What is Your Small Business Story? Learn How to Establish Brand Personality

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Brand Personality, What Is It?

We often hear the phrase "Brand Personality" thrown around by marketing gurus - but what really is it? Is it meant for big brands using agencies? How can small business create one? All great questions.

Simply put, brand personality is how your business and the associated products or services, are perceived, consumed and engaged with by the general public. Notice that I did not just say "customers"? Because your brand personality spans beyond customers and becomes a reality of all audience members aware of it, whether they use it or not.

The way you build your brand personality can influence the type of customers your small business attracts. With the advancement of technology for business purposes, brand personalities have shifted more towards emotional connections, personal interactions and deep engagement between the brand (business) and user (customer).

Remember the PC vs. Mac personality commercials?

According to one of the biggest "rockstars" of branding in our day and age, Seth Godin, every brand is a story. It cues emotions, expectations, social situations and induces our own inner memories with the brand/product in question. Below is a great two sentence summary which illustrates brand personality:

More than ever, we express ourselves with what we buy and how we use what we buy. Extensions of our personality, totems of our selves, reminders of who we are or would like to be. - Seth Godin

 

Our Own Brand Personality Prelude

I will share with you a brief background story on NR Digital Branding itself - somewhat of an intro (not meant to be self boasting) into this blog post. If you've browsed around our social media profiles and links you may have noticed the term "nemki" come up quite a bit. As a matter of fact my Twitter handle is @nemki, one of my more recognizable nicknames to those that do know me (interestingly, nemki also refers to a mythological thunder-bird creature in the Anishinaabe native language). It was the first ever email I used for gaming, forums, chat services, Yahoo GeoCities website builder (first ever web design dabbling!), and it marks the spark of my "digital" life from the late 90s/early 2000s.

But why is it being used for business purposes?
Well I believe this to be the start of my digital passion and everything that has happened since, including the inception of NR Digital Branding. It is the personality that has developed over years that led to this career path and personal/professional involvement in the digital landscape. Additionally the story associates the level of commitment NRDB has to always providing the best digital experience for all customers, local audience and online community due to that passion. The same way that many Canadian small business have a story of their own; stories of passion, dedication and branding. What makes your business unique and how that uniqueness weaves into the service and/or product you provide as well as the customers that make it all worth-while.

Brand personality is a way for the customer to resonate with your business, to make a full emotional connection.

 

Why Tell Your Story?

Canada (more-so than other countries) is strongly established by small businesses. Imagine that within your local area you have a pizza store, down the street from the store is another local pizzeria store. Both of you sell gourmet pizzas, wings, bread-sticks, dipping sauces, provide a delivery service, etc.

Well, which one should a newcomer chose? Why would a customer come back?

Sure special promotions, deals and holiday specials can help you meet short-term goals, but they can do the same for the pizza shop down the road. What about the loyal customer who wants to keep coming back?

This is where your story or small business uniqueness (the personality) can play a crucial role.

What makes a pizzeria gourmet? Usually some sort of "secret" or "home-made" sauce. Maybe your pizzeria bakes using a stone oven, or uses an old family recipe from Italy. Perhaps it has an unmatched dinning experience in the pizzeria itself which draws a regular nightly crowd. It is something that differentiates you from ALL other pizzerias (regardless of location). While they too can have a specialty sauce or unique toppings, it does not taste quite the same as yours. The same would apply to their loyal customers: they would prefer that sauce over yours and that is what allows your business to differentiate itself.

Think of grandma's home-made pie; you can buy a pre-cooked one and bake it until its ready but it just doesn't have the same aroma, taste and goodness to it. Why can't your home-made gourmet pizzeria live up to that name? Especially if it has a special secret sauce that makes it delicious! Maybe even elicit a similar response to the one in the image below (we do not recommend you try this at home!):

I reference a pizzeria as an example but this applies to all industries and types of small business organizations. If your small business has a great story to tell and can make the customer a part of that story, it will create a foundation for long-term relationship between brand, perception and customer.

