You are your brand

Yesterday I had a fabulous meeting with Jo King (AKA Goodtime Mama JoJo of London Academy of Burlesque fame).

Jo is a good friend and also my co-presenter for our new workshop: ‘Simply The Best – 10 ways to present yourself and your business as the stars that you are’ which we are running in June this year under the new banner of The Entrepreneurs’ Finishing School (more about that later!).

The Fabulous Jo King
We spent a lot of time talking about why we wanted to run this event, and it all comes down to one thing: YOU are your brand. This is true for all businesses, but even more important for small businesses and ‘solopreneurs’.

This is because your customer’s experience has so much to do with the impression that you create (e.g. do you look professional/trustworthy/fun/caring?), how you treat them (e.g. how long do you take to return their calls? Do you ever do anything extra for them as a ‘thank you’?), and how you react to their problems (e.g. How do you make it up to them when a mistake happens?).

It’s not rocket science, but a lot of people don’t understand how to translate this to their own appearance and behaviour.

If you want a masterclass in how to present yourself and your brand as ‘stars’ come to our workshop, and if you want a few key pointers that you can implement now, read this week’s tip below.

this week’s tip: you are your brand

Your customers are always judging you, on your work, on your pricing, on your appearance, on your behaviour, and on the way that you treat them. These are all important parts of your business brand.

You may have thought that your brand was just your logo and corporate colour scheme, but that’s only a small part of it.

Because you are your own brand, you have to make sure that every element is in place and gives the message that you want it to.

Here’s 3 steps to help you do this:

1. Identify what the values of your business brand are. Is it funny, thoughtful, professional, trustworthy, engaging, caring, focused, modern, traditional, or something else entirely?

2. Take an honest look at yourself and assess how closely your current appearance and manner fit your business brand. For example: if you create funky shoes, do you wear your own creations – or something more boring? If your website says that your office is ‘friendly’ do you always make time to chat to clients when they call?

3. Now look at how closely your appearance and manner resembles that of your competition. What can you do to make yourself stand out? Are you the solicitor that always wears the bright shirts, or the virtual assistant who gives her clients and contacts personalised chocolate bars as gifts?

If you can bring all this together, you will be aligning yourself more closely with your business brand, and your customers will have a much stronger connection to both you and your work.

A big blow-up!

The news has been so full of the volcano, and the resulting travel chaos, this week that you could be forgiven for thinking that nothing else is happening in the world.

One thing that I’ve noticed when watching the coverage is that the stranded travelers have been complaining more about lack of information than about the inconvenience of being stuck somewhere else.

This is a prime example of the way that a company’s crisis response affects their customers’ experience, and thereby their reputation and their brand.

If you do it right, a crisis is actually a way to improve your standing with your customers, not destroy it and this week’s tip tells you how.
 
this week’s tip: keep them informed 
 
Lack of information is so frustrating. People understand that mistakes, accidents and disasters happen, but unless you keep them informed, then they won’t cut you the slack you deserve.
 
There are 3 key things to do:
 
1. Be fast – as soon as you think there may be a problem. Let your client know and tell them what you are doing about it. This helps to manage their expectations.
 
2. Be honest – if the problem is the result of an error on your part, so say, and explain what the error was.
 
3. Be generous – do everything that you can to put the problem right. Your customers will love you for going the extra mile.
 
If you get this right, you will find that you get MORE testimonials and referrals as the result of your mistake, rather than less.

Where There’s a ‘Woof’ There’s a Way

Well, imagine how excited I was when one of my friends posted on facebook that she’d run into him in Soho Square! She even got to talk to him and posted photos as well.

If you don’t know who he is, Cesar Milan is called in by owners of problem dogs, and he usually has the dog (and the owners) under his spell within a few seconds.

Cesar is amazing at both dog AND human psychology – and this is what you need to get good at if you want to market your business effectively.

What Cesar does is focus on the result that he wants (specific behaviour from the dog), and uses language that the dog understands (e.g mirroring their body language) in order to communicate this request.

If you do the same for your business you’ll have your clients “rolling over” and “begging for more” in no time!

Marketing Tip:  Use Psychology to Drive Results.

First, start with identifying the behavior you want from your potential client. Define exactly what you want them to do (sign up for your list, book a place on a course, purchase a specific product).

Second, think about what mental and emotional states would drive them to take that action.

Third, work out how you can put that person in that state.

Remember: like Cesar you will need to be communicating to this client using their own language. For example what are the ways in which this client communicates? How formal/ informal do you need to be? Do they prefer face to face meetings or email contact? Do they need to hear you speak about your product or would they rather have the information written down?

We all have our preferred ways of taking in information. Take the time to find out what your clients will best respond to.