Sick of chasing your tail and ready to get bigger, bolder, and more provocative with your personal brand? A sense of peripheral vision comes in handy, and a potent dose of creative thinking. This is, after all, about daring to peer beyond your brand to unlock those hidden assets you’ve tucked away. It’s what’s going to stop people in their tracks.
Dare to peer
Want to try this for starters? FYI, this is how I’ve worked intuitively for years with hundreds of clients, whether corporate leaders, entrepreneurs or creative visionaries. Here’s how it works: Look outside the lines of sight, and you’ll see things most people don’t. If you can manage to stick around long enough and interpret the visual field, you’ll spot the clues. You’ll get the chance to define and articulate a new kind of language, story, or culture for your brand. You will have to be willing, however, to look long enough…
You could call these maxims – mostly short and pithy – or just fundamental truths I’ve discovered as I’ve looked outside the lines of sight. Peripheral vision can inform you.
Want to start looking in places you don’t normally and see what you discover?
1. Never stop shaping and sharpening your imagination.
2. Exercise your ability to express and invent white-hot ideas.
3. Practice being the visual thinker. (Always.)
4. Be the brand innovator. (Be at the forefront.)
5. Go ahead. Do great stuff. But whatever you do, makes sure it satisfies a specific craving and desire.
6. You land the highest marks when your brand offers the greatest value. (Never worry about over delivering.)
7. Create your own potent brand cocktail. Try mixing strategic acumen with creative inventiveness. (What’s your recipe?)
8. Lessen the gap between where you are now and where you want to go. (Make it a habit.)
9. Work collaboratively. (We were born to be part of a tribe.)
10. Dare to disrupt your routine. (Hey, it might require you take on new behavior patterns.)
11. Take risks when you’re in hot pursuit of new ideas.
12. Wear the hat of Detective Brand Sergeant. (Track down the hidden clues that are sending mixed messages to your world.)
13. Know what you’ve got. Know what you’re known for.
14. Double click on the REFRESH button on yourself and your brand.
15. Familiarity is blinding. (Look for the hidden treasures that are right in front of you.)
16. Dare to list your best game-changing ideas on one hand.
17. Excite your world, customer, client or boss. (Often.)
18. Practice the art of listening. Focus on the tone of conversations you’re having. (Can you hear through the lines?)
19. Unleash the creative beast within. (It’s right there, waiting…)
20. Don’t waste time with the mental gymnastics going on inside your brain. (You have enough on your plate with your emotional roller coaster.)
21. See your value through a different lens. (For a change, imagine looking through the lens of your world, your competition, your clients.)
22. Define what you’re actually bringing to the table. (Elbows allowed on this table.)
23. Capture people’s imagination. (Do that and they’ll fall in love with everything you offer, for sure.)
24. Think about whatever it is you take for granted. Now turn it upside down. (Topsy Turvy.)
25. Lighten up. Laugh more. Wear the hat of Master of Serious Play. (Laughter sends endorphins to our brain’s lateral thinking areas. Yay.)
26. Lead the way. Offer outcomes to doing things in a better way. Then, inspire people – along the way.
27. Tell your brand story with heart. (Make sure it’s true.)
28. Salute yourself when you’ve achieved a success. (A pat on the back feels good. Relish the feeling.)
So imagine – what’s your peripheral vision allowing you to see about your brand?!
Author:
Mary van de Wiel is best known for her global expertise when it comes to coaxing out the real power in brands to dramatically increase sales. Van is founder and Creative Director of ZingYourBrand.com. She is the author of soon-to-be-published Dead Brand Walking: A Brand Therapist’s Viewpoint. Follow her on Twitter
