Submit for your approval 3 brands of toothpaste.
Crest: For years Crest had this commercial with the same recurring theme. A kid returns from the Dentist (alone mind you) to tell their parents that they just had this amazing check up. Whenever, I would watch those commercials 2 things would immediately come to mind:
1) Why did the kid go to the dentist alone? Nice Parenting!
2) If I use Crest I can lower the probability of cavities.
Close Up: Men and women, are shown together in various states of flirtation and ultimately, a kiss. Once again, two things come to mind.
1) I might be going out on a limb but the active ingredient seems to be sex.
2) If I brush with Close Up, I’ll have better breath and ultimately get the girl. Who knows, maybe even get to put on some Barry White music with Mrs Castain
Kids Colgate: From the name to the graphics, this one is a no brainer:
1) The active ingredient here is fun with flavors aimed at the younger demographic’s palate.
While that’s a quick synopsis of 3 brands I suppose I should mention that there are also
Extra-whitening toothpastes
Toothpastes with mouthwash,
Toothpastes for sensitive teeth,
Toothpaste made from all natural ingredients
Even toothpaste for dogs!
It should come as no shock to you that hundreds of millions of dollars has been spent in branding these products. The best part . . . It’s freakin toothpaste!
So if companies can spend all that time, effort and money branding something as insignificant as toothpaste, one needs to ask . . . How you doing with the Billion Dollar Brand Called YOU?
Some things to think about:
1) Check your “Googleability” or if you prefer . . . Go Google Yourself! Whether you take this step or not, you need to understand that your prospects and clients will do the same. Have you left a favorable footprint? Is there a footprint? What does that say about your brand? In what ways can you change/enhance that? By the way, this is how I started my Castain 2.0 journey back in November 2008. 2 results came back. I’ve changed that footprint significantly to the tune of about 20 pages of results.
2) Answer this question: What do my clients say about me behind my back? (the good, the bad and the ugly) To me, that’s one’s true brand. Not what people say to your face. Its what they say when there’s nothing to lose by being candid. The second part of this question is to answer “What do I want my clients to say about me behind my back?”
3) What is it that you do? How do you do it quicker and better? How is doing business with you less stressful, more profitable, more fun? What is your personal value proposition? Not the company induced, “Come drink the Kool Aid” value proposition, yours. If you sell widgets, how do you take your clients out of the widget business?
4) Don’t ever forget that if you can tell your story in a way that you are first to tell that type of story, you can tell it exclusively or simply tell it better, you are well on your way to being memorable.
5) If you could have any title you wanted without fear of getting fired, which title would you choose? I’ve often said that I hate being a Vice President of Business Development because its way to stuffy and corporate for my taste. I’d rather be the Vice President of Jedi Mastery or VP of Rock Star Development. Important: Once you come up with your new title, breathe the free air, enjoy the liberating feeling and go back and repeat the questions in #3. You will get different answers once you free yourself of corporate induced stuffiness.
6) Understand This Lethal Point About Branding: The most powerful connection you will ever make is on the unconscious level. The key to accessing this level of connection is through repetition. That’s what they’re doing with the toothpaste, right? How this might play out in your world. If you want to be perceived as a subject matter expert, you better do more than show up once as that expert. If you want to be perceived as impeccable in all you do, you have to do it more than once. That’s the part that if you understand it, you will smoke 99% of your competitors.
7) Understand How Your Personal Brand Is Judged: There are 6 main ways. How you look, how you act, what you say, how you say it, with whom you say it and where you say it. You could easily go back to question #2 and go through each one of these points with the question “What would others say about this?”
8) Commitment: I recently listened to an interview with J Conrad Levinson (Mr. Guerilla Marketing) where he told the story of the rebranding of Marlboro. When his team at J Walter Thompson took over the Marlboro account (I’m guessing back in the 60’s) the brand was 33rd worldwide and was perceived as a feminine brand. They decided to send photographers out to a ranch and told them simply to photograph the workers throughout the day. From that the concept of the “Marlboro Man” and “Marlboro Country” were born. The ads were a hit and people were obsessed with the “Marlboro Man”. They gave it some time and conducted new market research. It was still 33rd! For years it remained at that level in spite of this killer campaign. Fast forward to 2004 and things changed dramatically. Their research showed that 1 in every 4 packs of cigarettes purchased was now a Marlboro. The point (actually several) Do you have that same dedication and patience to develop your brand? Do you understand, clearly that this won’t happen overnight and that you are going to have to consider those branding efforts a work in progress?
And just because I tend to be a superstitious type of dude, what if your competitor not only “gets this”, but is all over this personal branding stuff while you choose to file it under “someday”?
So go reach for your favorite brand of anything today, stop and reflect on what that brand represents to you, think about all the money and resources that went into that brand.
When you are finished, roll up your sleeves and go to work on a brand with true significance . . . YOU!
To join Paul’s mega cool Linkedin group click on the Rock Star 
To receive free, deadly sales tips from Paul, click on the Jedi 
