Yes - We're Alive! It's True!

Big News at Tractor Beam Marketing!

Business is like a box of chocolates. You buy it, put it on the counter, and someone comes along and picks out all the good ones before you get a chance. (We love the square caramel ones...and the nuts...Mmm!)

Well okay, maybe it's not quite like that (unless that somehow made sense?). But one thing is for sure; things have a way of unpredictably changing. As most business people would know, the trick is adapting, adjusting and learning to bend the change so it works to your advantage.

You may have noticed we've been a little silent lately. It's actually been WAYYYYY too long, and for that we apologize. And yes - as you may have suspected, change is in the air (someone's been picking out the chocolates). After spending more than a year doing public speaking, online training and marketing consultation, we made some major adjustments in the past several months which introduced a part of our business which we had previously suspended. 

We re-introduced our web development & full branding design services, which has kept us very busy. And early in 2011, our biggest change occurred when Jake Bergen, our Marketing Director (he was a chocolate covered nut, we're quite certain), took on a reduced role in stepping away from Tractor Beam. Currently, Jake periodically resumes his role to act on a consulting basis for various clients.

Microtek Corporation Meets the Tractor Beam


James Rozak, the Creative Director at Tractor Beam has carried on with the program, and recently, a new alliance has been established. Tractor Beam has joined it's creative services with another local web development business, Microtek Corporation! The new alliance lends the marketing & branding talents of Tractor Beam Marketing with the incredibly gifted programmers of Microtek Corporation. Microtek Corporation is a well established business with a long successful track record of web services, with the capability to develop virtually anything imaginable for the internet.

James has long been associated with Microtek Corporation throughout the past 10 years, and the decision to act as the Creative Manager for Microtek was an easy fit. So standby for further updates as we bring further announcements regarding Microtek and Tractor Beam. James is currently working with the Microtek team to revamp their website and branding presence. We're looking forward to showing off the new website soon!

We have some more exciting news coming soon!

The Trouble with Recession Thinking

Like a wildfire, recessions can be devastating. But they are an inevitable part of the economic process, and eventually good will come out of calamity. As the wildfire in nature will burn up dead foliage, those very ashes will in due time fertilize a new generation of growth.

But while the fire is raging, it is natural to get nervous, and common to see panic. But panic can cause people to lose their heads, and can make smart people do stupid things. A recession is no time for irrational judgements and frantic actions, despite the overwhelming feeling that naturally arises.

It is the people who push down the rising panic and take the time to think about a realistic plan of action that will come out the least damaged. But very few will take time to strategize, and will focus on ‘doing’ something… anything... instead. Unfortunately, action without thought is just wasted energy.

One of the biggest problems I see right now is that because of the financial crunch that we are still in, small business owners are asking the wrong questions. Most of the time, questions I receive revolve around the cost of a product or service, and how little someone can get said product or service for.

Yet while cost is understandably an issue, cost-based thinking is not focused on a solution. 

So instead of asking yourself, “I can only afford to spend so much on marketing my business… what can I spend it on?”; shift your thinking to a more financially prudent, “What can I do that will give me the highest return on investment for my budget?”

Is newspaper advertising a preferred medium for communicating about your business? A big-city daily daily newspaper advertisement will probably cost you over ten times what a small-town weekly paper will; and your  one-day shelf life for a daily publication will be at least seven times as long in a weekly publication. 

Cost versus benefit in my own personal experience is that local, targeted publications are much more valuable that larger ones; but if course, you have to be cognizant of the market you are trying to reach.

Similarly, people are being swept up in the hype of Social Media; but have no idea about how to execute a sound Social Media strategy. Because the tools are free, many business people think that all the associated support ought to be free as well. 

A lot of folks don’t want to pay someone to show them how to get maximum yield from a ‘free’ service. I have heard it often… “I’ll just do it myself”. Yet months later they have made no progress at all, and are missing thousands of dollars of potential business to avoid some minimal up-front costs that will make their efforts effective. Instead they are throwing their money at random and disjointed promotional efforts.

Nowadays, even low-quality websites can be had cheap. But does your website act like a valuable employee? Does it engage current and potential clients and begin the sales process? Is it a credible and valuable ambassador for your brand?

If your advertising and communications are not giving you a good ROI (return on investment) it is a waste of time, no matter how little the cost.

Don’t cheap out so much that all you are worried about is cost, because it could damage you in the end. Push down the panic, and stop running around like a headless chicken. It is worth your while to take time enough to ensure your efforts are effective.

Jake Bergen is the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing (www.thetractorbeam.com), the author of ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’ available on Amazon.com, and the founder of Social Media Club Edmonton. © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

 

You Might Be A Design Hijacker If... (Design Hijackers Part 2)

Last week you were introduced to the concept of ‘Design Hijackers’. If you missed it, it is available here for your reading pleasure.

Speaking of Design Hijackers; here is how to tell if you are one, and some straight advice on how to fix the problem if you are.

1) If you provide a product or service totally unrelated to design and hire a professional to help you with your website, brand, corporate image, etc, etc… yet you continually override their recommendations; you might be a Design Hijacker. Pretty soon you will have a site or marketing materials that were not designed by a professional, that firm will have only provided the technical work for you to play designer.

Now, many designers will do the work to keep the customers happy, but you are shooting your own business in the foot. The effect will be less potent in attracting clients and getting the message across due to poor layout, distracting visual choices and muddled content.

Whether you exterminate pests, cap teeth or defend someone in court; when your customers hire you, they point out the problem and get out of the way. Do the same thing when working with a designer. If you hired them because you liked their portfolio, remember that it was their portfolio you were drawn to and not your own.

You will be given a part in the creative process and need to approve designs and recommend changes, and of course have the ultimate say… but do yourself a favor and stick to what you are good at.

2) If you scoff at the last dozen or so design-type projects that have been undertaken on behalf of your company; you might be a Design Hijacker. Chances are that it is not the designer’s fault that you have a crummy website, business cards, advertisements or logo. There is a high likelihood that it’s your own fault, so again, get out of the way and leave the job to the pros. It is one less thing you will need to obsess over.

3) Are you asking opinions from people who are disconnected from your business? You might be a Design Hijacker. Solicit opinions from staff, clients, or do some market research and figure out what you customers respond to. And listen to the folks you hired. Don’t ask your mother-in-law, she probably doesn’t know much about design OR your business. Remember the old saying, “Too many cooks spoil the broth.”

4) Guilty of adding a bunch of unrelated cute fluff? You might be a… well, you get the point. Notice I said ‘unrelated’. Cute fluff is OK if it is tasteful and in relation to your business. Mattel sells Barbie dolls and related Barbie merchandise, so cute fluff is a requirement, and oh-so-related to their market and the product.

What you should steer clear of is adding random things like Fred did in our story last week. He wanted to add clip-art featuring puppies to his site just because his target market was girls, and he figured girls think puppies are cute.

They just might find puppies adorable, but they also might get confused by puppies on a website selling cases for their iPod, and with no apparent purpose to the gimmick. Even the ‘Taco Bell Dog’ didn’t last very long.

5) Avoid random font style and color changes. A good designer knows how to  add interest using font variations. But most people don’t. Interpretation: you probably don’t.

Yep, this is straight talk, but it is reality. You wouldn’t charter a plane to Palm Springs and then hijack it halfway there. You’d be nuts to do so, but that is exactly what happens in the design world on a day-to-day basis. If you really want to fly the plane, take lessons and do it right; you don’t want your business image to pile up on the side of a mountain.

Why am I ranting about this? Because aside from the disjointed marketing materials I see so often, I am appalled at the butt-ugly websites I keep running across. And in this day and age, the only thing possibly worse than having a nasty website is not having one at all.

This article was written by Jake Bergen; the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing (www.thetractorbeam.com), the author of ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’, and the founder of Social Media Club Edmonton. © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Design Hijackers

So... you want to enhance the image and appeal of your business. That is admirable! It may be a bit clichéd, but the truth is that realizing you need help is the first step.

Today I would like to present you with a scenario which, by example, will hopefully help you avoid some of the pitfalls of becoming counter-productive throughout the process. Many business owners turn into ‘design hijackers’, and end up wasting money on branding and design.

Not that they shouldn’t hire a good designer and/or consultant; but business people can become their own worst enemy.

Our story begins with Fred, the owner of Basket Cases Ltd. Fred’s company imports and sells pink iPod cases exclusively. While the customers who have bought iPod cases from him are happy with them; his products are not selling as fast as he thought they would, and he realizes his business needs to be more than a music player case and a transaction.

His customers should be more attracted to his business and products, and he wants to create a connection and loyalty that comes with a strong brand. Other people have done it, so why can’t he?

In talking about his frustrations of not knowing how to go about creating a brand; a friend recommends Shirley’s Innovation Temple, a local ‘thought leader’ in creative design and branding. Fred ‘Googles’ her company, finds her website and portfolio impressive, and gives her a call right away.

Shirley arrives for the initial design consultation and Fred shows her his boring white sign with black letters, along with his atrociously ugly website and business cards. He complains about what an idiot his last designer was and Shirley agrees; she hasn’t seen a website that revolting since about 1997.

They both have a good laugh, with Shirley assuring him that her studio will help him create a brand that will be the envy of the entire city. Fred is sure that this is the designer for him, so he cuts her a cheque right away to retain her firm’s services.

Shirley is happy because this client ‘gets it’. He really seems to realize his problem and genuinely wants to do something about it.

A couple of weeks later, they meet again so Shirley can present some preliminary design concepts. She has created a package with updated logo ideas, signage, business card and website designs; as per Fred’s instructions.

She proudly unveils the smart and attractive layouts her studio has spent the last two weeks on, and turns to Fred.

He gives the illusion of being in deeply intelligent thought. Furrowing his brow, he strokes his chin and clears his throat; then smiles and says, “It is almost perfect!” Shirley visibly relaxes, but somewhat prematurely as he continues, “But…

“Our product is cutting edge and futuristic, so lets add some stars and planets to reflect that.”

Shirley tenses again and her eyes grow wide in shock. “Stars and planets?” Her voice is barely a whisper.

“Our target market is girls, aged 12-18… girls love puppies. Lets add some puppies. I know my mother-in-law would recommend it anyway…”

“Puppies… mother-in-law?!?” Shirley squeaks. Then she remembers that the last website they scoffed at had stars and puppies.

It looks like it wasn’t the last designer’s fault… Fred is a ‘design hijacker’; and is shooting his own business in the foot this time, just as he did the last.

Well, I am running out of room and not finished yet; so we will have to continue our little saga next week (click here for the next installment).

This is a true story that happens almost every day… names have been changed to protect the innocent. This article was written by Jake Bergen; the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing (www.thetractorbeam.com), the author of ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’, and the founder of Social Media Club Edmonton. © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Three Steps to Enhancing Your Brand

White background. Black or red bold font. There are millions of signs like that in this town and neighboring ones. 

To the general public, that may be all your business is. A boring sign on a building facade.

Kind of sad, isn’t it? If you are a business owner toiling away to create something and to make your company the best in its industry; it may be disheartening to think that your business can be easily discounted by potential clients because of something so trivial.

But for a lot of companies, their sign is the extent of how far their brand reaches.

If you are in this predicament, I ask you to do three things.

First, take some time to sit and reflect on what you do and why you do it. What does your business stand for? Ponder what makes your business different from its competitors. And do this outside the four walls of your business. 

Your favorite cafe or a bench in a peaceful park may be a good spot. I confess, some of the most creative ideas I have for my business come while soaking in a hot bath. Weird? Maybe, but I go with what works. 

