In the other Splintering Your Brand posts I’ve tried to show how becoming separated from your cause hurts your message. Whether it’s because of implementing too little of you in your message or allowing your overcommitment to undermine your activity, I hope you were able to pull something from my experiences. Your goal is to make your cause personal. Here are some tips for making it work:
- Start with the ‘Man in the Mirror’ - Now you know which MJ song was my favorite. The role of philanthropy is no longer only in the hands of the super rich and influential. We have to recognize ourselves as agents of change. It starts with you! When individual effort combines with that of large organizations it will no longer take a millennium to create basic levels of development on this planet.
- Moonwalk the line - Before you put your startup on the web, register as a non-profit, or whatever your goals are. You need to identify the meeting point where all you are meets with all your cause means to you. Found it? Could you moonwalk on it? Capture it, familiarize yourself with it and make sure that’s what you’re giving people in your messages.
- Consistency is King – Finally, if we didn’t learn anything else from the King of Pop, simply be yourself. People and forms of media would like to split you and classify you, missing who you are as a whole. Be yourself in all your messages, not only who the mediums push you to be. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t adapt for your audience, BUT it does mean that you shouldn’t adapt for EVERY audience.
These tips should be helpful on your path to properly brand yourself and your cause. Next week, as a bonus, I’ll be featuring an interview with Tom Positit who’s behind the project The Global Expedition for the World’s Greatest King. He’ll share some tips from his project and discuss how he’s putting his accomplishments to work helping others. Thanks for reading.
“Dream big, work smart, start local.”
~Dwight
Brooke Ferguson says:
1 July, 2009 at 2:37 am -
Great points, Dwight. Having just recently re-branded from somewhat of a corporate feel to something that represents me completely (Business Backpacker), I feel I can step up and stand out as exactly who I am. I think when we can genuinely represent who we are and work as a reflection of that through our businesses, we begin to attract our ideal clients faster. People can sense authenticity and are excited about being a part of something real.
Nap says:
4 July, 2009 at 11:17 pm -
Love the 3 points !