Build a Brand To get attention, your best bet is to be the logical solution to a client’s problem. Survey your market and then look at yourself. Do you do something extremely well? Do you have a passion about something? Jump on it. Use it to brand your business. But, our expert, T. Scott Gross asks you to remember these adages:
- The first to claim a niche owns it. So if there’s already a condo queen in your market, then you’re not it. Come up with something else. I know a speaker who was well known for wearing outrageous hats. We called her the hat lady. At the next conference, some new people tried to become hat ladies. It didn’t work. You don’t want to own a niche that anyone can own easily. And your niche doesn’t have to be a certain type of property or neighborhood; it can be defined any way you want it to be.
- Align yourself. Once you decide what your personal values and your niche are, be sure to align yourself with an organization that best aligns itself with your personal values. Do you value money? Status? Exercise? Risk? There are a zillion values from which you can choose, and there is at least one organization catering to each one of them.
- Use clever public relations. Don’t send snoozers — news releases that announce some boring event or award. Instead, think creatively and think news. Great PR starts with an outrageous claim. For example, if you send a release that says, “Office Z opens fifth location,” you can count on its going into the trash. But, if you write, “Housing demand is up on the west side of town, and oh, incidentally, Office X opened its fifth office there,” that gets noticed. Strategic press releases can get your name out there and build your brand.
T. Scott Gross (tscottgross.com) is author of “MicroBranding: Build a Powerful Personal Brand & Beat Your Competition” and “Positively Outrageous Service.” 
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