Brand ain’t digital

Posted on 2016/01/23 by Jerry Fletcher

“…when in danger, when in doubt, run in circles scream and shout,” Bubba was saying as I joined the lunch bunch.

I didn’t have to ask.

He went on, “There’s a lot of folks runnin’ around in circles out there ‘bout branding in a digital world. They keep on worryin’ about how to be proactive with their new techie tribe. The way they carry on you would think there were never challenges to maintaining a brand before!”

Gail asked, “What are they afraid of Rob?”

“They don’t know what they don’t know. Their whole world is wrapped up in a perceived digital dialogue.

Brand ain’t digital!

Brand is the relationship an individual has with a product or service. The sum of all the relationships of all those folks is the brand. That takes into account that some folks don’t have a clue as to who you are, and what you do, and could care less right up to somebody who believes y’all are the breath of life.

Digital doesn’t change that. Brand is still all about establishing trusting relationships. The digerati are just becoming aware of how fragile brand can be.

Everything you do, every communication you have with a client or prospect impacts their viewpoint about your brand. Regardless of where they are in the buying cycle the relationship is ultimately based on trust.

If’n you’re looking for a simple way to put it—Trust is not about words it’s about actions. So is brand. What you do is always more important then what you say. Theah’s some big words that supposedly are the foundation. Credibility is at the heart of it surrounded by authenticity, integrity and consistency.

But for a simple southern boy like me I put it this way:

First I got to believe you. Don’t make no never mind if I’m buyin’, just kickin tires or just tripped and slud into your web site.
Second, you got to be real. Don’t go makin’ promises you can’t keep. I know perfection is a mighty good thing to aim for but my target may not be what y’all are aimin’ at.
Be honest. Don’t get wrapped around an axle tryin’ to be somethin’ for everybody. There’s gotta be some slack and most folks will give you a little credit, specially if you tell the truth.
Stay constant. When you start fiddlin’ with trying to satisfy the whole world you’re gonna run into a problem. Like my Granny used to say…ain’t no way you can love everybody and you can’t expect them all to be friends with you. Best you can hope for is that most of them trust you. Do your darndest to get to that.”

The Takeaway:

Brand is a matter of trust. Getting to trust means I have to believe in you, your product or service. Maintaining that trust requires you and all who represent you to be real, honest and constant. Keep your promises.

Jerry Fletcher’s blog recaps conversations with clients, prospects and the unruly mob of business development professionals he consorts with. They discuss marketing that works from solopreneur to enterprise level. Jerry Fletcher is the ringleader and “Watson” of the dialogue. Sign up for the blog and other publications at: www.JerryFletcher.com/Profit.html

Jerry has been researching and implementing small business marketing that builds businesses, careers and lives of joy for 25 years as President of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. Learn more at www.JerryFletcher.com

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

The Gift of Memory

Posted on 2016/01/09 by Jerry Fletcher

Welcome back! It is good to see all of you again. How were the holidays?

Gail said, “We had a wonderful time. My son managed to get back for a few days and his kids connected at our place so it was quiet but filled with warm memories.”

Chris jumped in saying, “I finally had some time to work on my house and I’m now ready for the new year.”

Rob said, I ‘member how the holidays were such a big thing at home when I was growing up and how y’all just kicked back and got into Granny’s pies and the gatherings with cousins and aunts and uncles and everybody. Wasn’t so much that way this year. Getting everybody to fly back home gets harder and harder.”

“I know what you mean,” I said. “My daughter and her husband came for Thanksgiving but for Christmas they took their annual sunshine vacation and went diving in Central America.”

“We went to Phoenix’” said Kate, “and I only made two sales calls.”

“New York for us,” put in Rick our Direct marketing master.

“I got back to work with a bang. A client who will remain nameless was having a heck of a time uploading some videos we had put together for her blog and other purposes. I was so frustrated by trying to solve the problem via telephone that I made a house call. She’s a Mac user and does everything from her desktop, doesn’t use the filing system on the computer and doesn’t know how to access it.”

I suggested to her that she should learn how to access the filing system and keep everything there. She told me she wouldn’t be able to find it if she did. The simple answer I gave her was to date every file to take advantage of how the computer reads file names. It reads from left to right, numbers first then alphabetical. So to be able to find a file I date it with 2 digits for the year, 2 for the month and two for the day. So the file for this blog will be 160109 Gift of Memory. The visual will be 160109 Gift of Memory Visual. I can always find a file if I know when I was working on it.”

