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Only one thing.
They set out to make people happy.
The Mickey Mouse balloon sales are a pleasant side effect of that.
A souvenir of that time when the visitor felt the way she wanted to feel.
In business we often set out to sell the cause, forgetting that what’s really valuable is the effect.
Nobody needs one more balloon, but people will never tire of experiencing a little more joy.
What are you setting out to do? Go ahead, write it down…I’ll wait for you.
Image by Jonathan.
It turns out telling your brand story is more about doing than telling. Here a five things you can do today to begin telling a better brand story.
1. Review and rewrite your about page.
A great about page isn’t all about you. It should communicate how you can help or delight the reader. That’s what they are really there to find out.
2. Start telling people why you do what you do, not just what you do.
People buy products but they become loyal to brands that they can care about.
3. Make a list of reasons why you are least like the competition and share that story.
Great brands are often differentiated by what they don’t do, meaning they have room to do what they do well.
4. Give your customers and clients the opportunity to tell some of the story for you.
Ask for testimonials and feedback which they are happy for you to publish on your website. Link to and repost comments, reviews and images from social media channels. Don’t forget to thank people for loving what you do.
5. Do what you say you’re going to do.
Return emails. Meet deadlines. Keep your promises. Nobody does that anymore. I’m always amazed by how blown away people are by just this one thing.
Don’t be defined by the story you didn’t tell.
Image by Yelp.
It’s interesting to watch businesses of all stripes trying to attach a layer of Mother’s Day meaning to their brands. I’m not sure how you surprise your Mum with running shoes from the “40% off women’s sports shoe sale”. Finding a way to jump on the bandwagon of the day doesn’t take a lot of imagination. Colour signs pink, add some flowers and hey presto you’re done. For today anyway.
Thinking like everyone else is thinking and doing what everyone else is doing isn’t difficult. It’s not a smart long-term business strategy either. What’s your plan for the other 364 days of the year?
Are you going to be the business that matters, the one that people choose with intention and not out of necessity or holiday desperation?
Yes, there’s always another holiday season or celebration around the corner. But I think you’ll find it’s far more valuable to put your back into building something that changes how people feel every day of the year.
Image by Joe Shlabotnik.
The manager at Muffin Break is frustrated. Yet again she’s discovered a customer from the jam-packed sushi bar opposite sitting at one of her tables eating lunch. Of course she wastes no time asking the sushi-eater to leave.
I wonder what would happen if instead of angrily telling people to move on, she offered to get them a coffee instead. Same situation different story.
We really do have the power to change the conversation.
Image by David Gallagher.
When a mother of two stands browsing the birthday cake supplies at the local Cook & Dine store she’s not imagining how well the piping bags will work. She’s imagining how she will feel when her little girl’s face lights up at the party on Sunday afternoon.
We think our job is to change how people feel about what we do.
Our job is to change how they feel about themselves.
Image by edenpictures.
them to be who we want them to be.” — Donald Draper
Have you ever watched someone shopping? People touch things that catch their eye. They buy things that are not on their list because something changed how they feel in the moment. And as Paco Underhill discovered, they will even stop shopping if the aisles are too narrow and they are “brushed” by other customers.
Your customers are leaving clues about how they feel on Instagram and Twitter, on Facebook and in forums. I’ve seen a woman tell the story of a date night with her husband. An evening in the car watching the sun set by the ocean with a bar of their favourite indulgent chocolate, with single Instagram image. That’s solid gold to the chocolate maker.
We’re so busy trying to convince our customers that we forget to really see who they are and who they want to be. The good news is that it’s never too late to pay attention to the clues your customers leave.
Image by Ed Yourdon.
When did business stop being personal and become an activity we engage in?
It wasn’t always this way. In 12000 BC when Obsidian was used for trades, business was about making fair exchanges of value based on trust. When pioneer farmers traded labour with their neighbours to make harvesting more efficient, business was about working for the collective good.
