Tag: customers

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

Brand lessons non-profits can learn from small business – and vice versa: A chat with Aimee Stone Munsell

Posted on by Red Slice

Non-profits and small businesses have a ton in common: not enough resources, time or budget to spread their message and acquire customers (donors) while also getting their work done. But sometimes, they are sabotaging themselves and there are simple brand fixes and marketing tactics these organizations can implement  to get more bang for their buck. We’ll share some ideas in today’s Slice of Brilliance column.

Aimee Stone Munsell is owner of Stone Munsell and co-founder of Real-World Super Heroes, a hands-on community service program for kids. She and I have partnered on branding projects together and I absolutely adore her work ehtic, creativity and brilliance. Aimee worka with the smartest, most interesting people she can find – as clients, partners, employees, expert advisors — to tackle challenges that make a difference for the client and also for the world whenever possible. Her measurement for success: “I’m proud to tell my family what I do.”

So I’ve asked her to share with us the 3 mistakes non-profits make (ahem….that many small businesses do, too) and inexpensive ways to delight customers who’ve just purchased or donated. Plus, she gives you some resources and case sudies of companies engaged in social reponsibility, which is a win-win for everyone.

RS: Welcome Aimee! You’ve worked a lot with non-profits. Why do you think many of them don’t have strong brand awareness?

ASM: Let’s be honest: it takes time and money to build a brand. This is true for any business or non-profit cecause you have to fight through all the clutter out there to connect with the right audience – again and again in multiple ways, over time — to build a strong brand. And why invest in it? Because it is a key building block of sustainability. But it isn’t necessarily seen this way. Many non-profit leaders are in their jobs because they know a lot about the services they provide (as we’d hope!) but haven’t necessarily been trained in business skills. When I work with an NFP’s leadership team, we focus on their goals which often include things such as: bring in more donations, secure new grants, increase community support, and form partnerships to expand services. Then we assess the organization’s current brand position and marketing activity. And finally, together we come up with a focused plan of attack that takes into account the resources they have, often creating execution phased over 6-24 months, to get them where they need to be.

RS: Non-profits as well as many small businesses seem to struggle with messaging and conveying their passion and accomplishments in their marketing materials (website, collateral). What top 3 tips could help them improve?
Continue reading “Brand lessons non-profits can learn from small business – and vice versa: A chat with Aimee Stone Munsell”

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

Is your brand carrying excess baggage?

Posted on by Red Slice

Guest post by Betsy Talbot, author of Strip Off Your Fear: Slip Into Something More Confident. She and her husband Warren write about the 5 Tenets to Live the Good Life at Married with Luggage. They are currently traveling in Asia.

Isn’t it just a little bit funny that the owner of a site called Married with Luggage is here to talk to you about your personal and business baggage? I thought so, too.

You see, I just accidentally published a book on branding. While my intention was to write a book on personal self-confidence and speaking up, it appears that all those lessons are exactly the same as building a confident brand.

It wasn’t until we reached out to Red Slice for help on solidifying our message and working out our brand schizophrenia that we connected the dots between the book project and the brand. In fact, it wasn’t until we told Maria about the book and what we were doing that we realized we had a problem with brand schizophrenia.

Let’s see if you have the same kind of ‘a-ha!’ moment we did:

  • Can your friends explain in one sentence what your business does?
  • Does your website accurately reflect your message in an instant, or are you expecting people to draw their own conclusions?
    Can a new visitor to your site tell from the home page whether you can help them or not?

In our case, we were holding on to some old baggage with our business. While the evolution of our message and offerings was crystal-clear in our minds, it was a fuzzy picture for a visitor to the site. Even Maria, who
actually named our business four years ago, couldn’t tell exactly what we were doing.

Let me tell you, when your brand strategist cannot figure out your brand, you’re not being clear enough for everyone else.

Accumulating excess baggage

Perhaps your business evolution mirrors ours in some way. We started out in 2008 sharing our goal of long-term travel beginning at 40, and it resonated with overworked and under-lived people our age also wanting to break free from the rat race. As we went through the saving and downsizing process for two years, we attracted an audience of minimalists, savers, and those wanting to downsize. When we started our journey in 2010, travel lovers and early retirees started following our adventures.

