Tag: brand

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

What should I blog about? 5 inspirations to spice up your content marketing

Posted on by Red Slice

Does your cursor blink at you, taunting you to come up with something witty and profound for your blog or other content marketing this week?

Our creative wells can all run a bit dry sometimes. And when we’re trying to deliver quality content to our readers, friends or connections, the pressure to create something brilliant can often send our muse packing. (Look, there she goes, hightailing it out the door like someone who did way too many tequila shots and doesn’t want to be reminded of what she may have done at the bar last night.)

When you’re stuck in neutral and want to write a great blog post, create effective content marketing or even just post Tweets that go viral, here are some ideas to lure your muse back in – at least for a cup of coffee and a bagel.

  1. Answer common questions: Seems simple, but I’m sure there are the same ten questions you always get about your business, book or project that everyone always asks. Why not turn each one into a blog post or create a weekly Q&A video, answering reader questions? Marie Forleo releases a Q&A video every Tuesday for entrepreneurial women. While her videos often branch out to other topics or interviews, they still tend to start with a question she’s been asked many times. What questions do your customers or clients always ask? Start documenting them and plan for a blog post series, video or podcast.
  2. Add a spice of pop culture: The Holy Grail of PR is to talk about something topical or celebrity-related. Spin your area of expertise into a commentary on the latest hit song, blockbuster movie or media superstar and add some pizzazz and fun to something that might be a bit dry. One of my best viral blog posts was one I did on “Four Powerful Business Lessons from James Bond and Skyfall“. And this one I did about the fall of Lance Armstrong’s brand.
  3. Revisit or clarify your Brand Strategy: Craft a strong brand strategy and think about what you stand for, why you do what you do, and what your customers really care about. Chances are it goes beyond just your products or services. Is there meaning in your message where you can highlight something related to your business? Brainstorm on a white board every possible topic related to that mission or vision. If you are a nutritionist, what other areas do your clients care about? Why do you do this work? To help them survive a dreaded holiday party? To better deal with family criticism and expectations? To boost their self-confidence? Open the aperture and think bigger about your audience’s needs and what benefits they get, use cases they might encounter or related challenges they may be having. This recent interview I did for Social Media Today, in advance of my conference keynote this week may help.
  4. Showcase other experts: You may not have anything witty to say this week, but I’m sure there are others in related fields who do. And who doesn’t love hearing another voice from time to time? Interview other experts or feature guest posts, as I’ve done with marketers, entrepreneurs and rockstars that I admire – and heck, you may even learn something in the process. My Slice of Brilliance columns & videos, like ones  I’ve done with Betsy Talbot of Married With Luggage about how to woo your audience with great content or a guest post from digital strategist Linda Rubright on better SEO in just 5 minutes a day were extremely popular and well-shared.
  5. Recycle and repackage: Not everything you do has to be completely original. Sometimes, people like to learn in different ways. Maybe you can turn that popular post from last year into a podcast, with fresh updated information. Perhaps you can take a great presentation you did and turn it into a Top 10 tip sheet. Don’t assume your content is “once and done.” It’s still valuable and important for all the people who didn’t know you or know about it the first time it ran, so just repackage it and tie a different color bow on it.

Photo credit: D. Sharon Pruitt, Pink Sherbet Photography, Flickr

What is your biggest headache when coming up with great content each week? Where do you find inspiration for your blog posts, videos or podcasts? Please share on the Facebook page!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

How to brand your brick and mortar business

Posted on by Red Slice

If you are fortunate enough to own a sweet little boutique on Main Street or a bustling restaurant along the wharf or a funky pet store in the city’s hippest arts district, I have to admit my jealousy. Brand is just as important to service- providers that survive on a laptop as it is for physical businesses. But there are oodles of possibility for boosting your brand when you have a tangible location to decorate, staff and gather your tribe.

