Tag: brand

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

Why a Brand Project is a Transformation Project

Posted on by Maria Ross
A Brand Project is a Transformation Project

What can management consulting teach you about brand strategy work?  

Everything. 

My very first post-college job was as a change management consultant for a large consulting firm. My job was to equip people and teams at Fortune 1000 companies to adopt big changes, whether that was a new system implementation, workflow, or organizational structure. 

All of these projects had one thing in common: They transformed the company and the jobs of the people in that company. On the human level, they transformed how people thought of their jobs, their skills…and how they saw themselves. 

We dealt with the gamut of human emotion: Anger, fear, worry, excitement. Change brings that out in people. As diverse as humans are, they will all react differently to major change. 

Nothing could have equipped me better for my work as a brand strategist. 

Let’s be clear: A brand strategy and messaging project, whether to create a new brand or revamp an existing one, is a transformation project.   (Tweet this!)

Clients come to me because they know they need a change of some kind. In sales and marketing message. In reputation. In customer base. In market position. And change, of course, excites some people, worries and confuses others, and angers a few more. 

There are many brand strategists who come at this work purely from a marketing angle. “This is about your marketplace reputation and simply how you look and talk.” Yes, partly true. But it’s also about how you ACT as an organization. 

For going on 13 years now, I have brought diverse groups of leaders (at all levels) together in a room to hold an all-day brand strategy workshop. Some are psyched the company is finally “doing something” about their brand and lack of clarity in message. Others just want to pop off about how marketing sucks. Still others don’t quite understand why they are in the room. 

And then…magic. 

I must admit, when I first started this work, I wasn’t sure how my process was going to fly. What if I couldn’t wrangle the voices or disagreement? What if no one completed the pre-work? What if no one spoke up? What if EVERYONE spoke up? What if at the end of the day, we still had no consensus, and everyone left not only dejected but pissed they’d wasted their time? 

Turns out, there was nothing to fear and everything to gain. 

Because I have found in my proven brand strategy process, that when you bring these diverse voices together (after prepping with some crucial pre-work) to hit them directly in the face with their strengths and red flags; when you force them to hear each other and respect the vantage point each one has of the company and its customers; when you allow “non-marketers’ to express what customers ask for and how they think the company solves problems; when you get the founder or CEO to vulnerably riff on the impact and legacy she or he hopes the company will have on the world (in a way many of them hear for the very first time), there is no other word to describe it but magic. 

Why? How? It’s partly a forced exercise in empathy. Partly making people take a chunk of time away from daily firefighting to think ABOUT the business. And partly deft facilitation and dot-connecting. But not just on our part, but on how they step up to do the same.  Often the ground-breaking phrase or big idea comes from a heated moment of debate, shouted out by one of my clients, not me. (Instigating and provoking, when used for good, are two of my superpowers.) 

Together, these people transform perceptions and prejudices of each other. Yes, marketing cares about driving sales. Yes, engineering has an eloquent and inventive way to describe the product (and often, some pretty creative marketing campaign ideas). Yes, HR is actually a strategic business driver because they bring in and nurture the most important aspect that drives our growth: Our talent, our people, our brand ambassadors. 

A brand strategy and story is not just a marketing exercise, but a company-wide transformation exercise. It attracts the right customers with clarity and conviction. It inspires them to want to join in. It inspires us as employees by giving us purpose. And in almost all cases, it ignites serious discussion on how operations, policies, hiring, even product design needs to change, if everyone wants to live up to that articulated new brand story. 

One of the best compliments of my career was from the CEO of a tech company. He said our brand strategy work did not simply result in a new product name, message and look and feel for the company. It forced the leadership to have core strategic conversations. He relayed that the project helped them change the way they talk – internally and externally – and would help them achieve their ambitious corporate vision and goals. That’s transformation and it’s way more than a new logo. 

Brand strategy, true brand strategy and story crafting, is not just about cute taglines, logos, or ads. It’s about transforming the way employees see their work, the company sees its purpose, and customers engage and clamor to be an important part in that story. 