We wrote about all of these topics, making one segment of our audience happy at a time.

The longer we traveled, the more we learned about ourselves and human nature, and our business evolved to address those interests with articles, books, and a newsletter. Plenty of personal growth seekers joined our tribe. We were starting to hit our stride in messaging, but we still hadn’t connected it together in a meaningful way for our audience.

It was all in our heads, and we needed to find a way to voice it.

Streamlining your message

We finally asked ourselves what all those people really wanted overall, and the answer was personal growth and meaningful life experiences. All of our topics fell under this goal, but we were doing a poor job of showing how they worked to achieve it. We realized we had to speak to the need of personal growth and achieving meaningful life experiences and not just the various expressions of those needs.

Is this true in your business (or your personal life)? Are you showcasing an overall strategy to resolve an overall need or are you displaying a disjointed collection of “fixes” for your audience? Is your image an accurate portrayal of your current brand promise or an earlier evolution that has long since passed?

As we started working with Maria on our brand evolution and messaging, I saw the distinct parallels between personal confidence and a strong brand:

  • Accepting who you are now and building on your strengths
  • Saying what you want in a clear voice
  • Attracting the right kind of people into your life

While I didn’t start out writing a book about branding, it seems as if the rules of personal confidence and speaking up are good for business, too.

  • Discover exactly what you offer to the kind of people you want to help
  • Clearly state how you can help your target market and what result they can expect
  • Focus only on the people with whom you want to work

There is no confusing it now, and our business revenue and website traffic reflects our renewed focus on our brand and message.

It is true in your personal life and it is true in your business. As I said in my book:

“Speak up. Be proud of who you are, what you know, and what you do. Help other women do the same. When you change your world for the better, you make it better for the rest of us.” 

Now start unpacking those bags. 

Has your brand undergone an evolution and how did you address it in your visual, verbal or experiential branding? What worked and what didn’t? What do you think about brands that evolve? Please share in the Comments.

 

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

Two to tango or tussle? How to build better business relationships

Posted on by Red Slice

Any business relies on relationships, no matter what you sell.  Whether with customers, suppliers or your business partner – maybe you’re co-authoring a book with someone – your relationships are a key business asset and can make or break your brand…and your success. How do you make a business “marriage” work?

Enter Kathy Clayton: Personal and partnership coach, “radiant guide and dog-on-a-bone
relationship advocate.” She is passionate about making the world a better place by teaching, guiding and sometimes cajoling her clients on how to be self-aware and conscious in their life, work and relationships so they can transform the world with their unique genius.

Kathy’s work with couples and especially business partners really sparked my interest so I invited her to the Slice of Brilliance column to share her wisdom about common relationship pitfalls, how to maintain a healthy work partnership and how to be more self-aware of our actions.

RS: Welcome! Kathy, your specialty seems to be working with a couple or business partnership when people get stuck and can’t move forward. When your clients need to rely on a relationship with another person for success but have obstacles, are there common issues you see time and again?

KC: What I see most often is the need to be right. As soon as one person takes this position, communication grinds to a halt because, well, they’re right and they aren’t particularly interested in the other person’s point of view.  The question you have to ask, “Is it more important to be right or to be happy?”  Too often folks are so invested in their position they lose sight of what really matters: the relationship.

Another trap:  listening to respond vs. listening to understand.  Think how often you have the perfect response and you’re just lying in wait until they stop talking so you can get ‘em with your brilliant, likely stinging retort.  If what you want is to keep this ‘me vs. you’ dynamic going, stay the course.  On the other hand, if what you want is to be on the same team again, get quiet, check your intentions and be honest with yourself and your partner.  You actually have a tremendous amount of power to change the dynamic by simply using these two tools.

RS: Business partnerships especially can be tricky with different personality types, expectations and work styles. What is a good first step that readers in this situation could take to start moving forward when they hit an impasse?

