Effortless Networking

Taglines, to me, are very similar to the 30-second pitches. Both are about “telegraphing” your message to your audience — quickly, precisely, and memorably.

So here is a guest article about taglines. The same principles behind creating taglines can help you create your 30-second pitch.

Enjoy!

The Trouble With Taglines: Why This Catchy Phrase Can Lead You Astray and What You Can Do About It
by Kim Castle, BrandU®

One of the most powerful components of a brand’s message is the summation of a brand’s position in the marketplace, the promise it offers, and the value it means to your customers; wrap that in a catchy turn of phrase in as few words as possible and you have yourself a tagline. The trouble is… you need a great tagline to penetrate the overwhelmed mind of your customer and set up permanent residence in their psyche.

The trouble is… a great one is hard to create.

In a sense… taglines are magically delicious.

WHAT MAKES THEM SO GOOD

In a nutshell, taglines are an evocative and inspiring call to action that is specific to a specific business and sets a foundational tone for the business or product. They take away all guessing from your customer’s minds.

Web usability expert and author of Don’t Make Me Think, A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability says, “nothing beats a good tagline” even on the web.

Typically they take one of eight forms:

1. An imperative call to action: Just do it.™ (Nike)
2. An emotive call-to-action: When you care enough to send the best. (Hallmark)
3. Link a product feature with an abstract need: A diamond is forever.™ (DeBeers)
4. Single word benefits: Live. Love. Eat™ (Wolfgang Puck)
5. A direct tie to brand experience: You’re in Good Hands With Allstate™ (Allstate Insurance)
6. A promise: When it absolutely has to be there overnight.™ (FedEx)
7. The pain of not using the product: Because so much is riding on your tires. (Michelin)
8. A clever tie to the name: Every kiss begins with Kay. (Kay Jewelers)

However, just knowing a form does not make the magic. The form is just an empty shell without first defining the meaning of the words you actual use.

You also need a decision process to determine which form works best for your business.

Want to know the secret?

The magic is not in the actual words. It’s in a process to arrive at those words and put them in the right order.

Most business owners rush to craft the clever words before they even define the words and what they mean. It’s like wondering what kind of camera you should take with you to Mars when you haven’t even designed the rocket ship to get you there.

The lack of a process keeps business owners guessing for their tagline ‘out there’ in creative land.

In my near two decades in the brand business, I have developed a skill for writing these illusive creatures. Not just because I’m a brilliant copywriter. Not just because I’m clever— although several years as a stand-up comic surely helps.

My ability to craft the perfect unique tagline for a business is because I am able dive into the heart of a brand and bring up the gold. I’m able because of the heart of the brand is in it’s core values and core promises which is derived in the language portion of the brand creation process in Stage Two of BrandU® aptly called Brand Power™.

Here are examples of recent taglines I have created for clients once they have gone through the branding process. (Note these taglines are legally protected by copyright by each client.)

Together making thirst history.™
(Water 4 Life brings great water to the people that don’t have it.)

Bringing Out the Real You.™
(The Reveal System is a natural way to lose weight fast.)

Scientific Keys for Living Well.™
(The Feng Shui Advantage uses the ancient Chinese science of energy.)

Clarity All the Way to the Bank.™
(BrandU® is a process to develop business ideas into a money-making marketable brand.)

Notice these tagline they communicate more — they have a deeper resonance.

The reason: each word has a precise reason for being used and the process to arrive at those words addresses the four-dimensions of being human.

Sound complicated? It’s not. It’s a process.

So… the next time you find yourself looking ‘out there’ for the catchy summation of your brand’s position, promise, and value… stop. Remember your customers and multi-million dollar business deserve more than just a guess. You deserve clarity all the way to the bank.™

© Castle Montone, Limited

Author and BrandU co-creator, Kim Castle teaches entrepreneurs and small business owners how to turn their business ideas into a moneymaking marketable brand — from idea, to brand, to market. If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank™, get your FREE branding tips now at www.whybrandu.com.

Here is a good follow-on article to last week: you can use the concepts discussed here to get really clear about your networking objectives and figure out your strategies.

Right Tool for the Right Job: Six Different Ways to Get Your Business Known
By Kim Castle, BrandU®

If you’re like most people, you started out in your business with an idea of creating something, a dream of making lots of moola with it, and a desire to help people with it. You then toil to make this idea a reality by developing it, testing it, making it, and then… it sits. It’s only then do you realize that… your work hasn’t even begun yet. You have to get the word out about your business.

Without knowing how, you start grabbing at tactics like straws in great hope of causing a clamor of customers lining up at your door.

Taking action is great. BUT do you know what job really needs to be accomplished and the right tool to achieve it?

To make your action and business a success, here are the major ways to get your business word out, what they do, and what you should and should not expect from them. They are in order of the biggest bang for your buck.