I urge you to take some time out from your business to think because sometimes you can’t see the forest through all of the trees in the way.

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it. -Henry Ford

Second, once you find the thing that really separates you from the pack, put it into a nutshell phrase of one sentence or less. Sometimes simplifying is the hardest thing to do; but your potential customers may not have time to to listen to a long, drawn out presentation about you and your business. 

Hit on a word or phrase that captures their attention, and you have just created the potential to crank your brand up a few notches. Of course, it is just potential until it is implemented, which is the next step.

The third item is to start majoring on the one thing that makes your company unique. Put the message out to your clients and prospects in a way that is attractive. People are emotional, and an inner response is created when your attractive signage, website, folder or business card is presented to someone.

It’s the equivalent of dressing your company up. Take the paint-spattered sweat pants off it and put on an evening gown. Or you could be a little more casual, but clean up nice… there are suitors out there that will take the loneliness of being a client-less (or client-lacking) business away. 

Your singular, focused message on display to the world is what will attract potential customers and give current patrons a greater emotional connection to your company.

Become more than a boring sign to your audience. Your business and the livelihood of you and your employees is worth more than that.

Jake Bergen is the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing (www.thetractorbeam.com), the author of ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’, and the founder of Social Media Club Edmonton. © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Creating Demand for What You Do - B2B vs. B2C

Lately, I have been having some conversations regarding B2B vs. B2C marketing. If you don’t have a clue what that means, B2B stands for ‘Business To Business’; while B2C is for ‘Business To Consumer’.

Some companies sell their products and services directly to the end user, while others provide products and services to other companies. Everyone from manufacturers to wholesalers to business support services fall under B2B-type businesses; whereas the most common and noticeable B2C businesses are retailers.

Interestingly enough, these conversations I have been involved in have included some very high-flying egos and heady double-talk. But I am not into that. I like breaking things down to the simplest form possible, because simple is achievable. Put me where the rubber meets the road.

There are three points I would like to bring up that will improve the way you get the message across to your customers. These are primarily for B2B companies because they are the ones I see that need the most improvement; but if you run a B2C company and you are not following these points, you have some catching up to do.

When it comes to B2B and B2C marketing, there will always be some differences, and those are pretty easy to pick out; but the thing that seems to keep being overlooked is that at the end of the day, our customers are all people. People who have likes and dislikes and are ruled by emotions.

‘Business To Consumer’ advertisers are typically much better at appealing to emotions than ‘Business To Business’ advertisers. They usually understand that one needs to pull on the heartstrings of a client, but business marketers commonly produce cold and boring materials to generate leads because it is ‘for business’. And they can get downright snooty about the need to bore their clients.

But again, at the end of the line is a real person who is going to make a decision on whatever it is that you are offering.

Point #1: focus on the benefits rather than the features. Years ago, a 250 megabyte hard drive in a computer was a big deal. Now, drives over 500 gigabytes are common; and the cost on terabyte-sized drives are quickly dropping into very affordable ranges.

But the same thing that sold a megabyte drive sells a terabyte drive. It is not so much the number that matters, but the simple fact that you can store more. More data, more music, more movies. We love more!

So whatever you are selling, whether it be a product or service... what will it do for your client? Let ‘em know, because people buy what benefits them.

Point #2 is to make your advertising attractive and easy for a client to get the point. I see so much bad design in ads, presentation materials (including powerpoint and presentation folders), websites... and any media for that matter; that simply making your stuff attractive will put you ahead of the pack.

Point #3 may not be for everyone, but will apply to more businesses than you might think. Present your company image in such a way that consumers will want it.

Think about Coca-Cola. Are they a B2B or a B2C company? When was the last time you bought a Coke directly from Coca-Cola? You can get a Coke from a place like 7-Eleven or McDonalds, but as a consumer it is unlikely that you will buy directly. So in essence Coca-Cola is a B2B company.

But they advertise like a B2C company. They create demand in the end user for their products, and people go looking for Coca-Cola. 

What would happen if a manufacturing company (it could be your manufacturing company) marketed to the consumer, and consumers started calling distributors to get your products? After a flood of inquiries, I’ll bet distributors would be beating your doors down to place orders and fill the demand that you have generated in the public.

Create your own demand.

Jake Bergen is the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing (www.thetractorbeam.com), the author of the eBook ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’, and the founder of Social Media Club Edmonton. © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Tractor Beam TV Episode #6 - Aloha Finale

Tractor Beam Marketing's Jake Bergen wraps up the 'Aloha Edition' segments with a short blurb on why he likes to talk about Social Media. 

We also take time to thank contributors Tara Coomans, Rob Bertholf, Roxanne Darling, Aaron Buchholz... and YOU!

Social Media: The Next Wave, Part 3

See that wave over there? Well, even if you haven’t spotted it yet, it’s coming and it’s growing!

As we discussed last week (read Part #1 and Part #2 by clicking the highlighted links); geosocial powerhouses Yelp, Gowalla and Foursquare are leading the charge in successfully giving the ‘World Wide Web’ a decidedly more local focus. 

You might be reading this thinking, “Who cares? All this computer mumbo-jumbo…”

But the reality is that you should care. Don’t discount these new trends, because their potential to impact your business is extraordinary! They can connect you to your customers in a whole new way. If you are not in tune with what is going on; you are missing some great chances to interact with your customers, receive praise and address concerns.

This isn’t just limited to one type of business. Everything from dentists and realtors to cafés, boutiques and even mechanics can be found here.

Think about this; not long ago, all business accounting was done on paper ledgers. Even those who were dragging their feed eventually had to adapt or get left behind. The same thing is happening here. I urge you not to wake up sitting in the dust. Start taking advantage of these opportunities now!

So what can you do to start using these services for your benefit?

First of all, be there. Create accounts on Gowalla, Foursquare and Yelp, and make sure your business is listed… it’s free!

As I always say, if nobody knows about what you offer then nobody will give you business. It is as simple as that. Make your business easy to be found.

Next, create special offers via these channels. It will be easy to gauge the response and the effectiveness of your no-cost promotion. And ask your best customers to write reviews.

Monitor your brand and communicate. See what people are saying about you and respond to them. Thank reviewers for their praise and address concerns swiftly. It is a way to show them that you care, and a little bit extra in relation to your customers goes a long way.

Bear in mind, there are millions of consumers using these services, but in smaller centers it seems that individuals are slower to adopt. Even though the pace is slower, they are still adopting; and as I have said before, social media is a marathon, not a sprint. Be patient and stick to it, it isn’t going to cost you anything so what have you got to lose?

Quick Link Guide:

Go to http://www.yelp.com/business for more information on how to use Yelp for Business Owners, how to respond to reviews, and more valuable information.

On Foursquare, the link for their question forum for business is http://support.foursquare.com/forums/177952-foursquare-for-business.

Gowalla is a little trickier, and you need to physically be at the location and on a mobile device that supports Gowalla to add a business to their directory. Their feedback forum is located at http://feedback.gowalla.com/gowalla.

Get out there and use these tools to generate more business!

Jake Bergen is the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing, the author of the eBook ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’, and the founder of Social Media Club Edmonton. All posts on this blog (and today's picture) © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc, but you are welcome to share this post with anyone who can benefit from it!

Tractor Beam TV Episode #5 - Aloha w/ Roxanne Darling

http://www.thetractorbeam.com - Tractor Beam Marketing's Jake Bergen is once again on location at Kaka'ako Park in Honolulu, Hawaii! In this episode we interview social media and internet video powerhouse Roxanne Darling, of Bare Feet Studios http://www.barefeetstudios.com and 'Beach Walks with Rox', an online TV show with over 750 episodes http://www.beachwalks.tv!

Roxanne is also an early and founding member of Social Media Club (#SMC) http://socialmediaclub.org, a worldwide organization promoting the use and best practices of Social Media globally. She is also the founder of Social Media Club Hawaii http://smchawaii.org, a mover and shaker in all forms Social Media, an all-round awesome lady and someone we can all learn from!

Special thanks to Tara Coomans, Rob Bertholf, Roxanne and #SMCHI (Social Media Club Hawaii), as well as Aaron Buchholz for letting us use the song 'Beautiful Thing'! Buy his music on iTunes at: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/aaron-buchholz/id367332103

© Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Social Media: The Next Wave, Part 2

In last week’s installment we covered some background on Social Media, and where different companies are at in the process of adopting these tools. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube are all viable avenues for businesses to gain wide exposure without spending a lot of money.

Picking up where we left off, let’s dive into the next wave of Social Media applications. These tools are especially important because they could easily impact your business whether you like it or not!

Why? Because these applications allow users to rate, rant and recommend virtually any business. You don’t have to wait for a critic to come to your establishment and give you a newspaper write-up; people are communicating their opinions about your business to their peers in real-time.

Definitely ‘word-of-mouth on speed’, and the surface is just being scratched!

Location-based (also called Geosocial), these services are changing the landscape of the web once again. For years the internet became more ‘worldwide’, with outward growth and mass reach gaining attention; but people were finding it difficult to get good local information, especially outside of major city centers. There is a definite inward shift taking place to make quality local information more accessible than ever.

Three of the most powerful platforms that are contributing to this movement are Gowalla, Foursquare and Yelp. 

Gowalla and Foursquare are quite similar, and are competing for market share. They are primarily mobile-based applications which allow the user to ‘check-in’ from a location; and work like a game, with players collecting points. Not everyone plays for points, but players become advocates of businesses they love. This provides direct exposure for a business to other people connected to the player.

My personal favorite is Yelp, and is a little easier to understand because a user simply becomes a reviewer for any given establishment. If a business is listed on Yelp, all you have to do is rate the company out of five stars and provide a brief description. If you cannot find a particular company in their directory, you can go through the extra step of adding it and then proceeding with your review.

Recently, a friend of mine who is an attorney from Phoenix, was passing through the small city where I live. We finally connected after his business was concluded for the day, and he had been checking out Yelp for reviews on local restaurants. Unfortunately, at the time there was only one review for one restaurant in the whole city; and it was not for the kind of thing he was in the mood for.

Had we not connected and I been given the opportunity to introduce him to one of the better restaurants in town, his experience probably would have been a frustrating one. Not to mention that many local companies are very likely missing out on similar business by not participating in Social Media. A lot of consumers are turning to Yelp.

This experience lit a fire under my own butt, and being a guy who loves to be an advocate of people and businesses I appreciate; I have amped up my own presence on Yelp. From the patron to the business owner to the employee, everyone wins!

Of course, if your business stinks, you will likely suffer because the message will be broadcast to the world. So if the shoe fits, it is time to get your act together!

From restaurants and entertainment to realtors, educational institutions and medical practitioners; virtually no business is exempt from the potential impact these applications can have on your business.

Be aware, and be proactive.

Next week we’ll discuss a few things you can do to start using these services for your benefit.

Jake Bergen is the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing, the author of the eBook ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’, and the founder of Social Media Club Edmonton. All articles on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Social Media: The Next Wave, Part 1

While many companies are still trying to figure out their place in the technological world with issues like getting a website; there are those that have established that it is not enough to just be online, but because of the sheer volume of information, their business must be easy to find. This has led to a new and rather large ‘cottage industry’ called SEO, or Search Engine Optimization.

There are a lot of self-professed SEO experts out there, and it is a bit of a black art. Care should be taken to hire someone who can prove that their Search Engine Optimization skills are legitimate. 

