Build Your Brand With Your Weaknesses
Tell your prospective client what your weak points are, before he notices them. This will make you more credible when you boast about your strong points. -David Ogilvy
Confessions of an advertising man by David Ogilvy
David Ogilvy was considered the “father of advertising” and a creative genius by many of the biggest global brands. First published in 1963, this seminal book revolutionized the world of advertising and became a bible for the 1960s ad generation. Filled with Ogilvy’s pioneering ideas and inspirational philosophy, it covers not only advertising, but also people management, corporate ethics, and office politics, and forms an essential blueprint for good practice in business.
Click here to view the book on Amazon.
No one likes a braggart. Constantly talking about yourself is no way to build your brand. If your marketing is filled bodacious claims of your awesomeness, chances are it’s a big turnoff to your target audience. Approach your messaging from the other direction. Be honest with your weaknesses and use humor to highlight what you are not. This will be inviting and provide an opportunity for authenticity and transparency.
You should think about your brand building as a way to engage in a dialog, not monologue, with your target audience. With that approach in mind, you definitely would not want to spend your time talking ‘at’ them. Communicating ‘with’ them is crucial to getting them to connect with you.
How can you talk about your weak points?
- Make a list of the things you are not and use those as a way to lead into what you are.
- check out your reviews and share negative comments with explanation on how you have improved. Don’t be defensive.
- Create an FAQ with information and explanation of how you do what you do and, more importantly, what you don’t do.
- Look at what your competitors offer that you think is unnecessary use it to explain why you don’t offer the same thing.
- Position your lack of services or offerings within the context of your being a specialist rather than a generalist.
Overall, it is imperative that you find ways to talk about your products and services that will be appealing to your target audience. So don’t “fake it till you make it”. Instead align your skills, knowledge, expertise, and experience with the target audience that is the best fit. Be honest, authentic, and real and use your weaknesses to become a competitive advantage.
DON’T FORGET TO REGISTER FOR OUR BRAND BUILDERS BRAND ACCELERATOR WORKSHOP SERIES
If you have put branding and marketing initiatives on hold, it’s time to face the music and lean into the changes to build your brand. To help get you started, brandRUSSO presents our “Brand Accelerator Workshop” series. Our three-part series addresses how to build your brand from start to finish and equips you with the tools to continue its success. This series is meant for any marketing decision-maker in any industry and includes a 150+ page workbook from our branding expert, Jaci Russo.
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RUSSO is a strategic branding agency that uses consumer insight to change the conversation; forming emotional connections with the target audience. To learn more, click HERE to learn more about our process, RAZOR BRANDING.
