What’s Your Story? January 28, 2009

Every company has a story. A pregnant, working mom is frustrated with the lack of professional maternity wear available. She takes a chance and launches a clothing line. An immigrant family’s love for traditional Russian food inspires them to open a restaurant. A struggling college student launches a tech support company in his dorm room. Over the years, he transforms it from a one-man operation to a division of Best Buy called Geek Squad.

People don’t identify with products or services. People identify with people. And, there is a story behind every person. The first step to building a relationship with  your market is to open up and share your story. Where did you come from? How did you get here?  And, how does your story shape the way that you do business? Put the story on your website and, if it’s really interesting, pitch it to local media. They love a good human interest story!

While tactics like coupons and discounts cost money and only serve to cheapen your brand, sharing a true story about your path to success costs little and will work to strengthen both brand perception and market share.

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What Makes Your Jerky Special? December 11, 2008

Could your small business use a makeover? Gregory Nemitz’ web-based company beefjerky.com needed help and Fortune Small Business came to the rescue.

Last spring, Gregory Nemitz asked Fortune Small Business to help him boost revenues for his online beef jerky business. After more than a decade in business, Beefjerky.com posted revenue of only about $150,000 in 2007, and Nemitz netted around $50,000. Plenty of visitors were browsing his company website but Nemitz was shipping only eight or nine orders a day, at about $50 a pop. How could he convert those visitors into loyal, jerky-buying customers?

A panel of branding and marketing experts provided by Fortune consulted Nemitz. They found that the overall branding and messaging on the beefjerky.com website failed to convey the true value of Nemitz’ delicious variety of fresh jerky treats. They advised him to establish Beefjerky.com as a cost-effective Web source for many jerky brands and flavors, and to stress that all of his products are an exceptional value.

Read here to learn how smart marketing paid off for Nemitz’ beef jerky business. Even dried beef can make the big bucks when positioned as a gourmet snack food and marketed to the right niche!

So, what makes your jerky special? If you don’t know the answer yet it’s time to figure it out and tell your prospects and customers about it every chance you get. All of this writing is making me hungry for some gourmet beef snacks. Mmmm…

Why Being Irrelevant Could Be Your Marketing Downfall September 15, 2008

“Make yourself relevant”. A nugget of advice that sounds simple enough. So, why do few companies actually utilize this tip to drive sales? Because being relevant requires work.

You can’t distribute the same marketing brochure that you created half a decade ago to every segment of your market and expect it to make an impact.

You can’t email a case study highlighting a law firm’s success with your product or service to doctors and IT guys and expect your message to resonate.

And you certainly can’t speak to a prospect amidst today’s economic climate in the same language that you did 5 years ago and expect to reach them. Watch any car commercial currently airing and you’ll see the art of being relevant in action… “Prices at the pump leaving you penniless? Buy a Honda this weekend and get free fuel for the life of your vehicle!” A message like this is much more likely to strike a chord with consumers who are feeling the squeeze at the pump than a generic commercial focused on the performance of Honda vehicles.

Customizing communication based on elements such as the particular needs of a group of prospects or the current state of the economy is your ticket to being relevant. And being relevant is essential to the success of any marketing strategy.

Position Yourself as an Expert; Part 1: Be Everything to Someone, or You’ll Be Nothing to Everyone January 3, 2008

Since I started freelancing I have noticed something time and time again. Companies all over the nation seem to be suffering from an identity crisis similar to what a teenager goes through in those first painful years of highschool (sans the acne). They silently wonder;

• Who am I?
• What makes me special?
• What are my strengths?
• What if I fail because people don’t like what I have to offer? 

These are valid questions for both a teen and a business, but it seems that many companies are failing to answer them. I’ve seen web design companies that sell self-help books and IT consulting companies that offer-gasp-landscaping services. It’s like walking into a diner and the hostess asking if you would like your car washed and your teeth cleaned while you wait for your patty melt. It seems businesses are afraid to focus on their strengths and provide specialized services because they think it will limit their market. But, who said a limited market is bad? The sooner you realize that you can’t be everything to everyone- the better off your company will be.

Let’s take that hormonal and confused teen into consideration again- we’ll call her Suzie. On top of school, Mom wants Suzie to play soccer, Dad wants her to be on the debate team, her friends want her to sing in their rock band and she wants to take art classes. Worried Suzie may disappoint her friends and family, she decides to do all of the above. With too much on her plate, it’s not long before she is missing soccer practice, failing Algebra, forgetting the words to her songs and struggling to keep her eyes open through art class. Suzie spread herself too thin by trying to please everyone and, in doing so, she inhibited herself from excelling at anything.

If you want to avoid going down the same path that poor, misguided Suzie did, now is the time to take a long, hard look at what your company has to offer and who you want your market to be. Focus on offering the services and products that your company delivers best and position yourself as the expert in that particular segment. Answer the questions that Suzie did not and you have a MUCH greater chance at surviving in this giant high-school that is the business world. Plus, you’ll have someone to sit with at lunch.   

Grammar schmammar December 17, 2007

I was surfing around WordPress looking at other folks’ blogs on writing/marketing. I came across this one post that illustrated the main point of my last blog entry beautifully.

What was that silly bank with the “Expect more easy” slogan thinking? I can tell you what they weren’t thinking,”Would my highschool grammar teacher give this slogan the thumbs up?”. Chances of their prospective clients being grammar buffs or past or present English teachers who care are slim to none. That “stupid” bank was trying to get the attention of potential clients who were flying by the billboard at 60 mph while sipping a latte, putting on eyeliner and wondering if their last paycheck was deposited yet. Think they’re concerned with the structure of a sentence on a billboard? I think not. “Easy” probably has a nice ring to it as they spill their latte and smear their eyeliner after learning that their bank account is overdrawn once again.

I am assuming that the comment my fellow blogger left in response to the post was sarcastic. But, if not, it’s an instant classic.