Rick, our Digital Director said, “You know that the computer puts a date and time stamp on each time you open a file, right?”

“Yup, but it doesn’t keep the original date just the most recent time the file was modified, I replied.

Kate said, “Knowing that saved me a bundle of time in organizing my files. For years I kept them based on the kind of program like Power Point and Word with no client information except in the titles. Had to hire an intern to sort everything out by client. That made one heck of a difference. Now I can find stuff. I’m still figuring out how to find my desk.”

Laughing, Rick said, One of the most difficult lessons I learned early on was that you need to not only put dates on things but you also need to organize by client and project. When we opened we had no idea of how to keep track of things so we just had one list of project numbers. Client A Project 1 would get a number and then Client B’s project would get the next number and so on. Imagine what it was like trying to find anything in the real world much less on a computer. The way we solved it was to designate each client with a three letter code, each project with a number that was assigned serially that included the year and a letter for each version. You wind up with a file name like ABC 16-001 A. Works like a charm.

“You just made my day,” said Chris. “We’re at the point where we have so many projects we’re having difficulty keeping track of them. We can put that in place right now and I can put the new intern to work sorting out last year’s stuff that we may want to access for this year.”

Gail cleared her throat and said, I’m old fashioned. I like paper. I used to have a tough time finding my desk, too. Then I discovered colored file folders. You can get them in a bunch of colors. The key is to designate a color for each major part of your business. Like you guys I speak and consult so I color code this way:

Outreach Purple

Speaking Green

Travel Blue

Business
Development Yellow

Prospect Orange

Client Red

Personal Blue Green

Use your own code to make it work for you.”

Kate said, “Now I have to stop at Office Depot!”

“And don’t forget to put a CRM system in place in your business,” I said. That will save you more time than you can imagine. You simply can’t maintain good files without it…there is a reasonably priced system that will work for you. As you know, I recommend integrated systems so you have the capability to use digital marketing.”

Rick injected, “And it is good idea to make sure you can sync all your devices. That, and the security it provides is a good reason to look into Office 365 from Microsoft even if you use Apple products.”

I replied, “Good addition. That will also get you more cloud storage than you can imagine for a small consultancy and new capabilities to connect with others on your team and clients.

Bubba, our Buddha of Brand clapped his chubby hands drawing everyone’s attention. He said, “Y’all are talkin’ about all this inside stuff. H.G. Wells understood that is only part of your business. What he said was:

We all have our Time Machines. Some take us back, they’re called memories. Some take us forward, they’re called dreams.

Don’t forget about branding. Build on the memory of your brand. Make your dream memorable in 2016.

The Takeaway: The better organized you are the easier it is going to be to serve clients with imagination and innovation to make your brand memorable. Always find a way to be able to recover documents, graphics, presentations, etc. a year or two from now.

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

Delving Into The Dark Side

Posted on 2015/12/19 by Jerry Fletcher

“Human beings are built that way” Rob drawled. “They can be lured to the dark side so easily. ‘Course it doesn’t hurt if he thinks the sun comes up just to hear him crow.”

Once again, our brand guru fueled on grits turned my mind around before I sat down.

Rob, I said, “What are you talking about? I know the new Start Wars opened last night but somehow I think it is something else you’re trying to convey.”

“Fletch,” he said, that string of movies always has a fair amount of concern about the dark side so naturally I was talking to Rick about how that gets used in his direct marketing business and that led to politics and, well, that’s when you came in.”

“Okay,” I replied, “so the roadmap here is dark side to direct marketing to politics. Is that right”

Rick piped up and said, “That’s the short and not so sweet of it. Basically he’s saying that the way folk’s minds work it is really easy to get to them with the dark side not to mention that he thinks folks like Chris and I are experts at using photos and copy to exert an outrageous influence over most prospects.”

Kate, ever the pragmatic sales expert cleared her throat. Everyone swung to look at her.

She sniffed and said, “Don’t you all know by now when he’s about to spring one of those tar baby stories on you? He’ll lead you right down the primrose path and then snicker when he gets you to fling him into the briar patch. Don’t you know that’s where he grew up? He understands Brand because he has more than a nodding acquaintance with the dark side.”

You could hear the clock on the wall behind Gail ticking it got so quiet.

