How to build a personal brand in the circle of friends?

Before this, I have written a lot about personal brand building, and many friends got results after reading it.

But this time, I bring you an upgraded version, which is suitable for both ToC customers and ToB customers. Let you truly understand what personal branding in the circle of friends is. The following principles and practices.

In this article, we will re-understand the concept of "personal brand in circle of friends" from the perspective of an expert. It also contains my latest ideas, methods and principles so that you and I can put them into practice and get results.

This article uses the perspective of a “sales expert” to re-understand and practice the concept of “personal brand in circle of friends”. So after reading this, you can become a true sales expert just by using the action of building your personal brand on WeChat Moments. This method is applicable to both ToC and ToB customers.

Before I start, let me correct a series of misconceptions:

1. Think that personal branding in the circle of friends is just about changing the profile picture and making a cover photo.

2. Believe that personal branding in the circle of friends means good interaction and social marketing.

3. I believe that to build a personal brand in the circle of friends, you need to create good content and update it continuously.

4. Believe that the personal brand in the circle of friends must be high-end and have high standards.

In my opinion, the above understandings are all "wrong". Although this works, it is not the best approach.

So what is the best way? Keep reading.

What is a personal brand in the circle of friends? My latest definition is: it starts from solving problems, the core is to provide value, the operational level is to do a series of small things right, and it is a reliable and trustworthy personality.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand. Just read the following carefully and you will understand.

In my opinion, if you want to become a marketing expert and make your personal brand in your circle of friends powerful, you need to practice from these four dimensions, which include principles and methods of implementation.

1. Retreat to advance and restrain marketing

What ordinary salespeople do is to show concern and continue to sell. What experts do is: don’t take the initiative, let customers come to you.

Remember one principle: retreat to advance and restrain marketing. Only those who are not proactive can be considered truly proactive.

Although we say that the circle of friends is an ecosystem of acquaintances, don’t expect to become acquaintances with a customer just by adding him on WeChat. From the perspective of human nature, people will deliberately create ways of not replying and ignoring to gain a sense of existence. Therefore, the chances of getting in touch with friends you add at the venue are generally very small, and you shouldn’t expect to win customers through offline activities.

So, I suggest you another approach: retreat in order to advance, and let customers come to me actively.

Especially for unfamiliar customers, what we need to do is to find ways to get familiar with them, make them interested in you, and trust you, and then talk to them about business and products.

"Retreat to advance" is an advanced strategy. Many salespeople send product information to everyone they meet, but in my opinion, any information you send to customers before you can provide value to them is harassment. The result will definitely be customer disgust, and real customers will run away.

For unfamiliar customers or customers we haven’t talked to for a long time, during the ice-breaking stage, we use direct methods such as sending messages and making phone calls, as well as many indirect methods. For example, I have two ways to market myself in the circle of friends:

The first is to analyze customer portraits. Find out what the other person likes and dislikes, including people and things. People are always looking for people with "similar tastes" to themselves. For example, those who are engaged in technology and scientific research often do not pay attention to price or brand first. What they value is logic, data, and verifiability. They will not believe any of the fantastic things you say. Therefore, when I recommend products to them, I will focus on using science and data.

The second is to consciously focus on displaying content that interests customers. To shorten the distance and build goodwill, this function must be used and visible to groups in the circle of friends.

No one likes a pain in the ass who just sells stuff. But no one will reject a personal image that has life, thoughts, products, and is fresh, full, and real. (The character image will be discussed later)

Practice method:

1. Retreat in order to advance is the last time. Being proactive all the time is actually being passive. When you are too proactive, you should reflect on yourself. Even if you are pursuing a girl, being too proactive will make you less valuable.

2. Never use a bombardment approach to harass others every day, no matter how useful your information is. Because in my opinion, everyone’s most important resource is “attention”. Harassing others is disrespectful.

3. Retreating is for better gains, rather than giving up and waiting for the results.

2. Don’t send information, only send solutions

Remember one principle: what you send to customers is not information, but solutions. If it is not information about solutions, then you should never send it.

When sending a message to a potential customer, before sending it, ask yourself whether you are providing real value to the customer. If it’s not of high value, I’d rather not post it.

What customers hate is people who send them useless messages, but they don’t hate people who provide them with value.

Even valuable information requires expression skills. No matter how many words you send to your customers, you must follow two principles:

First, the content is simple and clear, describing the scene and the effect. I will directly describe the product usage scenarios and customer benefits, so that they can understand at a glance what this thing is for and what benefits it will bring to them;

Second, come prepared and have pictures and the truth. It is easy for people to reject a description and an idea, but it is difficult for people to reject a real and visible effect.

The content formula of the circle of friends = having a scenario + having an effect + being verifiable + being actionable + being concise enough.

Case: For example, I sold solar heating systems. Then I will focus on describing the performance and technical features of this system, because technical people are very concerned about this information. However, I cannot just brag about dry data like how much heat our 5,000 square meter system can generate. Words are not enough, they pay more attention to the test results. Therefore, I will post real photos and videos of successful projects I have done before, preferably photos of the system running interface.