How To Tell Your Story

There was an article published on Forbes a couple of years ago, right at the "rise" of content marketing that brought a point which is very important to this practice to this day:

Brand stories are not marketing materials. They are not ads, and they are not sales pitches. Brand stories should be told with the brand persona and the writer’s personality at center stage. Boring stories won’t attract and retain readers, but stories brimming with personality can. - Susan Gunelius, Forbes

The first thing that comes to mind of storytelling is the traditional list of sequential milestones. For example:

• established in 1977
• incorporated 1980
• introduced new menu 1989

Not that there is anything wrong with a historical timeline of the company but there has to be a little more oomph to it than that. Here are a couple of things you should keep in mind:

1. Make it Customer-Centric

Stories always involve characters, and what better way to resonate with your customers than to make them the main character of your story? While this sounds hard, it is not impossible. Think about some of the most recent "big brand" campaigns that were centered around the customer:

• Lays chips flavour challenge where users submit flavour ideas and the company sells the most popular selections for a limited time
• Coca-Cola putting names on soda cans/bottles to make coke buying about the person, not necessarily the drink itself

Does your business have to go as far as that? Of course not, it would be great if it did or could but there are plenty of other ways to incorporate customers into the brand. Do you have customer testimonials framed all over the store space? Challenges that result in publicly celebrated certificates or rewards for customers if they accomplish such feats (who can handle the pizzeria's legendary slice challenge)? Is part of the menu a result of customer suggestions? How did it solve a problem for the customer (solving plan-less dinner nights for a long, long time)? Is the topping selection fully based on customer input? Etc.

2. Participate Locally

Majority of small businesses are tied to a location (or more than one). Whether you have a storefront or work from an office (or from home), all businesses have somewhere they belong. It is imperative to be involved in your community to some extent.

Having collaborated with dozens of small business thus far, it is evident that majority of them are involved in their community. From local hockey team sponsorships, food drives to having a group of team members run a charity marathon. In all instances the organization and it's employees were doing this to help those in need or support their community.

However, few had actually mentioned their involvement anywhere. This type of local engagement can have a huge part in building up your brand's DNA both internally (employees) and externally (customers). You do not need to have fancy press releases or news stories written in the local newspaper (although it wouldn't hurt) each and every time. You simply need to snap a photo, share it with others, include it in your messaging and get your employees to participate in the share culture. You will be amazed at how engaged your brand will become.

Interestingly, according to a blog published on American Express small business blog the more local small business prosper the more they give back:

It’s not just about the economy: Research shows that vibrant local business communities lead to more charitable giving in a community and more walkable neighborhoods with unique character, according to Michael H. Shuman, an economist and author who specializes in community economics. - Kelly Spors

3. Be Genuine

"Corporate speak" as I refer to it is better left off the web and anything facing the customer really. In order to establish any sort of personality your brand has to establish a voice of it's own. Some brands have experimented with using slang terminology to resonate with their community, others simply tell it as is. Other use fun, interactive storyboards to guide the reader on a journey. Remember us mentioning the corporate timeline above? We'll take a look at Moz's timeline and how they made it fun, interactive and personal (use of their mascot and employee photos - see screenshot below).

One of my personal favourites is a local brewery here in Ontario: Steam Whistle Brewing. They cover everything about the brand: from the founder's original dreams long before the brewery became what it is today to the reason they chose that specific name, check it out here. Nothing fancy, but it gives meaning to the beer for all lovers of local brews.

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So, now that we've covered the basics of brand storytelling do you know what is your business' brand personality? If you're not sure, are you going to work on one?

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Unknown Monday, January 04, 2016  

Lead Generation: You're Ready to Sell, They're Not Ready to Buy. What Now?

Lead generation is what it's all about at the end of the day: all business owners and marketing professionals essentially want to increase leads or opportunities for creating repeat customers or new business.

However, what happens when you are ready to sell the product and/or service but the lead (potential/returning customer) is not ready to make a purchase just yet? I recently had unpleasant experiences both offline and online with organizations forcing sales when I wasn't ready to purchase. It was these experiences which motivated me to dig deep into this topic by writing this post, hopefully shedding light on the new lead nurturing etiquette which seems to be gaining higher relevancy in our ever evolving B2B, B2C and P2P (person to person) interactions.

