Ten Story Revealing Questions

By: | Published: July 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Old Books Ten Story Revealing QuestionsWhether it’s a product or a service – people are very curious about and reassured by stories. Your story is often at the heart of your credibility. They want to know what makes you so good at or so passionate about what you do. Stories humanize things. Stories connect people. No one wants to hear pitch (maybe Donald Trump, but the man isn’t well . . .). People want to hear stories.

1)    What got you started doing what you do? What drove you to do this? What was the moment when you realized you just had to start this business?

2)    Why did you choose to go about it the way you did?

3)    How did you go about developing your particular approach to the problem?

4)    What were the major obstacles or hardships that got in your way as you built your business?

5)    What have you experienced in your life that gives you the ‘street cred’ to do what you do?

6)    If you’re David with your business – then who is Goliath?

7)    Why are you so passionate about what you do?

8)    Who has been your Obi Wan Kenobi? Which mentors or teachers have most inspired you in this work?

9)    As you look back over your life – what are the primary questions you’ve sat with, struggled with? What are the different elements you’ve been trying to balance or weave together?

10)    If you had to sum up your life in three chapters, what would the chapter titles be and what would they each be about in one sentence?

 

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| Categories: becoming a hub, marketing strategy, word of mouth - Tags: , , , , , , , ,

64 Point of View Revealing Questions

By: | Published: July 22, 2010 · 7 Comments

Pasted Image 44 64 Point of View Revealing Questions

(this began as 24 questions and ‘sentence stems’ but has slowly expanded over time)

The heart of marketing is this: “You have ______ problem, and want _______ result.” Does that make sense? You’re basically asking them to trust you. You’re asking them to follow your lead, to trust in your product or service, to trust the process you will be taking them through. And that can be scary for people – especially around certain problems.

This was driven home to me by Lois Kelly‘s amazing book on word of mouth marketing, “Beyond Buzz” (most of the questions below – the first 24 I think – are taken directly from her book). I’ve added a few of my own at the end too.

Once you’ve established the basic relevance clearly, once people see that what you’re offering is a fit, that it’s designed for people like them, you need to go about building some credibility by telling them about past results, and how you do what you do. But there’s a level most people ignore which is sharing why you do your work the way you do it. Sharing the ‘point of view’ or ‘philosophy’ that guides your work. It’s surprisingly powerful to give people the bigger picture, the context that you see yourself working in. Like showing people not only the best route from Grand Central Station to Central Park – but breaking out the whole map of Manhattan and explaining why you chose that route. There’s something about this that is enormously reassuring and can allow people to really relax into your guidance.

As you look out at all of the options that your target market has to solve the problems you work to solve, what do you notice? What is your point of view and perspective on what you see? What is your opinion about your industry? What is your take on the issues and trends in your industry? Look at the questions below and complete as many of them as you can without repeating yourself. Do at least seven of them (but the more the merrier).

Here are Lois Kelly‘s most excellent point of view questions and ‘sentence stems’ (with a few add ons).

1.    We believe that…

2.    Our take on ________ situation is that…

3.    The narrow slice of the issue that more people should understand is…

4.    The one thing that matters the most in this issue/trend is…

5.    People are wasting too much time talking about…

6.    The thing that should worry people is…

7.    Conventional thinking says ___________, but we think it’s really…

8.    The area where too much money and time is wasted in this industry is…

9.    Overcoming this one obstacle would change the game…

10.    To make a big difference in this area we should focus on just this one thing…

11.    We never want to be associated with…

12.    To make customers believers they need to understand this one thing…

13.    If you had a crystal ball, what changes would you predict for our industry over the next two years?

14.    What gets me most excited about our industry/business is…

15.    What makes people anxious about this issue/trend?

16.    If we were to look at our business/organization as a cause, what would it be?

17.    What most surprises people about this issue?

18.    What makes you angry about perceptions of our business/industry?

19.    Our product/industry/company matters more/less today because…

20.    Why is our industry/service especially relevant at this point in time?

21.    The biggest risk in this industry is (…) and no one wants to talk about it because…

22.    People would be very surprised if they knew this about our industry/organization…

23.    I’m hopeful that one day our industry will…

24.    What is your diagnosis and understanding of why they can’t seem to handle this problem? Are there institutional barriers? Mental barriers? Have they been raised believing certain lies? Are there certain principles they fail to understand? How would you explain to someone who was totally open and non-defensive about why they’re struggling so much?

