Developing & Branding Your Personal Competitive Advantage

This is not about your experience and how to market that experience. 

It is about the experience those have when dealing with you.

Are you trustworthy, easy to do business with, ethical, smart…?  Fill in the blank with commonly used terms when discussing hiring and other purchasing decisions.  Pretty boring, huh?  Boring because you hear it all the time.  Try telling great short stories to help paint the picture and in a way that others believe you because you feel sincere.  If you can do this while being yourself – your message is powerful!  If you can ask great questions and listen – your message is powerful!  Most important in relation to your brand is the consistent feeling people have when dealing with you.  That takes time, but you can express your brand quickly and in remarkable ways if you are sincere and real.

Product examples works well in understanding experience.  Many companies work hard and long at this concept.  To establish a recognized brand.  The customer experience is the real trick.  How do you feel about logos, colors and packaging of your favorite products when you have a good experience for years?  How do you feel about the same logos, colors and packaging when you or those close to you experience something that feels bad, like food poisoning or poor customer service? 

Take brand loyalty from childhood.  My favorite story is why I pick Coke over Pepsi when I really don’t have a significant preference in taste, product appeal or influence from advertising.  I choose Coke because I hear my Mom’s voice in my head saying “Coke with ice” – the sound of the Coke sizzle over the ice and the coating the ice gets was great for my mom and that brings a home memory to me as an adult.  Bam!  I choose coke.  If my Mom bought Pepsi and said Pepsi with ice, I would choose Pepsi.  Why do you choose Coke, Pepsi, neither? 

Tie this back to the person.  Do you refer people to friends based on end results alone or the experience getting there?  What are the experiences of others when with you?  What stories do they tell?  What are the feelings others have with you related to:

-Values

-Punctuality

-Communication

-Ideas

-Confidence

-Trust

-Health

-Your Brand

-On and on. 

When others experience you, do you do what you say you are going to do?