Ready to transform? Take a look at what we can do together and let’s have a conversation about your goals to see if this is the right fit. 

Photo Credit: Artem Maltsev on Unsplash

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

Who Needs to Be Part of the Brand Project?

Posted on by Maria Ross
Who Needs to Be at the Brand party?

Your organization’s brand is its reputation, essence and core. It’s not just a logo creation exercise or marketing’s purview from an ad perspective. It’s everything your company is, offers and stands for, inside and out. 

Clients are sometimes surprised that when we  work on a brand strategy process together, the key component is not just a marketing workshop, but a cross-functional workshop. “What can our engineers/CFO/HR leader contribute to a brand conversation? They don’t really understand marketing.” 

Doesn’t matter. They represent a view of the customer or product that serves as an ingredient to crafting the brand story. I’ve had some of the best brand epiphanies come from someone in the room that the marketing lead didn’t think belonged there: The curmudgeon who thinks marketing is a waste of money, or the pre-sales consultant who is not quite sure why they are involved in this effort. 

Here’s the thing: All of these functions are necessary to live out whatever “brand” that marketing cranks out. In fact, they ARE the brand.  (Tweet this!)

Their interactions with customers and partners create a brand perception. They need to have a voice in how it’s represented but more importantly, contribute to the conversation in non-marketing speak. That’s how you get to the “real stuff,” to the way people ACTUALLY talk that is not in the press boilerplate. 

When I worked in enterprise technology marketing, my favorite people were the sales engineers. They knew exactly what the product was capable of, keeping us honest in our claims, and they could rattle off use cases and benefits by memory. They dealt with customers and prospects every day. They knew the struggles with adoption and implementation beyond the sale.  

All of these are key ingredients to the brand story. 

So who needs to be in the room when crafting or revamping your story, values, approach and personality – or even having input into naming? Well, first of all, let’s not get crazy. You can’t build a brand strategy by committee. It becomes a Frankensteined shell of its former self with no real teeth or differentiation, because you’re trying to “please everyone” and so you end up with more bland jargon that customers don’t care about. But you can consider various viewpoints and have that represented in the final product so there is end-to-end buy-in. 

Ideally, who needs to be at the brand party? 

Head of marketing:  Obviously. They know about lead generation and customer attraction principles, pipeline building and the prospect journey/buying cycle. But more importantly they are on the hook for execution. And clearly, many branding projects are spearheaded by marketing. I have yet for a VP of Product to give me a call about how to rebrand the company (although he or she might be the bug in the CMO’s ear!) 

One or two other key marketing roles:  We want to avoid making this a marketing-only exercise. Choose one or two other key marketing roles (perhaps head of comms or lead gen) to be a voice in the conversation. 

Head of product or engineering:  They know the ins and outs of how the product works and what it delivers. They have spent time prioritizing features to address customers scenarios. They often work with sales when requests come in or things go wrong. 

CEO:  Yes, the CEO needs to make time to be part of this process. A strong brand is modeled from the top down, even if it’s defined from the bottom up in some cases. If the CEO is not part of the process and bought in to why this is necessary and how it will help the company accelerate growth, you’re dead in the water. Also, my best conversations about the larger company vision, values and market-changing impact happen when the CEO is in the room and everyone is inspired to think bigger. 

Head of people or HR:  Call this Chief People Officer or simple SVP of Human Resources. Time and again, I’m shocked when clients are loathe to involve HR on a brand strategy project. HR is responsible for how the company brand is perceived by prospective employees and what it takes to attract them. They are sharing the brand story every day. And they are tasked with bringing in the right talent who will make the best brand ambassadors. How can they do that if they’re not part of the process? Your people are your greatest brand assets, and therefore those responsible for finding them need to be in lock-step with the brand strategy so a consistent story is told. 

CFO/COO:  What? Yes. Your brand does not stop at customers’ or prospects’ doors. All of your internal policies and processes need to embody the brand promise. A brand starts from the inside out if it is to be genuine, believable and consistent. These policies extend to every vendor interaction with your company: they have their own networks to which they either talk you up, or talk you down. The brand needs to be lived out internally and with key external audiences just as much as your prospects. I’ve seen way too many Silicon Valley companies deny this fact – and while they may claim agility, speed or innovation to their customer base, their vendors are living a painful nightmare of outdated processes, lack of support, or late payments. And vendors talk. To prospective customers. You see where I’m going with this. 