For example, I recently had the opportunity to interview SEO and Social Media expert Rob Bertholf (click here to watch the interview), who shows up in the top of the organic search results for ‘Search Engine Optimization Expert’ on Google. He has spoken at DrupalCon in San Fransisco, and regularly lectures at the University of Hawaii on SEO and Social Media. To borrow the colloquialism, the proof is in the pudding. I’d hire someone like him because he obviously knows his stuff.

Then there are people like me. I know what needs to be accomplished from a strategic standpoint; but if you asked me to sit at a computer and write lines of code, you would definitely be getting the wrong guy.

However, this is not an article on SEO. I wanted to drop in a morsel about it, but don’t have the room in this column to go into things like organic search results. So we will move on, but it is something we can come back to on another day if you so desire.

Next, there are companies who have realized that there are other tools beyond the website. Social Media networks provide avenues that are inexpensive and can provide powerful exposure. These companies have taken the next step and are using platforms like blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to accomplish heightened awareness of their brand and promote their products and services.

Beyond that, they are building more solid relationships with consumers and have entirely new avenues of market research and word-of-mouth advertising available to them. Social Media has often been called “word-of-mouth on speed”, and that is a pretty accurate description.

At each end of the technology spectrum, there are those who are cutting-edge early adopters; and there are those who are forever playing catch-up, or avoiding new technology altogether until the world has so bypassed them that it is almost impossible to catch up.

Chances are that the person who is getting left behind will never be the sort to figure out these new tools on their own, or may not have much interest in technology at all. If you are in this category, you ought to be interested in the benefits that increased word-of-mouth and consumer advocacy can bring to your business.

I encourage you to hire someone fluent in the business aspects of Social Media to help you. It may just save you from sitting in the dust.

As is common with my articles, I have spent a little time giving a bit of background on the topic; and am running out of space. Next week we will pick up where we left off, and will dive into the next wave of Social Media tools. These are tools that you ought to be aware of because they may impact your business whether you like it or not.

Stay tuned...

Jake Bergen is the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing, newspaper columnist, the author of the eBook ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’, and the founder of Social Media Club Edmonton. All articles on this blog are © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc; but if you enjoyed this article please share it!

Tractor Beam TV Episode #3 - Aloha w/ Rob Bertholf

http://www.thetractorbeam.com - Tractor Beam Marketing's very own Jake Bergen is on location in Honolulu, Hawaii! In this episode there is a brief view of The Black Pearl, which is being used in filming the 4th installment of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

We also interview Social Media, SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) expert Rob Bertholf http://rob.bertholf.com; who give us some great insight!

Special thanks to Rob and SMCHI (Social Media Club Hawaii), as well as Aaron Buchholz for the great song! Buy his music on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/aaron-buchholz/id367332103.

Your Business Branding Test Answers, Part #3

This post is to check your test scores from the last blog entries. If you haven’t read the articles yet, click here for Part #1 and here for Part #2.

40-50: Wow, you are doing a lot of things right! You are either ranking right up there with the top brands in the country or are on your way. Congratulations!

30-39: Your company is made of some strong stuff; and if you keep it up, your brand will be a rising star! You are getting noticed and referred, and probably need to focus on making your brand more consistent. You know where you want to go; so just tighten up your image to align with your vision and keep moving forward!

20-29: You may have known where you were going once, but you have lost your way. First, as we have already mentioned, you need to know where you want to go. What this means is establishing a vision of what you want your company to look like when it is ‘grown up’… say, in 5 to 10 years.

Then, establish (or re-establish) a benchmark of where your company’s brand is currently, and what it means to your customers. What is their experience and what are their perceptions?

Next, act on this information. Map out the path to success with your brand, and give your clients what they want.

19 and Under: Well, you really need help. You probably have never gone to the work of thinking much about your brand; and have either approached it with an ‘if I build it they will come’ mentality (they probably won’t), or have jumped into business because you are really good at what you do technically. Or maybe you have been forced into an entrepreneurial situation because of a work shortage and never really thought about the need to market your business. In that case, you might want to read through some of our other articles on branding here:

http://blog.tractorbeammarketing.ca/blog/branding

and check out our online courses here:

http://www.thetractorbeam.com/courses.php

Jake Bergen is the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing, and the author of the eBook ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’. All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Your Business Branding Test, Part #2

If you missed the first part, click here to read it!

Last week we spoke about how your company's brand and the experience of your clients becomes inseparable. Your brand is strengthened by repeated, positive exposure of your company and its image to potential customers; as well as the ability of your organization to produce a predictable and favorable outcome on a consistent basis.

Then I posed a few questions that I hope you at least thought about for a few moments. For those of you who actually filled in the blanks, you get extra points for being a go getter, and you are obviously the ones bent on improving your business. By striving, it is inevitable that you will improve; that is just the way things work.

It is called the ‘law of the harvest’. You won’t reap benefits if you don’t plant any seeds! But let’s get back to the task at hand, and review the questions from last time.

Question #1: Do you have a mission and a vision for your company? 

I am not talking about a trite ‘mission statement’ that you hung on the wall because somebody said it is the thing ‘serious’ or ‘real’ companies do. I have worked for companies that pasted their mission statement on every door in their office, but the statements were so generic and phony that nobody took them seriously.

I mean, how hard is it to say, “Our company strives to provide the best possible quality and service for the best possible price.”

Seriously, gimme a break! Every company in the world has a basic premise (or ought to) that is something similar to that, so you have to dig deeper to be taken seriously by your market and your staff.

It is imperative that you have a vision for where you want to go, and you need to know where you are now. Then you create a roadmap for how you are going to reach your destination. If you don’t know where you are or where you are going, then you are lost. People like me can help, but it really is up to you to find your way. The answers will ultimately come from inside of you.

Question #2: Is your vision written down and communicated to each employee of your company, along with guidelines of how to provide a consistent experience to each person you come in contact with?

This is the next step. Once you have your road map, you need to get others in your organization on board with you. Your company is the vehicle which will produce the results you want and ideally provide the means for you to live the kind of lifestyle that you envision for yourself. Make sure the vehicle is tuned up, and each part knows the result they need to produce and how best to produce it.

Questions #3 & #4: Do you have a good logo, core message and solid corporate color scheme? How consistent is the use of your image and message across your business card, brochures, website and other communications (do they match)?

This is the link that will visually connect the user experience with that of your company; and is capable of stirring the desire in people for more of what you have to offer. But if your message and branding are disconnected, don’t expect people to make the connection for you. You need to connect the dots for them.

The world is moving so fast that now, more than ever, it is important to make your company so recognizable that your market doesn’t even have to think hard about what it is you will do for them. Otherwise, another outfit that has figured this out will snatch your prospects from right under your nose.

Question #5: Are your clients confident that you will be able to duplicate a predictably desirable experience each time they come to you?

I personally believe one of the reasons people don’t commonly recommend even businesses they have enjoyed is that they are not confident that the company will be able to give friends and family the same experience. Have you ever recommended a business to a friend and had that company totally let you down?

I have. It’s embarrassing.

Go to the next blog entry here to see how your test score stacks up.

Jake Bergen is the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing, and the author of the eBook ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’. Contact can be made through www.thetractorbeam.com. All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Give Your Business This Branding Test

 Branding is a powerful thing. 

A company can have many people working to make it run; and numerous operations that must be accomplished each day from production to reception to sales. A business person can easily get caught up in all the things it takes to run their company, but at the end of the day there are two things that people remember… but two things that blend into one.

People who have used the services of your company will remember their experience, and those who have not experienced what you have to offer will remember your brand. Once the experience has been achieved, an individual will then equate their experience with your brand. 

So what makes a memorable company and a memorable brand? Consistency.

I have used McDonald’s a fair bit as an example; but they make a good one because, like it or not, most people can identify and relate to an experience with the company. McDonald’s is the very picture of consistency, and it is the thing that makes the franchise model established by the company not only feasible, but envied and emulated all over the world. 

They have created a culture of expectation in customers who can reasonably predict what their experience will be, from the service to the product. Do you even have to guess what your next experience at McDonald’s will be like? Probably not. 

Will their food suddenly be revolutionary? Well, they tried that when they introduced McDonald’s Pizza to their menu. It was actually pretty tasty, but didn’t work in the long run. They learned that being successful at one thing didn’t give them the ‘Midas touch’, where anything the company did would turn to gold. It caused confusion in the brand, the experience, and actually detracted from their core business.

Will the service suddenly involve a waitress tending to your every need at your table? Nope. But how many companies recipe for success includes giving matching shirts and visors to kids with acne and braces? It doesn’t really sound that inspiring, but with some good training they have built the most systemized and legitimate child labor force in the world.

When you see a McDonald’s logo, advertisement, or truck going down the road; you know that what is represented is what you are going to get. There is consistency between the logo, every piece of advertising, and the end result. So how about your company?

Take this little branding test, and answer these questions honestly on a scale of 1-10.

Do you have a mission and a vision for your company? ___

Is your vision written down and communicated to each employee of your company, along with guidelines of how to provide a consistent experience to each person you come in contact with? ___

Do you have a good logo, core message and solid corporate color scheme? ___

How consistent is the use of your image and message across your business card, brochures, website and other communications (do they match)? ___

Are your clients confident that you will be able to duplicate a predictably desirable experience each time they come to you? ___

Add up your score. Next week we will review the results (click here for the next post).

By Jake Bergen, with contributions from James Rozak. Jake is the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing, the author of the eBook ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’, and the founder of Social Media Club Edmonton. Contact can be made through www.thetractorbeam.com; and if you enjoyed this article please share it! All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Invisible Labor: Work That Matters

The brilliant Victor Hugo once said, “A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor.”

As a young boy, I loved to stare off into the great blue yonder and imagine being a superhero with powers of invisibility! Years later, I still think that’s pretty cool. Even cooler still because in some ways the dream has actually come true.

Slaves to busywork in shops, construction sites or office jobs, many companies in our society tend to reward those who are good at looking busy. We tend to hold quantity in higher regard than quality, and bustle higher than results. A poor trade that is, trading productivity for commotion. 

Does it sometimes feel like you are walking through a Dilbert comic strip, or an episode of ‘The Office’? Much funnier if you are observing than if you are stuck in it.

If you watched me write this article you would see my fingers moving across my keyboard for periods of time, followed by another period of staring into space. Believe it or not, the time spent gazing into the final frontier is the most productive! Without thinking about what I need to say, filtering and refining it, an article could very easily become the equivalent of mentally vomiting on a page. Not a pretty mental picture, and I am guessing that you would not enjoy reading those random information chunks.

Which brings to mind Henry Ford’s famous quote, “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” Nobody accuses the person who acts before thinking of being a genius.

There have been instances where I have seen people comment about the amazing creativity they see in quality work that requires a flair for design, then argue over a bill because only half of the project work was visible.

I once worked with an interior designer whose client refused to pay for her design work because they said it should have been a ‘free estimate’, that the advice and drawings provided were not real work. I am sure the client used every scrap of information provided through the consultation, and if the bill had been large enough to be worthwhile pursuing, I’d be willing to bet that the company she worked for would have recouped the costs in court.

I find that sort of thinking somewhat akin to a General sending troops into a war without a strategy, or a contractor building a building without first engineering it. Doomed for failure, and I might even venture far enough to classify it as insanity.

The famous architect Frank Gehry does not help to physically place the massive steel components on the building he designs. In fact, he probably lifts nothing more than a pencil. Yet he is paid millions of dollars for his invisible labor.

