The Legend of Rainmaking and Your brand
Rain- seems like that’s what we got for almost the entire summer! At what point did New York and Seattle trade places and I had no clue?
As rain was the lead subject of discussion for the majority of us Northeasterners the beginning of the Summer, it brings to mind a seminar on Branding I learned from Dr. Benjamin Mack which co-incidentally he entitled How to Be a Rainmaker.
In this and ensuing articles I am going to attempt to cover the most important pointsof the talkwhich included: 1) How to make lightning Strike, 2) How to keep the lightning striking and 3) How to Bottle your Lightning.
In case your not aware of who Bejamin Mack is, he is one of the chief authorities on Branding currently in the USA. He is considered legendary in certain Ad agency circles for this work. Over the years Ben has held tenure some of the most respected advertizing agencies aorund and was a Vice President for Brand strategy for a very large corporation.
In a nut shell what that means is he was in charge of a budget of ” billion dollars (now thats massive amounts money)! To me that indicates someone who has some clout on Branding, don’t you agree? In addition to being a professional magician, Ben Mack has worked magic for many companies over the years, and at age 19 was the receiver of the celebrated (if your into magic) Award of Merit given by the Magic Castle.
Do you know what a Rainmaker is? Do you want to become one? A rainmaker aside from the apparent implication of a indian shaman who using magic makes it rain, is an individual with the outstanding knack to be a magnet for customers, exploit (in a good way) political connections, and bottom line, make the company a lot of dough. However, when it rains the lightning isnt too far away! We will get more into that in a bit.
As a marketer your primary function is to “up sell” people on their experience or understanding of reality. In Benjamin Mack’s book “Think Two Products Ahead” he speaks about how the most valuable branding really only happens only when businesses think two products ahead rather than just thinking here and now and to build a thriving relationship with your clients or customers through your Brand. The section where Ben teaches how to construct your Legend Platform is worth much more than the price of the book itself!
Your “Brand” (the one called YOU!) is formulated around the idea of a “legend” or that is told over and over again and in the log run grow stronger with time. These tales are acceptable to be paradoxical to each other. So, if you had to choose what type of story you would use to make your business sparkle like a diamond (you are reading articles like these to do so correct?) why not have them be legends. How else will you become “Legendary” in your chosen field without them?
Coming soon…follow up articles on Rainmaking, Branding and Legends Oh My!