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March 30, 2013 by 21 Comments

How to Benefit From A Cohesive Brand Strategy

bragAn interesting brand strategy to me has always been putting the owner’s persona front and center. Make them the face and voice of the brand. Everything we read today speaks to the relationships we build with customers. Make ‘em smile when they see you coming. Volunteering for local charities. Networking. A good number of small business professionals I come into contact with invest a lot of face-time in their markets. These efforts make their names synonymous with their brands. In the greater world, think of Richard Branson, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. As you read each name, no one had to tell you the company behind each. Attaching the visionary to your brand image extends the effort you put out to a greater effect. Relationships extend to your marketing and sales, benefiting from your notoriety in the marketplace.

Humility often gets in the way of this strategy. It may seem like boasting, but if you identify yourself as a product for the greater good of the brand, then the benefit becomes obvious. By coupling the two you would also benefit from the fact that your marketplace won’t view the brand and the very public owner as two separate entities. As it stands, the public owner is seen as the pillar of the company. If they were to die tonight, most would view the brand as vulnerable. Viewed as a spokesperson on the other hand, the company has brand cache of it’s own. It carries on in the spirit of the spokesperson, i.e.: Walt Disney. Of course this strategy takes some nurturing, but at the very least it can be argued that cohesiveness of efforts bears more fruit than separate strategies for a common goal.

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March 4, 2013 by 46 Comments

Are You Holding You Back?

stressedIs your brand continually evolving? Are you always watching for tools and education to put more opportunity in your cross-hairs? Just last year I fine-tuned my website. I really thought the look and functionality was exactly what my brand reflected. In the year or more since that re-do I recognized that to update or improve the sight I really should have not completed it in html (which I did myself). I am now in a major re-do porting the site to a WordPress platform. This is beyond me so I had to engage the services of a professional in this area. I’m anxious to get the flexibility that this platform allows.

Are you finding it easy to get the brand information and/or training you need to help you grow your brand? I’ve signed up for a few webinars and online lectures only to have them deliver generalities. I leave with more questions than answers. You come to realize that the webinar is really just a come-on in a complicated sales funnel. This can happen in a paid webinar as well. I set my sights low in many things that I attend. I am usually just looking for a nugget or two that can help me more effectively deliver my products. When I deliver to my clients, I often ask myself if this is how I would like to be treated? Is this price point something I would consider paying?

Do you monitize your services? Do you find it difficult to do? I’m curious to know what platforms you find advantageous and are you and your audience having an enjoyable experience working together? I’ve seen just having a book out there draws people to you and your brand experience. When you have a strong brand, you’ll find yourself in demand for your opinion. How many people offer to buy you a coffee to get your opinion on something? These questions are exacting the reason I found that the platform of my website was sorely lacking to allow me to quickly adjust to new revenue streams. I like to react immediately not six months or more down the road. My brand expects me to jump while the iron is hot. Who better to invest in than myself? A few thousand well-directed dollars can make a HUGE difference in how your brand develops.

How many people do you know, who whine on about the economy but do nothing to develop opportunities that will will positively impact their businesses? It’s as thought their answer is to ignore the problems and success will eventually find its way to them. I wish that were true but it’s never worked that way for me. I’ve always had to create my own opportunities. It’s like the old adage. “I seems the harder I work, the luckier I get.”

File under: Blog, Branding, Business, How To
January 17, 2013 by

7 Steps to Customer Service Success for Your Brand

customer serviceIf your business offers customer service, then you should know that treating your customers kindly and with respect makes all the difference in the world to your reputation and your bottom line. There is nothing worse than a dissatisfied customer talking badly about your business and the way they were treated by you—yes you because to them

YOU are your BRAND

It doesn’t matter that you are not personally there, the people representing your company represent you. Here are some tips to help you get your customer service associates up to par.

