Getting people to do what you ask, especially people who don’t really know you, is hard.

Unless you make it easy.

Some of the biggest roadblocks that keep people from saying "yes" when you ask them to do something is that what you’re asking is too involved, too complicated, takes too much time, or they don’t know how.

In other words, it’s too hard to say yes.

In order to get past those roadblocks, you need to compensate for three underlying factors that are present in every human being.

1. What’s in it for me?

You’ve probably heard marketing advice that says your marketing needs to answer the question "what’s in it for me?"

There’s a reason that advice won’t go away…because it’s true.

As people, we all have a certain amount of selfishness inside of us (some more than others). And one way that selfishness comes out is when we’re asked to take action, we ask why. Why should I do this? What’s in it for me?

In fact, if you really dug deep into the human psyche, you could make the argument that everything we do has a selfish motivation at its core. We make donations because helping others makes us feel good. We care for our loved ones because we want them to be safe. We volunteer to help causes we believe in. We only take action when we think it’s worthwhile to do so.

So if you want people to do what you ask of them, you need to address this central issue by clearly conveying what they will gain by helping you.

2. Resistance is futile.

Just like natural forces such as water and electricity, people follow the path of least resistance.

In other words, we’re all just a little bit lazy.

So if you want people to do what you ask, you need to make it easy for them to do so. You need to do the work for them.

Regardless of what you’re asking someone to do, if it’s too involved, has too many steps, or takes too much effort on their part, they will most likely say no.

In order to get them to say yes, do as much as you can so they have to do as little as possible. Just like the Staples "easy button," if you can make saying yes to your request as easy as pushing a button you’ll have much more success getting people to do what you ask.

3. Busy little bees.

Everyone is busy these days.

We rush to work, rush home, throw together dinner, get the kids ready for bed, take care of whatever additional tasks or obligations we have, collapse in bed, then do the whole thing over again the next day.

That leaves very little time for doing something for someone else, especially if it’s someone you barely know.

So if you ask someone to do something that takes too much time, chances are they will set it aside until the can get around to it…which will end up being never.

We’re all just too busy.

If you want people to say yes when you ask them to do something, you need to have things set up and ready to go. You need to prepare whatever it is you’re asking them to do so it takes as little of their time as possible.

If it’s quick and easy, you’re much more likely to get a "yes."

The bottom line

Whether you’re asking someone to buy something, donate to a cause, volunteer, or just help you with something, if you want them to say yes you need to make it easy for them to do so. Remove the roadblocks that keep them from helping you and you’ll have better success in your efforts. Plus, by making it easy for the other person, you’ll seem just a little more awesome to them.

Your turn

How have you got someone to say "yes" to a request in the past just by making it easy for them to do so? Share your story in the comments below.

What does it take to "be awesome?"

If you’ve spent time reading advice on how to grow your audience, build a list, or have a popular blog, chances are you’ve seen the advice "be awesome" in there somewhere.

But what does that mean? How, exactly, can you "be awesome?"

Now maybe I’ve had my head under a rock, but it seems to me that there’s lots of people telling you to "be awesome" and not enough people showing you how.

So guess what? I’m going to do just that.

Introducing "The Art of Being Awesome"

In the coming weeks and months, I’m going to teach you the art of being awesome. I’ll be covering specific things you can do to stand out, get noticed, and get people to like you. I’ll even show you some of the steps I’ve used to connect with A-Listers when they had no idea who I was.

I’m calling this the "Art of Being Awesome" because it truly is an art when done right, and one that I’m going to help you master.

Alright, enough of the introductions. Let’s get to work…

The first rule of being awesome

What is the most important rule to remember when it comes to being awesome?

If you had to sit down and think about what it takes to be awesome, what would you say is the most important guideline to remember?

The answer is so simple most people completely overlook it.

If you want to "be awesome" the first thing you need to remember is this: It’s NEVER about you.

Check your ego at the door, hang up your selfish desires, and stop "looking out for number one."

If you want to be awesome, you need to stop focusing on you and focus on the needs of others instead. Help them reach their goals, solve their problems, and improve their lives.

Do that first and foremost in all situations. Every. Single. Time.

By putting the focus on others instead of yourself, you build a reputation for helping people – and that is the foundation to build your awesomeness on.

