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By Sandra Holtzman, November 17, 2012 8:11 am

The two shining examples of running with the pack come from the pharma world (just look at all those ads with happy smiling faces…the only thing that differentiates the ad and product category is the demographic of the happy smiling face).

A short while back, I did some primary research into about 50 law firms in the metro NY area – each firm had about 60 attorneys.  Almost half the firms I looked at, had bought the exact same website template – or one so close that differentiation was essentially non-existent.  And that’s before I got to the messaging – which was almost identical. The graphics were equally ho-hum.

As many of you have figured out by now, I’m a crusader for customer-focused market research and marketing.  Almost all legal websites talk about what’s important to the law firm and NOT what’s important to the potential client. It’s all about features and the benefits are almost never there.  Well, chest-beating does wonders for the ego, but does it bring in business?  In this environment, it doesn’t.  With so many me-toos (and very cheap off-shore solutions knocking on your customers’ doors), the only way to differentiate yourself from a myriad of other lawyers and law firms is to do primary research – that’s right – ask your customers’ what they want in a lawyer or law firm.  Listen to their answers.  And only then, with a trusted marketing or PR resource, should you start your website, and other messaging.

Fashion falls into its own category however the same rules of differentiation apply. Why look like everyone else when you can make yourself and your brand just as memorable as the product you’re selling?

It’s such a simple solution that it’s a wonder no one does it.  Of course, the result will separate you from the pack. Which is what you want. Because when you stand out, business finds its way to your door. However, standing out like this takes courage.  Every single company that has used customer-focused market research (my methodology is called Rapid Development http://www.holtzmancom.com/Rade/rade.php and the market research session itself is called OpenMind® http://www.holtzmancom.com/teamwork_openmind.php has had remarkable results. From Fortune 500 clients  to startups to the sole practitioner – in every sector. From pharma companies, to nano-tech companies to a Rabbi (yes a Rabbi  http://www.rabbibleefeld.com/).   Oh yes, attorneys and law firms as well.

Sandra Holtzman teaches CEO 035: Licensing.
She is the author of Lies Startups Tell Themselves to Avoid Marketing.

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By Sandra Holtzman, November 10, 2012 11:01 am

Interesting Article:

Venture Capitalists and Investors
http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/91669/Surprising-Insights-From-HubSpot-s-35M-Mezzanine-Round.aspx

Interesting Event:

Hatchery – Are You Serious? – November 14, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM

http://ays1114.eventbrite.com/#

The Hatchery invites serious entrepreneurs to take part in its next open pitching event on Wednesday evening, November 14. Presenters will have five minutes to pitch their product or startup to a panel of angel investors. The panel will provide candid feedback and guidance on steps to improve the pitch for actual investor presentations. Further, the panel will provide opinions on whether the products or firm are commercially viable. Typically, panelists have seen hundreds of pitches from startup firms, and have a good feel for the ability of a new company to create a successful launch.

Sandra Holtzman teaches CEO 035: Licensing.
She is the author of Lies Startups Tell Themselves to Avoid Marketing.

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By Sandra Holtzman, October 20, 2012 11:21 am

This past summer I had the great pleasure of being a judge for the Chase Manhattan and Living Social “Mission Small Business” contest.  During that one week, I (and other judges each) reviewed about 600 business plan concepts. (About 70,000 responded.) There were 12 winners each receiving $250K.

First, almost all the plans fell into the middle range meaning they were good solid plans but didn’t stand out in some special way.  There were a few that were just plain confusing so much so that in some cases the name of the business was never mentioned, or I was left guessing what exactly the business was/did.

The ones that stood out, however, made sure that they answered all the questions asked in the entry information.  One of the key points that separated the winners was their passion which came across into the written word.  Another was their story…storytelling is very important because it draws the reader into your world and let’s them experience it.  Also important, and part of their stories, was how they overcame or were overcoming obstacles and their strength and tenacity to keep going no matter what.  One of the requirements was how the business contributed to the betterment of their community…and by that I mean not just writing a check to the local charity but actually having a positive impact on their local community. This included  job creation, another  very important factor.  Each of the 12 winners had all of these elements.

