Personal Branding isn't anything new - it's how you relate to your customers and team members. They see you as a person. Your personal attributes and how you communicate with them is the reason they do business with you. Good network marketers have always known this.

Why is it important to first market "The Brand Called You?" It's a different approach from the usual product marketing and company advertising. But it's the right approach, because your customers and potential business partners aren't buying products and they're not buying a company - until they buy you. This is the reason we are taught over and over again that this business is first a relationship business.

Personal Branding = Power

The simple truth about Personal Branding is that it deliberately thumbs its nose at the typical marketing conventions. By using it, you're breaking the rules . . . and winning!

Personal Branding puts your marketing control in your hands, giving you the power to create your image, mold the way people think of you, and be as bold or conservative as you like. The point is, you're making the decisions, and YOU are the focus of your marketing efforts; not products, not hyped promises, and not your corporate parent.

Personal Branding is about you. MoreAboutMe is "All About You." Having a well thought out "Story Page" is vital in communicating this for all distributors whether they are new or experienced. It is essential that your story be present during your Marketing and that it permeates every piece of communication during the entire sponsoring process.

Nothing Happens Until a Product is . . . Marketed?

Through thousands of hours of sales training we've been taught that, "nothing ever happens until a product or service is sold." Incorrect! These days, people are rarely "sold" on anything. Do you remember the last time you walked into a clothing store and a salesperson said "Hello?" You mumbled, "Just looking" and walked away. Why - because thanks to being bombarded with advertising and direct marketing 24/7, Americans have the highest sales resistance in the world! Selling is rough, which is why the road warrior with his sample case is going the way of the dinosaur.

So why do Americans still spend discretionary income at a record-breaking pace? Because of marketing! Instead of being sold directly, we are exposed repeatedly to marketing messages that do two things: create a psychological need or urgency in us, and touch our emotions in some way. After enough exposure, some of us make a conscious decision, perhaps do some research, and then buy the product or service.

In this day and age, people sell themselves. As an example watch some current TV ads. You'll notice that many ads begin with a story and you do not know what product or service is being pitched until the last few seconds of the ad. "Facts tell, but stories sell!"

Network Marketing is no different. Your marketing must first pre-sell YOU, your story - not your company - to your customer or potential business partner. If done properly, Personal Branding gets your prospects to like and trust you before they've ever met you. This built in 'trust' will allow you to close them with some mild selling and confidence building.

This is what they want! Wouldn't you agree? Wouldn't you love to have your potential customers and business partners 90% closed before they see your company or product?

Marketing is hard to do . . . or is it?

You and I and our team members must market ourselves. It's almost a law of nature. When we are engaged in Personal Branding we don't come across as a salivating salesman out to add to his quota. You come across as a person, a real human being who has things in common with your customers and business candidates. There's a less chance of rejection, because Personal Branding is designed to engender trust.

Because there is less rejection there is greater success and retention throughout your business.

As for creativity, you still need it. But as you begin to understand each step of Personal Marketing you'll come to understand that you don't' have to be an advertising executive with twenty years in the business to develop a strong personal marketing campaign!

Personal Marketing 101 - "You Are The Product"

Ever hear of "Death of a Salesman?" It's a classic American play, but it could also be the title of the story of the typical Network Marketer. You see, most networkers - probably including you - take the sales approach to building their business and finding new distributors. That means cold calling, sending out the occasional sales letter or flyer, leading with the "tools", and a lot of telephone and legwork. It means chasing after customers and candidates like a hound on a scent. It's time consuming and not very effective. And in the ever expanding Network Marketing industry where competition grows by the day, the sales approach is a waste of your time and money. It's also a one-way ticket to the death of your business.

We're here to talk about marketing . . . 'Personal Branding', to be exact! Where sales "chase" prospects, Personal Branding "attracts" them. It's a unique approach that uses your personal background and personality - instead of dry facts about products and company. You make a one-to-one connection with your prospects and break through their natural sales resistance.

Personal Branding Definition

Personal Branding: "Using your personal traits to create a unique brand identity in the minds of your target audience." Personal Branding applies to all personal and professional service providers including: Teachers, Sales, Medical Professionals, Lawyers, Realtors, Consultants, Contractors, Engineers, and Network Marketers.

Personal Marketing is About You

Conventional marketing means leading with boilerplate brochures and tools that talk about products and make no personal connection whatsoever with your customer or potential business partner. Personal Branding does the opposite, making YOU the product and using your background, upbringing, education, hobbies, lifestyle, and life's experiences to make a personal connection with the reader, and to make them think, "This is someone I would like to work with." After the relationship is established it's time to preview your company and products.

Two fundamental principles about Personal Marketing you must know and absorb:

• You are your best and only product.
• People only work with people they like.

Personal Branding uses your unique personal story to create an equally unique "brand" for you, an image that prospects immediately recognize as exclusive to you, and one that gets a strong, positive emotional and intellectual reaction.

You're working with people, so you must sell to people first. That's what Personal Branding is all about. This is most effective if you leave out your company and products until you first build the relationship; do your discovery, identify the need, and then show the solution - your company and product.