Gail, our writer/editor/campaign builder said, “Could you spell that out a little more for me?”

“Sure,” Kate said. “Name an iconic brand. I’ll bet you come up with Apple and Starbucks and maybe Google and a handful of others. Can you tell me one that set out to be an icon? Can you tell me one that had a mission statement that set them apart?CAn you tell me one that doesn’t have some contribution from the dark side?”

Rob said, “She’s right. All of them fell into it. In fact the iconic Apple commercial that ran in the 1984 Super Bowl had a suit filed against it by the estate of George Orwell. The commercial is considered to be one of the best of all time but it nearly did not get aired. The board of Apple wanted to kill it. Fortunately, that was a case of the dark side not winning. The agency defied a direct order to sell the time that had been purchased in the Super Bowl. They drug their feet long enough that the only thing left to do was run the commercial. That commercial got flung in the briar patch but still got aired.

Some people claim that Apple was introduced with the line “Think Different. Not so. The Think Different campaign came years later. That was in 1998. Originally, Steve Jobs was to be the voice over on the commercial but he felt people might believe he was an egomaniac. Right.

The dark side is always with us. It is a part of every brand. Theah’s a Chinese symbol that really makes it clear. Everything has positive and negative aspects. At the core of both the light and dark sides is dot of life spun up in the ongoing battle which describes the reality of any idea or company or organization. It is messy. There is always a dark side. It can be the basis of the brand or its downfall.

You can’t go all the way to the dark side or the light. Too much of either and you will crash and burn. The power is in adhering to the key precepts and acknowledging what got you here.

The Takeaway:

Brand is being perceived for a few key precepts by yourself, your employees, your customers and the general public. Brand is developed by those knowing full well that nothing is perfect and that there is always a dark side.

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

Prisoner of Expectations

Posted on 2015/11/14 by Jerry Fletcher

“I was listening as a client spoke about Succession Planning. Somewhere along the way he used the phrase Prisoner of Expectations and my mind went chasing that idea through the myriad of myths people have about all things marketing.”

Rick said, You mean like thinking that brand is more important than sales, right?”

“You’re right my direct marketing friend,” I responded. “That assumption is at the heart of so many expectations that people have of their marketing that are so wrong! Brand is something you have to allow to happen instead of trying to control it.

That’s why it is nearly impossible to put a number on it.

Rob, our southern-fried band guru arrived and jumped right in saying, “But you can measure it. You have to spend the money to learn the basic level of awareness and preference as well as sales to satisfy Rick and repeat to really nail it down.”

Jim, the lunch guest who had triggered my maunderings asked, “Can you explain that?”

Rob, who all of us call Bubba turned on his Georgia charm and said, “You betcha. Research folks believe you can figure out how powerful a brand y’all have by showing people your logo along with the competitions. Tha’s why lots of folks think a logo is a brand. Taint.

“The measures you can get that way break down like this:” he said indicating his points with raised fingers:

Awareness—that’s the percentage of folks asked that can identify your “brand” and what it is all about from nothin’ more than your logotype.
Preference—what share of the folks that can identify you and your competitors say they pick you first in a buying situation.
Acquisition—that’s when it gets harder ‘cause you’re dealin’ with actual sales versus the competition but if you keep good records even ‘little guys’ can use this measure.
Satisfaction comes next. Most marketer don’t want to admit that not everyone likes their product or service even when they buy and use it.
Repeat— Another way to figure out where you really stand is lots easier in today’s on-line purchase world if you’re price, delivery included, is still the best easily available.
Referral—is the final measure in reality. Y’all can get an idea about this by asking everyone that considers your product or service who told them about you.

Gail, the veteran advertising copy writer said, “If you run ads in national and sometimes regional magazines you can sometimes get Bubba’s first two from readership studies they do. B2B and B2C are pretty much the same except lower prices mean faster answers and acquisition is replaced with trial but it is pretty much the same game.”

“And,” I said, “the rule of thumb I learned long ago and far away is that the percentage drops by 20% each step of the way. In other words if 100 folks were aware than only 80 would Prefer my brand and then only 64 would actually buy. Of those, 51 would be satisfied 41 would buy again and of those just 33 would refer me.”

“Don’t forget,” Bubba said, just about nobody ever gets 100% awareness. Best ever I saw was barely north of 90%.

