If you read one article on where marketing is heading in 2010, then this is it. It’s already been tweeted 627 times as I write this into! It’s written by David Garland of Rise To The Top and I think he’s nailed it – from claiming the 30 second is FINALLY dead, to big brands learning from us little guys (check this podcast) to the death of the one-way website it’s an article that will get you (the marketer and / or business owner champing at the bit for the new year to arrive. In fact don’t, start now! Read on.

There are many reasons…here’s 5 to kick things off:

1. Marketing is the quickest way to a sale. Great marketing identifies a problem your customer or prospect is experiencing and then provides them with a solution that gives them every reason to buy from you (and not your competition). Think of it like this…the marketer of a business has control of five very big levers labelled Product, Price, Place, Promotion and People. Their challenge is to adjust these levers to positions that make your offer so irresistible and compelling that it’s impossible not to buy from you…that competing with them seems far less desirable.
2. It’s your only (profitable) point-of-difference. Today’s market place (in almost every industry) is one of parity – it’s full of businesses offering the same products, at the same price, delivered in the same way. So how does one stand out? Well, you could be the cheapest…but discounting is a dead-end street as it is quickly copied, and a point is reached where a business can’t be any cheaper or they’ll lose money. Instead, it’s much more effective to be clever in the way you package up product, deliver it in ways that make it easy for them to use it and offer payment options that makes it much easier to say YES than NO!
3. “People can copy what we do, but not who we are” – Martin Daley, the head of People at Virgin Blue, uttered this. In saying so, he was admitting that it was possible for anyone to walk on up and start an airline. That was easy enough! What was much harder for them to do was create a brand that meant something…a brand that defined the business in the minds of its prospects and customers in a way that made them want to be a part of.
4. Great marketing creates a strong brand – A brand is best defined as an emotional attachment. This is not meant in any soppy kind of way. Not at all. The type of emotional attachment we talk about here is one in which you create a brand that clearly demonstrates it understands its target audience. One that shows insight and sympathy for what they are dealing with and provides simple, interesting solutions that make them want to buy from you. Most importantly, once a customer is emotionally connected to your brand it is that much harder for them to look elsewhere as they see real value in what you are offering.
5. Marketing creates a sense of value and meaning – As the previous point indicates, if you spend time building a brand (and remember, you register a business, but you build a brand) then you are inherently creating value for your customers. And a customer, who feels as though they are receiving real value by transacting with you, is generally willing to pay above the odds.

What would you add?

I visited an office yesterday that blew me away.

It wasn’t the most comfortable office…nor the most stylish….clean or functional.

What I loved about it was what it said about the businesses that were in it. It made a statement about their brand that no amount of advertising or PD could do.

These design, layout, materials and location of these offices simply said everything.

In fact, you know what…they weren’t called offices…they’re called Huts. Yep, H U T S!

Occupied by film companies they are literally dropped in to this massive shed down in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct.

Alongside them there’s a large screen and viewing area in case one of them wanted to show their reel to a prospective client…there was a small set with a green screen to film stuff…Oh, and each of the Huts is made from cardboard. That’s what I said…C A R D B O A R D!

Anyway, enough ranting…the point I want to make is that your office location, layout, look actually says mountains about your brand…and who you are. Just ask Google.

What message does your office give to Clients?

Whether or not this shoe (Tweeker!) is real or not doesn’t matter, what I love about it is the tailored offering. It mixes two themes up and creates something special.

Tailored offerings keep things interesting for the business owner and shows your customers and prospects that you’re always on your toes.

I think we sometimes forget that as Marketers we are first and foremost PROBLEM SOLVERS. Our task is to get inside the heads of our targets, understand what they’re thinking, what problems they have and then hit them between the eye with a tailored solution.

When you get it right, man does it feel good.

I’m working on right this minute…I’m going to shake up the way marketing workshops are held…in terms of content, how it’s presented, the location and so much more.

How can you shake up your product offering with the aim of giving people exactly what it is they want… even if they didn’t know it?

I like shopping at warehouse type stores.

Chemist Warehouse. JB Hi-Fi. Bunnings.

You know, the stack ‘em high, sell ‘em low set-ups?

In doing so I actually feel as though I save quite a lot of money.

Unfortunately though, as a general rule, the customer service stinks. Does it really cost more to smile? To look someone in the eye and ask if they need assistance? To advise how long something might take? To say “Have a ripping day!”?

I think not. The only thing I can think is that these businesses are under-staffed, so everyone’s under the pump. But at least that way they can charge less.

What do you think? Am I being harsh?

Twitter’s unexpected downtime today gave me some much needed time to reflect.

It made me think that hey, what if it never comes back up again? How will I reconnect with that wonderful tribe of followers I’ve established over the last 8-months. I’ve established some seriously valuable relationships with folk I’ve never met, and have no other contact detail for other than their Twitter ID. The first thing I’m going to do when it’s back up is bookmark (Delicious) all their sites.

Then, in realising Twitter was down I thought who do I go to to get the low down? Immediately I thought of Mashable (Peter Cashmore)…he’ll know. And sure enough, he had a post ready and waiting.

Now, this blog post you’re reading isn’t about Twitter being down…It’s about getting you to ask yourself this key question …”What are you the go-to-guy (girl) for?” In what circumstances do you want prospects and clients to think of you? In Peter Cashmore’s case he’s positioned himself as being the expert on all things social media…If I want to know something in that sphere then I go straight to him (well his website anyway).

For me, I want to be known as the go-to-guy for when a business wants to make themselves irresistible.

What about you…what do you want to be the go-to-guy for?

Task 1 for this coming week is to rewrite my website. Yep…my entire website.

