What makes you "YOU?"

I learned a long time ago, from a great sales manager, that the only way to succeed in marketing, or sales, or even life for that matter, is to be "you."

Be real. Be genuine.

The real you will draw in the right audience and grow the right network. Being anything but you will suck you into a world that is not natural for you, and trying to live or succeed like that is unsustainable.

I see this play out in my life when I'm reading for personal or professional development.

Sometimes a new idea or tactic or strategy was revolutionary for the author, and for his or her tribe, so I race to application because I want the same result. I follow all the steps but the application is forced and clumsy. Other times it makes total sense, and I'm able to pull it off flawlessly.

The difference isn't between the tactics; they work, under the right circumstances and for the right people. The only variable is me, in who I am.

The same goes for marketing. The "unique" in USP doesn't need to be extravagant, it just needs to be genuine. If your strategy is struggling on execution and ROI, there may be a fundamental problem with the design of your plan. It's just a bad fit.

Webinars are great, but does your market respond to them?

Podcasts are awesome; does your audience listen to them?

Video may be king, but what if your tribe prefers to read their content?

Who you are, what you stand for, and what you do should determine your voice and strategy, not the available tactics at your disposal. There's a tool for every job, but don't buy the tool and look for something to do with it.

So who are you? What makes you "you?" How do you capitalize on that unique aspect to be genuine about the way you communicate value?

When you start to think about and answer those questions, everything else starts to fall into place.

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