HOW TO ATTRACT CLIENTS WITH YOUR PERSONAL BRAND
 The holistic strategy for people that hate selling  

by Shana Lynn Yao
CEO | Business & Personal Success Strategist
Total Genius™

What does “je ne sais quoi” have to do with your personal brand?

It turns out it actually is what determines your personal brand. Whether you are French or not, your je ne sais quoi is something everybody has, and as a holistic business owner, knowing how to identify it in yourself is how you can attract your perfect clients with your personal branding without feeling salesy.

PERSONAL BRAND IDENTITY

So what is “je ne sais quoi” and what does it have to do with your personal branding?   “Je ne sais quoi” (zhuh nuh se kwa) is defined as an “indefinable, elusive quality”; an unexplainable “x factor”; an unspeakable presence.

When you think about someone that has this elusive "x factor" you may think of Angelina Joile or your favorite celebrity - but in actuality, everyone has it.  It’s actually what a personal brand is – your “je ne sais quoi” is what makes you stand out to your ideal cleints. It’s the thing that gives you (yes YOU) that “it” factor.  And for the business owner, your ability to identify it and communicate it, determines whether you are a successful business, or just a blip amongst the sea of competition.

YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

So if “je ne se quoi” is an “indefinable, elusive quality”, how do you translate it into a personal brand?  How do you even identify it?

It’s actually easier than you think. Your personal brand is actually your personality.  While it is something easily seen by others, it is common that an entrepreneur will struggle to uncover that marketable quality within themselves. The one that attracts people to them.

This is what I call your E2 Personal Blueprint. Based on the study of epigenetics and how the outside environment impacts your genetics, your internal positioning - the foundation of your business and how you STAND OUT in your business lives inside of you. It’s a mind mapping technique I do with my clients to understand your E2 Personal blueprint which seeds in your confidence about the your business - because it’s based on YOU - your greatest passions, life experience and challenges.

Your je ne se quoi - also known as your internal positioning is one of the most important things you need to do to identify your personal brand. While no one actually ‘sees” it, it affects EVERYTHING you do. You know all of those thoughts in your head? All of that time you spend over thinking, DOUBTING yourself, and getting in your own way? It’s ok - it’s not a bad thing - in fact, it’s because you are so intelligent, that you have high standards, and have experienced success in your past that you want what you do to BE PERFECT. 

It’s a freeing experience to understand your "je ne sais quoi" otherwise known as your genius - the thing that gives you that "x factor" and be able to use it in your business.  It creates your unique positioning and sets you up for your greatest success.

So how can you begin to discover and use your personal brand to attract your ideal clients?  

CLIENT ATTRACTION WITH YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

1. Become a Storyteller

Best selling author and Thought Leader Seth Godin says it best:

“Marketing is storytelling.  What we do know is our story.  Our story about why we use, recommend or are loyal to you and your products.  Our story about the origin and the impact and the utility of what we buy.”

The best way to further define your personal brand to yourself and to your audience is through storytelling.  Who are you?  Why do you do what you do?  How do you know your product or service delivers the benefit you say it does?

Our human minds are constantly telling stories.  Whether they are to ourselves about something we heard, or someone else is telling us their story – it’s how people learn.

Storytelling is also proactive marketing. Instead of leaving it up to your audience to make up their own story about your product, service, or business, you give them a story to believe.  This engrains you, your “voice”, and your brand in their minds.

Use stories on your website, in your blog, and in your social media posts.  Engage your audience by treating them like you would a long lost friend.  Personally. Through the magic of storytelling.

2. A picture is worth a thousand words

It’s no wonder Instagram has over 300 million active monthly subscribers.  As it turns out, 65% of all people are visual learners.   And luckily for you, visuals are one of the best ways to develop and communicate your personal branding.

Visuals communicate a powerful marketing message.  They have the power to evoke emotion in the minds of your audience.  Whether it is a mouth-watering gluten-free fudge brownie and you are a holistic nutritionist, or it is an image of you in an yoga pose in a peaceful environment and you are a self-confidence coach – images have the power to instantly communicate your message.

For you, the business owner, they help you bring out the emotion you have in your business. Your emotion in your business is your “WHY”.  It’s the reason you have your business; the reason you started.

For your audience, images help them understand that feeling, and assign their own emotions to it.  It tugs at their heart and leaves a lasting impession.

3. The Sound of Not-So-Silent

The third way to develop and promote your personal branding is through sound.  What does your brand sound like? What are the messages you want to be heard?

30% of all people learn through sound.  As a business owner, it is important that you have a solid message that you deliver as the foundation of your brand.  Your message is your promise to your customer of the value you deliver.  And that value is your personal branding.  It’s that “je ne se quoi” I mentioned earlier.

Using that as the foundation of your auditory communication helps further establish your personal branding.  Through Facebook Live, videos on YouTube, to teleclasses, and also through one-on-one consultations, is how you further establish your personal branding in the minds of your customer.

YOUR FINAL IMPRESSION

Personal branding is about the impression you leave in people’s minds.  Through the power of stories, images, and sounds, personal branding positions you in a crowded marketplace and creates your identity as a brand.  It delivers your unique value and an emotional experience for the audience you engage.

If you're ready to Discover Your Genius and have a business that won't go out of style, does the selling for you, and embodies your life purpose, I invite you to schedule a chat. 

Shana Yao is CEO and Founder of TOTAL GENIUS™, where she works with high achieving entrepreneurs to use their genius - the combination of their greatest strengths, talents, and life experience - to create a profit generating business that fulfills their life and makes an impact on the world for a greater good. She is an award-winning Business and Personal Success Strategist with over 25 years of business and marketing experience managing multimillion dollar retail and shopping center locations, including the famed Rodeo Drive. 

In her signature program Discover Your Genius, Shana helps her clients achieve discover and empower their genius within. Using her knowledge of neuroscience, neuro linguistic programming, positive psychology, emotional and positive intelligence, and high level business strategies, she works to develop her client’s unique vision by uncovering their purpose, their message, building their profit-generating signature program and putting their words into action on their website and in their customized marketing strategy. Schedule a chat to get your business and personal brand positioned to sell.