Head of partnerships or alliances:  See above. Partners are part of the eco-system and just as much brand ambassadors as your employees. How does the brand story impact them? The perspective that partner and alliance folks can bring to the brand story is invaluable. 

Head of sales and top salesperson: Brand story shaping is a vanity exercise unless it ultimately drives sales. And who knows what customers and prospects are saying better than your sales leads? They are  talking to prospects in the consideration phase. What they need, want, struggle with, or aspire to be should all be factored into the brand story. And you need to know how customers and prospects talk – it’s not what we want to say, it’s how THEY articulate the problem that will most resonate. Otherwise, how do you empathize with and attract those people? I love when we can have the head of sales involved, but also the top salesperson. 

Head of customer care or customer success: In the trenches, with customers every day. They know their pains, wins and how they are using the product long after the sale. They have a great perspective on which benefits we should lead with – often ones that have been overlooked in past messaging. 

These leaders serve as representatives and solicit input from their teams, so that we avoid an unproductive brand workshop of 35 people. 

Benefits to a cross-functional brand strategy effort 

Yes, it’s hard to get all these people to fill out pre-work. Yes, it’s hard to find a time when they can all get in the same place for 5 hours. But a few amazing things happen when all these various perspectives are at the brand party: 

  1. Cross-functional leadership stops what they are doing and really thinks about the core issues. A brand conversation unearths so many things. I’ve seen disconnects over everything from future company direction, to what the product can actually do, to who we are targeting. You’d think they worked for different companies. When you’re all running on your own tracks, how can you presume to get anywhere together faster? This project is a forcing mechanism to hash our conversations that we are often too busy to have. Crucial roadblocks get discovered that have nothing to do with branding – and solutions to those issues can come out of these conversations because we’re finally talking about the big stuff that is often written off as “Well, of course everyone knows this.” 
  1. You increase buy-in and adoption company wide. When others know their functional area was represented, they feel better about the output. Those present can explain the process to their teams and specifically address what role their team plays in living out the brand strategy in their daily work. 
  1. Employees reignite and reengage: Taking time to step away from the daily grind reminds people why they joined the organization in the first place. The energy in the room is palatable as we discuss bigger issues, including why folks are passionate about the offerings and what they hope to achieve for customers. It’s inspiring. It’s morale-building. And that buzz lasts long after the branding project is over, especially as the company brings the brand story to life visually, verbally and experientially. 

Ready to see how a brand strategy project at your company can be done efficiently, effectively and ensure all voices are at the brand party? Let’s chat! 

Photo credit: Antenna on Unsplash

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

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

Posted on by Maria Ross
Innovation Builds on What Comes Before

What do you think of when you think of innovation? 

Do you picture a think tank of experts, crammed into a meeting room with Post-it notes on the wall, formulas on a white board, leftover pizza boxes strewn about, and crazy ideas flying back and forth? 

When we think of innovation in that way, it can seem daunting. What if I go into a room to innovate and come out with nothing? How long will this take? How do I spend time on this while running my business? 

The reality is that many innovations occur when we borrow and build upon what’s already there. What has come before. And we make it better. We find new uses for it. We slightly tinker with it to make it fit a brand new customer, market, or purpose. 

I’m a huge fan of not reinventing the wheel. Like, ever. Sure, inventing something completely unheard of is amazing (iPhone, Tesla, ride sharing, anyone?).  

But not all of us are wired this way. While, I’m rapid-fire white-space thinking and can come up with new, crazy ideas with the best of them, I am also someone who excels at reacting to something first and then finding all the ways to make it better.  I’m also good at seeing what’s there and connecting the dots that no one else sees. 

Are you like this? 

If you are, cool. Embrace it. Understand that this is a skill and it makes you more efficient at adapting and evolving.  

When there is no need to reinvent the wheel, don’t. Simply improve it. (TWEET THIS!)