KC: Know thyself and know thy expectations! The first piece, knowing yourself, is essential for success in any relationship.  We are all wired differently and it’s folly to think you’ll be on the same page with your partner all the time.  Investing in self-development pays off so quickly and in so many arenas – you will see positive results immediately.  More importantly, you’ll be able to communicate more effectively.

As for expectations, we all have them.  Usually we’re too scared or worried about what our partner will think that we don’t speak up.  I advocate transparency.  The very first conversation I have with new clients is about expectations.  I have them, you have them: let’s get them out in the open so when inevitably one of us doesn’t meet those expectations, we can talk about it.  This lets us find solutions and strategies to stay focused, keep moving in the desired direction and get the results you say are most important.

RS: You talk about self-awareness as a prerequisite to healthy relationships. My husband complains often about people who seem to have none: the person who talks too loud in a restaurant, the one who pulls out of a parking space without looking, the one who cuts right in front of you in line. What is your take? What tips can we put into practice to ensure we’re appropriately self-aware? 

KC: I believe every person is trying to do their very best given their life and experience, and like your husband, I get irritated when folks go unconscious, too. The remedy?  Pick one area of your life where you want a different result or experience and practice, practice, practice compassionate honesty.  The ability to tell yourself the truth about who and how you really are is the first step toward self-awareness.   Why compassionately?  Because all of us have an amazing array of torturous, insidious tools and methods for beating ourselves up for being, well, who we are. Never in a million years would we talk to others the way we talk to ourselves. Changing your internal dialogue – be kind to and with yourself! – opens you up to seeing yourself and the world through a new lens.  This new perspective changes how you engage with others, which leads to greater self-awareness.

More about Kathy Clayton: Over the past 20 years, Kathy Clayton has capitalized on her insatiable belly-button gazing by creating tangible, practical, effective strategies and tools that transform how people relate to themselves and their partners (business and personal).  Using the living laboratory that is her marriage (thank you, Michael!), Kathy commits daily to walking her talk and being in service to all who say “Enough!” to the status quo and seek authentic connection and expression with themselves and their partners. Visit her website, reach out to her on Twitter or Facebook

What is your biggest relationship challenge with a business partner, colleague or client/customer? Please share in the Comments and tell us how you deal with it.

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

Microsoft grabs the right position

Posted on by Red Slice

Are you a Mac or a PC? The epic battle between Apple and Microsoft rages onward, although these days Apple appears to be kicking butt – at least on the consumer front. It’s hard to believe that the iPhone has only been around a few years, not to mention the even younger iPad.

The Apple brand is a storied case study in what it means to capture imagination and emotion – and create a defined archetype of the “type of person who uses Apple products.” The latest Samsung ads poke fun at the Apple stereotype of hip, young, too-cool-for-school upstarts by mocking their desire to wait hours in line just to have the “right” brand of phone in their pocket. (The best line?, “I could never get a Samsung. I’m creative.” His friend’s snarky reply: “Dude, you’re a barista.”)

While Windows is “still the overwhelming market leader among desktop operating systems” it did slide from 92% share in September 2011 to (gasp) 91% in November 2011. So while concerned, the company is not crying yet. And XBOX continues to dominate the console gaming market. But let’s face it: as an overall company brand, Microsoft and Windows will never “outcool” Apple- at least not anytime soon.

And you know what? I think they are okay with that.

Because they’ve recently been finding a position that can own. One that’s credible. And one Apple is not necessarily going after: families.

You’ve probably seen the TV ads touting “It’s a great time to be a family.” One ad depicts a father running around a grocery store crossing off a shopping list on his Windows Phone, when odd items like coconuts nad candy start to get added to his list. He realizes his giggling sons are at home, updating the list in real-time from their PC. So he types back, “Do your homework” and it pops up on their screen. Another one shows a son struggling to solve long division problems on his computer while his dad grapples with a sales presentation. As the dad takes over the son’s computer to help with his homework, the son instantly turns his dad’s humdrum sales presentation into a rocking extravanza with music, explosion and color. Other ads can be found here.