25.    At its heart – my work is really about . . .

26.    When I look at my target market, what I most want for them more than anything in the world is . . .

27.    When I look at my target market, what I most see going on for them that I don’t think they even see themselves is . . .

28.    What books or magazines or blogs best capture and articulate what your business is about.

29.    What’s missing in the conversation about __________ is __________.

30.    I take a strong stand for _________ in my industry.

31.     I take a strong stand for _________ in my community.

32.    I believe that the three most critical elements to the journey from _______ to ________ are …

33.    When I look at my clients, the three biggest patterns I notice are …

34.    My clients often feel alone – like they’re the only person who is going through …

35.    The three biggest blunders I see people making over and over again that cause them to fail to get the results they want are …

36.    The three biggest myths people have about making the journey are …

37.     The three most common myths about my industry are …

38.    What have you been thinking about with your industry, craft etc. that you haven’t shared with anyone? (these often help to reveal your next place/step)

39.    What are leaders in your industry talking about? Is there anything that doesn’t feel true about this? Where do you differ from them? Where do you agree?

40.    What are your competitors talking about? Is there anything that doesn’t feel true about this? Where do you differ from them? Where do you agree?

41.     What are the top three things that trouble you about your industry? Grosses you out? Upsets you? Frustrates you?

42.     I think the three most important principles of a successful journey are …

43.     To successfully make the journey, you need to understand the difference between _________ and _________.

44.     Before people set out on their jouney, they should appreciate the genuine dangers of …

45.     What are people self diagnosing themselves with that’s wrong? They say to themselves, “I need ______ (often the quick fix/magic bullet they got sold (e.g. social media))” when they really need _________.” They think their real problem is ______ but you think it’s actually _________.

46.     What are your clients trying to ‘prove’ to the world – who are they trying to make wrong?

47.     Who are your clients secretly trying to impress?

48.     What are your clients (perhaps even unconsciously) in reaction to?

49.     What do your clients REALLY want and what is it they THINK they need to have in place in order to let themselves have it?

50.     What do the experts say about making the journey that you most disagree with?

51.     What do you see as the top three approaches people typically tend to take to making this journey and the strengths and weaknesses of them all (and why is your approach better/different?).

52.     What are the three biggest reasons that it’s not their fault that they’re struggling with the problems you help them with? What are the external factors that make having this problem likely and perhaps almost inevitable?

53.    What are the top three reasons this journey is so hard for people?

54.    What are the top three ways that people unknowingly and unwittingly self limit themselves in this area? and why do you think they do this?

55.    What are the top three things people are told they need to make this journey that they don’t need?

56.    What are your top three tips that can make the most immediate, tangible difference to someone going through this journey? What are three simple tools, tactics, approaches or ideas that can make this journey smoother, faster, more enjoyable and less risky?

57.     Besides what you offer, what are the top three complimentary approaches for people on this journey?

58.    What are the typical phases people predictably go through on this journey? If their journey were a book – what would be the typical chapter titles?

59.     What are three places or ways people feel ashamed of having their problems?

60.     In your opinion, if someone were to go to someone else who was offering what you offer, what is it that people need to see or hear in order to feel confident they’re getting a good deal? What questions should they ask and what answers should they expect?

61.     What are the top three things people should consider before embarking on the journey to make sure it’s really the right time for them?

62.     What supports are most important for people to have in place as they make this journey?

63.     What are the top three lies people are told about themselves on this journey?

64.     What are the top three lies people are told about the journey itself and how to get the results they want?

 

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| Categories: becoming a hub, marketing philosophy - Tags: , , , ,

Free is a Dirty Word

By: | Published: July 21, 2010 · Leave a Comment

By Corwin Hiebert, an entrepreneur from Vancouver, Canada, who specializes in strategic event design, marketing, and creative talent management. His company, Red Wagon Management, produces and hosts CREATIVEMIX – Vancouver’s Ideation Conference. You can follow Corwin at www.twitter.com/corwinhiebert

corwin hiebert Free is a Dirty WordI’m convinced that the most offensive word in the event business is “FREE”, specifically when it refers to free admission for an event. Unless you’re new to capitalism, I think you’d agree that the word “free,” more often than not, communicates a lack of value. Whether or not an event can handle a zero-dollar ticket is often beside the point. What is, in fact, being communicated when no monetary commitment is required for an event is that expectations should be low.

