The 10 Building Blocks to a Becoming a Household Name

The 10 Building Blocks to a Becoming a Household Name by Kim Nishida

Do you struggle to attract and retain business? Do you yearn to be seen as an expert in the field? In an increasingly challenging market flooded with fierce competitors and extremely savvy consumers, learn how to develop a killer brand that will inspire you, attract loyal customers, and knock out the competition.

1. Identify your values: This is the most critical step and the one most often overlooked in business. Do some soul searching and get a crystal clear idea of what matters most to you as an individual and then as a company. Your values form the base of your company and should influence every decision, from what kind of toilet paper you buy to the business partners you seek.

2. Identify your mission: Once your values are identified, it’s time to write a mission statement. Ask, why does my company exist? What do we aim to do? Write it in simple language that a 12-year old can understand. Do a search on the internet for mission statements and use the most compelling ones as a template. This is the statement that should get you out of bed each morning and inspire you morning, noon, and night.

3. Identify your ideal client: Again, a critical step. Look at your mission and why your company exists at all and ask, “Whom do I serve?” The hard part is getting as specific as possible to the point of potentially turning off a lot of other people. Don’t worry. The biggest mistake you can make is trying to please everyone. This dilutes your service/product so much that you really don’t strike a nerve with anyone. No one will have a compelling enough reason to buy from you. By turning some people off, you attract others who will bond with you for life. And a final benefit to knowing the specifics of your ideal client is you then have a much better idea of where to look for them.

4. Create an emotional connection: Every potential customer wants to know one thing, “What’s in it for me?” In order to compel someone to pull out their money and buy, you need to connect them to you in an emotional way. How are you going to make their life better? What pain is your product or service going to eliminate? Watch some television and notice how the best commercials create an emotional atmosphere. Which commercials get your attention, which ones stick with you, and how do they get their message across?

5. Identify the benefits vs. the features: Know your product/services inside and out. But instead of just listing the features, describe them in terms of how the client will benefit. Remember, it’s all about creating that emotional connection with your ideal client and telling them how you can make their life better.

6. Create an experience: Why should consumers buy from you as opposed to any one of your competitors? What makes you unique? Successful companies are now in the business of creating experiences that enrich lives. Starbucks does not just sell coffee. From the music they play (and sell) to the comfortable furniture and inviting décor they offer, they create an atmosphere that people will pay for above and beyond a beverage in a cup.

7. Commit to a message: How do your values and mission tie into your image? Carefully look at what matters most to you and broadcast that to your ideal client. Once you are clear on your message, stand behind it and don’t waffle.

8. Enforce consistency: This also relates to your values and mission. Once you are clear about why you are in business, maintain your integrity, from the level of service you provide and your logo and printed materials to the way you follow-up with customers and the stamps you buy. Be conscious of every detail and match it to your values, your mission, and your message.

9. Have the courage to reinvent yourself: Even (or especially) if you have been in business for a long time, take the time to ask, who do we REALLY want to be? You might have created your business without being clear about your mission, or your mission might have changed. Or because the climate and the market constantly evolve, you might have hit the target five years ago, but have lost your edge since then. Be brave enough to ask if your current image is right. If not, this is the time to reconnect with your current mission.

10. Lastly, beware of following trends: If you want longevity, don’t fall prey to the seduction of the latest trend. Besides, if something is trendy, it’s probably already too late to jump on that bandwagon. Keep looking inward at what you stand for and forward at how your company will change lives. Build trust by showing you aren’t fickle or easily swayed by the flavor of the month.

Not enough clients for your small business? Kim Nishida, author of the innovative program Conception to Completion helps you realize your full potential. Pick-up your free Success Kit while supplies last at http://www.readytoevolve.com/

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Cultivating a Network

Cultivating a Network by Jeremy Duboys.

In order to grow your business, whether home or office based, you need to develop a network of contacts. Think of networking as planting and tending a garden. You are planting, growing and cultivating your contacts, and, as with a garden, this has to be a long term investment of your time. Eventually the harvest produced will be repeat orders, and increased business.

You should look for every chance to grow and strengthen your network of potential clients. There are many tools you can use to achieve maximum growth, but probably the most effective and indispensable tool is your business card. Make sure you always have a plentiful supply of clean, correct and professional business cards.

Would you try to dig a garden without a spade? Have your cards professionally produced and keep them crisp and clean. Business card holders are an ideal way to keep a stack of cards presentable. Any soiled or damaged cards should be discarded. Don’t keep a pile of damaged ones to give to less important prospects. You simply never know where your next best customer will come from, they are all of equal importance, and each should get a pristine and professional card (or two).

Take plenty of your business cards with you everywhere you go -- professional meetings, social gatherings, parties, weddings, funerals, even to the airport to collect Aunt Nelly. Beware though if you are only going to places where people know you already. If you are doing this then you are really only socialising and not networking. It is impossible to create a network without meeting new people. Networking will provide you with customers, potential customers and suppliers.