And on my first trip to a Microsoft retail store, I was pleasantly surprised. At first glance, yes, it mimics the Apple store concept. But then I looked a little closer. The place was packed just before Christmas. Teenagers were playing a Kinect Dance game in the front, busy moms and dads whipped around with strollers. Staffpeople were helping toddlers figure out games on the PCs. I realized that, unlike the Apple store across the street, this place was full of families, not brooding hipsters. And you know what? That’s okay.

Microsoft is showing that you don’t always have to go after the same exact people in order to be successful. This is what is meant by “positioning.” Where does your brand play? Where does it “fit?” Instead of trying to out-Apple Apple, maybe Microsoft is playing to its brand strengths and building off of the success it’s already found with XBOX and Kinect, as well as the great strides it’s taken with Windows 7 and with Windows Phone (which I love, by the way.)

When others zig, maybe it’s the right move to stop trying to catch them and to zag instead. (hint – that’s a tweetable!) Where do you fit? That is what positioning is all about, my lovelies!

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

The myth of the brand facade

Posted on by Red Slice

Flying back from the Midwest this holiday season, we had some customer service issues with American Airlines.  Snarky flight attendants, a ridiculously understaffed gate (one poor soul checking in 3 flights – and re-routing passengers from a cancelled flight – but, wow, she was quite a trooper) Yes, they are going through Chapter 11, yes, the  industry in general is taking a beating, and yes, 98% of their competitors are not much better.

Makes it so easy for someone like Virgin America to come along and differentiate. When the bar is set so low by so many, it’s not hard to raise it even an inch.

I find it interesting to note that nowhere on American’s site can you find a statement of their philsopphy or what they stand for – not even in their About Us section. They just list a bunch of things they do. What the heck do the employees have to rally around? But it’s easy to find purpose and mission on Virgin America’s site….hmmmmm.

I started thinking about all the brand messages we see from airlines -and financial services institutions. These companies spend millions telling us they care about customers, they care about you as a person, their employees are committed, caring and sharp dressers.

Why do they bother?

We all know when we pull back the brand facade, we’ll experience delays, poor service, long telephone hold times and endless bureaucracy. Wells Fargo is our bank with whom we had our previous mortgage. When they declined to refiannce us (with excellent credit history, mind you) after a botched and complicated application process where the left hand did not know what the right was doing, we went elsewhere. Then we started getting marketing letters in the mail offering us a great – and easy – refinance process with them. WTF?!

When American Airlines shows TV commercials of smiling, calm people breezing on to the plane as if they were entering a spa, we know the reality is poor communication, delays, crowded gates and crying babies.

I’ve often called this ‘putting a coat of brand paint” on top of a flawed product/service/company. Do they really think we’re going to believe? Does the CEO really understand what it’s like to a be a frustrated customer? I don’t think so, or they would never spend million-dollar plus line items on something everyone knows is not reality. The emperor has no clothes, so why are you spending so much to tell us otherwise? Wouldn’t that money be better spent on actually delivering that level of service to begin with?

In your industry, such shenanigans offer a prime opportunity to step up and make a promise you can actually keep – that alone will differentiate you. Southwest Airlines does it by promising low prices and no bag fees (and a downhome, even funny, customer service persona) – and they deliver. Virgin America promises to make flying fun again – and everything from their calm and friendly staff to the  personalized in-flight entertainment system to funny safety video delivers.

Ally Bank has tried to make you think they are the quirky bank that is on your side. Their TV commercials are pretty funny. Now, I have no direct customer experience with them, so I’m not sure if they deliver. But did you know that Ally is simply GMAC, rebranded?

Some of my most interesting clients have been in what could be seen as unglamourous but as I said, when the bar is set so low to begin with, the opportunity to raise it up is huge. Wish these airline and bank CEO’s could open their eyes and see that. Maybe then they wouldn’t be filing for Chapter 11 but actually delivering on what they promise in their TV commercials.

Wow. What a concept.

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

How to solve marketing’s moral dilemma

Posted on by Red Slice

I’m having a moral crisis right now about my chosen profession.

Reports are everywhere about how our current global economic crisis has impacted the way consumers spend/save money. Given the scares we’ve had with a volatile stock market, the collapse of the housing market and troubles overseas, consumers are now consuming less, saving more and paying off their debts.

