“You can be anything you want to be,” was once the anthem of America. But we seem to have twisted that sunlit dream into a shriveled demon that whispers, “Hurry, hurry, hurry and you can be everything you want to be.”

Too much to do, too little time. Tossed and turned by a too-much world, we're as tired as a termite in a yo-yo. And all along, we were just trying to find our way home.

“Why am I here? What is my purpose? Who are my people? Where is my tribe?”

Branding is built on our need to belong. The majority of our decisions-to-purchase revolve around self-definition. We buy what we buy to remind ourselves – and tell the world around us – who we are.

And most of your customers are doing exactly the same thing. What are you doing to brighten the mirror of who your customers believe themselves to be? Do you even know who they believe themselves to be?

Successful Branding is to:

1. Know your customer.

2. Reinforce their self-image.

3. Make them feel they've found “home.”

Overlay Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs onto the preference profiles of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and you'll soon recognize the four faces of your customers. And each of them is looking for something different from you:

Leader/Early Adopter, wants to be first-on-the-block:

Show them things that “just came in.” Hang a sign on every New Arrival.

– approximately 10 percent of our population

Outsider/Goes his-her own way, proudly stands alone (with all the other loners):

Follow his-her lead. These people will strongly resist any attempt to direct them.

– approximately 9 percent of our population.

Analyst/Skeptic, looks for details, facts, and statistics:

Have credible data available for them. Answer their questions precisely as asked.

– approximately 24 percent of our population

Follower/Member of the Club, wants to be part of the “In” crowd:

Show these people “what's hot.” NOTE: Very few people are willing to define themselves as followers, even though they admit they're attracted to best-selling items.

– approximately 57 percent of our population

Leader, Outsider, Analyst, Follower; every business attracts these four faces. Your business category likely has other, more specific customer personas that are unique to it. And each of these comes to you for different reasons and with different expectations.

Do you keep your customer personas clearly in mind when creating your ads?

Are you prepared to sell each of these customers “their way?” Have you trained your staff how to recognize each type of customer and how to serve each of them differently?

If your business is average, your people are closing the sale slightly more often than 2 times out of every 10 customer encounters. If you could help them get just 1 more smiling “yes” from the remaining crowd of nearly 8 unsold customers, your sales volume would increase by 50 percent… with no increase in advertising and no additional store traffic.

Sound like something you might want to check into?

Roy H. Williams