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A Bit of Context

In-Store XP
About a month or so ago, I visited a furniture retail store with my girlfriend to look at potential pieces for my long-overdue transition into home ownership. As soon we stepped into the store we were greeted by a sales associate - asking if we required any assistance, informing us of the current sales promotions and to come see him should we have any questions. Great - we had a person for all my answers. We thanked him for the introduction and told him that at this point we are just looking around and getting ideas, not purchasing anything.

Unfortunately, as we began to walk through the furniture show room we noticed that we were being shadowed by that same person - every section we went to, he was creepily walking behind us. When we would look over our shoulder he would pretend to be looking at, or fixing up the arrangement of some nearby furniture products. As I began to have discussions with my girlfriend about what would look good - he would jump in our personal conversations and try to tell us what would work.

As we were leaving the store, the sales associate told us that if we left a deposit NOW we could get it back even if we change our mind later on. No thank you - our response. Yet, he kept selling: if we left our deposit now he would try to get free shipping if we spent $450 or more dollars. No thank you - our response yet again. Both of us left the store feeling creeped out, uncomfortable and unsatisfied.

As a matter of fact we found dinning furniture which we thought would work - but decided later on to buy from another store with a similar style that actually cost more in price. Why? Their sales associate's introduced themselves - let us figure out what we want, and essentially we came back to them to make the purchase. They did not try to force it on us, they were there when they needed to be...and gave us space when we needed it. As a matter of fact, we tried to get free shipping or a price discount - which were pleasantly denied by the furniture store. We still bought the furniture!

Online Store XP
Free stuff - who doesn't like to receive it? Particularly when its downloading stock photography, for 7 days. That's right - there was an offer to download ANY of the images of a certain stock image website for 7 days, at absolutely no cost. Great sales tool - I sign up, give my personal information and join there lead funnel...I on the other hand, get to check out their photography, try it out on a trial period and see if it would work as a long-term solution. Sounds like a match made in heaven right? Not so much...

After the 2nd day, I found that the images were decent - but not exactly up to par of some of the other popular stock photography websites. I downloaded images for about 2 days and decided to unsubscribe and remove myself not only from the free offer, but from the email promotions and newsletters which they started to send me. To my surprise, the emails still kept coming - I unsubscribed again and went to my "online profile" where I removed myself from ALL email communications. Yet the emails kept coming. I had to block the address in my email account, yet again that was not the end of it!

A day after blocking the messages, I had a sales associate email me directly asking if I would take a 75% discount on an annual membership...a "special offer" just for me. I blocked that email address as well. My inbox was full of spam messages and I have been completely turned off from downloading any images from their web store - whether free or at a significant discount.

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Sell Smarter: Help, Inform and Educate

So, what does any of this actually have to do with this lead generation? Everything. These are not just rants of an unsatisfied prospect; these experiences are far too common in the age of personalized communication, customer knowledge and social interactions.

Having the right tools or interactions at a specific time in the buyer process will be the determining factor in actualizing a transaction (or whatever the ultimate goal may be). As someone who has unsubscribed from a FREE offer and the email communication, would I have really fit the criteria of a qualified sales prospect? I have indicated my lack of interest - which should eliminate me from the funnel, helping the company focus on other leads which exhibit higher potential.

Here are alternative options that can and should be utilized as opposed to forcing promotions and hard sales offers down prospect's attention span:

Newsletter Sign Up

If done correctly (example of what NOT to do illustrated in the story above), email newsletters can be a great way to keep potential leads informed and engaged while they build up to a purchase. If a prospect willingly opts into your email communications it means that they are interested in learning more - keep your newsletters informative with customer reviews, success stories, newest developments, etc. Going beyond just promotional pricing and discount specials can increase the level of engagement. The more you teach the prospect, the more likely they are to stick with your brand.

