Mediation marketers, what’s your business brand promise?

Years ago, when I was a college dean in Burlington, Vermont, there was a period when branding was “hot” among a segment of the college crowd. Pun intended. Yes, I do mean branding and it made me blanche then, too. Those who got brands on their backs said it gave them a high. I bet.

Business and personal branding is “hot” in its own way now. I’ve written about branding before, in the articles

• ADR Marketing, Public Relations, Advertising and Branding: How They Differ,
• Mediation Has a Branding Problem, and
• Creating Your ADR Business Brand.

Liz Strauss has written one of the best branding articles I’ve seen and whether you’re an ADR branding neophyte or an old ranch hand at business branding, there’s something in it for you. In Branding: A Tagline Is Not A Brand — How to Build a Positive Brand in 3 Steps, Liz offers up not just the key steps, but also the important details, for firming up your own ADR brand. Here’s a sample from Step 1 and I highly recommend you to read the steps that follow:

The first step is to find out what folks already think. Focus on the people — to know their needs, desires, and pains — and to find the one thing you might do to serve them better than anyone else can. Here’s how to do that.

• Find your branders. Find the folks who talk about you. Find those who say both positive and negative things. Find the folks who don’t know who you are. Ask permission to talk to them.
• Talk to them as much and as often as you can. Be a learner. Explore their thinking with them. Use it all to identify what skills you have to offer.
• Listen actively to what they are not saying as well. Find their unexpressed needs and desires. Look for their points of pain. Look for solutions that you might be able to offer.

Now there’s some business advice a mediator can really stand behind, since we already know the value of great listening.

Copyright © 2007 by Tammy Lenski. All rights reserved.