Business Owners - Create a Strong and Successful Brand That Converts with These Simple Steps

So , in other words , we're getting people to come to us that are in alignment with the values that we've got within our organization . We've got someone that , when we work with them as a customer or as a partner , they come and join us as a member of the team . Everybody is in alignment with in terms of their purpose and their values .

Brad , that's really what I mean when I'm thinking about getting noticed , because it's not just about getting noticed , it's getting attention and recognition for the right reasons .

You know he didn't have to mow the communal cricket pitch and I was about eight or nine years old , in my shorts , and I wondered why he was mowing someone else's lawn , why he was mowing the cricket pitch , you know .

But the reaction on the Saturday , when everyone turned up in their whites to watch and play cricket and my grandfather was sitting there quite quietly watching and people came up and said you know , thanks , bill , we couldn't have played this match without you mowing the lawn during the week because no one else was going to do it .

You know , and I just thought , here's a man who has made a contribution very quietly but has got a great deal of joy from what he's helped to create . And as a result , people came up to him and were really grateful , genuinely grateful , for his service , his selfless service .

So actually that was for me a turning point about the value of offering quietly and , you know , not necessarily seeking anything in return and seeing the joy that you can create for other people . So that was for me kind of how I started to define success . Brad was how other people and I can enjoy a condition or a situation through work that I can do .

So that was for me a kind of turning point on that little cricket pitch in West Sussex .

Then you've got to find an environment or conditions that might be receptive to that . So you know , for example , in China , when I moved to Beijing , there was an amazing British business community but there was no celebration of what the British community was accomplishing . So I asked the chamber . I said where are the awards ?

I'd moved from Singapore where we'd actually won an award , and someone said we don't have any awards . And so we had a community and we had a situation and , with what I knew how to do , that became my little cricket pitch .

So I got the ambassador to be the patron , I got the embassy and everyone involved and we created a big 400 person sit down dinner and actually those awards are still going . So I think you have to have a motivation , you have to have circumstances . You also have to have the community , brad , that wants to engage in that to make that a success .

And the British Business Awards are still going now . What 10 , 12 years later on ?

Actually , you know , brad , it's funny .

So when I'm finding success , when I'm coaching with clients which I'm doing at the minute for example , one of my clients they're really brilliant at what they do , but they thought that everyone would only buy if they had a kind of a slightly corporate face , and so they were looking and feeling like everybody else because they thought that's how we do it , we

have a Canva design , we have all these pictures , and the light bulb moment for this client was realizing that actually their backstory was what people wanted to buy , because that was the authentic moment . And then , brad , we had to get them to feel confident that they could share that backstory and that other people would resonate with that .

And it's just that moment where people have to feel strong enough , confident enough , courageous enough , and that's where people like yourself and your teams at Action Coach or where I , come in and give them reassurance that actually being themselves in public is actually the right part of the strategy to building their business .

And that's a wonderful thing , because then they settle into that , the enthusiasm comes because it's coming from the heart , and so they get the energy and they get the , that , the enthusiasm comes because it's coming from the heart , and so they get the energy and they get the passion .

So , brad , it's just that inflection moment where people start to believe in their own story being the value in the business . Jim .

I know we're supposed to model other people and we're supposed to copy other people's habits and follow successful people , but ultimately , I think it's just also about taking the time , as I'm sure you've done , and I spent some time .

I went to India for a while , for example to spend some time and just letting go of all the influences and just starting to listen to what really is the true self . I know it sounds a little bit rah-rah , but there does come a time when you have to kind of stop listening to everybody else and just reflect on yourself and say who am I comfortable being ?

And not worrying about will people like it ? Because that's the second part . But the first part is just saying who do I think I am and getting comfortable with that .

And I think one of the joys , brad , of getting to be older you know I'm 56 now and I've , you know , done 30 odd years of business on three , four continents now One of the great things about successes and failures is that you kind of get comfortable with that . Right , you go . Okay , here we go again .

I guess this is part of my journey , so a big part of it , I think , is just self-acceptance and saying that who I am is who I am . So let's look for the best parts of that and let's amplify the best parts and use the results from that to overcome the insecurities and the anxieties as they affect us all from time to time .

Part of it is we're motivated by the anxiety of failure , right ? So part of it is this desire to succeed . I have a huge rush in the morning where my adrenaline goes come on , get out of bed . You need to succeed today , right ?

