I did something this summer that I’ve never done before — for the first time in 24 years of owning my business, I’m taking a sabbatical of sorts: the entire month of August I’m at our cottage on Pelee Island in the middle of Lake Erie.

I’m working (and if you really know me, you’ll know this to be true) but just knowing that I can go out and twinkle my toes in the surf is an amazing feeling. Being out here and moving with the pace of nature has put me in a different frame of mind, a different vibration, a sensation of going with the flow. It fits in perfectly with Part 2 of my article on elevator speeches ­— conversational marketing is so much more in tune with going with the flow, so much more natural, so much more me.

Conversational Marketing: Ditch your elevator speech — Part 2

See Part 1 of this series August 15th’s post. For more on this subject, see How to get prospects to say, “That’s interesting, tell me more”, from the Hoeck Associates Marketing Tips archive.

Last issue we talked about how Lois Kelly’s book, Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word of Mouth Marketing, describes how traditional marketing and communications don’t really help people talk. According to Kelly, the goal with conversational marketing is to get people to say:

“Gee, that’s interesting, tell me more.” A great way to do this is by having a point of view.

Have a point of view
A point of view is your perspective about something that evokes conversation, according to the author. It begins with statements like, “The way I see it . . .” or “From my perspective . . .” or “The thing I’ve learned about . . .” followed by a belief. Even if people disagree, they’ll begin to see things from your point of view and get engaged in a conversation. This conversation will help you learn more about your customers, and help your customers learn more about you and what the company is all about in a way that helps form bonds and foster involvement. You’re talking, not just stating — see the difference?

Your point of view should be easy to understand and remember, and easy to talk about in your own words, so it doesn’t have to be memorized like an elevator speech. With a company point of view, everyone in the organization can have interesting things to talk about with various audiences, including customers, the media, and employees. It can help people understand what the organization is actually all about, shape their feelings about us, and provoke thinking.

The following are Lois Kelly’s “musts” for a point of view.

The 10 characteristics of a point of view
1. A point of view must be engaging
It must evoke a response and start conversations rather than just informing. The best response to a point of view is to have someone say, “That’s interesting. Tell me more.”

2. A point of view must be true
The more evidence to support your point of view, the greater your credibility.

3. A point of view must be relevant
The more relevant to the audience, the more interested people will be.

4. A point of view must be genuine
You and your organization must truly believe in the idea — there’s no faking it.

5. A point of view must be fresh
No one wants to hear old ideas, but sometimes a non-original point of view can be framed and expressed in a new way to discover new insights.

6. A point of view must connect the dots
Your point of view should connect somehow to your business vision or strategy — otherwise, it’s just talk.

7. A point of view must be memorable
You’ll want your point of view to be easy to remember and stick in a person’s head.

8. A point of view must be “talk-able”
You’ll want your point of view to be easy for people to talk about in their own words, and tell stories around. It should jump start two-way conversations.

9. A point of view must be “leggy”
Your point of view should resonate with multiple audiences, and be able to be communicated through multiple communication channels. You’ll be using it to build marketing and sales programs around, so it has to be flexible and have “legs.”

10. A point of view must be likeable
People have to like talking about your point of view, or they won’t.

Your point of view is in addition to, not in place of, your organization’s vision, mission, values, positioning, value proposition, and other marketing elements you may use. It’s another tool in your marketing toolbox, and one that you can pull out in place of your elevator speech.

Not very many organizations use this approach, at least not consciously and consistently. If you do it, you’ll stand out. People will say, “That’s interesting. Tell me more.”

Tags: elevator speech, conversational marketing

I know that’s a pretty strong statement, but it’s true. I’ve
always hated them — probably because I’ve always been so awful at them.

They just never came naturally to me and maybe that was the problem — did you ever feel that way too? I just don’t like them!

I’ve taken a page from Lois Kelly’s book, Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word of Mouth Marketing, and now use a conversational marketing approach instead. Read about it below and give it a try. Maybe you’ll be able to ditch your elevator speech forever, too, like I did.

Conversational Marketing: Ditch your elevator speech — Part 1
(For more on this subject, see How to get prospects to say, “That’s interesting, tell me more”, from the Marketing Tips archive.)

Lois Kelly’s book, Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word of Mouth Marketing, describes how traditional marketing and communications don’t really help people talk. They inform, promote, direct, and describe, but they don’t help jump-start conversations that get people to say (and I love this phrase Lois uses to test if a subject is conversational),

“Gee, that’s interesting, tell me more.”

