Don’t Just Say It, Explain It: Education is Key to Marketing Success

We all have someone in our lives who talks a lot without really saying anything. It may be your poodle-obsessed mother-in-law, the neighbor who loves to yap endlessly about fertilizer, or the co-worker who drops by your desk several times a day just to say “hi.”

An attack by one of these Chatty Cathys can leave you distracted, exhausted, and annoyed.

Unfortunately, customers can view companies in exactly the same light. Many businesses have a lot to say to their customers, but they don’t take the time to consider whether the message they’re relaying is one their clients need to hear. In a world of nonstop marketing ploys, what your customers really want is some insight.

Making Assumptions

There’s a big difference between marketing to your customers and educating them. A lot of companies believe they’re educating their consumers because they’re elaborating upon the features, advantages, and benefits of their products. What’s relevant to consumers, however, isn’t what the company values about its own product, but what the product can do to solve a problem for them. By using its marketing to do a lot of self-analysis, a business shortchanges its customers by only providing them with the information it deems important.

Customers, of course, see through this. When businesses blindly assume that their prospects already have the information they need and are simply making a choice between brands, they shift from a learning-focused mindset to a competitive one. Smart consumers opt to buy from the company that’s educated them on the issue and presented them with multiple solutions. That company’s selflessness has built trust — and its ability to teach the consumer has bought their loyalty in the future.

The Silent Giant Killer

What a brand doesn’t say is just as important as what it does say. The business graveyard is littered with companies that failed because they forgot that their prospects had to believe they needed the product before they’d ever buy it. They simply forgot to educate their customers.

Even big business has hurt itself with its silence. Take Google Plus.  It was launched as part of Google’s effort to enter the social realm. The behemoth search engine hoped to loosen Facebook’s vice grip on social media, but it went about it the wrong way. Their announcement of Google Plus implied that Google was inventing the concept of social sharing, as if Facebook didn’t already exist. This was confusing to consumers — did Google think they hadn’t heard of Facebook? Worse, it failed to address the real selling point: A company can’t demonstrate how its product will solve customers’ problems more easily if it’s implying that an already-established solution doesn’t exist.

TiVo, another technological juggernaut, failed to reach its full sales potential by forgetting to teach its own industry customers. TiVo was a godsend to TV viewers who wanted to skip ahead and avoid watching commercials. That same functionality, however, scared TV executives into thinking the TV commercial was an endangered species. The company was left to fight a court battle against providers whose technology did not allow viewers to fast-forward.

Leading by Teaching

Other companies have made their mark by teaching their target audience what it needed to know. Apple’s iPad, for example, was immediately successful upon its release. It wasn’t because the market had been clamoring for tablet technology — instead, Apple triumphed because it had invested a decade into educating its customer base. By introducing its features and ideas one by one, the company enabled its customers to not only understand the iPad, but to see a need for it.

When you’re marketing to people, you’re trying to sell them on your products. When you’re educating people, you’re helping them understand the benefit of your solution. Consumers can find information anywhere these days, but when it comes from you, the benefit is twofold: you establish a more knowledgeable customer base while you develop loyalty.

Take the time to consider whether the message you’re communicating is one your customers want to hear. Don’t just talk to talk.  Talk to teach. Your customers will walk away with knowledge and, most important, your product or service.

For more information on how your messaging impacts your bottom line, contact us today!

Quit Monkeying Around: Guerrilla Marketing Works!

The competition in the business world is fierce, and it’s hard to come by the profits you aim for. This is especially true for small businesses which don’t have huge resources to invest in marketing at their disposal. That’s why you need to get creative.

When the classic strategies aren’t delivering, you send in the guerrillas. They’re the extra-special forces – the ones that implement killer strategies to turn the tide and defeat the enemy.

Guerrilla marketing techniques involve low cost campaigns that aim at promoting products or services to a smaller demographic. But the novelty lies in the approach – they use unconventional and surprise methods to do this.

What good can it do for your business?

Enhance customer base. Guerrilla marketing aims at three things – attracting new customers, urging old customers to buy again, and making them pay money for more. But they do it in a way that surprises and delights them.

Suppose you own a café. A good strategy to attain profits will be to offer free cookies with coffee for a customer who comes in with two friends. You will earn three customers at one go, and will benefit from the deal.

Or, suppose you have a salon. To attract people, offer a free pedicure with a beauty treatment package. It will lure them in, enhance your customer base and add to the profits too. And the cost of the free item service won’t matter when you get more customers.

Create collaborations. Guerrilla marketing doesn’t always involve freebies. You can think up as many ways as you can to achieve your goals. Try to have collaboration with another business that attracts the same customers as your business does.

Suppose a florist shop is just around the corner on the same street of that of your café. Why not try to collaborate with them? Offer a discount coupon for your treats for people who buy flowers from them. And in turn, attract their customers to your café.

Competition exists. And it will always do. But if you can come up with advantageous collaborations and manage to implement your guerrilla marketing tactics to them, every participant can profit from it. Just give free reign to your creativity.

Save money! Traditional methods of marketing require a lot of money, be it a print ad or an online one. The greatest advantage of guerrilla marketing is that the methods are almost always low or even no cost. That means a serious saving.

Any business should create a Facebook page and promote products or services on it. And circulate your innovative ideas on it. It will be much easier to spread the word about your latest offer and at no additional cost.

Also, most guerrilla marketing tactic isn’t dependent on much for success. Do you really need to have huge money or resources to announce a promotion that anyone wearing pink on a particular day of the week will get a free dessert? No, you don’t!

So, where do you start? Well, do it whenever and wherever you want.

The basic idea of guerrilla marketing is to surprise the customers. And whether you dress up or ask them to dress up, whether you arrange a raffle or organize a tasting session, it won’t have too much effect on your monetary resources.

Just ask your employees to come up with marketing ideas that don’t need to spend much. Engage in brainstorming sessions. You will be surprised at the suggestions you may get. Also, take a cue from businesses that have done it with success.