Here are 9 ways you can boost the brand of your brick and mortar business:

  1. Build your online community – and then gather them together for a Fans Only event: Whether you host an exclusive wine and cheese Tweet-Up or invite Instagram followers to a seasonal sale, use your space to host real-life events to not only treat your loyal fans like royalty but to create memories and connections rooted in your physical store. Nothing endears people to your brand more than remembering a good time they had making new friends that was all because of you.
  2. Decorate with intent: While many of us only have websites as our main customer storefront, you are lucky. You have a whole physical space in which to convey your brand in a way customers can see, feel, smell, hear and taste. Carry your visual identity into the store with paint colors, signage in your official fonts, and brand imagery throughout. Trying to create a fresh, airy, calm brand vibe? Lay out your store in a similar way. Stock merchandise and create a floor plan that delivers the brand promise to your community in a real, live way. Choose appropriate music and even lighting schemes and scents. If you can, choose a location that extends your brand. If you’re all about being hip and funky, can you rent renovated warehouse space with brick walls or exposed steel beams? If you’re all about adorable, frilly and cute, can you find an old Victorian and give it a fresh coat of lively colors, inside and out?
  3. Collaborate with “The Enemy:” Befriend competitors or neighboring businesses and exponentially reap more rewards for everyone. Can you host a sidewalk sale with all the businesses on your street, share expenses for some entertainment and ads, and draw more foot traffic for everyone? Can you partner with complementary businesses to offer a “crawl” of some sort that take people from place to place as one package deal, like a food tour or yarn crawl (something I recently learned small local yarn shops do). By joining forces, you can do something bigger than any of you could do alone – and not only create more category awareness as a whole but reach a heck of a lot more people. And this collaboration will only spark amazing brand goodwill in the eyes of all customers involved.
  4. Support a cause: Do you love animals? Support a local food bank? Contribute to the fight against cancer? Partner with a local non-profit and host a charitable event at your location. You can offer 10% of all net sales to the charity for the night or ask customers to bring a canned good to get $5 off their purchase. Not only is it brand magic (and good karma) to give back and align with a worthy cause (especially one that compliments your brand, like a pet store hosting a mobile animal adoption event or a women’s boutique raising money for breast cancer), it can attract new customers and perhaps garner you some killer press.
  5. Sponsor targeted events: If you’re an athletic apparel store, sponsor the city’s annual 10K Holiday Run. If you’re a pet photographer with a lovely studio, contribute a photo session package to the Humane Society’s fundraising auction. If you’re a spa, sponsor a local women business owners’ luncheon. Similar to #4, this involves going out into the community to support a worthy cause or event related to your target market, rather than bringing people to you. And you can often provide a goodie bag item or some other tchotchke that gives people a reason to visit your location when the event is over: a discount, a free sample, an exclusive invitation.
  6. Offer live classes and educational events: You’re lucky enough to have a space so use it. Just like you promote valuable educational content on your blog, you can also give people a live experience. If you’re a yarn store, offer Knitting 101 for Beginners. If you’re a pet store, conduct a seminar on proper dog and cat dental care. If you’re a book store, bring in a local business book or cookbook author to present a mini-seminar. If you’re a hair salon, ask one of your product reps to educate on the benefits and proper usage of some of their most popular products. Offer attendance incentives, serve some nice appys and beverages and keep the selling soft. Nothing endears your brand more to people than when you give them something useful. They will remember.
  7. Develop a signature touch: OK, so the Tiffany blue color is taken, but what little touch of class can you add that will become your brand signature and delight customers? A local coffee shop places a single chocolate-covered espresso bean on the lid of every drink. Totally unexpected, totally cool. A home décor store wraps your purchased items tissue paper enclosed with a delicate raffia ribbon. Felt like a gift to yourself every time. Examine your business from every customer angle: Can you do something with the packaging, check-out process or even in-store displays that can become a brand differentiator for you? Maybe all your shelves are a unique recycled wood, maybe your hangers are all purple velvet? Get creative.
  8. Hire right: With the unique ability to convey your brand in the physical world comes great responsibility. Just one negative experience in your shop with an employee will ruining your brand forever – and with social media, you don’t want to take the chance of that one unhappy person influencing thousands. Hire good brand ambassadors. Will they support your brand values and leave the right brand impression on customers each and every time? Do they treat people who don’t buy on a visit just as well as the treat the ones who do? Just one employee has the ability to make or break your brand, since that one person represents your entire business to the customer at that moment. Hire people you know will live out the brand when they pick up the phone, turn around a disappointed client or ring up the next person at checkout.
  9. Remove all barriers to purchase: This sounds obvious but I’m constantly shocked by how many times small businesses get this wrong. Make it as easy and seamless as possible for someone to buy from you. This experience will make or break your brand. This means accepting cash AND credit cards (sorry folks, cost of doing business), investing in a really great and easy-for-employees-to-use POS system to expedite checkout. Clearly labeling all items with the right SKU’s. Posting the right pricing information near the product (don’t make me guess). Making sure you staff well enough so people don’t wait forever in line and change their minds because it’s too much hassle. I hate when I’m ready to buy my stuff and the cashier has disappeared for a spell. Ensure your staff is trained well so they can truly serve the customer and are not just some hired monkeys scanning a bar code. I’m always uber-impressed with bike shops. My husband is a cyclist, so we’ve been to many and we never fail to find that any staff person we may grab is super passionate and knowledgeable about cycling. They attract the right people, invest in training and ensure there is no reason for the customer to leave without exactly what they are looking for, unless they don’t happen to carry it. And if there’s ever a wait, a staff member will always drop whatever they are doing to assist in almost every bike store I’ve seen. That’s quality.

