March 31, 2017 by RonTester Leave a Comment

What Does the World’s Classiest Truck Stop Have to Do with Your Marketing Message?

Do This: Create a marketing message that is quirky enough to create curiosity.

I drove up I-5 from Redding, CA to Portland, OR today. I saw lots of beautiful things—wide rivers, snow-capped mountains, and quite a few billboards that read:

World’s Classiest Truck Stop

I am not making that up. According to their website: “In its world-wide survey of truck stops, the FOX Travel Channel voted Jubitz Travel Center the ‘World’s Classiest Truck Stop’ for our high customer service standards.”

As marketers and business owners, we know that credibility is a big deal. Having a world-wide survey and a TV channel rate your business “classiest” is pretty great, but what struck me was how incongruent “classy” and “truck stop” seem. It’s jarring enough to make you think twice. And it made me think twice. And anytime your marketing message can create healthy curiosity, you win.

When I see “world’s largest” or “world’s best” copy in an advertisement, I’m tempted to dismiss it as marketing-speak. When Buddy the Elf sees the sign for “World’s Best Cup of Coffee,” he’s the only one gullible enough to believe it.

But what if there was something you could actually be the world’s best at? Something that others would say about you? You could instantly improve your credibility and give your audience something to remember you by, especially if it’s a little quirky or creates a little curiosity.

One word of caution, though. If you’re going to become the world’s best/prettiest/most dangerous, make sure that it’s believable, or your audience will dismiss your claim and lump you in with the rest of the liars.

If you’re the world’s best, world’s tallest, world’s fastest, or even world’s classiest, please comment and share your story. And if you’re not there yet but you’re committed to be, please comment and share what you will be world’s best at.

March 30, 2017 by RonTester Leave a Comment

How to Tell a Unique Story

Boring…

I scrapped my podcast today. Haven’t listened to my podcast yet? That’s because I haven’t actually released it.

I’ve been thinking about podcasting for a while. I had some cover art made. I recorded some episodes. I edited some episodes. And then they just sat there on my hard drive, collecting cyberdust. They felt so generic. So uninspiring. Like a boring parody of an authoritative podcast.

Here’s the main problem: there was no me in there. It was info, info, info. Good info, actually, but not great entertainment. And no me. So I scrapped it.

In order to tell your brand’s unique story, it’s important to deviate from simple blog posts and regular forms of content. Your story is a compilation of all that you do and all that you are. It starts with your idea, your business card, your website, and every product or service that you put out there. It includes your social media and your blog. Everything taken together tells your story, so it’s important to understand how it all fits together.

Your story separates and differentiates you from everyone else. Otherwise, you’re just one more solution for the same old problem that customers can choose from, and usually without a standout differentiator they’ll base their choice on price. Most of the time, unless you’re Walmart, you do not want customers to choose you based on price alone. You want them to choose you because you’re you.

Telling your unique story starts with these questions:

1) When, Why and How Did You Start?

The best way to show authenticity is to be able to tell your audience when, why and you started doing what it is that you do. If you can tell your story in a way that your audience relates to you, and even roots for your success – even better. If you can become part of the “fabric of their lives” so to speak, you will be able to pull on their emotional heartstrings and almost become part of their family.

2) How Do You Want Customers to View You?

As you write your story, it’s important to convey your values and ideals in a no-nonsense way that isn’t wishy-washy. While you may be frightened of turning off some people, you really don’t need to worry about that. Those people aren’t your audience. Your audience consists of the people who can relate to your story, share your values, and want to be part of it.

3) Where Do You See Your Business Down the Line?

This is where you’ll try to dream big, and let your audience know where you see your business in the future. It also gives you the opportunity to refine consumer expectations toward what you offer rather than what the competition offers. For example, if you donate 10 percent of proceeds to a particular charity, people should know about it.

How you answer these questions is important. You’re going to have many opportunities to do so via every communication you have with your audience—be it your blog, social media or even through the types of products you offer. With the answers to these questions you can start to form your story and weave it throughout everything you do.

* Share through Storytelling – Using an honest, no-holds-barred communication style to tell your story, your customers’ stories, and the story of your products is a good start. Use case studies, interviews, and in-depth relatable blog posts to accomplish this.

* Share through Doing Good – Another way to share (and also blog about it) is to get involved with your community to give back something that is noticeable. You don’t want to do this just to get noticed, but you do want to pick something that helps people understand who you are as a business owner and what your business stands for.

* Share through Experiences – You and your audience likely share common experiences that should be discussed. The more ways you can relate to them, the more ways they’ll see your offerings as unique and different.

