Placement Project: Lynette Xanders Founder of Wild Alchemy Gives Pro Branding Advice

You can now register with the Placement Project for $20 and learn personal branding tips from experts such as Lynette Xanders, founder of Wild Alchemy.

Lynette is an author and entrepreneur, serving both businesses and individuals in the arenas of branding and creativity. As CEO of Wild Alchemy, she has worked for many creative ad agencies and design firms on globally-recognized brands. Several years ago, she decided to use those same, proven techniques at an individual level and created the Brand You workshop.

For this small investment you can meet Xanders and learn how to market yourself like an experienced pro. Here is a preview:

What inspired you to create the Brand You workshop?
The alchemy of momentum is fundamentally the same whether it’s for brands or people. Having worked for some of the biggest and best brands in the world, I knew what worked in terms of creating a powerful position in people’s minds – yet wonderful, amazing, talented people I knew were frustrated because they lacked the same clarity. They were frustrated because they were starting a company and didn’t know how to create a brand, or they were having a difficult time finding their calling, or they were being passed over for promotion, or were looking for a job and couldn’t get noticed – and their frustration frustrated me. My desire to use a classic branding approach to people’s personal brands was out of a need to find a way to help people who deserved to be noticed and appreciated for their unique talents.

When it comes to branding yourself, what is a common struggle you see and what advice to you give?
People talk about their unique talents in terms such as ‘I’m great with people’ and their noble goals are things like ‘do unto others.’ They need to know that everyone believes they have this talent and it’s not what makes you exceptional, the things people tend to gravitate toward first are really the prices of entry for anyone in business. They need to know what gets you out of bed in the morning, what makes your heart sing and what you would throw yourself on a sword for. The essence of your brand, like any, is what you stand for, what your role is in the universe, and what’s your point of view in terms of your craft/category?

How is your approach different when working with an individual creating a personal brand vs. a company?
Even when someone is creating a new brand, there is often a product or service to wrap the brand around and a mechanism to externalize it. And a company’s brand is often based on what their customers think is true about them. So for companies, the discovery and crafting of their brand position can happen by others. For individuals, my role is to coax people into diving deep into self-discovery and asking questions that elicit what makes them tick and what story their work history tells because no one else knows this but them. They also must find unique ways to express their brand where companies have mechanisms to do so. So while branding is personal, branding an individual is intensely personal.

How do you see current technology influencing how people go about branding? Any advice?
Current technology provides an access point to tell people about you (perhaps too much), but is not enough to create a strong brand without intention. Would all the people looking at your social media communications use the same ten words to describe you? Would they use the same three? Would a potential employer looking at your Facebook/tweets, etc.? People who use social media seem to think more is better, and that awareness is commensurate with branding. However, communicating regularly does not a make a brand. It’s the focus and consistency of highlighting the common thread that runs through your point-of-view and taste that is the essence of your brand. You have to be focused for on how you want to be perceived and align everything to that perception. You have to close the loop for them without appearing disingenuous. The other huge question is how would other people know what you’re about it they’re not tapped into your online self? Many potential employers either won’t get that far or will glance briefly.

What have been some of your favorite branding projects and why?
I love to play anywhere passion reigns because where there is passion there is a tendency to have an internal and external tribe of ambassadors who wear the brand proudly as a badge. My job is to make people fall in love, and it’s easier to do that when people are already in love. Rejuvenation, Ski Washington, Virgin, Devine Paints, Doc Martens, Deschutes Brewery, Nikegoddess, and DoveLewis all come to mind as brands that were great fun to explore because of the richness their tribe brought to the party. If you think these brands are so strong they don’t have to continue to work on them, you’re wrong. A category can also be fun if it lends itself to being passion-based: beer, shoes, old homes, skiing, music, sense of accomplishment. DoveLewis is perhaps my favorite because the brand transcends the corporate ID to include the design of the new hospital, the manifesto on the side of the building, which espouses the beliefs of their employees and supporters. The focus they have in what they do, who they hire and how they talk to their constituencies. Not all animal hospitals and non-profits brand themselves in such a clear, heart-felt, authentic way.

How do you know when your brand is successful?

How do you measure that success? For both people and companies, it’s the same: when people talk lovingly about you without you initiating the conversation; when everyone talks about the brand in the same way; when people have an open preference for your brand; when they’ll pay more to have it over any other less expensive options in the category. For a person having a successful brand is knowing right away if an opportunity, client or partner is right for you based on what you know to be true about yourself and what you need to make you the best you can be.