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Entries categorized as ‘Branding’

How to Find Out if Your Brand is Bland

March 10, 2010 · Leave a Comment

I subscribe to “Trendwatching.”  If you don’t you should.  This is a terrific resource for marketers, business owners and executives at all levels and in all industries.  Trendwatching is an organization dedicated to doing exactly what the name implies — watching trends, naming trends and reporting on them to those who don’t have the time or expertise to synthesize all the information.

They use a variety of ways to collect this information — mostly by having feet on the ground all over the world who self report.  But this is the first time I’ve seen this kind of information collection and I’m going to show you a series of them over the next week so that you can not only see these powerful presentations – but get some ideas about how you can use this methodology for yourself.

The key in each of these video presentations in the series is the question they ask – and their collection methodology.  With a few basic clicks of a video editor – they’ve pulled together a powerful case for trends and brands.

Would Customers Say These Things About YOUR Brand?

In this video’s consumers are asked the simple question of “What phone do you use?”  For several minutes peole for all over the world respond.

  • What pattern do you see in phones?
  • What phone brands are conspicuously absent from the video and the responses?
  • If you were to create one of these for your own brand – what question would you ask?  What would you expect to hear or see?

Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

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Categories: Branding
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Submit Your Articles to QuestionPro to Build Your Brand TODAY

February 19, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Over the last few months, you’ve probably noticed that our QuestionPro blog articles come from a variety of experts.  We’re not just about market research or online surveys — we’re about customer feedback, customer experience and so much more.

We’d love to have more of our readers become our guest experts!

Guest Posting is A Great Way to Get Your Brand and Expertise Visible

Used to be that simply getting your blog listed on another “popular” blog’s blogroll was enough to build traffic to your site.  These days, that doesn’t seem to be as popular as guest posting.

At a time when good content is hard to come by – guest posting is a wonderful way to get your brand and expertise noticed by others.  Think of it as an “advertorial”; an educational ad that you post for FREE on a related blog or site.

You may have noticed that I’ve been using guest posts recently to feature services and tools that my readers might find interesting.  It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.  The guest writer gets some added visibility to a new audience and I get interesting content written by an expert in a particular area.

If you’re a new blogger or have recently gone into business, try reaching out to other bloggers in a related industry and ask if you can post articles on their site.

Hints for Great Guest Posts

  1. Educate – Don’t Sell. This is an opportunity to educate a new audience about your expertise.  You are selling by virtue of being included in the blog.  There is no need to over-do it.
  2. Keep it Conversational. Keep your tone friendly and conversational.  Pretend that you are sitting at a bar with a friend and just sharing information that they will find helpful.
  3. Offer links and examples.  Show examples of what you are talking about so that the audience can get a sense of context.  In other words – help them choose.
  4. Provide an “About the author” bio.  Create  a super-short About the Author bio to include with your article.  It should contain no more than two sentences about who you are and what you do as well as a link.  It’s best to provide a link to a blog where they can read other articles – but a web site will do.

Now you’re ready to start promoting yourself, your company and your brand.  Reach out to your favorite blogs and contribute content – you’ll be surprised at how open people are to learn about what you offer.

How to Start Contributing to QuestionPro Blog

It’s easier than ever to submit your articles and article ideas.  

In the right-hand column, you’ll see that we’ve created a button that will take you to a quick and easy form that you can use to tell us about your article and send us your contact information.

I will get back to you and we can work out the details of your article and when we can publish it.

QuestionPro has over hundreds of thousands of customers.  Every time we run a report and receive the results in an e-mail, we also receive the latest blog post.

This is a terrific opportunity to educate and inform the QuestionPro community about your area of expertise.

We only ask that you contribute original content and that you focus on educating and informing and NOT SELLING.  We will not publish any articles that are pure promotion.

Categories: Branding

Customer Feedback Programs to Implement in 2010

January 11, 2010 · 2 Comments

Are you STILL doing surveys the old fashioned way?  While most traditional methods have their benefits, there are many other new and improved ways to collect customer feedback that will enhance your relationships with customers AND your profitability.

In this article, I’m going to outline some of the wonderful methods I’ve used with clients over the last year and where I can, I will also share some of the programs that we implemented as a result and what those results were.

