gets you 1500% ROI on your social media". That’s a clear, memorable, and distinctive brand.
Here are a few other tips:
- Keep your brand short and simple and it will be more memorable.
- Focus your brand on the benefits that people will receive from you, not on the features of what you deliver.
- Don’t get clever. If people have to take a moment to decipher what your brand means, they will not get it and will move on.
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Great article for a new coach. I been reading a lot lately on banding yourself and craving out a memorable niche.