On the other hand , we want to have a visualization of what success might look like , because if it's only motivated by fear , then the deer in the headlights sprinting , it doesn't have a great deal of direction and may get into an accident .

So we really have to have a vision of where we want to go and what success feels like and looks like , but also to not get to the stage where we become kind of too self-satisfied with that maybe first or second stage of success .

Because as an entrepreneur , brad , you know and you've built an amazing business worldwide when you get to the first level of success , it's do you stop , do you put it in cruise or do you keep going ? You know , when I was 25 , I moved to Singapore to start a business and at 40 , I said , what do I do next ?

And actually I decided to go to China to start my next business venture . So you know , there's some failure , some success , but I think we have to have them both and live with them both and be kind to ourselves when we have failures and celebrate when we have successes .

Let's start with , like a salesperson or anyone in a business , how do they live their personal brand so they build a great career ?

You need to be representing that company brand . If you're an entrepreneur , then you're also representing the company . You have a company brand as well . So I think , first of all , as an individual , it's really important to have , if you like , a little brand identity , right . I mean , so you have some idea of what's going to be consistent over time .

So one of the problems that people have is that they start with one thing , they wear one kind of clothing , and then halfway through the day or the week or the month or the year , they change . So one of the keys to having a brand identity at the beginning is to think about some simple things like what kind of colors do you want to be seen wearing ?

What kind of clothing do you want to be seen wearing ? What kind of typeface do you want to have for your emails , so you can always use the same one ? What kind of logos are you going to have on LinkedIn , facebook , twitter , instagram , tiktok , and build , if you like , just an identity kit .

Actually , you can have someone on Upwork , for example , even create for you a personal brand kit , really really inexpensively and also headshots . It really doesn't matter anymore where you are in an organization or if you're a freelancer . You need to have a great presence online , visually , right . So you've got to have a photograph .

You can get that taken and use some of these AI assisted tools to help you to tidy that up . But I think , brad , the first thing really is consistency and the second part is authenticity . Again , it's about not trying to be who you're not right . So it's not about trying to be a muscle man if you're not .

It's not about trying to be a glamour woman if you're not . It's about just being who you are . If you wear odd shaped glasses , because that's what you like , wear that .

And the third part , I think , is just about trying to be a little bit creative , about taking a little bit of a risk , because so many people are so keen to fit in , because they're worried about being called out , that it's very easy to end up looking homogenous and looking like part of the crowd and I'm into the unnoticed entrepreneur right .

A big part of what I believe in is that you need to stand out because it may not be the best , but at least it's a little bit different and you can hone whether it's better later . But to have a little bit of creativity and a bit of fun with your personal identity , I think is really key .

So we've got some consistency , we've got some authenticity and we've got some consistency . We've got some authenticity and we've got some creativity .

Some people are very happy spoken but not seen . Some people are very happy to be seen and not spoken , and some people are very happy to write . Some people are very happy to draw . Some people are very happy spoken but not seen . Some people are very happy to be seen and not spoken , and some people are very happy to write .

Some people are very happy to draw . Some people are very happy to support . So what I think , first of all , is to recognize that you don't have to be Gary V , you don't have to be on stage , you don't have to be everywhere . If you're not comfortable with it , choose the metier , change the format that appeals to you most .

The second is that you need to start . As they say in China , even the longest mark starts with one step , so don't worry about it being perfect . It really is better to start , even if you're writing one short blog post of 250 words , just start .

One of the things that I do with clients is I help them to use things like ChatGPT , for example , and Claude as a prompt , or even Dali , for example , for visuals , because one of the great things that we've got now with AI , brad , is that anybody , for next to no money at all , can have support .

It used to be you had to farm out to a journalist or a freelance writer or a designer and it cost a fortune , but now chat GPT . Give me three ideas on what I can say about furniture design , for example . So , first of all , start with whatever format you're most comfortable with .

Second , if you're struggling with getting started , use one of the tools to give you a little bit of a prompt . And the third thing is not to try and be in too many places at once . So choose one place , because you need to engage with the reaction to the content . So what happens often is people go I need to be on all these platforms .

So they put this content on all these platforms , but when people comment they're not there to answer . It's like going into a new town and trying to make lots and lots of friends but not answering anybody's phone call .

