What’s your “hook”? If you don’t know, how will your customers?

Telling your brand story is sort of like a newspaper article: it’s all about the lead. Some folks may call this the “lead offer.” What does your business hang its hat on? When customers have that certain need or desire that certain experience, is it your company that comes to mind first?

Having a lead offer doesn’t mean you can’t have secondary messages. I often use the example of Nordstrom and Walmart. Nordstrom leads with a customer service and quality offer; Walmart with one about lowest prices.  Does this mean Walmart is rude to their customers? Heck no. It just means that when you are looking for low prices, they want you to think of them. If you are thinking of a good customer service experience first, then maybe you should go elsewhere.

Recently, Delta announced they were going to start leading their brand story with “service” not “size.”  After acquiring Northwest Airlines, they became the largest player by traffic – until United recently merged with Continental.  So now Delta is switching stories and focusing their budget on service: new flat-bed seats, video on demand and upgraded facilities in key markets.

United may decide to focus on size for a while in terms of the benefits it provides to customers: more routes, more convenience to get where you want to go, a larger network, etc.  (Sidenote: big is only a relevant claim if it benefits a customer in some way and makes their life better, offers them more access, etc. Big for “big’s sake” just becomes chest-thumping.) We will have to see how the United-Continental brand story shakes out.

What do you lead with? Can you articulate the main offer you want to be known for? Please share in the comments. Service? Selection? Style? Convenient locations? Cutting-edge technology solutions? You can’t be everything so pick the main offer, the main place where do you want to “fit” inside your customers’ brains and build up from there.

Which problem is killing your business?

As a new book author, I have learned a ton about the publishing industry over the last year or so. I’ve pretty much been riding by the seat of my pants and unspoken rules are revealed to me each day, much like an onion shedding its layers. I used to think publishing a book was fairly straightforward – and it can be if you self-publish and have millions of devoted fans ready to devour your product. But you have to work to get to that point, as Seth Godin just announced: after millions of best-selling books  he’s able to bypass the traditional publishing establishment and self-publish direct to his legions of fans.

Sure, anyone can do this. But do they have the base that Seth has to make that a successful proposition? Well, guess it depends on what your goals are and the size of your tribe.

Putting all that aside, I’ve heard a lot of hoopla casting eBooks, Kindles and iPad’s as the assassins to the traditional brick and mortar stores and your lovely independent bookseller around the corner; That publishing as we know it is a dying due to the new vehicles and opportunities that people with good ideas have for spreading their words.

Well, I have a different theory: it’s not these new technologies or shrinking margins that are going to kill the traditional publishing-bookseller industry: it’s going to be their willingness to adapt and get the heck out of their own way. I present my exhibits to the court below.

Is your business suffering from any of these ailments? If so, better change course before it’s too late:

Exhibit A: Refusal to Acknowledge: At the recent 600 person Pacific Northwest Writers Conference, the elephant in the room was self-publishing and alternate options. While the conference focused heavily on how to sell your book, build your marketing platform, etc, two funny things happened: A breakout on alternate publishing forms erupted in a minor mutiny when attendees demanded to know why the conference was focused on the “song and dance of pitching to big agents and editors” but no one was talking about eBooks and self-publishing as credible options. In this session, a so-called book marketing expert even said: “I don’t believe in social media or authors needing websites. It’s a waste of time.”

Is there a market change or customer need that you are ignoring or refusing to see to protect the status quo?

Exhibit B: Refusal to Adapt: In the large editor panel, I asked what they thought about the long time to market when going the traditional route when I was able to publish with an independent press from contract to book in four months? The response: “Given that reviewers want galleys 3-6 months in advance of the publishing date means you’ll always need a long lead time. Plus it helps with quality control and editing.” Really? The reason we are not going to adapt the model is because the REVIEWERS (Publishers Weekly, et al) won’t adapt their models to current market dynamics? By the time my book’s “galleys” were ready, so was the final book!

Are you allowing the tail to wag the dog when it comes to adapting your manufacturing, marketing or distribution model – instead of adapting to what your customers want and need?

Exhibit C: Refusal to Trust: I had to convince my publisher to post an excerpt on Scribd. She said she’d heard bad things about it and forwarded me an article about an author suing them for copyright infringement. I explained that Scribd itself did not pirate the work; someone else must have posted it and that Scribd is just the channel (like YouTube). I also explained why we should get in front of it and post our excerpt ourselves to control the marketing and message. After all, Chapter 1 is already available on the publisher’s website: What’s to stop someone from stealing it from there? At least on Scribd, people will actually see it who would purchase the book. This fear of piracy and infringement is real, but the upside of promoting the full book is so well worth it.

Are there marketing channels (like social media) or new technologies you are ignoring out of fear, when they could be prime ways to reach your customers?

