What you stand for or against helps create brand clarity.
A few weeks ago I was surprised to find out that in a group of over 100 experienced business consultants, brand clarity was the top problem they struggled with. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, though. For every 10 businesses I work with 
(old or new) brand clarity is an underlying issue for 9 of them. It impacts sales, customer service, and marketing.
Would you agree with me that most entrepreneurs think of themselves as out of the box people? In the book The Code of the Extraordinary Mind, the author, Vishen Lakhiani, gives us a list of ways to live as out-of-the-box entrepreneurs.
- Know how to change the rules
- Know how to heal your mind
- How to remove dangerous beliefs
- How to learn new things incredibly fast
- How to be lucky
- How to find happiness
- How to know what to seek
- How to weather inevitable storms
- How to find your calling
My belief is that if you are willing to do these things, you will come to know much more about yourself and what you have to offer as an entrepreneur. This will have an impact on your brand clarity.
When a business is in trouble the culprit is often brand clarity.
See, I’m often called in to help when a business is treading rough waters, or maybe even just starting out. The rough waters might be a need to expand but not seeing how that is possible, or needing more sales and cash flow, or stepping up team involvement despite a lack of management skills. No matter the pressing issue, we almost always come back to the issue of brand clarity. Who are you? What do you stand for? Those things inevitably inform and affect your brand, so you better know what they are. We don’t think these make a difference – we worry instead about systems and tools and put more money toward those things than “softer” issues. But doing that can build a house of cards, a business that doesn’t weather changes well and is fuzzy in its focus.
I sometimes wish that all entrepreneurs or wanna-be entrepreneurs had to first take a course in values clarification, knowing their strengths and weaknesses, and leadership. Because, I guarantee you, all of these things will be called into question when you own your own business.
Brand clarity isn’t about the colors of your brand, your logo, or the structure of your website. If you do those things before you know yourself and what you stand for, you’ll create what I call a “fuzzy” business – people will have a hard time grabbing on to who you are and what you do. And your sales will reflect that fuzziness, too. You’ll be leaving money on the table.
One easy way to get a start on brand clarity is to pick up a copy of my complimentary workbook, “20 Questions That Help You Expand Your Business Without Getting Frustrated and Overwhelmed.” You can get it by going to https://confidentmarketer.com and leaving your name and email address – we’ll send a digital copy to you immediately.
Brand clarity means knowing who you are, what you do, and saying it in a way that prospects get it right away. It means letting your message do the work. And it means serving more clients and making more income, too. It’s a win-win all the way around.
