“Candidly we go after the cool kids.  A lot of people don’t belong (in our clothes) and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.  Those companies that are trying to target everybody young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody either.”

The Good

1. Clear Brand Character

You really know what this brand looks like, sounds like and thinks.

2. Clarity Around Who The Brand DOESN’T Attract

Anyone that has issues with polarizing statements or can’t naturally fit the clothing need not apply.

3. Standing For 1 Thing

The CEO is very smart when he says that standing for ALL things makes brands “totally vanilla”. Amen to that.

4. Being Controversial

I’d never even heard of Mike Jeffries before. Now me and millions of others have and the A&F brand is big news as well as a viral sensation.

The Bad

1. Alienation

When you’re teeing off a percentage of the population just make sure that the remaining portion is big enough to keep your biz afloat.

2. The Inhumanity

Hey, I considered myself a “Fat Chick” in high school so need I say more about how hurtful just the words are?

3. Botched Positioning

One could argue that the same point could’ve been made with more tact and finesse by stating that the A&F brand embodied natural young leaders who attracted attention and liking based on their God given talents, abilities and personality. To me, that still describes ‘cool kids’ but in a much more empowering way.

So there just might be a few marketing lessons to be learned from this dude, even if said dude will never win any Nobel Peace Prizes.

As a small business coach, I ask you the small biz owner, what’s the lesson in this for YOU and your brand?

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk

Related articles

• Three Guys Give Abercrombie & Fitch a Brand Re-Adjustment by Giving Their Clothes to the Homeless (cheezburger.com)
• Mike Jeffries, Asshole or Marketing Genius? (hkfob.wordpress.com)
• Mike Jeffries, Abercrombie & Fitch CEO: NO FAT CHICKS! (thehollywoodgossip.com)

As a small biz marketing coach, I’ve run into some doozy prospective clients in the past.  At the beginning of my practice, I once had a client who actually haggled with me about the payment date. She devised payment plans that didn’t exist! So I decided to give you some great tips on what to do if you want to forever be attracting clients who haggle with your price, go to a competitor at the drop of a penny’s difference and who nickel and dime you to their last breath.

1.  Blend in

If you want to attract el-cheapo clients, then go ahead and blend in with your competition. When there’s nothing different or special about what you offer, the only information potential clients have about what you stand for is your price. If you were offered the same thing for a cheaper price, what would you do?

Instead, I’d rather you got a good strong Brand Voice that’s based on your personality.  Because if your brand is based on YOUR unique personality – you have NO competition.    I’d love to see you make it a BIG part of your marketing message so that you really stand out.

2. Sell Everything To Everyone

If you want to be shopped on price, don’t you dare get a niche. Be a generalist. Offer all things to all people. Only experts get paid more so if you don’t pick one thing to be an expert–sure enough, the penny pinchers will find you.

When I hunted in desperation for a pediatric nutritionist for my adorable but stubborn baby who refused to eat, you can believe that I was ready to do anything to find the exact specialist who could help. I would’ve (and did) pay her way more than regular nutritionists and I recommended her to all my other mom friends who had the exact same problem. That couldn’t have happened if she hadn’t been niched and was a generalist like most others in her industry were.

3. Undervalue Yourself

You’re 30% cheaper than the entire industry because you’re new? You offer twice as many hours in the same contract size as your competition? Wow, not only will you attract people who are hunting for deals but they won’t even buy your bigger programs. They’ll buy it from the guy who’s got way higher pricing than you. What’s that all about?

Remember, your price is an indication of a lot of things: your quality, your confidence, your competence and your existing client base. Like attracts like.

These are the most surefire ways I know of how to get shopped on price and make your small business a nightmare to market. So PLEASE read between the lines and take my tongue-in-cheek advice.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk

Related articles

• Content Isn’t King. Trust Is King. (seomoz.org)
• How Greedy Should You Be? (smbsalesconsultancy.com)
• Stand Out from the Competition by Positioning Yourself Strongly (solo-e.com)

1. Visit Popular Conferences

(If can’t afford to attend), stand outside of the conference venues–dressed appropriately–and meet the attendees while they are on lunch break.–Sunil Rajaraman, Scripted.com

2. Investing in Old-Fashioned Relationship-Building

While everyone is busy looking for the next viral campaign, we find old-fashioned relationship-building still trumps all other marketing efforts

3. Stop Selling, Start Asking Questions

Instead of trying to guess the sales triggers with a potential customer, let him tell you why he needs your product or service.

4. Posting Contrarian Articles

Posts such as “The Best Ways to Build up Credit Card Debt” became quite popular with our readers and attracted many new ones. –Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

5. Making Weekly Phone Calls With Customers

To start 2013, our team decided to go back to our roots and chat directly with customers. Every team member now has a weekly call with a different customer. We ask for honest feedback (good and bad) and learn a ton. –Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches

6. Giving Away Content for Free

If people read something that’s great, they’re going to want to know where it came from–and follow that source in the future. –Derek Flanzraich, Greatist

7. Using Existing Customers to Gain New Ones

Your best customer is your best marketing tool to acquire new customers. –Brett Farmiloe, Markitors

8. Sampling Services to Non-Member Companies

When your brand is new, it’s important to create these micro-branding experiences for your target market–priming them to be receptive. –Manpreet Singh, Seva Call

9. Experimenting With Odd Ads

We ran an experiment with a blank banner ad to see if users on touchscreens were intending to tap our ads, or if the taps were accidental. The blank white banner ad had the highest click-through rate of all our ads. As a result, we are now less likely to use pay-per-click advertising methods. –Justin Beck, PerBlue

via 9 Unlikely Ways to Drum Up New Customers.

Whether using these 9 ways or other, always remember to keep you target client’s pain top of mind and to always speak from their perspective and in their language.

You can’t go wrong when you do.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk

Related articles

• 12 Ideas for Growing Your Brand on Social Media (personalbrandingblog.com)
• 10 Ways Subscription Services Can Increase Your Sales (business2community.com)
• 8 Low-Cost Tools to Build Your Business Website (No Designer Required) (noobpreneur.com)
• 12 Personal Branding Tips for Serial Entrepreneurs (personalbrandingblog.com)

Enjoy my first taping of the regular radio segment I host on The Small Business Big Ideas Show called Ask Chala For Some Gentle Marketing Advice (see recording at the 14:25 minute mark).

Listen in as a restaurant franchise owner in a mall writes in his Gentle Marketing question about how to generate business in a dead mall with no foot traffic.

The Gentle Marketing solution to this restaurant’s pain of course is first to be known for something. What is the franchise known for?

Host David Cohen replies that it’s a chain known for its healthy food offerings.

I then ask who would be interested in driving to a mall if they’re not already walking in the mall for this food. Logically, the answer would be health conscious people who can’t find a certain kind of food, service or event in the near vicinity to meet their specific needs.

I make a suggestion for the owner of the restaurant to get out and drive in his neighbourhood to see what health related food, competition, activities and other businesses there are that he could partner with.

The segment ends with a clear direction for action to do something related to health and health food. Potentially partnering with other vendors who deal with this target group or holding events related to health like educational seminars to draw them in to the location.

So you can see that everything starts with clarity. If you know what your business stands for (health) and who your perfect client is (clients in the area who care about taking care of their health). The rest is easy…

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk

Related articles

• Your Franchise Location Needs This (smallbiztrends.com)
• How to Choose a Franchise that is Right for You – Business – Franchising (rawbusinesslaw.com)
• Creating an Effective Franchise Growth Strategy (execleads.wordpress.com)

Weight Watchers’ latest spokeswoman spent months making fun of the company.

Earlier this year, Ana Gasteyer, actress and former Saturday Night Live cast member, mocked Weight Watchers on Twitter like it was her job. Now, it kind of is her job.

After Gasteyer fired off rounds of sarcastic tweets to Weight Watchers, including one where she asked whether a binge on children’s gummy vitamins constituted a “cheat day,” the company reportedly called Gasteyer in February and asked her to star in Weight Watchers’ TV commercials and other advertising.

via Why Your Brand Should Have a Sense of Humor.

There are so many different success stories of how a brand has used humour to engage and capture audiences throughout the years. What does your small business brand have to learn from that?

For example, I use a Monty Python video on my home page to demonstrate my client’s number one pain of feeling directionless while marketing their small business.

Ask yourself…how can you humanize your brand through simple laughter? When you find the answer, please send me your solution. I’d love another laugh.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

Related articles

• The Value of Differentiation (and the Added Value of a Sense of Humour) (thethrivingcreative.com)
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• Why is Brand So Important? (business2community.com)

Give yourself 1 point for every YES.

1. When people ask you what you do for a living, do people’s eyebrows go up (interest) versus down (confusion)?

2. After hearing your elevator speech, has anyone asked for your card to call you for a consultation?

3. Are you out networking with your perfect target client at least 1x a week?

4. Do you often get business from the places you network at?

5. Does your website talk more about your client’s problems or you?

If you scored between 0-2 You’re a Dreaded Marketing Slouch- Pick up the slack and you’ll see results right away, I promise!

If you scored between 3-4 You’re on your way to becoming a Marketing Superstar. Fine tune a few of your tactics and you’ll get the clients lining up!

If you scored a perfect 5, you are a certified Marketing Superstar. Congratulations! Your results probably tell you that anyway.

When you’re wondering why you’re not attracting new leads and the only new business you’re getting is from word of mouth, think back to whether you’re a marketing slouch or not.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

Related articles

• Three Steps to a 15-second Elevator Speech (business2community.com)
• Pitching Your Start-up? 5 Things to Master First (inc.com)
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• “Top 10 Marketing Strategies For Small Business” (knogimmicks.com)

Here is an excerpt from an article that talks about 3 differently niched Wedding Planners. I couldn’t resist sharing…

The Day-Of Coordinator
Helena Parker, Divine Events by Helena
San Diego

Helena Parker caters to brides who don’t want to spend thousands of dollars for a wedding planner but still need help. Clients hire her to deal with vendors in the final two weeks leading up to the wedding and manage the flow of events on the day, which typically requires about 20 hours of work. Unlike a full-service planner, she isn’t involved in early-stage planning and doesn’t help choose colors, flowers, food or music.

The Same-Sex Wedding Expert
Bernadette Coveney Smith, 14 Stories
Boston and New York

Bernadette Coveney Smith capitalized early on the same-sex marriage movement. When the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2003 that same-sex couples had the right to marry, she quit her job at a Boston nonprofit organization and launched her same-sex wedding planning agency, 14 Stories.

The Destination Wedding Planner
Alison Hotchkiss, Alison Event Planning & Design
San Francisco and New York

In 2003, when Alison Hotchkiss started planning weddings in exotic locales, the term “destination wedding” wasn’t yet part of the lingo, and only three other U.S. planners specialized in lavish locations.

via Startup Wedding Planners Explore Niche Markets to Stand Out.

Other wedding niches could be Goth, Sexy, Country, Glee…you name it! There are as many different kinds of people as potential niches. It differentiates you if you choose one of them instead of trying to service all of them.

It just makes marketing sense…

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

Related articles

• The Role of Social Media in Niche Marketing (business2community.com)
• What’s Your Niche? (wishcreative.wordpress.com)
• Effectively Research Your Market, Understanding Your Audience & Creating Empathy (gulyani.com)
• 8 Ways to Ace Niche Marketing (openforum.com)

I was exhausted.

I had worked non stop talking to clients all day and still had an article to write AND a networking event that night to go to. I was also nursing a cold.

At that moment I understood that I was standing at the precipice of a decision. An even bigger ‘AHA’ came to me as I followed that train of thought.

We’re the results of our series of decisions throughout our lives but especially in our businesses.

 You Are What You Choose

So did I push myself to pour myself into a dress and heels and hit the event that night even though I felt like death warmed over? I decided it’s too easy to stay stuck in the house, behind the phone and behind my computer. I decided I actually get clients out of meeting new people.(and so do you!)

How Are Your Choices Adding Up?

My hero Dr.Wayne Dyer has a barometer by which I measure all things. He says if you look at the state of your life right now, it’s a mirror for what’s going on inside you.

So if you’re sick and in despair or can’t get any clients, what’s happening inside you? Remember, the sequence of events in your little body are: thought, feeling, action. Not the other way around.

Lump It Or Like It

If you don’t like the results of the decisions you’ve been making lately, how do you change? Do you accept that that’s the way the cookie crumbles or make a DECISION to change?

Proof Is In The Pudding

Another hero of mine, Anthony Robbins says that the only indication of a decision is an action step that you take. Otherwise (and I vehemently agree with him) you’re just talking to yourself and fooling yourself. When you consistently make the decisions to be successful, you will BE successful.

If you want to change your results, change your thoughts and most importantly AND  change your decision.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

Related articles

• Don’t Talk About Your Hell While You’re In It (coachtactics.com)
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• Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life, With Dr Wayne Dyer (globalelite.tv)

While at the WIBN conference this weekend, the dynamite Danielle Laporte, channelling my hero Dr. Wayne Dyer in a tight leopard outfit talked about this very topic. She said that while she was going through her divorce, she was selling books and advice on how to sort out other people’s lives. Similarly when I first launched my coaching practice, I had nightmares for 2 solid months trying to think of ways to get new clients.

Are You A Fake?

When what you teach ain’t helping you, do you stop the teaching? Well, I think that what you’re teaching (and selling) wouldn’t have an audience if there was no need for it in the world. No matter the source of the message, doesn’t the message still help those who don’t know what you know?

Hell Strategies

What do you do when you’re a money coach and you’re in debt or a biz development consultant and can’t get clients? Well, first and foremost you DON’T TALK ABOUT it WHILE you’re in it.

Another thing that you can do is to get some help. There’s a reason you’re in the situation you’re in so fix it. That, in my mind doesn’t negate your power in helping others.

When’s It Ok To Share?

Hopefully the mess will have moved far far away from your current everyday reality and you can (as Suzanne Evans says) then “make your mess your message”. You gain instant credibility and liking with that kind of authentic honesty.

What’s NOT Ok To Share?

Don’t share details that will hurt others. Don’t close doors you can’t open. Don’t bring judgement into your message. Bring hope and courage. Then use the lessons you’ve learned to help even more people.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

Related articles

• Wayne Dyer – The Secrets To A Successful Life (innothinkeducation.wordpress.com)
• The MOST Important Part Of Your Health (psychologytoday.com)
• Get truthful, unleash your creativity: Danielle LaPorte chats with Gabor (creatingblueoceans.com)

Listen to my hilarious radio interview with BizRadio and BizTV host David Wojcik on this topic of marketing on a shoestring budget while being authentic, attractive and generous.

It’s all about being clear on who you are as a business, who your ideal bullseye target customer is and how to get in front of them with the right message. It’s also virtually free because you were born with the best marketing tool and that’s your personality.

Picking the right niche is also free since all it takes is talking to your potential target groups to find out if you offer something of value to them.

Once you get those two things right, then you ask them where they hang out and go hang out with them! Simple, isn’t it?

I want you too to be a Gentle Marketer. It’s easy, cheap and best of all, it’s effortless.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

Related articles

• Hearing You Loud and Clear: The Effect of Good Communication (workzone.com)
• How To Create Successful Social Media Marketing Campaign (socialmediaforus.wordpress.com)
• With social media, you’re making the news, and telling your own story (visibilityshift.com)