It's really better to go to one pub or one tennis club , get into a match , get some good mates on the play fours and build the relationship slowly but surely . So building a brand takes time , and so start with where you're comfortable and just build it incrementally and use the technology to help Brad hey just a quick one .

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Jim , before we get into the whole thing about how to get your business really well noticed , being noticed for who you are , let's say I'm a normal size , small business , mid-size company . I'm trying to be let's just imagine , Jim , they're trying to be a little too corporate , like the example you mentioned before . How do I make my brand more authentic ?

How do I make my brand more about me ? What's the process ?

You know , there's a lot more to selling a business than the fact that it's got a name that's not yours on the door , right ? So the first thing , then , is to recognize what role in the business do you play ?

If it's a service company , an accounting firm or a legal firm or an ad agency , for example , then people are buying the time with you , and so part of what you need to do , fairly upfront , is to be not only telling your story , your pictures , but also having other people clients , friends , partners explaining how you've added value for them , because what most

people have a problem with is going on the website and saying , hey , I'm brilliant , I'm perfect . Most of us really struggle with that , especially us , we Brits , we really really struggle with that , right , we Brits , we really really struggle with that right .

So what you can do is have other people explaining why they like to work with you as testimonials and videos .

If you're selling a product or running a company , which is , say , manufacturing where you , or a logistics business where you're an operator within a bigger company , people still need to understand that there's a vision behind this big workflow and process of different people and parts .

So having your story of why you're running this business is still really , really crucial . If you look at Shopify , for example , you know that they're doing billions of dollars a year . They've just launched a campaign where , on the website , the founder of the business has a long video .

They have like a how I started the business of Shopify video of him in the coffee shop where he started the first order and so on . So you can make a story about how the business got started and the founder can feature in that story . You can make it very , very low cost now using your phone , really , and some very low cost editing tools like VEEDio .

So there are different ways to build yourself into the brand story depending on the kind of business that it is . It doesn't have to be selling you , but somewhere in there , the customer , the partner , the employee is going to know that there's a person with a vision and a heart that's trying to make a difference .

That's behind this business , because ultimately , that's what they're going to join .

What is it that gets some companies noticed and other companies just hide in the background ?

Certain car brands pay money to be in different parts of the checkout hall so that when you get off the plane , although Sixt and Avis and Hertz all have cars for rent about the same price , you go to the one that's closest and looks most convenient and most well lit and so on , and the staff are friendly . So first of all , it's about positioning .

The second part , really , I think , is about the energy in a brand , brad , you know , and I think I mentioned earlier about how people still buy people , and somewhere in the branding the founder needs to be apparent . Because you know employees , let's face it , they're a huge part of any business , but on the whole , employees don't bring the energy right .

They might bring enthusiasm right , they might bring commitment , but they don't bring the energy to the company . So I think the second really big part after positioning is that someone's bringing energy . It radiates .

The business radiates energy and whether this was , you know , an apple or a musk , with his businesses , and we see them even in our hometowns great bakeries , great coffee shops . Why do they succeed ? And it's because someone is passionate about sharing that message . I said at the very beginning about leaving places better than when I found them .

The great companies always have leaders like you , brad . We hear you and we see you . We know how passionate you are about improving people's businesses and it comes through . It comes through you , it comes through your branding , it comes to all the people that I meet when we talk about Action Coach . So , positioning , I think , energy .

And the third part is consistency , brad , because what customers need to see is the opportunity to purchase when they're ready to purchase , because often we're in front of a customer or a potential customer when they're not about to buy and and you know , eight or nine times customer journey , customer lifetime .

So we need to have our brand consistent over time and that's the part that people fail on .

I mentioned earlier about personal branding , about the need to be consistent over time , because when someone doubles back , gets off that plane and goes , oh , I'm going to look , I'm going to buy Hertz , if when they come off the plane , hertz isn't there , or it's shut , or the people look kind of tired and their outfits are all dirty . You go well .

I'm kind of disappointed . The brand promise hasn't fulfilled itself . So we need positioning , we need energy and we need consistency , brad , in my view I'm sure there are many more fancy stories that people would tell you because you've had lots of experts but those would be , I think , three key hallmarks of any successful brand .

