Posts by Cathy Davis

One of our vendors recently mentioned how much they “LOVE” our brand.

She went on to point out how much it “appears to really irritate” our competition.

HUH?

When I asked her to explain, she offered, “You know you are a success when (your competition) is jealous of your brand. You provide MORE of all the things they aspire to be . . . creative, authentic, trusted, experienced, dependable — you know — that air of excellence.”

I’ll take that as a compliment . . . although I never specifically intended to irritate anyone. Not sure if one would call that a “side benefit”?

What is your MORE . . . your
Magnificent Outstanding Reason for Existence?

Seven Actions for Creating a MORE Authentic Brand . . .

1. Define your mission, vision and values. What is your WHY? What matters to you? What matters to your clients/customers? How do you help them? Within your answers lies the basis for your mission, vision and values.
2. Recognize your brand personality. As a small business owner, you are the face of your company. It’s a “package deal.” How does your passion, talent and expertise better serve your tribe and grow a better business? What is it that ONLY YOU offer?
3. Create a niche AND boundaries. Know your customer and understand why they need YOU. Offer them the relief they seek, but also know when to draw a line if they ask for far more than what they are willing to pay.
4. Be YOU. Let your audience get to know you. Be real, share stories of success, vulnerability, and near-misses. Your vulnerability will feed the path of “Know, Like, Trust.”
5. Create consistency. Keep your message consistent, and share on a consistent basis. Whether through your website, social media, speaking engagements, or networking events, consistency builds brand equity.
6. Honor your commitments. This is a big one. Yes, it’s great to keep promises, meet deadlines and return phone calls and emails . . . but we’re also talking about honoring our commitments to ourselves, as business-owners. It’s great to put our clients first, but equally important to make time for “re-fueling” our own reservoir . . . be it taking a walk, watching a movie or sneaking in a nap on the weekends.
7. Be the competition others want to emulate. As our vendor pointed out to me, “You know ‘you’ve made it’ when your competition either tries to imitate you and/or decides they don’t like you.” Not everyone will want to play in your sand-box. And that’s OK! Stay true to your mission, vision and values, and you’ll gain the respect from those who matter.

We Brand. We Design. We Publish.

We take your business to the next level.

Contact Cathy for more info: cathy@daviscreative.com

1. What is “Publishing Myopia”?

Also know as “shiny object syndrome”, Publishing Myopia happens when an author gets so excited about becoming a “published author” they lose sight of their priorities. Authors who fall prey to Publishing Myopia get caught up in completing the book, rather than maintaining a level of excellence . . . which ultimately undermines their brand. It becomes more important to be called a “published author” than to produce a high-quality book.

Never let budget be the excuse for publishing a less-than-optimal product. What I have found, is that every time an author cuts corners and hires their publishing team based upon price vs. experience, they get burned . . .

• They end up spending more $ in the long run than if they had hired professionals in the first place
• Their book shouts “self-published” and subliminally turns potential readers away
• Their overall sales suffer . . . no matter HOW MUCH marketing they do
• Readers who buy their book end up walking away with a tainted opinion of the author’s brand, and rarely send referrals their way

Save your brand and avoid Publishing Myopia by working with publishing professionals who come highly recommended and know what they are doing.

2. How does publishing a book affect my brand and my marketing?

Branding is WHY you do what you do.
Marketing is HOW you get your message out there.

Your brand is . . .

• the core-essence of who you are and what you stand for
• the foundation of all your VISUAL, VERBAL and VIRTUAL marketing messages
• much more than the basic essentials of logo, business card, website and social media

A published book now takes the place of the old, 3-panel brochure.

It “tells your story” of who, what, when, how, why you do what you do. Having a published book is a great way to expand your brand when you take the time to produce a quality book. If you are an entrepreneur or serviced professional in the business of helping others improve their lives, having a professionally published book solidifies your brand and becomes a great marketing tool for several reasons:

• Builds credibility
• Instills perceived value
• Grows your tribe
• Identifies your niche
• Increases recognition
• Develops JV partners

If your intent is to reflect a high-quality brand, then your book better be a high-quality production. If you cut corners just to be able to say you are a published author, it sends the message that you cut corners with your clients.

To learn more about industry standards for a professionally published book, check out this free download from the IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association) HERE.

My personal mission in life is to “create positive ripples”, and I’m always thrilled when I hear a story about how one of our designs or books has impacted people in positive way.

This past Saturday, I was giving a publishing workshop in STL, and I had my usual “free” items at the back of the room for those who wanted additional information. Included in the take-aways was a postcard printout of one of our UPSIdaisy.com designs . . .

During our mid-event break, one of the attendees approached me with one of these postcards, and shared the story of how he uses this card at work. As an Activities Director for a nursing home, he recently shared this card during a “poetry reading” exercise, assigning each font color to an attendee. They then took turns going around the circle, reading their “color” words out-loud. Many commented on the irony or appropriateness of the specific phrase they were asked to share. I LOVE IT!

 Are you ready to create positive ripples in YOUR life? 

If you are a “helper or healer”, a “mender or tender” . . . we can help. 

If you are a life-coach, mentor, therapist, physician, educator, speaker, or other professional service provider, we help you establish a brand, build a following and learn to monetize your passion.

Are you ready to ignite your brand? 

Our clients love what they do and have built successful brands around helping others. When you work with us to build your brand, we help you look good, get noticed (in a good way), and grow your business.

Contact Cathy about how to update your  VISUAL, VERBAL and VIRTUAL brand messaging.

Are you ready to publish your book? 

If you are in the business of helping others, let us help YOU share YOUR story. There is SO much more to self-publishing a book than ink on paper! Our clients reach out to us when they are ready to minimize their investment, maximize their return, and avoid self-publishing pitfalls.

We help you complete your book at YOUR pace — no matter where you are in the writing process — and your book will rival those produced by traditional publishers.

THAT’S IT.