When someone registers or plans to attend an event that is free they automatically assign that activity the category of “maybe.” If they are not liable for not showing up then it’s no big deal in their eyes. But it’s a big deal for you, the event planner. Your event plan can be seriously impacted when attendance is such a variable.

Consider the poor success of a Facebook invitation. I haven’t seen any official statistics but, in my experience, it’s a miracle even if 1% of the confirmed attendees from a Facebook event actually show up. Sure, there are the exceptions, such as mass bike rides and water gun fights, but event promotion via social marketing tools invokes little to no commitment. And when the commitment level is low it is that much easier for someone to bail.

Discounts are dangerous too. I come across this one all the time. As an event planner you know that fear, that gut-wrenching feeling, of having empty seats and you’ll do anything to fill them. Too often, prices are hacked and slashed to get people in the room. If you discount remaining tickets, you’ve got a couple liabilities on your hands. First of all, you’ve just filled the room with people who have lowered expectations. These low-paying people can skew survey results, create a negative vibe in the room, and may not be the right people for the event. The second liability is that your pre-existing registrants will go berserk on you and demand refunds, thus lowering your overall revenue and negating the funds you just earned by bringing in the cheapies. It’s a trap. Don’t discount. Add value, don’t lower it.


Helpful Tip: Offer deals to event registrants only. When trying to increase attendance, focus on the people who have already registered for your event. By providing a discount on additional passes, they’ll be motivated to bring their own friends.

By Corwin Hiebert. Be sure to read his event planning eBook, Eleven and a Half Ways to Help Make Your Next Event a Huge Success. The downloadable PDF is only $3 when you use the special promotional code eventbrite2. Purchases can be made at http://www.redwagonmanagement.com

 

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.


| Categories: event promotion - Tags: ,

Promote the Why

By: | Published: July 21, 2010 · Leave a Comment

By Corwin Hiebert, an entrepreneur from Vancouver, Canada, who specializes in strategic event design, marketing, and creative talent management. His company, Red Wagon Management, produces and hosts CREATIVEMIX – Vancouver’s Ideation Conference. You can follow Corwin at www.twitter.com/corwinhiebert

corwin hiebert Promote the WhyIn the midst of all the planning, we event managers often have the difficult task of leading the marketing effort for our projects. Generating demand for an event is no simple task, but it’s even harder when we spin our wheels promoting the wrong thing. When advertising efforts focus on registration (and ticket sales), they are a liability rather than an asset to the marketing plan because they require the most difficult type of commitment from our target audience: a financial decision.

Event promotions that overly emphasize registration details (price, discounts, deadlines, special offers, etc.) are in fact eliciting the simplest reaction possible: one of dismissal. Instead of trying to appeal to a potential attendee’s pocketbook, we should focus on piquing their interest on an experience they can’t easily find elsewhere. When we message our event in such a way so as to build up their expectations, we can minimize the advertising noise and create more meaningful collateral. Content-rich e-mail blasts, blog posts, tweets, updates, posters, and press releases are far more successful than ones full of registration pitches. By planting in their minds an image or emotion of what they will do, who they will see, and what kinds of memories or benefits they’ll receive, we’re connecting people to the true value of the event, not the cost.

Marketing collateral shouldn’t be that different than from verbal promotion. Think of it this way: if I were in a massive auditorium, standing in front of my target audience, and had 10 seconds to convince people to attend my event, I would not say something as moronic as, “Hello people, our big event is just $25, plus tax of course. So would you please sign-up today?! It should be lots of fun and, if you register right now, we’ll give you the early-bird free drink special package.” Silly, I know! I’d speak to what makes my event special and why people should want to be there; I wouldn’t even bring up the price. Posters, e-mail campaigns, advertisements and the like are a waste of time and money if I spend too much space promoting registration.