Sure, the actual production of a project may be more observable, but the true underlying value is the invisible part. I don’t want to undermine physical labor, nothing would get done without it! The point is simply that  you can’t have one without the other.

One other exciting thing regarding the might of creative thinking; your competition has no idea what you are going to do before you do it. That is why cutting-edge, creative businesspeople will always have the advantage over the ‘me-too’ copycats in the marketplace.

I love powers of invisibility.

Jake Bergen is the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing, the author of the eBook ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’, and the founder of Social Media Club Edmonton. Contact can be made through www.thetractorbeam.com; and if you enjoyed this article please share it! All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Does Your Branding Suck?

Does Your Branding Suck? - Podcast MP3

Every day I see something that astounds me.  

Companies trying to do legitimate business with branding and marketing materials that look like they were put together by kids in kindergarten. Their branding sucks and they don’t even realize it!

The truth is that most of these business people are probably great at the work they do; whether they are lawyers, plumbers or retail merchants. But the reality is that if your marketing stinks, the vast majority of people will not take you seriously. If you are trying to get someone to buy into your expertise but you will not hire someone to help with the things you are not good at, it is a mark against your credibility.

Many small business people don’t get that. They don’t see the value in hiring a professional to design their logo/website/brochures, etc. But your brand is more than just a logo, it is the image and overall perception of your company.

And customer perception is that if your image sucks, your business sucks. Just because your word processing program has a brochure template doesn’t mean that you should use it, unless you genuinely know how to get a quality result… and most people don’t.

If your website has a tile background that looks like a pattern from kids pajamas, or if your brochures don’t mach your signage; here are a few things you can do to enhance your image:

1. Figure out not only what you do, but what makes your company different from all the other companies competing for the business of your prospective clients. Then write it down. This is called a ‘Unique Selling Proposition’, or USP. The value of a USP is easily summed up by looking at the meaning of the words that make up the acronym. 

Unique: it is important to stand out and get noticed. 

Selling: you might like to build widgets, but no matter how much one may dislike salespeople; if nothing is sold, no money exchanges hands and you don’t have much of a business. 

Proposition: the offering of your products or services to others so that a purchase can be made. If you don’t ask, you’ll likely never make a sale. Simply asking increases your chances of selling exponentially!

2. Reflect your company’s USP in everything that you do.

Make it your company policy to look a certain way, act a certain way, and communicate in a way that reflects the owner’s vision for the company. A great business in one that lives and breathes it’s Unique Selling Proposition.

3. Be consistent. Whether it be your website and other online presence such as Social Media; make it match your brochures, business cards and other communications. You can have all the pretty advertising in the world; but if it is inconsistent, there will be no tie-in in the minds of your prospective customers.

Don’t make people put effort into figuring out which company is communicating with them. Take companies like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. Like them or not, you can spot their communications from a million miles away. It would be wise to work toward the goal of being that recognizable.

As simple as these things are, there are people who can read articles like this for a hundred years and still not get it. So if you understand these concepts, find someone who can help you implement them. Just doing that will set you head and shoulders above 95% of the other businesses out there, and set you apart from your competition!

Jake Bergen is the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing, the author of the eBook ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’, and the founder of Social Media Club Edmonton. Contact can be made through www.thetractorbeam.com; and if you enjoyed this article please share it! All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

There's Nothing Like A Little Controversy…

I had an interesting email come my way the other day, and I thought that I would share it and my response because it brings up a few important points. It is in response to an article that I published back in March entitled ‘How To Be A Good Customer'.

Dear Mr. Bergen:

I can't believe you have the audacity to print this article, I would be embarrassed to put that in print. However, as it is your right to express your opinion, it also my right to ask any business owner if there is a better price, they can say "no" without getting snarly. Bargaining is the rule in many cultures, it doesn't have to turn into a confrontation. In many cases even if the business says it's the best price, I still buy, even at higher, small business price, because I get the follow up service most times.

What about the business that does a job, or part of a job, takes your money, then disappears when you need follow up service, or completion? I know of a couple that hired a contractor to do some renovations with a time line of about twelve months. Twenty months later, they are still being "held hostage" by the main contractor, job still not completed to date. Sound's to me like they are getting "raped" as you put it.

Have you ever heard the expression "caveat emptor" (buyer beware)? Would you have the consumer just blindly pay any price that is offered? If so, I'll sell you that box of 27 nails for $100. It is the consumer right to challenge the business.  You're right, you can't bargain on that box of nails at the hardware store, that's just the way it. Is. "Only the strong survive", same is true of the business world, if you can't compete, you're gone! It's a mean old world out there, the naive will be weeded out, like it or not.

There are two sides to every story so don't expect the consumer to pay an unquestioned amount for goods or services blindly. There's nothing wrong with politely asking if it is the best price. If I don't think so, I'll take my business elsewhere, my right. Just as it is your right to set your price to whatever you like.

Don't most businesses shop around for the best cost for their supplies? I would think so.

M.A.

Sherwood Park, Ab

---

Hi M,

Thanks very much for your comments, they are appreciated. It took me a minute to figure out what you were speaking about because the title of the article must have been changed by the newspaper, which is a common occurrence for the purpose of laying out their pages. I released that article a few months ago, and am interested to find that your local paper must have just printed it (or re-printed it) now. FYI, the original article in its entirety can be found at http://blog.tractorbeammarketing.ca/blog/2010/03/how-to-be-a-good-customer-complete-version.html.

You are exactly right; there are businesses who basically 'rape' their clients in terms of taking advantage of them in an almost heinous way. It is sad but true. The problem is, that is what gets all the press; and because of this, more people seem to be getting adversarial in their approach to small business owners. Shows like 'Holmes on Homes' highlight a very real problem; but in the minds of many consumers it has become the rule rather than the exception, which is simply not true. This mindset can easily lead away from a healthy 'check a company out to see if they are legitimate and do good work', to a problematic 'treat them like jerks because they will eventually treat us like jerks anyhow'. A preemptive strike on the part of the consumer is not conducive to their plight of finding a quality provider for whatever it is they need.

Because the media is so saturated with the horror stories of dishonest or misbehaving vendors, I don't believe I have ever read a media report that was the opposite... and that seems so out of balance to me. My intent was by dumping everything I had on the empty side of the scale, it might bring a balance about in people's minds; but if you read the entire article (which was originally published in newspapers as a two-part article), the second half does bring in a more balanced viewpoint; and might even be in your paper this week. The first part was purposely a little more controversial because there is nothing like a little controversy to capture someone's attention, would you not agree?

I find your response very interesting because since its release in March, this article has been read hundreds if not thousands of times, and I have received almost entirely highly-positive feedback. A few people (generally not business people) have not agreed with the entire article, but yours is by far the most vehement opposition I have received to date. And I do appreciate that there hasn't been a lot of this viewpoint shared to date, which in itself could cause a little bit of shock. But hey, I do have somewhat of a platform, so I might as well use it to do what I feel will be the most good for small business people. Incidentally, if this is your first time reading it, my column each week is geared to small business.

Regarding your comments as to your own actions; if you ask for a deal that is one thing, and you are correct, no one can stop you from asking. But if it turns into hostage-holding, check yourself and think about the other person who has no doubt factored in fixed costs and operating expenses, and is trying to turn a profit to pay employees and put food on their own table. That is all, plain and simple. I guess it goes back to the Golden Rule. 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you' applies not only to business people, but to customers as well. None of us are exempt.

All the best,

Jake Bergen, Marketing Director

Tractor Beam Marketing

www.thetractorbeam.com

Tractor Beam TV Episode #2-Hockey and Facebook Links

Episode #2 is now live! We had incredible response on the first installment and will be making these video posts a more frequent thing.

Join us as we show you some highlights from a hockey game of Tractor Beam Marketing Guys James Rozak (Creative Director) and Brent Coleman (Web Developer), along with your host Jake Bergen (Spectator). We will also do a quick demo on how to customize a link description on Facebook and talk briefly about our new eBook entitled 'Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business'. And all this in seven minutes!

Social Media Is Like High School

There is a lot of buzz around Social Media and business; and each day more companies are realizing that there is huge marketing potential in platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. There are companies that have been quietly plugging away and establishing relationships and communities online, even in the face of early naysayers denouncing Social Media as a fad.

But the truth is that it has rocked the world of those skeptics. Those people are slowly either climbing on the bandwagon or getting left behind. Social Media has even created stars who are outshining movie, television and music sensations. For example, Gary Vaynerchuk’s online show Wine Library TV boasts over 80,000 viewers per day.

Viral video recently received a huge shot in the arm for legitimate business use when YouTube stars Rhett and Link produced a version of their popular T-Shirt Wars video for McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. On top of the national television audience who has seen the spot, the short ad has received over 900,000 views in its first two weeks on YouTube.

As incredible as those numbers are, the reality is that most business people have trouble equating the success of others with what is possible in their own businesses. Sure, your goal may not be worldwide viewership, but what if you took a slightly more modest approach? What if you took cues from the people creating these phenomena and started producing and sharing content with your current client base in similar ways?

You see, Social Media is a lot like high school. Only better, because there is a place for everyone! You don’t have to get left out. 

For some; reference to high school brings to mind memories of fun and frivolity. For others it will conjure up thoughts of hard work and long hours spent studying. Others will become bitter at the reminder of the loneliness and frustration of not fitting in.

As a business, there is no reason to be sitting alone by your locker with your neatly organized Tupperware container of veggies and dip. The beauty of the online world is that it is so vast, there will be a group of people that share similar goals and interests. And they will want what you have to offer. 

People naturally gravitate toward those with similar interests; and business owners need to recognize who it is they connect with, where their skills lie and how to capitalize on those skills.

Writers and intellectuals ought to be blogging. Drama-types and comedians should be engaging in online video. Jocks and music buffs have plenty of outlets for their individual interests. The list goes on, but the most glaring reason that any given business would not be gaining momentum online is because the powers-that-be are too scared to try. 

An introverted business will not be good at gaining customers, and not participating in these emerging venues can make an otherwise great business seem like a misfit.

The message? Don’t be awkward online. Observe, learn as much as you can, and jump in. Yeah, you’ll even make a few mistakes; but that is certainly better than not even trying!

Jake Bergen is the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing; and the author of the eBook ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’. If you enjoyed this, please share it with others! All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

PRESS RELEASE: Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business

PRESS RELEASE  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Social Skills: Facebook Basics for the Socially Awkward Business

Edmonton, AB - June 8, 2010 -  Entrepreneur and small business owner Jake Bergen has been using social media successfully in business for a few years; which in internet time is a long time. Seeing that these new tools were working for him, other small business owners began bombarding him with questions like:

“How are you doing this Social Media stuff?” 

“Can you help me get my business on Facebook?” 

“I can see that Social Media is working for you, but I have a Facebook page and a Twitter account for my company, and they are doing nothing to help my business grow. What am I doing wrong?”

From that demand his most recent venture, Tractor Beam Marketing (Inc.), was born. A self-described ‘Small Business Scientist’, he has spent years experimenting with many forms of marketing and social media, and the information he publishes are the results of his findings. 

For the past year he has been blogging, writing newspaper columns, training and speaking on Social Media and other subjects relevant to marketing. The latest addition to his arsenal of tools for small business owners is the eBook ‘Social Skills: Facebook Basics for Business’; which has just been released on his company’s website www.thetractorbeam.com. An Amazon Kindle Edition is forthcoming.

The book was written based on feedback from many small business people who are just getting started online, are not technical and have no idea where to go first. It is written simply, and from a user perspective rather than from a technical one. It is Jake Bergen’s opinion that a lot of the information currently available on Social Media is written for a tech-savvy audience, with the majority of business people who really need this information being totally forgotten about.