Guerrilla marketing isn’t just for small businesses. Any business can use unconventional means to attract customers, new and old. If you would like to find out how guerrilla marketing can and should fit into your overall, plan contact us today!  www.stonekingconsulting.com  

Want to Be a Subject Matter Expert? Start with YOUR Brand!

Personal branding is commanding a lot of attention these days, especially from job seekers and people trying to get ahead in the workplace. The reason is simple. It’s your identity.  If what you do or what you sell doesn’t match up to your identity – if you’re not passionate about it – people take notice.

But, others also take notice when you own your personal brand, when you present yourself as and prove yourself as the subject matter expert in your field.

Branding the individual is especially relevant in the professional services, where developing thought leadership is a critical tool in an expert’s rise to prominence. I’m not talking about the self-described, “empty-suit” expert. Instead, these are serious professionals who want to increase their visibility and become recognized industry experts.

To become a true subject matter expert, you need to focus your attention in the right areas.

Top Personal Branding Tips

1. Focus your expertise

Don’t try to be an expert in too many things.  Why? Because people are not very good at associating an expert with more than one thing. Not to mention, it’s very difficult to master multiple disciplines. A few exceptionally gifted people have become experts in more than one field, but most are remembered for only one of them.

Whether or not you consider yourself the leading expert yet is unimportant. “Leading expert” is in the mind of the beholder. If you can state your expertise in clear, simple language, you’ve already taken a huge step forward.

Let’s say you’re an accountant and you say your expertise is in taxes. “Taxes” is just too broad a concept. A focus on “state and local taxes” would be better, but you may need to go even narrower to find an expertise platform you can “own.” How about “state and local taxes for online purchases”? It’s very specific, but still applies to a lot of businesses out there.

Once you get their business based on your narrow focus, you can always up-sell your other services.

2. Pick your issues carefully

One more advantage of a narrow focus is that it limits what you will write and speak about. No longer faced with a wide world of possibilities, you can work within a clearly defined range of issues.

When you zoom in on an area of specialty you’ll discover a whole new ecosystem of problems, challenges and ideas just waiting to be answered, explained and debated. In fact, it’s possible to become overwhelmed by the complexities of practically any niche.

The key is to focus on issues where you can shine. Ask yourself:

• Where do your interests lie?
• Where do your clients struggle most?
• Where can you deliver the greatest value?

At first, focus on just two or three issues. These will be issues that you write and/or speak about on a regular basis, so you should either understand them in depth already or be prepared to put in the research to get up to speed. Your goal is to become closely identified with these issues, so make sure they align well with the services you sell.

Choose issues that have legs. That means that they 1) don’t have an easy solution, and 2) aren’t likely to go away soon. 

3. Shape your personal profiles to be consistent with your expertise

Take a look at your bio on your website and the personal profiles on your social media pages. Do they present you as a highly credible professional? Do they convey a consistent message? And do they connect you to the issues you’ve chosen to write and speak about?

In addition, professional head shot is essential if you want to convey a high-end personal brand. That doesn’t mean it has to lack personality — you can take your shot in any setting. But it needs to look great. A web cam portrait or cropped dinner party shot isn’t going to put your best foot forward.

4. Write regularly on your area of expertise

Writing on the issues you care about in small, steady increments is one of the best ways to build a loyal following. And writing on a regular schedule comes with significant added benefits, too: it helps you master new material — deepening your expertise — and it forces you to think through and refine your arguments.

Where do you publish your writing? Your company’s blog or e-newsletter are cheap to produce and flexible enough for a busy schedule. You should also look outside your firm for new opportunities to share your ideas. Seek out publications and blogs that speak to your target audience. 

Many of your readers will be new or unfamiliar with the issues you cover, so it’s okay to return periodically to your most important points and apply them to different situations. Even long-time readers may appreciate looking at a familiar topic from a new angle.

The important thing is to set a schedule and stick to it. Even when you are busy. Try reserving a time on your calendar every week for writing. If you can’t find the time, or just don’t like to write, hire someone to write in your voice.  Then, all you have to do is approve the piece!

5. Embrace speaking events and webinars

Public speaking is one of the most popular — and effective — ways to become a visual expert. It’s a terrific way to demonstrate your expertise and strengthen your personal brand. If you choose your speaking events carefully, you can reach groups of people who not only are in your target audience but are very receptive to your ideas. And if you can meet members of the audience face to face after the event, you can make personal connections that are just not possible online.

Webinars are another great way to expand your visibility to new audiences and build your personal brand. Like speaking events, webinars allow you to share your knowledge and express your personality. You can even field their questions at the end. And once you’ve been doing them for a while, webinars can attract hundreds of qualified and engaged prospects at a time.

Whether you choose to speak publicly or conduct webinars (or both), live events provide a unique opportunity to give your audience a taste of your personality. They can also expose you to a new set of people outside your local area who haven’t yet discovered you through your writing.

6. Network with peers and prospects

Networking can be a powerful tool with two important dimensions:

• Who you network with: You obviously should rub elbows with people who can use and buy your professional services. That’s a no brainer. But, there’s another group that might not be so obvious — experts. Network with other experts, especially those who serve an audience similar to yours but don’t directly compete with you. Their recommendations can hold a lot of clout. Associating yourself with respected authorities can place you in their league. It’s not necessarily a bad idea to network with your direct competitors, either. They can’t always handle all the work that comes their way, so they can be valuable referral sources. If you take a different angle to solving problems, it might complement their own approach.

• How you do it: The “how” is easy. While face-to-face networking has some real advantages, its reach is limited by the time you can spend on it. Social media, on the other hand, can be a faster and easier way to build your brand. To the uninitiated, social media — with its plethora of platforms and tools — can be intimidating. But most industries favor just a few. LinkedIn is the most common social platform across the professional services, and many firms use it exclusively. In higher education, Facebook is very popular. A quick review of competitors’ websites should point you to the one or two essential social media tools in your industry.

If in-person networking is working for you, by all means keep doing it. But if you haven’t yet utilized social media, it offers a lot of possibilities to increase your exposure, meet prospects and other experts, debate relevant issues and share your expertise. This is exactly how personal brands are built.

