Strategy Avenue

Marketing The Story

The other day I received an email message from a former ad agency (Paragraph) that I used to do some work with....I thought it was worth sharing....

"Marketing isn't about the media. Marketing is about the message. If marketing were just about media, all brands would thrive equally.

The key to thriving in this day and age comes from knowing who you are, doing what you do best, and crafting a compelling story that defines your difference. Your story is your foundation. It's what makes you authentic, and what allows others to believe in and identify with your brand. And when the story is good enough, unique enough, and the experience lives up to it, the story gets passed on. You see; good stories are what resonate. They spread themselves sustainably, with little facilitation or force. And when channeled appropriately, they move within their target audiences, motivating action, and taking your brand further, faster.

With all the tactics to choose from, it's easy to be tempted. Resist. Be deliberate in your every action and interaction. Say no when it doesn't make sense for your brand. It's the most important thing you have.

So, as we say time and time again, focus on your brand, its story, its offering, and its audiences. Then, develop an effective communications strategy that supports your foundation, and select only the tactics and channels that build your brand and strengthen its bond, favorably, not fashionably. And when you do that, you'll find that your story spreads, your momentum builds, and your brand succeeds.

Are you working on developing your story?

Make Richard Dawson Proud

Would you like to know what you clients are thinking about your business? Have you ever considering asking them their opinions in a follow up survey? Have you ever dared to survey? Have you ever thought of repeating Family Feud host Richard Dawson's famous words "Survey says" when thinking about your client base? Surveys are an important method when attempting to learn more about your clients or even for the clients that got away.

In developing a survey there are couple steps that you should consider before picking up the phone or sending out an email blast. If you going to survey, take a step back and plan. Think about if you would like to send out a survey to a target population all at once or perhaps make it a regular practice. For example, 10 days after every sale send out an email survey to your clients to measure their satisfaction.

Surveys can be overly complicated. Marketers can be obsessed with sample sizes and wanting to make their survey statistically valid. There are plenty of tools to help you with the statistics and the how to come up with the appropriate sample size so no worries there-the one thing to take away from this post is that conducting a survey can be key in learning what's on people's minds.

Things to consider:

1).-Start with the end in mind-what do you hope to accomplish by a survey and what do you want to know

2). Who will get the questions-who is on your "marketing list" for the survey?

3). What questions will you ask?

4). How will you ask them? Multiple choice, true/false or open ended questions?

5). Ask the questions- Will you interview a client over the phone, email, or send a postcard? Will method will get the most responses?

6). Study the responses and take action

Some useful tools to help you in developing your survey are Constant Contact, Survey Monkey, and Zoomerang.

So, to get you in the mood to go out and survey...he's a little Richard Dawson...

Knowing The Market (In order to Market)

As I walked our little dog Art this afternoon, I found myself thinking about what the people in our neighborhood are like...who are they? what do they do? are they native to this area? or from another state and here for a job or career?

If you a a frequent visitor to the Strategy Avenue blog, you have heard us talk about finding your target market. Who are the people that are going to hire you for your photography services? Are they young or old? Do they have the means to pay for the service (wealth/income)? (A little shameless plug: Check out our target marketing dvd in the new Path to a Business Plan)

In marketing, especially direct marketing such as sending mail, newsletters, emails, or postcards-the list is KING. You need to have a good list in order to yield results. One way to start to develop a good list is to know what demographic of people make up an area.

A new tool that we found is called My Best Segments. Simply type in your zip code and it will provide some interesting stats on who lives in that area.

Knowledge is power.

Words

In the photography business, it is usually all about the image. But have you ever considered what someone thinks when they read through the copy on your web site?

Constant Contact had an interesting post on their blog the other day regarding best copywriting procedures.

Here's the skinny:
Before writing copy for your web site answer 5 questions:
1) Who am I writing for?
2) What is the mindset of my audience?
3) What are the challenges they are facing?
4) What action do I want readers to take as a result of my email? (visit my site, buy my book, sign up for a free consultation, etc.)
5) What do I want them to feel or think after reading my email?