A word of caution…no funder wants to hear that your use of proceeds will go to retiring debt.  Unfortunately, no one cares about your past…they are funding your future.

When you’re asked or tasked with submitting a business plan, make sure to include all these aspects – they will help you stand out from the pack.

For details of the plan, names of the winners, and interviews with two final judges, one of whom was a sponsor, please visit the links below.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11669958/1/chase-and-livingsocial-award-12-small-businesses-250000-grants-totalling-3m-through-the-mission-small-business-program.html

http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=389700003

Sandra Holtzman teaches CEO 035: Licensing.
She is the author of Lies Startups Tell Themselves to Avoid Marketing.

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By donald_mcmichael, October 13, 2012 1:48 pm

New York Public Library reading room (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You were kind enough to give me three minutes two months ago so I could show you how to become a better entrepreneur.

Earlier in the year I hit you with a pre-summer checklist to grow your business.

If you are ready to take your venture, and yourself, to a whole new business development level lean in close I’ve found something else.

Chris Brogan (if you’re not familiar with him you should certainly peruse his site ChrisBrogan.com) has issued a dietary challenge. Read only three, that’s right he said three books, for an entire year.

3 for 3
The impetus of this 3-book diet is the fact that people (read “we”) don’t do well implementing a book’s lessons. We suffer from a “getting it done” bias who’s intrinsic value is crossing it off of a list. The diet’s point of concentrating on such a small number of titles is to disrupt this purpose bias and give you the chance to implement what you’ve learned enough times so that it becomes a habit. After all, the reason we select the titles that we do is so we can improve what or how we do something.

Chris’ rules are simple:

• select three books to read from November 1, 2012 through November 1, 2013
• read each at least twice during the 12 months
• implement what you can
• after November 1st you have only one week to change one title
• students have permission to read outside of the 3 books

But,…
No excuses. We can all benefit from this challenge even if you’re in a role, like myself, which requires that you consume a number of books that far surpasses three.

This is what I plan on doing.
Follow the framework. By making the time read to each of my selected books at least two additional times, not eliminating other titles. My thinking is that each time I re-read the book, along with my previous notes, the speed of doing so will increase which means the incremental yearly reading load will only grow by three books equivalents. Will this give me the same benefit as those that only concentrate on three titles for the year? Perhaps not, but the insight and deeper understanding, and behavioral shifts I expect to receive certain surpass the “one and done” nature of past years.

Notice that there is no requirement against concentrating the subject matter. I’m going to select a set of books that focus on business model discovery and effective speaking. Here’s why; in today’s complex, uncertain business environment those that are able to capture and succinctly communicate a value proposition rule the day.

I’m kicking my diet off in January – it’s an academic trait that’s hard to shake – and I’ll certainly keep you posted of my progress. But, the big question is are you down to join the challenge?

Donald McMichacel teaches BE 261 – Starting a Small Business.
Follow him on Twitter at @DonaldMcMichael or Google+ at +Donald McMichael

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By Sandra Holtzman, October 13, 2012 9:54 am

Image provided by Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com

In a recent blog post by a PR firm, their primary research determined that the top three reasons a company’s PR efforts fail are:

1.       The budget was too small
2.       The client had no significant point of differentiation from their competitors
3.       The client or their contacts weren’t available or were uncooperative

I’m sure whether you’re a PR or marketing firm or a client, you’re able to identify with at least one of these situations.
Kudos for Bridge Buzz for their valuable research and articulating the problems.

Here’s what my team does to try and avoid these situations (with the caveat that PR is not foolproof and sometimes efforts fail):

1.       We warn the client upfront that there is only so much we can do for any particular budget.  If they want a particular result, and they are not budgeted for it, we state that upfront and clearly.  In some cases we have the client sign off on the statement to make sure that when the effort “fails” they understand that they contributed to their own failure.

2.       We tell the client immediately if their story is newsworthy and how newsworthy it is.  We perform our customer-focused primary research which gets all representatives of the customer stakeholders into a room at once and we find out what messages will be successful for all of them. The issues  of value proposition and competitive differentiation can be solved in the research as well.    The bottom line of customer-focused market research and marketing is that the messaging speaks to the customer in their own words which will have an immediate emotional impact on them.  I have never seen it not work.