If you have a brick and mortar business, how have you branded yourself? What has worked for you or been less successful? Do any businesses you love have a signature touch? Please share your wisdom in the Comments!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

3 ways to “social proof” your business

Posted on by Red Slice

What is “social proof” really, and why does it matter to your business? If you’ve ever used Urban Spoon ratings to decide where to eat, Angi to decide which contractor to hire or followed a recommendation given to you by a trusted friend, you have already seen the power of social proofing your business.

Today’s guest post comes from Ali Rittenhouse: Digital Diva + Tech Cheerleader.  She recently entered my orbit through – wait for it – a friend’s recommendation (see, this stuff works!) and shares 3 tips on how to social proof your own business. Read her wise words below:

Have you social proofed your business lately?

Social Proof is more important than having a fancy-schmancy website with all the bells and whistles or catchy copy lingo that you paid someone a whole lot of moola to write for you.

Consumers look to other consumer’s opinions to make their purchases.  We use Social Proof to make our decisions.   We want to know that someone has gone first and had success before we try our hand at it. (Tweet this!)

As a business owner, Social Proof is just what your customer is looking for before they hand over the credit card info.  It’s kinda like virtually wrapping your potential customer up in a soft, warm snuggie!  When someone is considering investing money or making a big purchase you want them to feel confident, warm and snugglie about purchasing from you!  Rather than uncomfortable, unsure, and uneasy because this leads to shopper’s remorse and refunds.

You can create social proof in many different ways. Below are 3 tips and examples to Social Proof Your Business:

1.  Testimonials of Success.

Do the testimonials you have from clients reflect the success you brought to them through your coaching, writing or product?  A testimonial should provide social proof to the reader.  Having a testimonial that simply states “Alicia Rocks” is NOT Social Proof.  Be sure to always include a headshot along with links to their website when you display their testimonial.   If you can get them to do a video – even better!!  People will connect with them

You can display testimonials in many different ways on your website and social networking sites.   Ask for them from those that have downloaded your freebie or enjoyed your free tips from your blog.  Let them know that it will be a great opportunity for exposure for their business as well.

