Make Your Brand Story Resonate With Your Customers

Everyone has a story.  Every company, every product, every community, every industry has a story.  Think about your own story for a moment.  If you were to write your biography, how would it go?  What would it say about you?  Everyone, no matter how young or old, has gone through experiences both good and bad.  These experiences may have been experiences that others have also lived through.  But everyone views these experiences differently.  What might have seemed to be traumatic and life-altering to one person can seem like just a bump in the road of life to someone else.  Now, in writing your personal story, remember that not everyone really cares to hear it.  But some people, the key people in your life, will want to know every juicy detail.

What's your story?

Now relate that to your business.  Your business also has a story to tell.  Whether your business has only been in operation for 3 months or for 25 years it still has a history.  And, just like your personal story, not everyone cares to hear about your business.  Only a few key people really want to know who you are.  Your story is the basis of your brand.  You can’t develop a brand until you know the whole story.  So, think about what you want people to know about you.  Being authentic is the key to developing trust with people.  Be upfront about your shortcomings.  Let people in.  We’ve all made mistakes.  We’ve all done things we wish we could go back and change.  But life moves on and going back to change something that’s already happened isn’t possible.  The bigger your company gets, the more you are under the microscope.  I hate to say it, but there are people out there who want to see you fail.  Most people genuinely want to see you succeed, but some don’t.  But those aren’t the people you need to be concerned with.  When you remain authentic and conduct your business with professionalism and respect, and handle mistakes swiftly and with dignity, you will make a name for yourself that people remember in a positive way.  Those naysayers who want to bring you down won’t be able to. 

Who are the people you most want to attract?  You may very well have more than one target market, but don’t try to be everything to everybody.  Like I said, some people are not people you need to be targeting to.  So, think about how your target market wants to communicate with you.  What do they want and why do they want it.  People want to feel a sense of belonging, a connection, a feeling of being understood.  Last year, Shania Twain published her autobiography.  I went through an experience very similar to one she had gone through and as I was reading her feelings about it, I felt like, “she gets it”, she’s someone I could totally sit down with and talk about this and we could totally relate to each other.  She is one person who automatically comes to mind when I say “personal brand”.  Like Madonna or Cher, Shania only needs one word for people to know who she is and what she’s about.

Company brands are no different from personal brands in that they create an image in the minds of their customers.  That brand is developed through trust, by being true to who they are and marketing to like-minded consumers.  People develop a loyalty to a brand because of the feeling of understanding and connection.

So, whether you are developing a brand for your company or a personal brand for yourself, keep these tips in mind.

·         Stay true to who you are

·         Don’t apologize for who you are

·         Own up to past mistakes but don’t dwell on them.

·         Market your message to the right market

You’ll know when your brand story has resonated with the right market.  Your ideal customers will become repeat customers and become the biggest ambassadors for your brand.  So, what is your story? 

Social Media Communication - How to Make it Work for You

This past weekend was our high school reunion.   As part of the celebrations we had the honour of a performance by two of our alumni, Don and Dave Carroll, also known as Sons of Maxwell.

I’ve known Dave personally since our high school days so I always look forward to getting a chance to talk to him whenever he and Don come home.  This year, I didn’t have a chance to talk to him because he was so busy selling his new book, aptly called “United Breaks Guitars”.  Dave’s musical career got an unexpected boost in 2009 when communication between him and United Airlines prompted him to communicate in a new and different way.  This story has been told thousands of times, but I’ll just do a quick recap.  In 2008, Don and Dave and their band mates were travelling to Nebraska for a performance via United Airlines.  United Airlines subsequently broke Dave’s beloved Taylor guitar but refused to help him in any way.  After months of arguing with them, he did what he know how to do best.  He wrote a song.  In fact he wrote 3 songs.  He produced a video for the first one and put it on Youtube.  Not expecting much to happen with it, he was shocked to see how quickly the video (which incidentally had been produced on an almost non-existent budget) was gaining attention.  With the promise to United Airlines that he would write 3 songs, Dave wrote and produced the final 2 songs and posted them on Youtube within several months of the original video.  Since that time, the videos have had 12,310,382 hits, 1,533,940 hits and 533,663 hits respectively.  For the whole story in Dave’s words, visit his website at http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/music/ubg/story/.

Youtube is the most widely used search engine in the world.  Owned by Google, Youtube generates in excess of 2 billion hits every day!!  So, you can only image how Youtube videos can have an impact on your business.  Of course, a lot of Youtube videos are funny animals or babies doing silly things, kind of like “America’s Funniest Home Videos”.  And you do hear of the occasional “discovery” like Justin Bieber, but that’s very rare.  However, it really is possible to use Youtube along with other social media to create a buzz around your company. 