Exhibit D: Refusal to Coordinate: Because my book is a short run printing (my publisher is not Random House and doesn’t print 50,000 at once) it is listed in a separate “small press” database (DB) on Ingram, one of the distributors in the business. This same DB houses self-published and Print on Demand (POD)  books, and the retail bookstore chains refuse to carry those, mostly because of the lack of return policies and quality concerns. We had to make it very clear to local booksellers that my book is NOT a POD or self-pub and that it’s 100% returnable to convince them to carry a local author. Borders in downtown Seattle agreed and I just did a signing there; Barnes & Noble, however, marked it as POD in their system and the stores are saying they physically can’t order such books through the system and we have to talk to NY. NY has said they will fix the issue, but that the stores are wrong and can order anything they want. I’ve since learned that basically forward-thinking managers can “go rogue” and order the local authors their customers want but it’s not “policy.” We’re stuck in the middle  – trying to give local booksellers great content and signing events to help them boost sales. So now Borders gets me for a signing, while B&N competing down the street can’t get out of their own way. Borders even told me, “People are craving local authors right now – similar to the local food movement!”

Are you not communicating effectively with multiple locations, partners or employees to the point that the only people who lose are your customers? Are your policies getting in the way of you staying competitive or giving your customers what they want?

Open letter to all business owners and entrepreneurs

Dear ambitious friend,

It pains me to see the money that you are wasting, not to mention the time lost and stress created, by turning to the wrong people for your marketing and branding needs. Just yesterday, I heard another tale from a friend whose client is taking branding advice from a website programmer. And it’s bad advice that will cost her way more money in the long run.

Think of your business like your house. Would you turn to your plumber to draw up architectural plans for your new renovation? Would you ask your cleaning person to re-wire your stereo? Would you consult your gardener for interior design advice?

Then why, oh why, do you continue to try to get all your marketing, PR and branding needs met by one person?  Web design, web programming, direct mail, brand strategy, PR, writing – these are noble and important skills that require expertise in specific areas in order to help you meet your goals. Each person is skilled in their craft and understand the nuances of it, to be sure. But asking a programmer what your logo should look like or an SEO expert how to create a brand positioning statement makes just as much sense as taking your sick dog to your dentist.

In the story mentioned above, this client claims she “likes” her web programmer. I’m sure she does. He’s probably awesome…at programming. But that doesn’t mean he understands how to  design a site well, or understand user interface techniques or even how to create a strong differentiated brand.

I’m sorry, but you can’t have it all. Marketing  – and business building in general these days – requires that you put together a team of specialists. When I worked in corporate, I often managed these people together as one cohesive team. And that is what I do for my clients: I am the brand strategist but I bring in designers, email marketers, or SEO experts to deliver on the client’s goals. I stitch the right team together for them to meet their needs. I can’t be all things to all people, and anyone who tells you that is lying.

When you need a business plan, go to a business planning consultant. When you need to communicate things visually, go to a designer first (who can subcontract a web programmer for you if you need to build a website). When you need to get schooled in the fine art of email marketing, go to an email marketing or online marketing expert. When you need a press release or want to get into the paper, seek out a PR consultant or publicist. And when you need brand advice, seek out a branding consultant or strategist.

Stop shooting yourselves in the foot and do right by your business – and save your sanity in the process.

Good luck!

Maria

Saddle Up! Brand Your Business workshop August 12 in Bellevue

Join us on Thursday, August 12 in Bellevue, WA for a spirited and practical discussion on what branding is, why it matters and how to build a great brand on any budget. I’ll be the marketing and brand speaker at this Biznik event, hosted by partner-in-crime Lynn Baldwin-Rhodes of Power Chicks and Marketing Shebang (don’t worry, men, this is a “come one, come all” event focused on building a rabid fan base for your business, so please stop by – we’re after smart, savvy business owners and entrepreneurs, no matter which gender). I’ll speak to some business boosting basics and will also have my branding book on hand if you’re interested in DIY brand strategy. Hurry! A few spots still left but you need to RSVP.

Speaking of which, I’m loving this fab review I received from Midwest Book Review:

What makes your business unique, something hat stands out from the pack? “Branding Basics For Small Business: How to Create an Irresistible Brand on Any Budget” is a guide to branding and how it can literally be the deciding factor on the success of business. Brands make connections with customers, keep your product in mind, attract employees, and keep a business strong. “Branding Basics for Small Business” is a wise and recommended read, not to be missed by any small business.

If you haven’t yet taken a bite of the book that I’ve been told people can’t launch a business without, please grab your copy today!

Why saving money on branding can cost you

We’ve all seen it – and maybe done it. We spend money on lawyers or accountants to build our business the right way, but when it comes to something like a logo or a website, we think, “Why, my neighbor’s teenage niece knows how to use Illustrator! Maybe she can do my logo for free.” Or, “I just need to get a simple website up. Let me just slap together a DIY template and get the page up and running.”

While these are steps you may need to take initially to get your business off the ground and money coming in the door, skimping on a well-thought-out and intentional brand strategy long-term can cost you way more in sales later on. This fundamental mistake is what inspired me to write my book.