That should be awesome, right? Well….

Like it or not, our economy’s health runs on consumerism: on spending and borrowing. When people start acting the way they should – meaning saving and living within their means – this causes a glitch in the Matrix.

The WSJ cites: “During the Great Depression, economist John Maynard Keynes warned of a so-called paradox of thrift: When everyone turns frugal, everyone suffers.” Why? Because there is less money changing hands, less demand for products and services and more people – and companies – hoarding cash. This leads to things like retailers not selling inventory, which means they lay off workers, and in turn stop ordering more from their suppliers, which leads to more of those companies going out of business and more layoffs, which leads to now-unemployed people defaulting on mortgages or not buying homes at all, which leads to the construction industry screeching to a halt and people not being able to sell their own homes fast enough…..etc, etc, ad nauseum. Note: I am not an economist but this is how I interpret things. I’m not even going to touch how this impacts financial markets, stock sales, Treasury bills, and the like.

So what is my moral dilemma?

I have chosen a profession – marketing – that, by it’s definition, is all about bringing products and services to market and convincing people and businesses to buy them.

For someone who gets so fed up with our culture of consumerisn, for how much we place on material possessions; for someone who hates the idea of people spending frivolously on things they can’t afford when that money could be used for so much good in the world for people, animals or the environment, you would think I would be thrilled that more people are saving and being smart with money.

And I am. Truly. I think we all needed a wake-up call. When mortgage brokers tried to convince me and my husband to get a house with no money down back in 2007, we briefly considered it and then thought those people were smoking crack. We decided we’d rather get a traditional loan with less risk and no surprises. And while our house is worth less than what we paid for it, thankfully our mortgage is not completely underwater.

So what is a marketer to do, when she’s happy people are saving money,paying down debt and spending more wisely? How can I continue to be a part of the machine that makes people spend money they don’t have on things they don’t need?

Then I thought about it some more. My branding philosophy is all about meeting needs and adding value. It’s not about lying to people, or targeting those who can’t afford a high-end product to go into debt to afford it. My advice is about meeting real needs that people have, not creating ones they don’t.  It’s about making their lives better or their jobs easier or their customers happy. It’s about being crystal clear on who your target audience is and if they can afford  – and benefit from – your products or services: if they can’t, you should not be talking to them or marketing to them. And if you can’t benefit anyone, you should not have a business.

I realized my philosophy is about puting more “honest” marketing out into the world. We can’t deny we live in an economy based around consumption. I can’t change that or make us go back to an agrarian society. But I can help clients be authentic, transparent and honest about the value they offer and to whom they offer it. I can try to convince that coach who wants to bill out at $400 an hour that maybe they shouldn’t spend their marketing dollars at events attracting people who only make $30,000 per year. If you want to sell $400,000 cars, then that is your right – as long as you market them to the people who can afford them and not low-income families. And if you meet a need for a fair, reasonable price to attract the budget-conscious, then fabulous: the point is to meet the needs of the right people with the right message.

Maybe, just maybe, if businesses were more responsible with who they target with their messages, we’d not only have less noise in the chaotic media landscape, but more people could get their needs met within their means and continue saving and paying down their debts where appropriate. And maybe, just maybe, the economic sky won’t have to fall just because people are finally acting responsibly with their money.

A girl can dream, can’t she?

Photo credit: executivecoachingforbusinesssuccess.com

What is your view of the economy? How do you think the culture of consumption has helped or hindered us? Are marketers to blame or not? I’d love your thoughts on this controversial topic below – share a comment and get some link love back to your site. And keep it respectful, folks! Thanks.

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

How to ruin customer loyalty

Posted on by Red Slice

It’s amazing how just two little words, said sincerely, can make or break your customer’s brand impressions.

Recently, my husband and I went through a horrific experience with a financial planner. This person has always been so good to us over the years and we trusted him implicity. In the last two years, however, he made a ton of moves from one place to another. The explanations were sound so with each move, while we were unsure about moving our retirement money around so much, we stuck with him. He’d built up so much good brand equity with us that we had a lot of  trust in him.