However, if you continue to focus on what you need and the goals you’re trying to achieve instead, you’ll gain a reputation as "that guy" that they only hear from when you want something – a leach that nobody likes.

Keep your focus on helping the people you want to connect with and your goals will take care of themselves.

The bottom line

Remember, if you want to "be awesome" the first thing you need to remember is that it’s NEVER about you. Your focus needs to be on helping people get what they want and need. And by making it about THEM instead of you, your audience and those you want to connect with can’t help seeing you as anything but awesome.

Your turn…

How has helping people caused you to further your own goals without even trying? Share your story in the comments below!

How many times have you seen a business name like "Fort Street Inc," "Jones & Brown" or "Johnson Enterprises?"

Sure you have. In fact, you’ve probably even wondered what they do.

So do their customers.

Having a poorly planned name for your business, blog, or product can cause you to lose sales, miss opportunities, and even cause customers to form the wrong opinions of your product and its value.

The name you give your business, blog, or product is a key factor in the success of your brand.

Creating an effective name is an important step in the development of your brand. An effective name will connect with your audience, convey what you do, and set your brand up for success.

Names like the ones above are too vague to be effective. Sure they’d work great as a "front" for some super-secret spy headquarters, but not for your business.

Names that are "nondescript," like the ones above, hide what you do from the very people you want to buy your stuff.

If you want to build an effective and successful brand, you need a name that is engaging, interesting, and clearly states what you do.

The five elements of a good name

So how do you create a name that’s going to launch your brand instead of drag it down?

Here are the key elements of an effective name.

1. Your name needs to convey what you do.
The very first question your name needs to answer is "what do you do?" When someone who needs the product or service you provide is looking through a list of companies in your industry, the first ones they will try calling are the ones whose name indicates they provide what the customer needs.

Why? Because in their mind, they have a better chance of finding what they need from a company whose name indicates that’s what they do.

Think about it from the customer’s point of view for a moment.

Let’s say I’m an entrepreneur that just found out about a trade show all my clients will be at that is happening the day after tomorrow, and I just realized that I’m out of business cards. So I open my chamber of commerce membership directory and see the following companies listed under "printing:"

• Jones & Jones Printing
• Smith Reproductions
• Speedy Printing
• PDQ Printing
• Business Cards Tomorrow

Now, assuming I’ve never done business with any of them before, the only thing I have to go on right now is the name of the business as an initial filter. Looking at that list, the first company I’d call would be "Business Cards Tomorrow" since I need cards and need them quick.

2. Your name needs to connect with your target customer.
The second most important element of your name is how well it engages your ideal customer. A good name will connect with your audience instantly because it speaks to the need, emotion, or desire they have.

And that connection doesn’t have to be direct. It can also be implied.

Let’s take another look at the business card example above. If you owned one of those companies, you could call yourself "Quickie Cards," but that name implies poor quality and lower value than "Business Cards Tomorrow" which conveys speedy service without sacrificing value – which brings me to my next point.

3. Your name should convey your brand’s style and imply value.
As I started talking about in the previous point, the name you choose needs to be consistent with the quality of what you’re selling, and the price you plan to sell it at in order to be perceived as having the proper value.

For example, which of these two names would you associate with a company that sells expensive jewelry: "Glitter" or "Elegante?"

Elegante obviously, because "Glitter" sounds like a store that sells magnetic ear rings and bright-colored nail polish for teenage girls. So as you can see, the name you choose plays an important role in setting the customer’s expectations of what your item is worth.

You also want your name to convey your brand’s style.

I’ve tied this in with value because the style your name conveys also affects its perceived value as you saw above with the jewelry store example.

Injecting your style into your brand is a matter of choosing the right words to use. Because different words invoke different mental pictures, it’s important that the words you choose paint the right picture in your customer’s mind.

For example, the word "school" creates an image of elementary or basic education and is more casual in nature, while "academy" suggests a more professional level of learning that can be taken seriously.

4. Your name needs to be easy to pronounce and spell.
This one seems like a "no brainer" but is one that is often overlooked. If no one but you can pronounce or spell your name, how will people find you or refer you to a friend?

I’m a perfect example of this point in action.

When I first started blogging, one of the biggest reasons I selected the pen name Logan Zanelli was because it’s much easier to pronounce and spell than my real name. People are always misspelling my last name, and when it’s misspelled, there are tens of thousands of people with the same name as me. Google even suggests the wrong spelling when you search my real name with their "Did you mean…" feature – leading people away from me rather than to me.

