No two snowflakes are alike. When we are working with our businesses and what we want to create, we often forget that what is offered is like no other.

As an entrepreneur and strategist, I believe in brand valuation first. This is what creates the entire life cycle of your business and helps you to remain distinct and ahead of others. I believe that, too often, we focus on how we are going to get a larger audience – by social media, sending emails, videos – and it creates “spinning wheels.” What happens as a result is that we are doing a lot and getting less impact. When there is true, brand identity and valuation, we only need one, good wheel to drive our business. And this lasts for a longer time.

My favourite story is from about 10 years ago. I was working with a client who had an awful presence online and who was spinning wheels to fill up his events. He would call people individually, usually about 5 times, to try to close them to come. He would never fill up. And, to further that, he would go to trade shows to get the rest. Usually which never worked. Instead, we dove into what made him unique and unlike any other business. And we created an entire marketing strategy and brand around that. Now, he spends one hour every month with a free call that hooks people into his events and he fills up – usually instantaneously.

He’s been running the same program with the same graphics and the same emails and the same format for 10 years. And his outcome has never changed. This is because we focused on what his brand valuation was and what his business was really about. Instead of doing what he traditionally thought was right, he turned the wheel to what was the most attractive. That was him and what he offered as a business. Not what a sales or marketing person “should” do.

There isn’t any business that should have the same marketing plan. All audiences should have a twist to them. And when it comes to the products, the differentiation should be like no other. When we really start thinking about who we are as entrepreneurs, business owners or with unique concepts we are offering, it helps us to stand out, ahead and above the rest. I believe that by focusing on our uniqueness and authenticity, we not only are able to work better as businesses, but are able to find innovative measures that only we would do to reach out to networks and to our true calling.

My challenge to everyone I meet in terms of business and their brand is to identify their authentic, unique “you.” And if it’s a growing business, what is it about your business brand that no one else can measure as competitors? This is the true value of every business. It’s what makes you sustainable as well as innovative. And, this is the formula that I use to accelerate your success.