Reassess Your Strengths and Brand Promise

Companies are a lot like people and go through life stages.  Not only that, but economic environments and technologies change and this causes your organization to change in ways you may not have noticed.  It’s a good idea to have a branding and positioning expert come in (someone from the outside who doesn’t really know your company) and interview your employees, management and associates over a few days.  Their objective should be to get a general feeling for the personality of your company.

Customers have personalities and literally take on the human idiosyncrasies like detail orientation, sociability, extroversion, introversion, and so on.   That stands to reason since companies are made up of people and are led by people with preferences for certain ways of doing business.  These personality traits attract a certain type of customer who sees value in that.  But what often happens, is that we are all too close to things and lose sight of what that special sauce is that our company has that attracts out ideal customers.  This is why an internal brand assessment is such a good idea.

I recently conducted an internal brand assessment with a new client.  While they were clearly aware of their natural tendency to please the customer and do whatever it takes to make them happy.  They weren’t quite sure how to differentiate themselves in that area.  We are currently in the process of documenting all the things they do “naturally” and are testing these “services” against what’s important to the customers and what value that has.

You can do the same thing.  Simply create a list of attributes and use the “Importance/Satisfaction” question type to test which of these attributes has the most value to your customers.  This will show you exactly which attributes to feature and focus on and how to price appropriately.  You can take this one step further and ask your customers what other providers they use and have them rate their satisfaction with that provider across those same attributes.  This will uncover those two or three attributes where your organization is strongest.  Sell to that competitive strength and you will know why they should choose you.

Use Social Media Like  a Focus Group

Focus groups can get expensive.  But you actually have a focus group of customers chatting about all kinds of things — even your product online.

Use www.search.twitter.com to search on key words to your business and start following the people who are chatting about your industry or your company.  Search on your company name or products and services that you offer and see what real-time words your customers and users are using.

Use IdeaScale as a way to gather new product and service opportunities that come straight from your customers’ experiences.  There is a wonderful widget that you can cut and paste onto your own web site and then watch the user ideas come pouring in.  I’ve used IdeaScale as a way to build involvement and even generate PR by keeping customers informed of new features and products that have been developed from their ideas.

If you haven’t started a Facebook Fan Page for your company – do it NOW.  Connect that facebook fan page to your web site and be sure to ask your customers to join your fan page.  Make sure that you post links from your web site and your blog to the fan page to inform customers about new things going on in your company.  Another wonderful way to use this tool is to generate excitement.   Just look at what IKEA did to get customers involved and the word out.

Get Started TODAY

Don’t let another day go by without getting your customers involved in your business and getting feedback that’s honest, true and FREE.

About the Author: Ivana Taylor is CEO of Third Force, a strategic firm that helps small businesses get and keep their ideal customer. She’s the co-author of the book “Excel for Marketing Managers” and proprietor of DIYMarketers, a site for in-house marketers. Her blog is Strategy Stew.   You can reach her directly at Ivana@thirdforce.net.

Categories: Best Practice · Branding · Newsletter · customer research

Why You Should Read “Talk Less, Say More”

January 6, 2010 · Leave a Comment

In a world of ubiquitous communication, I thought it might be fun to see what was available at the other end of the communication spectrum.  And this is where I found “Talk Less, Say More: 3 Habits to Influence Others and Make Things Happen” by Connie Dieken.   This book was on my list of must-reads for 2009 and I hope that it will get on your list as well.

The first thing I thought of a couple of pages into this book was “This is a book about LISTENING!”  But I don’t think that “Learn How to Listen” has as much sizzle as “Talk Less, Say More” do you?   Who really wants a nagging re-hash of all the reasons why it’s better to keep your mouth shut and let other people talk?  No one!  What we all want is to get our way and make things happen.  And this is what Connie Dieken delivers.

Why We Should Listen to Connie Dieken

Connie Dieken has built a career around structuring information in a way that gets people to listen.  She is an award-winning former television news anchor, and an inductee of the Radio/Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame.  She is also the founder and President of onPoint Communication, where she has guided thousands of leaders from organizations like Apple, Olympus and McDonald’s to be more influential.  In other words, Connie knows how to inform and influence and audience.

It’s Easy to Read and Easy to Understand

This book consists of 160 pages of short, useful and applicable trade secrets about developing powerful content.  It’s so easy to read and use that I’ll bet you could read a chapter over coffee, apply what you’ve learned by noon and give a presentation that afternoon that will have them throwing budget money at your next project.

