DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH CHARACTER?

The answer is, not likely. Character is the secret ingredient used in creating a remarkable selling proposition. A remarkable selling proposition, as defined by me is one that is perceived as a breakthrough by your target consumer. It can manifest itself in one of four ways when conveying your selling proposition. It can be in the form of words, graphics, sound or structural. The procedure for adding "remarkability" to your selling proposition is simple. You try adding character to the different elements of your selling proposition until one or more work. By elements I am referring to a sub-brand, a generic descriptor, a key graphic, an endorsement, a benefit, an attribute and so on.

Some categories are all but void of character. Gas stations, plumbers, dry cleaners, drug stores, hardware stores, and shoe repair shops are among many others. Have you ever noticed when you drive down the street, how generic the information is that you are exposed to? Retail stores are the worst offenders but there are those few who pull it off.

There is a shoe repair shop about ten blocks from my office. The owner turned his car into a giant boot that he parks in-front of the store daily. He added character.

 There is a plumber in Los Angeles  CA who created a tag line that adds character. He says, “I guarantee my plumbers will show up on time and smell good.” He added character. There is a national men’s clothing retailer who added an advertising tag line to his selling proposition. He says, “You’re going to like the way you look. I guarantee it.” He added character. When the Yoplait marketers wanted to sell yogurt to kids, they added character to the delivery system, the sub-brand, the generic descriptor and the key graphic, they too added character.

There is a significant residual benefit to adding character that is very important. There is a direct relationship between the presence of character and that of loyalty. You show me a selling proposition with little character and I will show you a group of consumers with low loyalty. These consumers will likely bail out in favor of a competitive product or service that has more character appeal. If you stop and review the brands and products that you are currently loyal to, chances are they have character that you relate to. Brands with little character are frankly boring. You and I don’t collect boring friends nor do we warm up to boring brands and products. If you look even closer you will notice that the products and services you patronize, those that have little character, are most likely very convenient or very cheap.

The learning here is that you can add power to your selling proposition simply by adding character. You don’t have to increase advertising or sale promotion or change your product or service in any way. Simply take exactly what you are currently selling and look for positioning elements that you can alter to add character.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

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NEVER UNDER ESTIMATE THE POWER OF A 3RD PARTY

Over time I have developed a protocol for creating a selling proposition for new products and I am very loyal to the process. It’s simple in that it begins with a thorough review of all the 16 positioning elements that make up a selling proposition to determine which are appropriate for exploration. 

Lately I have noticed that the “product endorsement” element has been very effective in stimulating sales. You are probably thinking of the Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant type of endorsement and that is a great place to start. I snapped a picture of the following billboard of Dwight Howard in an Ed Hardy T shirt to demonstrate its prevalence. 

For the most part, it is assumed that endorsements are costly and reserved for the big and well-financed brands, but nothing is further from the truth. An endorsement is essentially a referral by a third party. The third being after the first two, your product or service and your target consumer. These third parties come in two forms, human and institutional. If it is human then you are going to have to pay according to the popularity of the personality you are hiring. Recently, one beer company found a way to cut the celebrity fee. They needed “The most interesting man in the world” to sell their beer so they created him. Compare that to paying Dwight Howard.

So, if you are a small business what do you do? If you are already in business then you have the answer at hand. Take a look at your current consumer base and evaluate it with the idea of soliciting some of these people and use them creatively. In small and medium sized businesses this is routinely overlooked.

I have a friend who owns a dry cleaning business that is located approximately two miles from a major university. After getting to know his customers and providing great service over time, he asked two of them if they would consider endorsing his business. What a pleasant surprise when Ben Howland and Rick Neuheisel, head basketball and football coaches at UCLA, both said yes.

Hear is another example very close to me. I recently wrote a book. I asked twelve of my clients if they would like to read its final draft and provide me a quote for my use in promoting the book. All twelve are now found on the front and back covers and the inside 1^st page. "PULL" is now in full distribution in all bookstores and my publisher gives significant credit to the endorsements. Beyond that, one of the first reactions my publisher received was a very complementary email from the Chairman, President and CEO of HBO. Our first reaction was to thank him and ask if we could use it…it will be included in the next printing. You can see why I have more than the normal level of attention to the endorsement positioning element these days.

The learning here, is for you to look closely at your consumer base. It does not matter at all what your business is, you will find interesting people who are not celebrities but who have credible careers. If you are selling jewelry and one of your customers sells dresses, you are good to go with that. If you are a plumber and one of your clients owns an apartment building, you are good to go with that. Who wouldn’t use the plumber who takes care of the apartment building on the corner? These are people who are willing to help you and I out without compensation. So ask and let me know how it goes.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

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visit my site, www.pullbizbook.com

BEWARE OF THE "OPERATING STATE" OF YOUR TARGET CONSUMER

I know this sounds ominous and it can be if you are not careful. Being aware of the “operating state” is the secret to dealing with it. I discovered a long time ago that all humans have the same operating state and as a result, I have adjusted the way I interface with others. You may have noticed there are a lot of humans around these days, that includes you and me of course and the operating state I am referring to is “What’s Wrong Here?”

