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The Path To Business Growth
Sal was already sweating as she blustered into the gym on Monday morning. She sat down heavily on the bench in the changing room. The things she had hastily stuffed into her gym bag tumbled out as soon as she unzipped it. Sal stopped for a second, realising she hadn’t replaced the three-day-old sweat towel that had been there all weekend. She gingerly sniffed it and sighed, then returned to spraying deodorant on her feet.
Sal’s story is about a million miles from the perfect fictional narratives used to sell the fitness ideal in markets from sports apparel to workout equipment. Protein shakes to gym memberships. She will likely never become the woman represented by their avatar. And yet here she is, large as life with unmet wants and needs, hopes and dreams.
We find opportunities for business growth when we meet our customers where they are in the real world, instead of where we think they should be in our ideal version of it.
Image by Crossland Designs.
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Why Story Sells
filed in Marketing, Storytelling
The bicycle store owner was walking the customer through the range of helmets that were suitable for her teenage son. He described and demonstrated the features and benefits of three models in various price ranges. The woman seemed unsure and looked for a moment like she was about to leave with a promise to come back when she’d thought about it.
There was no hard sell from the owner who took out his smartphone while they were chatting to show her what the mid-range helmet looked like in the flesh. He and his teenage son had just returned from a cycle tour. His son was wearing the $159 helmet in the photos. And just like that, her mind was made up.
“If you think it’s good enough for your son, then it must be good enough for mine,” she said.
We don’t just want to be persuaded; we want to believe—which is why it’s not enough to sell to the head when people buy with their hearts.
Image by thejuniorpartner.
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What Are Your Marketing Goals?
We devote a lot of time to growing our businesses—often around the loose metric of ‘more’. It’s worth defining what ‘more’ looks like for your business. You get closer to your goals when you match effort to desired outcomes, and you can’t do that without understanding which numbers you’re trying to move the needle on.
What are you measuring?
- Brand awareness.
- Market share.
- Brand engagement.
- Email open rates.
- Website visitors.
- Bounce rate.
- Social media shares.
- Customer acquisition.
- Conversion rates.
- Revenue.
- Profit margin.
- Return on marketing investment.
- Sales growth.
- Customer feedback.
- Employee engagement.
- Customer delight.
- Personal fulfilment.
- Legacy.
Sometimes the things that are top of mind are less significant than we realise and many of the things we forget to measure matter.
Image by Steve McFarland.
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Worth Vs. Worthy
As business leaders and entrepreneurs, much of our energy and resources are spent understanding how best to communicate our value to customers. Many of the most successful companies flip this thinking on its head.
If we create things that are worthy of the time, attention and money of the people we hope to serve, we don’t need to spend so much time, attention and money trying to prove their worth.
Image by Susan Frazier.
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Metrics For A Job Well Done
Every business has metrics for a job well done. We know when our sales are up and complaints are down. We can measure our organisation’s performance and success in a myriad of ways.
For many businesses, success is measured in efficiencies and financial targets. Others choose to pay attention to customer’s success stories. The old axiom that ‘what’s measured improves’ holds true. When we clearly define the path we want to take we have a better chance of following it.
Three Success Assessment Questions For You
What do our customers expect from us?
How can we help our customers to reach their goals?
How exactly will we know when we’ve succeeded?
Your customer’s success story is your story too.
Image by Brandon Binkwilder Santana.
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Acts Of Differentiation
One reason we market to customers, beyond our desire to create brand awareness, is to communicate how and why our products are different and better than those of the competition. Of course, how products are created and experiences are designed can be differentiators. But we sometimes overlook opportunities to differentiate and add value—especially when it comes to our marketing tactics.
At the food market, fruit vendors vie for the attention of passers-by. The tactic adopted by most is to discount and holler. The people who use this tactic change their pitch according to the time of day or how much stock is left, so that it appeals to whatever the bargain hunter seems to be looking for. The result feels like an inconsistent, erratic, emergency (which no doubt it often is).
Contrast that with the trader who shows up with a small range of quality, seasonal produce. There is no discounting, shouting or touting at his stall. His patient, predictable, consistent approach means the same people return each week. Some send their friends, and so his loyal customer base grows over time—no hollering required. His marketing strategy is an intentional act of differentiation.
Our marketing can be as deliberate, differentiated and aligned with our values as the products we choose to make, serve and sell.
