My interview with Robert Middleton on Small Business Branding.
| Recently I was honored to be interviewed by Robert Middleton, who was a business coach for years and now offers a video interview series. In this interview, I not only explained the concepts: we talked about Robert’s branding too. Robert has been in business a very long time, yet he didn’t have a clear brand. We talked about the five archetypes of small business branding: the Role Model, Innovator, Educator, Passionate Advocate and Celebrity. You can learn about them here. Robert had always thought of himself as a Role Model. “I’m just an ordinary person,” he’d say. “If I can be successful, so can everybody else.” But I’d been following him awhile and knew his reputation. “You are an Educator,” I told him. An Educator brings the promise, “I have knowledge to deliver. If you apply this knowledge, you will be very successful in achieving your goals.” Educators don’t tell stories about themselves, except to illustrate their core concepts. We often know little about them. Sometimes we don’t even know if they’re married. I was honored when he said, “This is really useful! I wish I’d had this years ago.” That’s what I like about being interviewed. When you’re being interviewed you get a chance to show how you’re seen by other people. I explained my framework of branding, and I emphasized that it doesn’t apply to big companies. When someone once asked me, “What’s the archetype for Pepsi?” I had to say, “I have no idea. They have their own branding staff. I work with solopreneurs. They don’t have the staff! They still want to stand out from the competition. They want to be known for something.” If you want to know more about my business and how I work with clients, I recommend this video. I’m also working on a book about small business branding with storytelling: Your Mess Is Not Your Message. It’ll be available sometime in December 2024. If you’d like to sign up to be notified when it’s available, click here. |