Storytelling has always been a way of life for Ben. From a young age, he realized that through telling stories people listened to him, understood him and engaged.
Professionally, this is what he has been doing. He has helped brands tell engaging stories that compel their customers to take action for more than two decades now.
Whether it is corporate brands or personal ones, Ben believes that being the same as everyone else is a recipe for commoditization.
It is only when we understand what makes us unique, define what our specific audience values, and communicate to our audience in ways that they want to listen to, understand, and engage with, does the magic happen.
Ben is the author of “Powerful Personal Brands: A Hands-On Guide to Understanding Yours” and sits behind the mic each week for the YourLIVINGBrand.live show podcast.
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Show Notes:
- Ben has lived all over the U.S. but has settled in Vancouver, Canada.
- He loves all of the things to do there.
- People buy from people. Relationships are important.
- The habit that makes Ben more successful is getting up early and reading for about an hour.
- It helps him get a broader scope of the world around him.
- Every brand (personal or corporate) has a story.
- Ben believes that companies should get rid of their vision and mission statement and tell their brand story instead.
- Companies have vision and mission statements that they’ve spent so much time perfectly & crafting and yet no one remembers them.
- Who are we? What are we? Where are we going? What are we doing?
- Give your employees and customers something to grab onto and interact with.
- You want to have your customers tell your story for you. It’s building marketing that you’re not paying for.
- Everybody needs a helping hand.
- People need to be able to sell themselves.
- If you write it down, it’s real.
- Defining your brand is how you show up.
- You can say whatever you want, but until you act it’s not real.
- What do we really do at the core of our business?
- Who are our customers we serve and why do they care?
- Ask your customers:
- What you do well.
- What you can do better.
- Ask your customers:
- If you aren’t gathering data and making sense of it, it’s useless.
- Don’t ignore problems because your customers won’t ignore them.
- Companies need a differentiating factor.
- Someone always sells something similar so why do people want to buy from us?
- 3 Steps
- Insight and Discovery
- Where are you today? Are we happy where we are? Is our brand relevant? Do my employees understand my brand story?
- Get your story on the same page. Does everyone get what you do?
- Start Building Your Brand.
- A logo is not a brand.
- A brand is what people think of you when you’re not in the room.
- Make sure your brand is consistent and that staff understands your brand otherwise they can’t relay it to customers.
- Listen When Dealing with Marketing.
- It’s the comments that are gold.
- Negative comments tell you to pay attention to something.
- Respond to comments while helping people understand why you care about them.
- Insight and Discovery
- 3 Steps
- Be authentic. It’s not a sliding scale. Either you are who you are or you aren’t.
Ben Baker’s Recharge Round
- Share with us how you believe your mindset affects your life? Mindset absolutely affects life. If you believe you can, you can. If you believe you can’t, you are also right.
- What do you do daily to bring Energy into your life? He tries to go for a walk everyday because it allows him to clear his head and refocus.
- Share the number one connection that has made the biggest impact on your life? His dad was always an entrepreneur. He said that it’s not about failures but about what you learn and how you move forward.
- What advice has Influenced you the most in your life? Do what it takes to take care of your customer. If you take care of a customer, they’ll take care of you.
- Define in one sentence or less, what legacy you want to leave on the world? He wants to make the world a little better by educating people.
Contact:
Powerful Personal Brands: A Hands-On Guide to Understanding Yours by Ben Baker
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