2.  Social Media

Hook your website up to provide your social media social proof (say that 5x’s fast!).  Install a Facebook Like Widget on your sidebar that displays info from your Facebook Page.  You can set it to show the purdy faces of your Likers – it will by default show their friends faces first!  Twitter also has plenty of widgets that you can add to your blog or website that will pull in your feed.  Use Tweet-stimonials to display your favorite tweet-stimonials of success to your website.  LinkedIn offers a feature for people to recommend you that does mimic testimonials.  Ask your clients to make recommendations of your services or products on LinkedIn.

Don’t forget you must also establish yourself as The Expert or The Go-To person for your fans and followers.  You can do this by participating on their pages more than your own.

3.  Be Creative!

There are several different items that I gave consideration to for this last tip but I am going with BE CREATIVE!  Come up with creative ways to incorporate Social Proof into your online presence.  Be a guest blogger for a well-known website, ask to interview a well-known guru that your viewers can benefit from, or display pictures taken with high-level professionals in your industry.

About Ali: Ali Rittenhouse is a Digital Diva + Tech Cheerleader.  She has a talent for unpacking digital mysteries into simple steps even non-geeks can master. Ali is on a mission: to activate a new generation of tech-powered trailblazers–women who bust stereotypes, break glass ceilings, build six-figure empires from their living room sofas, and show the world who’s boss.  She offers training and coaching for women entrepreneurs and their tech-savvy assistants. Check her out at – http://aliciarittenhouse.com/.

Now it’s your turn: What have you done to use Social Proof to your advantage? Please share your testimonial of success in the Comments below.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

The 10 must-have messages you need for your brand

Posted on by Red Slice

Want to know one of the most-often misquoted sayings in our culture?

It’s Ralph Waldo Emerson’s take on consistency: A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds

Often this is quoted without the word “foolish” which changes the whole meaning of this nugget o’wisdom He’s not saying consistency is bad, per se, but that consistency which doesn’t serve a purpose, which is foolish, is really the sticky wicket.

Consistency in your branding and messaging efforts is vital if you want to be memorable and get noticed. An old marketing adage suggests that you need to hear a message 5-7 times before it really sticks  – and I’d hazard a guess that this number has gone up in today’s crowded marketplace. I often tell my clients that if your message is vastly different each time you say it, then it’s like you’re starting the counter back at zero each time. How the heck will that help people really remember you and slot your brand in the right place in their brains?

Enter the Key Messages Document.

You’re busy enough running your business and managing everything on your own to have to sit down and re-create the wheel each time you need a new brochure or have to send someone a blurb about your company. Make you life easier and make sure you create these 10 core messaging elements once, and then use them over and over again to save time and hassle.

Because I love you, I created this handy dandy worksheet for your downloading pleasure that breaks down the Key Messages you should have in your brand toolkit. Once you fill this out (after thinking through your brand strategy, of course) keep it handy: pin it to your shortcuts menu, post it up by your desk. And watch how easy peasy it will be for you to fill out that form or zip off that email to a partner or advertiser. The added bonus? I give you a Messaging Platform to fill out that will serve as the foundation for all your future copy, from website to sales pitch to whatever. This is a godsend if you tend to work with different writers on different projects and helps them hit the ground running.

Download this Key Messages Document now and enjoy it with my blessing….

As Emerson said, foolish consistency is pointless and ridiculous. But consistency that not only saves you time AND achieves your business goals is actually a pretty smart move. (Tweet this!)

Aaaannnndd….for some more juicy advice on the four keys to creating magnetic messaging, please check out this Red Slice TV show video on MySourceTV. I think you’re gonna LOVE IT!

