Chapter 3: The Four Principles of Customer Relationships That Pay

Marketing Plan Podcast_WEB BANNERWhy transaction hunting doesn’t work

In Chapter 3 of The Marketing Plan Podcast we will consider the main character of the story the customer.  Looking at most business models, we can see that the customer is a target. Something to be captured. Customers are often considered transactions to be acquired, trophies to be won. This is the essence of transaction hunting, but I think that’s running the wrong way.

The goal is an emotional bond between your brand and the customer, this transcends product and service. When you establish this bond, sales happen. And while the key to sustainability and growth is sales, creating a relationship does not come from sales tactics. I believe they arrive through four, simple relationship principles.

Principle 1: Understanding

Principle 2: Empathize with Action

Principle 3: Give Unconditionally

Principle 4: Safety

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Jay Ehret
Dean of Marketing Know-How
The Marketing Spot

 

Chapter 2 – Level 1 Branding: Four questions to discover your brand story

Do you consider yourself a bullet point business, or a brand with a story?

In Chapter 2 of The Marketing Plan Podcast, I will guide you through four, Level 1 Branding Questions that will drill down into the essence of your brand. If you are wanting to build your brand story, begin by answering the following questions:

1. What is your core ideology? (what you believe)
2. What are your core values? (timeless guiding principles)
3. What is your mission? (your purpose and reason for being)
4. What is your vision? (what you will become)

 

Below is a Level 1 Branding worksheet that will allow you to evaluate and apply your ideology, values, mission, and vision to begin building your brand story.

Download the worksheet: Level 1 Branding Questions
Tune in to Chapter 2 for complete guidance through the questions, along with examples of answers.

Download Level 1 Branding Questions

Download Level 1 Branding Questions

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Jay Ehret
Dean of Marketing Know-How
The Marketing Spot


 

 

What Great Brands Do

In a company built around a brand, it’s up to the business owner or CEO to understand the difference between the the business and the brand. There is none. That’s the big idea that underpins Denise Lee Yohn’s new book: What Great Brands Do.

What Great Brands Do Author Denise Lee Yohn

Branding is not a marketing function. It is a business function. According to Yohn, brand building cannot be delegated to the marketing department. Instead your brand must be “operationalized,” meaning, you use your brand as a guide and compass for all activities of your core business operations.

In this episode of Power to the Small Business, What Great Brands Do author Denise Lee Yohn discusses her new book and her seven brand-building principles. It is a book that will help you get a grip on how your brand and your business are connected. And Yohn asserts that if you make your brand your business, you can have both: a great brand and a great business. Press the play button on the player below and get started.


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Show Notes – What Great Brands Do

Brand: The central organizing idea of your business.

  • A brand is a bundle of values and attributes that define the value you deliver to people through doing business, that forms the basis of your company’s relationships with all your stakeholders.
  • Your brand is what your company does and how you do it.
  • Your brand is not what you say you are, it’s what you do.

Selected Podcast Quotes from Denise Lee Yohn

“Marketing and advertising only play a very small role in shaping brand perception.”

“Great brands don’t delineate between their brands and their businesses. They’re one and they same.”

“It takes an enlightened leader or team of people to realize that there is a lack of alignment between what they’re saying and what they’re doing and at the same time, have the aspiration to have a great brand.”

~ Denise Lee Yohn on Power to the Small Business

What Great Brands Do Show Links:

The Book: What Great Brands Do
The Tools: Branding Worksheets and Templates
On Twitter: Denise Lee Yohn
Denise on the Podcast: Marketers Roundtable Discussion of Current Issues

If you liked this podcast, you might also be interested in these episodes:

The Keys to Transformational Branding
Branding Lessons from the U.S. Marines
Small Business Branding Clinic

Hybrid Vigor and The Corridor of Opportunity

Topic: What I learned at the 140 Characters Conference NYC.

Podcast Episode #79 of the internet show about small business marketing


Last week I presented at the 140 Characters Conference, New York. My presentation was titled: Now is Your Brand? But this conference was more than just a speaking engagement, it was an incredible networking opportunity and a chance to learn about marketing. In this episode of Power to the Small Business, I share some interesting conversations I had, and my big take-aways.