It’s Your Brand!

Establishing a true-to-you, effective personal brand will not only help you discover your true talents and passions, it will enable others to see that passion, knowledge and performance as the leader in your field. Don’t try to tackle all of the above at once.  But, the more time you can devote to building your personal brand, the faster your stock will rise.  If you are struggling with developing and promoting your brand, we can help!  www.stonekingconsulting.com   

Your Business Website(s): Two is NOT Better than One

Many business owners understandably take a hands-on approach with their online marketing and SEO tactics. But, no matter how involved they are in their marketing endeavors,  the fact remains: they are not subject matter experts in the world of marketing and web design. It should be noted that when it comes to a local business website, not everything you’ve heard are indeed best practices.

Often, SEO marketing techniques are misunderstood. One of these often misguided efforts is the practice of creating multiple websites under one business, or hoarding related domain names, which are then redirected to the main site.  We see this many times.

When business owners approach us they:

a) Already have another website, but want to have more than one.

b) They bought several additional keyword-based domain names that are set to redirect to their main site.

Although the right intentions are there, in truth, these efforts may end up hurting your online presence more than helping.

This scenario is more common than you’d expect, with many local business owners believing that more is better. “If I have more online properties, I’ll be more visible.  “If I have more assets to leverage, it will strengthen the main website and create more rankings and visibility.”

Before diving into a potential headache of what might be counterproductive online marketing tactics, let’s look at a few reasons why having multiple websites for your local business is a bad idea:

1. Time & Effort

Most business owners are already too busy running their business and don’t have all the time necessary to allocate to building and maintaining one website, let alone two or more. And more often than not, they don’t have the technical know-how or a webmaster or SEO expert on hand to help them out.

However, when it comes ranking successfully in the local SEO game, your website actually requires a good amount of unique content, quality backlinks, and both technical and non-technical SEO. Unless you’re fully prepared to carry out the maintenance, SEO, link building and more content for both sites, I wouldn’t recommend this approach. Instead, I would recommend focusing on your business first, and keeping time spent on online assets to a minimum, managing only one website, and perhaps even hiring a professional to help manage it for you.

2. Duplicate Content

In the online world duplicate content can be quite a concern. Not only for content targeting your business brand name and contact details, but also for the targeted keywords you will be optimizing your website for.

Search engines like Google will see two sites with similar or duplicate content, will pick one of the sites (more often the older more authoritative site with a history of backlinks) and pay less attention to the 2nd one.

On the other hand, there are particular cases where the secondary site accidentally steals the ranking spotlight and takes away visibility and value from the original site. It may be a constant tug-of-war on which website Google should rank higher.

3. Search Engine Rankings

Let’s assume you find the time and resources to build a second site, create unique non-duplicate content, implement proper SEO, and build quality backlinks.

When you have multiple websites targeting the same industry, geography, and keywords, you will essentially end up competing against yourself, especially if you have the same business name, address and contact info.

Search engines such as Google frown upon businesses having slightly different names but essentially the same service, address, and contact info. And when these similar differences start popping up throughout the internet, both the inconsistencies in business contact info as well as duplicated info on multiple business sites can and will most likely negatively impact your rankings.

Also, in terms of link building per address and local citations, most business listing websites only allow one unique business to be listed. Therefore, trying to build inbound links to multiple websites ultimately ends up limiting you to listing one website or another, strengthening one, while weakening another.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to point all links to one site and receive 100% ‘link juice’, as opposed to only getting 50%, 25% each?

4. Customer Confusion

Having multiple websites under one business may confuse visitors as they are not sure which of the many websites is the “official” website. This can be a major factor in converting visitors to customers due to the potential loss of trust and possible business. People searching online may not have a high level of patience for making this determination.

5. Are there any Exceptions?

When it comes to local businesses you generally don’t want to have more than one website, but there are a few exceptions to this rule:

– The business services are so different that service segmentation makes sense.
– It is an international business where it might makes sense to have both a .com version as well as a .ca in order to better cater to each demographic.
– You actually do have two separate businesses, each with a unique name, address, and contact details.

A Better Approach

First off, don’t buy industry/geography related domains for the sake of creating multiple sites or redirecting the domains to your main site.

If you’ve already purchased these additional domain names, then sure, you could use domain redirection (‘301 redirects’) to the main site. However, this won’t provide much SEO value unless the site has a previous history with preexisting external links pointed to your site. And in most cases, your domain is relatively new, so this tactic will be providing no SEO value.

Instead of building multiple sites, and all the work that goes into it, focus your energy, time and resources into a single online entity. Build one main website and build it great. If you don’t know how to build one, it’s best to hire an expert.  If you need an easy-to-navigate website that sets you apart from your competition, flows in a way to best turn visitors into customers, and maximizes your SEO, SK Consulting can help!

Summary

When you start trying to optimize and leverage more than one entity you begin to spread your efforts too thin. Instead of spending a ton of time, energy, and resources to build a few mediocre websites that have a bit of authority – why not use that same effort to build one high-quality and highly-authoritative website that will have a much better chance at ranking than the smaller counterparts?

If you are not a web designer or developer, spend your time, efforts and energy on doing what you do best.  Hiring an expert to combine your websites and build one, comprehensive site will save you the time, stress and headaches you would inevitably incur.  What’s your time worth to you?  What is gaining the business you are currently losing worth to you?

Having one concise website, designed by an expert will give your business a better chance of success.  Need help?  Contact us today! 

Better Your Business By Blogging

If you run a small business, chances are you are wondering if blogging is worth the time and effort. The short answer is a resounding YES! Blogging on a frequent basis is a relatively easy, inexpensive way to enhance your inbound marketing efforts, drive traffic to your site, and attract more perspective customers.

Once you attract them, it’s important to engage with your consumers online.  Consumers are learning about services and products through social media and search. Your online marketing and brand strategy cannot rest on logo and trademark alone. Regular blogging about relevant issues in your field will increase your visibility. Once someone relates to a blog you have written, it can go viral increasing your audience and potential consumers.