It’s common for sales people to be trained to elicit the word “yes” three times from their prospects before asking them if they would like to buy. Event marketing should take on the same tactic. If we can show our target audience that our event will meet at least three of their felt needs, that the pricing is reasonable, and the registration process is simple, then I think collecting their money will become the easiest task in our event plan.

Here are some helpful tips for your next event marketing effort:

1. Smaller is better. Decrease your need for ticket sales; adjust your budget and event space and focus on critical mass.

2. Less is more. Ensure your collateral is simple and visually compelling. Don’t get into the details; that’s what your event website is for.

3. Push it to the side. When sending an e-mail campaign, use an HTML template that has a sidebar—highlight your registration links and details separately from your primary message. With the majority of your e-mail body focusing on building excitement, your invitation will be perceived as subtle yet well-connected to the value of the experience you’re offering.

4. Use testimonials. Promote positive feedback from attendees at a previous event. Make sure you list their names (and their companies if possible)—anonymous quotes are useless.

5. Feature faces. Use images from previous events showing people having a lot of fun (they should be close-ups of faces, not a documentation of the activity).

6. Build partnerships. Develop a small, loyal affiliate base from people or groups who benefit from a successful event. Highlight them, and their stories, instead of always talking about the event. Treat them well, and they’ll become ambassadors who are passionate and motivated to spread the word. Be a fan of theirs and they’ll return the love.

7. Add value, don’t discount. Consider removing early-bird rates or special offers—set the value of the event and stick to your guns. If you need to boost sales, add benefits and give attendees more for their money.

Primetime marketing space shouldn’t be gobbled up with the details about dollars and deadlines. Instead, put the effort into creating a meaningful call to action. Dial down the registration hype and beef up the “why” hype.

By Corwin Hiebert. Be sure to read his event planning eBook, Eleven and a Half Ways to Help Make Your Next Event a Huge Success. The downloadable PDF is only $3 when you use the special promotional code eventbrite2. Purchases can be made at http://www.redwagonmanagement.com

 

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.


| Categories: event promotion - Tags: , , ,

The paradox of promises in the age of word of mouth – Seth Godin

By: | Published: July 20, 2010 · Leave a Comment

A brilliant blog post from Seth Godin that speaks to the heart of word of mouth:

seth godin1 The paradox of promises in the age of word of mouth Seth GodinWord of mouth is generated by surprise and delight (or anger).

This is a function of the difference between what you promise and what you deliver (see clever MBA chart at the bottom).

The thing is, if you promise very little, you don’t get a chance to deliver because I’ll ignore you.

And if you promise too much, you don’t get a chance to deliver, because I won’t believe you…

Hence the paradox.

The more you promise, the less likely you are to achieve delight and the less likely you are to earn the trust to get the gig in the first place. Salespeople often want you to allow them to overpromise, because it gets them through the RFP. Marketers, if they’re smart, will push you (the CEO) to underpromise, since that’s where the word of mouth is going to come from. I have worked with someone who is very good at the promising part. She enjoys it. And when the promises don’t work out, she’s always ready with the perfect excuse.

This is a great strategy if you have a regular job and the excuses are really terrific, but if you need internal or external clients, it gets old pretty fast. It certainly doesn’t lead to the sort of word of mouth one is eager to encounter. Surgeons have this problem all the time. They promise a complete, pain-free recovery and work hard to build up a positive expectation, particularly for elective surgery. And the entire time you’re in bed, in pain, unable to pee, all you can do is hate on the doctor. This is one reason why recovering from failure is such a great opportunity. If you or your organization fail and then you pull out all the stops to recover or make good, the expectation/delivery gap is huge.

You don’t win because you did a good job, you win because you so dramatically exceeded expectations.

6a00d83451b31569e20133ecfefb95970b 400wi The paradox of promises in the age of word of mouth Seth Godin

 

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

 

| Categories: word of mouth - Tags: , , , ,

16 Questions To Design Your Irresistible Offer

By: | Published: July 19, 2010 · Leave a Comment

16 16 Questions To Design Your Irresistible OfferHere are sixteen questions you can ask yourself (and your chosen audience) to design offers that are irresistible. They’re the same questions I ask of all my clients when I work with them.

