One of the most prevalent branding principles – both personally and professionally – is to fully embrace the unique voice that lives inside each of us. It’s a principle, however, that’s much easier to talk about than actually do. Transparently sharing your thoughts, your ideas, and your opinions live somewhere between terrifying and horrifying and that fear causes the majority of people to become an echo instead of a voice.
It’s safer and easier to simply echo the voice of someone who has already attained success. People see that success in its many forms (fame, prosperity, recognition, etc.) and assume that if they follow the exact same path, they will find the exact same results. When the success they so desperately crave doesn’t come to fruition, they toss up their hands and complain about how they just don’t get the lucky breaks others do.
That’s bullshit.
People who seek to parrot others in an attempt to duplicate their success journey miss the point entirely because they don’t want to go on a journey, they just want to arrive at the destination. The people who echo others don’t ever see the long hours, the setbacks, or the many challenges the road to success because they ONLY want the success, not the feeling of accomplishment. Many times they want the success without the work.
What the people who echo fail to realize is that they would be much better off being their best authentic selves rather than some watered-down version of someone else. There’s only one Seth Godin, one Gary Vaynerchuk, one Catherine Graham, one Kirby Hasseman, one me, and one you. If you look at any industry, there are the people who embrace their inner voice – their uniqueness – and share it with their audience and the people who are content to be an echo of that voice.
For example, the Beatles had a unique voice, sound, and style which made them the most successful pop group in music history. Their success spawned hundreds of bands who copied both their look and sound: The Dave Clark Five, Herman’s Hermits, the Merseybeats, Gerry & the Pacemakers, and so on. Sure, some of them had a hit or two, but none of them ever approached the success the Beatles attained because they were merely diluted versions of the originals.
It’s not easy to embrace your inner voice and even more difficult to share that voice – transparently – to your audience. As I’ve said on many occasions, I still feel a bit of anxiety every time I hit “publish” on a blog, speak in front of my peers, or the day a podcast drops. I feel that uneasiness because I don’t hold back or censor myself – that’s my voice. It also means people might disagree with me or, worse, not like me. While it wasn’t easy, I’ve had to make peace with that and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
In a competitive industry where everyone is selling the same products, to the same target audience, at virtually the same prices, finding that unique voice and sharing it to move your audience to action is paramount. Otherwise, you’ll just be the echo of someone else’s voice. Perhaps Dr. Seuss said it best:
Today you are you
That is truer than true.
There is no one alive
Who is youer than you.
If you want to be stand out and achieve success, be a bold and unique voice, not an echo.
Bill is president of PromoCorner, the leading digital marketing service provider to the promotional products industry, and has over 18 years working in executive leadership positions at leading promotional products distributorships. A featured speaker at numerous industry events, a serial creator of content marketing, past president of the Promotional Products Association of the Mid-South (PPAMS), president of the Regional Association Council (RAC) board, and PromoKitchen chef, Bill has extensive experience coaching sales teams, creating successful marketing campaigns, and developing branding that resonates with a target audience. He can be reached at bill@PromoCorner.com.