Connie practices what she preaches in the way the book is structured.  She frontloads as much of the concepts as she can, and then layers on the detail.  For example; there are three major sections of the book that are her “Connect – Convey – Convince” model.   So you already know how to become more influential and make things happen, just “Connect, Convey and Convince.”  Then there are four chapters under each section that tell you exactly how to connect, convey and convince.  By the time you’ve read the table of contents – you’re already half-way there.

This book is entertaining because it reads like a magazine.  Each section begins with “10 Signs You May Be a Weak…Connector, Convincer or Conveyor.”  This is a little quiz section that asks “Do You Do This?”  Where you get to go down the chapter lists and spot your weaknesses.  This way, you can target specific areas to read or you can simply do what I did and read the whole thing from start to finish.  There are also tips and exercises throughout the book to help you focus your message for maximum impact.

Each chapter is an excellent example of how to structure a message that’s short, sweet and effective.  The good news for you, as the reader, is that you could actually breeze through this book in one sitting.

Is this book for you?

This book is written for anyone who has to communicate with another person to get something done.  Well, I suppose that’s all of us.  More specifically, if you find yourself in meetings where you have to inform people and then get them to approve projects.   Perhaps you’re a sales person who is at the end of your rope and looking for new ways to increase sales.  Or you are a business owner who has to motivate a team to do less with more.  Maybe you are a parent, spouse or friend who is simply trying to be heard and understood by those around you.  All of these situations can be improved by having “Talk Less, Say More” at your side.

About the Author: Ivana Taylor is CEO of Third Force, a strategic firm that helps small businesses get and keep their ideal customer. She’s the co-author of the book “Excel for Marketing Managers” and proprietor of DIYMarketers, a site for in-house marketers. Her blog is Strategy Stew.   You can reach her directly at Ivana@thirdforce.net.

Categories: Branding

6 Simple Ways to Give Your Brand a Powerful Online Presence

December 25, 2009 · 1 Comment

Half of all new product revenues come from the introduction and early stages of a product’s life cycle.   But what about brands?  Can you create a whole new life cycle by re-launching your brand online?

Sure you can.  In fact brand managers have been working overtime on finding the best ways to keep their brands at your fingertips .  Here are some of the best online brand building tools and how you can use them to build a powerful brand presence online.

  1. Blogging:  Blogging isn’t just for individuals.  It’s a wonderful way to personalize and humanize a brand that’s being perceived as too big or too corporate.  The Wal-Mart brand has really taken a beating in that area over the years.  So when I ran into their blog a couple of years ago, I was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was to read and how truly informative the articles were.  As it turns out, the writers are all real-life buyers and their writing and bios show a real enthusiasm for their topic.  I actually left a comment with a question about a toy and almost fell off my chair when I got an e-mail from the writer with a direct link to where I could get this hard-to-find-toy!
  2. Microblogging (Twitter):  Now that Oprah has a Twitter account, we can be sure that Twitter has truly arrived as a “brand enhancement tool.”  Today’s consumers want a relationship with their brands.  They want to know that there are real people behind the products and services that they buy.  Best Buy’s Chief Marketing Officer, Barry Judge has his own blog and Twitters as “@BestBuyCMO” just looking at his Twitter stream makes me feel a little closer to the Best Buy brand.
  3. Online Videos (You Tube):  If you want to get your brand ranked highly on Google, then put up a video.  If your brand has “before and after” demonstration value, then you can’t afford NOT to use YouTube or post videos on your site.  You can’t mention using videos online without mentioning BlendTec’s Will it Blend Videos.  These videos are so popular and so viral because they do a fantastic job of BOTH being fun AND demonstrating the strength and features of the actual product.   Other ways to use video are to actually teach your customers how to use your product or service
  4. Social Networks (Facebook Fan Page or Group): Starting a group or a fan page on social networks like Facebook or LinkedIn is a wonderful way to get your customers to interact with each other about your brand and the ways in which your brand plays out in their lives.  Johnson and Johnson’s McNeil Pediatrics sponsors  a group on Facebook called ADHD Moms.  They provide a space for moms to share info and links to information for moms to share and reference.  You might think that creating a group on a third party site would dilute your brand, but that’s not true.  Creating groups and communities outside your web space actually grows your brand’s fan base.
  5. Widgets : If having your logo plastered on clothes, shoes and hats is cool, then having your widget appear on web sites and blogs is even cooler.   Wal-Mart has developed a series of recipe widgets.  These not only keep the brand name on your site – but also whet your appetite for goodies you can pick out at your local store.  Inexpensive, Viral, Practical, Communicates your value.  Excellent use of widgets to build brand.
  6. Crowdsourcing A great way to move your brand into the future is to use some of the crowdsourcing tools that are available such as UserVoice, Idea Scale or Suggestion Box.  Crowdsourcing lets your customers suggest what improvements or changes you will make next.  Starbucks was one of the first big global brands to launch crowdsourcing to its customer base through its My Starbucks Idea web site.  While it might seem frightening to put the fate of your brand in the hands of your customers, it’s not only an inexpensive way to collect ideas, but it gets your customers involved in the process as they vote ideas up or down.  It also serves as a marketing communications opportunity as Starbucks comments on the status of ideas as they are implemented.  Customers get to put their two cents in.  You get to save thousands and thousands of dollars in market research.  As their ideas are implemented, customers become loyal to your brand and refer it to their friends. Does it get any better than that?