3.       In Lies Startups Tell Themselves to Avoid Marketing (pp 63-64) we talk about a local hospital that hired a PR firm to get press. The firm  convinced a feature editor of a large local paper to write a story that focused on this organization. The PR person told the marketing person to be on the alert for a call from the paper.  The editor called the manager repeatedly.  The manager never returned the calls.  Guess what? The PR firm had done such a good job of selling the story, that the editor ran the story anyway, only he featured the hospital’s largest competitor because that marketing person made themselves available. So here’s a perfect example of shooting yourself in the foot by paying for PR for the other company.

http://bridgebuzz.bridgeny.com/

Sandra Holtzman teaches CEO 035: Licensing.
She is the author of Lies Startups Tell Themselves to Avoid Marketing.

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By Sandra Holtzman, September 22, 2012 11:30 am

Make your product and services easy to find, easy for visitors to your website to stay a while, learn about you and follow through.  That’s what a medical cosmetics physician did and it worked for him (see link below).  The bottom line is he  got specific about what his customers wanted and gave it to them.  This included adding before and after photos of people who had used his services (this is equivalent to a demonstration of your product/services – one of the best way to get a customer). He also put a “Call to action” (what you want the customer to do for next steps) up front and center (ok to the right hand side of the home page but you catch my drift). And response improved.  He decided not to use a form because that would slow down and discourage follow-through.  While this worked for this particular physician and his customer population, another  physician who specializes in the treatment of pain did exactly the opposite.  He had a long form on his website in order to weed out patients who didn’t live in the immediate area (thousands of people have pain and he would have had to hire additional full time help just to deal with the inquires coming from his website), who had the kind of insurance he takes, and who had the kind of pain he could treat.

Image provided by Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com

The bottom line is you have to customize your messaging in whatever format you deliver it, to your customer’s habits and wishes. This means you have to reach out to your customer base and find out how they want to be “told and sold”. What’s the single or couple of most important messages that they need to hear in order to move them from a visitor to your website?  Then give it to them.

If you’re in retail like dungarees.net (see link below) then you might want to solicit customer reviews.   Find the issue that, when solved, will not only keep customers on your site (or reading your materials) longer,  but also convert them from a visitor to a customer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/business/smallbusiness/three-keys-to-converting-web-visitors-into-buyers.html?smid=pl-share

Sandra Holtzman teaches CEO 035: Licensing.
She is the author of Lies Startups Tell Themselves to Avoid Marketing.

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By Sandra Holtzman, September 15, 2012 10:09 am

Image provided by Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com

Virginia Dominguez, a consultant, responds to “How come no one wants to speak to the customer BEFORE they do marketing” with this case history/anecdote:

“This is a good point…I was just watching a video, last night, where Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul) pointed this out…He illustrated this with a story about a Chiropractor that wanted to set up his practice in this new town. So, he went to the town officials and asked a few questions, to which he was told that the town did not need another chiropractor, because the town already had one servicing the people. This negative reaction did not derail his ambition, so he set out to prove them wrong. He did this by doing some pre-marketing before opening the business.  He set out to go knocking on hundreds of doors and asking each individual and potential customer, how they would feel (together with other service related questions) about a new chiropractor in town. He not only proved the town officials incorrect, but he was able to make tons of money when he established the business. A year or so later, one of those people he interviewed was on this big event seminar, when the above story about the Dr. was told, the interviewee got up and said, “I remember him!” She was asked by the event coordinator, how was this possible and she said, “I remember him, because he came to talk to me!” She also used his services.”

The power of communicating directly with your customer/audience is amazing…when you do it. And the best part about this process is that it doesn’t have to be expensive. The ROI in terms of business, branding, establishing yourself and your business in the community is exponential.

Try it.

Sandra Holtzman teaches CEO 035: Licensing.
She is the author of Lies Startups Tell Themselves to Avoid Marketing.

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By donald_mcmichael, September 8, 2012 1:13 pm

photo credit: kaje_yomama via photo pin cc

We don’t want to, but it’s often irresistible.