The reader is walked step-by-step through not only how to properly create a personal and business presence on Facebook; but the book also addresses strategies needed to be successful in engaging clients and prospects. Directed primarily to small business, the subject matter of this book also has ramifications to larger companies and non-profit organizations; as well as franchise and network marketing businesses.

“I want to let people know what is working and what isn’t. That way I can spare them the pain of wasted efforts, and help them get straight to the good stuff.” Mr. Bergen says. “Don’t be a social media misfit. A Facebook Business Page is the best thing you can be doing for your business online right now.”

# # #

Contact:

Jake Bergen, Marketing Director

Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

www.thetractorbeam.com

jake@thetractorbeam.com

780-289-2262

PO Box 46138, 2350 - 24 Street

Edmonton AB T6T 0K8

NO! And the Value of Saying It

No! And the Value of Saying It - Podcast MP3

No!

One of the shortest words in the English language, yet one of the hardest to put to use. Believe it or not, a big factor in success is the ability to simply say ‘no’; and because this topic runs to so many facets of life and business, I will approach it from the very relevant angle of advertising.

Many small business people I know love exposure in relation to their company, and eager individuals who have not budgeted properly for their advertising easily fall into traps. Why? Because almost every avenue is a possibility!

I often say that you are not going to do much business if nobody knows about you. You need to advertise! But you also need to be smart.

Advertising representatives gush about the reach of their network, publication, signage or whatever they may be offering. Most reps will try to convince you to spend as much of your hard-earned money as possible with their company. It is not because they are bad people, they are just doing their job. Don’t get me wrong, they may well be able to help you; I have worked with some very good reps who have helped me.

Do you really know who your target market is? Judge the potential quality of the feedback your advertising will receive in relation to exposure within your target market, response rates and potential return on investment. Your costs, ad frequency, shelf life, effectiveness and estimated resulting profits should be considered and targeted in advance. If you cannot get enough information to make an informed decision on each of these items, don’t waste your money. Stand your ground and use the ‘N’ word.

Some self-employed folks adopt the ‘shotgun’ approach. That is the assumption that if you shoot at everything you are bound to hit something. When I was a little kid I heard a guy use that analogy as his approach to getting married. He is still single. 

The shotgun approach is usually the result of being either overzealous or just plain lazy. If you are a go-getter, temper your impulsiveness by taking a ‘no’ stance first. You may want to make the ‘yes’ response contingent on a representative's ability to support the claim that the returns from your advertising will be lucrative. 

If you are too lazy to do the work and would rather throw spaghetti at the wall to see if any noodles stick, you are just going to make a mess of things. Either get off the couch or get out of business, entrepreneurs who are not willing to work hard are a failure before they get started.

Don’t give in to vanity advertising, that is a waste of money as sure as you’re born. Why would a company call you, a small business that probably few outside of your community has ever heard of, for induction into a ‘who’s-who’ publication of the ‘Superstar World Business Registry’ (I made that name up) or some such nonsense? To coax pesos out of you by stroking your ego.

It can also seem like every bleeding-heart person supporting a charity is hitting you up for donations. I am not knocking charities, I love them and donate as much as I can; but you cannot possibly support them all. Have you ever had representatives of charities make reference to only supporting your business if you donate to their silent auction or raffle? No matter how much you want customers or are trying to please, would you enter a relationship that started with threats? You wouldn’t want that person as your customer, so don’t worry about giving them the big N-O.

Contribute and protect yourself by setting a budget of what you can afford to donate, and choose charities up front that are meaningful to you. Unless you have a favorite client that comes to you and you feel it is within your means and best interests to support their charity, just tell inquirers that you already support charities x, y and z; and anything else at the present time is just not in the budget.

You might even want to give them a submission form so they can apply for consideration in next year’s budget. This will weed out a lot of fly-by-nighters.

How would you like to take some advice from the success of Apple?

“It comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much.” -Steve Jobs

Jake Bergen is the Marketing Director at Tractor Beam Marketing; and the co-author of the online course ‘Know Your Market’. If you enjoyed this, please share it with others! All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Tractor Beam TV Episode #1 feat. Green Tea Frog

This is the first episode of Tractor Beam TV... YAY! This installment will give you some information on who Tractor Beam Marketing is, and showcase a cool small business called the Green Tea Frog...

Tractor Beam exists to make your business better... so draw on our experience to amp up your marketing! Get more clients, generate loyalty in your existing clients, and watch how great marketing can help you prosper!

Thank you for watching this show! 

P.S. Our YouTube channel is here: http://www.youtube.com/TractorBeamMarketing

Is It OK to Steal Ideas?

Is It OK To Steal Ideas-Podcast MP3

Download Is It OK To Steal Ideas-Podcast .m4a, right click and select 'Save Target As' or 'Save Linked File As'.

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." -Albert Einstein.

In China, many of the roads are paved with broken bits of old ceramics. Pieces of plates and teacups are part of the mixture that has paved many of the streets there. If you bend down to get a close look, you can see delicate flower patterns that were likely once part of a beautiful tea set, now serving a different purpose.

Reduce, reuse and recycle are often-heard terms in the world we now live in. Another, perhaps less common word that is no less pertinent is ‘repurpose’. This term especially applies in business. 

Differentiating your business is really about doing something to make it special; more special than your competitors. The two easiest ways to differentiate yourself in any market are to (number one) be creative and (number two) be yourself, although not necessarily in that order. People who are not overly creative tend to get hung up on the fact that they are lacking in the that department, but the truth is that creative ideas can come from anywhere.

Like the dishes that have now become roadways, great ideas can be borrowed from unrelated sources and revolutionized to fit your industry; or even taken from within your industry and made your own. The analogy of the porcelain-infused roadways are a good example of creatively repurposing something for a function unrelated to its originally intended use.

‘Singin’ in the Rain’ is a song that first appeared in popular music around 1929, and was used and reinvented for the renowned 1952 movie of the same name starring Gene Kelly. In 2003 it was recorded by British jazz/pop phenom Jamie Cullum in a totally unique rendition; and greatly exemplifies repurposing a previously existing concept and making it one’s own even within the same industry.

Prior to Google, search engines like AltaVista, HotBot and Excite ruled cyberspace. In fact, Excite had the opportunity to buy Google in 1999 for one million dollars and rejected the offer. Where are these former giants now? 

Google is a classic example of taking a previously generated idea and making it better. They didn’t invent search engines, but dramatically altered internet search and the entire technological universe. It is not plagiarism or theft, it is improvement of business and existing ideas; and you have the same sorts of opportunities in your line of business.

I am not suggesting that you knock off an idea and duplicate it, that pretty much is stealing. But repurposing genius ideas is another thing altogether, and Albert Einstein knew it to be true.

What business are you in? Look around, is there something that someone else is doing that you could do even better? Have you run across a great business that is totally unrelated to yours? What makes that company great, and how could you implement some of their concepts of greatness to your advantage?

Take some time to think about it, it could just revolutionize your business!

This post by Jake Bergen; columnist, blogger, speaker, educator and Marketing Director of Tractor Beam Marketing. If you enjoyed this, please share it with others! All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Business Lessons from a Six-Year-Old

Last weekend, I was reminded of some important lessons. By my six-year-old.

My wife and my mother-in-law (whom I love dearly) decided to hold a garage sale. It was a good idea, because we had a lot of stuff that we needed to let go of; but personally, I hate garage sales. I try to help, but all I can think about is how much I paid for items that are now being almost given away. In my mind’s eye, I can see myself laid out on one of the sale tables as folks try to pry one of my last valued possessions from my cold, dead hands.

However, every once in a while I need to suck it up and take it like a man.

The entrepreneurial apple not falling far from the tree; during this particular garage sale, my six-year-old decided that she wanted to sell something too. She went outside and carefully selected rocks of similar shapes in a variety of sizes, then brought them inside and proceeded to paint them. Soon, she had a number of little stone ladybugs drying on the table.

Once dry, she brought them out to the garage and set them amongst my depreciated assets and affixed price tags to each one. Having virtually no concept of of money at this point in her life, the few larger ladybugs sported random pricing of between $5 and $9. There were also a bunch of little ones with price tags that read ‘free’.

Daddy, being the smarty pants that he is, was a little sheepish of having a nine-dollar rock sitting on the table; but has a fair amount of grace where the kids are concerned. She was so darn excited about her ladybug rocks, I couldn’t say no; but I was afraid that the nature of the product and her outrageous pricing of the larger items would doom her to be unable to sell them, and I hate seeing disappointment on the faces of my kids.

In the bustle of the sale I quickly forgot about her rocks, but ten minutes later my wife walked up to me and said, “We sold a rock. The big one.”

I was incredulous. “The nine dollar one?”

Yes, the nine dollar one. Who would love a ladybug rock made by a six-year-old girl? Another six-year-old girl, of course. A little girl had come in, fell in love with the product and asked her mom to buy it for her. The mom offered a dollar for it and the offer was happily accepted. By the time the garage sale closed, there were no little ladybug rocks left.

Cool. Her first attempt at creating art for commercial purposes was a smashing success. And I realized a few things that are taken for granted.

Giving the opportunity to succeed… or fail. This applies to business and parenting. With the correct desire to want the best for our kids, we can incorrectly shelter them from even trying. Whether the attempt was successful or not is beside the point. We all experience successes and failures in life, and learn from our mistakes to improve on the next effort. Since the garage sale, my daughter was facing something she was nervous about succeeding in; and I told her she had my permission to make a mistake, but I wanted her to try. A product of the life lesson she had reminded me of only a few days earlier.

She drew on what she knew and what she enjoyed. The goal was commercial, but the focus was on doing something she loved and to see if she could find an accepting market. Her creation was, to a six-year-old artist, a thing of beauty. It was a thing of beauty to a similarly aged art connoisseur as well. Do what you do because you love it; and if you are a part of your target market you will connect with them in a way that is more than about just making a sale.

Doing the best you can with what you have available. We see successful companies that have grown and flourished, but would likely be shocked if we saw where they started.

Despise not humble beginnings.

This post by Jake Bergen; columnist, blogger, speaker, educator and Marketing Director of Tractor Beam Marketing. If you enjoyed this, please share it with others! All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Crabs In A Bucket

Have you ever hear the ‘Crabs in a Bucket’ analogy? If you haven’t it goes along with something I say frequently.

“People love success. They just don’t like successful people.”

Now, I have never gone crab fishing. Is that what you call it? Crabs aren’t fish so let’s call it ‘crabbing’. The closest I got was gliding a canoe under the pier near my childhood home with some friends at night, and tying the ropes of the crab cages to the pier. Yeah, it was kind of mean and we shouldn’t have done it; but I can’t help it, it still makes me chuckle. I should probably grow up, but that is a lost cause.

As stated, I have never been crabbing, so I am not sure this is really how crabs behave in a bucket, so I will just rely on the story as it recall hearing it.

The theory is that if you have a single crab and put it in a bucket, it can climb right out. But if you have any more than one, you will not have to worry about their escape because they will be so busy pulling one another down that none of them will get out.

It is a pretty accurate analogy for what we as entrepreneurs face, and one of the things that drives me nuts is negativity. People whom we think should be behind us and cheering us on in our vocation will often times be the ones trying to stifle our potential for great things. They will bring up a million reasons why we shouldn’t pursue our goals, but never offer helpful or constructive insight on what can make us successful. Don’t you hate that? 