Blogging also allows you to put forth a more authentic voice behind your logo, trademark or website. In a blog you can provide analysis on the specific benefits of your products. Also, including the latest research or cutting-edge matters in your field will distinguish you from your competition and will build your credibility as an expert.

Still Not Convinced?

Here are some of the most important benefits of having a blog for your business (multi-level marketers and agents within a business too):

1. Boost Search Engine Optimization-Search engines love fresh content. What better way to provide frequent content than with blog posts. By blogging consistently, you give Google and other search engines new content to index and you create opportunities to plug in those all-important keywords to increase your visibility on search engine results pages (SERPS).
   
   
2. Develop Relationships with Potential and Existing Customers-Blogging allows you to connect with your site visitors. This can be accomplished by asking your readers questions at the end of your posts to get the conversation going or by simply allowing comments and feedback. By reviewing and responding to readers’ comments, you can create a rapport with your audience, build trust, and gain valuable insight into what your customers are looking for.
   
   
3. Establish Your Business as an Industry Leader-No matter how small your business is, you can build trust and clout within your industry by providing valuable, expert information in your blog posts. Over time, you become a “go to” resource for helpful, informative content, which can ultimately lead to higher customer conversion rates. This is especially important for small businesses looking to gain credibility to compete with larger companies.
   
   
4. Connect People to Your Brand-Blog posting allows you to show a personal side of your business that perspective and current customers won’t see through outbound marketing techniques. Blogging gives others a sense of the corporate standards, vision, and personality of your company.
   
   
5. Create Opportunities for Sharing-Every time you blog, you create an opportunity for your audience to share your blog with others. Whether they link to your blog post, tweet it, or email it to others, it’s free marketing and it further validates you as a credible business.
   
   

From a practical standpoint, blogging just makes sense. With minimal effort and expense, you can build credibility, boost search engine rankings, increase website traffic, and foster relationships with potential and current customers. This is an opportunity no small business or individual agent should pass up.

If your writing isn’t stellar or you’re not sure where to start or what to write about, we can help!  Don’t just write to write.  Write to educate.  Write to inspire.  Write to drive business. If this is not your cup of tea – it’s okay to hire the experts!  www.stonekingconsulting.com  

Attention Millennials: What You Post Online Becomes Your Brand

We often think about branding as something done only by large corporations, but everyone has a personal brand.

Think about your friends; there are probably a handful of ways you could describe them. Those words are probably part of the individual friend’s brand for why you like him so much.

While branding used to only apply to your regular social circle, the Internet now means that everyone carries an online persona that is part of their brand. This is both good and bad. If you go on a racist rant on Twitter, that rant will become negative branding and can hold obvious consequences.

There’s a lot you can do to improve your online brand beyond obvious tips like “don’t go on racist rants.”

Here are a few small things which can help you stand out from the crowd with your online brand:

1. Know your strengths and apply them.

A brand is a fundamental reflection of your personality. If you’re not funny in person, trying to be funny online is going to look strange. You have to identify what you’re good at in personality and skills, and make it part of your brand.

Identifying your strengths is much harder than it sounds because people are far more generous, kind and intelligent in their own minds than in reality. Instead of trying to identify your strengths yourself, contact people who know you in a wide variety of settings — from professional to personal — and ask them to tell you.

Discussing your strengths with many different people can give you a better picture of what your strengths actually are.

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2. Too little is better than too much.

No one has the time to be active on every social media site out there. Pretty much everyone has a Facebook account, but what about other websites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram?

No matter the outlet, remember that your online brand relies on regular, interesting updates. Even posting about something as mundane as what exercises you did over the weekend can help elevate your brand and humanize you.

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3. Clean up your social media accounts.

If you have a successful brand, people are going to look you up. The more successful your brand is, the deeper people are going to look.

That can be a serious problem. Even if you aren’t serious about building your brand, remember that certain photos or Facebook posts can be a serious detriment to your work or relationships.

Employers look at social media accounts of potential workers and more than 80 percent of them have said they are less likely to hire someone with an unprofessional account. They are also just as willing to fire someone who they catch making unprofessional posts.

So, take a moment to clean up your Facebook. Also, Google your own name to see if anything unsavory comes up. It’s better for you to do it than your boss, or friends.

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4. Don’t talk about only yourself.

The entire point of building a brand is so that other people become interested in what you have to say. But, it’s a reciprocal relationship. If you aren’t interested in other people, why should they be interested in you?

While your brand should be about yourself and what makes you special, don’t hesitate to give shout-outs to others. If people have comments or questions, answer them.

Always look for a chance to make a friend online. More friends means more links which results in a bigger online brand.

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5. Don’t give up.

Building a brand is something we do every second of our lives, so creating a new one can be challenging.

But don’t give up. Keep tabs on the progress you’ve made, and pat yourself on the back when you’ve accomplished something. When you look back on your hard work, you can feel proud of how you managed to present yourself online.

What you post should be relevant.  What you post should be authentic.  What you post is a clear reflection of your true personal brand.  If you need help determining YOUR brand and how to set yourself apart (in a positive manner) from the crowd, contact us!  

Marketing for Introverts

In the workplace, part of having a successful career often comes down to personal branding. While stepping outside of your comfort zone can be scary, it’s important to take some risks and forge connections with others in the industry. This can be really tough for introverts who often crave alone time and tend to be shy. If you’re an introvert, you may have searched for ways to promote yourself without being annoying.

Personal branding can be really intimidating when finding yourself in a professional world where you’re forced to work alongside extroverts who are usually very sociable. The workforce does not have to be overwhelming for those who are not comfortable spending a lot of time around others building their personal brand.

Here are six tips to help introverts make their way down the path to personal-branding success:

Don’t be shy to talk about your accomplishments.