I will also quote the feedback my customers gave me and add a paragraph to the above content: "The customer told me that this 5,000 square meter system solves 50% of their company's heat needs. Since it was put into operation for one month, it has helped them save 300,000 yuan in natural gas costs, and it is expected to save 3 million yuan for the whole year."

Don't disturb customers easily, and cherish the value created after every message you send. Bombarding messages will only result in blacklisting and will not generate any orders.

Practice method:

1. Before sending a message, you should check whether the message is concise enough and whether it solves the customer's pain points.

2. In terms of expression, whether it is an old customer or a new customer, it is good to think about whether the content you express has a scenario, an effect, and even pictures and truth.

3. The content formula of the circle of friends = having a scenario + having an effect + being verifiable + being actionable + being concise enough.

3. Create a personal image so that customers can actively find you

Remember one principle: no one likes a annoying person who only sells goods.

No one likes a pain in the ass who just sells stuff. But no one will reject a personal image that has life, thoughts, products, and is fresh, full, and real.

In addition, when writing content for Moments, you should also establish a set of principles. For example: don’t exaggerate, don’t lie, and don’t deceive others. In terms of content, it is best to directly quote the customer's retelling, which will make it authentic and reliable. Always be vigilant and avoid publishing content that is bland.

In terms of content, you must sell to target customers throughout the entire process, but you must not make the other party feel disgusted. Always focus on establishing a good impression and don't devalue yourself.

Of course, many salespeople also know the importance of WeChat Moments marketing, so they post a large amount of WeChat Moments content every day, hoping to influence customers through various content bombardments, which often backfires in the end. My suggestion is to publish no more than 3-4 product-related content and about 3 personal life content per week.

Based on my past experience, as long as you manage your circle of friends well, as time goes by, at least 50% of your sales will come from customers who come to you on their own initiative.

Before that, use the content in your circle of friends to shape your charm and make your potential customers familiar with you.

The formula for creating charm = authority + affinity + focus on the present.

Practice method:

1. Always check the information in your circle of friends. Is the person you post to your circle of friends a real person with flesh and blood, love and hate?

2. You can group and label the people in your circle of friends, so that specific people can see specific content, which will be very effective. (The essence of label management is customer classification management)

3. My suggestion is to publish no more than 3-4 product-related content and about 3 personal life content per week.

4. The content formula of the circle of friends = 20% professional knowledge (professional identity) + 10% life content + 5% industry views + 60% cases recounted by customers + 5% comments on social hot spots.

4. Use the product manager’s mindset to do marketing

Remember one principle: use the mindset of a product manager to do sales, not a salesman.

Each of our marketing actions should revolve around "product development, demand analysis, and promoting goal achievement."

Transform sales thinking into service thinking. Help customers to discover and solve problems. Naturally, customers will become your friends.

Only ordinary sales will focus on: product introduction, communication, skills, and customer relationships.

The truth is that a sales expert must have the mindset of a product manager and always aim to "solve problems." As for giving gifts and maintaining relationships, I think they are just added bonuses.

Of course, communication is also important. A true master will spend 80% of his time on the communication process with the client, and he can promote the transaction by just being a listener.

How to practice:

1. Collect customer information in advance and understand their pain points. You can use your expertise to provide solutions to customers by asking directly or indirectly. By the way, clients of large companies often have the upper hand because they have more advantages, but if you are determined, small companies can actually get big opportunities too.

2. Provide differentiated services to customers. When others are selling products, you need to change your dimension, but focus on "solving customer problems."

3. Always remember the framework model of "product development, demand analysis, and promoting goal achievement" and treat yourself as a product manager.

In conclusion, if you want to become a sales expert through personal branding in your circle of friends, you only need to practice these five principles and methods every day.

1. Retreat to advance and restrain marketing. Let customers come to you instead of chasing them. No client likes to be forced to do something.

2. Every time you send a message to a customer, it is an output of value. What we send to customers is not information, but solutions. We will never send information that is not a solution.

3. Create a qualified personal image. No one likes a pain in the ass who just sells stuff. But no one will reject a personal image that has life, thoughts, products, and is fresh, full, and real.

4. Use a product manager’s mindset to do sales. To do sales with a product manager’s mindset, rather than a salesman’s, is to have the ability of a product manager.

5. Display specific content in Moments. By limiting viewing and designing specific content in the circle of friends, you can let different customers see different content, build trust in you, and achieve the purpose of the transaction.

You see, a true personal brand in your circle of friends is actually the ability to solve problems.

If you still don’t understand the core, I suggest you save this article, read and practice it repeatedly, and you can also become a marketing expert of the truth. Whether you are in the insurance industry or any other industry.

The above is my latest understanding of the personal brand in the circle of friends from a sales perspective. If my article is useful to you, please forward it to your friends.

Author: Li Xianhong

Source: Li Xianhong