Using a pen name that’s easy to spell and pronounce solves that problem and makes it easier for people to find me. Just being angry at my parents didn’t help.

5. Your name should be unique and easy to remember.
The name you select will be much easier for people to find if it’s unique, because it will stand out more. You’ll also find matching domain names for your brand a lot easier with a unique name than one that’s fairly common.

However, a name that’s unique but not memorable won’t do you any good.

It’s critical that people be able to remember your name. How many times have you been talking to a friend who needed something, and you knew the perfect company or product to refer them to but couldn’t remember the name?

Happens all the time.

So when you choose a name, make sure it’s something that will stick in people’s heads so they come back to you again and again.

The bottom line

An effective name will get your brand started off on the right path. In order to have a brand that reaches its full potential, you need a name that connects with your customers, tells them what you do, and conveys the style you’ve selected for your brand. Without those key elements, your name will blend into the crowd like the invisible man.

Your turn

What have you found to be the most successful part of your business name and why? Share your experiences in the comments below.

Many of you may remember my post on Copyblogger where I talked about 125 Ways to Build an Irresistible Brand, and have also seen me use the term "irresistible" frequently when talking about building your own brand.

But what is it, exactly, that makes a brand irresistible?

In a word? Enchantment.

I was fortunate enough to be one of the few people to receive an advance copy of Guy Kawasaki‘s new book Enchantment (Amazon affiliate link), and let me tell you . . . this book should be required reading for anyone wanting to build an irresistible brand in my opinion.

Below, I’m including a short video review of the book as well, but here are some of the things I loved the most…

First of all, I love the way the book reads. Its organization and flow is well thought out and makes the book both an effective learning tool and a blueprint for action. Better still, Guy doesn’t just talk about the "what" and "how" of enchanting people; he also gives you the "why." And in my experience, once you know the "why" of something, the "how" becomes more intuitive.

Another thing I really like about the book was that Guy included personal stories submitted by his followers of how they were enchanted by either a brand or another person. There’s one such story at the end of each chapter, and when you read them it drives home the point that even the smallest of gestures can turn a customer into a lifelong fan.

Enchantment (Amazon affiliate link) is a book that will teach you what should be the very core of your branding, marketing, customer relations, and sales efforts: capturing the hearts and minds of your audience in a way that makes them feel important, appreciated, and involved.

Lest you think that Enchantment (Amazon affiliate link) is for big brands only, this book is written in a way that anyone can apply its principles, and create an amazing personal brand or an equally effective corporate / product brand.

In fact, the book does a great job at teaching you how to be enchanting on a personal level too, and kudos to Guy for including whole chapters on "how to enchant your employees" and "how to enchant your boss" for those who are trying to build a career instead of a business.

Here’s a look at the book’s table of contents:

• Introduction
• Why Enchantment?
• How to Achieve Likability
• How to Achieve Trustworthiness
• How to Prepare
• How to Launch
• How to Overcome Resistance
• How to Make Enchantment Endure
• How to Use Push Technology
• How to Use Pull Technology
• How to Enchant Your Employees
• How to Enchant Your Boss
• How to Resist Enchantment
• Conclusion

Overall, the best way I can describe the book is to say it’s about learning how to make people fall in love with you, your brand, and what you’re all about – then stay lifelong fans and become brand ambassadors.

Here’s the video (if you’re reading this via e-mail or RSS reader, you may need to click over to the blog to watch the video):

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to build an irresistible brand that’s adored by throngs of passionate fans. Guy clearly believes much of the same things I do about building a brand and engaging your audience. In my opinion, it’s a must-read for every entrepreneur regardless of the size of their company or stage of their career.

If you like, you can get the book here:

Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki (Amazon affiliate link).

Want to know how enchanting you are? Find out!

If you’re the curious type, you can take a quiz Guy set up on Facebook to see how enchanting you are.

"I’m not creative enough to…"

Ever heard someone say that?

I have. Hundreds if not thousands of times.

Sadly, it’s really just a lie they’ve been telling themselves for so long, they believe it to be the truth. So they stop trying. They stop imagining.