Oftentimes, introverts fail to get well-deserved recognition because they don’t promote themselves or bring attention to themselves. Many people don’t know the ways to brag about your accomplishments without coming across as arrogant. It’s not smart, though, to rely exclusively on others to talk about your accomplishments. Letting them go unnoticed may get in the way of promotions in the workplace. Take the time to decide just what you want to say about your accomplishments to make sure you receive credit where credit is due.

Work hard to forge strong relationships.

It’s typical that introverts seek a mentor to help them find success, especially because introverts may not know who, when and how to ask for referrals. Forging strong relationships with people will speak up on your behalf can be valuable when you need a person to vouch for your skills and abilities.

Share your ideas.

You don’t have to turn into Chatty Cathy, but feel free to open your mouth and talk about a new idea or opinion you have. Doing so is a way to help ensure a boss or manager will be aware of your contribution to the organization. If this is a struggle for you, mentally lay out what you plan to say prior to saying it.

Do not over-analyze your performance.

It is common that introverts are hard on themselves because they tend to become really self-conscious when in the limelight. Don’t beat yourself up over your “mistakes.” Instead, concentrate on your successes.

Rehearse before situations that make you nervous.

If you have a presentation around the corner, practice for it. Utilize a mirror or entrust in the help of a friend to make yourself more comfortable. The more times you do something, the less foreign it becomes.

Always have a plan.

If you have networking events on your calendar, take a moment to lay out a plan. Have a few conversation starters in mind, such as comments about things many people can easily discuss, like current events or movies. Small talk flows more naturally for people when you find things you have in common.

Introverts often say they feel more comfortable communicating online instead of in-person. Personal branding is important, and introverts should make sure to take advantage of the various online networks for young professionals, such as LinkedIn and Twitter, to gain more contacts in a less stress environment. The professional world can seem daunting to introverts, but any person out there can learn proper networking skills to boost their personal brand.

If you need help building your confidence or just coming out of your shell, we can help!  The more confidence you have in yourself and your brand, the more adept you will be at talking about it.

Multi-Platform Branding is Essential to Your Business Success

Creating, and maintaining, a brand across platforms can be a challenge, particularly if the idea of cross-channel marketing and multiple platforms leave you scratching your head. In fact, what do those terms even mean, and where do you start?

Branding is about so much more than a logo or recognizable imagery these days; it’s about engaging customers at every turn, establishing relationships, and encouraging loyalty. In short, branding is everything. The way you approach cross-channel marketing, and interact with each platform available defines your brand and determines the successes and failures of your business.

Branding is more than advertising; it’s used to express your company’s voice and relay its message, and to create an identity by which you’ll forever be associated. A strong brand will carry your company well above its nearest competitors, reach out to customers, and attract their loyalty. More than that, branding is essential for personal identity. In understanding, creating, and maintaining your brand you ensure that all employees, no matter their job description, comprehend where the company has come from, what its main goals are, and where it’s hell-bent on going.

The evolution of branding

While branding once revolved around a company’s image, color schemes, and logos, print and television advertising, these days there are multiple platforms on which customers can be engaged.

Cross-channel marketing, or multi-platform branding, encompasses a variety of mediums. Rather than relying upon a single method of marketing, such as print media, multi-platform branding can be adapted to embrace all kinds of platforms, including targeted pop-up adverts, social media pages, viral videos, mobile apps, and websites and e-commerce. It is essential that you realize your brand identity is just that; the ‘face’ that customers will recognize instantly, and engage with.

Rather than waiting for customers to come to you, or stumbling across your marketing material by accident, multi-platform branding allows your company to step out of its comfort zone and engage with potential customers like never before; Social media and SEO (search engine optimization) are vital when it comes to cross-channel marketing; these days it’s all about being seen.

Ensuring branding success

Understand your customers: Before you begin the task of creating a brand it is essential to get to know your customers, their spending habits, and how they’ll access your marketing material. How do they use and interact with technology? Where are they most likely to come across your brand? The age and web habits of your clients will say so much about where your brand needs to go.

Define and create: First thing’s first; while understanding the platforms you’ll be accessing is essential, it’s also important that you stay true to your brand. Don’t plan a campaign around the media, but allow it to work for you. Have an idea of what you’d like your brand to stand for, and achieve, and create something that defines your business’s story; who are you, what do you stand for, and where are you going? Your brand should be fluent, and recognizable across any platform.

Voice and communication: The tone of voice your brand uses is vital; it must be unique and specific, able to stand the test of time and the domination of the crowd. Be sure to communicate your brand clearly and honestly, making sure that it is reflective of the products and services on offer. A brand isn’t a smokescreen to trick customers in, but a means of introducing the service you deliver.

Consistency: Perhaps most important when it comes to branding is consistency; try to avoid repetition, but ensure the image that you’re delivering is the same across all platforms. It must be recognizable, regardless of how customers are choosing to engage with you. Remain focused on your brand and its message, use tools and resources wisely, and don’t waste a second of exposure. Finally, use your brand to inspire customers to feel a certain way about your business; ensure they know who you are, and what you’re able to offer.

When it comes to branding across multiple platforms there are three ‘C’s that you must remember, without which many marketing attempts prove futile. They are courage, commitment, and communication. It takes great courage to think outside of the box and to push your business further than ever before, commitment to ensure that your brand remains consistent and accessible, and communication to convey that message in the first place.

It’s also important to remember that these platforms will continue to evolve. Already we have seen so many changes to the ways in which companies market themselves and engage with customers. As a business you must be prepared to accept your growing brand as an ongoing concern, and to develop it as the times change. How you move with those times will depend entirely upon you, but be sure to listen to your customers, as they’ll be your biggest fans, or critics.

Branding. Marketing. Selling. Oh My!

Sales. Marketing. Branding. If these words all sound the same to you, you’re not alone. A lack of familiarity with the particulars of each, combined with the fact that, frankly, they are all closely related, means many companies, small businesses and individuals view the terms as interchangeable.

What’s wrong with that? Well for starters, if you don’t know where one ends, and the next one starts, you’ll struggle to determine what is (and can) driving your results, and what is just costing you money and resources without improving your bottom line.