1. Branding - Define Your Communication

Branding is the process of creating precise and pin-pointed communication of your business (product or service), the value for which it stands, and the feeling customers consistently get from it.

In addition to giving you clear communication of your business’ value and uniqueness, branding provides you a set of rules, a bible, to follow. It also enables all other methods to be united and at their most effective.

NOTE: Branding is NOT a conceptual practice. In fact, it’s the act of turning the concept of your business idea into a solid commerce-driven experience. Just think about the brands you buy everyday. Branding is easy to do, if you have a process to follow.

2. Marketing – Connect to Eye-balls

Marketing is the act of taking a specific product offering out to as many people as possible in a way that elicits their attention and makes them eager to buy. In establishing the frequency of delivery you make sure they see your offer over the hundreds of marketing messages they see everyday without tipping the scale so far they tune your business out.

There are 3 main types of marketing:

• Undifferentiated marketing, which assumes everyone is the same and aims a particular product at everyone. Sometimes referred to as a shotgun approach.
• Differentiated marketing, which aims the product at specific segments in the market. Often referred to as defining a target market.
• Concentrated marketing, when the message is aimed at just one small market. Often referred as finding a niche.

NOTE: Marketing does NOT define your business’ uniqueness, nor does it establish your credibility. Rather it is a set of systems based on a set of decisions. In order for your marketing to be it’s most effective, you have to have something solid to base those decisions on— your set of rules.

3. Public Relations - Enlist Big Mouths

PR is the art of influencing public opinion using the presentation of a client’s image, message, or product through exposure in the media.

Depending on how big you want your business to be (either in revenue, size, or impact), at some point you will want help in extending your reach and establishing credibility.

NOTE: The role of PR is NOT to define your business. Its action is to get the media’s assistance in amplifying what you have already defined. But you have to define it. Again, a set of rules is an invaluable asset. PR is a great way to assist with credibility. It should not be confused with publicity.

4. Advertising - Toot Your Horn

Advertising is the practice of creating specific campaigns to attract public attention to a product, service, or company. By means of paid announcements you affect perception or arouse consumer desire to make a purchase or take a particular action. Often this is done through the medias of radio, magazine, newspaper, or television. In fact, the media was invented as a vehicle of advertising.

While glamorous, advertising is often cost prohibitive for businesses just starting out. Without a significant long-term money and time commitment, it will prove unsuccessful and… painful.

NOTE: Advertising is NOT a quick fix way into the marketplace. Its action is to get attention and gain credibility by repeated exposure. Following a map will assure you are going in the right direction over the long haul.

5. Publicity – Make a Spectacle

Publicity is a tool of public relations focused on generating editorial media coverage for a company and/or its products, often done through press releases and community events. The best publicity causes a public commotion; often bad publicity gains more attention than good.

6. Promotions – Spread the Word

Promotions is the routine of getting your business seen. This is often accomplished by imprinting your logo on a pen, keychain, Frisbee or water bottle or by sponsoring specific events. Partnering with another business will spread out the costs as well as your reach.

Now that you truly understand the tools available to you and know the most beneficial order to proceed with them, you can rest assured that you can effectively get the word out about your business and have customers lining up at your door with moola in hand.

© Castle Montone, Limited

Author and Brand Visioneer, Kim Castle teaches entrepreneurs and small business owners how to tap into the full power of their business— the power behind their brand. If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank™ go to www.whybrandu.com

People are often encouraged to define their target market and/or niche when they start their own business.

And it certainly does help to have a clearly defined niche, when it comes to business networking and marketing — because then you know whom you’re talking with and, more importantly, what to say to them and how to say it.

However, here’s an interesting perspective. If you haven’t defined your niche yet, or even if you have, this article will give you food for thought.

Where in the Wheel Are You?
by Kim Castle, BrandU®

In the midst of the ongoing confusion between branding and marketing there is the elusive idea of finding a niche. This concept is held up like it’s the holy grail. As in, “If only I could find my niche, I’d have all the business I could want.”

From a brand perspective, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, if you niche too soon, it will hurt your business — eventually.

Before your marketing mind starts to smoke, allow me to explain.

First, with an at-a-glance meaning of branding and marketing:

Branding is the process of creating precise and pin-pointed communication of your business (product or service), the value for which it stands, and the feeling customers consistently get from it.

Marketing is the act of taking a specific product offering out to as many people as possible in a way that elicits their attention and makes them eager to buy.

Both are vital to the building of a successful business.

In order to do both effectively you have to be extremely clear about the specific place (or person) you are aiming towards and the very foundation from which you are operating. It’s also critical to focus on the right one at the right time.

Developing your niche falls under marketing because it allows you to define who you are marketing to. And when you know who are you are marketing to it’s easy to determine where your marketing energy and dollars should be spent. The strategy of defining a niche is a very important component of marketing.

