Now, that sounds just like exactly what you need to get your business fired up and moving along! But then reality creeps in…

There’s the pressure of creating a fresh, interesting and new idea. You can’t just reach into a magic hat and pull that perfect idea out. Sitting and waiting around for that genius to strike doesn’t seem action-oriented enough for you. You’re ready to get started on what’s next… but you need the idea to begin with, plus the insurance and assurance that it’s a good one.

Then there’s the danger of introducing fresh ideas into your brand. You’ve worked long and hard to build your brand and nurture your fans and clients. So, naturally, you’re worried that you’ll come up with an idea that’s fresh, exciting, new and different, pour your heart and soul into developing it, and do all the incredible work behind getting that idea out into the world… and after all of that, your clients and fans won’t like it.

That they might freak out. What if they don’t like the idea you worked so hard on? Wouldn’t it be terrible if clients who were going to hire you decide, based on your new idea, not to?

Or, worse yet, that your chatty, happy and engaged clients and fans clam up, withdraw and become uninterested and disengaged. Clearly the opposite of what you’re looking for, and a sure sign that you’re on the wrong track.

Why are new ideas so tricky?

Introducing new ideas takes a special mix of ingenuity, bravery and finesse.

Here’s how they work together:

The ingenuity to generate an idea – OK, this is more like “a bunch of new ideas”… so you can have the freedom to create a bucket full of many less-fantastic ideas on the way to one fresh, new, interesting idea. And then you need the foresight, common sense and client-understanding to sort out the good from the not-so-good ideas.

The bravery to launch that idea and incorporate it into your brand and marketing. After all, your brand is precious and you’ve worked hard to build it. Launching a new thing can be both exciting and scary – exciting because you’re proud of your new idea and can see the possibility in it, and scary because you’re not quite sure how your clients and contacts will react to it. You can cut down on the scariness by selecting a few of your clients and unveiling the idea early, to see how they feel about it and what questions they have. That way, you can fine-tune your idea with their input, to make it make the most sense and impact possible.

The finesse to introduce the idea to your clients in a way that doesn’t freak them out. This is the part that takes the most discipline. You have to roll out your idea in a way that brings your clients along with you and your excitement over it – instead of making them slam on the brakes. That means keeping them comfortable before, during and after your launch – and letting them know whether this is a whole new direction or if you’re still offering the things they’ve gotten used to.

When you bring ingenuity, bravery and finesse along on your quest for new ideas, you’ll find yourself creating the kind of innovative, interesting and engaging ideas that keep your clients coming back for more.

By: Erin Ferree

Are you “marketing at” your precious potential clients or connecting with them? In other words, do your marketing efforts feel more like you’re shouting at them with a megaphone, or like you’re having a two-way conversation?

We all have a craving for connection and conversation – for that rich, recognition-filled two-way exchange of thoughts and information.

That goes for both YOU and your potential clients… in fact, the effect can be multiplied many times over for your clients.

Feel into how much you want to be in conversation with your potential clients. How much you’d like to be on the phone with them, or talking face-to-face.

Now, imagine how much they want to be in conversation with you. After all, they’re already listening to you. I suspect many of them are yearning to be heard, to have their questions answered and to really talk to you.

Here are two traits you can use to open the conversation in a refreshing way…

Curiosity:

Have you ever really stopped to wonder about, listen to and ask your potential clients about what’s going on for them?

This goes beyond a casual, “Hi, how are you?” at the beginning of your newsletter – where you’re not actually expecting an answer.

It’s time to think about who your potential clients are, ask about what they’re up to, and explore their thoughts and feelings.

Look at them as more than just a potential project. Open up a conversation with the full intent of simply learning more about them and getting to know them – not seeing how you could help them, or looking for a need.

What you can do – ask real, specific questions in your newsletter and assure people that you really do want to know the answer. Offer opportunities for your potential clients to speak with you on Q&A calls, during call-in “office hours” or even by appointment for a short, focused session – where you’re asking them questions.

Generosity:

When was the last time you gave your clients a truly free and fantastic gift?

People love presents – when they’re real, useful, desirable gifts. Too many “free gifts” in the Internet marketing world are not really gifts at all, but thinly veiled sales pitches that people have to sign up for.

I realize this has become common practice… and there’s certainly a time and place for that in a marketing strategy… and, at the same time…

Why not give a valuable, amazing free gift that they really want, that they can use immediately and digest fully, and get deep value from? They’ll really notice and be impressed by a gift that fills a real need – that doesn’t simply open them up to a new need or shine the light on some gap or deficiency in their approach.