The last move he made was to Valic Financial.  He carefully explained to us all the reasons why this move was going to be beneficial and he even acknowledged all the turmoil we’d been through but wanted us to know “how much our loyalty meant to him” and that he’d love it if we followed him there.  Worried, we asked, “With this new role, we might be very small fish in a big pond. Are you sure we’ll be worth your time and will get the attention we need?”

“Of course,” he said.

Based on his word, we filled out the paperwork and made the moves.

Then we found out two things: one, his Washington state license (he was based out of state) had expired so he was in the process of renewing it. Two, in the meantime, our accounts would be in his district manager’s name but he would be watching them.

That was when phone calls and emails stopped getting returned. 

We chalked this up to transition and to his move to more “institutional” accounts. It didn’t get really bad until we needed some info and to move some money around for our tax returns. And we just couldn’t get anyone on the phone. First we couldn’t get info on where to send the check and then we sent a check for my IRA and kept calling to get confirmation it was received, and all we got were messages that he’d “let us know when it came in.” He kept saying, “I’ll talk to the manager tomorrow to confirm” or “You’ll get an email from me…” Not once did we ever hear back when he’d promised we would.  Panic set in. I finally called the district manager’s office myself and found out from the Assistant that they never received the check. So I had to stop payment and issue a new one.  All of this without two little words from our planner or the district manager:

“I’m sorry.”

Achnowledgement of inconvenience and mistakes can go a long way, if your heart is in the right place. While we still wouldn’t have been happy with everything we’ve been through, we at least would have felt like they were trying to fix things.

Long story short, we finally decided the stress wasn’t worth it and we went with a new firm. And the transfer process hiccups have just confirmed we don’t want anything to do with Valic ever again 0 ur new firm can’t believe how we’re being treated and all the snafus that have occured. We still love everything our old planner did for us, and we’re not sure why his usually impeccable follow-up and responsiveness disappeared when he joined Valic, but given the behavior of the district manager, I’d say he’s entering a culture of unresponsiveness.

Two lessons here: one, if a client is not going to be right for you, don’t tell them that they will be and then disappoint them. Better to cut the ties and let them find what they need elsewhere. That is why understanding your ideal customer is so important. Two, when a client is constantly complaining and upset, don’t make them feel like they are in the wrong, or worse, ignore them. We were fully justified in this case, but even if we were not, saying “I’m sorry” and trying to fix the situation is a better brand strategy in the long run than completely ignoring the problem.

When has your customer loyalty been betrayed? What did you do about it? How have you turned around a dissatisfied customer for your own business?

Photo credit: Flickr blue_quartz

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

Reboot and Reframe: Branding lesson for life #5: LEARN WHEN TO SAY NO

Posted on by Red Slice

say_NODo you constantly say “yes” to all the wrong things, leaving you absolutely no time or energy when the right opportunities come along?

If you’re an entrepreneur and you can’t relate to this, I’d love to meet you.

We all worry about saying “no” to business, partnerships and even advertising opportunities. What if this is my one chance to attract a boatload of customers? What if this is the only client I get this quarter? That old adage, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” is definitely a truism…..sometimes.

If you constantly accept clients who don’t fit your ideal profile or the type of work you want to be doing, how can you free yourself up to attract a better, more profitable client for the long run? Understanding your brand in clear detail will help you determine if someone is a good fit. It will help you say no to marketing opportunities that seem seductive at first (“Wow! This event attracts 5000 women!”) but in reality, turn out to be a waste of time and money (“Oh, those 5000 women will never be the ones who will buy from me!”)

As I learned to adapt to my new reality post-brain injury, I couldn’t say yes to as much as I would have in the past. I had to be selective in which clients I accepted and how I spent my time. This meant turning down some work that, while intriguing and interesting, was not going to be a good fit for me. And you can do this in an elegant and tactful way. You can explain that you don’t have bandwidth right now with your current client load, or you can recommend another resource that might be a better fit for their needs.  With partners, you can gently say the opportunity looks fabulous but you think you might be going after different target markets. With an advertising opportunity – well, this is business after all, and you can simply say, “We don’t see this as a valuable way to spend out money, but thank you for thinking of us.”