This sounds like just what we need in an elevator speech, doesn’t it? Something to jump-start conversations, to get people to ask you to tell them more!

Make meaning
Surveys say that people don’t trust companies, and that the only way to gain back trust is to communicate in new ways, according to Kelly. In addition to traditional marketing and communications, create conversational marketing approaches, and have something interesting to talk about. One way to do this is with meaning making — meaning making helps make sense of an idea, an option, or concept, and shows people how it relates to what they already know. When they don’t see meaning, customers tend to become skeptical and indifferent.

There are steps you can take towards making meaning, using relevancy, context, pattern making, and emotion — the most powerful ingredient for understanding — and uncovering talk-worthy ideas.

First, talk to the five-year-old
It’s been proven that meaning can most effectively be conveyed by tapping into the five-year-old in your customer through stories and conversations. In her book, here’s how Kelly suggests we get that five-year-old to really “hear” our marketing messages:

The five-year-old likes to argue and reason, and uses words like “because”:
You need to explain “why” and “why not.”

The five-year-old uses five to eight words in a sentence:
You need to keep it brief, and use short sentences.

The five-year-old is interested in cause and effect:
You need to explain, “If we do this, then this will happen,
if we don’t do this, that will happen.”

The five-year-old understands and uses comparative terms:
You need to use analogies to help him understand.

The five-year-old enjoys creating and telling stories:
You need to tell stories. Storytelling is one of the best ways
to help people understand, retain, and repeat ideas.

The five-year-old likes to use swear words:
You need to use disruptive ideas and language to get attention.
(Notice the word “disruptive” — I’m not suggesting that you go out and swear at your customer. Rather, that you might need to shake him up to get his attention.)

What can you explain about your organization, product, or service in “why” and “why not” terms? What brief, short sentences could you use about your organization, product, or service? What cause and effect statements could you make about your organization, product, or service? What analogies can you use? What stories can you tell? What disruptive ideas can you use?

Answering these questions will help you make meaning for your customers in conversational ways — the first step in ditching your elevator speech.

Tune in next time for Conversational Marketing: Ditch Your Elevator Speech ­— Part 2

Tags: conversational marketing, elevator speech, Lois Kelly

You may think that my examples below are just a shameless attempt at getting a photo of my family vacation into my blog rather than a perfect opportunity to illustrate the power of having a plan — and you’d be partially correct.

However, you do have to admit that without my having taken the first set up photo to frame the shot and get an idea of whether the group photo I was going for was do-able or not,

the second posed photo might not have turned out as well, especially since I knew I wasn’t going to be snapping the shutter.

(I’m in the center row, far right, and a helpful neighbor took the photo.)

So that’s the topic of this post’s article: plans.

Positioning plans, to be exact, with this, the third part in our series on positioning. See the earlier blog articles, “The First Step in Positioning: Know Your Competition,” and “What’s Your Position?”

Develop Your Positioning Action Plan
The Positioning Action Plan — how you will achieve your Positioning — is the power behind your Positioning statement. Without it, your Positioning statement is just a collection of words that you’ll have trouble relating to over the long term. Putting an Action Plan behind your Positioning will give you something to hold onto, a clear plan that makes the Positioning believable and do-able.

What key actions will support your Positioning?
Now that you’ve got your positioning, it’s time to put a plan into place so you’ll make the best use of it. Some of this may come from your strategic plan, if you’ve done work in this area recently.

1. What actions must you take to assure your desired Positioning?
For example, if you’re positioning your company as being the latest, or as a leader in a high tech or fast moving sector, you may need to continually invest in the newest technology. If you’re positioning your company as being the best in customer service or patient care, you may need to make training a higher priority. For other specialized positioning, you may need to form alliances with partners and vendors. Make note of these actions.

2. What steps can you take to assure your Ideal Customer recognizes your Positioning?
Your new positioning won’t mean much if your customers and prospects don’t know about it. In order to make sure they do, you may need to expand your advertising presence, get some good PR, and find ways to locate where your Ideal Customer hangs out. How can you creatively promote your new positioning? Write these ideas down.

