LINZI BOYD on the Power of Brand and Being You

Linzi Boyd has proven the power of brand since the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey, having built and sold two businesses by the age of 24.

By 25 she was working on her third business, Surgery Group, which would be responsible for influencing an industry over 15 years while elevating some of the UK’s most famous high-street consumer brands.

Now, Linzi is the Author of the award-winning book, ‘Brand Famous — How to Get Everyone Talking About Your Business.’, and the founder of the BoB Group, which teaches early stage entrepreneurs how to build a famous brand.

I’ve invited Linzi to join us for the next Dent LIVE in Brisbane on 29th August to share the lessons she’s learned in helping brands find their brand essence and weave that through their message, pitch, value proposition, and products.

In the Dent Business Accelerators, I often talk to our clients about the three brands they need to build to become known in their industry as Key People of Influence — their personal brand, the company brand, and product brands. Let’s use the apple tree on the left as a metaphor to describe them.

Think of the roots of the tree as your personal why. Your why is what drives you and gives you meaning or purpose. Steve Jobs always talked about exploring the intersection of the humanities (liberal arts) and technology; that is, when artists and technologists come together, a special kind of alchemy occurs.

That alchemy then showed up in the form of a range of company brands, one of which was Apple. Think of the company brand as what you’re known for Apple was known for its cutting edge technology, married together with beautiful interfaces and user experiences (design). This process yielded products that were cool and innovative, with raving fans lining up around the block to get them.

Apple’s brand values then permeated every product they ever created, from the iPod to iPad to iMac and every product in between, each with their own unique product brand and reputation.

The products will always change and evolve based on tastes and advances in technology — but the design and technology principles behind every product have and should remain the same.

While you and I aren’t necessarily building the next Apple, we do have a significant advantage over our competition in the services industry. It’s our insights, our charisma, our way of thinking and speaking, and our thought leadership.

These are the differentiation tools we have at our disposal to be the ‘Apple-like’ company in our Niche. Dominating the top 10% of your niche while working with a small number of clients a year and charging a premium price provides a very fun, enjoyable and stress-free lifestyle business.

So, your personal brand is the first one to get clear on — that’s the roots of the tree. The roots are what gives the tree, and your company, stability. Here’s a quick teaser on Linzi’s take on some of the core ingredients of building a personal brand:

Speak it: You are your brand, so always remember, whether you’re talking on stage or out in the marketplace, be an ambassador for brand YOU.

Look it: Every time you walk into a room, people are analysing you before you’ve opened your mouth, so make sure you understand what the “look” of your brand is as well as what’s coming out of your mouth. “Looking it” is just as important as “speaking it.

Share it: It’s easy to build your own network, and it’s so important as it can go with you to any job or business. The bigger the network, the bigger the database that you’ve got, giving you a following, which is very important. If you write a book and you want to get it to number one quickly, you only have to push it out to your network, and they can potentially sell it for you.

Be it: Be the expert! Think about what do you want to be an expert in, and then pursue it.

Live it: Remember, you are a brand everywhere, both online and offline, so live like it. If you end up doing something that doesn’t fit with your brand, you could be photographed, put on social media, and before you know it that can impact your personal brand.”

Linzi Boyd will be joining me at the next Dent LIVE in Brisbane on 29th August, where we’ll be getting the insights and core learnings for building a powerful brand.

If you’d like to attend the event and hear Linzi’s branding secrets, then click here to grab your ticket. http://bit.ly/dent-live