| |
| |
|
Marketing Resource Center |
|
|
|
A Point in Every Direction is the Same As No Point At All
Ever try to be something for everyone and find no one wants it? Do you have trouble finding the time to focus on your business? Do you do so much for so many that you find it's difficult to make any financial progress in your business; much less make an indelible mark in the mind of your potential customers? I found myself on that road so many times, that I could be a tour guide for Please-want-me-ville. Where did this come from and how can you get it to stop? It starts publicly when we're very young... at school. A moment emblazoned in my mind was in Mrs. Moon's kindergarten class. I had just discovered a squirreled stash of my favorite food, Pepperidge Farms Goldfish Crackers, in the front pocket of my patchwork dress. I squealed with delight and proudly started munching on them in the middle of "two plus three". My delight turned to horror when I heard, "Miss Castle, I hope you have enough for everyone or you will stand in the front of the class with your face in the corner!" Out of nowhere, large beads of sweat developed on my forehead as I desperately searched every inch of my two-inch square pocket for enough goldfish to feed the entire class. Even though we were only on "addition", somehow I knew that four fishes and a tail wouldn't cut it. With my face in the corner for those very long twenty minutes, I vowed that I would always have enough to make everyone happy. In business, these fish have come back to bite me over and over again; until I started teaching people how to brand. Now they can 'gold-fish' for themselves. As a teenager, I developed 'I don't have enough friends' syndrome. Not being one of the 'cool-n-popular' types, I had to buy my friends (I hope I'm not the only one who did this). And since I wasn't the brain, I couldn't find my value in helping friends get "A's. I did everything else: the grunt work, the labor, the runs to the store, the 'kill-the messenger' calls, the kind of stuff that took me away from most of the 'friend' action. I did so much that I had no time to develop the relationships that I wanted in the first place. I was spread so thin... I was transparent! No wonder for the first few years of my business, I worked unbelievably hard but had nothing (no money, no value) to show for it. It wasn't until I turned my focus inward that I really started to build something of value that customers wanted. A few dictionary definitions of focus: 1. concentrated effort or attention on a particular thing 2. a concentrated and unified quality 3. the quality of being sharply defined with clear edges and contrast A few dictionary definitions of inward: 1. situated within something 2. relating to or existing in the mind or spirit 3. toward the inside or center of something Your business can never be developed as a brand until you first: a) suspend the need to be something for everyone, and b) sharply define with clear edges from your inside or center The challenge to our business success grows when we compound these learned behaviors with the entrepreneurial fear that we need to be attractive to e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e in order to survive. Especially because we don't know when and from where the next customer will come. I've done that dance too. (You know, the one when you get off the phone with a new client closing a "new tiny project that feels huge because it's the only one you have 'dance'). If you identify at all with this, how's it working for you? For me it didn't! Nothing did until I: 1) deeply connected to what I offered, found my uniqueness in it and built on the internal power of it (the first part of the BrandU? process), and 2) communicated it consistently with precision and quality (the second part of the BrandU? process known as CLICsm). The points of effort that you are sending out in every direction - squandering your focus externally, trying to be something for everyone, doing so much that results so little - all start from somewhere. That somewhere is a place that you control. The seeds of your brand are planted there. Don't be affected by your programming, program your success. I promise you that if plant it there and tend it, it will grow, and grow, and... grow! And you will be filled with joy and financial success, and the freedom to enjoy it. © 2003 Castle Montone, Limited All Rights Reserved. Written by Kim Castle, the Co-founder of BrandU? - the home of only step-by-step process for developing your business as a brand from the inside out! To get information on upcoming BrandU one-day workshops: http://www.whybrandu.com/Public/events/workshop/index.cfm?semID=13Get your Why You?!(sm) monthly ezine for easy-to-read tips and informative insights on branding. To subscribe: http://www.whybrandu.com/ "BrandU? - Big Business Success No Matter Your Size"