And, when was the last time that you gave something away that was really free? I mean that there’s no hoops to jump through and no forms to fill out. That you are giving to them with the true energy of gifting. Because you have created this gift especially for them, and you want them to have it – not because you want anything in return.

Try this – create a short and impactful free report. Tell your clients all about how to do one small, specific task. Give them resources or point them to tools. Package that gift lovingly. And then send it to all of your clients and invite them to send it to everyone they know. Include a two-line invitation to learn more at the end, plus a one-paragraph bio so that new people can get to know you. See what happens!

There is one final thought I’d love to leave you with – both of these traits need to be backed by genuine interest and attention, of course.

By: Erin Ferree

Part 2 of the Series: Developing a Marketing Plan for Your Small Business

Guerilla Marketing is the countless free or very inexpensive tactics you can deploy do to build awareness for your brand and generate new business. Guerilla Marketing takes creativity, persistence, and work to make things happen with very little investment.

A key strategy in Guerilla Marketing is to know your customer. Define your ideal customer and all of the offline and online places you can reach them. Create a tracking document and prioritize every marketing opportunity by how many of your target customers it will reach.

Here are three Guerilla Marketing tactics you can implement fast and inexpensively:

1.    Develop two important programs – a Customer Loyalty Program and a Referral Program. These are your most inexpensive sources of new business.

The key is to stay top-of-mind and take advantage of the almost universal human trait of wanting to be helpful. When a friend or co-worker of one of your customers says, “I want to remodel my bathroom” or “I need to help executing a partner program” in the B2B world, you want your customer to recommend you.

Put definition and resources around these programs so that all employees will be involved in making them successful. Build in accountability: who is responsible, how will you track the results, and how often will you review? Elements of these two programs might include:

•    Sending a regular quarterly email with tips and how-to articles to your customers. This helps your customer view you as an expert resource and helps you stay top-of-mind – and it’s virtually free. Not only that, email is easy to forward to a friend! Make it simple for others to refer you.
•    Give customers a special coupon worth a discount for referring new business. Consider providing a discount for the referral as well. In B2B, you can provide small bounty or affiliate payments for new business.
•    Mind your manners. It is always appropriate to send a thank you note or call or email when someone refers you new business.

2.    Review all of your marketing communications and update them to reinforce your brand, your products/services, and your value proposition. Never miss a chance to reinforce your brand. For example:

•    Add a descriptive signature to all company emails – include your website and your tagline, even a customer testimonial. You never know when new business will walk in your door from an email that’s been forwarded. Think of every email that your company sends as a marketing opportunity.
•    The next time you print business cards, consider creating a two-sided card. Keep your contact information and company logo on one side, and use the other side for a list of your services.
•    Step outside of your own business and review: Your signage, your website, etc. Then step inside. If you have a bricks and mortar location, what’s the ambiance like? Does it reflect the customer you want to attract?  If not, update it. If you have an online business, realize that an outdated website does the opposite of reflecting a current, growing business. The old adage “A first impression is the most important impression” is still true.

3.    Develop partnerships with other businesses that have products or services that complement yours and co-market for one another. Don’t be afraid to say no to those that aren’t related. You’ll want to spend your precious time on those that are likely to become a source of new business for you.

If you’re working with a marketing consultant and they aren’t identifying and recommending these types of tactics, consider finding another marketing consultant!

Hopefully these examples will help you generate your own ideas. Write them down and make them happen, and you could just get that elusive and valuable competitive advantage!

Read Part 1: Brand, Positioning and Messaging

By: Melody Appleton

When I say “profit”, do you think about money? Most people do!

Entrepreneurs are no different, and one of the most common ways to measure business success is by financial profitability… how much did you make last year versus how much you spent.

When you’re looking at profitability in your business, you look at the return on investment.

But what do you do when you’re measuring the profitability of a piece of your business that doesn’t just lead directly to money… like your brand?

It’s pretty unlikely that someone’s going to just see your logo and like it so much that they will be inspired to just give you money.

On the other hand, a good logo can help your ideal clients trust you and to like you more, and this can trigger them buy your services when you make an offer.

If you’re looking at the profitability of your brand, then that sort of situation should be taken into account. Otherwise, you’re not getting a full picture of the value of your brand.

And each kind of profitability  that your brand can bring can become a cycle – one that generates more and more money for your business.

