So thanks to Sally Hogshead, speaker, author, and branding expert, I was reminded yesterday during an AMA webinar (love those!) that instead of measuring how YOU communicate to the world, you should measure how the world is communicating ABOUT YOU. She discussed seven specific triggers in detail: Power, Lust, Mystique, Prestige, Alarm, Vice and perhaps the most important, Trust. She is soon to complete a book on the subject. I will be first in line to purchase.

I took away from the webinar not only a renewed energy in making our own website “fascinate,” but ideas that I can apply to our clients’ sites that will take them to the next level. We are all up against a fierce competitive environment online. We need to separate ourselves from the pack, so to speak, and really captivate our audience through valuable, fresh content, our unique points of view and the innate power we all have to engage.

It is critical to frequently take a step back from our daily routines and ponder what we have to offer that our clients, customers and even personal relationships want/need. If you find yourself without a differentiator in this economy, you might as well roll over and play dead. Create some mystique around your brand through social networking tools like Twitter, LinkedIn or perhaps Facebook. Generate some excitement that will be infectious and spread out across your network.