If you are serious about becoming a successful divorce professional, then you might want to consider building a corporate brand that establishes your expertise and creates instant credibility and trust with the people who are looking to hire professionals in your industry.

Why?

Because your corporate coach brand will enable your reputation to precede you and attract the kind of contracts you are passionate about.

You see, if you have a great reputation and you are viewed as a subject matter expert, you don’t have to do much heavy lifting for doors to start opening for you. In other words, opening and closing contracts will take less time, effort and expense.

It all goes back to building a brand that positions you as an educator and advocate for the success of the people you have the deepest passion around and whom you can help the most.

The stronger your brand, the less time and effort it will take to establish your credibility and to gain the trust of the people tasked with hiring you.

However, even with that said, there are still many ways you can drop the ball when building your Corporate Coach Brand.

You face infinite pitfalls and mistakes that fall within five major categories.

But here’s the good news. It’s not too late to turn things around.

And it starts right here, right now, since you’re about to get a clear idea of what those mistakes are and, more importantly, how to avoid them.

So with that said, let’s get started…

Mistake 1: Copying another Trainer’s Brand

The key to creating a personal Corporate Brand is exactly that. It is personal. It is never a copy of somebody else’s brand.

This is going to sound obvious, but it must be said…

“Copycats will always fail.”

And why?

Because all markets tend to favor people who are innovators or are perceived to be.

If you are perceived to be just a copy of somebody else, your brand will, without a doubt, suffer. You will never be as good and as cutting-edge as somebody perceived to be the originator.

This is why avoiding the tempting mistake of copying someone else’s brand is extremely important.

Yes, I understand. After all, it is very tempting.

You can save a lot of time, effort and money.

Why reinvent the wheel, right?

Why not copy Tony Robbins, Dave Ramsey, or even Oprah Winfrey?

Sounds silly, right?

But look.

I am not against copying brands per se.

What I am against is sloppy copying.

It is OK to understand the principles that drive a particular trainer’s brand in your industry and to use them to build a distinctive brand that encapsulates your own principles.

Compare this with the often-used technique of simply copying another brand where all the elements are the same, and even the simulated graphics can be misleading.

Even if you don’t copy your competitors enough for them to file a legal case against you successfully, your reputation will suffer.

You don’t want to be perceived as an “also ran” or a “me too” brand. You have to be original. You have to be an innovator.

This is why you should focus on what is distinctive about how you do things.

Is it your vision? Is it your process? Is it something distinctly about your character?

Find something that makes you stand out, and build your brand.

You can use principles borrowed from other trainers, coaches and speakers, but the complete package must look original and be rooted in what is distinctive about what you bring to the table.

Mistake 2: Telling Your Audience What They Want to Hear

Successful trainers, coaches and speakers speak from a distinct positions. This is what gives them authority. This is what makes them stand apart from the competition.

If you bend over backwards trying to tell your audience what they are already hearing from everybody else, your message will fall on deaf ears.

Think about it.

Why should they listen to you when they can get the same stuff everywhere else?

Unfortunately, many trainers, coaches and speakers don’t get this. They end up parroting what other brands are saying.

They convey the same constellation of values that other brands are communicating.

It is no surprise, then, that these brands fall short when it comes to being chosen.

There is nothing distinctive about them, at least regarding first impressions.

Your brand has to speak from a distinctive position.

It has to bring something to the table that makes it look different.

Even though you may have a thoroughly conventional brand, you should at least create the impression in the minds of your prospects that you go against conventional wisdom and go beyond what everybody else is saying.

Why do you need to do this?

You will earn more respect when you stake your claim and stand your ground.

You have to find something distinctive and position your brand around that.

Maybe it is a better focus on product research?

Maybe it is a higher emphasis on customer experience?

Whatever it is, make sure that it makes your brand sound very different from the competition.

Of course, you won’t be able to pull this off unless you have thoroughly researched what is out there, so do the time, and pick apart your competition’s brand message.

Figure out what they are doing right and figure out what they are doing wrong. Build on their strengths by offering the same things they are doing right, but play up the fact that you are offering something they are missing.

This is how you will make your audience aware of your brand’s values, and you will do it in such a way that you will gain a competitive advantage and avoid the mistake of merely telling them what they want to hear.