My feeling is that if someone doesn’t care enough to help you find a solution, they should keep their mouths shut. I once worked with a safety consultant who was great at pointing out safety issues on site, but would never help with a solution. He wouldn’t make a decision because he felt that he could be liable if he offered poor advice, even though that was his job. So he would point out problems, write a report about what shouldn’t be done, and leave you to figure out what to do about it. 

I think that kind of performance is useless, and whether it is a safety consultant or a naysaying family member, if they aren’t willing to be constructive and help you; you need to help yourself. Don’t rush blindly into something just because you want it, and I am not discounting genuine concern.

Pursue your goals intelligently. Learn as much as you can. Dive in and absorb all the information possible, and then put it to use. And never stop learning and applying, because that will constantly make you better. You probably won’t hit the ball out of the park on your first try, but if you keep striving, you just might be the next entrepreneurial heavy-hitter in your industry.

As the great Wayne Gretzky so accurately stated, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

This post by Jake Bergen; columnist, blogger, speaker, educator and Marketing Director of Tractor Beam Marketing. If you enjoyed this, please share it with others! All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

A No-Cost Lesson in Better Marketing

Tractor Beam Launches First Free Lesson in Small Business Marketing Course

Edmonton, AB - May 12, 2010 - Instead of just telling people why they are different, Tractor Beam Marketing Inc. has decided to show them.

Small businesses around the world are in dire need of direction in their marketing; and require tools to expand their knowledge and understand the real-life applications of good marketing. The mantra of Tractor Beam has been “Low-Cost, High-Impact”; and now they are making two of their self-paced online courses, referred to as PODs, available for no cost on the Tractor Beam Marketing website.

With a different take on business education, Tractor Beam is becoming noted for using entertainment to make business learning fun; and enjoyable learning leads to higher retention of information. Business people who are looking for better knowledge can be tired at the end of the day. To engage in learning on their own time, these individuals need something to stimulate their minds and not put them to sleep.

The first of the two free PODs introduces the setting of the story that is used as a backdrop for teaching marketing principles. It is purely entertainment; an interactive, slightly off-the-wall and graphically-enhanced story with elements of drama, action, romance and comedy. Marketing is more than just advertising, and the second POD introduces the Marketing Cycle; a marketing system that is explained in a very easy-to-understand fashion. Printable course notes and exercises at the end of the POD are designed to be the start of a marketing manual, a valuable piece of documentation for any business.

Tractor Beam was founded early in 2009 by experienced entrepreneur and marketing expert Jake Bergen, and business partner James Rozak, a visionary and accomplished creative force in branding and media design. Aside from creating online tools for business, the Tractor Beam guys conduct live shows. Jake is also the author of ‘Venture Hype’, a business and marketing advice column, and is working on a how-to e-book on Social Media for Small Business.

Tractor Beam Marketing strives to raise the bar continually. They are always seeking opportunities to network, ally and join forces with other companies, particularly in the entertainment industry, and would like to take their ideas and innovation to other forms of media, such as print and film.

www.thetractorbeam.com

Media Contact:

Jake Bergen, Marketing Director

Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

phone: 780.289.2262

email: jake@thetractorbeam.com

A Lesson in Value - a story...

Here is sneak preview, an excerpt from our upcoming e-book on Social Media. It is a little snippet on the strategy of being an informative and valuable resource to customers.

Inform & show value! Give people really good and valuable advice that they can take home and put to work. This can be a touchy subject, so I’ll give you an example. 

In a city not far from my home is a high-end car detailing shop. It is not located in a nice area of town, but on a summer day you could visit the shop and see any assortment of high-end cars; from Lamborghini to Porsche to Aston-Martin… you name it, they are there. But early on in his business, the owner was sending out monthly newsletters advertising monthly sales and specials; loudly promoting his business with a hard-sell approach. And he was getting frustrated, because he was not getting a good response from his efforts.

Then one day James, my business partner, recommended to him to tone down the amount of ‘selling’ that was going on in his newsletters. To make the story brief, he soon caught the concept and began sharing do-it-yourself car detailing tips. 

Upon hearing this, most small business owners say, “What? Are you nuts? Give away my trade secrets for free?”

So let me clarify. You don’t have to ‘give away the farm’. But again, people know if they are being fed junk. In the case of our incredibly skilled and passionate auto detailer, he not only began sharing tips in his newsletter; but began producing how-to videos of tips to put online, and even produced a DVD on top-notch car care and auto detailing. For the people who cannot afford to bring their car to his shop, the DVD is a great way to make a sale and establish rapport and word-of-mouth buzz from a secondary market. This was a previously untapped revenue stream.

And for those in his primary target market, they began to trust him more. By doing less ‘selling’ and more sharing, his business significantly increased. Does the person with the Lamborghini want to detail their own car? Not likely. But they are driving some of the best wheels that can be put on the road, and their vehicle requires the care of the top expert in the area. Sharing is caring, and in doing so you are branding yourself and your company as the expert source.

This post by Jake Bergen; columnist, blogger, speaker, educator and Marketing Director of Tractor Beam Marketing. If you enjoyed this, please share it with others! All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Why Bullies Are Good For Geeks

Yep, this is completely from left field; but for some reason I have been thinking back to my days in high school and wondering what became of some of the people I knew. The thoughts made me recall the observations of my mother, as told to me after one of her high school reunions. After graduation, the metamorphosis of the ‘geek’ species and the ‘cool’ species is an interesting study.

Virtually all the ‘cool guys’ from her high school had transformed into not-so-cool guys. Out of shape and sporting beer guts, the majority of them were still driving vehicles whose model years dated back to around their year of graduation. She expressed her incredulity as those who had been the ‘losers’ were the ones driving high-end cars, were fit and trim, and in general, totally out-classed the group that had been popular in school.

So why does this analogy belong in a business column? Because in business, as in life, adversity builds character. 

In the world of business, rejection and apparent failure undoubtedly occur on the road to success. Entrepreneurs always suffer the reproach of having big dreams, with those close to them often ridiculing and trying to pull them down. People like success, but they don’t like other successful people; especially anyone who is more apparently successful than they are.

Bullying, and any adversity experienced in youth, can be preparation for the challenges of the real world; providing individuals with the intestinal fortitude required to overcome. Inversely, those who have been king of their own little teenage hill usually don’t understand why the world ends up not going their way like it did in school.

So which category did I fit into? Neither. I fit into another classification of generally accepted, but neither super-cool nor outcast. I was one of the kids who would stick up for the little guy, and most of the altercations I got into had to do with protecting someone else. Maybe that is why I am writing a small business column. Still sticking up for the underdog… I really want to see small business people succeed.

In my day-to-day discussions with business owners, I see a group of people who have gotten roughed up a bit with the recent economic difficulties; but have the grit and determination to overcome.

If you are one of the ones who has been beat up on over the last couple of years; it’s time to get back up, dust yourself off and straighten out your glasses. This is just one more hurdle, and you can overcome it!

This post by Jake Bergen, as published in his newspaper column. Jake is a columnist, blogger, speaker, educator and Marketing Director of Tractor Beam Marketing. If you enjoyed this, please share it with others! All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc.

Economy and Natural Disasters

My lawn is green. Finally!

The tinder-dry dead grass left over from winter stayed around for quite a while, making fires difficult to stop in the surrounding countryside. And now, the light green shoots are turning to a brilliant emerald. I’m not crazy about rain, but I am thankful because we sure needed it.

I got thinking that the grass and trees are not so dissimilar to us in regards to the recent economic cycles we have been experiencing; and I believe that although we are seeing some recovery, we are a long way from being out of the woods. Like an out of control fire, the worldwide economic crises has left quite the destruction in its wake. 

Unfortunately, trees in a forest fire cannot get out of the way. When they get dry in their environment, they become fuel for the next unfortunate set of circumstances that come their way. And it is no different for us. When we get dry, and are not inspired in what we are doing; we just as easily become fodder for the next wave of destruction.

But we are fortunate because we can move and seek inspiration, like water that strengthens us from our very roots. The trees have no choice... but we do. Don’t let yourself dry out. Continually seek out sources of inspiration so that you as a business owner will be mentally healthy, well-watered, and resistant to misfortune.

Today's post by Jake Bergen. All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc. You can share our stuff all you like, only please give us credit if you do! Thanks. 

Know Your Market - an excerpt...

The following is an excerpt from ‘Know Your Market - POD Notes & Exercises’, from the soon-to-be-released online course from your pals at Tractor Beam Marketing!

Market research is a mixture of good old-fashioned observation and scientific data collection. Your market looks and feels a certain way… do you know what your market looks like? Do you know their feelings? Do you know what you need to do to win their attention, love and loyalty?

Ahhh… this is where you go to the work of finding that out.

Your research is all about psychology, and being able to boil down the physical and emotional characteristics of your most likely customers into measurable and usable chunks of information.

Through research, you can get to know your prospective clients better. You have the chance to find out what they like and dislike, and what they are willing to spend their disposable income on. Research helps you identify if it is possible to effectively tap into a market, as well as find out who the people are that make up your most lucrative market segment.

Don’t get us wrong, there will always be some trial and error, and life is an experiment. But research also helps you reduce wasted efforts. You can’t afford to ‘try this’ and ‘try that’ for years to find out what works. If you quantify what is working (and what is not) right off the bat, you will save yourself years of headache and wondering where the waste is within your marketing system. Identifying and eliminating waste is an added benefit of research. 

Enough about why… let’s learn how!

Today's post by Jake Bergen. All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc. You can share our stuff all you like, just give us the credit! Thanks.

 

Re-Branding? Fear Not!

Based on some immediate feedback, I’ll follow up my last blog with some help in the rebranding category. Rebranding can be a really daunting thought. After years of building up a business, an owner most often feels that his company name and corporate logo are irrevocably linked to their venture. Rebranding can almost feel like you’re starting over and undoing years of effort and investment. The barriers to rebranding are obvious: cost, fear of change, history, uncertainty of customer confusion and backlash, and plain lack of understanding of the benefit. 

In most cases, re-branding isn’t something a company would think to do unless they are finding their business is struggling, their business model has shifted, or they are proactively adapting to changing marketing trends to stay relevant.

The key phrase in this is “staying relevant”. That really is the main reason you would rebrand. Why is staying relevant important? Because over the course of time, markets change. And so does your business.  

This is where some basic initial steps need to be taken. 

1. Why are you Rebranding?
   This is important. Rebranding just because you’re tired of your corporate colors is not a good reason. This must be a strategic manoeuvre and you need a plan. It will affect positioning in the marketplace. The goal is to IMPROVE your branding, but based on what failure and/or shortcoming? Are you starting to feel "old school" and outdated? Did you never really develop a branding and marketing strategy in the first place? Are you just not getting the business results you anticipated? Are you getting swallowed up by competition? Do you feel invisible? 
   
   If you have a strong brand, you may just want to do like you would to an already good house; you might just apply some new paint and do some renovations. It may not mean sweeping changes, but instead just making sure you are not neglecting basic branding principles, such as brand consistency. It may mean re-assessing your marketing direction and tweaking your visual brand to appeal to your true target market. But you do need to know why you are wanting to redevelop your brand. 
2. Do Your Homework
   If you are going to rebrand, this is an important time to rediscover your personal company vision, your goals, dreams, values and how it bleeds through every aspect of your business. After all, you are in adjustment mode. The essence of your brand is not isolated to your logo; it encompasses everything which you present to the public market. That includes everything from your logo and marketing materials, to the way you and your staff smile and greet your customers.
   