Here’s what to look at when you’re evaluating your brand’s profitability… beyond money.

• Is your brand bonding with your ideal clients (and, getting you more clients… and more money)? As Imentioned before, you want your brand to help you build trust with your clients. That means that you need to build your brand in a credible, consistent way that demonstrates that you’re worthy of their trust.There’s also the likeability factor. If your ideal clients like your brand, they’re more likely to spend more time looking over and reading your marketing materials – so you have more of their attention. That “like” can also easily transfer over to you if you’re an entrepreneur – because, where does your brand end and the interaction with you begin (they’re probably pretty close). And when your ideal clients like you, they’re more likely to buy your services because of that emotion.Finally, consider the role of personal taste – especially when it comes to your brand image. If they like your brand and feel like it matches their personal tastes, then that can make them feel like you understand them and their needs – and that you can serve them well.

  See how the money cycle is starting to take shape?

• Does your brand contribute to your reputation’s bottom line? Is your brand and image making you look good? Are your materials engaging and impeccable? Are you developing a good reputation by being real and authentic in your brand? Does your brand clearly show the values that you stand for?Are you doing a good job of delivering on your promises? This goes for when you’re delivering your service, certainly – but it goes further than that. To build a strong reputation, you have to deliver quality content in your newsletter, your free reports and teleclasses, on your website, in your blog and everywhere else!Can your clients clearly see that you’re not just “in it” for yourself? It should be clear that you’re in your business to serve and that you really and truly care about what you’re doing. This makes them want to learn more, invest with you and come back for more.
• Your brand can extend your reach. If you’re an entrepreneur, chances are that you need some help spreading the word about your business… in the form of affiliates, partners, raving fans and messengers. Does your brand make you remarkable – and make people want to talk about you (in the good way, of course)?The other half of being remarkable is that you want the way your brand stands out to be clear, so that when people are talking about you they’re saying what you want them to say and they’re spreading the word in an interesting and engaging way. Your messengers need to know what to say so that their efforts can make as much impact as possible.How does this loop back to profit? Because the more people who know about you… the more people who can become your fans, get onboard with your services and then carry your message out into the world again. It becomes a self-sustaining loop of new clients and new opportunities. And, that equals profit!
• Your schedule profits because you gain more time. Focusing, clarifying and strategically planning your brand simply makes your marketing easier.Imagine… always knowing your next step. No more wasting time, searching for what to say or do for your next newsletter or blog post. Always knowing exactly what you’re promoting at every turn.And, even having the clarity of message and focus of brand to make that planning easier!

  It’s incredibly freeing – from a time perspective and it removes the stress from your marketing. This feeds back into your schedule and gives you more energy. It also lets you increase your marketing with no additional effort – so that you can keep building!

• You profit by making your ultimate vision a reality. I like to think of this one as “getting fulfilled”.  You’re in business – doing all the work behind being an entrepreneur – because you have a bigger vision, and because you want to serve your clients, transform their lives and make your mark on the world.If you find yourself stuck on the day-to-day hamster wheel of your business, and you don’t seem to be making progress towards your ultimate vision – then you may need to try a new approach.Try creating a brand strategy.

  Why? Because your brand strategy starts with the end in mind. You’ll begin the process of creating your strategy by looking at where you want your brand – and your business – to go in the future. And, by starting at the end, you can easily see how to build a step-by-step brand that will really get you there.

  This part of the profitability cycle not only keeps going to create more profit for you – but it also has a snowball effect. This portion, especially, can help your business grow exponentially and can help you create the lifestyle that you always dreamed of.

You can see that your brand can build profits for your business that go much deeper than money – and that many of these profits will circle right back and feed more profits into your business. The profitability cycle is worth getting rolling!

By: Erin Ferree

A picture is worth a thousand words.  So why do we rely on bullets in PowerPoint so much to communicate?

Before becoming a consultant, I worked in telecommunications for about 20 years. I created countless PowerPoint presentations in the corporate world and have drawn more network clouds than I care to admit.  Each company and management team had different rules for slide creation. Some had branding guidelines so tight I learned quickly to not adjust the font size or dare change the color scheme. Others had no rules, which often led to suggestions to reduce the font to 11 or 12 so I could cram in more bullets.

But I am a consultant now. I can break free of the corporate rules. I would be wise to recognize solid branding and communication best practices and yet, I’d like to get more creative in communicating my ideas. I am comfortable drawing graphs and timelines but often that is not enough.  In my quest to be more creative, I stumbled upon The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam. It is a fun, easy read and presents a model for visual thinking.  The four basics steps are Look, See, Imagine and Show.  The author provides detail on each of the steps and a framework for displaying concepts.

