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Being The Best
When I was a kid growing up in Dublin we always sat on the top deck of the bus on a Saturday evening coming home from a day in the city. As we passed Christchurch Cathedral we pressed our noses to the window and looked out at the long queue which snaked half way down Werburgh Street. The crowd didn’t just gather on Saturday either. They lined up every night at Leo Burdocks take away fish and chip shop.
A Dublin institution which first opened its doors in 1913, Burdocks has survived wars, uprising, recessions and outlived the Celtic Tiger. Celebrities from U2 to Liam Neeson have lined up to sample the secret batter recipe from the most lauded chipper in Ireland.
I’m sure Leo knew he had a great product when he started out all those years ago. The best.
He just had to figure out a way to let his customers know that too. So in the absence of billboards, TV, AdSense, Google or Groupon he just set about being the best.
He didn’t have to be the best to the well heeled barristers who could afford to head out from their Georgian homes in Fitzwilliam Square to dine at the Gresham Hotel. He just needed to work at understanding what ’best’ was to the aul fella who would buy a battered cod every Saturday night on the way back from the pub. Or what would make the young housewife dig deep into her purse on a Thursday pay day for a little treat for the family.
With that understanding Burdock could not only become the best, he could also communicate why he was the best to the people who mattered.
That same opportunity is open to every single brand. And you.
Image by Conor Larkin.
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The Art Of Giving People What They Really Want
The group fitness instructor at our local gym is exceptionally good at giving people what they really want. During a tough early morning Pump® session he doesn’t talk about resting heart rate or thermogenisis. Duane punctuates those last thirty seconds of effort by telling us that this is how we’ll get Michelle Obama arms. So we just keep on lifting.
Gym goers want beauty as much as health. Wearers of five inch heels want longer legs more than remarkable shoes.
Understanding what your customers and clients desire is the key to giving them what they really want. That might not be what they think they showed up for in the first place.
Image by Orin Zebest.
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How To Standout
filed in Entrepreneurship, Strategy
Care more.
Do what you say you’re going to do.
Stand in other people’s shoes.
Solve problems.
Fix what’s broken.
Change how people feel.
Create what you want to see in the world.
Don’t wait for an invitation.
Think beyond what’s possible.
Get over your fear.
Act.
Rinse and repeat.
Image by EIO.
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How Coffee Became As Seductive As Diamonds
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
I have no idea how this happened, but twenty five years ago when my husband and I were choosing my engagement ring on student budgets, I found myself inside a tiny strategically lit room with a £20,000 ring on my finger. £20,000 was enough to buy a house in Dublin in those days.
Fast forward to last Saturday when I had a flashback of the moment we were seduced into a plush room by a hopeful jeweller. This time though I was in a coffee store.
Nespresso have made choosing and buying coffee as seductive as shopping for diamonds. Their stores are expensively lit, architecturally designed boutiques, where coffee machines are uplit in recessed walls, tiny glass cups arranged like works of art and muted coffee pods are displayed in glass cases. Their goal —’a retail experience that satisfies your every desire.’
And it works. I watched as people queued behind velvet ropes to speak to a ‘specialist’ about their coffee choices, while others jostled for position at the Carpe Diem tasting lounge. There are limited edition flavours that sell out in a week and are resold on eBay at a premium.
The last line of a review of the Sydney store on Yelp says it all.
“I purposely buy only 2 weeks worth of capsules, so I can keep going back.”
‘Experience’ has change how we perceive commodities. People buy what they buy, not just because they believe in what you do, but because of what they want to believe about themselves.
Your customers want to be seduced. What will they keep coming back for?
Image by Martin Stabenfeldt.
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Well-Designed Moments Build Brands
filed in Marketing, Storytelling, Strategy
That moment when the airline tells you that lost luggage is just a fact of life, or the sales assistant can’t exchange a faulty shirt on the spot because of company policy is a crack in the foundation of the brand. In that moment you begin to disconnect and feel like you don’t belong.
Every brand is built on the feelings and experiences it delivers to customers in the blink of an eye.
Returns should be made as easy as purchases. Cancelling subscriptions should be as easy as signing up. They rarely are.
The trick is to see the moment when the bubble bursts as an opportunity to deepen the relationship. The opportunity to make a 404 a well designed moment is open to everyone.
Image by Duncan Rawlinson.
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When The Facts Are No Longer Enough
The window on analysis is shrinking. People are moving so fast now that they don’t have time to think. They’re scanning, swiping, clicking, liking, tweeting and moving on at full velocity. They’re making decisions based on feelings not facts. Often choosing not because of what they think, but because of how something makes them feel.
What does this mean for your business?
If you want people to act you must make them feel.
If they say I’ll think about it, you’ve lost them… they’re gone and on to the next thing.
