Radiant Branding

While visiting Phil in his town of Brevard, NC, I had him tell me the story of how the White Squirrel Festival got started in Brevard. It’s a wonderful example of how sometimes what makes us unique is right under our noses:

We’ve set up this section for you to discuss your experience with Lesson 1: Branding from the Inside Out (aka Letting Your Light Shine). Please post your questions, comments or “aha moments” here. We’ll be monitoring this section closely for the first hour right after the call, so you can post and get very interactive feedback from both of us and other participants. Of course, feel free to post here anytime… even long after the call is over.

- Phil & Marnie

by Phillip Davis

Many business owners sincerely believe they understand their company brand. They can describe it, quantify it and explain its place in the market. They can recount corporate history and accomplishments and detail future plans and goals. These are all necessary items for communicating a company’s brand message, but they are also the most superficial ones. These descriptive attributes tell us about what the business does, but not who the company is. The true power of a brand does not come from the what, where, when and how. It comes from the “who” and “why.”

Think about it for a minute. Almost every organization can cite what they do, where their offices are located, when they started and how they do what they do. It’s the same in science and many other fields. Experts explain how things work, but not why they work. The real effort, the real sweat and tears, comes from digging deeper beneath the surface and asking the tough questions . . . “Who are we as a company and why do we do what we do?”

This exercise requires some honesty, reflection and soul searching on the part of those in leadership. Perhaps that’s why Henry Ford said, “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” This exercise may seem like splitting hairs, but the results can be profound. The early owners of the railroad industry deemed themselves invincible because they owned the railways. They could describe their business in very specific terms, including the miles of track, the number of boxcars, the annual revenues. But these wealthy business owners eventually faltered because they never realized who they were… providers of mobility. In this broader, more expansive view, they would have naturally evolved their business into cars and then planes. They would have known they provided freedom of movement to people and products, and in that role they would have constantly searched for more efficient ways to provide that service. Instead they said they owned railroads – a shallow well.

If you can discover who you are as a company, and why you do what you do, then you can transcend the ups and downs of the marketplace. You can survive a drought. You will remain relevant and avoid riding a trend into the ground. Apple has remained relevant precisely because it did not cling to its initial identity as a computer company. Apple saw that it could enhance people’s lifestyles digitally. That opened the door to music, movies, editing, podcasting and a slew of new opportunities. Compare that to Gateway Computers. What if Gateway had seen itself as truly a “gateway”? Then perhaps they would have made similar shifts in their business. Instead they are largely viewed as a computer company. And when you become tied to a product vs. a concept, you become a commodity. Can you say railroads?

Take a look at your company. Who are you? Why do you do what you do? What is your real benefit to your customer? It’s not in the actual service or product you provide — that is subject to constant change. The truth of who you are and why you do what you do is much deeper than that. When traced fully back, it will lead to an intangible concept that can transcend concrete products and services. Take out your mental shovel and spend a few days digging deeper. You may just discover a fresh new source of ideas, inspiration and revenue.

As you probably know, Phillip Davis and I are cohosting a teleseries called Radiant Branding starting November 25th. What you may not know is that Phil has been using me as his guinea pig!  Tuesday he called me and reviewed lesson one with me. He wanted me to go through the exercise at the end of the lesson and get back with him with my results.

That evening I sat down with the series of questions and answered them. The result was probably one of the most significant self-discoveries of my life. There was astonishment, tears, laughter, even a touch of embarrassment; but in the end an intense sense of relief and enlightenment. The discovery was so pivotal and so central to everything I do. I realized that I’d been trying to obtain my heart’s desire in all the wrong ways!

I’ve been:

• working long hours until I’m worn out and exhausted,
• not taking time for my kids like I should,
• delegating, but constantly filling up the redeemed time with more work,
• feeling like no matter what I do, it’s never enough,
• significantly undercharging for the value I deliver in my services and still feeling like I’m not doing enough,
• experiencing burnout — so much so that things I used to enjoy became drudgery.

All of this was because

1. I was trying to obtain the core desire of my heart in ways that didn’t make sense and weren’t even necessary. I was jumping through these manufactured hoops that no one — not my customers and not even God — expected me to jump through.
2. I didn’t realize that I already have my core desire. I’ve just been so busy “doing” that I rarely stopped to simply be in the moment and take hold of what I ALREADY HAVE!

Now that I realize this, I can live my life and run my business by CHOICE. It’s not a “have to” or a “need to” and the feeling of “it’s never going to be enough” is gone. I feel like someone took a huge weight off my shoulders!

My next step is to come up with clear ways I can fully accept this core gift into my life on a daily basis. It’s there all around me. I just need to put myself in positions where I can acknowledge, feel and accept it into my life. As I allow myself to freely receive, it will naturally flow through me like a conduit and radiate out to everyone I touch.  And there you have it… Radiant Branding.

I can’t wait for everyone in the class to try this exercise. It’s going to be exciting to witness the results!