This post is by Michael Pollock, the original owner of Small Business Branding. Yaro Starak now owns and produces the latest content for this blog.
>> Return to the Small Business Branding front page <<
Hugh’s preparing a book proposal. You’ll need to read that book. Again and again. And again. As I scanned the flurry of brillant nuggets he’ll be offering the world, my eyes landed squarely on this one:
"You have to find your own schtick.
"A Picasso always looks
like Piccasso painted it. Hemingway always sounds like Hemingway. A
Beethoven Symphony always sounds like a Beethoven’s Symphony. Part of
being a Master is learning how to sing in nobody else’s voice but your
own …"That’s what people responded to. The humanity, not the form. The voice, not the form.
"Put your whole self into it, and you will find your true voice. Hold back and you won’t. It’s that simple."
- Scott wears a name tag that says: "Hello, my name is Scott." Every day.
- Hugh draws cynical, funny and irreverent cartoons on the back of business cards.
- Jackie and Ben do customer evangelism.
- Seth shaves his head and writes books with memorable titles that containg big, relevant business ideas.
- Halley does Halley (it can’t be described any better).
- Tom rants and raves. About almost everything. With flair and brilliance.
- Kathy does creating passionate users and cool little graphics.
- Jay does Guerilla Marketing.
I could go on and on, but you get the point. If not, it’s that all these people have a schtick. For some, their schtick is about what they do. For others, it’s about how they do it. For still some, it’s both. Regardless which it is, they’re known for their schtick. Their schtick is memorable. And no one’s been able to copy it (forget about shaving your head).
Hugh says it’s about the voice, not the form. It’s about the inside not the outside. I say it’s about both. One is as important as the other. There’s something very powerful and somewhat mystical about one’s true voice – one’s soul perhaps – being made manifest in the world of form. That’s what’s so compelling and interesting to me about smallbusinessbranding.
Your brand is your soul made manifest in the physical world.
Schtick is a great word though, isn’t it? So light and fun. I use the term "brand" instead. Mainly because smallbusinessschticking just doesn’t roll off the tongue like smallbusinessbranding. I wonder if smallbusinessschticking.com is available?
Fill in these blanks:
your first name does your schtick .
Then ask 5 of your friends and/or colleagues to fill in the blanks for you. See if you all come up with nearly the same thing. If not, keep looking.