Brand Builders Part 10: What Are You Using For Magnetic Attraction?
Building the Right Brand
When you’re thinking about building your brand, I want you to think about it a little bit differently than you might have before. I want you to think of your company as a magnet. Now, bear with me, I know it’s crazy. But trust me when I say, because the magnet has two ends, the end that attracts, and the end that repels. If you think about your business that way, it’s going to help you get real centered on who the target audience is you want to work with, and the people that might not be a good match. Now, you’re not excluding them for the wrong reasons, you’re excluding them for the right reasons.
The right reasons being that those people are too cheap, and they’re always asking you to discount your price. Those people are too fickle. They buy something, they find it cheaper somewhere else, they return the one they bought from you. I mean, you talk about costing you money and restocking fees, and just annoyance and aggravation. They argue every time you send an invoice to them, frustrated, “Why is it so expensive?” “But you couldn’t have possibly thought about me that much? Why is it taking you that long?” “I think you need to reduce this invoice, reduce your prices, make less money, not be profitable.” Those are not the people that you want, as customers, they’re just not a good fit. And that’s okay. Not everybody is.
But the magnetic ones, the ones that you want to attract towards you, understand more about them. The more you know about them, the more you can be appealing to them. The more you understand about how they think and operate, the more you can fit that same mold of what they’re looking for. The more magnetic you can be, the better off it’s going to be to attract the right people and repel the wrong ones.
Don’t worry about feeling like you’re saying no to something. It’s not like that. Really, you’re saying yes to something. You’re saying yes to the people who appreciate your work. You’re saying yes to the people who want your products and services. You’re saying yes to the people who value your company. You’re saying yes to the people who get you. And more importantly, they feel like you get them. When you spend a lot of time saying yes to those people, it’s going to be pretty easy to say no to the others. You’re not a one size fits all operation. You don’t make everyone happy. So, focus on the people that are a good match. Be more like that. You know, magnetic. That’s how you’re going to build your brand.