The Takeaway:

You can measure brand but generally only when it becomes a regional or nationally known product or service. A high awareness score is terrific but Preference, Acquisition (sales), Satisfaction, Repeat and Referral are always lower than Awareness. Always.

For the little guy, the better measure is found in knowing how your sales stack up against repeat and referral which you can easily develop from your B2B sales records

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

Customer DisService

Posted on 2015/11/07 by Jerry Fletcher

“Look out,” Rick warned the others, “he’s on a rant.”

Gail, the calm presence that is the wordsmith in the group asked, “What is it this time?”

Kate looked over her glasses leaned in and said, “Every time he goes to the bank lately he comes out snarling and snarky. First it was the lines and then it was being asked for identification. Who knows what it was this time?”

Rob, last as usual, sat down and without asking looked at Fletch and asked, “So what’s the burr under your saddle today?”

“Customer DisService,” I said.

“Theahs a lot of that going around,” Rob allowed in his familiar southern drawl.

“I went to the bank just before coming to lunch and once again the line was 6 people deep and there was only one teller. Of course there were three managers discussing their coming weekend over in a cubicle. And when I finally got to the counter the teller asked me for identification even though I was making a deposit into my account with a pre-printed deposit slip and not taking cash! I commented that there was no way I could walk away from this transaction with any cash so the ID thing was ridiculous. Then she told me that tellers are now required by the bank to check the ID of people making cash deposits!

Banks are absolutely the worst in my view. The turnover since the old manager left this branch has been 100%. All the professionalism is gone. Folks my age talk about it in line. It is pretty bad when the bank doesn’t trust its own customers”

“So why don’t you change banks?” Chris asked.

“Because I hear it is just as bad everywhere else.”

“You have no idea,” said Chris. Friend of mine bought a soup deli franchise and now he’s working twice as many hours. Every time he thinks he’s got the staff and shift leaders nailed down one of them just doesn’t show up so he has to fill in. He tells me it happens all the time. Makes me sure I don’t want to have employees if I go back to running my own business.”

Rick waved both hands in the air to get our attention and said, “My experience last week gets the prize.

I went to a national department store and picked out a jacket and a couple shirts just for knocking around. I got in line at a checkout. There were only two people in front of me. 25 minutes later I was still waiting. Two other business men behind me had dumped selections on the counter and said they couldn’t wait around for the clerk. In that 25 minutes only one other clerk had come to help. Finally, a young lady said she could help the next in line. As I passed the counter I muttered that it was about damn time. The original clerk started berating me. You know I’m a mild mannered guy but he really ticked me off. I dropped the coat and shirts on the counter and told him my comments were made for obvious reasons and that his ineptitude had resulted in over $1000 in sales being lost by the store.

I went back to the office and wrote a letter to the President of the company. A few days later, the President called me. No, I would not tell him the name of the employee and no I didn’t want anything other than to let him know he had a problem out here in the hinterlands. If the clerk had simply acknowledged the people in line and stopped using the sell them a credit card script and doing everything by the book, the sales would not have been lost.

Today, I got call from the store manager. After we got through the fact that I would not name the individual we had a conversation about what the store manager’s job is like. It is the same as Chris was talking about. Employees seem to have no sense of their importance in how customers see the company. They just aren’t trained to think about service. Instead they are given scripts and told they must do things one way regardless of the situation. That’s not his choice. It is a corporate mandate“

Bubba, the branding Guru cleared his throat and said, “Now y’all know why it is so hard to keep a positive brand differential. The more locations and the more people you have the more chances there are for Customer Dis Service to happen especially if you push employees to do everything by the book.”

The Takeaway:

Service perceived as good is a matter of trust. Banks apparently don’t trust customers. Corporations obviously lack trust in employees ability to think and adapt to the situation.

DisService might be cured in your organization by getting to trust with customers, staff and yourself.

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

With Two You Get Trust

Posted on 2015/10/17 by Jerry Fletcher

“Our clients forget too quickly that they can’t do it alone,” I said as Gail and Rick pulled up chairs.

“Do what?” asked Rick.

Success is built on trust and you must dance to the same music as the customer. Learn more at www.jerryFletcher.com

“Get to Trust,” I responded. “Just like It takes two to Tango or Salsa or whatever dance the stars are doing it takes two to get to Trust.”

Gail coaxed, “And this is important because….”

I’ve said it before, “Who you know is important and what you know makes a difference but the single most important thing to be successful in business is who trusts you.”