3. How will you keep on track to assure the Positioning stays active and visible?
It’s easy to come up with new marketing and business-building strategies and just let them sit there, isn’t it? After all the work you do to craft these initiatives, wouldn’t it be great if your efforts were finally at an end, and they’d just implement themselves? That’s not going to happen, but if you can put some processes and procedures in place to monitor and benchmark your progress, you’ll be that much more likely to stay on track. For instance, would setting up quarterly checkpoint meetings help you to assess the effect the new positioning language has on customers? Is it working? Are people using it? What procedures might help you keep on track? Write down your ideas.

Now, follow through!

Tags: positioning, positioning plans, action plans

Positioning can take several forms, but the main purpose of positioning is to supply a reason to buy, a difference that will give the prospect a reason to pay attention. It’s how you differentiate your brand in the mind of the prospect.

Your positioning must be unique, and not something anyone else in your market is saying. This is where the competitor analysis (from the last post, “The First Step in Positioning: Know Your Competition”) will come in.

Jack Trout’s six major positioning categories
There are six variations in positioning approaches, or ways that an organization can differentiate itself, according to the marketing master who first brought the term “positioning” into the marketing mix in 1969, Jack Trout:

1. Differentiation via attribute: your organization’s uniqueness can supply a reason to buy
For example,
Volvo: Safety
Crest: Cavity prevention
Visa: Everywhere

2. Differentiation via how it’s made: your product’s or organization’s “magic ingredient” will make it stand out
Sony: Trinitron television monitors
Chrysler: Hemi engine

3. Differentiation via being first: once they start with you, people tend to stick with what they’ve got
NyQuil: The first nighttime cold remedy
Starbucks: The first global coffee house

4. Differentiation via being the latest: people are not comfortable buying what could be perceived as an obsolete product, they want the newest model
Advil: Advanced medicine for pain
Blackberries, iPhones, and other handheld technology: The newest technology

5. Differentiation via leadership: credentials are the collateral you put up to guarantee your performance
Nordstrom: The leader in customer service
Owens-Corning: The leader in fiberglass insulation

6. Differentiation via being a specialist: when you’re perceived as experts, you rise above the pack
Mayo Clinic: Specialists in healthcare

The goal of positioning
Your goal with positioning is to find the most compelling difference about your organization, one that none of your competitors has (or is talking about), and then use it to set up a benefit for your customer.

It’s important to look beyond the obvious with this exercise. Look back at your competitor analysis, and compare your answers to what is already in your marketspace. If your organization offers a service rather than a product, you may think the “magic ingredient” doesn’t apply, but think again. Isn’t it possible to add a special ingredient to customer service to bring it above the norm? Isn’t it possible to add a special ingredient to consulting services that will make you stand out? If you’re not the leader in your main area, is there something else your customer cares about that you can be the leader in? If you’re not a specialist in the obvious, can you be a specialist in the not so obvious? You get the idea.

Tags: positioning, Jack Trout, positioning categories, differentiation

Why do you need to think about “positioning” your company? What does it mean, anyway? A positioning statement stands for one unique element, something no other company can say, that will give your organization a competitive edge. It gives value to your brand. It supplies a reason to buy. Positioning your organization in the minds of your customers is one of the most valuable things you can do.

Positioning is difficult because it’s counter intuitive — most companies instinctively do what others in their fields are doing to succeed. Be honest, now, don’t you look to what your peers are doing to know what’s “acceptable” for your industry? But that won’t position you to stand out.

What’s your competition doing?
You do need to check them out, however. Defining your position in the market couldn’t be complete or realistic without looking at who else is occupying that space. It’s possible to spend a lot of time on this step, in terms of determining competitive market share and other statistical analysis, but we’re not talking about that here — we just need some basic information. If you do a few simple things to analyze your competition’s positioning, you’ll be way ahead of most companies.

Make a list, take a look around
First, make a list of your direct competitors — the ones your Ideal Customer most considers to be your competition, and look for everything you can find out about them. Go to their websites and print out the major pages. Gather any print literature or products you can find from your competition — if you have a sales force, contact them for help. Often sales people have a stash of competitors catalogs and brochures. Look through industry trade magazines and make copies of their ads, get ahold of their annual reports.

How to easily analyze your competitors’ brands
Now, review the materials. Look for common themes within each competitor company. Make note of a few elements for each competitor: What is their tagline? What main colors do they use? Graphics? Photos? Themes? What is their main claim or reason to buy?

After you’ve analyzed each competitor individually, analyze the entire group in the same way — what common themes run through them? What common colors, graphics, and visuals do many of your competitors use? What tag lines are similar? What common language do they use? What common promises do they make? While some companies may have no rhyme or reason to their communications, many will be surprisingly similar.