A past marketing VP of mine used to call this “Stealing with pride.” Not quite plagiarism, but if you see a company or team doing something great, learn from it. Adapt it to your own purpose, voice, data. Don’t “rip it off” but build upon it. 

In my inbox, lives a little folder called “Good Marketing Funnels.” This is where I save any email campaigns that resonate with me. Maybe I loved the brevity. Maybe the call to action was irresistible. Maybe I liked the way they wove the story across multiple emails. 

Often, I use these as inspiration instead of starting from scratch. But I make them mine. And I make them even better. 

Use your resources. Learn from those who’ve mastered things. See what others in your industry are doing. Not to make yourself feel bad or get jealous. But analyze the ideas that work, make them your own and make them better. 

Consider it a more efficient way to innovate! 

Want to borrow some great marketing ideas, powerful sales email templates, and proposed blog post topics to take and customize for your own brand so you can boost business? Check out my digital program, MOMENTUM Pro and get all the goods!  

Photo Credit: Photo by Alessandra Caretto on Unsplash

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

How You Can Look At Innovation

Posted on by Maria Ross

While all the talk of “pivoting” these days is turning into a drinking game for some entrepreneurs, it’s important to remember one important thing: 

As a business owner, creator, entrepreneur, it has always been your responsibility to innovate. This is not new. 

Show me a business that never adapts, and I’ll show you an extinct business. 

Show me a leader who fails to evolve, and I’ll show you someone who’s never had a real impact. 

Many businesses big and small have shown remarkable ingenuity in how they are adapting to change. Some have gone after new markets. Some have changed their sales strategies or service delivery models. Some have reimagined their product lines. I shared some great examples here in this Entrepreneur.com article on five ways to pivot and thrive. 

And not all of it is about “technology.” 

In fact, innovation requires more than tech. It requires humanity. Empathy. Mental space. New relationships.   (TWEET THIS!)

Wanted to revisit two classic posts from the archives with you on this important topic: 

Make space to innovate. 

When you strain and struggle, you don’t leave yourself enough space to get creative. This is why an empathetic team culture leads to more innovation: People are free from fear and pressure and can focus on creativity. They feel safe. Their heads are not full of so much extraneous junk. They are free to see things in a new way and imagine new possibilities. Years ago, life coach Danelle Dowling shared her formula for innovation: Think Less, Bitch Less, Push Less = Create More. If you need some tough love on how to get more creative, check it out. 

Times are tough. Stress is high. It’s on you as a creator to take care of yourself and make the space you need to reimagine possibilities and adapt quickly. 

Redefine innovation 

Innovation is not simply about inventing something no one has ever seen before. True, that is part of it. But can you innovate your processes, service delivery, product usage? Can you adapt how you interact with customers, how to design products, and even which markets you serve? 

And can you simply conduct business in a whole new way? Break the mold of how “things have always been done. This past post shows why redefining success IS innovative. And companies like Zoom Communications, AirBnB, and Ford are showing that empathy and compassion for employees and customers is an innovative (and profitable) way to do business. This was the entire point of my book, The Empathy Edge. The way you do business can be what sets you apart and creates a whole new standard of success. 

Want to rethink your own brand and business? Let’s chat in a 90 minute strategy session to get the juices flowing on what’s possible with what you already have to work with. 

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

Why Brands Need to Speak Up

Posted on by Maria Ross
Why Brands Need to Speak Up

With everything going on in our world – from a global pandemic to economic hardship to countless social justice and racial inequality issues, corporate brands might be tempting to adopt a “business as usual” approach and focus only on their products and services. 

But you can’t. And here’s why. 

Your business thrives on people. And your employees, customer, suppliers and partners are all people, being impacted at home by hardship or adversity. Whether they are juggling work demands with homeschooling their kids…or whether they are people of color who are fighting for their rights and their lives, they are all IN THIS. They are dealing with a lot. 

Your brand cannot be tone deaf right now. Your company will simply look out of touch at best and callous and heartless at worst.  (TWEET THIS!)