First comes the branding.  If you don’t know who you are or what you’re selling, others won’t either. In order to be an effective salesperson or savvy marketer, you must understand the value of personal branding and how to make it a part of your work.

Things to keep in mind about branding:

» Regardless of what you sell, everything is easier when you have a great personal brand.

» If you have a widely recognized and highly respected personal brand, your voicemails and emails are more likely to be returned.

» All sales professionals should seek to become celebrities in their own spheres of interest.

» Excellence is not enough. In a competitive marketplace, talent and hard work are simply expected.

» You are not just a human being. You are an entity, a business of one, a business unto yourself.

» You are in a lifelong series of “campaigns” trying to be “elected” to whatever matters to you. Think like a politician (I said THINK, not ACT).

» Live actively and focus externally. In order to become a celebrity in your sphere of interest, you need to be seemingly “everywhere.”

» Develop an area of self-marketing expertise, something related to what you do but is fascinating to people who do not do what you do. This is what you talk about when you network.

» Don’t network just for the sake of networking. Focus on results.

» Put on a show. Don’t be someone you are not, but play up your strengths and put forth your best image possible.

» While you are portraying yourself in a positive light, keep it real. Your prospects can sense authenticity as well as a lack of it.

» Never go back on any promise made to any prospective client during a networking or potential business encounter.

If you are unclear of your personal or company brand, we can help!  Don’t start your marketing or selling strategy until you understand your brand! www.stonekingconsulting.com.  

To Brand or ReBrand, That is the Question...

Companies are always looking for ways to increase sales and enhance market awareness. Sometimes this involves rebranding, which can make sense – companies that are willing to adapt tend to remain relevant within the market. But sometimes, rebranding can fail to meet expectations or may even do damage.

BP: Controversy Over the Logo

Many companies do not wish to rebrand but do so to combat modern day issues or crisis they face. The rise of issues such as green energy, expansion into other markets and recycling has had an effect on numerous brands. In 2000, in light of numerous PR disasters and a rise in the awareness of green energy, BP rebranded their logo of more than 70 years to the “Helios” logo.  The logo, representing the Greek word for the sun, was to symbolize and represent the company’s green growth strategy. 

However, there is nothing clean or green about drilling oil, and it appeared that BP was trying to provide connotations of something they weren’t. Shortly after the rebrand, the company caused global outrage with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill – the largest marine oil spill in the history of the industry. Green Peace challenged BPs logo and insisted that they change it to one that did not imply renewable or clean energy. They were unsuccessful in their campaign with the environmentally friendly logo.

Some Branding Tips: What is Needed to Successfully Rebrand

When rebranding, it is important to know what you are and what your company does and represents. Like the BP example, there is no point in trying to paint a picture of something that you aren’t. Changing brand personality can be rash and confusing, and although it can grab headlines, it can prove to be detrimental. If you must change something, know why you are doing it and justify it to your audience. Finally, change is not appreciated by a lot of people, but if you believe your company must rebrand and the rebranding is appropriate for you, have the courage and commitment to see it through.

Knowing when and if to Rebrand

Whether you are developing a brand or a rebrand, the process is very similar.  In order to be successful, all stakeholders need to be on board.  It’s important to remember that consumers drive market.  Their input is, most times, more important than the business owners’ desires.

                                           

1. Be Ready for the Change.

Change is very important to the future success of your business. As markets and attitudes change (very quickly), your customers’ needs and expectations also change. So it's vital to keep your communications relevant and appealing.

2. Understand your Brand.

Re-branding your business involves understanding your current strengths and weaknesses and identifying what and why you think things need to change. What are the problems and opportunities of your current brand? 

3. Know What your Brand Communicates.

How is your brand experienced by potential consumers through your current communications and how do you feel these should be developed or improved? It can be useful to ask customers and other stake holders their views and opinions. 

4. Know your Customers.

Who are your customers and what do they need? Do you want to attract new consumers, as well as retain existing ones? In what ways do you think your brand needs to adapt to address these goals? Understanding exactly who your consumers are and what they want is key in determining what you need to communicate to them.

5. Brand Distinction.

With ever-increasing competition and a proliferation of communication technologies, it's difficult to stand out from competitors. Does your brand have unique characteristics that sets it apart?

6. Know your Competitors.

It's important to understand how your competitors behave and present themselves, so that you can deliberately create the differences that will set you apart and give a competitive edge.

The decision to rebrand your company can have a profound effect on your existing customer base. Newer startups that make their pivot early on likely don't have much of a "legacy" to hold on to, but for an established company with a strong following, changing a key element of your brand may come as a shock to your core audience.

Therefore, it's critical to consider the way your past and current customers will react to such a shift when changing something as big as your product offerings, logo or name. Failure to do so could lead to a drop in your brand's recognition, reputation and trust among the people who know and love your company.

If you or your business needs help branding or rebranding, contact us! 

If You Don’t Know Your Brand, Others Won’t Know Your Brand

The importance of branding is well known, yet it is also quite easy to get it wrong. For branding to be effective one must first understand what it is and to what end it is directed. Branding refers to the unique image an individual (yes, each of us has a personal brand) or company wishes to attribute to itself in a manner that the company and the brand become synonymous with each other. Good branding ensures longevity, customer loyalty and a unique identity in the market. In many ways branding is a delicate balancing act wherein the company or individual has to position themselves in a manner that is most consistent and easily identifiable to their target audience. Several factors

determine how it is done.

Visual branding is very important and can work wonders for a brand. Look at McDonald’s, Google and Apple. Their logos are very identifiable.  And people mostly associate their visual brand with a good or happy experience. Good and fulfilling user experience and customer to company interaction is also vital for good branding.

In order for a customer to fully identify with a brand, several factors play a role. Innovation and being the first in the game plays a definitive part. Every company dreams of a situation where the brand becomes the name for the product itself for the general population. That is branding at its most absolute. Think Xerox, which became synonymous with the photocopy industry to the extent that many people in office setting refer to the Xerox machine when making copies (even if they use a different brand).  