In most industries, the results to this exercise are amazingly predictable. Companies within the same industries tend to do things the same way, in many of the ways they communicate. They share the same types of visuals, graphics, wording, colors, themes, claims, and sometimes even have very similar logos. Don’t take my word for it, do this exercise yourself! Write out all of their taglines for comparison. Lay all of their logos side by side. Look at their colors side by side. You’ll find it isn’t going to be difficult to be different!

Now, before you go off half-cocked, thinking that all you need to do to position yourself in your market is to be different than these folks, you need to know that you’ve only scratched the surface here. This is only background information that’s going to be useful as you move forward. You still need to find the positioning that fits your Brand Character, Personality, and Ideal Customer. You don’t want to be different just to be different.

Tags: positioning, competitive analysis

Masterminding is not brainstorming. It’s not just a few people getting together and generating ideas and coming out with an action plan, although that certainly has its place. Masterminding isn’t networking, either, although many great relationships can be built through Masterminding. Masterminding is far greater than either of these.

In his book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill describes the Masterminding principle as having two distinct characteristics:

1. The economic advantages of being surrounded by the advice, counsel, and personal cooperation of a group of people who are willing to lend you wholehearted aid in a spirit of perfect harmony, and

2. The psychic advantage that no two minds ever come together without, thereby, creating a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind.

Magic happens when two or more are gathered in the spirit of sharing, supporting and receiving support. Masterminding was the secret key to success by titans of business like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and others who changed the modern world. And many of today’s business leaders regularly gather in Mastermind groups to benefit from the powerful group synergies.

Here are the main business advantages of belonging to a mastermind group:

• In Masterminding, challenges are shared and participants are supported by the group. Group energy is used to support and propel participants forward toward individual goals more quickly than could be done on their own.

• Participants are held accountable for what they say they want to accomplish, in a way that assists in overcoming obstacles and supports what’s important. This accountability alone assures accomplishment at high levels.

• Masterminding gives encouragement and builds confidence in a truthful way. Because everyone has the opportunity to both present their own challenges and to listen and assist others, mutually beneficial relationships form.

• Participants are listened to in a safe and non judgmental environment. This is so rare in business today!

• Participants have more fun making progress toward goals while others cheer them on to greater results. Ditto here about what’s rare in business — often, we see just the opposite.

If you can’t find a Mastermind group you’d like to be a part of, why not start one yourself? It may take a bit of time to find the right mix of members for your group, but the search will be worth the effort. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

1. Look close to home. By that I mean, take a look at the people you “click” with already, those you find it easy to share ideas with. These could be people in your industry, associations, personal acquaintances, or even online contacts. (Online Mastermind groups can just as well as in-person groups, as many groups meet by phone for many of their meetings.)

2. Find enthusiastic, like-minded, high-achieving individuals. Make sure you ask people who will have staying power and can commit to regular in-person or phone meetings. Try to find a common thread among participants, such as all are marketing professionals, entrepreneurs, at the same stage of business development, or common other attribute. Ask people you admire and respect!

3. Set some ground rules. There are many resources online for Mastermind group start-ups and guidelines. It’s best to get everyone on the same page as to what’s expected of members, how often and how you’ll meet, and how to best assist each other. Many groups have simple outlines they follow for each session, such as: progress since last meeting, major challenge at this time, and what each member wants help with at the current meeting.

Tags: Mastermind, masterminding, mastermind groups

A powerful brand is a powerful asset — it can help you stand out in the marketplace, create raving fans, and demand premium pricing. But how do you get to the point of having a powerful brand in the first place?

Logos Get Their Power from Brands
A logo, which is just a part of your brand, gets its power from the brand it represents. What do you think of when you see this symbol?

For millions of people around the world, this symbol — in all languages and without any words — makes them feel like they can jump like Michael Jordan, run the soccer field like Mia Hamm, and hit a golf ball like Tiger Woods.

And then there’s the phrase, “Just do it,” which has just about as much cache as the swoosh symbol itself. These powerful symbols of the Nike brand didn’t gain their power by accident. They gained their power from Nike’s frequent and consistent promotion of the Nike brand.

Secret #1. Powerful brands are consistent
Take a look at your favorite brands. Notice how consistent they are with their brand messages. Nike has been consistent with their message that Nike is the brand that top athletes use. Even if not stated in those exact words, you’ve been hearing and seeing that message from Nike for years.