And the public is paying attention. Not only have people watched and made purchase decisions based on brands’ responses to the Covid crisis, new startling research shows that people are expecting brands to take a stand and speak out on social issues. Edelman reports: “Respondents believe that brands must act to create change and influence: 60% said brands must invest in addressing the root causes of racial inequality and 57% said brands must educate the public.” 

Younger consumers are even more critical. According to ongoing research from DoSomething.org, Gen Z is demanding that brands provide useful content, community resources, and treat their employees with respect: 

“65% wants brands to ensure equal representation in their leadership, including having people of color on their executive team and promoting people of color to management. And 64% want brands to promote diversity in their advertising, like having more BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) models. The biggest takeaway from what Gen Z wants from brands right now is aligned with what they’ve always wanted: show, don’t tell. Yes, use your platform. But go further. Those who will win among Gen Z are those who back it up, do the work, and show us the money.” 

So optics aside, what can your brand say and do right now to make things better? What real change can you make to not just talk the talk but walk the walk? How can you pivot your message, customer focus, or even hiring, sales strategy, product and service delivery to keep pace with what your audience wants but also to show your company is using it’s influence for good, rather than evil? 

Show up. Don’t shrink. Not when your customers and society need you to lead. 

Need help thinking through the current disruption and coming up with a solid game plan, in an efficient strategic sprint?  Please reach out and we’ll talk. 

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

Use Your Platform for Good

Posted on by Maria Ross
Use Your Platform For Good

Whether you reach 5 people or five hundred thousand. Whether you are CEO of a global brand or an entry-level manager or a solopreneur whose office staff consists of you and a lazy Black Lab who lounges next to your desk all day. Whether you’re a stay-at-home parent, work for a big corporate giant or a small scrappy local business. 

You have influence. You have a voice. Use your platform for good. (TWEET THIS!)

We are in a crazy time right now, where the lines blur between work and home (how can they not when you’re Zooming in on your boss in his guest bedroom/makeshift office as his 5-year-old wanders in, demanding a cupcake?). The façade is gone. We are vulnerable and real. There is no longer a “work you” and a “personal you” just YOU. A whole being, with all your complexity, obligations, life circumstances…and values, ethics, and opinions. 

Now is the time to speak up. Now is the time to align your work with who you are and to use whatever influence you have. 

If you have expertise, share your thought leadership generously. If you passionately support a social justice topic, be visible. Post. Tweet. Share articles. Donate money. Raise awareness. Get involved.  

In my twenties, I used to believe in “Work Maria” and “Personal Maria.” Personally speaking, back then,  it was probably a good thing to have those boundaries!  

But we cannot continue to be one person in business and another at home. Not that we don’t have rules and etiquette for the workplace, but you need to be whole.  

You can impact change by raising your voice and standing up for something. Regardless of the size of your sphere of influence. 

So whether you are a website design, or coach, or software engineer, or marketing executive or whatever….you have a brand. You have a community. Make work that matters. Be a light. Speak out. Use your work, your voice, your platform for good, not evil.  

No one is going to ask for credentials or limit you because you are not famous or have less than a million followers. Make the impact, one person at a time.  

That is how change happens. 

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

3 Tips to Differentiate Your Messaging

Posted on by Maria Ross
3 Tips to Differentiate Your Messaging

So often underused, yet so powerful. MESSAGING 

Sure, messaging might not be as sexy as logo design or digital marketing but nailing your messaging can do more for your brand effectiveness than any other aspect of your brand strategy mix. 

Many times, I work with successful companies that already have customers and are generating revenue, but they are revamping their messaging to accelerate sales, go after new markets, or stand out in a crowded market. 

Did you catch that last one? Stand out in a crowded market. 

Marketers often get too hung on thinking “rebranding” means the whole visual, verbal, and experiential kit and kaboodle. New logo, website, colors, stationery, signage, t-shirts, tchotchkes. But many smart companies know that simply revamping messaging can do wonders to accelerate growth and attention. 

If you clarify your messaging and ensure it’s absolutely compelling to your target audience, I submit this will take you farther than a slick website or cool visual design. 

