Building brand is always best for any business but many individuals think that brand is something that is related to companies but actually it does not matter if you are an individual or a company and you as an individual also can brand yourself. I always believe in building brand personally and work on it quite often. You can always see that I am admin of many forums but you do not see me posting as admin but instead I prefer to use my real name. I always prefer to keep it real because I am definitely Admin but I am Shabbir before I am Admin. Step toward branding myself.
Now let me tell you a recent incident.
Simple Story
When it comes to consulting doctors I always prefer homeopathy medicine and try to consult homeopathy doctors as much as I can. Few years back (Probably 5+ years) I used to visit one doctor whose name I will not disclose but let him be known as Dr A.
Few years back when we shifted, I visited a local homeopathy doctor who is very good and very much similar to Dr A. This made me not to visit Dr. A for years now until recently when I suddenly happen to visit Dr A last weekend and I was shocked to see that he now has multi-storied series of chamber which was just a one room chamber few years back.
He did something really good for many years apart from being a gem of a doctor.
He always used to see patients for free for one full day in a week.
This is not followed by any doctor I know.
Marketing View
At that time being a non-marketing guy I thought it was just a service to the society (and that is actually very true) but now when I am into marketing my view point has enhanced not changed. I looked at it from more than one perspective. Apart from serving to the society he also worked for himself which is
- This gave him a way to brand himself to people who could not afford his fees of 600 INR per visit at that time.
- Made people to line up before dawn or may be some people slept overnight outside his chambers.
- Spread his name and brand virally. I am also not sure how many patients my father and I have referred him but they were quite a few.
- He is well respected person for his activities towards society.
Then and Now
I was curious to know if he still follows the same principle of seeing patient for free.
The answer is yes and no both. He does not see them for totally free but for a very nominal fee of 1/25th of his normal fees and that too for one and a half day now.
So this means he is still working on building the brand of Dr. A for elongated time in a week and this way he not only is serving the society but also allows his name and service to reach the masses. He is not few of homeopathy doctors for the rich.
His current chambers hospital has more than 20+ visiting homeopathy doctors.
Lessons to be learnt
- Dr. A as an individual started to brand his service (medical practice) and still continues to reach the masses.
- It is not that you as an individual cannot brand yourself but you need to be innovative in it and good at reaching the masses.
- Serving the society is always fruitful in the long run.
See the list of individual blogger’s that I follow and all have branded themselves well enough to gain reputation online as a blogger’s.
Do you think yourself as a brand?
So now I have to ask. Do you work to build you as a brand?
If your answer is no it is right time to act. If your answer is yes then how much time you dedicate on it? Remember brand is not something you can build overnight and so you should not be working only on building the brand. Remember Dr A. saw patient for free only once every week and charged handsome otherwise.
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