1.    What’s the product or service or special promotion you’re offering (in plain english)? If it’s a service – how many sessions and how long will each one run? If it’s a product – how many, how big etc?

2.    How much does it cost?

3.    Who is the target market (if any) you’re trying to reach?

4.    What are the major problems this product or service solves? What happens that makes them start to think about buying what you sell?

5.    What is the major result/benefit/outcome that this product or service gives?

6.    What is most important to your target market when buying the type of thing you sell? In terms of the product/service – but also the process they have to go through to buy it. What do they want and what don’t they want (again – not just in buying from you but in terms of buying from your industry – buying the kind of thing that you sell)?

7.    What do you do to give your clients what they want (see answers to the above question)? What are your standards, policies, procedures and processes you use to maintain a level of excellence in what you do? We often assume far too much here. Tell me all the details, all the lengths you go to.

8.    Is there any evidence you can show to prove all of this?

9.    What are the common frustrations, annoyances and hassles people have when buying the kind of thing that they sell? What are the horror stories people have about dealing with your industry?

10.    What are the 5 biggest risks that people perceive about doing business with people like you?  Are they afraid they’ll look stupid? people will laugh at them? that it won’t work? That you’re a cult? This is the time to get real and honestly assess what fears (realistic or based on myths) might stop someone from taking the step to do business with you.

11.    What are the values that you seek to embody as a business? Prove to me that you’re in this for more than the money. Where do you go above and beyond to live your green, ethical, spiritual or community based values? Why should I feel good about myself for doing business with you? Be specific.

12.    What is it that you think most people don’t see or appreciate about your business that you wish they did? What are the tiny details they don’t get to see? What’s the extra effort you’ve put in that seems to go unnoticed?

13.    What do they need to know (see or hear) in order to feel confident that they making a good decision when buying what you sell? If your best friend in Australia was buying what you sold – and couldn’t get it from you – what would you tell them to look for to protect them from an unpleasant buying experience? What questions would you have them ask? What are the telltale signs of an excellent or a very bad business in your industry? What criteria should they use to determine whether what they’re about to buy is of good value?

14.    What else is it that makes it so irresistible? Why is it more than worth the money? What makes it better than the competition to your clients? What’s so different about it? How do you give them what they want but not what they don’t want? I want you to convince me, make your case, show me the evidence, tell me a story etc.  Help me understand why I would want to pay you my hard earned money for this.

15.    What are the three best testimonials you can send me for this offer?

16.    What are the three best one paragraph long stories or case-studies you could provide for this offer?

 

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

 

| Categories: marketing strategy, The Irresistible Offer - Tags: , , ,

How To Prove You’re Different

By: | Published: July 19, 2010 · Leave a Comment

People have had rotten experiences with other businesses in your industry. You can’t just say, “We do it different.”

So, here’s the question: What are the policies, the procedures, processes and the standards that your business holds that ensure your are different?

LogoNSM How To Prove Youre DifferentJust one quick example on this, which I just thought of now and I’m hoping I can find, is New Seasons Market. They have this thing called the fine print. The fine print is their description of the standards, policies and procedures that they have in their store to make it a better shopping experience.

If you think about your own shopping experiences, you’ve probably had some frustrating ones, some ones that weren’t so hot. Well here’s what they do. They have this thing called the fine print. It’s not just something that they made and is on the back wall somewhere.

It’s in posters in the grocery store. It’s printed on every single grocery bag. It’s out there. People know about it. All of the employees know and understand this really clearly.

Let me read through them and you’ll get a sense of what I’m saying in terms of just making vague claims, they make specific ones.

  • Open the next register policy: more than two people in line, we’ll open another check stand right away.
  • Staffing policy: we hire people who really mean it when they say, “Have a nice day.” We treat them as well as we want them to treat you.
  • Helping you find it policy: We’ll escort you to the spot unless you just want directions. (I heard a sigh of relief when I read that).
  • Product returns policy: if it’s not exactly what you want or you don’t like it for any reason, bring it back for a no hassle return. We’ll replace it or refund your money with a smile. We promise.
  • Eating in the store policy: go for it. Please pay for it on the way out. (Isn’t that refreshing? Isn’t that so nice?)
  • Discount policy: enjoy a senior discount every Wednesday, 10% off almost everything for those 65 or better.
  • You break it policy: if you break it, don’t worry, accidents happen.
  • Problems policy: we have, find and make solutions. Visit the solution center at the front of the store.
  • Special requests policy: Yes.
  • Squeaky wheel policy: our shopping carts will be oiled and maintained so they don’t drag, squeak or otherwise annoy you.