Secret #2. Powerful brands are seen frequently
How often do you see Nike? In magazines, in retail promotions, on TV, and even on the athletes themselves, Nike is out there frequently.

If it were as easy as being consistent with frequent promotion, every brand could be as powerful and successful as Nike, correct? So there has to be something else — why isn’t every brand as powerful and as successful as Nike?

Brands Get Their Power from Values
Brands flow from values. It’s not enough to be frequent and consistent with brand promotion, although frequency and consistency are both vital. Values also play a vital role in the Power Brand Mix of consistency, frequency, and values.

When correctly developed, an organization’s brand reflects the organization’s values. It stems from identity. It flows from what the company truly is, at its core. That’s good news, because developing an organization’s brand is a chance to show the organization’s authentic self, to put its best foot forward. Just keep in mind that it still has to be the company’s actual foot — it has to be genuine.

The truth is, a brand is only as good as the organization is. Customers are smart; they can always tell when a brand isn’t based on values. Brands not based on values have a hollow ring to them, they lack the personal feel necessary for people to connect emotionally.

Secret #3: Powerful brands are based on values
Nike’s strong values are attached to the athletes who endorse the brand. By buying Nike products, you’re buying into Tiger Woods’ strong values, and the values of other top athletes. Those are the values Nike has come to represent as well.

Add these three secret ingredients to your Power Brand Mix and your brand will be well on its way to becoming a powerful brand.

Tags: brands, branding, brand strategy, Nike, brand mix, brand values, brand frequency, brand consistency

CREATING CUSTOMER CONNECTIONS, part 2

The first call was jam-packed with information you can use immediately to grow your business and connect with customers. We’ll pick up where we left off, and cover issues such as:

how branding takes advantage of the natural way our brains work,

the purpose of positioning and the 6 major positioning categories,

and the 2 things you must know about engaging customers in meaningful conversations about your company, so you can ditch your elevator speech forever!

We’ll also review my 3 best personal recommendations for jump-starting powerful connections with your customers — to bring you more sales.

Friday, May 16, 2008, 3:00 pm EST.
Please join me! Get more information here.

Miss the first class? Listen to the recording here.

Tags: authentic branding, branding teleclass, branding teleseminar, customer connections, connecting with customers

If you want customers to connect with your organization, they first need to feel emotional about your organization. They need something to connect with.

How do you get people to feel emotional about your organization? You need to do the same thing you’d do if you, as an individual, wanted to connect emotionally with another individual. You’d reveal things about yourself, you’d show them who you are. To reveal things about “who” the organization is, it helps to think of the organization as having human traits. This will not only help customers relate to your organization’s brand, it will help you to begin forming an authenticity for your organization that will become more real to you as you move forward. So start now to think of your organization as a person, for the following good reasons:

people know how to talk to people; people don’t know how to talk to organizations (so they invented “corporate-speak,” which you must avoid!)

organizations are like crowds, and crowds are impersonal — they tend to yell rather than communicate

an organization’s instincts for survival are different than an individual’s — a person’s first instinct for survival is to connect with people, not so for an organization, which will often retreat under stress

FOUR MAJOR QUESTIONS: DISCOVERING YOUR BASIC TRAITS
To get started thinking of your organization as a person, there are four major questions you need to ask.

What are your organization’s basic traits? Take a moment to think through this exercise. Close your eyes and picture your organization standing in front of you, then answer the following questions.

1. Is the brand male, female, or neither? (Most will be either strongly male or strongly female.)

2. Is the brand young, old, middle aged, or ageless? (Try to put an age on this “person.”)

3. Is the brand upscale, blue collar, or all-encompassing? (Be honest, here, if you want to attract the correct audience.)

4. Is the brand local, regional, national, or global? (This will also help you focus on the correct audience.)

Start now to think of your organization as a person, and watch the effectiveness of your communications rise.

Tags: brand strategy, emotional branding, authentic branding, basic traits

The purpose of a headline is to pick out people you can interest. A clever phrase or play on words may attract initial attention, but probably not the attention of those you need to influence — the people you are after may never realize that the following content refers to something they want or need.

We pick out what we wish to read by headlines, and we don’t want those headlines to be misleading.

Example: Robert Allen’s best seller The Road to Wealth was originally and forgettably titled, The Challenge.

Tags: headlines, headline, increase readership