A radio program on NPR intrigued me recently when a guest was being interviewed on his opinion regarding Obama’s display of leadership and follow-through.  Motivating this and other discussions across the airways is disappointment by some democrats regarding Obama’s “soft style” and/or inability to take a firm stand on strongly-held democratic positions, arguing his actions do not line up with rhetoric used during his election and inaugural address. Similarly, Wisconsin Public Radio aired a discussion recently about the likelihood Obama can be reelected if unemployment remains high and his public approval ratings continue to decline.  In other words, if his leadership brand continues to sour.

All of this has me thinking about “walking the talk” and the importance that walking the talk plays in leadership branding.  Not only for the President of the United States, but also for the Presidents of High Technology Companies.  How we brand ourselves as leaders to our people is directly proportional to getting positive results.

Here’s what we can learn about corporate and personal leadership branding from Mr. President:

Principle #1: Be (and appear to be) fearless in times of difficult decision-making

Middle of the road is the road to nowhere. When we make “middle ground” decisions in an attempt to satisfy all people in our organization, we end up looking like losers (not leaders) to everyone in the company. Finding the middle ground in a difficult situation feels safe, but it will come back to haunt you as your once biggest fans (or loyal employees and customers) gradually turn against you.

Principle #2: It’s a wonderful thing to be loved by many and hated by many

To be loved AND hated is a solid indication you are living by your core values. If you are a great leader, it’s likely your core values lifted you to your position to begin with.  If you are not a great leader, your leadership brand is revealing your true colors to your employees and customers.  Check yourself before you wreck yourself

Principle #3: Give your customers what they want

By giving our customers what they want we can get what we want – loyalty. If you are not capable of giving your internal and external customers what they want, you should not be President or CEO or Mr. Executive.  You’d be a greater contributor doing something you’re good at.  Fearless, values-driven leadership gets results even amongst the strongest resistance and greatest challenges.  This is what your company wants!

So… how to appear and be fearless? How to be loved and hated by many?  Know your values and live by them always.  This is your leadership brand! Easier said than done?  Yes…if you are not a leader.

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Nearly every company I work with has a fuzzy concept of WHO their target audiences are.  This is a big problem for obvious reasons.  First and foremost, if you’re not crystal clear about whom you’re talking to; you are not talking to anyone at all!  Your message is not being heard, and you’re wasting your precious time, money and effort.

Here are 3 easy steps to profiling your prospective customers so you can attract your ideal audience and deliver profitable solutions:

Step #1: Identify your target audiences

The object of this step is to identify up to 3 target audiences by title.  Your primary audience will have the highest potential for impacting your top line, followed by your secondary and tertiary audiences, if applicable.  And yes, some market research is always a good idea to identify these audiences with confidence.

Some of you will have a secondary audience that you coincidentally attract while you are marketing to your primary audience.  Who is that?  Write this audience down.  You will want to pay some attention to your secondary audience even though they’re not your bread and butter.  Others of you will have three very important audiences you will want to be attracting at all times.  Write them down by specific title and/or role.

Here’s an example…

An online kids’ sports coach locator targets (1) Parents with children in team and individual sports; (2) Coaches; (3) Sports-focused companies interested in advertisement opportunities

Notice the specificity of the audiences selected. Its not just parents, its parents with children in team and individual sports.  And not just team sports, but individual sports as well.  Also notice the secondary audience is not identified as sports coaches (as one might expect), but coaches in general.  That’s because this business owner has carefully reflected and recognized there may be leadership or physical performance coaches available through his service.  The tertiary audience, sports-focused companies, are important for additionally monetizing his website.  He will need to make a conscious and strategic effort to attract this tertiary audience as well.

Your turn…Who are your target audiences?  Are you being specific enough?  If you are not specific enough you won’t properly identify customer wants or position solutions in steps 2 and 3 below.

Step #2: Understand prospective customers’ pains and desires

Going back to the example in Step #1, the primary audience specified both team and individual sports into one audience, verses primary and secondary audiences for team sports and individual sports, respectively.   This is because the business owner understands that parents with kids in team sports and individual sports have very similar fears/frustrations/concerns.  This is what’s next…We cannot possibly understand what our customers want unless we first analyze their top pains/problems.

Ask yourself the following questions for each of your target audiences:

What is most frustrating to your primary audience?

Why is it frustrating to them?

What are the implications of trying to cope with this frustration?

What do your customers WANT as a result of having to deal with these problems?

Note:  I did not suggest you consider what your customers NEED.  Needs and wants are two different animals.  I need a new color printer, but I want an iPad.  Which one do you bet I put my available funds toward?  Your kids need to eat more vegetables but they want mac & cheese.  Which one do you suspect they’ll ask for when hungry?  The point…we buy based on what we want, not on what we need.  Although we try like hell to be rational, we are typically emotional buyers, not rational buyers.  This brings us to Step #3…

Step #3: Create solutions that match up with prospective customer “wants”

A lot of our solutions stem from what we believe our customers need.  And a lot of times, our customers don’t buy our solutions…go figure.  But now that we’ve identified our target audiences and have taken the time to understand their pains and desires, we are ready to create, tweak, and position our products and services according to what the customer knows he/she wants.

Can you see the importance of this difference?  We believing what they need verses them knowing what they want?  Given the choice, which solutions would you put your money behind creating?  How about that of your investors?  That’s right…the latter.  Your turn.

Go back to your pain analysis and look at each top fear, frustration, and worry and ask yourself the following important question…

Within the scope of my business and capabilities, what product or service can I create and launch that will specifically address this “pain” for my customer?

If you find you already have a solution for the particular pain in question, good for you!  You can rest assured you are on the right track.  However, if you find you have a bunch of preexisting solutions that don’t address your customers’ pains, have no worries. You now know what you need to do.  Tweak your existing solutions or eliminate them altogether.  Move on and move forward.  At least now your future can be bright.

It’s a huge error to assume we already know all there is about our prospects.  Revisit and really take time to analyze your target audiences and reflect on what they WANT.  What are their top pains/problems?  What are the implications of those pains? And, what do they want as a result?

Only when we know what our prospects/customers want can we truly speak their language, get them to notice us, and take a serious look at our solutions. Failing to do this will result in your start-up never getting off the ground, or your established business scrambling in a panic for survival.

Increase your attractiveness in the market…provide solutions your customers WANT!

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