Another sigh of relief. So you get the idea. They’re very specific in the case that they’re making. This is what all of our businesses have to do. A really good thing to do when you’re looking at your offer, the offer is really a combination of two things. It’s what they want, but it’s also what they don’t want to sort of oversimplify it massively.

You’ve got to ask yourself, “What’s most important to people when they’re buying what I sell?” “What’s most important to people when they’re buying what I sell?”

If this is an area you feel stuck in terms of designing an irresistible offer, the book I recommend you go and you buy and read religiously, is called Monopolize Your Marketplace by Richard Harshaw. It’s a really brilliant book.

They give a really clear explanation of how you go about building the case and what questions to ask. But one of those questions is, “What’s most important to people when buying what you sell?”

Not when buying from you personally, but buying generically what you sell. What you find is there are usually two things. One is there’s things about the product or service itself. But second, there are things about the experience of buying it.

For example, if you’re going to go buy a car, there’s stuff about the car you want to know, fuel efficiency, color, whatever. But there’s also the experience with the sales person that you want to understand is going to be comfortable.

 

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

 

| Categories: marketing strategy, marketing tactics, The Irresistible Offer - Tags: , , ,

Marketing, Education and the Wooden Monkey

By: | Published: July 19, 2010 · 2 Comments

wooden monkey1 Marketing, Education and the Wooden MonkeyFor most of us, there’s an incongruency in our business. There’s an inconsistency between how great we are and what people know.

In Halifax, Nova Scotia there’s this great restaurant called The Wooden Monkey. The woman who runs it, Lil McPherson, is one of my favorite people in the world. She is a really passionate lady and the restaurant is so cool.

But what was interesting was I didn’t really realize how cool it was until I had been there for a few weeks and I was overhearing things. Like, some of their tables were cross sections of trees that had been knocked over during Hurricane Juan when it came over, a whole bunch of trees and Halifax got just taken out.

But they took them, salvaged them, turned them into tables and used them as some of the wood in the restaurant, which I thought was just great. They don’t serve anything that’s grown more than 500 kilometers from the restaurant. They don’t serve any Coke or Pepsi, hooray!

It’s all Propeller stuff which is made like two blocks at a factory. It’s mostly organic. Everything they can do, it’s just there were so many incredible things about this restaurant, that it took me a while to find out.

Here’s some other things Lil told me about the Wooden Monkey with a bit of digging . . .

STAFF: The main Criteria is a positive attitude and respect for there own health and our customers. But our strength is our staff being very informed about our food and caring about the planet. When we hire on our new staff they have to be on board with our values and eager to learn new food items, and what these foods can do for their health. But, there is a lot to know at this restaurant. We have so many very different ingredients and have developed a 50 part questionnaire on all different veggies, teas, seaweeds, etc. and parts of the restaurant, from food to the construction of the restaurant which all staff must take after 6 months…. to see how much they know about everything. In this way we can ensure that all of our staff have the answers our customers want – at their fingertips. What it was built with? Where do certain foods come from (what farm)? What is Kombu, Bancha tea, etc, and what does it do? Our food is not only great, but some of the ingredients are healing for sure. I have just started a library of DVD’s about the environment for the staff to watch.

SERVICE: Service is everything and we feel we work very hard on this, because this to me is the very heart of your business period. I believe and strive to go the distance for our customers to have the best experience, which always means a good meal and excellent service… but it’s when things go wrong that we have the opportunity to rise to the top and over compensate the customers. This is a very important part of making a bad situation into a great one, and having your customers leave feeling great.

LOCAL AND ORGANIC: We are focused on providing local and organic food, while offering fair trade organic coffee, locally brewed beers and wines. We use only Nova Scotia farm produced free-range meats, beef, chicken, port along with organic grains, flours, raisons and locally grown organic veggies. By using locally grown organic produce we not only ensure the quality of the food we serve is so far as this is possible, but we provide material support for the local farmers who share our commitments to human health and the environment.