My eyes were also opened recently in the preparations for a WIC webinar on Storytelling for Great Presentations.  We will learn from our presenters from alimat inc to grab the audience’s attention by telling a story, complete with a plot, tension and images.

While a picture is worth a thousand words, it takes just three steps to get there.

1.       Register and attend the WIC Webinar on Storytelling for Great Presentations

2.       After the webinar, step away from the keyboard for a bit. Get outside. Go for a walk. Let the fresh air spark your imagination.

3.       Return to your desk with a blank sheet of paper and a pencil and start sketching.  Color outside of the lines and see where it takes you.

What tricks do you have to get a fresh perspective on communicating an idea?

About Robin:

Robin is a pricing and product marketing consultant and serves on WICs board of directors as Programs Director.  She helps marketing executives and small business owners drive more profit and revenue by integrating value-based pricing with the other elements of the marketing mix. She solves pricing challenges service providers face from the creation of packages and prices to the reduction of reliance on discounts to meet sales goals. Robin overseas the WIC monthly meetings, workshops and webinars.

By: Robin Pieracci

If you’ve ever been confused about branding your small business, here’s a simple way to think about it:

Branding Is Your Business’s Fashion Statement.

Here’s how branding is like fashion:

When you’re picking out a fashionable outfit for a night out on the town, there are several angles to consider, like:

1. Your fashion style. Do you consider yourself a sporty dresser, vintage, a bohemian, urban, or a little bit rock and roll? A trendsetter or more classic style? Your central fashion theme figures into your wardrobe.

2. Your personal taste and comfort. Dressing in a style that you like and wearing clothes that you resonate with and that make you feel fabulous.

3. The people you’ll be hanging out with. You want to make sure you’re not under-dressed for the company you’re keeping.

4. Your outfit’s effect on that special someone. If you’re dressing to impress, then you’ll think about who you want to impress and what they like.

5. The climate. You want to pick the right outfit for the weather, so you’re not too hot or too cold.

6. The current “ins” and “outs”. You want to look appropriate for the season’s trends — like you’re keeping up with the times instead of stuck in the past.

7. Matching the pieces of your outfit to one another. You want to make sure your outfit goes together — from head to toe — and that your look is consistent.

You have to watch for all 7 of these angles in your brand as well, by making sure that your brand:

1. Has a strong style and central theme. Your brand has a central theme that’s a lot like a fashion style — your BrandStyle. Once you know this central theme and core message of your brand, you’ll be able to easily style all of your materials to that style to make a clearer statement that’s instantly recognizable.

2. Looks like you, is an accurate reflection of who you really are and makes you feel fabulous. As your vision and mission changes, the appropriateness of your brand may also change. And, you want to make sure that your brand is an accurate reflection of your personality as well.

3. Looks appropriate among your competition. You can certainly make sure that your brand looks better than the competition’s, but you don’t ever want to have the frumpiest brand in your field. Your brand is one of the ways that your customers will compare you against your competition, and you want to make sure that it helps you come out on top.

4. Attracts your ideal clients and inspires them to hire you to work with them on perfect projects. The way to do this is to design your materials with your message and your clients’ visual tastes in mind — so they will be able to instantly see how amazing you really are. This makes you unforgettable and irresistible.

5. Is appropriate for the climate. You don’t have to design your brand to go with the weather, but there are other climate considerations: the social climate and economical climate can influence a brand. Make sure your brand’s message and design keep up with changes in these areas.

6. Keeps current with the trends. This doesn’t mean that your brand should be trendy, but it should look modern and updated. This means revisiting your brand once a year with a designer to evaluate how it looks in regards to graphic trends and trends in your industry.

7. Maintains consistency of message and of design throughout all of your materials. This doesn’t mean that every piece has to look exactly the same — that can become repetitive and dull. But it does mean that your materials should all appear to go together and should build on one another to increase their effectiveness.

If you think about your brand as your business’s fashion statement, then it becomes fun again!

By: Erin Ferree

It’s hard to believe we’re almost at year-end.  For myself, and many of my consultant colleagues, this year has been a very dynamic one: sluggish business growth earlier this year has rapidly turned into much more activity as we move into fall.