Once you have answered these 5 questions, you are ready to start writing copy for your web site.

Some other lessons learned:
- Number One Rule of Writing Copy: Remember it’s “You” not “we”...it is about the visitor to your site and not about you

- Use power words & avoid weak words

- Make your copy visually appealing – Most readers scan before they commit to reading. Make it easy for them to find the important information by using:

* Short paragraphs
* Subheads
* Bold and underline
* Bullet points

Some good pointers from Constant Contact-there's power in words and in images.

PS-speaking of words-here's a new favorite quote I just found by Thomas Swick:

Journeys don’t spare us; they drag us through the raw on our way to the sublime.
And it’s often memories of the former that last the longest.

Spreading The News

Many photographers, including my favorite, have a blog to share the news about their business. Perhaps the news is about a studio or storefront grand opening and you want to alert the news media. You may even have donated your time and services to a special charity that you would like to help share their mission and good deeds with people. Well, a blog is a great way to share the news, but so is drafting and sending out well written press releases.

What is a Press Release?

"A press release or, news release as it is also called, is a condensed article that is written in a journalistic style.  A press release is not a sales document, resume, or an advertisement.  The purpose of the news release is to highlight what is interesting and newsworthy about your company or organization.  This can include announcing product releases, new services, or drama within your market."  - PR  Web

There are many great services now out there for businesses looking to send press releases. One of the tools out there is PR Web. They even have a helpful template that can be used when drafting your news. The template can be found HERE.

If you are looking to go with a cost effective method in spreading the news, there are some good low-cost distribution programs. Another way is to identify and collect the contact information for reporters and the "connectors" in your community. By spreading the good news about your business and those you work with - and doing it the right way- you can increase your bottom line.

Brillant Branders and the Wolf Criers

Found an interesting article that came to me from the Real Estate industry the other day. It outlined the top five brillant brands and the 5 wolf criers- or companies that try to live up to their brand promise but fall short. What I found interesting in this article was about how the top brands focus on the customer experience. From everything from when someone enters their store to how a customer is greeted on the phone to how a product is presented to the client.

As photographers, and especially for those that have retail or meeting spaces-do we focus on the total customer experience? This is everything from not only the images that your present to a clients but to how the music is played in your meeting space and even the smell in the air. Sounds silly, but true. Have you taken look at your total customer experience lately?

Read through this list and try to pick up on the things that make some companies brillant branders and others just simply wolf criers.

Article can be found HERE.

Brillant Branders:
1). Saturn
2). Ben & Jerry's
3). Costco
4). Wegmans Food Markets
5). Starbucks

Wolf Criers:
1). Time Warner
2). Red Cross
3). Sears
4). Song Airlines
5). Dell

For more information, check out the book

Willy Wonka Meets Juan Valdez

I was catching up on some business news while I was waiting to pick Laura up at Philadelphia airport. In the Business section, I noticed an article about Starbucks and The Hershey Company. It detailed the new product development and distribution agreement that the two companies just inked. Bottomline of the deal-you'll be seeing a new chocolate drink in Starbucks and will be able to eat Hershey's chocolate in the coffeeshops-works for me.

Things to think about from this deal:

1) Can you find a partner that offers a product or service that compliments your photography? Maybe a children's clothing line or a wedding dress shop?

2) In reading the PRESS RELEASE notice how they relate to visiting a Starbucks as the Starbucks experience. What's the experience of visiting your studio space? What music greets the clients? Scents? Images?

Telling A Story-"Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish"

There a is a blog written by Guy Kawasaki that I check every once and while. It usually has some great tidbits such as presentation advice or marketing suggestions.

He recently posted about a new book called Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing by Lois Kelly. In his review of the book, Guy reminds us of the importance of telling stories when dealing with the marketing our products or services.

One of the types of stories that he outlines is a personality story. Guy reminded me of an address given by Steve Jobs at Stanford University in 2005.