One key enabler of good branding is the emotional connect between a business/individual and its customers – current or potential. Today Apple is a lesson in wholesome branding for several other players. Apple’s branding strategy is rooted in emotions and the experience it brings to its customers at a lifestyle level. When Apple entered the market it marketed itself as a company that was challenging the existing thought and mindset. It’s branding was based on the company being a challenger that would bring new and innovative products to, essentially, the world. That emotional experience has remained embedded in our minds - across generations.

Apple’s successful branding strategy also brings us to the debate of brand evolution. A brand must be able to display both consistency and evolution.  While this may seem like two contradictory ideas, they actually are not when it comes to brand placement, especially in the tech sector that sees progress and evolution all the time. While Apple was first marketed as a ‘device company’, it has successfully moved beyond that branding to include digital content services (with iTunes, app stores etc) as well. However, its key brand philosophy that is simplicity, innovation and hassle free design for the everyday man remains consistent at its core.

While there are several examples of successful brands what are the essentials that must be kept in mind when developing one?

Brand equals experience

No matter how well a company markets itself visually or otherwise, at the end of the day a brand equals the experience it gives the customer. If the experience is inadequate, the brand is inadequate as well.

Product design is also branding

How you design your product will become synonymous with the brand. If product design is unique, the brand will remain imprinted in the user’s mind for a long time. When it comes to designing a product there should be a definitive end that leaves more than a superficial impression. Think about Apple’s designs - that is one of their principal branding strategies. Apple promises users hassle-free products that stand out for their minimalist designs. Unique product design is branding in itself.

Standing out is important

That is the entire point of branding. If you are standing in, you are invisible and therefore, not taken into account in the larger picture. Branding differentiates the brand in the competitive market and good branding gives an edge over others in the race.

Unique but rooted to its customer base

While the branding must be unique, it must also not lose sight of who their target customer base is. Several companies get carried away by the idea of a good concept and lose sight of customer expectations. Be it a motion advertisement or a newsletter, the brand must be easily identifiable to the customer.

Consistent, yet evolving 

In order to ensure customer loyalty and longevity, a brand must evolve with times to accommodate the shifts in consumer patterns. However, this need not happen at the expense of its core branding strategy. It is in fact, the consistency of a brand to deliver exactly what it is expected to do that ensures the most loyal and consistent customer base.

If you are a job seeker or looking to start your own business, remember, you have a personal brand too!  What is it you want people to know about you?  Can you deliver on your promise?  What sets you apart from others in the market?

If you need help with your personal or business brand, contact us!  www.stonekingconsulting.com  

A Comprehensive Marketing Plan Helps Secure Small Business Loans

Having a plan for marketing your small business to the community will help you build your business and show lenders that you have a plan for growth. 

One of the biggest mistakes we see when helping small businesses with their marketing and outreach plan is that they didn’t incorporate marketing into their small business loan proposal to lenders.

Yes, part of making your small business successful is getting the word out to your target audience. Choosing marketing tactics that will reach your prospective customers through a variety of different avenues will ensure that they hear your message enough times to both remember you and want to buy from you.

But, a comprehensive marketing plan can also help your business from a lending perspective. Loan officers want to see that you have a plan for growing your business – this lets them know that you have a plan for making money, which in turn indicates that you’ll be able to pay back what you borrow. Showing how you plan on promoting your company to the community through a basic marketing plan is a thoughtful way to supplement the business plan you submit with your small business loan application. And if you’re new to the marketing world, here are five tactics that every small business should include in their marketing plan.  If you don’t want to enter the marketing world, be sure to hire someone who is an expert – and include that cost into your proposal.

1. Get a website. Let’s face it: the world we live in today is highly digital. Companies who don’t have an online presence – even smaller, local companies – are considered dated and out of touch. Building a website for your business an essential step towards having a strong brand within your community. Your website doesn’t have to be anything fancy – it just needs to be something basic with a modern visual appeal that clearly communicates what your company does, who you serve and how to get in touch with you.

2. Canvas the neighborhood. There’s something to be said for getting out and actually meeting the people who live and work around your business. Coming to them shows that you offer a high level of customer service, something that’s becoming much harder to find these days. A great way to share what your company does and how you serve the local community is to invite those closest to your business geographically to come in and check out your space.

3. Become a PR magnet.  To continue growing your business, ongoing visibility is key. One way you can continue to keep yourself front and center is to become a PR magnet – by connecting and interacting with local resources and media outlets online and in person.

Get on social media and start “following” or “liking” the television, radio and publication personalities in your area. Tweet at them, like their status updates – engage with them to get noticed. Once they know who you are and what you do, they’re much more likely to use you as a news source where it applies to your expertise. Want to take this a step further? Pitch a story idea (make sure it has a good ‘hook’) every once in a while to the media sources you’ve connected with – you never know when they might feature you on the five o’clock news!

4. Be a visible member of the community. This is such an important aspect of owning a small business – no matter what industry you’re in. Staying visible within the community, especially in charitable ways, will always reflect positively on your business. It also keeps your company front-of-mind with your local clientele and prospective customers because they’re seeing your brand in their everyday lives.

Sponsor a little league team, have a little booth at the local farmer’s market or offer to drive a truck branded with your company’s name in the high school homecoming parade. No matter how you do it, just make sure your local community sees you engaging and doing things to benefit them – it will reflect back on your bottom line tenfold over time.

5. Engage your clientele online. Getting back to that whole idea of online marketing, being engaged with the online community is a great way to help build your business. Do this by replying to people who reach out on social media, asking happy customers to leave a positive review about your business on Yelp! or Angie’s List and monitoring the use of your company’s name across the internet through tools like Google Alerts and Hootsuite. This will allow you to promote positive feedback while responding quickly to anything negative that’s added about your company online, helping to preserve your reputation and show that you truly care about what customers have to say about your business.

