Using Positivity to Improve Your Brand
I try to read one book a month on a topic aimed at keeping me grounded and focused on continual self improvement. This month’s book was Before Happiness by Shawn Achor, the sequel to his first book The Happiness Advantage. I highly recommend both books, but this blog will focus on Before Happiness, which chronicles how to become a positive genius and achieve success by spreading happiness and making positive change. I found a lot of ways in which I believe companies can apply these same principals to their brand to improve their reputation and gain more marketshare. Here are my takeaways to use positivity to improve your overall brand!
For many businesses that are trying to grow, constant set backs, obstacles, competition, and employee issues can have a way of getting in the way of achieving your goals. Shawn Anchor writes about those who are able to persevere most through these challenges have “the consistent ability to create this kind of reality called positive genius” which leads to success, performance, and even happiness. He says that “before potential, there is motivation. Before motivation there is an emotion. And before emotion, there is your reality.” Being able to cultivate the reality that you desire is the epitome of what marketing is all about! So how do we break through the day-to-day struggles to create the reality that we want for our businesses? Here are some tips that he provided that I have adapted into usable techniques for brands.
Map Success Routes Before Escape Routes. So many businesses spend time thinking about the potential issues that could arise, or the competition. It’s good to be prepared, but I find that time is often better spent planning out ways to succeed rather then preventing ways you could fail. For example, you could spend weeks scrutinizing how to perfect an email campaign. Or you could spend that time experimenting with various email messages and actually hitting send multiple times to see what works and what doesn't At the end of the day the real data you have from campaigns that you have tried, far outweighs to “what if” scenarios you play out in your head.
Zoom in on your target. All brands have goals, but how feasible they are can really impact your motivation to achieve them. Shawn writes about how the closer the proximity of your target, the more likely you are to reach it because it feels within grasp. Setting smaller more attainable goals, can actually make you reach those more lofty ones quicker because you stay motivated. Rather than saying your sales goal is to double your revenue in the next year, maybe focus in on a smaller goal of get two new client over the next two months. You (and your team if you have one) will feel like the goal is more within reach and will actually work harder to achieve the goal because it feels attainable.
Cancel out the noise. We all have a ton of information flying at us all day long, but really most of that is just distractions. I was meeting with a client last week and she was talking about how she feels overwhelmed by all of the things she felt she should be doing. After talking through it, the noise she was exposing herself to by scrolling competitors social media accounts every day, listening to criticism from friends and family members, and focusing on the things that haven’t gone as expected were diverging her completely off her path. Good news is we can choose behaviors that lessen that noise and keep ourselves focused. Having scheduled time in our week when we turn out phones off, limiting who we follow on social media, starting your day with healthy habits rather than checking our emails immediately. Try these things out and see how much more you and your team accomplishes and how that can impact your business.
Don’t vent. The idea of venting for me has always been getting things off my chest. Yet Shawn writes about the negative impacts that venting can have on you and those around you and how you should only do it if your intent in sharing the negative information is to take action to change things. For example, if your complaining to your coworker that your just so busy and can’t get everything done in a day. Then you better be backing that statement up with “but I am going to try XYZ and see if that helps” or “do you have any advice for me?” Otherwise you are wasting your obviously precious time, and your coworkers time by spewing out negativity. Use that time to check something off your list! Try not venting for an entire week, and see how this changes the types of conversations you have and how you feel.
Let your positivity be contagious. Whether you are interacting with a colleague or a client, try hitting them with an extra dose of positivity and see how the conversation evolves. It is incredible how far a smile, a compliment, or a positive spin on a not so positive comment can take things. Same with your brand! In marketing its common to attract customers by relating to their problems. However its a tricky line to tote because you want to keep your messaging positive, yet still solve a problem for them. Instead of starting your next social post or advertisement off with focusing on the solution, rather than the problem that you can solve. Paint the picture of what success could look like, rather than the absence of the problem. See how this shift in your overall communication strategy can impact your audience and the business that you attract.
Just as this book talks about being a positive genius and impacting those around you, brands can do the same thing for their communities of followers. Think about what your company is trying to achieve, not just what you sell, but what your mission is. How can you leverage your reach and influence to better those around you and be a positive impact on others? What changes can you make within your business to create a culture of positivity that could have lasting effects on your business overall? Be sure to pick up a copy of Shawn’s books The Happiness Advantage and Before Happiness, and learn how you can spread a little positivity through your own actions and your brand!