  1. Always ACKNOWLEDGE your client/customer.  Customers walking in your place of business should always get a smile, a hello and offer of assistance.   If you’re dealing with customers via phone or email.  Make sure to follow up and acknowledge you received their message as soon as you’re able.  If you don’t have the answer or solution right away – say so – and stay in touch until you do.
  2. LISTEN.  But even more important – HEAR what they’re saying.  This is probably the most important skill you’ll ever learn and it’s good for any situation. Once you hear what the customer is really saying then take steps to address the issue.
  3. Interact with the customer. ASK QUESTIONS so you can fully understand the real need. A customer may get frustrated because they don’t understand, feel unappreciated or aren’t satisfied.  Figure out what they need and give it to them.
  4. If you don’t have the answer or solution right away. ASK FOR HELP.  Make sure the customer understands that you will get the information they need as soon as you’re able.  If you’re dealing with a customer in person then make sure your actions follow your words.  Be happy to solve their problem.  If you’re interacting via email or phone- make sure your words reflect your sincere efforts of getting the solution to the issue.  Stay in touch & keep them updated until you have a satisfactory resolution.
  5. Insure that your customer service reps are TRAINED to treat your customers right.  Give them authority to take care of matters as they come up.  Have them keep a written log of each issue along with names, contact info, problem & solution.  This can be very helpful if the customer isn’t happy with the solution.  By keeping a log you can be sure that everything possible was done to correct any problems.  It will also be a great help as you’re creating or modifying policies & procedures.
  6. NEVER ASSUME anything about a customer by the way they dress, look or act. This is so true in customer service. Every customer is important regardless of looks, and making assumptions about customers beforehand will only backfire on you, and tarnish the reputation you are striving to create.
  7. If the customer service rep you have working with you just doesn’t seem to be able to uphold your high standards of customer service, Do Not Be Afraid to REPLACE them.

Your Brand Is You! Implement high quality customer service standards to help increase the respect of your brand.

Acknowledge, Listen, Ask Questions, Ask for Help, Train Your Staff, Never Assume & Replace when necessary.  Buy following these seven principles of customer service, you will be treating your customers with the care they deserve.

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January 10, 2013 by

Email Marketing: Cultivating Know-Like-Trust

When people think of you and your brand you want them to do 3 things:Know Like Trust

  1. Know Who You Are/What You Do
  2. Like Who You Are/What  You Do
  3. Trust What You Say

When it comes to your brand and email marketing, personalizing your emails, auto-responders & newsletters can help you accomplish all 3 things listed above.

You want the email recipient to recognize the email is from you, like you enough to open the email right away and take action on what you’re telling them to do.

One of the ways you can make that happen is by treating your reader like someone special.  Craft your emails so they’re written directly to them.  Personalize it.  Make them believe you’re talking right to them and the stuff you’re sharing is specifically for their benefit.

Email marketing is one area of your business where you can make things personal between you and your subscribers. Done the right way, this method of marketing can mean more sales for your business.

Another way to cultivate Know-Like-Trust is to actually email your subscribers.  Your readers subscribed to your mailing list and they expect you to send them emails.  Think about this:

If you’re not sending regular emails to your list you are depriving them of the information only you can provide them.

If you email your list on a regular basis you are training them – conditioning them, if you will – to expect emails from you.  When your subject lines are compelling and the email body is interesting & entertaining then your emails will be opened.  Once your emails are opened on a regular basis, your readers will start to take action on the recommendations you make.  But the first step is to write the email.

I’d recommend sending an email to your list a minimum of three times per week. Don’t worry about feeling or acting “salesy”.  If you think about email marketing as providing information, making recommendations and sharing awesome products then you’ll do fine.

You don’t have to sell in each email, auto-responder or newsletter but you should be including a clear call to action in each email that has then DO something.

Think about what you want the reader of your email to do:

  • sign up for an auto-responder
  • buy an affiliate product you recommend
  • buy one of your products
  • leave a comment

Then make it clear to your reader what ONE action you want them to take.

Make it a priority to email your list for at least 3 times each week for the next month and report back in the comments with your results.

