Spice Girls #05

You may think that the Spice Girls are so far removed from you and your business it's ridiculous. Well, believe it or not, they have in fact delivered us one of the most powerful lessons on personal branding in the world. Their personal branding strategy uncovers keys to unlocking a highly successful marketing campaign for your services and your individual brand.

Whether you love them or hate them, this lesson in personal branding has seen them become a worldwide phenomenon since they first broke out onto the scene in 1996. The Spice Girls delivered to their audience five distinct personalities that connected them with various personality types within their core target markets. These personalities were as named by "Top of the Pops" magazine as; Posh, Baby, Scary, Sporty and Ginger.

Have you ever asked yourself whether or not you have the personality to make it far in your industry? If you're in business services, is your personality so distinct that it makes you stand out amongst the litter of all of your competitors for all of the right reasons? Is it newsworthy? Are the media compelled to call you when they are putting together a feature on your specialty to ask for your expert advice?

Sadly, most business owners forget to brand themselves separate from and in alignment with their business to increase their credibility and authority in the marketplace they reside. By failing to do so they fall flat on their faces when it comes to distinguishing themselves from their competitors. It is this lack of distinction that hinders their process in successfully creating marketing campaigns that resonate in the ears of their prospective clients.

In developing ones personal brand, many key considerations need to be made. The first and most important one is; what do you want to be known as? Scary Spice, Ginger Spice or even Posh Spice? The reason behind doing this is to develop a "personality/character" that clients can associate with your name. This greatly assists in the retention of your products and services in the minds of your prospective clients. It also places you in a position of authority and credibility and the ability to charge more for your services once you are better known.

It can however take time to build credibility within an industry and for people to start calling you by the label you have created for yourself. This can be propelled forward by regularly attending networking events, presenting keynotes and regularly writing articles for various free and paid publications within your industry.

This past Sunday night I was browsing the TV looking for something to watch, when I came upon the show Access Hollywood and a former Spice Girl singer leading the celebrity interviews.

Upon interviewing the ladies participating in the new season of Dancing With The Stars, the Spice Girl (who's name I don't even know, although one could never forget her monstrous ego) conducting the interviews was very rough on the ladies. It was almost as if there was a streak of jealousy in the Spice diva as to the way she was critiquing each lady's performance. The only woman she to whom she was gracious was Priscilla Presley and that primarily due to her age.

When actress Shannon Elizabeth who dances with Derek Hough was interviewed, I was utterly shocked at how rude and insensitive Access Hollywood's Spice diva dealt with Shannon making unkind remarks which caused Elizabeth to cry.

Shannon who was dressed in a stunning red dress and undoubtedly had the best legs of any star on the dance floor got harshly spoken to by Italian-born British dancer and professional choreographer Bruno Tonioli. Bruno told Shannon, "If you're going to dance, you had better get those legs in shape!"

Whether that was a purely physical exhortation from the standpoint of personal fitness or merely outward appearance I don't know. Of course Bruno like Simon on American Idol makes himself famous by being flashy and edgy in his speech.

I realize Bruno is gay, but any other guy would affirmatively say Shannon Elizabeth is worthy of a "TEN!" shout followed by Bruno's signature approving punch for her legs.