Taking your brand online isn’t a choice any more. It’s a necessity.  The ways that you can bring your brand to life online are only limited by your creativity.  In fact, the technology that’s required to implement any of the tools I talked about here are mostly free or relatively low cost.  So there is no excuse to hold back.

About the Author: Ivana Taylor is CEO of Third Force, a strategic firm that helps small businesses get and keep their ideal customer. She’s the co-author of the book “Excel for Marketing Managers” and proprietor of DIYMarketers, a site for in-house marketers. Her blog is Strategy Stew.   You can reach her directly at Ivana@thirdforce.net.

Categories: Branding · Newsletter

3 ways to Magnetize People to Your Brand Using Social Media!

November 11, 2009 · 5 Comments

magnetYou’ve seen people with thousands of fans and followers on Twitter and Facebook. You’ve heard stories of people selling services and products and making money with Social Media but you haven’t been able to get any significant amount of followers or generate any interest, much less income, using these tools. You may be ready to shrug this Social Media thing off as a fad.

There are over 300 million users on Facebook alone, with the largest growing demographic being 35 and older.  It stands to reason that many of the people who are interacting or have to potential to encounter your brand off line are already on line.  Before you throw out this strategy as a complete waste of time, you may just need to tweak a few things to make your brand more attractive and draw people to you.

What separates brands that succeed from brands that fail is the ability to connect and engage.

Here are 3 ways to attract people to your brand:

Build Relevant Content

People don’t care about your brand, unless they feel that your brand cares about them. Position yourself as a resource to your Social Media friends, fans, followers and community by talking about what’s important to them, as it relates to what you do.  Successful brands take the talk beyond the product and branch out into conversations that relate peripherally to their brands.  Beverage companies talk about parties, insurance brands talk about safety and protecting what you care about most, PR brands talk about how to shine in the community. Social Media is a huge data mine. That’s one of it’s most amazing benefits. Not just data in the traditional sense, of how many people are looking at a site, but relevant data about how people think and feel.  If you listen carefully, you’ll be able to build content and have conversations that build trust and make you memorable.

Connect With Communities

To expand your network, so let everyone you know that you’re on Social Meda.  Promote your presence on your business cards, websites, other social media sites.  Let people know where they can find you.  Follow and engage your customers and people on Social Media.  Social Media is about conversations. Talk, listen, learn and respond.  Talk to people. Share what you think and know, as well as your content, products and services.  Balance sharing with promoting.  Listen to your customers and respond, show interest in what matters.  By interacting and engaging, you’ll be able to make the transition from a company on the outside; you’ll be a trusted member of the community.

Communicate with Consistency

Building and maintaining relationships requires consistency.  Once relationships are established, consistent communication within the communities is needed.  Be sure to communicate with your Social Media communities regularly.  This can be via a status update, blog post or content from other sources.  Setting up profiles and then going silent will cause followers to shift to more engaging brands.

About the Author: If you’ve ever wondered how you’re going to build your brand using social media, then pay attention to our our guest columnist today.  Staci J. Shelton is a social media expert and blogger who specializes in building and maximizing online relationships.