 

 

File under: Blog
January 7, 2013 by

Small Business Branding Through Exceptional Customer Service

Value Your Customers If You Value Your Business

Have you ever walked into a store excited about your latest purchase only to leave your much coveted purchase on the counter because of the [lack of] customer service?

Remember how that made you feel?

I’d venture to say that if you were happy & excited to make your purchase when you walked in the store you walked out with a much different feeling about your choice and vowing to find the item somewhere they would actually appreciate you.

Let’s translate that to your own business.

How many people walk away from an experience with you, your site or your product unhappy because they weren’t treated they way they thought they should be?

Exemplary customer service is all about treating your clients & customers they way they feel they should be treated.  Make them feel special and appreciated and they’ll be loyal to you and your brand.

If you don’t know how people feel about their experiences with you then you must make it a point to find out.  Putting the value of your customers above everything will help you find true success. Without your customers you don’t have a business.

Now, that we’ve touched on how important your clients & customers are to your business let’s talk about the people that represent you.

They way you treat the people that help you run your business will directly reflect on how they treat the clients & customers with whom they have contact.

If you treat your “helpers” rudely or with indifference then that is how they may treat your customers.

The way people are treated by the representative of your company is a direct reflection of you.  Make sure that the people that work on behalf of your company are treated with respect and understand their value to you so that they can reflect that feeling to your clients & customers.

brand loyaltyExemplary customer service is synonymous with your brand.

Let someone have a bad experience with you and before you know it they’re sharing that bad experience via word of mouth and worse through social media.

Be respectful to each and every person that finds their way to you. It is important to be courteous and make your customers feel as if they matter – that they are valued.

People are less likely to work with or buy from a business because they have seen online or heard by word of mouth that a company provides bad customer service.  With quick access to the internet all it takes is one negative word on Twitter or Facebook about your business and you may be doomed to failure.

The key to brand loyalty is exceptional customer service. Go out of your way to show customers that you care about them whether they buy or not. Respond quickly to emails, comments, contact forms and most especially to a customer standing at your counter or cash register. They will remember that they were treated well, had their questions answered and made to feel important.

 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles FreeDigitalPhotos.net

File under: Blog
November 23, 2012 by

Build Innovation Into Your Team with New Technologies

English: Mission: STS-41-B Film Type: 70mm Tit...

English: Mission: STS-41-B Film Type: 70mm Title: Views of the extravehicular activity during STS 41-B Astronaut Bruce McCandless II, mission specialist, participates in a extra-vehicular activity (EVA), a few meters away from the cabin of the shuttle Challenger. He is using a nitrogen-propelled hand-controlled manned maneuvering unit (MMU). He is performing this EVA without being tethered to the shuttle. The picture shows a cloud view of the earth in the background. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m always on the lookout for new technology. Not in terms of expensive big-time technology, but everyday little solutions that make my life, and job, easier. Somewhere along the line, though, I realized that I couldn’t test out every piece of technology myself. I enjoy finding new technologies and sharing them with my team, but it just wasn’t sustainable.

That’s when I realized that I could lead my team in finding the best and most useful technologies on the market.

Perhaps you feel the same way. Finding a great piece of technology can really improve your efficiency, but going through the work to find that technology can take forever. For example, I use the easel.ly online infographic tool a lot. It allows me to create clean images or infographics in about half an hour. But do you know how many technologies I had to test drive to find the one that I liked the most? Quite a few.

Once you learn to lead your team in finding these technologies, though, you no longer need to test drive multiple technologies. You can simply ask people on your team what works best. Or (even better) they’ll pass along the technology to you before you even get a chance to ask.

Here’s how to do it.

Share New Technology with Your Team
Make it a point to share a new piece of technology once a week. When you do this, explain how to use the technology and what makes it so important. For example, imagine you found a simple program that allows you to take notes on your computer, but that also syncs those notes to your phone. Teach your team how to use it and explain how you’ve found it useful.

