Many articles have been written about various factors that are killing your brand.
Brands are not in the “reciting facts” business any more than a restaurant is in the “listing of ingredients” business.
For too many brands, facts are a crutch as John Lennon said so well, “Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.”
Brands must “sell the transformation” versus “reporting what we did during summer.”
I asked one client, “How do your personnel relay what your brand offers: Is it that your service is a good option, or that this service is what you need that will actually help you?”
It was then this CEO realized, “Oh brother, we’re diluting the conviction of our clients by how poorly we’re communicating what we do.”
The Difference between Facts versus Conviction
Facts don’t convey conviction.
Conviction is that invisible factor that makes something compelling.
Facts reflect the choices we made, but don’t tell the story WHY we made those choices. That is the job of this thing called conviction.
I explain it here:
The Invisible Enemy Killing Your Brand
So there’s this culprit (hiding in plain sight) that gets overlooked: employees who use mere “facts” (parading as recommendations) rather than an unwavering conviction that what you’re offering is actually beneficial to the person you’re speaking to.
Look at today’s thought leaders:
- Ted Rubin
- Daymond John
- Grant Cardone
- Gary Vaynerchuk
- Simon Sinek
- etc
None of these influencers and authors state the topics they address with “this might help you…”
Like anything, this approach can be used ethically or dishonestly.
And what I am talking about is NOT being dishonest nor diluting the greatness of what you’ve made by “soft selling it.”
What these influencers state is stated with conviction: a fact that they’ve observed to be true.