* Share with the Truth – Don’t hype, and don’t “blow smoke”. These are old advertising tricks that aren’t needed. Consumers are smart today. They want the black and white truth of the matter. If it takes 20 hours a week to do what you do, and you’re teaching them, tell them the truth. If you’ve had to stay up overnight to work around children’s schedules, say so.

* Share Everywhere – Don’t just “tell” your story on your blog in the “about” section. Tell your story everyplace. Use infographics, memes, blog posts, guest blog posts, articles, testimonials, good deeds and every possible way to spread your story. Be your story by your actions.

Your unique story of your brand is woven through everything you do. It tells your values, your past, present and future, and it makes you stand out from the rest in a compelling, relevant and useful manner. That’s what I’m working on. I would encourage you to, too.

What makes you unique? What’s your story? Feel free to comment and share.

March 29, 2017 by RonTester 1 Comment

How to Break the Multitasking Habit

Is there a 12 Step Group for Multitaskers? There probably should be.

“Hi, my name is Ron. I’m a multitasker.”

I talk about multitasking a lot with my employees, mostly trying to dissuade them from trying. People (including me) are finally waking up to realize that multitasking is not really a thing. The human brain does not have the ability to truly focus on more than one thing at a time and do it well. Outside of the automatic functions of your brain (such as walking, talking, and breathing), you cannot do serious work or even play with your kids right if you’re trying to concentrate more than one thing at a time.

The human brain cannot multitask. That’s a fact borne out by studies conducted by many scientific organizations and educational institutions such as Stanford University. If you still think you can, I encourage you to read Deep Work or The One Thing. Or Google it. Then accept that fact so that you can learn to be more productive and break the multitasking habit. And if you want to be excellent at marketing your small business, stopping multitasking will give you a significant advantage over those business owners too distracted to do deep work.

Here’s a short list of things you can do to stop multitasking:

* Turn Off the Noise – Noise is anything that distracts you from the thing that you’re currently doing. Turn off your cell phone, turn off your email, turn off the TV and truly focus on that book you’re trying to read. Turn it all off and truly focus on that work you’re doing for your clients. Turn it off and really focus on playing with your son for fifteen minutes. And for goodness sake, turn it all off while you’re enjoying dinner with your family. Like you, I’ve been at a restaurant and witnessed 4 people sitting at a table, staring down at their phones and not talking. It’s a shame, really.

* Create To-Do Lists – When it comes to stopping yourself from multitasking, the best friend you have is your to-do list. Include everything you need and should do in a day on your to-do list so that you can know what you’re facing. You may find you do not have time to watch that rerun of Friends or spend all that “networking” time on Facebook. Chet Holmes recommends you have no more than 6 things on your daily list—everything else goes on a separate list. Others recommend 5 or even 1. However many you decide on, it shouldn’t be so long that you can’t get it all done.

* Prioritize the Lists – Once you create a to-do list it’s important to put it in order of priority. Gary Keller says the operative word is “priority” (singular), not “priorities” (plural). At any given moment, there’s only one thing you need to be doing. Anything with a due date is easier to put into priority but remember to put yourself up at the top of the list. Your health, your family, and your life are more important than anything else. It’s important to understand this as you set up your avoidance systems to multitasking.

* Set up Schedules and Systems to Avoid Multitasking – Use your list to set up a calendar and task reminder system that will help you see how productive you are. You want to actually track the time you spend on each thing so that you can get really good at saying yes or no to new things because you know how much time you really have.

* Learn the Most Effective Way to Use Your Calendar – Your calendar isn’t just for work or doctor appointments. Your calendar can be used as a to-do list. Use something like Google Calendar so that you can easily see everything at a glance for any given day. You can even set up reminders for yourself. Schedule personal and business items on the same calendar, remembering how important it is to put yourself first.

* First Things First – When you look at your calendar, make sure you set things up by time. Always give yourself more time for each thing than you think you need. A good rule of thumb is to work out how long you think it will take and multiply it by 1.5 to get a better time. If you finish before your time is up, that’s great. Take some time out to walk around, read a book, and clear your mind. Again, Gary Keller recommends Time Blocking. For more information on Time Blocking, go here.

* Practice Makes Perfect – The more you learn to tune out interruptions and stop trying to do everything at once, the more you’ll like focusing on one thing at a time. You’ll find that you get more done, have more free time, and improve your outlook exponentially.

Multitasking is not something you want to do. You cannot become good at it. Don’t tell people you’re a good multitasker; you’re not. No one is. You just think you are. Try putting the things in place that are on this list and track your progress, and you’ll see that you are far more productive when you break the multitasking habit than you were before.

If you catch yourself multitasking, stop it! And if you need more help, consider Bob Newhart’s advice here:

That’s what I think. What are your thoughts on the subject?