Remember, your clients and partners say something about your brand. They are your advertising.

By focusing on what you want, what you’re good at and what you can realistically deliver, people will appreciate your honesty more than they’ll appreciate you not having the time or mental energy to properly serve their needs.

View the juicy video for Lesson #5  here.

How do you determine which work to take on and which to pass up? Any tips or fun stories about times you have turned down opportunities?

BACKSTORY TO THE SEVEN LESSONS: What do recovering from a  brain aneurysm and branding have in common? Quite a bit, it turns out. Recently, I got the wonderful opportunity to share my dramatic story at a Women Business Owners luncheon and I promised I’d post the lessons here for everyone. This is a seven-post series.

Lesson #1: Focus (and backstory to the series)

Lesson #2: Be Authentic

Lesson #3: Count on Your Tribe

Lesson #4: Practice Patience

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

Reboot and Reframe: Branding lesson for life #3: COUNT ON YOUR TRIBE

Posted on by Red Slice

Just like a personal reputation, a brand relies on how its perceived by others in order to determine success or failure. That loyalty will boost a brand exponentially, increase word of mouth and save the company’s butt in times of crisis. When you build up enough strong brand equity with your loyal fan base, they are more willing to forgive when you make mistakes. Look how Jet Blue recovered when they had some massive delay issues due to winter storms a few years ago: they had built up so much goodwill that their “brand bank account” could take the hit.

If you are consistent and authentic with your brand, you can rely on others to evangelize for you and stand by you when the chips are down.

As an entrepreneur, you also need to rely on others to build a strong business. I don’t care if you are a solopreneur: you can’t do it alone. You need legal advice, marketing expertise, accounting skills. It doesn’t make sense to try to master it all when you cannot. We all have skills gaps and it’s the smart entrepreneur who knows when to seek out the right help to go further than he/she could alone.

In this lesson, I talk about how my “tribe” was an essential part of my recovery from a freak brain aneurysm. Even an independent gal like me had to learn to ask for help, accept support and rely on others if I was ever going to get back on my feet again. It’s true in business – and it’s true in life: no one is an island.

Watch the juicy video for Lesson #3 here.

Where do you seek outside expertise and objectivity in your business? Can you let go enough to really allow it to take off?

BACKSTORY TO THE SEVEN LESSONS: What do recovering from a  brain aneurysm and branding have in common? Quite a bit, it turns out. Recently, I got the wonderful opportunity to share my dramatic story at a Women Business Owners luncheon and I promised I’d post the lessons here for everyone. This is a seven-post series.

Lesson #1: Focus (and backstory to the series)

Lesson #2: Be Authentic

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

Reboot and reframe: Branding lesson for life #1: FOCUS

Posted on by Red Slice

What do recovering from a  brain aneurysm and branding have in common? Quite a bit, it turns out. Recently, I got the wonderful opportunity to share my dramatic story at a Women Business Owners luncheon and I promised I’d post the lessons here for everyone. This will be a seven-post series.

In 2008, at the age of 35 and shortly after starting my own business, I was struck down by a ruptured brain aneurysm. Miraculously, my husband was home that day and got the ambulance there in a hurry. Doctors found the bleeding and stopped it just in time. After spending 6 weeks in the hospital and many more months in recovery, I was able to get back on my feet, back to my business and to “reboot” my life. 

But there have been challenges along the way. I still have some issues and I had to adapt the way I live and work. I ironically started to see that some of the lessons I teach my branding clients are the same ones that got me through recovery, rehab, and many of the psychological and cognitive effects I faced.

I am also working on a book about this amazing journey and how it reframed not only how I approach my life, but my work, my business and my relationships.  All good stuff for us busy, crazed and stressed-out business owners out there!

With humor and insight, here is my first lesson that applies to both overcoming adversity and building an irresistible business: FOCUS. (View the video here.)

How can you apply this lesson to your business? Who is your ideal customer?