You know the answer to that.

You’re not.  And you should.  We all should.

And to achieve successful branding we need to be able to differentiate our brand from all the other brands out there.

Why do you think you never see Christianne Amanpour interviewing a group of, say, automakers, from Detroit? Because that’s not her brand. She’s created a name for herself in exploring and analyzing the issues behind international hot spots like the Middle East.  Or you might see her donning a burka to covertly explore tormented and male dominated society in Afghanistan.

Why do you think Martha Stewart‘s version of The Apprentice took a nose dive?  Because Martha Stewart is not usually thought of in a board room making decisions.  She’s thought of baking the best and most beautiful cherry pies.  Or picking a soft, signature color for a living room.  That’s why her association with KB Homes works.  Because people can see Martha and her expertise in that setting.  Martha Stewart may be a mogul, but people don’t perceive her that way.  Because that’s not her brand.

To examine branding a little more closely let’s take a look at food conglomerate Kraft Foods which sells hundreds of different food items in 155 countries.  Everything from A1 Steak sauce to Jello, Planters Peanuts, Velveeta and Wheat Thins.

Ok. A little further down that food chain, General Foods International is a subdivision of Kraft Foods and it produces several different flavors of instant coffee, everything from Cafe Vienna, Dark Mayan Chocolate, Hazlenut Belgian, Orange Cappuccino and Pumpkin Spice to Viennese Chocolate Cafe.  Not much chance of mistaking Dark Mayan Chocolate with Pumpkin Spice, right?

And it should be the same with each of us.  Our potential audience, customers or clientele should know instantly whether we are Dark Mayan Chocolate or Pumpkin Spice, metaphorically speaking.

For instance, I operate a number of websites, one of which is called AdvancingWomen.com.  It deals with with career and financial parity for women by electronically mentoring them so they have the tools and training to get better jobs or start their own businesses.  Occasionally we mention women running for political office, because, research shows, women legislators will pass laws more supportive of women. Fighting for equal pay would be one example.  No one on the web confuses AdvancingWomen.com with a dating site.  No one goes there for gossip or make-up tips.  We are what we are.  And people know what we are.  We may have a small slice of a large pie, but we do have a slice.  We don’t aim to gobble up the whole pie and lose even our slice in the food fight that follows.  As Esther Dyson, venture capitalist and digital guru said, “More companies die from indigestion than starvation.”  In other words, they take on too much and flame out or stumble down trying to handle it all.

So the bottom line is: Look deep inside yourself and decide who you are.  Narrow your focus.  Concentrate on that. That will be “Brand You”. Broadcast that and you will succeed.

A pair of boots with one bootstrap visible.

BootStrapMe: Tips for the serious bootstrapper.

Just in case you’re not familiar with the term, Wikipedia to the rescue: bootstrapping or booting which began as a leather strap evolved into a group of metaphors that share a common meaning, to better oneself by one’s own unaided efforts, or a series of self-sustaining processes that proceed without external help.

Sound familiar?  If it sounds very familiar, you may be a bootstrapper.  I have bootstrapped a number of businesses so it’s a very familiar term to me.

Shawn Hessinger, who is a bootstrapper himself, is also a blogger and journalist who spent years covering business issues. Then he decided to dive off the deep end, become an entrepreneur and blog about his adventures. He shares some hard won knowledge, which might be helpful to you, if you are considering bootstrapping or are already in the thick of it.

“Once the wave of exuberance over starting a new bootstrap business passes giving way to a lot of hard work accompanied by occasional disappointment, it’s time to take some serious stock…

• Take criticism seriously. Though it’s the part that NOBODY wants to deal with, the fact is criticism can be your best friend, if you learn to read it correctly. Learn to draw inspiration from your customers’ complaints to build a better product by knowing the difference between things you can change, things you can’t and what requests are just unreasonable.

• Treat your startup like a job. You would think this would be obvious to anyone. But, if the reason you became an entrepreneur is so you wouldn’t have to do it, it’s time for some unpleasant facts. Behind all the supposed glamour that comes with owning your own business, there’s just a lot of plain old fashioned effort. Think of it this way. The only difference between work you do for your startup and what you do for an employer is the person who owns what is built by that labor in the end.

• Reinvent yourself daily. There will be things that don’t work and paths that lead to no where. The benefit of bootstrapping is that while you have no money, you also have no constraints. With no one looking over your shoulder to tell you, ‘That’s not how you do it,’ finding the right equation may be easier.

• Focus on problem solving. Most business goals can be better seen as a series of challenges to overcome or problems to be solved than as the pursuit of a single and constant goal. Break your startup into challenges and set priorities for what must be done. With each problem you solve you will find others arising. Keep the process going and you will slowly inch toward your goal…often almost without realizing.

• Never give up. Never surrender. … There are days you will feel like throwing in the towel. Remember, very few things are an immediate success. Persistence is key in the end.”

To read this entire post or more of Shawn’s blogging, go to BootStrapMe: Tips for the serious bootstrapper.

You may also want to consider these suggestions by

Esther Dyson,  who gave some advice to Bambi Francisco CEO, co-founder , Vator TV, Inc. (Owner) in Esther Dyson: Feign smarts by listening more

Dyson is “widely regarded as an Internet/high-tech luminary, thought leader, and respectable investor, having put money in some of the hottest startups, such as Flickr and del.icio.us (both part of Yahoo), and more recently 23andMe, which is backed by Google.

In this “Lessons learned” segment, Esther offers her advice to entrepreneurs and lessons learned to investors.

Her first is to listen. “Whatever the context, people will think you’re smarter,” she said.

The second is to be focused and not be distracted. “More companies die of indigestion,” she said. “Pick one opportunity and do it well, rather than do five or six things badly… opportunities will always be there.”

The third one is “always make new mistakes.”

Hopefully, we can all focus in, listen to Dyson, and try to only make new mistakes

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