Branding expert Bruce Turkel is a regular guest at Fried On Business.
Regular, but not routine.
Turkel never ceases to amaze me with his wisdom and insight, and his most recent visit was no exception.
He said the secret to building a brand is very simple: “You figure out what it is that you do that matters to your potential consumer. You stop talking about yourself, and you start talking about them. You build a brand that is all about them.”
Now, I’ve known plenty of successful people who seem to jam their message down their customers’ throats. But it does seem that approach is becoming less and less effective.
Turkel agrees.
“That way doesn’t work anymore. There are a lot of people who market themselves – and you feel like you’re on a bad date,” he said.
“In the old days when you couldn’t find information, maybe that was necessary. At least it was acceptable. But now all information is democratized. I have this little phone in front of me. Google knows everything and everybody. I can find out anything I want to know about you good, and about you bad, and about your competition.
“I don’t want to hear your shovel-ware. I want to hear about what’s in it for me.”
For instance, I used to think I was delivering only business news at Fried On Business. Now I’ve re-branded to focus on giving people information they can use and giving it in an entertaining way.
The key, Turkel said, is finding your authentic self – knowing who you are, what you do well, and what you bring to the table. Your customer’s table.
“Always remember, people don’t buy what you do. They buy who you are,” he said.
“They can get this information elsewhere. Let’s face it. They can pick a lot of other stations. The reason they listen is because of you. The reason they listen is because your authentic truth comes across the airwaves – your energy, your excitement, your knowledge, your passion. All of that is something that makes their lives better.”
Turkel says there are seven aspects to building a brand:
1. It’s all about them.
2. Hearts, then minds. Make an emotional connection before you make an intellectual connection.
3. Make it simple.
4. Make it quick.
5. Make it yours. Make sure the brand is own-able – yours and yours alone. When people see it, they know it’s you.
6. All five senses. It needs to be sensual. What does your brand smell and feel like?
7. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Once you figure it out, you say it over, and over, and over again. But you have to come up with new and exciting ways to say the same thing.
We covered a lot more territory, including thoughts about:
– Seeding the web with positive reviews so that negative ones carry less weight.
– Turkel’s new book, coming out in September, titled “It’s All About Them.”
You can find Turkel online at bruceturkel.com and turkelbrands.com.
Click here to listen to the full interview with branding expert Bruce Turkel.
