Brand Champion of the Day- Christine Clifford Beckwith, President of the Cancer Club and Beckwith Partners

Today the Brand Champion of the Day is Christine Clifford Beckwith. Christine is President of the Cancer Club and, along with husband, Harry Beckwith, forms Beckwith Partners. Many of you probably know Christine as an award-winning international speaker. I was first introduced to Christine's work, when I read a book that she co-authored with her husband, entitled You, Inc. I was really impressed with the book, and you will note, I have it on my recommended reading list for brand champions.

In Christine's bio, I read that she attended the University of Denver (DU). As many of you know, I used to work at the University, so I emailed Christine to congratulate her on the book and informed her of our common bond at DU. After several email exchanges, I invited Christine to share some thoughts with us today on what she thinks it means to be a brand champion.

Christine says, "I'm delighted to participate. I think what I'd love to write about is the new book, "You, Inc. The Art of Selling Yourself". It is a book about the brand "YOU".

As with all companies, products, services or causes that people are trying to establish a brand for, at the heart of every transaction the first thing you sell is yourself. People buy YOU. You need to ask yourself several questions: Who are you? Find your story and tell it well. What do you do? You must be able to answer that simply. What is your specialty? Become a Jack of One Trade instead of a Jack of a Dozen Trades, and people will look to you or your company as the "expert" in your field. Ask yourself, How am I stereotyped? Then break the mold.

When I set about starting The Cancer Club, I answered these very questions. Who was I? A cancer survivor who found humor in her journey. What do I do? Offer humorous and helpful products to people with cancer. Our specialty? Laughter. And boy, did we break the stereotypical mold of cancer survivors! Until my first book ("Not Now...I'm Having a No Hair Day!") was published, only two people had attempted to use humor to describe a cancer experience: Erma Bombeck in her book "I Want to Grow Hair, I Want to Grow Up, I Want to go to Boise" and Gilda Ratner in her book, "It's Always Something." But no one had used cartoons to describe the journey. Another critical aspect of establishing your brand is to have a name for your company/service/cause no longer than three syllables and nine letters. Why? Because people can't remember anything longer than that. Our most successful and recognizable companies today? Nike...Lexus...FedEx...Google...Apple. Make your name memorable, like Cancer Club, and position yourself as a brand. And don't forget to laugh!"TM

Christine, thank you so much for sharing your inspirational insights. What do you think of what Christine has to say?

Comments

[Erik]

I find it interesting that the brand focus can be applied to an individual, but after reviewing some of my own actions it makes total sense. I feel that organizations are often looking for that next step or that spark and as a person you need to know how to communicate what you do and your focus to determine if it matches with the organization. I have often spoken with colleagues that have taken positions and postured against their normal beliefs only to end up leaving the company because end the long run there was a disconnect. I am left wondering had they focused on their strengths, instead of what they thought the company wanted to hear, if the outcome would have differed. I would imagine that, in one particular instance, the company would have modified their expectations from the onset just to secure the talents of this one individual thus avoiding the disconnect that surfaced before the end of the first year.