Not at all to say those things don’t all work in tandem to tell a cohesive brand story. But if you’re looking for the lowest hanging brand fruit, start with your messaging. 

Messaging is where my brand strategy works starts! Without clear messaging, how do you know what you are trying to communicate and to whom visually or experientially?  (TWEET THIS!)

But how can you use your messaging to stand out and get noticed?  

Here are 3 tips to differentiating your company messaging 

(Warning: This will all sound great in theory, but your company leadership may not have the stones to implement them!) 

  1. Adopt the language of your customer, not jargon: No one cares what the analysts call your category or what your CEO decided in a vacuum was the most important term for your space.  

Your company should talk how your customers talk.  

Ditch the jargon that (you think) makes you sound really smart. Talk to your customers and capture their exact words. Articulate the problem and solution in the words your customer uses inside their heads. When you talk how your people talk, they will connect with you. They will pay attention. They will say, “Hell, yes, that’s what I’m talking about!” and will clamor to learn more. If you only care about appeasing the Gartner analysts, ask yourself if Gartner pays your bills! 

  1. Take the competitors stance – and twist it: Watch what your competitors are saying…but don’t worry about it. Find a way to turn it on its head and capitalize on how you do it better. Never adopt messaging simply it is because it’s how everyone else talks about your product or service. Of course, use the language of you industry but never second-guess yourself just because a competitor is saying something you are not. I’ve suffered through too many CEO’s who wanted “our website to have a section like their website.”  No strategy. No vision. Just “do what they’re doing.” 

Well, first, what if they don’t know what they’re doing? What if they’re wrong? And second, what if their brand voice and story is speaking to a different buyer than ours? Resist the urge to simply adopt messaging because it’s what everyone else is doing, unless there’s a strategic reason to do so. Remember, your mom’s advice whenever you wanted to do something all the other kids were doing? “Is all the other kids jumped off a cliff, would you do it, too? 

  1. Develop a unique brand voice and tone: One of the best ways to differentiate your messaging is not in what you say, but how you say it. After a deep dive brand strategy exercise, determine the unique brand voice and personality that best serves your customers and genuinely reflects who you are. Method Cleaning Products does a fabulous job of owning a unique, funny brand voice on their products and it’s aligned with their culture of “being weird.” If you truly want to stand out, stop sounding like everyone else and develop your own viewpoint and personality so when people come across your messaging, they will know it is distinctly YOU. 

Want some help crafting that brand messaging and unique voice so you can stand out and accelerate sales? Take a look at what we can do together and let’s chat! 

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

Why You Need a Niche

Posted on by Maria Ross
Why You Need a Niche

“Niche is rich” so some people say. But why do they say this? I mean, it seems counterintuitive to limit your market size, doesn’t it? You want to sell to as many people who will buy your product or service, don’t you? 

A few clarifications to help you make better marketing and sales decisions: 

Your niche is about outbound, not who can buy from you 

Defining your niche helps you focus your marketing and outbound efforts. Where will you spend your valuable time, resources, and energy? Unless you’ve got billions of dollars to spend and can target multiple segments effectively it’s wiser to pick your lane and own it. Don’t spread yourself so thin that you waste effort trying to be everywhere and don’t have enough presence to be effective anywhere. 

Your niche helps you attract the right ideal customers and decide if you are the partner they seek. 

That said, you can certainly sell to anyone who wants to buy from you! Anyone for whom your message resonates. You’re not going to tell them, “Sorry, you don’t fit my ideal client profile!” You’ll gladly take their check and serve them well if you decide you want to when they show up at your door. 

Your niche leads to smarter, more effective branding decisions 

When you are clearly not trying to be all things to all people, you resonate more fully with specific people. Those people will pay attention. Defining your niche ensures the verbal, visual, and experiential aspects of your brand are speaking to just the right people. When you create content, you will be talking to a specific type of person, with specific needs and aspirations. 

Always remember: When you try to be all things to all people, you end up being nothing to no one! (TWEET THIS!)