If you are at all human, and you are, you just thought to yourself that this may be true for Keith and most other humans but it certainly does not apply to you. Trust me, it is a defense mechanism left over from the caveman days when there were significant reasons to think this way. Thinking this way was key to survival itself. I share this with apologies to the Geico cavemen who have apparently evolved mentally if not physically.

Another way to look at this phenomenon is that consumers are looking for a reason not to purchase your product or service. The answer is simple. Don’t give them a reason, and here are three traps to watch out for.

The first is to not use words that your target consumer will not fully understand or words that need interpretation. There is something about the human mind that begins to turn off the instant we read past words we don’t fully understand. One word is enough to have consumers move on to the next issue in their lives.

Secondly, your selling proposition should be written and communicated on an 8th grade level. It is not only possible, it is essential when communicating complicated selling messages. Oddly, most newsprint is written that way and we don’t notice. We are engaged in the material and simply don’t think of it.

Lastly, if you make a bold claim, which I recommend you do if at all possible, be sure to validate your claim immediately adjacent to your claim. In this circumstance, they will tune your selling proposition out because your claim isn’t credible. If you immediately support your claim, you are on firm ground.

I observe the “What’s Wrong Here” operating state daily, and it has me working to be more effective in dealing with people. It will for you as well. You just have to get over the idea that you are not an exception to this fundamental way of being.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

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visit my site, www.pullbizbook.com

CREATING WHAT’S NEXT IS ESSENTIAL TO THE HEALTH OF YOUR BUSINESS

Picking up from last week, where I said, the smartest, safest and easiest marketing methodology is simply being the cause for what’s next in your category. You can accomplish major shifts in sales by making changes to your selling proposition. It is not at all necessary to spend money on advertising or sales promotion if you can create changes in your sales message that are perceived as remarkable by your target consumers.

There are four possible forms that a message can take;

Words

Graphics

Sounds

Physical Structure

For the purpose of demonstrating how easy this is, I will only consider words here. Imagine, simply changing two or three words and seeing a shift in sales volume.

A selling proposition is divided into sixteen different communication elements, each having different and unique functions that separate them from the others. It is smart to evaluate each as a possibility on its own. I will give you three examples here from three different elements, all in the form of words.

Consider your benefit for a moment. A benefit, as I define the term, is what your target consumer gets out of using your product or service. It’s about your target, not your product or service. I consider the benefit the most important element and also the most neglected. Chances are your competition has ignored it as well…good news for you. A great example of the strategic use of a benefit is “You’re going to like the way you look.” Chances are you are familiar with this one.

Consider your key physical attribute for a moment. I define it as a tangible characteristic of your product or service. A great example of the strategic use of a key physical attribute is “Made From Sugar.”  This one you may not be aware of as the makers of Splenda were sued by the makers of Equal and were forced to remove it from their package. By the time it was removed, Equal™ had lost a major share of the market and Splenda™ had built a business that is now well over $400,000 in annual gross sales.

Consider the possibility of an endorsement for a moment. I define it as a third party of any kind that recommends your product or service. In West Los Angeles there is a dry cleaning company who has secured the recommendation of the UCLA basketball coach. My experience is that these types of endorsements make a difference and they need not be celebrities. Quotes from customers strategically placed in your sales message can be very powerful.

The learning here is that even if you are a small business with limited funds you can drive business forward. I recommend you consider that making positive changes to your selling proposition is an action that should occur approximately every six months. Good luck and go change something.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

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HOW DO YOU HANDLE SUCCESS?

Let’s assume for the moment that you have either recently created success in your business or you have been experiencing success on an ongoing basis. If so how are you handling it? Vacations? New house? New car? Are your feet up on the desk? Are you smoking a cigar? All of these options seem fine to me but I offer a word of caution.

In my world we are aware of a marketing distinction we call “what’s next.” What’s next is very interesting. It is very real and is as consistent and predictable as gravity. We all sell within categories. My category is creative marketing services. Yours could be service stations, frozen pizzas, dry cleaners, magazines, gas stations or whatever. I will assume you monitor your category faithfully and are aware of its evolution. Category evolution is the result of a series of changes that are adapted by category participants (that’s you) and accepted by the category consumers. What I can guarantee you is that “what’s next” is alive and well no matter whatever category you’re in.

You have a choice. You can create “what’s next” or you can wait for it to show up. If you wait, it will appear. If you wait, when it appears you will see and feel the effect of whatever change has taken place and that is often very painful. There is a great deal of suffering when you are at the effect of the category changes that others have created.

The learning here is to watch out for complacency. Once you have achieved success, be my guest. Put your feet up on your desk and light up a cigar. However, once you have finished the cigar, even in the face of success, begin creating “what’s next.”  If you do not, you have in that moment shifted to a reactionary marketing methodology. In this mode, you are no longer the cause of your category evolution, but are conversely at the effect of it. There are many businesses that are successful operating in a reactionary mode. To do so is an art, one that you are not likely to be schooled in and I will not elaborate on it here as it doesn’t further the conversation. My experience indicates that the smarter, safer and easier marketing methodology is simply being the cause for “what’s next” in your category.

This may sound on the surface to be a costly methodology, but it need not be. You may be thinking you have to spend on advertising or promotion. You can accomplish major shifts in sales by making changes to your selling proposition. I will next show you examples of how to do just that. Until then…

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

follow my blog by clicking one of the links below





visit my site, www.pullbizbook.com