One of my clients brought this topic up to me the other day. He mentioned a TED talk he had recently heard regarding the idea of authenticity vs. ubiquity. I haven’t heard the talk yet but it made me think about my own beliefs around this. I’ve always held authenticity in high regard as one of the tenets in a successful brand. And as a brand consultant I feel that part of my purpose is to help companies get to the heart of the matter here. One of my favorite things to do is listen to people talk, watch what they do, and try to spot trends. When I can pinpoint who a company really is, point them in that direction and them have an ah-ha moment I feel I’ve done my job.
What’s Stopping You?
Many times I have been faced with this exercise and been unsuccessful. So I wanted to think deeply about how and why that happens. Here is what I came up with:
Attachment Issues
Let me guess… you love the mission statement you developed 15 years ago and the volunteer who created your logo was spot on! Uh, think again. Consistency is a good thing until its not anymore. Learn to let go of things when they don’t fit anymore. This doesn’t just mean your skinny jeans, it relates to the way you talk about your business and the way others experience it as well.
Delusions of Grandeur
When you started your business and you thought you might have three divisions, but turns out only one turns a profit or is actually doing anyone any good so it may be time to revaluate! More is often times NOT MORE.
Ego
Its easy to imagine how you might be all things to all people, however, actually being that is another story. If you are honest about who you are, and do a couple of things really well, chances are people will get it.
Copycat Syndrome
Just because your competition says they are one thing, doesn’t mean you need to follow suit. I always refer to competition last to make sure we aren’t saying the same thing they are, nit the other way around. If you have a really different product or service and you did your homework before you started you should be able to
Fear of failure
Sometimes it’s scary to exclude people from your marketing strategy, but ultimately you may be doing yourself a favor.
So What?
Well, it doesn’t always play out this way but generally I think two things could happen:
a.) You are authentic, you live, sleep and eat your brand. It’s all about the brand, not about you or the money, it is about doing what you say. Your brand permeates through eveything you do….your events, your receptionist’s voice, your vernacular, your website, your evangelists, your signs, your music, the snacks you serve at meetings, your partners, you name it…the brand was considered. I can’t imagine an organization who has this deepest sense of self ever failing.
or
b.) You aren’t entirely honest about who you are, things slip through the cracks, you try to keep up with the persona, can’t quite do it…..people sense it, you’re doomed!
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