Find the right niche 

Of course, you can’t pick a niche of only ten possible buyers in the known universe. That’s not sustainable. Pick a niche with a healthy amount of people in it. My niche for my fast-growth corporate clients are those that value marketing and brand and have a team ready to support and implement change. I’m not interested in helping every company out there, or trying to convince people why brand matters to their bottom line.   

Targeting women entrepreneurs is specific but healthy enough to make a living. Targeting adrenaline junkies or home businesses are also specific but broad. Your software may be able to do “all the things” for every possible industry out there but don’t confuse people or make them figure out where you play. Define where you play and clearly explain why you are the best option in that space. There should be plenty of opportunity for you there if you choose wisely! 

Your market is not necessarily all the people who’ve need what you have to offer. Honda and Porsche both sell cars but they definitely do not sell to the same people buying a car for the same reasons! 

Use your niche to differentiate. If you become the go-to expert for small local brick and mortar businesses, or mompreneurs, or SaaS software companies, that’s the first step to stand out from your competition.

Need guidance to a niche that is profitable and sustainable? Not sure how to craft your ideal customer profiles so that your marketing instantly engages the right people? Let’s talk!

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

Collaborating to Survive…and Thrive

Posted on by Maria Ross
3 Ways to Collaborate in Hard Times

Whoa, these are some crazy times. 

With the global spread of Coronavirus and most business (and personal lives) at a standstill, what’s an entrepreneur to do to keep her business going to weather to storm? 

This blog post was originally going to be about when to collaborate from an “outsourcing” point of view. Collaborating to ensure you don’t try to do all the things yourself, but value your time and talent in a more strategic way. When does it make sense to pay a designer, virtual assistant, or CRM consultant versus spending all that valuable time trying to do it all yourself? 

Of course, we need to value our time from a revenue perspective. What is your hourly labor cost for your time (not your mark up) and would the time be better spent on revenue-generating activities versus formatting PowerPoint slides? 

But the world has changed. 

As of this post, we don’t know when quarantines will end. We don’t know which businesses will survive the economic paralysis we’re experiencing right now. And we don’t know if our business will live or die. 

But collaboration is still the key to success. Even in current times. 

If business has dried up for you, if you’re worried about projects evaporating or revenue looking bleak, it’s time to reach out and collaborate. While collaboration is good for you right now, it’s also a wonderful way to support other business owners in similar circumstances. 

Let me say this first: Right now, you must pivot. No getting around it. So if you’re used to certain revenue streams or always going it alone, you need to rethink things. My corporate projects rely on companies spending money and doing a live brand workshop. Ain’t happening right now! That’s not what my ideal clients are worried about right now Now is the time to address where you customers are mentally and financially, get creative, and pivot how you can help them. That includes your messaging, but also HOW you deliver your offerings – and which offerings you have. 

Here are 3 ways to collaborate so your business thrives: 

  1. Create a new offer with a partner: If your current offerings are at a standstill, now is the time to create a new course or offering that immediately addresses what your customers need and want. Inject more “oomph” into that offering by collaborating with a complementary partner to not only make the deal even more irresistible, but tap into the collective marketing power of both of your audiences. 
  2. Continue to value your time by hiring others: It’s not time to try to handle your website, design needs, etc. all on your own. While tempting, that is just more time that takes you from revenue-generating activity. If you’re able to, it’s still a good idea to hire contractors to help you with all the little things so you can focus extra hard on opportunity creation and demand generation. And you can help keep those businesses afloat, too. If you need to cut budget, do it in fluffy areas of the business, like cutting any extra subscriptions you don’t need. 
  3. Keep your network active: How you show up right now says a lot about your brand and your business. Now is not the time to go into hiding! Continue to create valuable content and network on social media. While you may not be able to meet in person, schedule those coffee dates virtually. Check in with clients and prospects. Remind people you are still there and ready to serve. 

Collaboration will not only help you survive, it will help you thrive. (TWEET THIS!)

Here’s a free resource for you to better collaborate and network virtually right now: It’s a lesson from my MOMENTUM coaching program, the Playbook titled Socially Connect and Thrive. Enjoy, with my compliments! 