When did business become about a balance of power? About adding distance. Drawing lines. Setting boundaries. Vendors and consumers. Them and us. I don’t think we can use the introduction of currency as an excuse.
When did people stop being people and become, traffic, customers, users, members, followers or a target audience?
The people you want to do business with, the ones you want to reach out to and who you are hoping will respond are not just labels in your vocabulary or walking wallets to be transacted with. They deserve to be treated like it’s personal. It is to them it should be to you.
The businesses that make it personal are the ones that are winning now.
Image by Rob Stradling.
In the 60s there was no distinction between advertising and marketing. Everything has changed.
1. Create something that’s not for everyone.
If you’re speaking to everyone you’re getting through to no one.
Sanuk, shoes that are not shoes. Dollar Shave Club, shave tech for the enlightened.
2. Make a better product.
Create things that look good, taste great and work well.
Josh uses just two ingredients in his handmade stoneground chocolate. The Sydney Opera House brings in a billion dollars a year to the Australian economy.
3. Give people a story to tell.
Vanessa and Mat install beehives on the rooftops businesses in Melbourne. The restaurants then get to use or sell their very own honey.
4. Cherish and reward the customers you’ve got. Love begets loyalty.
Jamie Oliver created a free pizza giveaway on Instagram by writing the details on a plate and posting the photo. The side effect was a positive brand building vibe amongst the people who couldn’t take advantage of the offer that day. No billboard required.
5. Change how people feel.
charity:water built transparency and trust into their non-profit business model with the 100% model and GPS showing donors where their money was making a difference. Apple made black earbuds passe.
6. Create valuable content people want to share and come back for.
Boots ‘n All gives indie travellers great information. The Iconic online store didn’t just advertise in magazines they launched their own. You don’t need to have that kind of budget though blogs and manifestos work well too.
7. Be smarter and targeted with your advertising spend.
Sponsor a community event. Run a competition that benefits customers. Perform random acts of kindness. One of our local cafes which backs onto the beach sponsored a surfing competition last weekend.
8. Frame your scarcity.
Limited editions. Small group offerings. Something that makes you least like the competition.
If I’m wearing a pair of Christian Loboutin red soled shoes the world knows.
9. Deliver value beyond the functionality of your products and services.
Snakes and Lattes doesn’t just sell coffee and cake. This board game cafe helps customers to connect. Alessi teapots and Smeg fridges are style statements not just functional products.
10. Give your customers a better experience.
If you give people a reason to come back they will.
You don’t need a billboard to reach out to people.
Image by Robert Wade.
In the 70s and 80s you didn’t download music you owned it. If you cared enough about an artist or a song you had to wait for the vinyl to be pressed. Sometimes you waited in line hoping that EMI or Sony had sent enough copies to your local store. There you met other fans, just like you.
Along with a copy of the record you bought the artwork on the sleeve, a tangible reminder of the music you cared about. Buying a single or an album was an event, a layered experience. Taking the record from the sleeve, blowing the dust off. Being careful not to scratch the vinyl each time you played a song. Owning the music and the feeling meant having the album.
Today you don’t have to own the music to experience the feeling. And while there is trend away from ownership the experience and those feelings of connection and belonging will always be the currency of now.
What people want might change but how they want to feel stays the same. The feeling not the thing is what you need to focus on delivering.
Image by Rob Lambert.
On a recent trip to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store I discovered the real job of the Genius.
While you might think that the role of the Genius is to fix things, it’s not.
The first job of the Genius is to acknowledge your problem and to change how you feel.
Chad told me that he can tell how the appointment will go in the first few seconds. He said appointments go badly when the customer believes that he won’t be able to help them. Apparently Apple Geniuses get twice as much training in changing how the customer feels as they do in solving tech problems. I lost count of the number of times I overheard a blue-shirted Genius saying “don’t worry I am going to.…” that day.
The only thing that the Genius has to do is make people walk out feeling better than when they walked in. And when waiters, doctors, librarians, leaders of all stripes and you do this every day it’s a kind of genius too.
Image by Steve McFarland.
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