Photo Credit: Betsy Weber, Flikr

What other elements or processes in your business do you find go more smoothly with consistency? Do you streamline and repeat something in particular to save your sanity? Please share in the Comments!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Avoid the strong-arm: 3 tips for smarter small business marketing

Posted on by Red Slice

I’ve been hearing some disturbing stories about Yelp‘s aggressive (and sometimes intidimdating) sales tactics to purchase paid advertising – and recently got to experience it on the phone firsthand on behalf of a local nail salon owner friend. I’m still gathering info about this to approach a WSJ reporter who could investigate these claims further and fairly get Yelp’s side of the story. (PS, if you have a story to share, please email me) Makes me not want to use them anymore, and I used to love them.

One small business owner I know claimed that when she turned the ad sales rep down, he said, “Well, this will destroy your business, you know.” Another story I heard was that someone had signed a year long contract with them – and claims it was the worst mistake he ever made and wished he could get out of the contract.

But since this is all circumstantial, and this is a blog of my own perspectives and opinions (and not an investigative journalism outfit), I wanted to instead share three must-do tips to avoid being strong-armed into making poor marketing choices:

  1. Know your audience: Sounds obvious, but be crystal clear on your target ideal customers. Not just “women” but what age, income? Where are they and what do they do for a living? What do they care about? What are their hobbies and interests? Build this character profile and you stand a much better chance of asking the right questions of advertisers to ensure you’re not wasting your money. (Tweet this!) For example, if your business appeals more to high-income working moms in urban areas, you can avoid spending money on advertising to stay-at-home moms or young teen women, let’s say.
  2. Ask about the ROI:  Ask for references, proof points or statistics. If they say their website traffic is “really good” ask to see a breakdown of unique visitors and where they are coming from.  If they say their other advertisers are seeing great results, ask for case studies or if they will let you speak to at least 3 of them as a reference check. Ask if there is any guarantee on performance or credit given if things underperform – do they provide performance statistics for you? Don’t be afraid to ask an advertiser to prove their claims. (Tweet this!) And make sure if you invest that you do so for a test period and track your sales and visits accordingly. Recently, I placed an ad with HARO and they have not responded to requests to provide click through data on the ad. Lesson learned: I should have done a better job of tracking that myself!
  3. Talk to others: Don’t be afraid to reach out to other local small businesses or others in your field and ask about what they are hearing regarding the outlet. Collaborate with others and don’t pretend you know all the answers. (Tweet this!) This will save your butt and avoid mistakes. For example, if you are part of the local SBA, merchants association or a networking group (even one online), ask others if they’ve invested in what you are considering and what their success has been. One small business owner I talked to shared that a business which could have been perceived as competitive shared his negative Yelp advertising experience with other similar businesses in the area, just to help them avoid the same mistakes. There’s enough to go around, and wee’re all in this together so ask about and share these lessons.

Now, I want to hear from you: Have any other hard-earned tips? And do you have a negative experience to share about Yelp or some other similar outlet? If so, please leave a Comment below (or shoot me an email at maria@red-slice.com if you prefer).

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Follow your dream Part 2: How Cartograph Wines creates an experiential brand

Posted on by Red Slice

Wine is such an experiential brand, I absolutely adore it. Not just for it’s lush taste, but no other everyday product in my mind comes close to evoking so much emotion, lifestyle or delight of the senses with one glass clink. There are so many branding lessons we can learn from our favorite wines and how they behave as businesses.

Continuing my interview with Alan Baker, Cartograph’s wine maker and owner, who we had the good fortune to meet on a trip to Healdsburg, California back in August. In Part One, we heard Alan’s amazing tale of how he got from radio engineering in Minnesota to winemaking in Northern California – and the four lessons he learned to make it happen.

Today, Alan shares how he effectively creates an experiential brand and differentiates from the competition.

RS: Glad to have you back, Alan! Tell us Cartograph’s brand story. How do you position it against the competition? What experience do you hope to convey and how do you do that in your customer interactions? 

