You have a position in the market place.  A position you have either carefully crafted after much consideration or one that you’ve defaulted into unwittingly. 

Let’s assume you have actually done the work; the soul searching of the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats); the research and analysis of your competition – and, let me say that even if you’re developing a PERSONAL brand there is de-facto ‘competition’; the interviews with your customers, team and advisors.  You’ve labored and examined every word in that 100 word statement and feel satisfied that you’ve found ‘it’ – a positioning statement of which you can be proud.  A position you can support and in turn, can support you.  Let’s not forget that positioning statements provide a solid foundation to guide our actions – to keep us on course.  They give back ten-fold for all that hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth.

“Does your positioning statement pass muster?”

Last month I wrote about the importance of creating a personal brand – that branding isn’t just for the mainstream consumer product companies.  If you buy into that concept – the idea that you are a brand and you either [i] let the market define what that is for you or [ii] take an active role in constructing something you take pride in representing; then you need a positioning statement.

Traditionally, companies use positioning statements to tell the market place what it is they provide, to whom, the benefit, and the difference between them and their competitors.  Geoffrey Moore’s positioning template is very straightforward. 

“Today’s World of Social Media Provides a First-Mover Opportunity”

Most of us think that only big packaged consumer goods companies the likes of Nike, Coke, BMW, et al need worry about branding.  Some of us go as far as including celebrities – politicians (yes, they count as celebrities), musicians, movie and sports stars.  The reality is that in today’s social media rich environment that is just not true.  Add the double-digit unemployment rate to the mix and the importance of creating, maintaining and propagating one’s personal brand takes a giant leap up in the priority scale.

The Internet is lousy with sites.  Everyone can have a site so everyone does.  What makes someone come to your site, stay on your site and more importantly return to your site?  It is the BRAND – The brand is a promise of the value you'll receive.

“The problem with marketing is that it’s all crap.”

Marketers: Say that line and I guarantee you’ll have your listener’s attention.

Why? In part because, well, it’s partly true. While certainly, not all marketing is crap, so much of marketing is crap that some audiences perceive all marketing as unworthy unless it throttles our attention.