You’re doing it wrong. Seriously

Many moons ago when I was brand manager at an iconic UK brand, we had the Tea Lady Test.

(nothing like memories from the last century to make you feel old)

Even in the 90s, it was outmoded to actually have a lady pushing a trolley around the office with tea and biscuits on.

But the name stuck.

~~~
Before committing to a new creative, you show it to a non-marketer who doesn’t work directly with the brand.

➡ Do they get it?
➡ Do they like it?
~~~

Clearly not the most rigorous of approaches.

But it often revealed blind spots not obvious to those neck deep in the detail.

And so I proudly showed ‘Personal Brand Strategy for CEOs’ to my wife.

“Whaddayafink?”

Jade paused.

Uh oh.

It’s the pause when pondering how not to hurt my feelings.

“Isn’t this a bit obvious?”

“Erm…”

It’s a fair point.

~~~
PBS for CEOs:
1. 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐬
Assess the current situation.

2. 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲
What you want to achieve.
A high-level plan to get to there.

3. 𝐓𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬
Specific actions to execute the strategy.
~~~

You’d think it was obvious.

But not so obvious that Richard Rumelt didn’t write an entire book called Good Strategy Bad Strategy covering just this.

A book that sold by the bucket load.

According to Mark Ritson, one of the foremost marketing academics and *practitioners* in the world, an alarming number of marketers still neglect this fundamental discipline.

In particular they go straight to tactics.

Within which, they’ve already decided on
e.g. LinkedIn as their main / only channel.

“𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳…”

And so it is with Personal Branding.

Clients often want to go straight to ghostwriting,
or helping them craft a compelling story.

“Can you write me this, in my tone of voice?”

I’m certain I can.

But we’ll get much more bang for your buck
by following due process.

👉 What are your goals?

👉 What are the hurdles?

👉 What do you want to be known for?

👉 What are your key messages for clients vs partners vs your team (present and future)?

👉 Are you aware content is just one of many tools to build your personal brand?

👉 Do you agree we should optimise your social media profile before publishing thought leadership to drive traffic to it?

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦: 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴.”
– Richard Rumelt