Download Our _______________ for Free

How I would have preferred for the furniture sales associate to suggest downloading a "Design Guide" based on their latest furniture items instead of trying to force discounts to close the sale. Much, much more!

The blank can be filled in with any educational or informative materials useful to the prospect:
- Customer Success Stories
- Guides
- Infographics
- EBooks (like this one we've created for improving small business SEO)
- Whitepapers
- Presentations
- Checklists

Depending what your organization specializes in and what prospect interests are, these downloadable materials can vary. Could consist of a combination of more than one, an in-depth ebook or even a simple template to make their decision process easier.

Encourage Event Participation

Majority of the world is in some way active on social media - they can be connected to your brand if you give them reason to do so. Are you currently running a contest? Giveaway? Do you reward people who actively engage with your social media outlets?

How awesome would it be if users got perks for sharing stuff on a brand's Facebook page? Not only would the engagement increase for the brand, but the audience would be more connected, increasing the likelihood of achieving set goals...and most importantly establishing long-term interactions. Again, the difference is centered around the user experience NOT sales rep salesmanship.

Have Fun

This is a hard one for small business owners who are not comfortable with social interactions and newer ways of interacting with prospects. I was recently working on a social media overview webinar with a small business marketer and after mentioning that social media should be fun, even in B2B organizations their response was surprising: "That scares me - I always think of men and women in business suites at a meeting table. How do you have have fun when you're trying to close business?"

Easy: how do you have fun outside of work? Post funny stuff, center your campaigns around humorous content, instead of pricing promotions - include funny content as part of your email communications. Believe it or not, business owners or "upper management" are people too. They enjoy the same types of laughs as the rest of the world - of course you have to be careful not to step over the line with certain material. Keep it friendly, fun and share-able! Good example below from Stone Temple Consulting using cats for their SEO round-up news called "Caturday" on Google+ (cats, puns and SEO information = great combo):

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You may be asking yourself: that is a lot of effort to just nurture a lead that MIGHT buy something...is it really worth it? It absolutely is, the same argument can be made for sales associates: they are not guarantee to close a sale. Similarly, this content and new way of lead generation does not necessarily replaces a sales person - they can work together to provide the right assistance at the right time. This ensures that your brand is always present for the prospect, not in a sense of sales messages but informative engagement where they are learning something new, useful and helpful.

Shift the focus from TELLING someone why to buy and HELP them make a decision on their own. The landscape has already shifted to a customer-centric interactions, has your brand?

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Unknown Tuesday, August 05, 2014  

8 Commonly Overlooked Digital Marketing Efforts

So you have put together an awesome blog post - comes with plenty of visuals, original ideas and it even has a video as part of the write-up. It is published and "online" for everyone to see, but yet there is no one coming to the post. You may be asking yourself: why is my digital content not being seen?

Image courtesy of KROMKRATHOG / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It is easy to get caught up in finishing a really good piece of content and just expecting results to come on their own. There are a number of digital marketing efforts that accompany every piece of content created, whether that's a blog post, video, mobile app, whitepaper, ebook, etc. I recently finished up reading Youtility - a great book covering effective online marketing. One key concept that stuck with me was the fact that online marketing does not have a finish line - it is an ongoing endeavor that has to become a part of everyday tasks.

Here is a useful list of items that are usually overlooked when creating content online. The list takes into consideration efforts necessary before and after the content is put together - covering all the important factors of successful engagement and reach. For the purpose of this post we will mainly focus on blog posts - but these efforts apply to all branded content being produced.

1. Goal Setting

The first and foremost step in any marketing strategy; making sure that you have set measurable goals. What is the purpose of your blog post? Most of the time it is to educate, inform or provide some type of benefit to the readers - but how can you connect those goals to performance?

Image courtesy of bplanet / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Put together both qualitative (quality of comments, location of readers,etc) and quantitative (links from other bloggers, number of views, etc.) measures that directly relate to your goal. Having benchmarks can help you evaluate your content marketing. This way you eliminate any guess work from your reporting and know ahead of time what type of analytical information you will be focusing on.