Host: Jay Ehret – Chief Officer of Awesomeness at TheMarketingSpot.com
Length: 21 minutes

— SHOW NOTES AND LINKS —

Honking Just to be Honking:

The now tools of the internet convince us that we always have to be saying something…now! It’s like the guy laying on his horn in stop and go traffic. It has no effect other than “honking just to be honking.” When our Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook status updates are simply a bunch of links and unimportant events, we are honking just to be honking. Instead spend more time on the future of your brand.

“Now is not your brand, now is the future of your brand.”

Let Texas be Texas:

Allowing for differentiation – In the podcast I share a story about a conversation I had at the 140 Characters Conference networking event, where a conference goer suggested I tweet our Texas Governor to change the school paddling laws. My response shocked her, and I think it was a lesson in branding. Copying makes you homogenous and undifferentiated.
“Let New York be New York and let Texas be Texas.”

Hybrid Vigor:

Hybrid Vigor – Exchanging ideas with people not like you o create something totally new.

The 140 Characters Conference was an incredible networking opportunity to meet people from all walks of life from all the corners of the world. Different lifestyles, different value systems, new opportunities. Meeting new people and trying new things creates hybrid vigor and opens up a corridor of opportunity that did not previously exist.

Networking Instead of Marketing:

At the conference I met people from Luxembourg, Israel, Australia, Holland, Canada, and several states in the U.S. It was incredible networking. I think that’s also the real opportunity of social media; networking. Too many marketing experts present social media as a marketing tool, when it’s really more of a networking tool. Cody Heitschmidt called Twitter “The world’s coffee shop.” Try using social media to network with your customers rather than just market to them.

SHOW LINKS

Premium Webinar: How to Create, Write and Leverage a Blog
Registration Information: Jay Ehret’s Blogging Webinar
Webinar Discount Promotion Code: Power25

– 140 Characters Conference NYC
– Small Biz Survival blog by Becky McCray
– Becky McCray on Twitter
– Cody Heitschmidt on Twitter
– Annie Tran on Twitter

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Branding and the U.S. Marines

Topic: Branding

US Marines Brand Logo

Podcast Episode #73 of the internet show about small business marketing


The U.S. Marines is 235 years old and older than the country it defends. It’s more than just a brand of the United States Armed Forces, it’s a powerful brand. When you hear the words: The Few. The Proud. You know someone’s talking about the Marines. Thoughts, emotions and opinions begin to flood your mind. What makes the Marines one of America’s best brands?

In this episode of Power to the Small Business podcast, the former Chief Marketing Officer for the Marines joins host Jay Ehret to discuss the principals of branding and how the Marines maintain such a strong brand presence. Learn what went in to building the Marines brand and how they maintained brand relevance in the face of a pronounced demographic shift in their prospective recruits.

Guests:
Andrew Fortunato, Consultant at Executives in Action, Former Chief Marketing Officer at U.S. Marines

Jay Ehret The Marketing Spot (Podcast Host)
Length: 28 minutes

Email subscribers and feed readers – If you don’t see the player, click here to listen to Power to the Small Business
You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Power to the Small Business #73 (for personal use only)


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SHOW NOTES

Best Branding Practices

  • Be laser-focused on your value proposition
  • Being true to who you are
  • Sell the intangibles
  • Use a simple tagline that says a lot in just a few words
  • Adapt to demographics shifts, but maintain your value proposition
  • Don’t bow down to pop culture.

SELECTED QUOTES FROM ANDREW FORTUNATO

On the strength of the Marines brand:

“What makes the Marines a fabulous brand is that it truly knows what it is and what it represents, and what it’s value proposition is to the American people, to its prospects, and to the nation overall.”

On the fundamentals of branding:

“The key to any brand position is knowing who you are, what you represent, and being true to that all the time. That’s the key to branding for any organization.”

On what makes a true brand:

“A brand has to be absolutely credible. It’s not something that can be contrived. It’s not something that can be made up.”