SMALL PRODUCERS: Back then I decided that I was going to focus on buying from smaller producers, choosing to stay way from the traditional large soft drinks company’s, large multi food suppliers etc. Instead we choose to serve locally make root beer, other local sodas, real Nova Scotia cranberry, blueberry, and apples juices as well as homemade lemonade.

LOCAL ARTISTS: By providing a venue for local artists (we hang their art on our walls which makes our restaurant look beautiful and sell them for no commission which makes them money) and musicians  (who play their locally grown music over dinner) we hope to also contribute to the cultural life of Halifax in which we have both been involved for many years.

HEALTHY FOOD PREPARATION: We don’t use any microwaves or deep fryers. There is no processed food at all in our restaurant. Everything you eat was made from scratch, and always will be (even our mayo – using maple syrup as our sugar!)

ENVIRONMENTAL: We use environmental cleaning products, toilet paper, biodegradable take out containers, cups, forks, knifes, we use recycling napkins, papers towels, etc…

EDUCATION: We are trying to educate the public on how very important it is to our future food supply to support our local, and organic agriculture. I am myself  have been doing talks about what we are doing at the Monkey in University’s, schools, women’s groups, etc…I love the education part of the Monkey!

Does it work? When I last spoke to them in early 2008 they were thriving. They’d been selected as one of Halifax’s best new businesses. The Wooden Monkey had been featured on television, radio, local and national newspapers and several magazines. Says Lil, “There have been at least fifteen articles written about us and just recently we were mentioned in the book written by Jo Wood, the wife of Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones. Her book is called “Naturally” and it’s a great book about organics – we are on page 42.”

wooden monkey Marketing, Education and the Wooden Monkey
But the point is this: I had to dig to find out those things. Your clients should not have to dig.

A lot of us, we’re so close to our businesses that we sort of assume that people know these things, and they don’t. In a restaurants case, the thing I would encourage every restaurateur to do is, when somebody comes in, sit at the table and the waiter comes up. The first question out of the waiter’s mouth should be, “Welcome. Is it your first time here?”

If it’s their first time there, there should be a little one or two minute welcome talk that they get. You know, “Welcome to The Wooden Monkey. It’s so wonderful to have you. We always like to give a little bit of a welcome introduction to our restaurant so people can know a bit about it.”

And just tell them. Highlight all the great, wonderful things that they would have no way of knowing otherwise. In the menu have a page where it really tells the story, bullet points, flags the things. You could have bios and photos of the wait staff and servers there.

The key is we’ve got to educate people about the value of what we do. Sometimes, for some of you, it’s not going to be, you already have an irresistible offer. It may not be that there’s anything that you can add or change. It’s just that you are not articulating and educating people as to the value of what you do.

Marketing, if I had to sum it up in one word, is education. Education, if I had to sum it up in a sentence, I would say what a guy named Mac Roth said which is, “Marketing is about establishing the value beyond the immediately apparent.”

 

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| Categories: becoming a hub, Case Studies of Inspiring Business, green economy, marketing strategy - Tags: ,

The Four Keys to Getting New Clients

By: | Published: July 19, 2010 · Leave a Comment

people magnet The Four Keys to Getting New ClientsEach of these components can help you attract more brand new clients and each level can help you get the most out of your existing relationships.

The first component is the niche. The niche is your target market. It’s who you’re going after. This is the center of any marketing. When I talked to Dominic he and I were both commiserating that whenever we would get confused in terms of helping clients or clients would get fuzzy about a next step, not being sure what to do, it always came back to this. About looking at the niche of who are you going after.

The second component is the irresistible offer. What are you offering to this niche? A lot of people make the mistake in marketing of thinking, “Oh, I’m going to design this product and service,” and then it’s like, “How do I market it?” is a separate step.

I think if we’re going to be successful in business we need to step back and think of the marketing in the design process itself. Meaning, how can we make the product so irresistible inherently, that it’s easy to sell, versus just a generic sort of bland, boring product and service and then figuring out how we can sort of sell the sizzle and not the steak. That’s the second component is the offer.