AB: Both Serena and I come from other careers and we each found wine in different ways. Our brand story is right on our label. The logo shows the five points on the globe that brought us to wine and then brought us together to make wine. Wine is more about emotional connections and memories than simply about the perfect taste and aroma combinations. Putting a graphic representation of our story on the label helps people remember us and hopefully keeps our story in their minds if they have a great experience with our wines. (Tweet this!) Our brand is about those wonderful moments when an experience with a great bottle of wine gets etched into your mind forever. And while the front label tells our story, the back label plays to our nerdier side, illustrating the growing season and winemaking history for each wine. So looking at the labels you can get a sense for what the growing season was like for each vineyard.

If our customers know anything about us,  it’s that we personally handle every piece of our business from grape sourcing, through winemaking, and then personal correspondence after they buy our wine or join our club.

RS: What is the best branding lesson you have learned from building an “experiential” brand? What are some brand hits or misses you’ve experienced?

AB: Focus focus focus. Do one thing really well before branching out. (Tweet this!) As a winemaker, I’d love to play with a dozen grape varieties but we needed to knock Pinot out of the park and doing that first was my main goal. Now that we’ve had success with Pinot, we can do a few small specialty wines for club-only release but our public face is all about Pinot Noir.

What brand actions work? Winning fans by talking directly to them on social media and through other channels. Our most loyal clients are all connected with us on various platforms and we share a lot of ourselves with them.

Things that don’t work? We’re still learning the best way to run promotions to increase sales during slow times or to move more volume but discounting is not the way to do it in our circumstance. People see a premium product being discounted and they will wait until they see that price again to buy. There are other incentives to encourage purchasing. We can’t compete on price point due to our vineyard sources and tiny lot sizes. We have to give wine lovers an experience to remember and hopefully they become our friends.

RS: Wise words. What is your winery’s specialty wine or most popular seller that people should try?

AB: We are a very small winery and celebrate year-to-year vintage variations. A great example of how weather affects the finished wines is comparing our 2009 and 2010 Floodgate Vineyard Pinots. 2009 – warm year – is lush and round on the palate, a classic Russian River Valley Pinot. 2010 – cool year – is racy and vibrant with the focus on bright red fruit. It is a truly elegant wine that should be very age worthy. Both are great examples of Russian River Valley Pinot but quite different when tasted side by side.

RS: Now, some fun stuff! What is your favorite way to enjoy wine?

AB: Working as many hours as we do, we don’t have a lot of free time but those warm evenings when we get home in time to enjoy a glass of wine while plucking a few things out of the garden for dinner is a real treat.

Connect with Cartograph Wines: www.cartographwines.com ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Is your brand a commodity competing on price, or an experience that offers unique value? How does this impact your marketing tactics? And don’t forget to check out Cartograph for some great wine gifts…ho, ho, ho!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

5 quick tips to boost sales around the holidays

Posted on by Red Slice

The Bermuda Triangle of holidays is almost upon us: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. It can feel like a vortex into which you get sucked against your will and you can’t control the velocity with which you spin widly out of control – until you get unceremoniously spit out the other end on January 2. Often with jetlag, a hangover and an eye-popping credit card bill.

But the holidays can also be a great time to bolster your brand and connect with your customers and clients. Here are 5 quick tips on how you can leverage the festivities to increase sales and delight your audience.