They give up and stop creating.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Many times, clients marvel over the creativity it took for me to come up with an artistic design or creative idea for them. Sometimes they stare at it with a grin that says, "I love the way this looks." And once in a while they chuckle, shake their head, and say something like, "You’re so good at this! I could never come up with an idea like that."

But the truth is, I’m nothing special.

I’m not some mystic that goes into a trance and has visions of what the design should look like, or what the client’s business name or tagline should be.

I’ve just trained myself to be a really good problem solver.

Creativity is not a gift; it’s a skill

The truth is, creativity isn’t a gift. It’s a skill anyone can learn if they try.

Most people just don’t try.

Sure there are some gifted individuals out there who have a weird knack for creativity. But there also are "child prodigies" in many different topics and skills.

You don’t hear people saying math is a gift. You hear them talking about the gifted genius they just met who can solve calculus equations in her head in mere seconds.

In other words, the person is gifted. The skill itself is not a gift, but a discipline.

And even in cases of child prodigies, the raw talent isn’t enough. The skill needs to be practiced, tuned, and honed before they are truly masters of their craft.

In my own case, the reason I can visualize designs so easily, and seem to pull ideas "out of thin air" is because I’ve spent years training myself to be able to do that. As a child I was always interested in creative pursuits, but I didn’t get good at it until I learned, practiced, and honed my skills.

Creativity, like math, can be learned.

Creativity is problem solving

In its simplest sense, creativity is just problem solving.

In design, you’re trying to solve a space and arrangement problem. How are you going to fill that empty space, and with what, to make it an attractive design?

In writing, you’re trying to solve a communication problem. Which words will you use to convey your idea to your reader?

In branding, you’re trying to solve an engagement problem. How are you going to present your brand to your audience in a way that they will connect with it, and want what you offer?

And those are just a few examples.

The trick is to stop looking at creativity as "magic," and start looking at it as a formula.

Focus on the pieces, not the void, to solve the puzzle

The reason many people struggle with creativity is because they’re too busy staring at a blank page or other void, and just stress out. They let themselves get overwhelmed with, "Oh my gosh, what am I going to put here?"

Instead, look at it like a puzzle and focus on one piece at a time.

The trick is to stop looking at creativity as "magic,"
and start looking at it as a formula.

The way you turn creativity into a formula, is to break it down to its individual parts, much like a complex math equation.

For example, if you’re designing an eBook, don’t look at the blank page and worry out about what to fill it with. You’ll just overwhelm yourself. Instead, focus on solving the small pieces one at a time:

• What colors will you use?
• What fonts will work best?
• What photos do you need?
• How much text is there?
• Where will you position each element in the available space?
• And so on, and so forth, etc, etc.

Tackle each of these smaller creative problems one at a time, and soon the larger picture will begin to present itself, just like a jigsaw puzzle. And once you assemble those pieces together, you’ll have the eBook design figured out.

Again, this is just one example. The trick is to apply this formula method by breaking the creative project down into its smaller, individual problems. Solve them first, and then assemble them into the larger project you’re trying to create.

The bottom line

The trick to being more creative is to stop worrying about the big, scary void, and figure out the small, individual details first. When you approach creativity in this formula-like manner, it’s a lot easier to crank out creative ideas.

Your turn

Do you think creativity is a gift or a skill? What’s your biggest struggle / frustration with creativity and coming up with ideas? Share your thoughts in the comments below…

How far do you take your branding?

Do you settle on a nice logo, catchy color scheme, a cool design, and call it good?

Or do you immerse yourself completely in your brand like a truffle that’s coated in chocolate?

The more you can immerse everything you do in your brand, the more effective it will be. But just how far can you take your branding, and is it even possible to brand more than just your marketing?

Good question.

Let’s look at your writing; something most people wouldn’t think about branding.

Is it possible to brand your writing?

Absolutely.

Successful authors know that in order to make their writing interesting, they need to develop their own writing style or voice that is unique to them. And once they settle on a style, all of their writing uses it. To put it simply, what they’re doing is building a brand for their writing.

Carrying your brand over to your writing helps you in several ways.

It keeps your writing focused and on topic. By branding your writing, you’ll find it harder to drift into unrelated topics that only confuse your audience.

It helps you develop a writing style. By creating a brand for your writing, you develop a style, voice, and format that will be uniquely yours and make your writing more interesting, and recognizable, to your audience.