The third component is the hubs. This was one of the things that really made so much sense to me when I was talking with Dominic. A lot of people at my trainings would say, “Well where do I advertise? Where do I market? How do I find people?”

I never really knew how to answer that. I always give kind of vague answers but now the answer’s really clear for me. Where you find them depends entirely on who you’re looking for. One group of people is going to hang out in one place. Another group’s going to hang out in another place.

It’s not just about where to find them. It’s also about a way to build trust with them. That’s a lot more powerful than other things you may have tried. So that’s the third component, the hubs.

The first is the niche. Second, what are we offering them? Third the hubs, where do we find them?

And fourth, word of mouth strategies. Again you’re already getting passive word of mouth but are there things you can do to accelerate it and get more word of mouth? Yes.

 

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| Categories: identifying your hubs, marketing strategy, The Irresistible Offer, word of mouth - Tags: , , , ,

The Four Things People Need Most When They’re Lost

By: | Published: July 19, 2010 · 4 Comments

lost 300x212 The Four Things People Need Most When Theyre LostI find that there are four things most of the people need most when they’re lost and stuck. I’ll use entrepreneurs as an example since that’s the majority of who I work with.

First is Empathy: Hell, being an entrepreneur can be hard. We can work so hard and take failure or rejection so personally. We can work so hard for so little money. The first thing I find people need to hear is, ‘You’re not crazy. You’re not alone.’

Second is Context: They need a map to help them understand where they are. They need to understand where they’re strong and weak. They need a clear diagnosis that helps make sense of their symptoms. All they know is that some things just aren’t working. But they don’t know why. They’re lost and they don’t know where they are. They need someone to help them understand where they are and why.

Third is Options: Once they feel heard and understand where they are – they need to understand the various options for getting to where they want to be. This is where more information, reading books, listening to audios can be helpful. It’s a general level of solutions. From this they can begin to pick and choose what feels relevant. This level is about learning the language in a certain arena. They start learning the general principles of marketing, some of the core strategies and tactics and maybe even hear a lot of examples.

You can start to feel really powerful, like you now know how to navigate the terrain. You walk a bit taller. But at a certain point it becomes clear that the more you learn, the more you know you don’t know. You become increasingly aware of where you’re still ignorant. And you start to suspect that you need more than just options and information.

Fourth is Guidance: In many ways, this fourth level is what they were really after when they were looking for options. At the end of the day, they can get too many options. So many that they feel overwhelmed and immobilized. “Overwhelmed by insurmountable opportunity” as Pogo said. I find that most people are silently begging to be led. They’re craving for someone to take their hand and walk them from where they are to where they want to be.

They don’t always want this guide to make the decisions for them (though often they do), but they do want someone who can not only explain the options but also give them their best advice and opinions on what would be best. And guidance can only be done one on one – in a personal relationship.

You just can’t get guidance by reading a book or listening to some audio or watching a video. That just becomes more information. And more overwhelm. In fact, all of these levels are more powerful when it’s person to person. You can get a general level, a surface level, of all of these through books and online – but working with a coach or mentor will be, obviously, far more powerful.

It’s one of the reasons I have issues with people selling their ebooks and information products for so much money. The idea that ‘information’ will save you. That if you ‘just buy this DVD series all of your problems will be solved.’ But it rarely works. How many unread books and course binders are sitting on your shelves and tables at home? How many have gone unread? I rest my case.

After they’ve absorbed enough information (and for some people it’s more than others) a question begins to surface: “How does this apply to me?” They understand that it works – and why – but they are still struggling to make that principle fit into their business.

But you need to go through these four stages in order. You’ve probably experienced this where someone tried to give you guidance without any real empathy or diagnosis and it felt awful.

If you try to give people guidance before they have any context they will resist it because they don’t understand why you’re suggesting it. It will feel like they’re doing what you told them to do. But if they understand the context then they’re more likely to share your opinion and do it because ‘it just makes sense.’

If all you do is get empathy – you’re still stuck.

If you get empathy and context but no new information – all you know is what’s wrong but you feel lost about how to solve it. A lot of flailing about can happen here.

 

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| Categories: marketing philosophy - Tags: , , , , ,