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| Peel the Onion to Design Your Brand Posted: 24 May 2012 08:00 AM PDT
The first place to look is inside the heart of your business. You've got to peel back the layers, look under the surface, and understand who you're trying to communicate with, and what you want to say. Because underneath it all, that's what marketing is: communicating with your prospects and customers. Peeling back the onion and getting to the heart of your business first will make all your design and marketing decisions easier later. Start off the branding and design process by answering questions below. Who Are You Aiming For?The first thing to understand is who you want to direct your messages to, or who you're targeting. Understanding who your target market is means finding out things like:
Why are these details important? Because the language and style you use will change depending on who you're speaking to. If you're trying to reach teenage girls, you'll use one kind of messaging, and retired grandmas will need something else. The other reason to understand your target market is to gain some insight into their daily lives, and what their challenges are. When you understand and have compassion for all of the issues they're dealing with, it's easy to create solutions to their problems. What Do You Want to Say?I know, you're ready to start looking at colors and fonts, aren't you? Not so fast. The next thing you should peel back and examine is your message itself. What exactly do you want to say? To make your delivery effective, but sure that it's:
Where Will You Say It?We're almost there. Before you start working on your visual brand, the last question you must answer is where. Where will you communicate your message? This is important because your branding and design work will need to adapt to the venue you plan to use. Some of the possible venues are:
Once you know who you're aiming for, what you want to say and where you'll say it, then you can work on what your brand will look like. It's easy to put together something that's visually appealing on the outside, but doesn't have substance to give it meaning. Remember, the core of the onion is where the flavor is. Make sure you get to the heart of it before you put pen to paper or pixels to screen.  |
| Posted: 24 May 2012 05:00 AM PDT
Despite this I've done a lot of networking over the years. I've smiled as someone talked about the details of how they are clearly the most important person in their entire company. I've nodded in agreement as another person said, "Sure is hot out!" I've even said, "You're right. That is an interesting story about your dog." And yet, absolutely none of those conversations went anywhere. Not a single networking event led to a sale, a job, or even an e-mail. Looking back I realize that I didn't understand what networking really was. It was never supposed to be making pointless small talk. True networking has always been about building relationships. It's not about "7 Powerful Questions to Ask" or "3 Ways to Stand Out." Those don't really make a stranger become a client, or a contact become a friend. They don't even get you remembered. What matters is building trust. Without trust your motives, your choices, and even your opinions will be questioned. That's not exactly earth-shattering. But it doesn't make it any less true. So how do you build trust at a networking event? I think it boils down to 3 steps: 1. Listen. If you want someone to remember you, then be a great listener. Stay engaged. Maintain eye contact. Ask follow-up questions that make sense. People are so used to being semi-ignored that this simple step really stands out. 2. Be a Resource. In today's Social Media world we are all "networked." Yet most of us can't tap into our networks because we don't offer anything of value. The same is true of in-person network. Be a resource for people. Solve problems. Provide connections. Offer help. 3. Listen. Yes, two out of three things you should be doing are listening. Most people can't wait until you stop talking to jump in with their own points of view. Don't be that person. If you desperately need to add something, start by asking clarifying questions such as, "What do you mean by that?" or "How did you come to that conclusion?" These simple questions will prevent you from looking like a fool because you didn't understand what they were saying. And even better – you will be remembered for asking "deeper" questions. Networking doesn't have to be a disaster. It also doesn't have to be painful. It might even be fun. After all, it's hard to find people who are willing to help with no strings attached. It's even harder to find people who are willing to listen to us. Which means if you can become that person, you'll be the one remembered – the one they want to talk to next time. This is the kind of networking that has value. Plus, you'll be having a lot less conversations about hemorrhoids. Photo Credit: Proimos  |
| Turns Out You Don’t Need A Blog Posted: 24 May 2012 02:00 AM PDT
"What?" you ask. What about Content Marketing? What about building communities and relationships, so that people get to know about my product or service, like my offer, and trust me enough to buy it? What about leveraging permission marketing through a blog in order to be on the top of my prospects’ minds? No one cares about itWell, here’s the thing, no one cares to read your blog. Think about it, most people are straight-up put off by the very word "blog" — and the notion of some hyper-idealistic dunce writing about "community" this, "let’s-change-the-world" that, or some other nonsense. And really, what’s the point? You go through all this effort to write something good, publish it, and what? No one reads it. If someone does, no one comments. What is the ROI of this thing, anyways? Could this be a problem of semantics?I seem to catch a lot of internet marketing professionals talking about this in a way that is rather obscure to the outsider. Ironically enough, this outsider, you – the SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) entrepreneur, mom-and-pop store owner, freelancer – is precisely the person that stands to benefit the most from understanding content marketing. And as it turns out, "blogging" is an integral part of successful content marketing. So, why then, do I say "you don’t need a blog"? Because what your small business needs is a comprehensive online presence and marketing system. This sounds a lot more complicated nowIt also sounds a lot more complicated than it is. John Jantsch, of Duct Tape Marketing, did a smokin’ job of explaining this on his – ahem – blog. In his article titled "Why You No Longer Need A Blog" he wrote: "So, you no longer need to think in terms of a blog as some extension of your website, but more in terms of blogging behavior and technology as the fundamental component of your content strategy." Basically, what we need to understand is that what used to be known only as "blog" is now known by many names, but in principle is a system to deliver fresh, relevant content to an audience of potential clients. Not only that, your "blog" can become the source of content for an email newsletter (with an astonishing 4000% ROI according to Direct Marketing Association’s recent reports), and social media engagement. In my blog at Creative Journeyman (hah, hah, I know, “blog,” the irony), I posted a video of a presentation I call The Small Business Online Marketing Universe. It gives an overview of how all this comes together as a system. If not a blog, what then?The reality of websites today is that content management systems (CMS) have become the norm in website design and development. At the heart of most CMS is a blogging engine. Some, in fact, like the industry leader WordPress, started out as blog software and evolved into a full-fledged CMS solution. Does that mean you inevitably get a blog? No. A blog can be a portfolio, where each new post is a new portfolio entry. Content can be anything: text, images, video, etc.. Blog posts can be news on an online magazine (ezine) or newspaper, updates on a race or fund-raising event. But sometimes a blog will be a blog. In this instance I typically recommend clients call the "blog" something like "news," "newsflash," "updates" — in short, something that may actually be appealing to their audience. Maybe so appealing they subscribe. But that’s Email Marketing, and I’ll write about that some other time. Tell me: Does this help you to understand the whole "you should be blogging" thing you keep hearing and reading about?  |
When you want to harness the power of design for your business, the first place to look is not a color palette picker or a font catalog.
When I was in school, few things struck more terror into my heart than the word "Networking." I'm not an outgoing person by nature. I'm much more comfortable around a few friends, then thrown into a group of people I don't know. In fact, I'm reasonably certain that Hell is just one big networking event. I can think of very few fates worse than being in a fancy setting, making small talk about dogs, weather or hemorrhoids with people you didn't know.
A blog? You don’t need no stinking blog. There, I said it, you need a blog like you need a leaf blower.| You are subscribed to email updates from Upmarket To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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