. Really , brett , I think that what's happening is that often entrepreneurs almost outgrow the brand that they started or they move at a pace faster than the pace of the organization . You know that as an entrepreneur , you're a dynamo , right , you have amazing amounts of energy . As a company gets bigger , it doesn't move at the same speed as the entrepreneur .

Actually , right , the energy you brought in the beginning . As an entrepreneur , when you start a business , you're getting everybody going , people are getting involved and energy replaces is a substitute for money . Often , right , the energy and the enthusiasm . But as an organization gets bigger and has processes of people and so on , it doesn't move at the same speed .

It becomes a larger ship rather than a speedboat . So the way I look at it is that the individual owner , the entrepreneur , needs to have their own brand . So they're speaking about topics and issues in their own right as a thought leader , in their own right as an ambassador for whatever cause that they've got .

But the organization can carry on building its own brand because it has a slightly different proposition . Now it's no longer just about what the entrepreneur wants to do . It's about what the organization , all the teams and , in your case , the coaches that you've got . They've all got huge amounts of value to add .

So what happens when I'm coaching some entrepreneurs now is this if you like , bifurcated brand strategy . So if you think of it like a rocket ship , you know you're the pilot , the rocket takes off , gets into orbit .

Actually , the founder kind of needs to let the rocket ship be in orbit and possibly get down to ground and start thinking about the next rocket and the next ship that is going to pilot . So I think of it as having two brands . So you've got the Brad Sugars brand , for example , which you do and you're speaking , you're philanthropy and so on .

And then you've got the Action Coach brand and just encourage entrepreneurs to be confident about communicating to the team and the customers that your separation from the company brand isn't about reducing your impact or value to the business but is rather enabling you to kind of go off and find new opportunities for the company , while the company then makes its own

path , which creates opportunities for the management team , for example , to grow into the role that maybe you're starting to vacate . Does that . Answer that , brad . It's a really interesting topic .

A big thing is I see brands that go good and brands that go amazing . What's the difference , in your opinion , between one that does good and one that amplifies and goes to that amazing ?

During the early industrialization in the UK , the next sort of group of entrepreneurs that made it big in America were those during the steel and oil revolution the Vanderbilts , the Astors right . The next that came after the war were the people that were involved in armaments and chemicals and the next lot came .

You'll see a lot of them came with the internet , but there were people doing internet before the 2000s , when the infrastructure was in place , for example . So I think the first point is that what makes some companies thrive and some dive , if we can use that phrase . One of it is you have to see are they actually at the same time ?

Are they both operating in the same moment in history ? I had an internet business back in 98 , 99 , but we were showing people how to use the internet and giving them subscription forms to the internet so they could use my goeventscom service , right , so I was just completely at the wrong time .

The second point I think about Thrive and Dive is also going to be about getting engagement with the audience , because you know as well as I do that things go viral on the internet . Actually , there's some research that shows things go viral for two reasons .

One is that it's new and the second is that it's easy to understand and what happens is that people have a default of zero . It's actually called the cascade theory and I've done a bit of research into this , I'm afraid , but it's called the web .

It's called the cascade theory and basically , people have an inertia Brad about changing or about promoting something , or about buying something . To get people have an inertia Brad about changing or about promoting something , or about buying something .

To get people to go from zero which is to say I've seen it , but I'm not going to buy it To go to one , which is where they say I've seen it , I'm going to buy it and then say I'm going to promote it , which is how things go viral . People have to say it's new , so I'm going to look good because I've got it .

But secondly , they need to be able to understand it so that they can explain to the next person . That's how things go viral , because people need to say I've understood , I look pretty good , don't I ? Let me tell you how this works .

So there's a social currency to sharing , and that's true whether it's a product , whether it's a social media share or otherwise . It's a product , whether it's a social media share or otherwise .

So things , companies , businesses go viral , whether it's chat , gpt , due to this cascade theory , in my view , because we call it word of mouth , but ultimately what's happening is people are making a decision to support that business , so it goes .

If you look at Apple , they really don't advertise maybe some signage , but we'll promote the product to people that we become evangelists . So I think that when things thrive , it's because there's a timing issue . But also they've got the sweet spot with , like , the Heinz 57 ketchup , where they just got the right blend of vinegar and salt and sugar .

That means it touches enough people that other people want to share it with their own communities . So that's kind of a long-winded answer , I'm afraid , brad , but I think there's like you're asking such big questions . I hope I'm not waffling on too much with these answers .