The key to using social media is remembering that you are still communicating with customers.  Social media is not a one-way street.  Our current generation uses social media and text messaging to communicate.  A generation ago, it was the telephone.  Before that it was written letters and telegrams. I’m sure I’m going to offend some people here by saying this, so I apologize in advance.  But here’s my opinion on people who say they are “social media experts”.  That is like saying you’re a “telephone expert”.   Social media is a form of communication and you need to have proper etiquette in that forum the same way you do on the telephone. 

So, when using social media,

·         Be polite
·         Develop 2-way dialogue with your customers and communicate regularly but not to the point of being a pest.  Nobody wants to get overloaded with stuff online the same way people don’t want to get a hundred phone calls from you in a week. 
·         Use appropriate social media sites.  There are so many sites out there but if your customers aren’t using them, why bother?
·         Allow people to get to know you. Show your personality. Dave’s videos show his personality.  Let your personality come through and you too will build a fan base of your own.

We may not all have the YouTube success that Dave Carroll has had, but that doesn’t mean social media won’t work for your business.  Follow the tips I’ve given you and watch your fanbase grow too.

Olympic Style Training for Business

Once again, the Olympics are upon us.  Hopes and dreams of hundreds of athletes are either achieved or shattered.  And all it takes is one mistake or one flawless performance.  Think about how much time and effort these athletes have put into their chosen sport, how dedicated they are, but how unbelievably rewarding it is in the end.

The same can be said about your business.  You can’t expect your business to be successful right out of the gate.  A lot of small business owners start their business with a grandiose idea of what their sales forecast will be for year 1, 2, and 3.  Rarely are those numbers realistic.  Why?  Because as a new business owner, you are absolutely determined that your product or service is the best and everyone needs it. 

Put that into perspective of the Olympic athlete.  When a 10 year competitive athlete says they’re going to make the Olympics one day, they’re generally just brushed off as having a “dream”.  Lots of kids have dreams of making it to the Olympics (that’s their grandiose sales forecast of life), but only a very select few will ever achieve that goal.  But, you can be one of those “kids” who grows up to be an Olympian in your own sport.

You have a business concept that you know is good, just like the kid who know he has an athletic gift.  But what you do with it will determine how far you can take it.  So, what do you need to do?

·         Dedication – If you want to make a name for yourself, dedication is paramount.  How hard are you willing to work?  Olympic athletes train 5+ hours a day, 6 days a week, with a solid focus on the goal they have set for themselves.  You can’t expect to compete in the OIympics by watching from the sidelines.  Nor can you expect to be successful by just sitting around waiting for customers.

·         Key Partnerships – Athletes have built relationships with the top coaches and doctors in the country to ensure that they are in the best possible shape.  Partnerships with carefully selected sponsors helps to fund all the training and travelling involved.  As a business owner, you need to make some very key connections as well.  Develop cross-promotion opportunities with other businesses, practice your communication skills to help you establish connections at networking events, reach out to your customers in a way that makes them feel like you really care.

 

·         Patience and Persistence – Any athlete who has been training for 15+ years has dealt with numerous set-backs.  If you expect to beat out the competition, you’ll need to have lots of patience, knowing that there will inevitably be set-backs and hurdles to deal with.  How you handle those will determine your future.  Handle difficulties with class and patience instead of getting upset and giving up.

So, use the Olympic athletes as inspiration.  Find that Olympian inside you and give it your all.  In time, you will also be basking in the glory of a very successful business.

The Key to Driving More Customers to Your Business

What does every business need to do every day?  Sell something!!  If you're not making money, it's not a business; it's a hobby.  But of course that's easy to say when you have customers flowing into your business non-stop, but how do you attract those customers in the first place?  Simple.  It's called target marketing.

Marketing involves so many aspects that it generally scares a lot of small business owners because it seems so completely overwhelming, not to mention expensive.  It definitely takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get it right (and even some of us marketers who have been doing this a long time, don't always get it 'right'), but it really is possible to drive more customers into your business without working 20 hour days for the rest of your life.

The key to driving more customers into your business is to know who your customer is.  You can't be everything to everybody, and frankly you don't want to be.  What business are you in?  Do have a retail clothing store?  Think about the niche markets that currently are untapped in your area.  Are you looking to attract the young (teen to early 20's) crowd or are you trying to attract the middle age women?  Make sure your product line and your entire company image reflect that image so that nobody is confused about who you are.  Don't even try to compete with the big guys because you'll wear yourself out and not see any reward for it.  Stay true to who you are and focus on your intended target market.  It'll make your life so much less stressful.