Show Links

– Andrew Fortunato on LinkedIn
Premium Webinar: RISE TO THE TOP: Local SEO and Google Analytics
– Free Recorded Branding Webinar: Branding U – Revive, Refresh, Revitalize Your Brand

Small Business Branding Clinic

The Internet Show About Small Business Marketing

Podcast Episode #67: Jay Ehret describes how to build a brand.


Building a brand is the most important marketing function of a small business. Brands are psychological, emotional relationships between businesses and customers. A business with a strong brand has a distinct advantage over their competitors.

In this episode of Power to the Small Business, marketing consultant and podcast host Jay Ehret delivers a mini Branding Clinic for entrepreneurs. Using a brand-building checklist, Jay describes how you can build a brand for your business.  Brands help customers make choices by singling businesses out of a competitive industry landscape. Learn what a brand is, and the nine things you need to build a brand for your business..

Guest: Jay Ehret – Marketing Consultant, Waco, Texas
Length: 19 minutes

Email subscribers and feed readers – If you don’t see the player, click here to listen to Power to the Small Business

You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Power to the Small Business #67 (for personal use only)

iTunes

SHOW NOTES

  • A brand is a psychological, emotional relationship between customers and a business. To learn more, see: What is a Brand?
  • Use “inside-out thinking” to develop your brand.
  • There is no unique selling proposition. However, people are unique.
  • Develop your brand around your entrepreneurial spirit.

The Brand-Building Checklist

  1. Brand Mission: Clearly define the purpose of your business beyond the product or service you happen to sell.
  2. Brand Promise: What you promise to deliver to customers beyond the product or service you happen to sell.
  3. Personality: Just like people, brands have personalities. What adjective describes your brand’s personality?
  4. Tagline: Something that communicates your brand promise in sticky way. For more information on taglines, see: The Importance of Taglines in Branding
  5. Logo: A well-designed logo that is technically correct. For more information on logos see: The Importance of a Logo in Branding
  6. Branded Customer Experience: Integrate your brand promise and personality into the customer’s experience.
  7. Employee Hiring Criteria: Hire new employees that match your brand personality and can deliver your brand promise.
  8. Employee Brand Training: A planned program that teaches employees how to deliver the brand and a branded experience.
  9. Legitimacy: You don’t just market the brand you live the brand. Be who you promise to be.

SHOW LINKS

Marketing Conference: Small Town 140 Characters Conference

Jay Ehret’s Company Website: The Marketing Spot

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Episode 38: Building, Protecting, Destroying Your Online Brand

15 years ago, branding was a lot different. Websites were new and shiny and there was no such thing as social media. Now, your brand is likely to be everywhere, and you must be diligent. In this episode of Power to the Small Business, we take a look at your brand online. Simon Salt of IncSlingers helps us understand how to build, protect, and avoid destroying, your online brand.

Building and Protecting Your Online Brand podcast

Guest: Simon Salt – CEO of IncSlingers, Austin, Texas
Length: 24 minutes

Email subscribers and feed readers – If you don’t see the player, click here to listen toPower to the Small Business
You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Power to the Small Business #38(for personal use only)

Subscribe to Power to the Small Business in iTunes

Press the play button on the player above and get started. Comments, questions? Please share it in the comment section below or call our brand new audio comment line: 254-433-8529.

Show Notes:

Selected quotes from Simon Salt:

“In the same way your brand exists in the real world, it very much exists in the online world.”

“The most obvious way to destroy your brand online is to disregard your audience.”

“People’s expectations now of a company… is that there’s going to be an element of interactivity.”

Show Links:

Simon Salt’s Company: IncSlingers
Simon’s Blog

A Great Tagline is the Best Brand Communication Tool

On this episode of Power to the Small Business, we welcome Jim Morris. Jim creates compelling, evocative advertising. He also writes a weekly column for the Advertising for Peanuts blog. His specialty is creating taglines. His most famous tagline is for Flintstones Children’s Vitamins: We Are Flintstones Kids, Ten Million Strong . . . And Growing. Jim has created taglines for both large and small companies.

