Decide how you want to be defined - in one word!

A few years back, I was at an event and a friend who owns an interior design business introduced me to another gal who was looking for some marketing help with her business. “I’d like you to meet Tana,” she said. “She’s my marketing bff.”

When described as a “bff” (best friend forever), I automatically seemed; honest, trustworthy, loyal, caring, the first person to go to when you need someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on, and the person who ALWAYS wants to see you win.

This is how other people saw me, how they could easily remember me…and introduce me to others. This is where the name Your Marketing BFF came from!

What is Your Most Important Word?

What one word best describes you? Better yet, what’s one word you want used to describe you?

Here are a few possibilities (but keep in mind the right circumstances):

Insightful
Relatable
Tenacious
Compassionate
Fearless
Determined
Relentless
Pistol
Workhorse
Focused
Passionate
Straight Shooter (I know this isn’t one word, but sometimes, I just want to color outside the lines!)

If you find your ONE WORD, it can have a profound impact on your personal brand…and transform you and your business.

Think of it this way.

Would you rather someone introduce you as “great” or “life-changing”? People will probably forget great, but life-changing is someone you’ll remember for a long time. “Great” also gets overused and so it’s not memorable…you want to be memorable!

This one word is your positioning in the minds of your customers and/or readers. This is how they see you. This is how they think of you. This is how they remember you. And this is how they introduce you to their friends!

Here’s a few real-life business and people examples:

Volvo = safety
Mercedes = luxury
Energizer batteries = (long) lasting
Walt Disney = imagination
Steve Jobs = innovator

Decide how you want to be defined.

The ONE WORD exercise:

Make a list of the adjectives you want people to repeat after they meet you, talk to you, see or read about you. Keep in mind…what do you want other people to think of when they think of you?
When you can’t think of any more words, take a few of the stronger key words and look up synonyms for those words in a thesaurus. Add the ones you like to your list.
Boil it down to the one word you want to encapsulate you – and, in effect, your personal brand. If you don’t, other people will definitely decide it for you!

Now, share your one word in the comments below. If you can’t quite get it down to just one word, that’s OK— pick 2 or 3 words. The simple act of writing them down and sharing them is helpful – to you and to others!

I’ll kick things off with a word(s) I’d like people to associate with me (besides BFF): straight shooter.

Read, think, GO!