In celebration of Laura getting her iPhone, I thought it would be appropriate to share with you this address. It is entitled "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" and I think after reading it, you'll make more of your decisions based on hope and not fear and you'll gan an appreciation for sharing personal stories.

Read it HERE.

Watch it HERE.

Enjoy-

what makes you different?

As small business owners, and as photographers, it's so important to understand and be able to articulate exactly what it is that makes you different: your Unique Selling Proposition or your USP. Being able to answer this question quickly, succinctly and with assured confidence is a significant challenge. But it's also a great way to be able to describe what you do and how that is different than your competition.

In the last few weeks I have encountered photographers in my area, both directly and indirectly, attempt to differentiate themselves from me in very ineffective ways.

Some strategies for creating good differentiators are:

- Avoid discrediting a competing photographer in any way whatsoever. Putting other people down just makes you look small and it's not a good way to build relationships. In the past week I have had competing photographers speak negatively about my business - some directly and some indirectly - for reasons ranging from the fact that I don't have children to that I don't have a Master Photographer certification from PPA. silliness!

- When determining what makes you different begin with your vision, look at your market research, review your marketing plan and align your Unique Selling Proposition to that vision

- Think about what you do that is really great, that your clients, friends and family constantly compliment you for. Whether it's lighting, creativity, forming relationships, documenting moments, post production skills... and incorporate that into your 30-second sell.

As you think about your USP, take a few minutes to craft your pitch so the next time you are at a party, you know exactly how to tell someone what makes you different!

Working the Room

Here at Strategy Avenue, we keep an eye out for interesting tips and advice from various industries. We feel that there are some great demonstrated practices out there and why not learn from them to help our photography businesses.

Yesterday, as Laura was up wedding dress shopping in NYC, I attended a nonprofit meeting here in Wilmington. I walked into the room and knew one or two faces among a crowd of 75 to 80 people....Ever have that feeling at an industry event or convention. Well, have no fear because hours before I went to the event I found the following advice:

Eight Great Strategies for Working Any Room
By Susan RoAne

Walking into a room full of people, especially strangers, is daunting for 93% of American adults. Yet, our careers, businesses and social lives are enhanced by our ability to create visibility -- which is great P.R. -- as we meet, mingle, interact and make connections. For 18 years, How To Work A Room continues to be the resource for the busy professional who has to attend events. These eight strategies will work for you in any room.

Read Name Tags. As you extend your hand and introduce yourself, use the person's name. Name tags provide material for conversation about that person. Wear yours on the right hand side. It's the line of sight with an extended handshake.

Reintroduce Yourself to People. If you forgot their name, most likely they forgot yours. People generally respond in kind and then no one has to struggle with forgotten names. Come prepared with 7-9 second pleasantry that is tied to the event.

Look for the White-Knuckled Drinker. Whether it's club soda or wine, the shy, uncomfortable person who has the glass gripped so tightly would welcome your conversations.

Attend Events with a "Buddy." Choose someone in a non-competitive field and cross-promote as you introduce each other.

Warning: Be sure to choose a companion who will introduce you with the same level of enthusiasm that you have demonstrated. And avoid being velcroed together as people won't interrupt two people who are involved in a conversation.

Extricate and Circulate. According to Miss Manners, one must learn to end conversations. "Well it was great to talk to you about..." Summarize the main thrust of your chat...and move about one quarter of the room away. No sense in standing in the same area near the person you just left. Find another solo or...join a group. Stand on the periphery of the group and when acknowledged, step in.

Allow for Serendipity. It is the unexpected bonus that happens to you because of good timing. Because... "Ya Never Know!" which is my theory of marketing, meeting and mingling.

Have Fun! People are attracted to others who are enjoying themselves. A sense of humor will help you manage and survive myriad situations because laughter is a great medicine.

BONUS Tip: Leave your tools and toys of technology out of sight or in the off or vibrate position. The message you give when you "work" a room with your Bluetooth attached to your ear is that no one you are talking to is as important as whoever may call you. That leaves an impression but not the one you may want to make.