Building Positive Visibility Can Make a Difference

Having a plan to promote your small business to the community gives you actionable steps to start attracting new customers, build your business’ reputation and grow your bottom line. Lenders look favorably upon highly organized businesses who have a plan for growth, so creating a marketing plan can help show how you’re a step ahead of your competition and a great loan candidate.

If you need help building your marketing and/or outreach plan, contact us!  We would love to help put your business on the map and compete against the businesses with ‘deep pockets’.

Blogging for Business: No More Excuses!

Do you own or run a small business?  Do you blog?  If not, it’s more than likely because you don’t have the time or you don’t see the value. Using that logic, think of all of the efforts you put into promoting or marketing your business then look at the return on your investment (time AND money).  

Blogging on a frequent basis is a relatively easy, inexpensive way to enhance your inbound marketing efforts, drive traffic to your site, and attract more prospective customers.

Don’t like to write?  Don’t know what to write?  Get help! If you’re not blogging, you’re opening the door for your competitors to come in and grab your potential customers.

According to Hubspot, 57% of companies who have a blog reported that they actually acquire business from their blog.  Still don’t have the time or resources?  Find it!

The Case for Small Business Blogs

Here are some of the most important benefits of having a blog for your business:

1. Boost Search Engine Optimization: Search engines love fresh content. What better way to provide frequent content than with blog posts? By blogging consistently, you give Google and other search engines new content to index and you create opportunities to plug in those all-important keywords to increase your visibility on search engine results pages.
   
   
2. Develop Relationships with Potential and Existing Customers: Blogging allows you to connect with your site visitors. This can be accomplished by asking your visitors questions at the end of your posts to get the conversation going or by simply allowing comments and feedback. By reviewing and responding to readers’ comments, you can create a rapport with your audience, build trust, and gain valuable insight into what your customers are looking for.
   
   
3. Establish Your Business as an Industry Leader: No matter how small your business is, you can build trust and clout within your industry by providing valuable, expert information in your blog posts. Over time, you become a “go to” resource for helpful, informative content, which can ultimately lead to higher customer conversion rates. This is especially important for small businesses looking to gain credibility to compete with larger companies.
   
   
4. Connect People to Your Brand: Blog posting allows you to show a personal side of your business that potential and current customers may not see through traditional marketing techniques. Blogging gives consumers a sense of the standards, vision, and personality of your company.
   
   
5. Create Opportunities for Sharing: Every time you blog, you create an opportunity for your audience to share your blog with others. Whether they link to your blog post, tweet it, or email it to others, it’s free marketing and it further validates you as a credible business.
   
   

From a practical standpoint, blogging just makes sense. With minimal effort and expense, you can build credibility, boost search engine rankings, increase website traffic, and foster relationships with potential and current customers. This is an opportunity no small business should pass up.

If you have questions regarding the benefits of blogging, or need help getting started, we can help!  What are you doing to promote your brand?  If you’re not blogging, you’re missing out! Contact us if you need help with your blogging and branding plan!  www.stonekingconsulting.com  

Recruiting and Retaining Customers Through Your Brand

A large amount of sales and marketing’s attention is focused on getting the customer. But what about your current customers? Why should they come back?

Customer retention is a branding challenge. What separates your business from the competition? And do your customers care enough to come back again and again?

You don’t have to be brilliant at everything. Pick a focal point. What is your business known for?

Focus On Customer Service

Delivering exceptional customer service is more than a corporate value, it’s a process. Companies that deliver exceptional customer service invest in it. They hire more people, provide them better training and tools, and give them the freedom and room to delight their customers.

It’s not easy to deliver outstanding customer service, and that’s what makes it a powerful differentiator.

Take a look at your customer service process.  Are there things you are doing great?  Are there things in which you can improve?

Focus On Choice

Being able to buy everything you’re looking for in one place is appealing.

Offering breadth of service is a differentiator, provided your customers take advantage of your broad abilities and you excel at each of them. However, offering too many options may dilute your brand. Build your portfolio of products and services around your customer and their needs.

Focus On Your People

Happy employees create happy customers.

In some industries it’s very hard, if not impossible, to differentiate the products or services. And while these industries may not have a lot of external options to differentiate the brand they can still differentiate internally.

Organizations that build dynamic cultures stand out. Customers notice happy, engaged, and productive employees.

Your culture creates an energy that radiates out into your marketplace, and sets your brand apart from everyone else.  Why do people love working at Google? Because they have built an internal program that engages the employees, values the employees…and even lets them bring their children and pets to work.

Focus On The Experience

What’s it like to work with your company? Do you deliver a unique customer experience that sets your business apart?

Do you provide one-on-one service?  Are you accessible?  Do you take the stress out of your customers’ lives by delivering on the promise you have made? Some customers may come to you because they tried something else and had a bad experience.  Don’t make them regret they came to you.  A twice-burned customer is even harder to get back.

An experience goes beyond the products and services. It focuses on how your customers interact with the brand, and how you can aid them.

Focus On Convenience

Can you create a hassle-free experience?

This could be achieved by where you’re located, and getting really close to your customers (or being mobile). It could focus on the buying experience, and streamlining the process. It could focus on the product, and making it easier to use and maintain.

Saving your customers time, energy and money are excellent ways to differentiate your brand.

Pick a Focal Point

A brand can’t be all things to all people, and it’s unlikely you can be excellent at all five focal points. Just pick one.

A brand can stand out by doing one or two things better than everyone else.

But always keep your customer in mind:

1. Do they value the focal point?
2. Does it bring them back again and again?

The goal is to create an experience that your customers recognize, value, and seek out. What do you have to do to give your customers a reason to come back?

When developing your brand and choosing your focal point, ask the questions that all reporters ask:  Who, What, When, Where, How and Why.

WHO are you and WHO is your target audience?

WHAT services do you provide and WHAT sets you apart?

WHEN do you need to achieve your goals?

WHERE have you been and WHERE do you need to be?

HOW are you going to get there?

WHY do you do what you do?

If you need help answering any of these questions, contact SK Consulting.  We can help you develop a strategic brand and plan that will help you acquire customers and get them coming back again and again.  www.stonekingconsulting.com.