   To rebrand is to understand your target market. And to understand your target market is to understand your products and services. You need information to effectively brand your company. If you are rebranding – do this. You must do this.  
   
   
3. Brand Equity
   If you’ve been in business for a period of time, there is obviously a degree of name brand recognition you would have developed. That is brand equity – ground which you have gained through brand recognition. If you’ve gained enormous brand equity, you’ll need to be more careful and strategic because your brand is worth more. However, if your reach is limited to a smaller market, you really don’t have as much to risk.
   
   Don’t build a false picture of yourself. If you are rebranding because you feel you aren’t reaching your target market, don’t focus on the risk of losing customers through rebranding. Focus on how many you will gain.
   
   
4. Seek Good (Professional) Advice.
   Often a rebrand is the result of poor branding in the first place. In fact, some people don’t even know what branding is. So they may know enough to recognize what they have isn’t good, but if they don’t know what branding really is…how are they going to improve it? If you aren’t improving yourself, don’t rebrand.
   
   Finding a good, solid marketing firm is a good idea when you are rebranding. (if you are looking for a marketing expert to help, we may be able to help refer you – or – if you are a marketing professional and want to be part of our referral network, please contact us!)
   
   
5. Should You Rename Your Company Brand?
   This can be scary, but it can be necessary. Remember, you are trying to (a) strengthen your brand and (b) become more relevant to your identified target market. Sometimes we miss reaching our target by having the wrong name.
   
   As an example, have you heard of the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company? No? How about 3M? The company started with that long name which probably made sense in its beginning. Located in Minnesota, they were a mining and manufacturing company. But as they evolved, the items which they manufactured no longer reflected their business or their products. They are known now for everything from scotch tape to post-it sticky notes.
   
   So notice how they rebranded their name. It makes sense. They maintained some heritage by taking the letter “M” from the three descriptive words in their company name and condensed it to 3M. So simple, and yet meaningful to them. No more confusion about what they did; they were now able to employ a branding strategy to give definition to an otherwise meaningless company name. What is a “3M”? Well, that is the benefit of rebranding. They could create your impression of what they did.
   
   Imagine if they didn’t rebrand their name. They would now be constantly trying to explain what they did. It would probably cost them loads of advertising expenditures trying to work with a name that totally mislead their customers. Not only that, but how many people would automatically overlook their business thinking “they don’t have what I want”.
   
   It is often beneficial to remove any inference to a specific product or service from your name, unless you intend to specifically focus your business on one area. If your business is a plumbing business and nothing else…then it’s okay. But if you have any intention or distant thoughts of expanding into electrical work, then why tie your brand specifically to plumbing?
   
   
6. Taglines or Slogans are Helpful!
   Often a company will develop a tagline to their company name. Taglines are little phrases which often accompany a logo that help position or describe what a company does. Bigger brands which have substantial brand equity don’t need to be too specific with their taglines. Nike says “Just Do It”. Kentucky Fried Chicken says “Finger Lickin’ Good”. Those taglines don’t say much.
   
   But let’s take a janitorial and cleaning business called “Cleaning Extraordinaire”. They make it clear in their tagline that they aren’t cleaning cars. The company’s tagline is simply “Exceptional Janitorial Services”. Or what about a little company that sells toothpaste, “Crest: Healthy Looking, Beautiful Smiles for Life”. Crest means nothing, but the tagline fills in some gaps.
   
   One of the beautiful things about taglines: they can easily be changed without having to do a major rebrand. So if you find the right name and logo brand, the tagline can be modified without much cost or confusion. Your tagline could contain the descriptive text which explains what you do. Even so, you still need to be smart about it so you aren't constantly changing it. Consistency is strength.
   
   
7. If Your Going to Do it, DO IT!
   Making a decision to rebrand cannot be half-hearted. If you decide to rebrand, but have one foot in and one foot out through the process…I say don’t bother. You’ll end up doing damage by confusing people about who you are and what you’re doing. If you're going to rebrand, throw out the old business cards, strip the old decals off the trucks, get rid of the old brochures. Don’t leave a mixed message; step into the new.
   
   That means you will need to be prepared to budget and plan. Rebranding will cost time and money. But this is a core business strategy which, if understood and invested in, can take your business in a new, exciting and profitable direction.
   
   
8. When You Rebrand…Make a BIG DEAL ABOUT IT.
   Don’t be afraid to go all out from the gate. You need to go into “education” mode through the transition. Especially if you do a major brand change, you need to help people know what happened to your brand, and make it an exciting, progressive sounding change for your business. We often refer to these as “Launches” to imply it being an exciting “take off”.

In the end, you need to decide what will help your business. But one of the more prevalent complaints from business owners revolves around marketing issues. Your product may be good and fine. But if your marketing is failing, perhaps you need to take a deeper look. It might be a simple as understanding the difference that a smile or a scowl can make to a persons face.

by JAMES ROZAK, Creative Director @ Tractor Beam Marketing

  

Norma Jean or Marilyn Monroe: What's in a Name?

I’m the kind of guy who struggles to remember names. It’s something I’m working on, but I find that sometimes when I’m in the midst of introductions, my mind is already working on what I’m going to say next and I miss the whole “name exchange” thing. It's lame. I'm working on it. 

But hey, you quickly realize that names are kind of important. "Hey you!" only goes so far. And so far as branding goes, I think often the selection of a strong business name is often completely overlooked for the impact it has. After all, all you need is a good logo and the name doesn’t really matter. Right? And hey, it’s all about your products and services in the end anyways. Right? Hmm.

Gotta admit, Yahoo! is a pretty good idea for a name. Google too. Why do we put so much consideration into naming our children? Because we know some names sound better than others, and it will stick with them a lifetime. Now, consider the big stage of Hollywood. Somehow, the headline act of "Wilbur Stinkleweed" doesn't really fit the bill. Why do so many stars take on "stage names"? Well, "Reginald Dwight" singing "Candle in the Wind" doesn't have the same ring as "Elton John". "Norma Jean" sounds more like a small town, farm girl than a movie star. But "Marilyn Monroe"? Different appeal. Hollywood is built on imagery. Everything from the names of the actors and actresses to the names of the films; the name can make or break a career. 

 

I realize some people would be reading this thinking, “I’ve already named my business!”, or “I’ve had this business name for 10 years already!”. Well, that would bring up the issue re-branding. Let’s call that a topic for another day. But what it can come down to is: how does a name strengthen or weaken the effectiveness of a brand? If you are starting a new business or if your brand isn’t working anyways, then maybe this will be good and timely advice for you.

What’s in a name? Well, here are just a few points that you might consider.

1. The Generic Name: Oh, for the companies who go the generic route. Sometime companies feel the need to sound “broad” because they don’t want to pigeon hole themselves by their brand name. After all, what if you expand? So they use names like “National”, “General”, “Standard”, etc. A name like “General Foods” says nothing about the company, nor is it memorable. 

   You might think of some companies with names with ‘General’ in it, and they may have done pretty good (General Electric, General Motors, etc). But you won’t find very many new brands (like, in the last 25 years) that built up with names like that.  

   Kraft Foods is a great example. They’ve endured numerous mergers and brandname adjustments. But through all of it, they keep simplifying their brand. At one time, they were “National Dairy”. Pretty descriptive, hey? They figured out they needed something more distinctive. They changed to “Kraftco Corporation”, only to simplify years later to “Kraft,Inc”. Through another series of mergers and changes (Dart & Kraft), they ended up as “Kraft General Foods”. Still, the power of their brand is not in the generic, but in a identifiable name. Hence, they further reduced to Kraft Foods.  The power of their brand is in the name “Kraft”, not "General". Which is stronger: “Kraft Foods” or “General Foods”? 

   Which is more memorable: “Video Rental Station” or “Blockbuster”? How about a “Photo Copying Machine” or a “Xerox”?  "Search Engine" or "Google"?

2. Creativity Helps: What exactly is a Pepsi? Names don’t have to mean anything. What is a Google? What is a Starbuck? What is a Kleenex? Business owners are often worried about choosing a company name that clearly describes their business or product. When you do that, you often default to the standard, generic terms which are neither unique or memorable.

   “Joe’s Mechanic & Small Damage Repair Shop”. Hmm. Clever. People will definitely know what Joe does. But can you be more creative? I’m just throwing this off the top of my head while making this, so this might be lame. But, I’d sooner name it “Jiffy Joes”. It’s short and sweet. You might even just make up a word "GASP!". Sure! Why not? (don't be afraid to do some research and get feedback from people you know; market research is cool).

   Now if you are really good and creative, you might find a way to build a brand name which creates a new category. Tissue paper isn’t just tissue paper anymore; the Kleenex brand made sure of it. So did Xerox for photo copying.
   
   

3. Domain Friendly: At one time, people thought it was brilliant to jump all over generic, all encompassing domain names. I mean, surely if someone wanted a car, they would look up www.cars.com, right? But don’t you suppose that, if someone wanted a car, their thoughts might be brand oriented? Think about it: if you were searching for a car online, would you be more likely to visit cars.com or Toyota.com? The brand name rules. Be creative. We are brand oriented.
   
   So a generic, poorly named brand does not translate well into a domain name. When choosing a business name, consider the domain name.  You might also do some searching for domain name availability before you settle on a name. It can be that important, depending on your business.
   
   

4. Marketing & Branding Give Definition: Once you have your name, don't worry if it's not completely descriptive. That is what marketing and branding bring to your name. Afterall, the name is just a name. Just like a person's name; what is a James? What is a Sarah? What is a Bob? Well, it's a person. But you add the definition through the your personality, experiences, tastes, character, etc. That's branding. 

   
   

   
   So what about your business name? You define that by your marketing strategy. A name becomes a logo, becomes a business card, becomes a website and suddenly the memorable name begins to stick and stand for something. It's by design. So what is your company name? Is it memorable? What does it represent? 

   Welcome to the world of branding. 

   
   

by JAMES ROZAK, Creative Director @ Tractor Beam Marketing

Enter the Blogosphere - Getting a blog online.

Continued from yesterday... if you would like to read the previous post click here.

If you don’t yet have a blog, some good blogging platforms to check out are:

WordPress: The darling of the blogosphere, WordPress features two versions; WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Though built on the same platform; WordPress.com offers free and ready-made templates, while WordPress.org supplies a great deal of customization features and website integration. If you are going to go the .ORG route, you better know how to do a little programming, or hire someone who does. Both versions offer good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) options.

Blogger: After Google acquired Blogspot, the name was shortened to Blogger. The great thing about Blogger is that it is very highly searchable and Google-friendly. It is also very easy to get started and easy to monetize (make money) with Google AdSense features built in (if you want Google ads on your blog). The less appealing part is that Blogger’s templates are very generic and limited. Both Wordpress.com and Blogger are great options for beginning bloggers.

TypePad or Movable Type: Solid blogging platforms from parent company Six Apart, and like WordPress, both versions are built on the same platform. TypePad is targeted at a less technical market, and does not allow the customization that Movable Type does. Movable Type requires some technical skills.

Tumblr: A relative newcomer compared to the other blog services; Tumblr is easy to use, progressive, the hippest and best looking of the free platforms. Tumblr is also optimized for mobile phone use, is designed to be part of the newer social media experience and has some good customizability. It is is designed more for the social aspect of the web and has yet to truly target businesses.

Each of these services provide templates that you can use and somewhat personalize. But if you want a customized look consistent with your website or have your blog integrated into your site, hire a web developer who can take care of that for you. You have a business to run, and any project you take on should compliment your business and not take you away from it.