A big task in my mind…I’ve been mulling over it for weeks.

The thought of updating who I am, what I do, how I do it, why people should use my services…and making it all unbelievably interesting has been doing my head in. I do suffer from a certain amount of creative tension, however, this was getting ridiculous.

Then came the lightning bolt. That epiphany that you hear others talk about but that you never have. A little voice gave me these two bits of advice:

1. People aren’t interested in anything but what’s in it for them.
2. People have short attention spans…long copy is dead copy.

Phew! I breathed a long sigh of relief. A huge weight had lift off my shoulders.

So, when I embark on rewriting my website starting tomorrow I am going to spend all my energies telling you in a short, sharp way how I can make your business irresistible (‘case that’s what I’m good at)…and that’s it. Benefit-driven copy that’s all about how I can help your business…and if you want to find out about me…then you can simply check me out on LinkedIn, follow me on Twitter or Skype me (TheIdeasGuy). Job done!

What do you think about this approach…too simplistic or spot on?

It often occurs to me that customers and prospects only know a little of what I offer.

Does this mean my offer is too broad? Or is it that I don’t make clear what it is I do?

I suspect it’s both…which is kind of ironic given I specialise in marketing communications of which Lesson 1, Term 1 is to be simple, clear and single-minded in all your communications! Ah well, nobody’s perfect.

But that’s OK…I’m in the process of fixing that up as I write this post. And I like to wear my heart on my sleeve!

The thing is, there’s a great opportunity awaiting all marketers and business owners to detail exactly what it is their business offers. And I don’t just mean in terms of products or services…although this is surely top of the list.

I’m talking about other things as well like:

• Payment terms
• Opening hours
• Contact details
• Payment options
• Guarantees
• Training
• Special deals

The list is endless. Why keep any powder dry when there’s a potential sale at stake?

Let your customers and prospects know all there is to know about your business…they can cherry pick the necessary information to make an informed decision…which is hopefully to buy…FROM YOU!

What do you think? Should you keep some powder dry?

I speak to Clients and groups of business owners weekly about what it takes to build a strong brand.

The first thing I respond with is that BRANDS ARE EARNT…not bought. You buy a business name…you create a brand.

The second point is that it’s important to agree on a simple definition of a brand. For me…A BRAND IS SIMPLY AN EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT. Already we’ve covered some seriously important concepts that we’ll leave for another day.

So, in no particular order here’s the ten things every business owner must do to ensure they build a strong, healthy brand:

1. Know what your brand stands for…whilst I may be a marketing consultant in every day speak…my brand  is all about making businesses and charities irresistible. That’s what I stand for. Identifying what your brand stands for is actually the first part of my Brand Character process.
2. Do things properly…If this means do less, then do less. Avoid cheap, shoddy anything…Printing, design, packaging, photography, copy etc etc. If this means buying a cheaper office chair, then get a cheaper office chair!
3. Have one designer do everything…logo, fliers, website, signage, PowerPoint, stationary etc. Make sure they know what they’re doing though…particularly in regards to your website.
4. Know your core values…These should form the basis of all decisions you make in your business and around your brand.
5. Identify your prospects’ problem…As brand builders we are problem solvers. Make sure your brand clearly says “Hey, I can fix your problem!”
6. Identify your brand’s personality…Then ensure it comes through in all its marketing.
7. Be unique…Take a look at what the competition is doing, identify the gap and fill it with your brand. If all the brands in your category are black then be white. Great brands challenge their category.
8. Be consistent…Make sure you present your brand to the market place in exactly the same way no matter what the medium. You are creating one brand…not 10!
9. Socialise it…Make sure every person within your business knows what your brand stands for. It’s useless having everyone on different pages.
10. Make it visually really interesting…There are so many boring logos out there…Don’t be one of them. Be brave…it pays off.
11. Under promise and over deliver…All good brands do this. Remember, I promised 10 points…well this is the 11th ;0)

This is not the definitive list but we could make it one…What would you add?

This is a story about a small business getting it terribly wrong…and how you can avoid the same mistake.

My local Chamber Of Commerce recently distributed a brochure on behalf of one of it’s members. The brochure asked…“Does Google ignore you?” It then went on for 6 pages explaining how they could ensure this didn’t happen for your business. Fair enough…they made some good points…they appeared to be a local SEO company good at what they did. They even offered a ‘free Google website ranking check’.

At this point I’m thinking, I like the sound of these guys…they tell me they know their stuff, they have a core focus and are offering a nice little free entry level product. And they’re asking a question in ‘Does Google ignore me?’ which is clearly a question many business owners ask themselves.

So…before I call them I figure I’ll just check that they’re walking their talk. So, into Google I key in their business name…and back they come, front and center. Then I key in typical search terms that one would use to find them…I key in the most obvious…’SEO experts in (insert my suburb)’…NOTHING! I try four more obvious search phrases…NOTHING!

At this point they’ve lost me and a potential new client…instead I decided to blog about the experience.

Guys…if you make a claim in your business…BACK IT UP WITH REAL LIFE EXAMPLES. That makes sense, doesn’t it?

Oh…and just to make things worse here’s a few more things they got wrong and that we all can learn from:

• There was no URL in their call to action…just an address and phone number…Really!
• They had no social media involvement listed either…fundamental for an SEO business I would have thought.
• And when I did go to their website..they had an outdated blog (last entry May 2008!).

OK…enough bagging these poor guys. The lesson? Back up every offer you make with a claim..a case study…a testimonial.

In fact, live by the below saying and you’ll be well and truly on the right track:

“Don’t tell me you’re funny…tell me a joke!”

What do you think? Do you agree?