Practical Genius (27 page)
Authors: Gina Amaro Rudan,Kevin Carroll
The most distinctive global brands—Apple, Google, Pixar, Sony, Virgin—became what they are today because of deliberate efforts to set themselves apart as a premium asset, not just another product or service in a crowded marketplace. This kind of differentiation creates perceived value and demand, attracts interest, and provides stimulation of and energy around the brand. And the authenticity and consistency of the consumer experience close deals, seal relationships, and hold the brand accountable to its own standards.
A very distinct vocabulary and approach are required when you start marketing how different you are as a premium asset. When I discuss this with my executive clients, they often worry out loud that they don’t have any authentic differences to celebrate. They all wonder, “Is anyone really truly unique and different?” The answer is, unequivocally, absolutely yes. There is no one like you! You have come all this way on your genius journey—by now you know exactly what you have that no one else does. The marketing of your genius requires you to present those points of differentiation, in everything you say and do, so that the value of your genius is obvious.
The market for your genius—the audience to whom you broadcast, with whom you engage, and to whom you add value—isn’t vast or infinite. Ultimately, your audience is your tribe and therefore is carefully curated. You’re not promoting your genius to a mass market, you’re building a market for your genius one by one.
The corporate and personal branding expert William Arruda told me, “It’s not about becoming famous; it’s about being selectively famous with just that small set of people who need to know you.” The biggest mistake he sees many people make when it comes to targeting an audience is that many times they ignore the ecosystem that already exists within their own communities and personal networks. So start small, think niche, and don’t ignore the tribe you have already established.
In the early days of his start-up consultancy, William said, he missed having colleagues. To conquer the loneliness, he started a personal branding certification program as a way of building an ecosystem for himself, and today he enjoys the camaraderie of more than two thousand strategists, including myself. “Engage your ecosystem with a concise, clear message, and they will spread your message for you and with you,” he advises. The people you sell to are the same people who sell you—your values, goals, and satisfaction are in sync.
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Visualize Your Audience
Think about the people you have worked with who have come to represent the gold standard for you. Think of clients, partners, colleagues, bosses, vendors, interns—anyone with whom you have worked who taught you something important, made the experience rewarding and memorable, or in any way changed the way you do what you do and for whom you have done the same. By now you should be able see the common thread. These are the people with whom you created value. This is what your audience looks like—people who are attracted to your paradox and want to leverage your genius.
Marketers love to measure. They’re crazy for all the analytics and metrics that help them account for the performance and success of their marketing initiatives and maximize the return on investment in marketing and promotion. That means dollars. The genius measure of marketing performance is based on three indicators: attraction, engagement, and growth. What makes this approach to measurement different from traditional marketing is that it’s as much focused on your own satisfaction as it is on that of your audience. It’s both a value-driven mindset and a way to test whether what you’re doing is producing the results you want.
It is a lens through which you observe and tweak your own experience. It’s also an action plan in which you establish specific goals, a strategy to meet those goals, and tactics that execute the strategy.
For example, say you were a classical pianist in college and are now a corporate executive. As a genius who has integrated the creative with the strategic and who’s ready to promote the paradox, one way to attract an audience for your genius is to perform for small audiences. To engage an audience of genius, you might join an ensemble. And to grow your audience, you might join an association of pianists, which will feed your genius while simultaneously growing your tribe.
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Three Questions
To assess the potential of a strategy or tactic, ask yourself these three questions:
Will it attract my niche audience?
Consider for a moment the universal law of attraction, which posits that “like attracts like.” This belief suggests that you attract into your life what you project to the universe. The genius corollary to this law is that the attraction you seek begins and ends with your intentions. Whether it’s positive visibility, new business opportunities, or the positive perception of your tribe, you will experience the outcome that you visualize and intend.
If your attraction intentions are not really intentions at all but just superficial desires driven by your ego, you will end up with a bragging campaign rather than a branding campaign. Lots of companies make this mistake, foolishly believing that promoting how great they are will attract customers to their brand. There was a day when communication was less complex and consumers were less sophisticated and simply yelling “We’re number one!” was enough to reach and convince a broad audience. Those days are gone. Today, the winners are companies that attract by serving their audience and answering their needs. The golden rule of attraction is that it’s always about serving a need
beyond yourself. It’s give, not take; offer, don’t reach. It’s a mindful, value-driven approach versus a transactional approach, and yes, it’s measureable.
For example, when I set out to attract like minds, I lead with the question “What can I do to help you?” The genuine expression of generosity and service of your tribe never fails to bring the audience you seek close to you. This is the kind of attraction that builds success upon success and establishes a pattern of abundance in your life. When you offer every expression of genius as a gift—whether it is through acts of service, meaningful storytelling, or tooting the horn of another genius—the result is always, always, always positive. Better-you positive, better-world positive, and dollar positive. Even the marketers would be happy with that outcome!
Dr. Northrup was right—the heart always wins. One company that knows a thing or two about attracting and marketing from the heart is Avon Products. Although I was with Avon for only two short years as a manager, it was there that I learned firsthand that if you lead from the heart, you can actually drive revenue growth exponentially while also changing people’s lives. Avon may be the world’s best example of what happens when you service the needs and encourage the aspirations of your audience. With more than $10 billion in annual revenue, Avon markets to women in more than a hundred countries through approximately 6.2 million active independent Avon sales representatives and grows steadily even during a down economy because they never take their eye off who their audience is and what she needs.
Avon Vice President Joe Billone explained that the spirit of service starts inside the company and radiates out to Avon’s audience. “Leadership is everything, and Andrea Jung, Avon’s CEO, knows how to lead from the heart. People will always follow the heart much more
readily than they will follow orders, and when you work with a brilliant mind who is directing the company from her heart and soul, the following on every level grows.”
A true practical genius, Joe is a former Broadway dancer and choreographer who leverages his genius by directing global recognition and motivation efforts, including the recent launch of Avon Voices—a global online singing talent search for women and a songwriting competition for men and women in celebration of the company’s 125th anniversary. The program has invited people from sixty-two countries, along with independent sales representatives, to join a global music competition with a panel of judges including music industry leaders such as the Black-Eyed Peas’ Fergie and the legendary songwriter Diane Warren. “It’s our goal to help raise women up through beauty, inspiration, and song, and we know that music is its own pheromone and really speaks to the heart,” said Joe.
The service thread of this campaign extends from the company through the audience and out into the world, as music is made available for digital download, with a percentage of the proceeds supporting the Avon Foundation for Women’s global campaign to end violence against women and girls. To date, Avon global philanthropy has raised and awarded more than $30 million directed to domestic and gender violence awareness, education, direct services, and prevention programs. What an incredible paradox—the world’s most famous beauty company tackling the ugly reality of domestic and gender violence. It really doesn’t get more genius than that.
What I learned from Avon about attracting an audience: