Tag Archives: Coaching

Would Anyone Care If You Disappeared?

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Sometimes when I was in a snit about an argument I had with my family, I’d slink into a corner and fantasize about just running away (not to the circus but you get the idea). I wondered if anyone would care if I disappeared and how long it would take for them to notice. Of course now, I know that would’ve given the Dincoys a coronary but don’t you sometimes wonder that about your own business?

Well, big businesses are wondering that very same thing and here’s what they did to find out:

In a first ever attempt at ranking all global brands on the same footing, a research done by the Havas Media Group looked at how a brand affected people’s wellbeing.

In determining this link, they asked questions around how a brand affected everything from the personal well-being to the collective one. Factors such as physical, financial, emotional as well as economic, ethical and environmental were rated against a brands’ ability to influence a person’s well-being.

Show Me the Money

It turned out that meaningful brands beat the stock market average performance by a whopping 120%. In other words, if people’s wellbeing is influenced greatly by a brand, then naturally they value it more.

Only 20% of worldwide brands were found to significantly influence wellbeing. Top of that list of course, is the brand: Google, followed by Samsung, Microsoft, Nestle and Sony.

Crazy that all but one of those are technology companies, isn’t it? What would we do without our gadgets?

Nobody Cares About You

On the other hand the research also revealed that a surprising 73% of brands can DISAPPEAR off the face of the earth and nobody would care about the loss.

People felt that while they think 71% of brands should be solving our problems, they only thought that 34% did this.

What are the implications for you and your small business?

If giant multimillion dollar brands who pour tons of money into ad campaigns can only inspire 46% trust, what can the little guy with so much less ad dollars expect?

How to Matter

When it comes down to trust and relevance, your only ally is to understand your client’s pain and speak their language. Be perceived as one of them and not be lumped into a crowd of others who do exactly the same thing as you do. Stand out. Be bold and be authentic. Stand for something you believe in. Listen to HOW you can matter to your client’s life and business. Then do what THEY tell you to do, not what YOU think should be done.

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

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Abercrombie &Fitch CEO – Brilliant or Bastard?

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a&FIn recent news, outraged critics have been blasting Abercrombie &Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries’ comments about what the A&F brand stands for.  Here’s what he said:

“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

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3 Best Ways To Get Shopped On Price

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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

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9 Unlikely Ways to Drum Up New Customers

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Drumming up new customers is on the minds of every business owner. In fact a Constant Contact survey says that 80% of them stay up at night thinking about this very thing.(as a small business coach, I am definitely a part of that statistic!) Here’s an excerpt from a rocking article about really cool ways to get new clients. I’ve talked about these in one way or another throughout the years so I wanted to share it with you when I saw it all neatly packaged in an article:

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

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Marketing Advice For A Traffic-less Deli Franchise

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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

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