If there is one thing I’ve noticed since this pandemic started, it’s that businesses who have a resilient brand have been able to reinvent themselves and stay in business!
Resilience means…
Merriam-Webster defines resilience as, “being able to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.” From the perspective of your brand this is how resilience plays out:
- When you have a strong brand, you KNOW deep down who you serve
- You KNOW how you can uniquely solve their problem
- You KNOW that even in times of great change, you can deeply connect with your audience and serve them in the best way possible.
Having this resilient personal brand foundation means that making changes to your business offerings or model as you grow your business is so much easier and faster, right?
Your brand is your guiding light!
Can you re-imagine a business that’s better than the one you had before the pandemic hit? As crazy as things are currently, I believe we are being given the opportunity to change our lives and our businesses for the better!
Before the pandemic, you may have relied heavily on networking and referrals to build your business. Of course, you posted on social media, we all do, but maybe you didn’t get the attention and leads from social media that you did when you met people in person. Now you find that you need to use social media more than ever and it is so much HARDER to stand out online when everyone else is doing the same thing!
How to Stand Out AND Connect
What I want to do, is to help you STAND OUT and CONNECT on a deeper level with people online. BUT to start, I’d like you to ask yourself this…do you know what problem you solve for your clients? This may sound like a ridiculous question but if you have never spent that much effort on figuring out the one, over-arching problem you solve for your clients, now is the best time for you to get really clear on that. Because having a resilient brand and business is about leaning into that problem even more and figuring out how you can solve it in this type of crisis environment.
The thing is, the problem that you solve for your clients likely hasn’t gone away due to the pandemic but it may not be as top of mind for them as it was prior. Or, it may have become more important to them now. So, the more CLEAR and SPECIFIC you can get on the ONE problem you solve for your clients, the more easily you can adapt your message and possibly the way in which you deliver your services to fit their needs.
How Ashley Leaned Into Her Brand
I’d like to tell you a little story about my client, Ashley.
Ashley has done a great job of leaning into the problem she solves to help her clients get more visible – through publicity. Ashley is the founder of a PR firm, Nardi Media, that specializes in media training and publicity placements for authors, entrepreneurs and other influencers, who want to become well known.
In order to serve her clients in the best way possible right now, she realized that what they MOST needed right now is to feel more confident on video. So, she collaborated with her business colleague and friend, Anna, to create a series of workshops that help people how to look, feel, and sound their best on camera, on Zoom, Skype, or any video platform.
You can see that she’s still solving her clients’ underlying problem which is gaining more visibility at a time in which everyone is online!
She’s doing that in a way that showcases her talents and personality AND will attract clients who will likely need her publicity services as well.
What’s Your Problem?
The problem I solve for my clients is “obscurity” because the intentional branded images that I create help them stand out and connect on a deeper level with their audience and ultimately, become KNOWN as the experts in their space.
So, the problem I solve for my clients hasn’t really gone away – they still long to stand out and be more visible, now more than ever before. BUT, the way in which I serve them has to change. I have to offer more virtual services and, as businesses open back up, I’ll need to adapt the way I photograph people to ensure my clients’ safety.
Even if you believe you have the problem you solve on lock down, I’d like you to stick through this part anyway. I can tell you that some entrepreneurs I’ve talked to recently have had some great a-ha moments when they walked through this exercise, even those who thought they already knew this.
So, here’s what I’d like you to do…
You’ll need some time for this, a notebook, your favorite pen, and your favorite beverage. Give yourself about an hour to do this exercise.
Follow these steps…
- Brainstorm a list of words that describe the pain points your clients are having that you can potentially solve with your expertise and experience (words, not sentences.)
- Think about the highest level WINs your clients want, write as many of them as you can think of. When you have that list, see if you can figure out the obstacle or obstacles that are keeping them from achieving those wins.
- Circle the top 5 words on list one and top 3 obstacles on list two that you believe are the MOST important for your clients. Now, look these up in a thesaurus and see if you can find BETTER words that more fully describe that problem. Can you choose ONE from this narrowed down list?
- If you still have a few words from your work above and are having trouble selecting just one, fit those words into the following sentence. Act as if you are talking to your ideal client and imagine them telling you: “Right now, I’m really struggling with_________”
Hopefully, after doing this exercise, you’ve got a great handle on the problem you solve for your clients. With your understanding of the true problem you solve, you’ll have some great insights on how you can re-invent your service and offerings no matter what happens in the world and with the economy. Now THAT’S resilience!
Ready to really STAND OUT online and CONNECT on a deeper level your ideal audience? Get on a call with me and let’s talk through some ideas together!
About Melissa
Melissa Henry, CEO of Melissa Demple Photography, helps speakers, authors and entrepreneurs become KNOWN. Walk away feeling like a rock star with powerful clarity on your personal brand, including unique images that wow your target audience and help you sell out your programs, books and win those coveted keynote spots!
Quoted in Forbes and Entrepreneur and featured in Thrive Global as well as on podcasts such as The Rita Made Me Do It Show, No Fat Cats, and Two Girls Talking, Melissa understands the challenges of standing out in the crowded marketplace and will make sure you & your business do too!
With extensive expertise in consulting and over a decade building her own brand, Melissa provides an extraordinary experience for purpose-driven entrepreneurs who want to become known as experts, thought leaders, and seven-figure business owners.