Branding does not have to be some big expensive effort that only large companies can afford. If you run a small business, you need to spend time thinking about and conveying your brand as well – at whatever budget you have to spend.  Brand is more than just your logo or website – it’s your essence, your core. It’s the experience people have with you, the impression you leave in their minds. So you need to really think about what you want that impression to be and ensure that you communicate it consistently in three important ways: visually, verbally and experientially. Only with consistent exposure to your brand promise in every touchpoint will customers connect with you and become rabid fans, thus increasing your profits long-term.

And while brand is more than the visual identity, your design look is still a key part of it. Buyers make decisions subconsciously and need to be attracted to your look and feel first before they will learn enough to buy from you. Just like dating, your appearance does not define who you are but it does factor in to initial first impressions. So why do so many entrepreneurs try to cut corners on the very first thing that potential customers will see?

Hiring unqualified people or designers who don’t ask you anything about your value proposition, differentiators, or target audience is not the way to save money. I talk to many people that threw away money because their brand strategy was not baked yet. Good design is a skill: it’s a skill that involves taking a message and communicating it visually, not just creating a pretty picture. You will lose more in lost sales by getting this part wrong than you will save on cutting corners.

And guess what? That brand strategy will do more than just inform your visual identity. It will serve as a compass for other marketing investments: partners, advertising, events. Basically any decision your company makes will be a smarter one if you start with the brand strategy first and use it as a compass. This helps you avoid throwing away money on what I call “random acts of marketing” and ensures that you only invest in activities that move your business forward.

If you need to save money, the best thing entrepreneurs can do is to first sit down and create a clear, strong brand strategy before any marketing, design or development takes place. This entails defining who you are, what you represent, what feelings you want to evoke, what value you provide, how you price things, who your ideal audience is, and how to best reach them. This requires sitting down and answering some key questions. People that don’t do this first and launch into creating a website or investing in marketing programs are just throwing their money away. When you have no destination, every road looks like it leads somewhere.

Know thy audience and thy brand strategy and you will know the best design options, communication vehicles and marketing tactics in which to invest. Translation: only pay for things that will move you forward and give you a return on your investment. Saving $1000 and then ultimately losing $10,000 in sales opportunities because you didn’t connect with your target customer does not seem like a good investment strategy to me.

The brand book is coming! The brand book is coming!

Whew! (Hopefully) final manuscript edits sent to the publisher on Thursday. Now we deal with layout and all of that….can’t wait to get this juicy, practical guide into all my favorite entrepreneurs’ and marketing professionals’ hot little hands. Branding Basics for Small Business: How to create an irresistible brand on any budget should be printed and ready to order online in June 2010. (#brandbook if you want to play along on Twitter). I’m so excited for you to read all the case studies from small businesses all over the country who are doing amazing things with their brand. Check out this succulent little promo video to get the juices flowing. Oh, and I’m starting to schedule radio, podcast or article/blog interviews now, so just let me know (maria@red-slice.com) if you’d like me to speak to your community about creating an irresistible brand.

Branding Basics for Small Business: Book Coming June 2010 from Maria Ross on Vimeo.

Brand building vs. random tactics

Somedays, I feel like a salmon fighting my way upstream. No matter how many books are written, no matter how many posts Seth Godin writes, no matter how many times our own lives are touched by organizations doing it right…people still want to think brand is the same thing as a logo or advertising. They still ask me as a consultant or others like me, “Just tell me what marketing programs I should do to help me get more sales.”

I’m working on my book, Brand Basics for Small Business, and I’m trying to define brand and give smaller organizations a tool to craft their brand strategy so that they can then figure out where their audience is and what is the best way to reach them with the right brand message. The book is not about, “Do this and you’ll increase sales” because I can’t possibly know that for each reader and every company is different. But a reviewer suggested I sprinkle pithy tactical tips that don’t apply to all businesses. Sponsoring a county fair might work for a small local cupcake business, let’s say, but not for a small start-up tech company selling software to other businesses. We need to get rid of the stereotype that all small businesses are local and charming. Tech start-ups, consultancies, financial planners, manufacturers of ball bearings  – these can all be small businesses as well.  Small does not necessarily equate to “Main Street.” It just means they have way less employees, take in way less revenue and have way  less budget and resources than “enterprise” companies like Apple, Walmart, or GE

Anyone that tells you a blanket statement like, “All small businesses need to do (insert tactic) to be successful” is just lying to you. Your business has to figure out it’s own brand, mission, purpose, desired image and ideal audience first before you can figure out which tactics to pursue. I’ve talked about this before, but it seems the fallacy still lives. Too many of you are performing “random acts of marketing” and just praying something sticks as you throw money away, or you’re taking the advice of someone who gave that same advice to 6 other businesses that are completely different from yours. Strategy before tactics. Always. Don’t just sponsor a booth or start a Twitter account because someone told you to, or some other company did it. First, craft your brand strategy and make sure it makes sense for your goals and your audience.

Brand can be your guide. But you have to draw the map before you can start following any directions.