Long before “self-branding” became a business school buzz- word, Ellas McDaniel developed the ultimate personal brand: Bo Diddley. Bo Diddley is his professional name, “Bo Diddley” is the title of his first record, and the “Bo Diddley beat” is the popular term for the rhythmic juggernaut energizing his music.
—Joseph Tortelli, GoldmineMagazine
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great Personal Brand is a three-headed monster constructed, like Victor Frankenstein’s creation, out of parts from different places.The first and most indispensable of these components is specializa- tion. Why did the late, great Bo Diddley remain a familiar face and name even though his music was more than 50 years old? Because he was a specialist. He “owned” one small but powerful part of the audi- ence’s mind.
Specialization is the single most important Personal Branding strategy in your arsenal. You simply cannot build an effective brand without being a specialist. Specialization builds on the ideal client you chose in the last chapter and uses that information to help you narrow down the scope of your brand communication. When you specialize, you run counter to the common business impulse to do more for more people. In specialization, you do less for fewer people, packaging yourself as an elite specialist in a smaller, more precise
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range of services. Specialization lets you pick a few lucrative, in- demand areas of your business and build your brand around them.
Specialization offers many important benefits to any business:
• Differentiation. Instead of being a generalist who tries to be all things to all people, you set yourself apart from your competition by doing a few things very well. General ideas do not endure in the human mind; we don’t remember jacks-of-all-trades. We remem- ber those people who spark our interest with a precise talent, a precise field of knowledge, or a precise fact. Human beings re- member what’s unique.
• Presumed expertise.When you tell people that you’re a specialist in something, they naturally presume that you’re especially skilled in that area. They respect what you say and are more likely to pay more for your perceived special knowledge.
• Clearer client understanding. It’s very difficult for people to ap- preciate the hard work you do and agree to pay you well for it if they don’t understand what you do every day. For instance, clini- cal psychology or tax accounting can seem like an impenetrable mystery to laypersons, but if you position yourself as an “addic- tions counselor” or an “inheritance and estate tax planner,” clients will be more likely to comprehend at least the basics of your pro- fession.
• A focus on your strengths. Specialization should allow you to focus not only on the areas of your work that are more lucrative, but on the ones you’re best at. So you get to enjoy your work and make more money. Bonus.
• Clients prequalify themselves.Have you ever spent an hour con- sulting with a prospect, only to find out that he’s not right for your business? What a waste of your time. Specialization prevents this by telling prospects exactly what you do and whom you work with, so they know right away if you’re for them or not. If you are, they call. If you’re not, they stay away. Remember, you don’t want everyone as your client, just your ideal clients.
But I think the best reason of all to specialize is that it makes your business more manageable. If you decide you’re going to be the
general insurance broker to your entire metropolitan area (50,000 population), you’ve got a massive task ahead of you. You’ve got to brand yourself as a generalist who can provide a huge range of insur- ance products and market your brand to a big geographic area while fending off dozens or hundreds of competitors. That costs a lot of money. You can build a thriving business as a generalist, but you’d better have a huge marketing budget.
This is why I say, “specialize or spend.” Unless you have millions to pump into your brand marketing, specialization makes infinitely more sense. By restricting the scope of your business, you reduce your costs and your work. Instead of being the insurance broker for everyone under the sun, consider specializing in worker’s comp and business liability insurance for about 1,000 small businesses in your metro area. Instantly, your work and your costs go down. You don’t have to battle dozens of entrenched competitors. You don’t have to send direct mail to 20,000 homes; instead, you send it to 1,000 com- panies. You can laser-focus your communications materials, sales presentation, signage, staff training, and Web site on this one small market. Life gets easier.
THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY
1. Make a list of special events you could hold to reach out to your clients, such as ice cream socials, free classes, or fund-raisers.
2. Make a list of physical locations around your area where point- of-purchase displays might reach your ideal clients.
3. Search the Web for sites related to your business where you might run articles or place advertising.
4. Research possible venues for public seminars, such as conference centers or churches.
5. Check with any organizations you belong to—churches, political groups, or civic organizations (the Elks, for example)—about the possibility of making a presentation to the membership.
6. Decide on your new fee structure.