It keeps things consistent. Infusing your brand into your writing keeps your writing consistent with your other brand elements. The key word here is consistent. You want your writing style to match the rest of your brand.

How to brand your writing

Now that you see some of the ways branding your writing can help. Let’s look at a few very simple ways to do it.

1. Choose topics that relate to your brand. There’s no need to confuse your audience by writing about topics that don’t relate to your brand. For example, if your business sells fishing tackle, then writing about beauty supplies makes no sense – unless the newest hair conditioner works great for polishing your fishing lures.

2. Choose a voice for your brand. Is your brand sarcastic, playful, or straight-laced? Choosing a voice for your brand can enhance its style, and help your audience connect to it better. For example, if your brand is somewhat laid back and casual, a voice that’s more conversational and even a little snarky can enhance that casual style.

And for those who don’t know what a writing voice is, it’s the style or “tone” you write in. Ideally, the voice for your brand will also be your own natural voice – the writing style that comes naturally to you.

3. Be selective with your wording. Sometimes the words you choose can make a difference too. Always be as concise as possible when you write, but also keep your brand in mind. If your brand is elegant and sophisticated, using slang terms wouldn’t fit with your brand.

4. Be consistent with your formatting. When you write, do you always use subheads, lists, or pull-quotes? Do you find yourself gravitating toward long articles or short ones? Which work better with your audience? Purposely sticking with a format you select helps your audience feel more “at home” with your writing.

For example, posts on Copyblogger all have a very similar structure to them, regardless of the topic. As a result, their readers feel like they’re reading content from a single source rather than a mix of styles from several authors, (even though many different people write for Copyblogger, including myself).

5. End your blog posts the same way. How do you end your blog posts? Do you ask for comments, use a specific phrase to sum up the content of the post, or just leave the reader hanging? Decide what action you want your reader to take, and always close your posts out with that.

The bottom line

Branding is all about providing your audience with a consistent experience whenever they interact with your brand. When they read blog posts, articles, or reports you’ve written, they are interacting with you, and you want to make sure that interaction is consistent with your overall brand.

By purposely setting some standards for your writing, and selecting specific details you will work into each post, you can actually infuse your brand into your writing.

Your turn

Got a favorite way you work your brand into your writing that I didn’t mention above? Share it with everyone in the comments below!

Today I talk about taglines and how to create them.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series and have found it helpful in creating your own unique brand.

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The new site will be launching very soon so if you’d like to be notified when it goes online so you can see how I tied all the brand elements together, enter your name and e-mail address below.

Related Posts:

• Blog Branding Project – Episode 6
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 5
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 4
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 3
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 2
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 1
• Want to Look Over My Shoulder as I Build a Brand?

Just like color selection, the fonts you choose for your brand help create the visual style for your brand.

Choosing the right fonts will enhance the look of your brand, while picking the wrong ones will conflict with your style in the same way poorly matched colors clash.

In today’s video I give you an overview of the different kinds of fonts, show you where you can preview and purchase them, and reveal the fonts I’ve chosen for the new blog and why.

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Related Posts:

• Blog Branding Project – Final Episode
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 5
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 4
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 3
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 2
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 1
• Want to Look Over My Shoulder as I Build a Brand?

Pick the wrong colors, and you’ll have problems with conversion rates.

Pick the right colors, and you’ll find your audience feeling more connected and receptive to your brand.

In today’s video (episode five of the branding project), I go over color selection for our project and show you some tools that will help you rock your own brand’s colors.

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Related Posts:

• Blog Branding Project – Final Episode
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 6
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 4
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 3
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 2
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 1
• Want to Look Over My Shoulder as I Build a Brand?

It always amazes me when a business owner insist on doing thing the way THEY want them done, when research shows their audience wants something else.

Or when a business owner has an idea, a color, or a design style THEY love, and decide to plow forward with it even though it’s exactly what their audience hates.

I blame ego.

In today’s video (episode four of the branding project), I talk about being flexible when building your brand, and the importance of knowing your competition.

Signup for updates on this project

To stay up to date with this project, and be notified when the new blog launches, enter your name and e-mail address below.

Related Posts:

• Blog Branding Project – Final Episode
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 6
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 5
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 3
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 2
• Blog Branding Project – Episode 1
• Want to Look Over My Shoulder as I Build a Brand?