Categories: Branding · Newsletter · Uncategorized

Can You Create Delighted Customers With Just One Voice Mail?

October 28, 2009 · Leave a Comment

customer services representativeCan “being human” actually differentiate your business and  actually endear your customer to you?  Zane Safrit, the author of today’s guest post, gives a resounding “Yes!”  Check out his experience and see how you can tweak your customer interactions for the better.

Barb called me last week.  I was on the phone, so she left me a voice mail.  I started to smile almost from the start of her message.   Her voice was personal and conversational;  like a neighbor across the fence back when we had neighbors we knew and fences that kept us friends.  If she worked from a script it was a script she wrote. She got right to the point of her call: had I received her company’s mater ials.  She commented on Iowa; that she had a connection with Iowa and maybe we’d get to meet in person sometime. That told me she had prepared for the call by reviewing my profile.  She understood that there was a person behind that account number in their records.

I kept smiling as I listened. My wife asked “Who’s that?” I asked her to wait. I wanted to hear the whole message.  The next thing I knew,  I was laughing.  Her voice mail made laugh. Why? I was so happy to hear such a warm, personal and very professional voice mail.  ”Yes,”  I thought.  ”It is possible!”   Everything she said communicated not only her warmth but her confidence, and commitment, to her role and her company.  Barb and her message reinforced in a real and meaningful way the principles of her company.

Barb works for Kevin Eikenberry and the Kevin Eikenberry Group.  Her call in some respects was the standard follow-up call for a new customer.  I say ‘standard’ because good companies make this a standard practice.  But Barb and The Kevin Eikenberry Group transformed this standard tactic into something memorable.  I saved the voice mail.  It became something to celebrate.

How did they do that?  And more importantly, how can your company create this same kind of delight and enthusiasm with your customers?

It starts clarity.  Kevin is clear in creating and communicating his purpose with The Kevin Eikenberry Group.   That clarity makes it easier to hire people whose skills and talents, passions and strengths, align together.

Then the secret ingredient of great leadership is added: Trust.   Barb trusts that Kevin can honor his commitments. Kevin trusts Barb can honor her commitment.  Barb trusts herself.  She trusts what she says about her company. That’s why she can speak in her own words.  And maybe Kevin trusts Barb to add what only Barb can add; her great personality.

The Kevin Eikenberry Group is in the business of Leadership coaching.  And that might make you think that thsis type of phone experience is something they specialize in and that it’s just for those “fluffy” kinds of companies.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Leadership coaching is not a commoditized industry. Even if it were, The Kevin Eikenberry Group would stand out. They would remain a standout in their customer’s minds with the personal attention of Barb.

But what about your industry? How do you differentiate yourself from the hordes of competitors driving your industry into commodity-hell?  Consider what Kevin did.  He created a meaningful purpose, he communicated it clearly and consistently.  He hired ‘Barb’.  Barb provides the finishing touch, the personal touch that delivers customer evangelists who spend an afternoon crafting a blog post that celebrates their company and her voice mail.

About the author: Zane Safrit’s passion is small business and the operations excellence required to deliver a product that creates word-of-mouth, customer referrals and instills pride in those whose passion created it. He previously served as CEO of a small business. Zane’s blog can be found at Zane Safrit.

Categories: Branding

Cross Media Marketing is a Great Way to Get Customer Information

October 23, 2009 · 6 Comments

iStock_000003739214XSmallHave you ever considered using direct mail as a way of gathering demographic and psychographic information?  If not, then this is your opportunity to really get some bang for your marketing budget dollar.

With the advent of on-demand printing and publishing, we’ve been able to literally convert mass-marketing to a more personal one-to-one experience.  All it takes is a list, a database and some creativity and for a relatively small budget, you will be on your way to:

1. Getting more information about your list (email address, buying preferences, job title)

2. Learning  how to better communicate with your list (how would you like to be contacted?)

3. Drive list members to your website

4. Present them with a specific offer

5. Invite them to an event

6. Register for a conference or event, including break-out sessions, etc.

All of this can be yours by exploring “cross-media marketing.”  Don’t worry, this isn’t anything radically new.  What’s new is our ability to create a three-dimensional, relationship-building experience with our target audience by creating a single “themed” campaigned aimed at leading our list to water and then making them drink.

