I’ve been listening to branding expert Bruce Turkel. I don’t mean hearing him. I mean listening – and doing the things he’s recommended to build the “Fried On Business” brand.
And it’s been working, but now I have to build on it. So will you, if you take his advice to heart.
How do we do this? How do we keep the momentum going and make the most of the time and energy we’ve put into laying a branding foundation?
First, Turkel says, realize that you are never done building your brand.
“We love closure, but it’s not going to happen,” he said. “Number one, the fact you’ve built a brand doesn’t mean everyone out there knows about your brand. So, notoriety needs to continue on a regular basis. You need to continue with the activities that get that brand built. You need to constantly be networking with larger audiences and more people.
“Number two, even if you did that, we lose interest in them if they’re not constantly changed, updated, reinforced, refreshed.”
Of course, it’s always possible to damage your brand through a careless word or action, but Turkel says you probably won’t ruin your reputation overnight unless you did something illegal or immoral.
The nice thing is that once the brand is created, Turkel says, if informs and guides everything you do. It creates the messaging that you’ll be putting forward.
Personally, I think it’s vital that entrepreneurs be looking ahead at all times and planning adjustments to the changing market – and that includes your brand, too. You want to be consistent, but flexible and responsive. Manage your brand as necessary.
It’s like building a pyramid. You must have a large and stable base, but the rewards of all that work are at the pinnacle. How do you get there?
Well, if you’ve figured out the brand and how to keep building it consistently, Turkel says, then the way to monetize it is to start getting the message out there – at every opportunity. That doesn’t mean it’ll pay off right away, but it will at some point.
“The goal is to be an overnight success after 20 years,” he says.
For me, that means consistent use of Twitter, Facebook, public appearances, this web site, and the radio show. Each gives a glimpse into who I am and how I approach the world.
“That’s exactly what it’s all about,” Turkel says. “You are building an environment, an envelope, an ecosystem. Marshall McLuhan said, ‘I don’t know who discovered water, but it wasn’t a fish.’ You are creating the water that your clients – and more importantly your potential clients – exist within. You are marinating the process so that, eventually, you will get the response you want.”
Click here to listen to the full interview with Bruce Turkel.