It is important to understand that networking is not primarily about making sales. Networking is about making, and keeping, contacts. Remember that rewards from networking are not short term. This is a long term project, which will offer fruit (in the form of increased business) for many years to come. Very often, it is the people referred to you by your initial contact who give the greatest reward.

Thinking the philosophy behind networking is beneficial. With long term networking, which will produce the best results, it is not a question of asking “What do I get out of it?” Your question should be “What can I do for you?” The outcome of the second question is often the answer to the first. The key to developing new contacts is to be helpful. Think of something which can be useful or offers assistance to your new potential customer. One of the golden rules is – never try to make a sale while networking, however tempting it may be.

It is helpful to have a networking plan, even if it is informal. Decide how many new contacts you would like to make in a month, then plan how you will do it. Will you enroll in a class? Join a church group perhaps?

Tending to your network of contacts is also important. You should always be thinking of what you can do for them. Perhaps follow up on your initial meeting with a handwritten note, asking for them to forward on to you their business details? This is the beginning of a business relationship. Some of the things you can do to make your selected networking partners feel special include -- clipping out and sending them relevant information from magazines and newspapers that you know will interest them. Ask their advice. Contacts like to be asked advice generally, it makes them feel that you trust their advice and value their comments. Don’t over use your contacts, and be careful to be diplomatic. Don’t talk in a derogatory way about your competitors. One of the key aims of building a network is to create trusting relationships.

So if you have green fingers in the garden, turn them to networking and grow your business the same way you grow and care for your garden. As with a garden, the benefits and rewards at harvest time can be huge.

http://www.business-cards.com is one of the leading business stationery websites on the internet today. For more business related articles please take a look at his journal at http://www.business-cards.com/business-cards-journal


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In Marketing, Enthusiasm Connects

In Marketing, Enthusiasm Connects by Marcia Yudkin

Two incidents in one week got me thinking about an ingredient in persuasion that we don't often hear about.

In the first incident, an accomplished copywriter asked for feedback on a letter he intended to send to members of the local Chamber of Commerce that he'd just joined. The letter was technically excellent. It contained all the ingredients that a sales letter should have, in the right proportions and in the right places - except for one. The letter came across as cold and mechanical. The tone was distant and impersonal. Inevitably, the reader would be conscious that the writer was trying to make a sale, not trying to help out new friends and by doing so, to make a sale.

In the second incident, a woman in my copywriting training program showed me an email she sent to an entrepreneur who was looking for a ghostwriter for a collection of spiritual stories. My trainee had no ghostwriting experience and had never been published. Without any nod toward the usual credentials someone might expect in a ghostwriter, my trainee's letter expounded on other reasons why she would be perfect for this assignment. She opened with a paragraph on the power of stories and created further rapport by mentioning involvements that would show how in tune she was with the spirit of the project.

From beginning to end, the second letter showed a sincere desire to connect with its audience. The entrepreneur wrote back that of all the responses she received, the one from my trainee "spoke to her heart." They arranged a meeting. This letter persuaded because it made a connection.

A third incident came to mind as I continued to ponder the element that the second letter had that the first letter lacked. Three or four years ago, a personal coach asked me to review his web site, and I told him that he had done a masterful job of coming across as different from all the other coaches whose sites I had looked at. His site breathed with uniqueness and life, as few web sites do. So when another coach or consultant asked how it would be possible to position himself as distinctive in such a crowded industry, I wanted to refer him to the site that had impressed me so much.

But when I went back to look, the site had changed. The wording now had a slick, remote veneer. Instead of sincere enthusiasm and confidence, the site projected a self-conscious and somewhat formulaic attempt to attract coaching customers. "Uh-oh," I said to myself. "He's been knocked off center. He's trying too hard. He's going for polish and professionalism instead of, rather than on top of, who he is and what he really does for his clients. Too bad!"

Unlike most of the other ingredients in persuasive copywriting, this one is pretty elusive. It has to do with presence and animation and a whole-hearted desire to connect with readers. Sometimes there's playfulness in it, and other times it's plain, straightforward earnestness personified. In either case, the voice has no fakery in it. The impact of this element resembles that of charisma, but here the connection occurs through words and without in-person contact.

I cannot prove that the full-blooded verbal magnetism I am writing about sells more products and services than lifeless or mechanical wordsmithing. But I know that it attracts ideal clients, and that it can enable someone who's new in business to outshine someone with many more years of experience. The way to get it into your writing is to communicate with a confident desire to connect. Before sending or posting your text, smooth away most of the rough edges. I also know that it's sometimes very easy to capture the right spirit, and other times it takes crumpling up a draft and trying again time after time after time.

When Ingredient X is there, I feel it. Customers eager for something real feel it, too. They read this kind of copy with interest and attention. And they respond.

Marcia Yudkin (marcia@yudkin.com) mentors copywriters and helps business owners communicate their unique essence to ideal customers. For more information on her copywriting training program, see http://www.yudkin.com/become.htm . Learn more about how she works with business owners here: http://www.yudkin.com/seminars.htm .

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