Image by CIAT.
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The Genuine Article
filed in Storytelling
When I was a child growing up in Dublin the biggest compliment you could pay someone was to say they were ‘the genuine article’. Sincerity was something to aspire to, and we witnessed it daily in people’s actions and words.
In our carefully curated, photoshopped and filtered world, we are more drawn to the genuine than ever. It’s the quality we most want our institutions, our communities and our leaders to embody. And yet we sometimes forget, that like most things we want to influence or change, it starts with us.
Our challenge is to go beyond saying it like we mean it.
We need to practice being it so that others can feel it.
Image by Jody Sticca.
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A Common Sense Approach To Customer Insights
filed in Innovation, Marketing, Strategy
Joanne is a small business owner. She operates a catering van that travels to local industrial estates, serving workers who don’t have easy access to high street cafes and fast food restaurants closer to town. Joanne’s business lives and dies on what she knows about her customers. So she makes it her business to know a lot about them.
She knows that Darren leaves home without breakfast before his kids are up. There is no time to pack lunch because he has to be on the road before rush hour traffic hits. Joanne knows that most days Darren stops at the convenience store for a Red Bull which he drinks in his truck before beginning a day of sawing, sanding and heavy lifting. Unlike the office workers in the city who work from 9-5 and lunch at midday, Darren will be famished by 10–which is why her van makes its rounds before 11. She knows he needs something he can eat with one hand while standing in his workshop between jobs, and that he won’t be looking for sushi or a paleo salad bowl. Joanne knows that Darren will knock off early on Friday and head to the pub for a few beers with his mates. He will do the garden on Saturday and take his boys to footie on Sunday.
These insights are invaluable to Joanne’s business. They influence her hours of operation, the products she stocks and the customer experience she provides. And she didn’t need a data analyst or an algorithm to uncover them.
We can learn as much from spending time with our customers as we can by looking for clues among surveys, demographics and data sets. It turns out that understanding comes from looking beyond data points that can be easily measured or plotted on a graph. How much do you know about how your customers behave or what they think about, prioritise, value and believe in?
Image by Michelle Ress.
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When To Fall In Love With Your Idea
filed in Innovation, Strategy
Every business is founded on an assumption. We see a problem and propose a solution (maybe a new product or service), that we assume will be embraced with open arms. Before long we’ve fallen headlong for our idea, often without challenging our assumptions.
Even with all the data in the world, it’s not possible to know for sure how the people we hope to serve will respond until we give them the opportunity to do just that. When we skip this step, we get caught in the trap of trying to show people why they can’t live without the thing we created. Our ideas succeed when we do exactly the opposite.
Don’t fall in love with your idea without first giving those who will adopt it a chance to show you why it’s one worth pursuing.
Image by Kat.
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How To Tell A Brand Story Customers Believe In
filed in Marketing, Storytelling
It was a slow Wednesday morning, and the smell of freshly baked croissants wafted from the new French bakery. The store was almost empty, as were the display cabinets that should have been teeming with tempting pastries at this hour. The rock music blared. The bakery assistant who wore yesterday’s apron and a half-hearted smile, dropped the croissant she was bagging while remarking to a colleague that running out of croissants was ‘not a good look for a French bakery’. She haphazardly sealed the bag by scrunching the top with her fist. The customer paid $4.90 for the croissant. His coffee was half price because of a special promotion the bakery was running to attract more customers before 9.30am. What should have been a story about an exceptional croissant worth paying almost $5 for was broken because of the mediocre experience.
Where did the bakery go wrong and how could they tell a better brand story? The biggest problem is the disconnect between their desire to pitch their product as a premium offering and supporting that story with nothing more than quality ingredients and high prices. The service design and delivery tells a different story. The empty display cabinets, discounting, poorly trained and presented staff and music that doesn’t enhance the mood, create a disconnect.
Our brand stories are not merely a way to get customers to come through the door and hand over cash—we want them to feel glad that they did. Every choice we make and everything we do must align with the story we want our brand to embody. Our actions have to support the message we want customers to believe.
The product, environment, service, and design each play a part in taking our customers on a journey we hope they’ll want to repeat. It’s our job to make sure the story is consistent from start to finish. We do that by being clear about exactly what our brand stands for and by making deliberate decisions that align with and support that vision.
Image by Emanuele Toscano.