“So what you’re saying is that to sell anything you have to get to trust, and if you don’t, you won’t,” said Rick.

“Right, “I replied. I’m a little frustrated by a business to business client that is bouncing all over the place, full of piling up lists of features and benefits and unwilling to let me talk to some prospects to understand their wants and needs and desires or let me get a handle on their objections.

“Is he afraid they might not like his product or service?” asked Gail.

Rick suggested, “He could be so in love with this thing he’s developed that he can’t see the forest for the trees. I’ve seen that happen so many times in high tech that I expect it now.”

“So,” I said, “How do you guys get around it?

“Some times you have to do it the hard way,” Gail said. “I’ve warned clients that the path they are following will not, in my opinion, work and that they should change but if they are hard over on doing it I will give them the best copy I can based on that direction. Sometimes it gets them to change but very infrequently.”

“I tried that,” Rick agreed. But I try to make it the last resort because it can get very expensive in Direct Marketing. One thing I’ve found is that I can push them pretty hard in list selection. Because of the expansion of selects we can go deeper into prospects habits and media usage and a host of other factors. What I find is that they really don’t know their prospects all that well so we push them into doing some simple testing that reveals where the best product fit is.

“Brilliant,” Gail burst out, “That is sort of what I did once. I got them to have the prospect respond by phone and had the client and I actually take some of the calls. Talk about change an opinion in a heartbeat!”

“So what you’re saying is the first step is to get the client into a conversation with the prospect or customer so they are talking with them rather than at them.

They agreed, saying it was only the first step but perhaps the most important.

The Takeaway:

In today’s world to get to trust you need to listen to your customers. That means in person and on line. After all, that is what your prospects are doing.

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

The Silver Bullet App

Posted on 2015/10/10 by Jerry Fletcher

“Brand can be your Killer App,” said Bubba as I arrived.

I asked, ‘Who’s the vampire?”

Our southern born brand sculptor replied, “The fact is that brand can overcome all sorts of problems. When it is done right it can:

Differentiate your product or service
Get you a premium price
Extend the life of your product or service

“But,” Rick interjected, “it can also be like a target on your back if something goes wrong. Because I help people sell direct I’ve seen negative reactions happen a lot faster than with products that go through distribution channels.”

Kate, nodding her assent, dreads shaking added, “But it’s not just small companies that get shot at. Nike caught it for offshore manufacturing and look at VW. I’ve got friends that were driving Volkswagen diesel fueled cars that were taking tax deductions based on faulty information. A couple of them are ready to sue…”

Bubba chimed in, “It all comes down to one simple idea:

Brand is a form of Trust. You earn it.

And in today’s world you’re under a great deal more scrutiny than ever before. Brands have always been established by folks talkin’ to one another but today what used to take weeks or months can happen in seconds. Social media is now the real gating factor for brand.”

I asked, “You think that is true for Business to Business products and services as well as Consumer goods, Rob?”

“Theahs a difference,” he said, “but it’s mostly in terms of speed. You don’t get Twitter flash crowds if you’re selling industrial products usually, but they still get reviewed and those reviews tend to hang around a lot longer. So it takes a while for negative user reactions to kick in but they last longer than a coon’s age.”

Chris, our digital director, put down his glass and said, “So you believe the world has changed due to the internet and now impacts how brand gets built. Is that correct?”

“Sho nuff,” said Rob. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I wanted to be sure and I’m curious as to how you see it impacting what you do for a living.”

Rob replied, “Used to was you could build a brand based on a made up story, a logo and a few happy customers. No more. Now the story has to be true. Folks will look hard at what you’re saying and tattle if it isn’t. Before, you could make a mistake or two and just keep on keepin’ on but now social media reports the transgression in creative ways—did you ever see the song on You Tube the fellow did when United trashed his guitar? www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo Last time I looked at it the video had over 15 Million views and apparently he has a speaking career because of it. Your product or service has to deliver, as promised.

Everyone in your company has to provide the level of service you claim to have and understand that there is a new partnership in brand building: you, your employees and your customers. Y’all gotta be singin’ from the same hymn book and on the same page!”

The Takeaway:

Brand is about Trust…between you, your employees and your customers. Trust for your product or service is earned and your brand is more influenced by customers than ever before.

