Ideas for profitable
communication
by Baruch ter Wal
Show, don’t tell
July 8th, 2010
A whole generation is graduating from our universities with a new mindset: they can be themselves and still be successful.
That’s the impression I got, anyway, running workshops at Survive & Thrive today. I don’t mean to say that the rest of us don’t have that mindset, but typically the importance of being ourselves is something we’ve learned. It involved us breaking some colonial programming.
The talks I gave were about the importance of aligning your business conduct with every claim you make. Indeed, backing up your claims with action should be the most natural thing in the world – because the claims are true.
So if your claim to fame is that you’re passionate about a topic you’ll naturally blog about it, or hold meet-ups about it, or carry out novel research into the area. If you claim to be a “true partner” you’ll naturally put your fees at risk in case of failure, or take equity in some of your clients’ businesses, or think about their issues in the shower. If you’re all about service you will die before you require people who click on the “contact” tab on your website to fill out a form before you’ll talk to them.
Most advisors will say that if your behaviour is not aligned with your marketing claims you need to adjust your behaviour. I think you’ll have more success if you adjust the claims.
Who wants to be “they”?
April 13th, 2010
On the bus today I heard: “They are going to cure cancer in ten years” but also “We were the first to split the atom.” Why?
Being a New Zealander doesn’t necessarily bring you into the fold of “we”. You hear “We went nuclear free in the ‘80s” but also “They want to ban smoking on beaches.”
“We” is about buy-in, about a feeling of connectedness.
How close are you and your customers from referring to each other as “we” instead of “they”?
Lest we forget
March 17th, 2010
We learned some useful things during the recession.
Yesterday I hung out with a room full of buzzing entrepreneurs who saw more opportunities than they had time to grab (I’m not quite sure what Auckland would do without The ICEHOUSE).
As much as it looks like 2010 will be a great year, it was clear that many of the opportunities spring from what we learned during the dark days of 2009.
We learned that marketing benefits – new or deeper relationships and sales – should be measurable.
We learned to seek lower cost channels that were just as effective as the old high cost ways of getting attention (one of my favourite stories was Turners Auctions tripling profits while cutting marketing spend in half to focus on a smart online strategy).
We learned to paint a clear picture of how our products and services would improve our customers’ lives and businesses.
Let’s not forget.
The, ahem, 3 secrets to successful business-to-business communication :-)
January 21st, 2010
Self knowledge; customer insight; design thinking.
- Self knowledge. This is about truth. What does your business truly do better than anyone else? (BTW: that means now, not what you will be the best at, or hope to be the best at.) Narrow the scope until you find it. Ideally it will be something you are also passionate about.
- Customer insight. Who are the people and organisations most in need of the thing you’re best at? What do they currently believe about their needs? What do they currently believe about your ability to meet their needs? (Hint: it won’t be the same as what you believe).
- Design thinking. On a blank piece of paper, paint the world’s most compelling and truthful picture outlining why those customers (with those beliefs) need what you have to offer.
If you’re 100% committed to these three steps, I will always be happy to talk to you with the meter off. Not before 10am though.
How can you change the game?
January 12th, 2010
Here’s a simple recipe for doing something really transformative for your business or career in 2010.
Make a list of the things you’ve been wishing you had the time or money to do. Pick something off the list.
Now (this is the important bit) tell all of your LinkedIn, email, Twitter or flesh and blood friends that you’re going to do it in the next 6 months. Now you’ve got peer pressure to make it happen. As a bonus, people will want to know whether you’ve achieved your goal, and you’ll generate a truckload of free and useful word of mouth marketing.
My game changer is this: I’m going to hire someone smarter than me to drive my business forward.
What’s yours?
Sometimes you need to be narrow minded
December 10th, 2009
Should we be saying “no” to lucrative opportunities just because they fall outside the target market specified in our business plan?
Some of the time it makes sense to grab these opportunities when they fall into our lap. But it almost never makes sense to actively chase them.
There is always a temptation to spread the marketing net too wide. You know that your service can add value across industries, and is useful for both large and small businesses. So that’s the message that you take to market. But if your sales and marketing tries to appeal to everybody, you end up appealing to nobody. Helen Clark may have rubbed many people up the wrong way, but compare her popularity to Phil “all things to all people” Goff.
And the benefits of a clear focus go beyond perception. A clear customer focus
- Helps you pick your marketing channels
- Influences which networking events you’ll attend
- Determines your PR and case study priorities
- Pushes you to make your products special by being sensitive to how customers are different – not how they are the same.
So narrowing your focus, and sticking to that focus in your marketing and planning, helps you to end up with better products that are easier to sell. It’s a no brainer. But so is grabbing the odd amazing opportunity, even if it’s outside your focus. It’s New Zealand, not New York.
Just remember: they’re not gift horses if you’re chasing them.