2. Research

After you have established measurable goals, it is important to research not only the topic you will be writing about but your potential audience. Do they prefer to engage with videos more than images? Will an e-book or infographic be better suited to present the information? Most of the time it is not a clear cut answer, and in many instances it may require a combination of different visual components.

Image courtesy of KROMKRATHOG / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Another thing to keep in mind is your topic - did you do SEO research on it and focused on keywords that will help your post be easily searchable? Take the time to optimize your content to what your audience is actually searching for as opposed to what you think the audience is searching for. You would be surprised at some of the topics or terminology that is being searched once you actually do the research!

3. Accessibility

Late last year we outlined a number of items on SMBs Holiday Marketing Wishlist, but the main one that applies to this point is responsive design. You don't have to read a blog post to know that mobile devices are furiously taking over our daily lives, including business interactions. Having a blog post that is easily view-able on an iPad and a BlackBerry is important (and all other devices).

If you do not make it accessible across various devices and operating systems you could be losing a lot of audience members. It would be a shame to have that great blog post go unnoticed because it impossible to view on a smartphone or different browser (anyone still use Internet Explorer? You betcha!).

4. Shareability

The best marketing or branding is word of mouth, is it not? So having a blog post that cannot be easily shared can cause a problem in the digital alternative "click to share" concept. Have social media share buttons readily available on your post, embed code for all your infographics, pin buttons on images, etc.

Image courtesy of Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Convenience is key, the easier you make it for someone to share your content the more likely it will be shared. The level of quality matters as well, but putting extra work on the audience to share will only discourage any action.

5. Marketing Your Marketing

Another great mention in Youtility is the concept of "marketing your marketing" - meaning that you do not stop at just putting the new blog post live, but that that you share it across all of your channels. Do you have a newsletter? Is it included there? Part of your website? Guest blogging on a relevant blog? Be sure to get the word out in as many ways as possible (without spamming) and increase your reach.

Informing your audience in offline channels can also be beneficial, while most of our focus is on digital branding - taking an integrated approach is ultimately the best option. Have your blog post as part of your in-store signage, get all employees involved and encourage them to share with customers if its appropriate.

By doing this you will actively increase the chances that the content is seen, shared and engaged. It is no longer left to chance but is strategically launched to your community.

6. Listening and Following Up

Don't talk AT your community, talk WITH them. Believe it or not even the most recognized brands do not have the answer to all of the burning questions that some people may have. If someone posts an informative comment that expands on the post - why not thank them? Invite them to do a guest-post? Perhaps your organization can do a follow-up post to the first one based on those comments.

The worst thing that can happen is for people to leave this feedback or appreciation to just "sit there" without directly responding. The purpose is to be engaging - setup notifications and monitor your content to know precisely when something new comes up. This way you can respond accordingly and connect with your audience when the time is right.

7. Measuring Performance

Remember the first point? We'll here it is again coming back to haunt you. After all is said and done, if you do not have anything to measure against all of the above mentioned effort can seem worthless. Seeing the progression and exceeding your goals can be a rewarding experience. Alternatively, falling short of your goals is a great way to learn what worked and what didn't, where there is room for improvement and what can be implemented in real-time to make sure that goals are attained.

Image courtesy of jannoon028 / FreeDigitalPhotos.ca

Keep track of content performance, connect analytics data to goals and measure the success of your digital branding.

8. Repurposing (or Reimagining) and Improving Accordingly

Content Rules, another great book written on online marketing, introduces a great concept of repurposing or reimagining your content. If your blog post was a huge hit with the audience, why not create an e-book out of it? Perhaps it could be upgraded to an infographic if it was written some time ago. Could you turn it into a mobile app? After you have had a chance to listen to your audience and measure against your goals, you can improve the content and let your audience guide it in the right direction.

The possibilities are usually endless if the content is of good quality, useful and engaging. Repurposing lets you cycle through your content without discarding it - making it easier on your content creation and time management.

After all you never know what can happen, maybe this post ends up in a whitepaper one day?

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Unknown Tuesday, April 08, 2014