This really makes me think hard about what next year will bring.  Yet rather than passively wonder what next year will bring my business, I’m looking forward to actively planning what I’ll bring to my business—and WIC has put together a session that will help me do just that.

On Friday morning, December 10, Angel Rampy of Success Through Learning will be leading a workshop enabling us to Energize Our Business in 2011.  She’s bringing together FIVE business experts to guide us on topics related to branding, competitive intelligence, marketing, sales, and operations.  We’ll work in very small groups with each of these experts to hammer out a plan specific to our businesses, and integrating the latest business trends such as integrating social media into our efforts.

By lunchtime, we’ll walk away with a blueprint for moving forward in the New Year.

So, break open your calendar and earmark the morning of Friday, December 10 2010.  You’ll be done by lunchtime – giving you time to wrap up your week’s work before kicking off your weekend.

Don’t wait to sign up; advanced registration closes next  Wednesday, December 8!

By: Lisa Strand

One of the questions I get most often is some variation of, “I just started my business. Don’t I need to create a brand before I can tell anyone about it?”

And you’d expect me to say, “Of course. You must run out immediately and design a brand this instant or else!” After all, I’m a brand designer.

But, I don’t actually believe that. Shocking, isn’t it?

What I do believe is that branding too soon can hurt a business in its beginning stages. Why?

• Good branding isn’t cheap. Why spend money unless you’re sure that it will turn out to be a solid investment?
• Branding isn’t just about design. There’s a lot of backstory about your business that you have to nail down before you get to design your brand. You have to know what your business is all about, what its personality is like, who your customers are and what they want, and what makes you different from others in your field. If you’ve just started your business, there’s a good chance that you have some theories about some of these – but you shouldn’t commit to them until you’ve used them in practice.
• Start-ups are subject to lots of change. As your business gets going, you’re likely to make some changes and modifications to your Grand-Master Plan (you know, that big business idea that you had in the first place!) If you design a brand now, it may not be valid by the time you really settle in to your business.
• You might not know your business well enough to get it right. After all, your business is just a “gleam in your eye” – an idea that looks good on paper. Try it out on some real people, to see how your delivery works and what results your clients really get (they may surprise you!)

That said, if you are clear on your business idea and you’re really ready to step out in a big way with your brand, then don’t let me hold you back. Take the next step that you feel is right for you so that you can go, go, go with your business!

By: Erin Ferree

There are dozens of options for creating additional branded materials. But, before you run off and pour thousands of dollars into designing everything you might need, consider this list of 4 of the most effective brand kit additions for consultants:

1. A mailing label. Make your mail look more professional with simple Avery labels. Design full pages of them in Microsoft Word and then print a page or two at a time, as needed. You won’t have to pay for envelopes, and changing your address won’t mean throwing a lot of labels out.
2. A presentation folder. If you make a lot of presentations, or mail out information or proposals, then a presentation folder can help make a solid impression. Custom-printing a whole folder can be costly, and the minimum orders are typically high (500 folders). Invest less by finding a colored presentation folder, with a heavy paper weight, at an office supply store or paper warehouse. You can also order them online at a retailer like http://www.blank-folders.com/
3. A thank-you card or general-purpose blank card. Correspond with your clients, thank referral sources and keep the conversation open by sending cards. People still open hand-addressed mail, and the extra effort of sending a real card will be appreciated.
4. A PowerPoint template. If you give talks, host webinars or present proposals in PowerPoint, custom-branding your template extends your brand and shows that you’re not like everyone else in your field.

By: Erin Ferree

How do you design a marketing kit that will make you look professional in your meetings, but not break the bank?

Here are the basics you’ll need:

1. Design a logo. This should be a text logo at the very least – designed in an interesting font whose meaning is tied into your business’s personality. A logo with a graphic and text is best!
2. You’ll need a business card. This is an essential tool for client meetings, networking and marking other opportunities. Who knows when you’ll need to give away a card?
3. A Microsoft Word letterhead. You should design a document header with your logo and contact information. This element can also be imported into Quickbooks to brand your invoices. Keeping it digital cuts costs and allows you to email PDF attachments that are branded as well.
4. A blog or website. A WordPress blog can be more affordable to design – especially if you base your design off of a template like Thesis. And, you’ll be able to add to it and maintain it yourself. You’ll have more control over the design of a standard website. Ask your designer which option will best fit your needs and budget.

That’s it for a perfect “basic” brand kit. Watch this blog for my next post, on a few additional options you can add to your arsenal.

By: Erin Ferree