How Cross Media Works

A Cross Media campaign is powered by a database engine that will collect all kinds of information for you. First off, it will tell you who responded, and who didn’t. It will also track exactly how far each respondent goes into the pURL, and it will collect all of their responses to the questions you ask them on the pURL.

The database engine can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be, collecting information and using that information to trigger
subsequent events.

Cross Media campaigns utilize a variety of means of reaching your list members, and allow you to further qualify your list, and gain more information about its particular members. Your purpose is to learn as much as you can about your individual list members so that you can communicate with them on a meaningful and relevant level. This is the essence of 1:1marketing.

How to Start Your Own Cross Media Campaign

To run an effective Cross-Media Marketing campaign you will need three solid, experienced team-members.  First, you’ll need a marketing or product manager who knows your company, its strategy which information to collect and what you’re going to do with it.

Next you’ll need the one-two punch of a creative agency that has the capability and blend of solid creative ideas and design coupled with a technical team that can translate that creativity onto the web.

Finally, you will need a strong technical component to create this powerful list database that will be your money machine.  This technical team will be working closely with the design agency and if you find a design agency that has such a team – you are in luck.

What a Cross Media Marketing Campaign Looks Like

  1. Set an objective. For example, you have a list of 100,000 people that you want to whittle down to just your ideal customers.  Your budget has been cut, postage has gone up and you can’t afford to be mailing stuff that’s getting thrown away.
  2. Get your list. Let’s say our list has only addresses and no names.  To get to our ideal customer, it would help to have some names and some basic information that would qualify them for our offering.
  3. Send a simple mailing with a pURL (personalized URL). Since we have addresses and we want more information, we send a simple postcard to the address and since we don’t have a name the pURL is actually a “code.”
  4. The postcard is written to appeal to our ideal customer. The customer receives the postcard and goes to the web site. Once there, they have the opportunity to receive a “gift” in exchange for some more information; contact name, e-mail, and perhaps an answer to a question.  Don’t over-task the recipient, there will be opportunities for more touches later on.

At this point you have reduced the size of your list significantly and identified those people who have the most interest in your offer.  In addition to that, you’ve opened up a line of communication where you can ask them questions and they will answer in exchange for more goodies.

How to Get Started

Here are some resources to check out:

There are still wonderful opportunities to connect with your ideal customer without breaking the bank.  Consider a cross-media marketing campaign in your marketing plan this year.

About the Author: Ivana Taylor is CEO of Third Force, a strategic firm that helps small businesses get and keep their ideal customer.  She’s the co-author of the book “Excel for Marketing Managers” and proprietor ofDIYMarketers, a site for in-house marketers.  Her blog is Strategy Stew.

Categories: Branding · Newsletter · customer research · marketing strategy
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The Looking Zone

October 12, 2009 · Leave a Comment

iStock_000000138631XSmallToday’s guest post is by Maria Duron, the chief buzz officer, coach and speaker with buzz2bucks.com.

Research numbers give us so much rich information providing insights and basics on clients and contacts.  I’ve always been a fan of market research from my days as a market researcher in the media industry. Understanding “the who” and “the what” is so fascinating! And, the benefits garnered from that research are not  just limited to large companies.

How can small companies and solo professionals make the most of research data?  The demographics provides us some of the basics of who a client is yet even more interesting is the psychographics – the “why” behind what they do.

Whether you’re connecting for work or for your own business, there are people who are beneficial for you to connect with.  I always recommend that you deepen your connection with those who already know you – those who you already have some degree of “know, like and trust”.

These are your current customers or contacts.  After all if they did business with you or connected with you, you’ve established some level of “know, like and trust”.  It’s a much higher starting point then starting from nothing.

Further, spend some time really understanding who you would like to connect with that would be an asset in your goals.  For example, identify who would be a great connection for you.  Who would make a decision or be involved in a major project, position or department you’re interested in. Or, who would take you further connecting with leaders in your industry?

Most important is finding people prior to the time that they’re in the “looking zone”.  This applies to employees and entrepreneurs alike.  For entrepreneurs, what does your ideal customer “look like” before they’re in the looking zone?  If you’re a realtor, before someone has an interest in selling their home, what do they look like?  Maybe they just found out they were pregnant and are now thinking their current place is too small; maybe their child just graduated and are off to college and now their home is too big; or maybe they just were divorced and realizing they want to start fresh or find a new place.   It’s important to connect with people prior to them looking.  When people are approached to connect when they are in need of something, they are leery of the intention for the connection.  They wonder, is it genuine?  That’s why the connection and the relationship must develop prior to the need. Thus, you are seeking to develop your connections prior to the looking zone.

