[E-VOLVE] Steve Harvey Gets It! Do You? Vicki Irvin

I was speaking to my good friend Lance London yesterday, he is a super successful restaurateur who will be speaking at my Extreme Women Entrepreneur’s Event this year!  Lance is a self-made multi-millionaire and he got that way by following some key success principles that EVERY person I know doing well lives by (he’s going to share them with you at the event, so don’t worry).

My conversation with Lance got me to thinking about just how on time the theme of my event is this year, we will be spending some time on proper Branding!

You see, last year Lance won Steve Harvey’s Hoodie Award for having the best restaurant.  Lance was telling me how he didn’t t even want to go the award event because he was always turned off by the NAME of the award  and he had formed his own opinion about it just based on what it was called.

Some friends finally convinced him to go and he was SHOCKED! He said it was one of the classiest and best events he had ever been to, and he runs in some pretty top notch circles. He saw celebrities, met great people and made some amazing connections.  Not to mention he ended up winning which he NEVER in a million years thought he would! Icing on the cake, right?

Well the point of me telling you this story is that Branding and how you put yourself out there REALLY does matter.  I myself had never given the Hoodie Awards much attention either, simply because of the name, it quite honestly seemed “ghetto” to me. I was glad to hear Lance felt the same way and it wasn’t just me!  And I am sure there are many others who shared our “perception.”

But the reality is that Steve Harvey’s Hoodie Award is a HUGE successful affair that brings out THOUSANDS of classy, well- respected and accomplished people.  Bu there still exist people like Lance and I that were turned off by the Brand and name!  And I can imagine the name affected his sponsorship as well.

Well THIS year Steve Harvey and the Hoodie awards have reinvented themselves and are now called the  “Neighborhood Awards.”

The cool part is they “get” that they were alienating some people from coming just based on the negative perception of their name, and they finally did something about it!

Your brand and how people perceive you (right or wrong) is important to your bottom line.  If people don’t get what you do or are confused, then they will walk away.

If people are constantly asking you to explain what you do over and over it means they don’t get it and its time for you to reinvent yourself!!

Ironically Lance is up for the award AGAIN this year and I will definitely be voting for him!

Cheers to Business, Beauty & Balance,

Vicki

 

 

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