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Guest:

Jim Morris – The Communicaterer

Length: 28 minutes

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You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Show (for personal use only)

 

Taglines & Your Brand

I asked Jim about the importance of having a tagline. He believes that a good tagline is the single-most powerful, condensed, compact expression of your brand that you can have. Taglines show their value when you need to get your brand in front of people and connect with them in little space and time. The tagline is the first articulation of your brand.

However, a tagline is not an explanation and shouldn’t tell a long story. It needs to encapsulate the feeling you want people to have about you. For that reason, you should take great care in creating one. The key is having a clear sense of what your brand is.

The Don’ts of Tagline Creation

  1. Don’t brag or engage in chest-beating. Talk to the customer and not yourself.
  2. Don’t participate in tagline fads. Avoid formulas and plays on words based on popular sayings
  3. Don’t use one-word taglines.

The Do’s of Tagline Creation

  1. Start with a creative brief: a one page document that identifies:- Your goal- Your target- Your most compelling attribute
  2. Translate your brand promise into a tagline filtered through your brand personality.
  3. Decide on a voice, face, personality, and attitude of your brand.
  4. Find a professional to help you develop a good tagline
  5. Once you get a tagline, commit to it and put it on everything you do.

Jim Morris – The Communicaterer
TaglineJim.com

Jim’s personal website with examples of his work and contact information

Tagline Blog
Jim’s pithy column on taglines

 

Visual Thinking With Dan Roam

Dan Roam, Author of The Back of the Napkin
How much would you pay to become creative and innovative? You may only need to pay $16.47. That’s the Amazon price of DanRoam’s new book: The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. Roam contends that any problem can be solved with what he calls “visual thinking,” a simple system of drawing.
Don’t like your drawing ability? That’s ok, because Roam says it’s not artistic ability that matters. It’s time to open your mind to new possibilities and opportunities with visual thinking. 

The Guest:
Dan Roam – Digital Roam, Management Consultant, Author

Length: 26 minutes

Power To The Small Business – Episode #11: Visual Thinking With Dan Roam
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You can also right click and download the mp3 file here: Download Show (for personal use only)

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Show Notes:

– Visual Thinking

  1. Discover by taking advantage of our innate ability to see.
  2. Develop ideas in a quick, sketchy, intuitive way.
  3. Share those ideas
– Four Steps to the Visual Process
  1. Look at the problem.
  2. See the patterns.
  3. Imagine new ideas from those patterns.
  4. Show – get it down on paper.
– SQVID: Five questions to get outside the box
  1. Simple or complex?
  2. Qualitatively or quantitatively?
  3. Show a vision or execution?
  4. Individually or in comparison?
  5. The way things are, or the way they might be?

 

Break From the Pack

Episode #5 of the internet show about small business marketing.

Competing in a Copycat Economy
Oren Harari says that most businesses live in Commodity Hell. Your products and services are quickly imitated by competitors large and small, and not just on a local level.

Break From The Pack by Oren Harari

Operating in a copycat economy means it’s harder to differentiate yourself, it’s harder to build your brand. But there is a way to break from the pack, and it’s called disciplined lunacy.

Being labeled insane is a badge of honor in a copycat economy. Lunacy means doing something that deviates from conventional wisdom. Tomorrow’s conventional wisdom comes from today’s nonconformists. But you must be able to execute and monetize the lunacy, and that’s where the discipline comes in.

Power To The Small Business – Episode #5: Break From The Pack

iTunes

Guest: Oren Harari – Author, Speaker, Consultant, Professor
Topic: Competing and branding yourself in a copycat economy.
Length: 32 minutes

HotSpots:

  • Why you need to continually reinvent what you do with customers.
  • How winners do strategy on the run.
  • You have an advantage because intangibles are more important than tangibles.
  • Is there enough fun in your business? People find it fun to create.

Oren Harari’s website: http://www.harari.com/
Buy the book on Amazon: Break From the Pack: How to Compete in a Copycat Economy
Listen to our other episodes here: Power to the Small Business
Our company website: The Marketing Spot
All episodes of our podcasts:
http://themarketingspot.podomatic.com/