How to Establish a Unique Brand in the Consulting Profession

Introduction xi

Acknowledgements xiii

Chapter 1 A Brand by Any Other Name: Why Consultants Desperately Need Brands to Thrive (Survival Isn't Enough) 1

Marque My Words: Perception Is Reality 3

Real World Lessons 4

Positioning a Brand so that the Brand Positions You 8

Why Consultants Need to Get Their Hands Dirty in the Branding Business 11

The Payoff of a Strong Brand in Consulting 13

The Ultimate Secret of Branding 14

Brand New Lessons 18

Chapter 2 You Don't Start at the Beginning: You Have the Makings of a Brand at Hand 21

Identifying the Ingredients of Your Brands 21

Recipe: Finding the Right Raw Materials and Mixtures 22

Magnifying Your Existing Repute 26

Re-Energizing Your Brand for Maximum Impact 32

Five Ways to Ensure Brand Freshness 35

The Critical Case for Strategic Branding 36

Brand New Lessons 39

Chapter 3 The Gravity of Brands: Creating Irresistible Attraction: Using Brands to Draw Buyers to You 41

The Elements That Create Gravitational Attraction 44

Brand New Lessons 70

Chapter 4 How to Write a Book, Even If You've Never Written Your Mother: The Best Branding Technique of Them All 71

Early Preparation Is Better Than the Best Editor 73

Creating and Selling a Brilliant Proposal 77

Writing a Book and Living to Tell About It 81

Marketing Your Book Because the Publisher Really Won't 84

Some Other Very Important Issues 86

Brand New Lessons 88

Chapter 5 How to Conquer the Lecture Circuit: Using the Platform to Raise Your Brand 89

Why Professional Speaking Is Brand-Effective (the "Reach" of the Speech) 90

Preparing Your Message: Insider Tips on Outstanding Speaking 91

The Elements of a Powerful Delivery 97

Turbo-Marketing Your Speaking Efforts 100

The Magic of Setting High Fees (the Good Stuff) 104

Exploiting Success 106

Brand New Lessons 108

Chapter 6 The Twelve Myths of 21st Century Branding: I Didn't Walk in Here and I'm Not Leaving 109

The Myths 110

Brand New Lessons 127

Chapter 7 Publicizing Your Brand Within Your "Environment": Expanding Fifteen Minutes of Fame into a Month of Sundays 129

Understanding the Brand Environment 130

Creating the New Environment 133

Ten Guidelines for Influencing the Environment 136

Twenty-Five Ways to Foster Publicity in Any Environment 139

Brand New Lessons 147

Chapter 8 Creating Products to Boost Your Brand: The Wonderful Combination of Passive Income and Active Promotion 149

The Ironclad Case for Products in the Consulting Profession 151

Alan's Favorite Methods to Boost Your Brand 154

Brand New Lessons 166

Chapter 9 Where Are We Heading and How Do We Capitalize?: A Dozen Trends That Close the Case for Branding 169

The Trends 170

Brand New Lessons 186

Chapter 10 Leapfrogging: How to Take Your Brands and Your Plans to New Heights 187

Multiple Brands 188

Abandoning Brands 190

Protecting your Brands: The Principle of Adaptive Uniqueness 193

Keeping Brands Revitalized 197

Final Thoughts 200

Action Checklist 201

Index 205