Appearance of Influence; Things those You look up to Know and Apply to hold You Spell Bound

In one of my posts, I shared tips to help you become visible as you build your brand. You should read it.

I want to anchor on one key ingredient, easily misunderstood: Appearance.

How should you look to influence people?

Now, there are different school of thoughts for and against looks, judging appearance as a wasteful vain pursuit while others call it an investment. Depending on your exposure and background, you can swing any direction. Now, based on your personality, what you want to achieve, your message, your brand's identity, your target audience. You would need to dress differently for the role.

Think Malala the Pakistani girl, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Obama, Ronaldo, Pastor Chris, Pastor Adeboye, and so much more to mention. Their appearance matched their roles and messages, making it stick to the minds of their followers.

There is a lot into the psychology of appearance when building an influential brand.
Assumptions would be made, you will be judged and people will make decisions based on what they hear from you and wait for it... how you appear!!
If you know and apply this, it will grow your following and INFLUENCE faster than imagined.
Humans are vain!
Read that again.
Vain.. vanity.
In as much as you may want to argue, there is a trace of it in all of us.
Don't rush away, understand what I mean.
We judge a lot by sight more than we'd like to admit.

Who we choose to marry, befriend or is it the cars, clothing we buy to look good and make a statement.
We even choose religious affiliation based on the perception of the organisation, sometimes attraction to the leader or the place of worship. Far reaching but true is the fact that some make the choice to network or for social claims. Petty it seems but it is pure human nature.

One reason you may love your mentor or pastor is that he appears inspirational; looking like a future you. Hmmm..

Make no mistake, we subconsciously read meanings to appearance every time.

What attracted Adam and Eve to the forbidden fruit?
Sight.. It looked nice the scripture reads.
See, no be today matter. It haff tay in human behaviour.
Someone looks nice and clean, we attribute success, class, responsibility or the other range: carefree, useless, irresponsible and what have you.
This also affects sales a lot. You position in a way and no sales. You tweak and boom!
Now you see why bankers try to look good on suit even if some have not paid for it? Go figure!

Seeing this, what should you do to grow your influence?
How can you command huge followership with your appearance even if you have few clothes?
What should you bear in mind in creating your appearance?
How much should you put in to your appearance?
And lastly, how do you sell yourself or products with your appearance?
If I attempt answering these here, it will be too long a post. I will deal with it in my forth coming book: The Message Clarity Blueprint.
Is that fine?

Now, what do you think about how people appear (dress) and how you view them based on it?

Let me throw in my outfit today, you just made an assumption about me.
I'd love to read from you.

By: Peter Ochuko Kajovo