Invite Your Team to Share Technology with You
Let your team know that you’re always searching for the most effective technology on the market. Encourage them to bring new technology to you. You could even set up a submission system and share the technology you like the best in your once-a-week meeting.

Create a Public Forum for Team Members to Share Technology
I suggest creating a chat room that all your employees can use during the day (using any IM services already on the market). Encourage employees to share technologies with each other. Not only will you get to hear about new technologies, but those technologies will also pass a “peer review.” Any technology submitted into the chat room will likely be tested by various employees, giving you a well-rounded view of its effectiveness.

Why is This Important?
Innovation displays itself in many forms, including the way you operate within your business and the technologies you use to do that. When you encourage employees to continually search for the best, and to adapt accordingly, that attitude bleeds over into other areas of their work. If you do this long enough it will become part of your brand. You’ll become known as a leading organization in your field.

Second, you never know what you’re missing. There are too many technologies out there for you to know them all yourself. There could be a much more efficient way of accomplishing your task, and you just don’t know it. Enlisting your employees to seek out better technology increases your chances you’ll actually find it.

This approach gives you the chance of discovering something very useful without investing much time it in. Why not try it today? You might be surprised at what you find.

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File under: Blog, Technology
November 13, 2012 by

Positive Strategies for using Social Media to Leverage Your Business

English: Infographic on how Social Media are b...

English: Infographic on how Social Media are being used, and how everything is changed by them. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Is the number of “likes” you see on a company’s Facebook page sincere or purchased? According to a report by Garner Research, up to 15 percent of all social media reviews in 2014 will be fake. With a few dollars, you can purchase as many as 500 Facebook likes and just as many Twitter followers.

However, the social media accounts that are on board with this practice may not be ones you want associated with your brand. With the integration of social media in website marketing, businesses can easily lose focus on what matters. The number of likes or followers you get doesn’t necessarily translate to increased traffic, leads or sales.

Social Media Strategy

Social media and its various networks make it simple for businesses to get caught up in trying to be popular. What companies need to remember, however, is that website marketing needs as much planning and research as traditional marketing. This planning and research includes defining and knowing the target market; effectively solving a problem for this audience; understanding the lifestyle and purchasing habits of the target audience; and understanding about the competition. Without a concise marketing plan, social media strategies may be heavy on promises but often lack clarity in regards to the problem your company is solving for others.

When developing a website marketing plan that includes social media, you can make more effective connections with the following practices:

Communication. Genuine, quality followers want to know about your brand and how it can help them. By using the right social media channel, you can communicate with your target in the manner they prefer – with short bursts of information or in a responsive, public dialogue.

Lead nurturing. Posting pictures of cute cats or clever observations won’t convince your target customers – those who are most likely to spend money – to trust your brand. To increase conversion rates, make sure the content you post is valuable to your target, addresses solutions to their needs and nurtures them through the buying process.

Lead generation. Social media is a tool you can use to meet new prospects. By having meaningful conversations with prospective customers, you can generate new leads. For example, a wedding photographer may join a social media group for brides and post helpful tips.

Build a community. A social networking community should be like an email list that receives your company newsletter – the followers are interested in your brand and want to learn more. When those who “like” or “follow” your brand are genuinely interested, your communications and promotions will be more effective.

Leverage keywords. Search engine results often lead to a company’s social media page. By using appropriate keywords and creating content that produces inbound links, quality leads will come your way.

Monitor conversations. When you create a professional social media account but ignore the chatter on it, you can miss out on valuable feedback. By monitoring and being responsive to communications posted on your page, you can enhance your customer engagement and support services.

Follow other conversations. Your target customers have a set pattern in regards to how they use social media to learn and communicate. By studying the actions of these consumers on social media networks, you can learn more about their behaviors so your content stays relevant.

Fight the temptation to be a social marketing “cool kid.” By devising a website marketing plan that’s goal-oriented and has a clear tactical path, your efforts will bring you quality leads and the highest return on your marketing investment.

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File under: Blog, Marketing
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