Jerry Fletcher’s blog recaps conversations with clients, prospects and the unruly mob of business development professionals he consorts with. They discuss marketing that works from solopreneur to enterprise level. Jerry Fletcher is the ringleader and “Watson” of the dialogue. Get all his publications at: www.JerryFletcher.com/Profit.html

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

It Ain’t All About Brand

Posted on 2015/09/19 by Jerry Fletcher

Kate looked like she was ready to blow a fuse. Normally, our sales strategist is as calm as a mountain lake at dawn. Today her dark brow was furrowed and her multi-hoop earrings sounded like castanets as she shook her head back and forth.

Bubba asked, “Wha’s stuck in your craw m’dear?”

“Don’t m’dear me,” Kate exploded.

Then, shamefaced she said, “I’m sorry I jumped you Bubba. You’re probably the one that can solve this conundrum.”

Rob, our branding Buddha perked up and responded, “How so?”

“I met with a prospect this morning. Let’s just say he was hard over on brand. When I told him how his untrained sales force was perceived he said it didn’t matter because his brand was so ‘in’ that nothing could stand in the way of success.”

Rick, who runs a world-class direct marketing operation sat down his drink and said, “Walk away.”

Kate shot a questioning look over her glasses.

“I mean just what I said,” he continued. “Don’t bother trying to change his mind. It doesn’t matter whether it is Brand or Sales or Margins or Promotions or something else. When an entrepreneur gets hung up on a single business element it is only a matter of time until that business is no more.”

Bubba blustered, “Mos’ folks think that brand is all about being a flamingo in a flock of pigeons. Believin’ you can control it is like a banty rooster thinkin’ the sun comes up to hear him crow! No way! No how! Brand is the sum total of all the interactions folks have with you or your product or service. You can’t let any part of the business fall behind and dependin’ on getting the business without having an up-to-scratch sales force is just dumb.

Too often folks hear all about the clever ideas and the thing that goes viral and they think that is all there is to it. That lasts about as long as a whiff in a whirlwind.”

“I’m with Bubba on this one,” I said. “The problem is that people think brand is logotypes and slug lines and clever ads but that stuff isn’t what sticks with customers and clients and prospects looking for your product or service.

A brand is deeper. It is capricious. It connects unpredictably. It is fickle. It bonds with one psyche yet not another. It is a capricious summary not a single statement. It is a total of random touches and not a trump card.”

Kate said, “I just figured out what to do. I’m going back at him and ask if he’d like to have lunch with you guys and share his expertise.

The Takeaway:

It ain’t all about brand as a singular way to build a business. It is all about brand if you understand that it is the joint perception of everything you say and do.

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

Huggin’ and Chalkin’

Posted on 2015/09/05 by Jerry Fletcher

I arrived a little late and found our branding Guru in the middle of one of his southern fried soliloquys.

“So you see,” he said, “the answer is like my old friend Charlie would put it: You got to go to huggin’ and chalkin’ if y’all are gonna get anywhere in that situation.”

The others all looked just as confused as I felt so I asked, “huggin” and chalkin’ what does that mean?”

“Fletch,” he replied, “I was just talkin’ about solutions to the problem of getting a business from start-up to gettin’ profitable and how it was like my friend Charlie and his romantic intentions.”

“Okay,” I said, “I’ll bite. What’s the story Bubba?”

“We were talkin’ about that story you told last week about the company trying to get to a sustainable level of business and I allowed as how you don’t always have to go whole hog. It’s like my buddy Charlie’s approach to romance.

Charlie is a big ol’ boy He must be about 6 foot two barefoot and tips the scales somewhere about 220. He’s got rugged good looks, played a little football well enough to get a pro look. But he wasn’t interested in that so he took his degree and then went to law school. He’s practicin’ down in Atlanta these days.”

Kate asked, “Bubba what has all that got to do with building sales for a company?”

“Everything, Madame Sales consultant,” he said. “You see Charlie has a different viewpoint about women. As you might expect he is what is considered a very eligible bachelor. But he’s not into all those gals that are continually on diets. Evah hear of Plus size models? Charlie likes Rubenesque women. And his approach to them is what he calls huggin’ and chalkin.’

Just about like any woman, the ones he prefers like to be kissed all over but ever so often time doesn’t allow or other things come up or some distraction interferes so what he does is tell the lass that he’s goin’ to put a little mark on her where he had to leave off and come back to it later.”

There was a chorus of “What’s the point, Bubba?”

