Archive for brand
If All Politics Is Local, Then All Business Is…
Posted by: | CommentsRetail.
Look at it this way: the current crop of presidential candidates are marketing themselves wide, via the national news media. They’re also marketing themselves locally (particularly in Pennsylvania, where I am very glad I do not live this month), tailoring their messages to local concerns. National political messaging, tailored to a locality-based group of voters, requires that the story be tweaked to make it fully resonant with the target audience.
Local = retail.
If you’re a company with national presence – say, for example, you’re Microsoft, with a global presence – it is, of course, important that you tell a consistent, authentic story to your world-wide marketplace. For Microsoft, that’s always been some version of ‘we’ve got what you need’. As a company that currently produces what many people believe is the only OS available (they’re wrong, but Bill Gates isn’t going to tell them that, is he?), they’ve built a pretty impressive market presence and penetration.
However, what – and who – really sells their products? Their partners. Those partners are the engine that really drives the company’s continued presence, and expansion. Those partners tell the MS story, but they also must tell one of their own, developing their own relationships and trust with the customers they serve with MS products and services.
Retail, baby.
Some retail is purely transactional, like MickeyD’s and BK. If you hit a drive-thru, you aren’t looking for a relationship with the store. You just want a #5 combo, and you know just where to get it. If you’re in a transactional business, you still have to tell a story: that your customer can rely on getting exactly what they want, when they want it, at the price that they want to pay.
Still retail. Still tellin’ a story.
I read a piece in Business Week Online yesterday that says that if your sales are stuck, you must use a script. I say that’s a crock. Scripts are for cold-calls, and if you’re doing cold-calls you’re spinning your wheels. Even if you’re in a transactional business, cold-calls are a waste of time.
Transaction-based business – other than stuff like the drive thrus, and when was the last time you got a cold-call from MickeyD’s? – has, for the most part, moved to the Web. Those businesses still use cold-calls, much of which winds up in your spam folder, or as a delete-after-hearing-one-sentence voicemail.
If you’re looking to sell products or services, and retain those customers, you have to build a relationship with them. One of the best ways to do that is sharing stories: theirs will reveal the problems they have that you can solve, yours will tell them that you’ve got what they need. Using this approach, you’ll build trust in your prospects, and loyalty in your customers.
A number of whom will become the storied ‘raving fans’ – also known as ‘referral machines’.
So, take the retail approach, even if you’re selling globally. Build relationships by telling authentic stories: about why you do what you do, the problems you solve, why solving those problems makes your day worth living.
All business is retail.
That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it…
Stories from the Kitchen
Posted by: | CommentsI was highly entertained this week by the news that Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO)> has eaten up – literally – Emeril Lagasse.
No, she didn’t go at him with a knife and fork. She did, however, buy his brand and image, adding a second personality – and story – with at least as much power as her own to her brand stable. She’s collected a number of satellites over the last few year, but Emeril is his own planet.
Love her or hate her (I’m not saying what camp I fall into, but if you’re good at reading between the lines, you might be able to guess), you have to give Martha a lot of credit for being pretty darn indefatigable. Not everyone would be able to bounce back from a very public smack-down that wound up smacking one into a federal pen.
Martha has had some rough patches since she got sprung, but her company found itself in the black again in 2007 for the first time since she wound up in the pen. Now, adding another big, bright, shiny planet to her universe could wind up putting her back into the raking-it-in column.
Provided, of course, she and Emeril blend well, story-wise.
What’s that? You say that since they’re both comfortable in the kitchen, they should get along like, well, two peas in cream sauce? If you cook, you know how dangerous it can be to share your kitchen with anyone, even your best friend. If you and your new BFF have strong personalities and equally strong stories, there can be souffles fallin’ all over the place.
You might end up with the most stellar dinner the world has ever seen…or it could all end in tears. And lawyers.
In my David & Goliath post earlier this week, I talked about how both sides of that equation need to know what story to tell to their market, and how important it is for both the big guys and the little guys to be consistent and authentic. In the Martha + Emeril story, this could prove a challenge.