Mistake 3: Embracing the Herd Mentality

In any niche, there will always be trends. There will always be conventional wisdom. There will always be certain patterns that everybody seems to be following.

Following trends that give you a competitive advantage is not a problem. If your industry is heading in a certain direction that will modernize it, it can be a good idea to follow the crowd.

However, the problem does occur when corporate trainers, coaches and speakers follow trends just for the sake of following trends. In other words, they don’t want to feel left out.

They don’t know why they are following. They don’t have a firm position or principle explaining why they follow a trend.

This is herd mentality, and it will only erode your Corporate Trainer Brand.

Instead, you should focus on setting trends.

As I have mentioned in mistake #1, if your audience members view you as an innovator, you gain a competitive advantage.

Instead of following trends, you set them.

If you do this enough times, people will come to you first regarding a hot issue and will try to figure out what you have to say first before they make a decision. This is exactly the level of authority you should aspire to.

Real brands stand out from the herd by riding the herd, not following the herd.

Just as a cowboy rounds up the herd and directs the herd of cattle where the cowboy needs the herd to go, your corporate brand should do the same for your industry. Stand out and lead instead of merely following blindly.

If your brand is perceived as a mere follower, there are fewer incentives for your prospects to follow you or take you seriously.

And why?

Because if you are offering the same direction as everybody else, they probably would be better off with a better-known trainer or more established brand, so you must avoid the herd mentality at all costs.

Mistake 4: Trying to be Everything for Everyone

You can’t be all things to all people. It is just not going to happen.

This is true on a personal basis, especially regarding your branding.

You can’t position your brand so that it is the Swiss army knife of your industry. As the old saying goes, “Jack of all trades, master of none.”

In this day and age, you establish a higher credibility if you are micro-specialized.

This is why it is extremely important to finely tune your brand so that it is closely associated with a tight range of subject matters.

Micro-specialize.

The sooner you do it, the sooner your brand becomes successful.

This all takes one simple step.

Stake out a niche.

Figure out the rough borders or outer perimeter of that niche, and stay within that niche.

Own that niche.

Once you have established credibility and trust and you are the undisputed authority in that niche, then and only then should you start thinking about expanding your niche coverage.

I have seen it time and time again. People trying to establish a Corporate Trainer Brand in one area get really comfortable and try to scale up. Nine times out of ten, they fall flat on their faces.

And why?

They didn’t become fully established in their original niche.

Not surprisingly, when they try to branch out, they don’t have enough crossover credibility to create much of an impact in the new niche they are branching out to.

Solidify your position in your current niche. Own that niche. Dominate it, and for all the tea in China, stop trying to be everything for everybody, as you’ll end up being nothing for nobody.

5: Establishing Your Credibility through Simple Definition

I have interviewed many professionals, and it breaks my heart to see how some try to build a brand through simple definitions.

It is sad to see.

They tell people why they are credible.

They tell people why they should be taken seriously.

I am telling you right now telling is worthless.

You have to show people.

You have to use actual case studies, testimonials, statistics, and hard numbers to show in uncertain terms that you know what you are talking about.

The problem with telling people that you are a credible authority is that anybody can make a claim. Anybody can whip out their resume. Anybody can rattle off a long list of supposed accomplishments.

However, unless you relate those accomplishments to the basic needs of your audience, you have failed to establish credibility with them. You have failed to build a solid brand with them.

What to do?

I recommend using the power of case studies, number-driven testimonials, and other data-heavy methods of establishing credibility and trust for your brand.

Otherwise, as I keep repeating, you would be another voice in the crowd. You would be playing the game the same way failed brands in your industry are playing the game.

You don’t want to play a losing game. You don’t want to play the game to lose.

You must show people why you are credible instead of merely telling them. Otherwise, it will take too long to get to where you need your brand to go.

Congratulations!

You now know five mistakes to avoid when building your Executive Coach brand. If Harvard University handed out “Mini PhDs” in the field of Corporate Coach Branding, you’d have one by now!

Yes, just knowing these insights is quite an accomplishment. But the truth is, storing away all this information in your head won’t do you any good if you don’t put it to use.

And that’s why I suggest you take action – starting right now – by writing down the five mistakes we talked about today.

Cross-reference them against what you are currently doing to build your brand or what you intend to do to build it because the sooner you get started, the sooner you can turn this “Mini PhD in Corporate Branding” into real results!”