You know, when we first had kids, I never thought I’d be Googling usernames like Chuggaaconroy and NintendoCapriSun.

Griffin spends hours watching Chuggaaconroy and NintendoCapriSun narrate their console game exploits relatd to Pikmin, Zelda and Super Mario. There’s actually a name for it. It’s called “Let’s Play.” G probably does it as much as he plays the actual console games.

Half the time, we make him watch them without sound. Especially Chuggaaconroy, because he can drop some language. Never an f-bomb, but G is still G, not PG-13, you know?

Still, I’m jealous of these nerds. As much as we small business owners wish for social media presences, we got nothing on these Let’s Play dudes.

Chuggaconroy has 382,766 YouTube subscribers and over 61million channel views! He also has 37,342 Twitter followers and 80,582 Facebok likes with 2,534 people talking about his Facebook page.

NintendoCapriSun has 167,228 YouTube subscribers and 99, 487,462 channel views. Nearly 100milion! On Twitter he has 10, 573 followers. His Facebook numbers are quite modest however, only 604 likes.

What is the lesson to be learned here? I think it’s personality.

These twenty-something guys make a living by layering entertainment on top of entertainment kind of like MSTK3000 (that’s Mystery Science Theater 3000 to the unhip). The inject their personality into what’s ostensibly tips, techniques and cheats. The videos highlight their gameplay skill, the voiceovers provide a steady stream of tips, commentary, complete with screams of agony and ecstacy depending upon how things are going.

For the average small business owner this translates into the important “Never Be Boring Lesson.” It’s easy to separate yourself from your competitors when you take aggressive steps brand yourself as Mr. Insurance or Mrs. Nails in your marketplace.

You do this by demonstrating excellent technical chops and mixing in with a healthy dose of personality and fun. Technical skill is the ante. You have to have this first and then build from it. Marketing-wise, this means you adopt media like PR and public speaking, and also visual media like web videos (you DO have your own YouTube Channel, right?) so people can see your eyes and see you entertain and inform. If you do direct mail, you create fun, outrageous offers. If you do a newsletter, you have fun with it. One of the top newsletters for Dentists is actually an activity book for the toilet. That’s right, it’s sold to dentist’s by a third party and it licenses top content from national newspaper and magazine columnists and includes crosswords and sudokus and has nothing to do with dentistry! And it’s terrifically successful.

The thing with newsletters is that people seem compelled to fill them with boring industry info. Let’s keep that in trade rags and account statements, shall we? The real reason to send a newsletter is three-fold. First to keep in touch. Second to build a relationship (you do that with personality and fun and by sharing). Last, to make a sales offer. Nothing industry- or product-related required!

What steps could you take to brand your business with your personality to competitve advantage? If you’re struggling for ideas, give me a jingle!