Description
Book SynopsisConsulting is one of the fastest growing professions and ironically, it tends to grow no matter what the state of the economy. Many professionals turn to consulting as a career choice in an attempt to seek refuge from the insecurities of the corporate world, corporate downsizing, and the overall decrease of opportunity in flat organizations.
Table of ContentsIntroduction 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