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Explode Your Sales With Free & Exclusive Content Offering free and exclusive content to ezine publishers and webmasters is one of the best ways you can increase exposure for your products and services. There are several effective methods you can use to employ this marketing tactic and subsequently boost your sales. Developing a Contact List- Part Two In a previous installment, we spoke about how to come up with a list of persons you currently know. Although everyone on that list will not necessarily become your client, everyone can lead you to clients. Marketing Effectively to More Than One Audience What's a small business owner to do if they have more than one audience to market to? Perhaps they need to attract clients but they also need to recruit business partners or vendors. Do they need two marketing plans or can they use one plan that tries to address both aspects?This is a great question that applies to many different types of businesses who find they need to market to more than one group of people. 10 Surefire Ways to Add Sizzle to Your Brochures Businesses rely on brochures as their front line in communicating their products or services. Yet according to Shannon Cherry, APR, many find them not as successful because they underestimate the skills and resources necessary to publish attractive and effective materials. How To Market Effectively Even If No One Understands What You Do So how do you effectively market your product or service when one knows anything about them because you're in a new and emerging industry? How can you expect to get customers if no one understands what it is that you do?If this is your situation then a big part of your marketing strategy will need to be educating consumers about what you do. If yours is a field that is relatively new, or perhaps misunderstood, adopting an education strategy can help consumers understand the benefits you provide and feel more comfortable with the idea of purchasing your products or services. Quiz: Where is Your Marketing Message? Wondering if your marketing message is dancing in the spotlight right in front of your target market or is busy cowering by the punch table nowhere near your customer base? Take this quiz and find out.1. Sell Your Name, Not Your Product Do you know what the majority of people sell? I could not tell you what Michael Green sells, but if he does sell something, then I would probably buy it. His name is popular among the "Marketers". Tips for Trade Show Rentals Trade show rentals allow you more flexibility and the opportunity to change your booth with every expo if you wish. You can rent nearly any booth components, from portable pop-ups to completely custom looks. Making the Intangible Real How do you make the intangible real? How do you take an idea or concept, something that can't be seen or touched, and convey its essence to others, quickly and easily?That challenge faces many of us in this age of information and knowledge marketing. In advertising and other marketing communications, we have to convince prospects to respond to words and ideas. Bedroom Marketing Hopefully we are all adults here, so let's talk about sex for just a minute. No, I'm not talking about porn sites, I'm talking about taking a look at what I call 'Bedroom Marketing' and applying the same principles to Internet marketing. Who Is Your Market and Where Are They? An important part of planning your business is to know who will use your products/services.The vast majority of small businesses will rely on their communities for sales. How to Conduct a Successful Fax Marketing Campaign 1. Focus your fax marketing on one objectiveFax is a flexible medium, and is being used by Adestra clients to sell off-the-page, to conduct research, for broadcasting newsletters, for generating prospects and for database cleaning. Marketing is More Than a Token Process "Necessity is the mother of invention!" The first time I heard this was nearly twenty years ago when I was introduced to Tony Robbins' material. I was listening to, and applying, information from his thirty day series. Why Target the Matures The "Matures" are the generations that came along between 1909 and 1945. Born to and tempered by economic uncertainty, older Matures were nurtured by the New Deal and served in the mightiest armed force fielded by any nation. Five Tips for Trade Show Success on a Small Budget No matter how small your marketing budget, your business can afford to have a successful presence at trade shows without incurring big expenses. Here are five tips for exhibiting in trade shows inexpensively:1) Have a sales representative exhibit your line at a trade show. Top 5 Design Tips to Create Eye-Catching Marketing Materials Great graphic design looks effortless, but it requires lots of attention to details. Think back to an eye-catching advertisement, publication, or flyer you saw recently. Dont Think Like A Package Designer - Think Like A Customer Some of the most successful package introductions have come from people who knew nothing about package design. How can that make sense? Designers are creative. Your Marketing Message - Could You Wring More CASH Out Of It With This Ancient Japanese Discipline? When it comes to your marketing message, the little things count. Trouble is, you'll never come to respect how much, until you make a commitment to science. Why Market to Generation X? Generation X"--the 40 million or so people born between 1965 and 1976--understands it is living in a world of uncertainty where neither the govern¬ment nor private employers offer lifetime financial security. This is, however, the next generation of responsible adults, bright young people with families to protect and educate. Ten Crucial Questions Ten Crucial Questions for Your Business Future I'm a business coach. I've worked with hundreds of small, medium and very large business, and over the course of the past eleven years, I've asked my business coaching clients endless questions which have helped them achieve much greater levels of success than they would have otherwise.
|
| home | site map | Advertising Articles |
| © 2006 |