Your Image: Your Real Product

I've already stated that you are your most important product. Actually, your image is your product, because that's how people perceive you.

Think about it: your knowledge of Network Marketing doesn't give you a strategic advantage. Nearly every Network Marketer has access to products, services, and compelling information. And these days, so do the consumers. People are going to choose to work with you based on your personal image. From there, you can use your knowledge of products and your commitment to service to keep them happy. But until you've got them signed as a customer or a business partner, consider everything you do as part of your personal image:

• Grooming
• Clothes
• Car
• House
• Verbal and written communication skills
• Education
• Your office
• The professionalism of your team

Any one of these, left to chance, can break you. Pay attention to them all as parts of your personal image. And if you doubt that people will decide whether or not to work with you based on how you speak on the phone, trust me. They already have!

People Do Business with People They Like

Think about the service providers you choose: Your mechanic, physician, insurance agent, and real estate agent as an example. No matter how skilled they were, would you work with them if they made you feel stupid, unimportant, or angry? Of course not!

Network Marketing works the same way. It's a business built on relationships and people only form relationships with people they like.

Each member of your team should have a "Story Page" based around their uniqueness.

What I've just said is a fact that's quickly forgotten in the battle for customers and distributors. Most Network Marketers, because they do not see enough self worth, quickly retreat to what they know: selling products, selling services, or selling the company that backs them.

Meanwhile Network Marketers who are getting the best customers and distributors are doing what you and I and our new distributors should be doing: creating marketing that builds familiarity, commonality, and trust - the foundation for long-term relationships where both parties enjoy working together. After this is established we turn to company and product.

Trust: The Key to Advice

The most important service we provide is advice.

When our customers and potential business partners trust you, they're more likely to accept your advice, allowing you to provide them with something of value. When your customers and new business partners trust you, you can guide them to use the right products, services and information to their benefit.

There are two stages to building this kind of trust:

1. Using Personal Branding to create an image that tells the consumer / potential business partner that you're a good person, and that they can trust you not to waste their time if they decide to spend time listening to you.

2. Using your personal charm, your skills (understanding the stages of sponsoring) and your knowledge to provide consistently solid advice and results leads to long-term trust that you can perform as advertised.

In a world of ferocious competition for customers and serious business partners your best (and only) product is yourself. Use it. Through Personal Branding, you can create the foundation for the kind of strong, long term relationships that will ensure you a thriving business no matter what direction markets take.

Applied Personal Branding

In the practical sense, Personal Marketing means creating a personal story using your lifestyle, background, and so on, as the content - rather than product or corporate information as the content. Doing so you create a human, accessible, "Hey, this guy is just like me" image for yourself. In any good Personal Branding piece, the content is 90% personal, 10% sales pitch.

Building Trust

The last person in the world we trust is the person who says, "Trust me".

Here are two keys to building trust:

1. Personal rapport. We like people who are like ourselves. In some way, we decide that someone else thinks or acts like we do. We trust their outlook and perspective because it matches our own.

2. Integrity. We trust people who do what they say they will do.

Personal rapport leads to trust and when we have trust with a customer or potential business partner that person frequently decides to do business with us. That's why we need to initially market ourselves - rather than leading with a company or products. Personal rapport It is the key to building trust.

The Essentials of a Great Personal Story

Before you sit down to map out what will be in your Personal Story, you must first figure out what your personal story is. Here are some guidelines:

• Talk about where you live. People love to know where you come from. That's why our Story Pages start off with; "Welcome to Our Part of the World!" Be sure to provide photos of your part of the country
• Talk about your family. Family is one of the few things everyone has in common. Show others that you care about your family; their health, activities, and their financial future. Tell a story about a beloved uncle or a wacky grandmother who encouraged you to never give up and you'll connect with people.
• Talk about how you became who you are. What people care about is the adventures or experiences that made you the person they are considering working with. Share first job stories, your struggles in your early years in business, your climb up the ladder, and so on. Open up and you'll find others opening up to you.
• Share what "Was Missing" that got you to look for ways to create additional income. You want to provide a "me too" environment for your prospects to step into.
• Stay positive. You focus should be, "These are how the events of my life made me stronger, wiser, etc." Never get unpleasant or critical, even if it's honest. It's a turnoff.
• Don't be afraid of humor. If you're funny, be funny. Humor is a terrific trait - it's not anti-business, though some people think it is. Remember, you're trying to make a human connection with people, making them laugh is a great way to do that!
• Write in the third person. Your story should sound as if someone else were writing about you. This lets you avoid the appearance of bragging when you talk about your accomplishments.
• Finally, quote yourself. With a third-person perspective, you can use one or two quotes and have the chance to speak to your audience directly.

Summary

The first step in building your business is marketing. Marketing is attracting customers and business partners. Personal Branding appeals to our desires and touches our emotions. It has one goal: to emotionally predispose our potential customers and business partners into a business relationship with you. Sales try to cajole one person at a time. A sale is all about convincing them - sometimes with "fear of loss" techniques. Great marketing compels multitudes to choose a specific brand. In network marketing, that brand is you.

Let's be all about winning and promoting the uniqueness of the most valuable asset in Network Marketing - YOU - the unique story of each Independent Distributor.