What is it? Looking around and seeing scores of possible new opportunities to boost our business.

We look at virgin (well at least to us) terrain through rose colored glasses and think wouldn’t it be great. We need to…

…tweak our product so it can help a new demographic
…get Company X to make us a business partner, then the sky would be the limit
…go national – no international

If even half is true, why do so few execute on perceived opportunities?

Breaking into a market is difficult.
Expanding can be an attractive and lucrative proposition. It is, however, also a pivotal point in any business’ life because it requires doubling down on the bet that it is the preferred solution. This increase in risk causes our subconscious, and correctly so, to trigger a mental circuit breaker. You’ll recognize the statements for they usually contain “but if” or its close cousin “but what if”.

But if:

• We move by ourselves, it will take years.
• We have a hiccup, will we have enough cash to safely sustain what’s already built?
• I’ve never done this before, how will I know what’s right?

Let’s all thank our subconscious. With so much at risk it is important that we take the time to understand how we are going to avoid jeopardizing current success.

This isn’t a how-to list.
There are tons of books, articles, and blog posts that rundown the different expansion techniques and explain which ones are suited for particular types of businesses. What I want to armor you with are the strategic actions that will help carry you to victory, or keep you from entering into a losing situation.

A simple, yet powerful formula.

• Do your homework. Make sure you first build the infrastructure and resources to adequately support the move. Many try to rely on outside service providers to do virtually all the heavy lifting. Although it is quick and easy to implement, it often leads to its own set of problems; escalating costs, delays, and poor service delivery. Don’t double down on your risk by doing this.

• Timing is everything. Make sure you’re operating at or above industry performance levels for your size business. Proving that you can consistently operate at those levels for several consecutive quarters provides you with managerial confidence and more importantly, the financial heft to work through the challenges expansion will inevitably throw your way.

• Seek out guideposts. First, you can read articles like this (yes, a shameless plug). More importantly, take a look around and find a role model. Someone who has encountered this very challenge and reach out to them. You’ll be surprised how open they are to talking about their great accomplishments and brilliant insights.

Patience is the companion of wisdom.
Saint Augustine

If you currently can’t meet the above, there’s no shame in waiting. Expansion requires understanding and managing a whole new set of challenges – in essence, a very different business. Being a great business development professional means that you know when to pullback and wait for the right signals.

Donald McMichacel teaches BE 261 – Starting a Small Business.
Follow him on Twitter at @DonaldMcMichael or Google+ at +Donald McMichael

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By Peggy & Arthur Winters, August 30, 2012 10:47 am

Drawing by Arthur Winters

For today’s fashion marketing, original visual content is vital.  The marketing communications strategy is how to make it effective. We’re still seeing some fashion brands using old-style fashion model poses in their visualizations of their new styles or products. But, we appreciate and recommend fashion brands that are creating better visual stories, which provide customers with answers and suggestions. These brands tell a visual story of what they can do for the customer, not just what items they make that only create awareness by projecting their brand image.

Visual Content — yes …

Visual — but NO story …

Fashion marketing needs better communications that connect with the customer’s branding of self. Marketers could now look at their products for visual content and the story that generates its facility for self-styling. And in this multi-media, social media world, visualization in all its forms is pre-eminent.

“Power to the She” –self-styling visual and verbal story

A significant brand mark for fashion marketers is to see visual content that covers all aspects of customer/consumer experience. For example, a fashion firm might even introduce their customers to a fly-on-the-wall look at their design team at work. There is no doubt that fashion may be a most visual product that offers ever-flowing fountains of ideas for visual content – and desire, especially with the use of social media and web sites.

Fashion brand positioning can be more inspiring by showing the customer real life style and life-stage happenings instead of static, mannequin-posed model photos with their logo.

Starbucks visualizes it is the customer’s lifestyle…

Those brand managers who have a sense of the visual in communications may be the new Rembrands of fashion marketing!

What’s your story?

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Arthur & Peggy Winters co-teach SXB 200 Brand Marketing Communications for Image & Meaning and SXR 050 Intro to Branding: The Art of Customer Bonding.

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