I was talking with a contact last week who is building out her (online) business. She has a product, a good product, and is thoroughly developing the brand and marketing collateral.

A noticeable absence? There is almost no way for me to advertise her product on her behalf, to act as social sponsor inside of my network for others to purchase it too.

The product itself is not social. So, she needs to work on that. I shared my own personal brand philosophy, and of course there are many ways to describe techniques and approaches, here is mine:

Be F.R.E.S.H. yo! Create content and conversation and collateral that is:

Fun (most people and products take themselves too seriously, laughter releases endorphins that marketeers would crawl over hot coals to gather)

Revealing (there is a thin line between social and gossip, and the line is moving all the time with younger cohorts redefining what is privacy)

Entertaining (we all like to enjoy ourselves, right?! Native ads and other content marketing strategies are blurring the lines between selling and entertaining.)

Sharable+Social (you have the world’s largest network – everyone – available to you if you hit a collective nerve)

Heartfelt (we want our world and our network to be real, no bullshit please).

When you do these things – sometimes in isolation, or linearly, increasingly in combination – you are creating memories for people, and lowering the barriers to them hitting the “Share with your network” button.

When people do that – when they click that button – you are relevant in the world (and it can be a very niche play, as per Godin’s advice).

Amidst the exponential growth of data, relevance is an increasingly valuable attribute. So consider how you can Be F.R.E.S.H., so as to play a part in the global conversation around your topic of choice. Don’t stay on the sidelines. Take ACTION! #14Actions.

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