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?

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?

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?

How often are you pleasantly surprised by great customer service? If you’re like me, then sadly not very often. But recently, I had a good customer service experience that demonstrates the best way to handle customer complaints.

Last winter I had a fire grate made. For $170 I got what appeared to be a solid piece of craftsmanship. But after only twenty fires, it started to lose shape, bend in the middle and generally stop functioning.

Because I generally like to avoid conflict at all costs, I tossed up for a couple of weeks about whether or not to take it back, but I finally decided I should. I was of course expecting the worse – “Sorry mate, our guarantee only extends to 14-days” or “Sorry but you shouldn’t have kept using it.”

To my astonishment the fellow who made it apologised, offered to fix it and/or replace it and advised that it would be all done within two days. The end result was that it was fixed on the same day, at no charge and now works better than ever. And he didn’t even refer to me as “Mate”. As a side issue, I think referring to a customer in this way is very unprofessional. My favoured approach is to use their first name, but that’s another article in itself!

Now, back to my fire grate. Okay, so maybe the problem shouldn’t have arisen in the first place and they should pay more attention to their craftsmanship…but mistakes do happen. From a business owners perspective, the learning here is how you handle customer complaints.

I could almost guarantee the fire grate fellow has had no training in customer service, he just did what seemed right. He listened to the customer, made a judgement that the customer’s request was reasonable and then over-delivered. In fact he under-promised and over-delivered…even better!

This doesn’t mean giving in to every customer’s request – of course there are times when they are simply unreasonable. But it does mean being sensible and mature about your options for the best way to handle customer complaints.

How you handle customer complaints can create an opportunity to promote your business. Handled well, they are a great way to generate word-of-mouth. That said, I’d buy another fire grate tomorrow from Flash Weld in Mornington, Victoria!

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?

Google page rank SEO

Author’s note…I’m no SEO guru (at all)…I can barely spell it! BUT…

…that said, I just reviewed a slide presentation made at Wordcamp in San Francisco recently by one of the Google honchos.

Some of it was pretty complicated (there was even a math’s algorithm!) but within the complication was some gold…real gold.

It explained in simple terms how Google ranks pages. The answer:

1. Be relevant.
2. Be reputable.

To be RELEVANT you need to ask yourself:

1. What do I love?
2. What am I really good at doing?
3. What do I have to say?

Think about the key words users are searching and include them naturally in your copy and posts…and this includes image and video search as well…we must tag those slippery suckers!

To be REPUTABLE, you need to:

1. Be interesting.
2. Update often.
3. Be useful…do original research or reporting.
4. Find a niche.
5. Give great information.
6. Make lists…”The top 20 ways…”
7. Create controversy.
8. Make a video.

I’ve taken the gold out of a much longer slide presentation that you can view here.

What do you do to build your Google ranking?

Do you have a core focus in your business? Up until recently, I thought I did…In fact I thought I was laser-focused.

“What I do is crystal clear” I’d say to myself…I help businesses and charities with their marketing efforts with the end result being that they get more inquiry…more customers. Quite a succinct value statement, huh?

Well, that was true to some extent and quite compelling….who wouldn’t want a piece of that? It’s not as if I don’t have enough Clients.

Yet I continued to feel an uncertainty around the question…Do I really have a core focus?

Then I had an epiphany…well, it was more like a whack across the head by a business strategy coach I’m using at present. He very quickly highlighted to me the fact that whilst I clearly knew what I was and wanted to do for my Clients…I had far too many ways for them to access this brilliance! His words, not mine ;0)

I had to get some laser-focus around my product offering which as I write this includes workshops, webinars, 1-on-1 coaching, campaign implementation, a book and more. No wonder I was going nuts…jumping from one thing to another. One morning I’d be running a workshop…that afternoon I’d be doing some coaching…and the next minute I’d be doing an interview for my book.

So, through a process of elimination I’m working on getting scarily focussed to the point that I have one core product offering that I will deliver exceptionally well to anyone who decides to work with me. My criteria for arriving at this core product offering will include:

• Love-ability (do I love providing it?)
• Do-ability (Is it doable?)
• Accept-ability (Is their a need for it amongst my prospects?)
• Profit-ability (Can I make a good earn from it?)

And yes…profit-ability is purposely last as I want to ensure that I love what I do more than anything and hope that that old cliche of ‘the money will follow’ is a truism!

Have I arrived at my new core product offering? Yes…I’m now in the process of ‘packaging’ it up ready for market. What is it? Bookmark my blog if you haven’t already and I’ll share it with you shortly.

Why am I sharing my business strategy with you. Mmm…well, it’s cathartic…I feel better having done it. I’d love your feedback on it….not for reassurance, just for curiosity really. Most importantly, I think it’s a really smart thing to be doing…and if like me…you feel there’s something that needs fixing in your business then this may just give you that positive shift you need.

What do you think?

So I ran a webinar on Twitter and Business today….Click here to view it.

It goes for 30 minutes (plus 15 minutes of questions) and you can view it below.

Why’s it worth watching? Mmmm…well it shares with you some key concepts that, if you spend a moment understanding them, will enable you to develop a mindset around Twitter that will allow you to make your tweeting work hard as an effective sales channel for your business. That’s all!

I also give you practical HOW TO’s on ensuring your tweeting looks right and stays on brief. Enjoy…and please feel free to share the love and RT this link.

Here’s the webinar link again.