And if you like it and want more Playbooks to master your marketing, articulate your value or build your audience, you might want to check out MOMENTUM Pro at a special $100 off. 

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

3 Tips to Be a Better Storyteller

Posted on by Maria Ross
3 Tips to be a Better Storyteller

People say I’m a good storyteller, which is really nice, since it’s my career. My passion. My purpose. 

Stories have the power to inspire, delight, provoke, impact, ignite, and make us think. Whether it’s a play, book, movie, documentary….or brand story…there is a human desire to connect through story.  

Stories are often the only thing that can move us into adopting empathy and acting with compassion.   (Tweet This!)

When we hear facts, we are impressed by tune out. When we combine facts with real-life stories of people impacted, we sit up and take notice. 

I believe this is why some TV ads can make us cry. TV ADS. Because the best ones so eloquently and artfully tell a story in 60 seconds. That is no small task. 

So how does one tell a story that fast? How can you engage someone enough to take action, to buy from you, donate to your cause, or join your movement? 

While I have been told I’m a good storyteller, as mentioned, I don’t always think I am. But when things do click into place, here why I think that is the case: 

1 – Elevate the message:  

When you are talking about your products or services, that is all well and good to drone on about features, bonuses, and all the cool stuff the customer gets. But what is all this stuff really leading to? What’s it all for? Elevate your story to something with more meaning and purpose. I’m not saying “make it up.” I’m saying, think about how this make the person’s life or work better? Why are they seeking this solution? What is this really all about for them? 

If you sell HR recruiting software, is it about screens and clicks? No, it’s about helping communities thrive by matching individual talent with companies who needs it so they can all prosper. 

If you are a wellness coach, is this about another diet plan? No, it’s about self-esteem, confidence, and having enough energy to frolic with my kids so we can create happy memories together. 

How can you talk about your work in a way the reveals its higher purpose so the listener can emotionally connect and engage with it?  

2 – Have a hero 

Good movies, fairy tales, novels…even case studies, if they are well-written….have a hero. A protagonist we can root for, someone who has to overcome a challenge and triumphs in the end. Even a comedian can set up a killer joke with a story, often about themselves, and how they got from A to B. People want to cheer for a hero. Ensure your stories have a hero, and even better if you can tell the story in a way that makes your LISTENER the hero.  

You can do this if you are making an emotional plea for a charity. And, yes, you can even do it if you are selling B2B products or services! If you are sharing the story of what your product or service does, don’t just rattle on about all the “things.” Tell me a story about Steve, who worked in Finance, and how we struggled with quarterly reports. How he gave up nights home with his kids, and missed ballgames every three months because he had to wait hours and weeks for accurate data. And then how your solution swooped in and changed his work life forever. How, now, Steve can finish up quarterly reporting in 1/10th of the time and so far this year, has never missed one of his daughter’s dance recitals, which makes Steve a happier employee, kinder colleague, and less-stressed out husband. 

3 – Create friction and suspense 

Once of my favorite storytelling devices is expectation. It’s why I love mysteries and crime dramas so much. I want to be in a place where I’m breathless, waiting for what happens next. 

Believe it or not, you can create this for business stories, too. I adore non-fiction books by Chip and Dan Heath, Daniel Pink, and Malcolm Gladwell because they always manage to start out with a story and create a sense of suspense about where the argument is going, and what is going to be revealed next. I utilized this technique in my book Rebooting My Brain (even though it was clear I had survived in the end) and even in my business book, The Empathy Edge. How? By leaving the reader wanting more at the end of each chapter. By slyly suggesting they were about to find out some interesting information if they just kept reading. 

Where can you inject suspense in to what may be some pretty dry storytelling? If you’re giving a speech, do you have to reveal everything, or can you hint that there is more to the story? Can you tease with something at the start, weave that in throughout, and reveal it at the end? If you are writing marketing copy, can you build up enough intrigue (without being too vague) so that readers are dying to click the button or download the guide and find out what you have to reveal? 

Want some help crafting a juicy and delicious brand story for your business, or finding just the right words to intrigue your audience? Take a look at what we can do together and contact me to discuss!