There are two types of entrepreneurs in this world: those who have radical brand clarity and those who lack it. If you’ve been intentional about developing clarity around your brand, then you’re already reaping the financial rewards by having solid, continuous relationships with your ideal customers. If you’re lacking radical brand clarity, then the telltale sign is on-again-off-again relationships with your customers.
Lacking clarity is exhausting. It wastes time, money and opportunities. Having clarity is energizing. It allows you to create a company that is built to last, profitable and impactful.
Yetunde Shorters, a business strategist and NLP master coach who teaches female entrepreneurs how to get crystal clarity on their next level of purpose. She has developed a process to help you quickly gain clarity on your purpose so you can achieve clarity in your brand. Here are her three steps.
3 Steps To Gaining Radical Clarity About Your Brand | Stephanie Burns
Yetunde Shorters
1. Get Radically Clear About Your Purpose
“Having radical clarity about your purpose makes it easier to create consistently meaningful products or services that you’ll enjoy—and that will earn you profit. Your purpose is that one essential thing that you’re excellent at, feels intuitive, is impactful and serves others. Think: spreading love, empowering others or connecting people,” says Shorters.
“People often confuse their means (what they do) with their purpose (why they do it). Another thing that trips people up is when they have multiple passions, hobbies and skills, but they don’t realize only one specific purpose fuels them all. Your passion, hobbies and skills fulfill your purpose. They show you how your purpose manifests but not explicitly what that purpose is.
“If you need help defining your purpose, try writing down all your meaningful activities and interests in an online document. Then sort them into three categories or columns:
- A) Passions or things you’d do joyfully if no one paid you
- B) Skills or things you’re good at doing that can earn you money
- C) Hobbies or things you do for enjoyment that won’t earn you enough to live on
“The same activity cannot appear on multiple lists; pick the best one! Don’t focus too much on list C. It usually captures positive outlets for your creativity that are rarely aligned with your purpose. Instead, compare list A to list B and look for common denominators. For example, if list A includes ‘hosting dinner parties’ and list B includes ‘organizing events,’ the common denominator or essential benefit would be ‘bringing people together.’ That’s your radical purpose,” notes Shorters.
2. Get Radically Clear About Your Emotional Impact
Research shows that how you make a person feel drives their purchase behaviors even more than product benefits do. In one study mentioned in Harvard Business Review, a credit card geared towards millennials that was designed to inspire an emotional connection resulted in a 70% increase in use and 40% rise in new accounts.
“To get clear on the core emotions that are most vital to those you serve, think about yourself. We tend to deliver the feeling that we subconsciously want for ourselves. Your purpose-driven products and services always help others to feel emotions that you deeply desire to feel as well,” says Shorters.
“Look at your A and B lists again and their common denominators. Then write down five to seven emotions that they evoke in people. Joy? Clarity? Hope? Inspiration? Connection? Interview some customers one-on-one to see if they report back similar feelings from experiencing the value you create. Gaining radical clarity about the emotions driving you and your ideal customer makes it easier to identify compelling words to use when engaging them. That, in turn, makes it far easier to consistently deliver excellent content, products and experiences that support those aspirational emotions.”
3. Get Radically Clear About Your Power Statement
“It is no longer enough to introduce yourself by your title. I’ve created what I call “Your Power Statement” to replace the ho-hum introduction based on the insights above. You have to be able to tell a prospect in less than 60 seconds how you can help them, how you want them to feel once they experience that help and how you deliver that help to them,” explains Shorters.
“For example, ‘My name is Yetunde Shorters. I support women entrepreneurs in gaining crystal clarity around their purpose, so that they can joyfully impact the world and earn profits confidently from that purpose. I do this by teaching and coaching them on creative PR, branding and NLP-informed strategies for living through purpose.’ Much more interesting and truthful than saying, ‘Hi, I’m a Publicist/Coach,’ right?”
“Each sentence in your power statement makes the listener want to learn more. This has been true for my clients regardless of whether they are entrepreneurs scaling their business, film stars, major social media influencers or corporate leaders. Achieving this level of clarity helps you stand out dramatically from the crowd.”
