Commoditization and Personal Branding

What is commoditization?

I like to use cell phone companies because I seem to always get bombarded with their commercials at every turn.

Their advertising is all about their latest offer.  Each of them claims to have the best “deal.”

It’s all about money and the race to the bottom.  That becomes the only differentiator and you become a commodity.  Something that people don’t care about and have no loyalty to.

The deal is, how you provide distinct value makes you one of kind with a genius zone that is purely your own.
Remember why you were chosen in the first place.
How do you make magic with your Advantages?
How do you make yourself irreplaceable?

Consider wine. You can get it at any liquor store or, depending on where you live, at your corner grocery store.  I’m not what I’d consider a wine fanatic.  I used to view wine as a commodity and to some degree still do.

But not when it comes to Nocking Point Wines.

Sure, co-owner Stephen Amell is easy eye candy. He’s got this little tv show on the CW that I’m completely hooked on.

None of that would normally get me on board to buy wine from Walla Walla, WA.

None of that would normally get me to go out to Walla Walla, WA for a wine party and subsequently join the Nocking Point Wine Club and Nocking Point Goods Club.

nocking point and fascination

I’m sure there are plenty of wine clubs with supposedly better prices.

Why Nocking Point?

Let me count some of the ways.

Fun. Try to quantify that. It’s kind of priceless. Wine Parties with their fans. Because they can. Random goodies. Comic books, for goodness’ sake.  I’m married to one of those comic book geeks and could easily roll my eyes at another comic book.  But the NP Christmas Comic Book is hysterically entertaining. Sinceriously.

Philanthropy. Stephen and Andrew give a portion of their proceeds to F$%& Cancer.  Why not?  Cancer needs to be wiped off the face of the earth.
If my having some fun gets it a little closer, then by all means, let’s do it.

Even as I’m writing this, I’ve got a smile on my face.  One of my shipments arrived this week. It’s a little bit of Christmas every time I get a Nocking Point box.  

And that should be the goal, right?
That every single one of your customers and clients loves the value you give them so much that it makes them happy.
It doesn’t matter how much it costs.  You solve a problem.
There’s plenty of room at the top when you provide value.

But you need to know how to communicate what that value is to prevent yourself from becoming a commodity.

Do you know how you provide distinct value?
Take the assessment.
28 questions.5 minutes online. You get a 16-page customized report chock full of language to help you describe how you deliver value using your Fascination Advantages.