  1. Give Thanks by Giving Back: Donate a portion of sales during Thanksgiving week to a local charity. Collect coats and gloves for a local shelter. Or gather canned goods to give to your local food bank. This increases traffic to your site, encourages a concentrated week of sales, and presents your brand in a fabulous light – not to mention the amazing good it does for your charitable recipient and your Karma. Approach a charity you love and ask them to partner with you by spreading the word to their mailing list or via social media. And heck, pitch the local paper or news about your event for the Community Events calendar.
  2. Turkey Day Dinner Giveaway: Offer a full-on Thanksgiving Day dinner, with all the trimmings, for 8 people as a prize. People can automatically enter if they buy from you within a certain period of time. Of course, this is for catered fixins….unless you really, REALLY like to cook! You can even partner with a local grocery or specialty food store to increase exposure AND get the items donated.
  3. Give Peace a Chance: Create a wine-tasting event or movie night for your customers and prospects by partnering with a competitor or two. Put aside your competitive spirit and exponentially increase exposure for all your audiences. You can even make this event a charitable giving exercise by asking people to bring a donated item or charge a fee that goes 100% to a cause you both support. You can market this really creatively around “Calling a Truce for the Holidays” or something fun like that.  Make T-shirts or giveaways that say “Team Red Slice” or “Team Whatever” and offer games and prizes for some friendly competition.
  4. Countdown to Christmas: Celebrate the 12 days of Christmas by offering a special promotion each day leading up to it. If you’re a store, highlight one special sale item each day, or offer something unique with purchase. If you’re a service business or big on social media, craft a new holiday-themed inspirational quote or trivia contest to share with your audience. This will delight them and encourage people to keep checking back with you  – in your store, on your blog, or on your Facebook page – to see what you’ve got cooking next.
  5. Glitter and Sparkle: If you own a store, throw in giftwrapping for free. If you sell online, offer free shipping for the month of December. If you’re B2B, incent people to sign contracts for work starting in 2013 prior to December 31, 2012 at a special rate so you can stock your sales pipeline for a very happy new year.

What other holiday or seasonal promotions do you recommend? Any you’d like to promote this year? Please Share in the Comments!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Fine wine brands: “Chanel vs. H&M”

Posted on by Red Slice

Some of you may know I’ve been a freelance wine writer online and in print before. I’m not an expert sommelier by any stretch but I love wine so I was fortunate enough to share the novice’s point of view and land some fun gigs tasting, researching and chatting up wine experts.  I often tout that good wine is any wine that you like, whether it costs $10 or $150 a bottle.

Recently, I got the chance to hear an inspirational panel of wine industry women. They were winemakers, owners, executives and even a well-known wine industry TV and radio personality.  Women winemakers are making huge strides in this very male-dominated industry, which is fabulous, considering 60% of wine is bought by women. They are on a mission to introduce more women to the rewards of the wine world – and help women use their palates (which are often better than men’s) to have confidence in choosing gorgeous wines.

As far as experiential, emotional brands go, you can’t really find any better example than the wine world. Wine is about making memories, about upscale casual summer night dinner parties with friends. It’s about great – often uninhibited – conversation. It’s about celebrating the simple pleasures of life.  Often, we’ve experienced some of our most emotional memories over a bottle of wine: an engagement toast, a comforting chat with a sobbing girlfriend, an exciting first date, a cherished holiday dinner.

There’s a quote I adore, attributed to Ben Franklin: “Wine is constant proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Amen, brother. Tweet this!

The panel’s moderator, Sharon Harris, is owner and winemaker for Rarecat Wines but also founder of A Woman’s Palate, a place for women who want to connect and empower others through wine.  I loved how she described the difference between regular wines and fine wines.

“It’s like comparing Chanel to H&M.”

This is a great brand analogy. It’s not that H&M doesn’t provide fun, good or trendy clothes. But it’s how the products are crafted that makes the brand difference. Tweet this! Fine wine is crafted with love, carefully-honed knowledge of “terroir,” science and agriculture. It’s perfected to evoke a feeling or a memory and is often overseen personally by the winemaker.

The highlight for me was the discussion about all those crazy taste and aroma descriptions critics dream up for wines: “lingering notes of leather and black cherries, with a hint of tar on the nose.” Sharon’s perspective? “Fine wine is crafted with such love and excellence that it results in a complex yet balanced taste that no one word can accurately describe. It goes beyond words. Yet the memory of it lasts for decades.”

Wouldn’t you love your brand to have such an impact?

Which brands do you feel exemplify quality craftsmanship and feel “made with love?” Please share in the Comments below!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Art of Seduction: 5 Ways to Woo Your Audience with Great Content

Posted on by Red Slice

Today’s marketplace is noisier than ever and customers not only expect, but demand killer value from you even before they spend a dime. (Tweet this!)