Emeril and Martha both tell consistent stories. In a nutshell: "Kick it up a notch! Pig fat rules!" and "Mine is better."
On the authenticity scale, I give Emeril more points than I do Martha, because her persona and story seem to be more calculatedly crafted. Emeril is no dope, and from the beginning of the rise of his empire he’s worked hard to appear both knowledgeable and approachable. Martha’s iron persona brooks no sweat, minimal exuberance, and very little passion.
I wonder if Martha will be foolish enough to try to manage or recast Emeril’s highly successful formula, or if she’ll be savvy enough to let him continue to tell his own story.
I don’t think Martha’s any kind of fool.
Another BMIK (big man in the kitchen), Anthony Bourdain, weighed in on this topic over at Michael Ruhlman’s blog the other day…and I guess the Food Network has waved a wand and made Ruhlman pull the post. Too bad, because it was one of the funniest – and most laceratingly truthful – stream of consciousness rants I’ve read in a long time.
Bourdain, who is not known for his lukewarm opinions, is no fan of Emeril’s. Or Martha’s. He did express concern for Mr. Lagasse in this equation, though.
So, stay tuned. To the Food Network. If you can stand it. If not, head on over to the Travel Channel for No Reservations. One of the best shows on television, at least in this writer’s humble opinion.
That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it.
Features & Benefits?
Posted by: | CommentsYou’ve got a phenomenal product or service. You’re passionate about what you do. You want to start selling the bejabbers out of what you’ve got.
You study sales. You learn that you need to communicate the features & benefits of your stuff. You develop a nice list of features, and a terrific little list of benefits that those features will help deliver.
Stop right there.
DON’T do it.
Don’t launch into the usual suspects of the sales game: features & benefits. What you really need to do is: tell the story of what you’ve got, why it’s great, and why you’re so passionate about it.
The features & benefits will be apparent. Trust me.
Think of some of the great marketing messages you’ve seen – were any of them loaded up with a features & benefits statement?
Yeah, Cialis and Viagra do advertise the potential for a 36 hour hard-on, but I don’t know as that feature is really a benefit. Any feature that includes "see a doctor if…" might not be a real benefit. Or any kind of sales trigger.
Seriously, though, what about those great Career Builder ads from the 2007 Super Bowl? Or this year’s model, the Naomi Campbell/Lizard-wit-a-grill LifeWater ad? Did they have a laundry list of features and benefits? No – but they spoke volumes about what the products/services had to offer. Career Builder will help you feel less like an office-supplies-bedecked gladiator. LifeWater will help you dance with lizards…or maybe look like Naomi Campbell. Or at least feel like you could.
The best sales pitch is a great story about your product. The best features & benefits statement is a great story about how your service impacted someone’s life, business, health…pick one.
Stories are what connect us. Charts & graphs, features & benefits – that’s useful data, but it won’t sell anyone. It will help show ROI, yet no one will think to ask about ROI unless they’re drawn in by your story.
That’s MY story, and I’m stickin’ to it.
One of the Most Effective Sales Tools Ever – Storytelling
Posted by: Mighty Casey | Comments (1)I just watched the July 1 edition of The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, and I just stopped jumping around and cheering.
Hey, I’m an enthusiastic girl – what can I say?
Why the excessive enthusiasm? Every single person on the show said that there was one fail-safe tool that was always part of their sales approach:
STORYTELLING
This was an E ticket ride, panel-wise, too: Lisa Robertson, Joe Maloof, Michael Port, Donna Flagg, Kendra Scott, Michael Port, Guy Kawasaki, Dave Lakhani, and Janine Driver. They all spoke of the power of storytelling in business. So did Deutsch, who as an advertising legend certainly knows the power of a great story better than anyone.
Want to warm up a first meeting? Tell a story. Want to show the power of your product or service? Tell a story. Want to communicate your value better than any set of features and benefits? Tell a story.
I’ve been heard in these precincts since Day 1 saying that your story is one of your most powerful business tools. I’ve also said, several times, that sales is a seduction, and you’ve got to take the Sheherazade approach: tell a compelling story. It will certainly save your business – maybe even your life!
That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it…