But… what are you marketing?

Here are four reasons why choosing a niche before you define your brand could hurt your business — eventually.

1. Putting the Cart Before the Horse. Armed with an idea of business, entrepreneurs often rush to make that idea solid by defining a specific person to sell it to; it’s general “idea” being sold to a specific target. How can you define “who” you are selling to before you define “what” you are selling in specifics? Defining “who” before the “what”, will cause you to have to do a lot of explaining and convincing.

   From a brand perspective: It is far more powerful to make your idea solid first and then find the right people to sell it to.

2. Looking for Unique in all the Wrong Places. In an effort to differentiate themselves from their competition, entrepreneurs often look to a niche to establish their uniqueness before instead of giving themselves the op*portunity to define it from themselves — from within the business. They put the power of their business “out there”. By far, the question that I am asked most is, “How do I find my business uniqueness?” My answer, “You don’t. You establish it. It’s not in your niche, it’s in your business.”

   From a brand perspective: It is far more powerful to define your uniqueness of the business from within the business and then draw those specific people to it.

3. The Target Keeps Moving. Excited by the possibility to sell somebody a product born from their business idea, entrepreneurs often look to make their possibility more tangible by fixing the definition of their business in a niche, as if that niche would give them clarity. Unfortunately, while it may give you momentary clarity, that target can move at anytime causing you to re-think your business at the whim of a moving niche. Trying to gain stability of your business by a niche is like building a skyscraper on sand.

   From a brand perspective: It is far more powerful to establish your stability within the business, that way you are always in power.

4. No Room to Grow. Establishing a successful system of business is challenging enough to do once. Often entrepreneurs that do accomplish success in a niche, before defining the full vision of their business first, find themselves, in just a few years, out growing the very box that they put themselves in. This critical point in a business often comes with pain, uncertainty and collapse; even if the business has experienced success on a small scale to that point.

   From a brand perspective: It is far more powerful to establish the full vision of what your business is first, that way you will always have room to grow.

Another way to understand this is to think of a spoke wheel.

The many points on the outer ring of the wheel are the niches but there is only one point that they ALL connect from — that point is the center. That’s the true strength of the wheel. Without that center point, all the outer points are meaningless and have no connection.

The question is: In your business, where in the wheel are you?

When you realize that looking for your niche puts the power of your business outside your business and takes you away from the success that you know is possible, you come to understand that success in your business can only come from the center of it. The best way to find… is to define your brand.

© Castle Montone, Limited

Author and Brand Visioneer, Kim Castle teaches entrepreneurs and small business owners how to tap into the full power of their business— the power behind their brand. If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank™ go to www.whybrandu.com

Often comments that readers send me reveal underlying issues.

I’d like to share a recent exchange of comments today, because the issue revealed here may be relevant for many of you:

Here is the first comment I got:

“I am a NEW realtor in a new area where I don’t know anyone, I have no friends or family in the area…How am I suppose to build my business through networking?”

So I sent her information on how to get established both professionally and socially in a new area, as well as information on how to ease her way into existing professional circles.

A few days later, I followed up to see whether the information I’d sent was useful. She replied as follows:

“Hi Sri, yes I have read through the 5 lessons of Effortless Networking, but I need to go over them again, I’ve been so busy lately…and hopefully will try to do that today… I did’nt really notice any ideas or suggestions that would increase my “network” locally…but I will read through them again, maybe I missed something.

thank you for your help.”

I replied saying that I had actually sent her a separate email with specific answers to her questions.

And in case she hadn’t received it or had misplaced it, I re-sent the same information along with some book recommendations.

I also offered to talk by phone (at no charge), if that would be useful.

The next email I got was this:

“too many e-mails that were not helping me in my specific situation to networking (finding New Clients without having to do cold calls), in a new area where I don’t know anyone, have no family or friends out here…”

Well, I feel bad for this person — because she really wanted some answers and I was willing to help her find them. But we couldn’t connect.

Why am I sharing this story?

So that before you ask anyone for information, you can consider this:

• What is your preferred way of getting information? For instance, in writing, verbally, visually?
• How best do you absorb information? By reading, by doing, by listening?

For instance, I “absorb” information — like learning how to implement a new marketing strategy, or use a new software tool — by actually trying it out hands-on. Having written instructions is useful, but I don’t really understand what I’ve read until I actually use it.

And when I get stuck, I find that talking about it with a live person (by phone or online chat) is what really helps me. Reading manuals and online help when I can’t figure something out irritates me, and makes the problem worse!

My point is this: when you’re looking for information, or to learn about something new,

1. Consider how YOU absorb and understand information.
2. Then, make sure you get the information in THAT format.

Otherwise, you may not be able to use it — even if the information you get is exactly what you want and need.