But how can you create compelling free content that engages, informs and delight people enough to keep coming back for more – and eventually buy from you?

Special treat for you guys today: I’m sharing this 30-minute info-rich, delightful and useful free video interview with Betsy Talbot, author and co-creator of Married With Luggage. (they are personal friends and I’m a huge fan so check them out and enjoy their resources for entrepreneurs with big dreams!)

Betsy penned an awesome article for Copyblogger about what the male stripper movie Magic Mike can teach you about engaging your audience and giving them what they really want. I just had to take a deeper dive with her on these tips as they relate to your brand strategy.

In this free video, we discuss 5 sizzling tips for getting your audience all hot and bothered.

You’ll learn how to communicate your brand and you’ll also discover copywriting and messaging tips that will create a “love connection” with your fans.

Yes, it’s about 30 minutes. But it’s super useful. trust me. The tips we’ll discuss in the video:

  • Know what you are really selling 
  • Grab their attention 
  • Provide consistently compelling content 
  • Reward loyal fans 
  • Promote new talent 

And PS, there’s a BONUS tip for you: Make the ask. A little extra just to show you how much I love you.

Which tip do you find most useful? How will you apply it to your future content? Please share in the Comments below and share this post/video with your tribe!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

The Art of the Deal

Posted on by Red Slice

Negotiation. Partnership. Bartering. Often, it’s the “people management” part of business that causes the most anxiety and challenges. Last week, I was honored to moderate a CRAVESeattle panel for women entrepreneurs titled The Art of The Deal. We tackled these issues and I wanted to share some key takeaways with you.

Forging Effective Partnerships

When you’re partnering on a project or marketing activity, there are various landmines to avoid. First and foremost, clear communication is key. Discuss up front the roles and responsibilities of each party. Outline who is responsible for what.

In my view, there are 3 areas you need to ensure you map out clearly before getting into bed with each other:

  • Marketing: Who is promoting what to whom? Are we using our email lists, placing ads, posting on social media? Map out how you’re splitting this so there’s no, “I thought you were the one doing that” conversations after the fact. And clearly discuss how you split all costs and expenses so there is no ill will. Attached to this, how will you follow up and split leads after the event or activity? Make sure you are both aligned or your prospects will be left confused and caught in the middle.
  • Operations: Who’s responsible for booking the room, ordering the food or writing the copy? Who is developing the sales page and processing payments? Who’s project managing? Work out all the details before hand, list the tasks and assign an owner.
  • Financials: Money issues can turn a partnership sour faster than anything. Clearly establish your joint budget and how you will split both expenses and incoming revenue. Sometimes 50/50 may not make sense if you’re leveraging one person’s larger mailing list or brand recognition. Have the conversation upfront – trust me, it will be even more painful and awkward later if you don’t.

To Pay or Barter?

Collaboration can take many forms and two ways of bootstrapping your growing business can be either to pay for services rendered or barter. How do you decide? It depends on your budget and what you need. Only barter for things your business really needs. Otherwise, it’s not a good deal and you end up giving away products or services that could be earning you money for something you never needed anyway. Finally, be sure your expectations are clear. When you’re not paying someone for something, that means you fall to the bottom of their priority list. Are you okay with that? Is your timing flexible? If not, it may pay to pay instead.

When you’re on the other end of the barter, you also need to ensure you can commit to giving away your time. Don’t do it if you are crazy busy and it will just leave a bad taste in your mouth. You owe it to the other person to be honest and to only take on work to which you can give your very best – and give it in a way that doesn’t make you bitter or resentful.

Overall, be selective about your chosen collaborators and partners. Make sure you’re both committed to delivering on time and ensure that aligning with this business is not going to impact your brand in a negative way.

Have you effectively partnered, collaborated or bartered with someone? What words of wisdom can you share? Please share below in the Comments!