Image by Arun Joseph.
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Better Together
filed in Storytelling, Worldview
Putting your ideas out there is scary. Hitting publish is test of your nerve. Showing up most days involves commitment. Making room. Letting go of something else.
You don’t, as (Seth would say), expect applause… but it’s lovely when you get it, and even better when it sounds like this.
“Here’s a blog that succeeds brilliantly in balancing the expertise of the blogger with valuable, original, engaging content. Arresting headlines, considered imagery and a clearly nurtured and active readership make The Story of Telling a blog that’s easy to get into and hard to escape.
One of the commenters on the blog likens Bernadette Jiwa to ‘a female Seth Godin’ and I have to agree. A terrific example of a business blog that must do so much for the author’s business.”
—Robert Gerrish
Best Australian Blogs Judge
This week my blog won The Best Australian Blog Business Category.
I’m blown away, thrilled and humbled of course. There were so many great blogs on those lists. But here’s what I want to tell you.
Without readers there are words, but no story.
If there was no you with your big ideas on the other side of this monitor, then there would be a fair few words, but no real story to tell. You and your stories are what make my writing better. So thank YOU for showing up here too. For making my ideas matter and my headline hunting head, hurt. Thanks for caring and for making me care even more every day.
Image by Photosynthesized.
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The Last Thing You Should Rely On Is Your Resume
filed in Entrepreneurship, Storytelling
Your resume is not so much a testament to what you’ve done, it’s a timeline of where you’ve done it. The world doesn’t need to take your resume’s word for anything, it can find out more about you in three clicks of a mouse than you can tell in twenty perfect bound pages.
When I asked the CEO of a successful tech startup how he managed to find such great people to work with, he said, ‘Doers leave a trail’.
Good marketing is simply great storytelling. Great storytelling is not about telling at all, it’s about showing. Dream opportunities don’t land because of something someone read on an A4 piece of paper.
Make your resume the least impressive thing about you.
Leave a trail.
Image by Daniel James.
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Lessons From The $100 Startup + Win A Copy
filed in Entrepreneurship, Strategy
Sometimes you get to the end of a book and struggle to remember a key message from it. Although The $100 Startup is written for people who aspire to live a life like the author Chris Guillebeau, (who still in his early thirties, has visited more than 175 countries and never had a boss), there are lessons in it that can be applied to every single business.
In the book Chris tells the stories of over fifty (sometimes accidental) entrepreneurs, who are creating a new future for themselves by doing something they love. He gives readers a One Page Business Plan, an Idea Matrix and plenty of ‘how to’ advice. The best of this book though is not the in the pages of ‘how to’, it’s in the passages about the ‘why it works’.
This little book does what many business books fail to do, it shines a light on the cornerstone of business itself, the notion of what value is. Chris differentiates features from benefits and shows you how to do it too.
More than anything else value relates to emotional needs
It’s a subtle distinction, one that’s the difference between a 32MB music player and 1000 songs in your pocket.
While he takes us on a journey behind the scenes of several independent microbusinesses, this book is not just a nudge for those who don’t want a nine to five gig. It’s a book about how opportunity exists for every entrepreneur, business and brand at the intersection of ideas, freedom and value.
The $100 Startup is released tomorrow (8th May). I pre-ordered my copy weeks ago, but Chris was kind enough to send me an advance copy, which means I’ve got a copy to give away if you’d like it. Along my copy of the book I’m also offering a 1 on 1, one hour Skype consultation with me to brainstorm about your current business strategy or new idea you might have bubbling.
*If you’d like a chance to win the book and an hour with me just head to the comments below and tell me why. Comments close on 14th May and the winner will be announced here next week.*
*BONUS* Watch the interview I did with Chris when he was still at 150 countries. We talked about how to create an unconventional business and he shared a story he tells in the book.
Image by Stephanie Zito.
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Begin With The Possibilities, Not The Limitations
filed in Entrepreneurship, Strategy, Worldview
When you’re scoping things out. When you’re strategising, or planning how to get from here to where you want to be, you often start by asking the wrong questions. You put your first focus in the wrong place.
You start by thinking about what went wrong last time. By telling yourself what you can’t do with what you’ve got. You begin with the limitations and not the possibilities.
Don’t.
Focus on what you made possible. Look at the things you brought to life.
Something you created from nothing, anything that you made happen.
Start there.
Then ask:
- When did I blitz it?
- What worked?
- How did I do that?
- How can I apply that here?
When you start by working out what you did when you were at your best, you can bring more of that genius into your life, work and business.
The same rule applies whether you’re the VP of marketing for Coca Cola, or a lone entrepreneur tapping away at your keyboard in Starbucks.
Image by Matthew Kenwrick.