To maximize this connection, when your connections are in the “looking zone” – where is it they spend time with others just like them?  For example, in keeping with our realtor situation and targeting someone who is going to have a baby and wants to sell their current home, let’s say before they’re in the “looking zone” they might look like parents with younger kids already, or they might have been married a couple of years and are thinking of starting a family.  So, where do they hang out with a great number of others like them?  It could be at a doctor’s office, Lamaze class, elementary school or day care or even a kindermusik class.

Now, take one step back from that and ask yourself, “where are they spending times before they’re in the looking zone?”  This is a vital question to ask because everyone wants to make contact with your prime customer when they’re in the looking zone. Everyone wants to talk, meet or sell them what they need.  Yet, if you have a relationship already established with them prior to their need; if you have developed some “know, like and trust”; if they’ve had chance to sample your character and competence, then when the needs arises and you are visible and credible to them, they will call on you.

About the Author: Maria Duron is author of the book “Mouth to Mouth Marketing” and the eBook “Social I.R.A.” She’s been quoted as a marketing and word of mouth expert by Entrepreneur Magazine and contributes to several publications and is the creator of #brandchat, a weekly twitter conversation about all aspects of branding. She broadcasts weekly as the business coach with CBS7. Duron will speak at the 2009 Massachusetts Conference for Women.

Categories: Branding · Newsletter · customer research
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How to Uncover Your Company’s Competitive Advantage

September 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment

iStock_000005051077XSmallToday’s guest post is by Ivana Taylor, President of Third Force Marketing a boutique strategic marketing firm that helps companies become the obvious choice for their ideal customer.  She runs DIYMarketers.com a how-to resource for marketers.  Her blog is called Strategy Stew.

Do you know why your customers choose you?  You might think that you do, but chances are you would be wrong.  Janie L. Smith, author of “Creating Competitive Advantage” discovered that only two CEOs out of the thousand that she asked could clearly articulate a competitive advantage.  This is a critical point because understanding why your customers choose you can mean the difference between getting or losing the sale.

What’s Competitive Advantage?

A solid competitive advantage has four attributes:

  1. Must be objective.  This means that it’s a statement of fact; 3 locations, open 24 hours, etc.  If you think about it, it’s kind of like a “feature” of your business.
  2. Must be quantitative. Specify how much, how many of anything you’ve got as a feature.  In the example above we made some specifics here are a few more: each service representative has at least 20 hours of training (specify what kind), your pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less or it’s free.
  3. Not claimed by any other competitor.  This is where it gets tricky,  your competitive advantage could truly be something that no one else is doing OR it can be something that they are not claiming – or focusing on.  This gives you a lot of creativity.
  4. No cliche. Stay away from empty phrases like “your solution provider.”

Now that you know what constitutes competitive advantage, it’s time to start a list of what you think your company’s competitive advantages.  To get your brain bubbling, take a moment and list as many “factual features” of your business.  Aim for a list of 49!

  • How would you respond to your customer when they ask “Why should I buy from you?”
  • What’s most important to your customer when they are buying what you are selling?
  • What features of your business give the customer what’s most important to them?
  • In what ways does your business deliver what’s most important to your customer?

But getting a list of what you think your company’s competitive advantages are is only half the battle.  A competitive advantage will only get you chosen if it’s an advantage your customer cares about.  In other words, the things that differentiate you and set you apart have to matter to your customer otherwise – you won’t get the sale.

The best way to be sure that the competitive advantage that you’re going to use in your marketing strategy is viable is to test it with your customers.  A great approach is to hire a third party to run a blind research study which asks customers to rate what attributes are important to them and how well a variety of “brands” perform against those attributes.

It just so happens that QuestionPro has an advanced question in that exact format.  It’s called a “Side-by-Side Matrix” question and you’ll find it by adding a new question and clicking on “Advanced Question” type.  The side-by-side matrix question is already pre-formated to measure how important an attribute is to your customer and how satisfied they are with that attribute.

Have you used this type of question to uncover your company’s competitive advantage?  What did you learn and how did you implemented it?

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