Having people talk about you positively is the best branding/marketing/sales you can hope for. This exercise will help you identify behaviours that will generate such talk. In short, you need to be remarkable.

Having people talk about you positively is the best branding/marketing/sales you can hope for. This exercise will help you identify behaviours that will generate such talk. In short, you need to be remarkable.

Seth Godin helpfully points out that being remarkable entails doing stuff that people would incline to remark upon. Sometimes you’re the one who has to do the remarking, as in the seminal passage below.

Han Solo: I'm captain of the Millennium Falcon. Chewie here tells me you're lookin' for passage to the Alderaan system?

Obi-Wan: Yes indeed, if it's a fast ship.

Han Solo: Fast ship? You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?

Obi-Wan: Should I have?

Han Solo: It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs…

The task:

What are two remarkable things that you will do in the coming year, things that will establish your particular specialness? As a test for their remarkableness, can they form the foundation of your marketing and storytelling?

• Can you easily say: “The fact that we did [insert remarkable thing] is proof that we are [insert brand value]” ?

• Do other people familiar with your area of work consider these things remarkable?

• Have you asked Google if other people have already achieved them?

Next step:

Tell three people you respect that you are going to do these things in the next 12 months. Ask them to check in with you on progress every three months. Make your commitment to the goals public if you have a blog or equivalent.