“Okay y’all, the point is he calls that Huggin’ and Chalkin’. It’s the same when you’re tryin’ to build a company on limited funds. You go as far as you can to build trusted relationships with the time and money you have making sure that anyone that becomes a customer knows you really care about them.

When you have more time or money or both you go back to huggin’ and bringing more folks to the party. But you never forget where you were. You put the current customers into a regular follow up process. You touch them regularly. You treat them with kindness, courtesy and make them feel loved. You find a way to be there for them. You can chalk all that up to building a brand and a business.”

The Takeaway
Building a business with limited resources can be done. You can reduce your acquisition actions but never eliminate them. Keep contacting your current customers regularly in order to retain them.

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

Content Schemes

Posted on 2015/08/15 by Jerry Fletcher

Chris our digital director type announced, “I need some help with a content problem.”

Gail, the writer/editor that joined in our luncheons asked, “What seems to be the difficulty?”

“Maybe you better introduce your guest and explain what you mean by content first,” I suggested.

“This is Jennifer, he said. “She’s a consultant who works with companies to bring them into the digital age and understand the benefits of business intelligence.

Jen, this is the lunch bunch: Jerry Fletcher is the one that got us all together and he does the blogs you’ve seen. Next to him on his left is Kate. She’s the most knowledgeable sales consultant I’ve ever met. Next to her is Rob. Do not be fooled by his syrupy southern drawl which is why we call him Bubba. He is the Buddha of branding in this group. Next to me here is Gail. She’s run ad agencies, radio stations and is our resident writer and editor. That empty seat next to you is usually filled by Rick who runs a world class direct marketing firm. There are some less frequent attendees but that is the usual group that comes together here each Friday.”

“So what do you mean by content?” I asked.

Jennifer said, “Like I told Chris, I believe I can be more successful if I do Content Marketing instead of the old fashioned pitching of products and services. The problem is I have to generate all this stuff and I’m not sure what will work and how to find the time to do it. I figure I have to do it well or not at all. Is there some sort of template or basic scheme that will work for me?”

Rick, who had arrived as she was explaining, said, “There’s a Roper Poll that says 80 percent of business decision-makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement. About 60 percent say that information they get from companies helps them make better decisions.”

“That may be true,” I said but let’s do a round robin for Jennifer and each come at it from our area of expertise. I’ll start. I think you need to a have a strategy that is written down, followed religiously and that you need to measure the results regularly”

Kate said, “You also need to be darn sure of who your customer is and how what you do can be differentiated. I mean in benefit terms but more importantly the outcome the buyer gets from you.”

“It is a pleasha to have such radiance at the table with us, Bubba drawled. Y’all need to remember that theahs a Brand piece of this pie to be considered, too. You might could change your brand if you’re not careful. Make sure your brand is in sync with the differentiation that Kate was talkin’ about. Think your way through possible problems and make sure all your content is aligned with the singular brand your customers and prospects are lookin’ to buy into.

Gail, shaking her head said, “Radiance at the table…you have no shame!”

Jennifer blushed.

Gail continued, “I was looking at this another way. In order to provide information in a form or multiple forms that communicates you have to define the targets in depth. Demographics. Psychographics, Anecdotes. You have to understand where, when, how and most importantly why they want to engage with you. And knowing those things never do anything once. If you write an article think about how to turn it into an audio presentation, a video, a slide show, an infographic…whatever way your target might like to get it.

“I guess it’s my turn,” said Rick. “Two things. First, I think you have to consider the channels you’re going to use to get the word out. I understand that time is a concern so do you have to minimize some social marketing or change your emphasis from say a blog to a newsletter or vice-versa? Second, even though you’re trying to get the prospect to move through the Know/ Like/ Trust cycle you still have to ask for the order. Include a direct call to action in everything you do.

The Takeaway:

Successful content strategies are documented. You need to decide:

How it fits into your business plan
Who you’re talking to and what they want to know
What impact it has on your brand and how to cope with that
Which channels you’re going to use to connect
When to tell them how you’re different and ask for the order

Jerry has been researching and implementing small business marketing that builds businesses, careers and lives of joy for 25 years as President of Z-axis Marketing, Inc. Learn more at www.JerryFletcher.com

Schedule a personal appearance. Jerry speaks internationally on Networking, Marketing and Contact Relationship Magic. www.NetworkingNinja.com

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