Check them out, you will likely discover the one that is right for you.

Today's post by Jake Bergen. All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc. You can share our stuff all you like, just give us the credit! Thanks.

Enter the Blogosphere

If you are thinking of becoming a blogger or are frustrated with your blogging efforts; here are a few blogging basics that may help you decide whether blogging is really for you, or how you can improve your presence in the blogosphere.

Before you get started; do you like writing? Do you have something valuable to say? Can you get an employee or colleague to help you with your blogging efforts? Can you be consistent? These are all questions you should answer before diving in, because it is a time commitment; but can be a very rewarding one if executed correctly.

Engaging your readers by providing valuable content related to your industry will build trust, as well as your reputation as an expert in your field. Write not only about what you do, but add information relevant to the needs in the lives of you target audience. For example, if you sell beachwear, you might want to include things like travel tips and sunscreen reviews in your blog posts. Don’t make an endless sales pitch.

Just because you avoid the endless sales pitch doesn’t mean that you can’t sell your company a little bit. I have read a number of blogging ‘experts’ who say “don’t sell” period. But this is your company, your livelihood, and the people who follow you know that. It is perfectly acceptable for you to communicate current events in your company, product launches or concerns that need to be addressed to the general public. But sprinkle it in amongst your other valuable content.

Comments are a valuable tool. It is nice to have a commenter like what you do and stroke your ego, but critical comments can be a big opportunity for others to see how well you handle yourself in a less-than-ideal situation. If you manage the objection well, you have the opportunity to win them over. Even if they don’t agree with you, they will undoubtedly respect you for the way you handled their input; and others will respect you as well. Respond personally to comments.

Be regular! And no, that is not a laxative promotion. Regularly updated blogs rank well in search engines and give your clients and prospects a reason to keep coming back. Months between posts make a blog feel like it is abandoned, and abandoned is a feeling that you don’t want your customers to get from you.

Tomorrow’s post will cover a few of the best blogging platforms...

Today's post by Jake Bergen. All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc. You can share our stuff all you like, just give us the credit! Thanks.

Facebook Pages & My Social Media Pet Peeve

For the record, my biggest social media pet peeve is not the abundance of unwanted ad spam, although that is a close second. The thing that gets to me the most is small business people creating personal Facebook accounts for their business, and I’ll tell you why.

But first, I know there will be people who are already social media savvy and may scoff at this as elementary. If you are an advanced ‘Facebooker’ or ‘Tweeter’, this article is not for you. It is for the well-meaning small business people wanting to harness the power of Social Media for their business, and hats off to you if you are in this category! All you need is a little redirection, and I need to bring it up because I see this problem all the time.

Setting up a Facebook Page is a great place to start attempting to break into this growing world of opportunity. But setting up a personal account for your business on Facebook is a no-no! An online faux pas. 

Many social media beginners have trouble differentiating a ‘personal page’ from a ‘business page’; so from here on in, this article will refer to personal pages as ‘accounts’ and business pages as ‘fan pages’, even though Facebook changed ‘Fan’ to ‘Like’ this week. As a personal account holder you become the administrator of your fan page.

A personal account is what you initially set up when becoming a member of Facebook. You have the opportunity to enter your information and use a personal account to become ‘friends’ with other Facebookers. But zealous business people are so focused on their business that it is common for them to set up the account with their business information; understandable since it is easy to feel that your personal identity and the identity of your business are inseparable. And it is common for we as entrepreneurs to place more importance on our business identity than our own.

But please, for the good of your business and those you want to connect with, limit this account to your personal information. Then from there you can create your fan page! If you have a business presence on a personal account, the biggest problem is that it will jeopardize the privacy of those who become friends of your business. But in the wonderful world of Facebook, you don’t want business ‘friends’, you need business ‘likes’ (formerly ‘fans’).

That being said, the one thing Facebook doesn’t make obvious is how to create your fan page once your account is set up. So here you go.

One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is to go to any other business fan page (I would appreciate it if you clicked here and came to the Tractor Beam Marketing Fan Page), and look close to the bottom of the left hand column of the page. You will have to scroll down a ways on any page that has a reasonable amount of content; past the Company Information, the thumbnail fan pictures, Events and Videos or Photos that may be there. Once you have done that, all you have to do is click on the line that says “Create a Page for My Business”. Then it is as simple as following the instructions on the screen!

Even easier is to cut and paste the URL http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php into the address bar of your browser. Again, just follow the onscreen instructions and you are on your way do doing this right!

Today's post by Jake Bergen. All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc. You can share our stuff all you like, just give us the credit! Thanks.

Positive Branding: Strawberry Logos vs. Kiwi Logos

We've been told to “never judge a book by its cover”, but let’s be honest! People do.

Branding has two vital parts, as seen in some of the previous blog posts in this series. There is a foundational “vision” part, which really has to do with core values. A beautiful logo will eventually carry a reputation, no matter how beautiful it is. But also, there is the “visual brand” aspect which people look at. This is where the idea of presentation matters. How do you present yourself? 

If you walked into a restaurant, and the hostess was wearing torn sweat pants, a white button-up shirt stained with red and yellow blotches, her hair was a glorious mess, and her hands were discoloured by some unknown substance, what are the chances you would be looking forward to your fine dining experience? What if this person was coming in for a job interview to your business?

Now what if this is the visual state of your logo, business card and other marketing materials. When you speak of “consistency”, a brand ought to be consistent with the core values of the company. What is shown on the outside should be a reflection of the inside. Hey, in the right setting, maybe the previously described hostess could fit right in – if it were an accurate depiction of the culture. If you’re selling skateboards and snowboards, she might be perfect. If she were your banker…well…..hmmm. This is where it is important to know your own vision so you can be certain all appearances are an accurate, applicable and consistent depiction of what your company is trying to portray. Your logo should be a good representation of your business; often it’s the first thing people will see.

 A “Logo” is not meant to just be a static graphical image. A logo has the potential to be much more impactful and “alive”. But it doesn’t start as a “dynamic” element until the emotional association is developed. In fact, at first it doesn’t really represent anything. Imagine a strawberry sitting on a table. Now, further imagine you’ve never tasted a strawberry. You have no idea what it tastes like. Therefore, it evokes only a very minimal emotional response. It’s based on one sensory experience – visual impression. A natural advantage of a strawberry is that is looks appealing. It’s red, and luscious. It looks like something you would want to pick up and put in your mouth.

But what about a Kiwi? Oh, the poor Kiwi, the genetically inferior fruit. It’s the ugly cousin. It’s pale, cardboard brown, fuzzy, and visually could be like some kind of acorn, nut or something that has gone bad. Compared to a strawberry, it doesn’t stimulate or evoke a strong visual desire to pick it up and eat it. This is why a well designed logo has far more impact potential. A person who has never tasted a strawberry or kiwi cannot take the quality of the taste into account. They’ve never tasted it! So it’s purely a visual thing, at first. Neither will a consumer be able to see past your logo to make a first impression of the quality of your product and services. 

The moment someone picks up the strawberry or kiwi and sinks their teeth into the fruit – the juices are set free, and an explosion of wonderful fruity flavour erupts on your senses. The effect? Immediate dynamics! No longer is your logo a graphic, it’s an emotional association. Some people might even prefer the taste of the kiwi to the Strawberry (they're both yummy!), but – would they get past the appearance?  If the only thing they have to go by is a logo on a business card, what reason would they have to give your number a try if it leaves them with an "ewwww!" or "ho-hum" impression?

So why is a good logo important? First impression. Enticement. Consistency in quality. If you back up the visual with a great customer experience, then the consistent blend of “visual impression” with “emotional association” will make the brand a strong one.

So here’s my plug: I strongly recommend hiring a professional to design your logo. It makes a difference. Really, honestly….it does. 

by JAMES ROZAK, Creative Director @ Tractor Beam Marketing

Way Out Of The Ordinary

Hey business owner! How out of the ordinary is your company? 

Very out of the ordinary, just a little bit, or not very? You don’t have to do anything overly weird to be different, you know?

Let me ask you this. Would you rather have a world that is totally indifferent to your product or your brand; or one that has people who passionately love what you offer, and a few that totally despise everything you represent?

Yes, rejection is hard. When you have sweated, toiled and made your work a labor of love; it is crushing to have even one person give you a critical remark or even just mediocre feedback. We tell ourselves to get over it, but it gnaws at our gut at first. If you persevere, you eventually develop a nice thick skin.

We all know that we can’t please all of the people all of the time. So why do we keep trying? Because we are scared of failure.

I have heard the stories. “So-and-so asked for a certain product or service that we don’t normally provide, and I said we didn’t do that… then they threatened to take their business elsewhere AND tell all their friends about how my business gave poor customer service and won’t do what the customer asks... (*deep breath*)… because the customer is always right, and we deserve to fail! What if they do what they say they are going to? What if one or two jerks going around the country bad-mouthing me sinks my business?”

Most small business owners have a complex about making everyone love them. How do I know? Been there, done it, and got the t-shirt and scars to prove it. But I read an account this week of one stubborn guy who makes a fine example for my point.

Inc.com recently published the story of Jerry Murrell, the founder of Five Guys Burgers and Fries; a 570 location restaurant chain that does a lot of things out of the box. In the article, Mr. Murrell relates how that when they first opened they were located near the Pentagon. The Pentagon called and asked them to deliver, and Jerry told the Pentagon they didn’t deliver.

After being told that everyone delivered to the Pentagon, he and his son purchased a huge banner that read “Absolutely No Delivery”, and put it up for all the world to see. A pretty gutsy move, but their business from the Pentagon actually increased!

An expression I picked up and that has served me well is “stick to your guns”. For those of you who don’t like Westerns, that simply means to stand your ground.

Don’t be an idiot that is so inflexible to change that you run yourself out of business. But if you are being asked to compromise your business model, profitability, and/or values; you may just find that it serves you well to be true to yourself and the vision you have for your business. That kind of commitment always helps you to stand out, because it is way out of the ordinary!

Today's post by Jake Bergen, as published in his newspaper column. All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc. You can share our stuff all you like, just give us the credit!

Do You Mind If I Scratch Your Back?

Some people just don’t get it.

Strategic partnerships can help business big-time. If the the other party just doesn’t get it, you can gently try to educate them, but don’t waste too much of your time. 

In your networking efforts, you will find people who can potentially align with you to the betterment of both your businesses. Some people get it right away, and like-minded people can synergistically create magic in cross-promotion! I have not only seen it happen but experienced it many times. And consumers tend to put more faith in companies that are secure enough to get out of their own box and promote a non-competing product or service that they believe will be of real value to their clientele.

I never mind scratching someone else's back if mine will get scratched in return.

But every once in a while you finish a back scratch that ends with the other party walking away, or worse, whacking you in the back of the head before walking away. They leave you wondering, “Where’s my back scratch, you ungrateful so-and-so!?!”

Don’t waste your time any further, and don’t whack them back in return. As the saying goes, wrestling with pigs just gets you dirty. Unfortunately, they don’t get it. Move on, you will find someone who appreciates the favor as much as you do and reciprocates it.

If you get the reputation of a person or organization that is genuinely interested in cross-promotion, you will have companies lining up; you will soon be able to take your pick!

Today's post by Jake Bergen. All posts on this blog © Tractor Beam Marketing Inc. You can share our stuff all you like, just give us the credit!

Positive Branding: Understanding the Dynamics

So there sits the little blond haired boy, perched behind his brown cardboard box lemonade stand. It’s a beautiful, clear skied morning, and he woke up early with anticipation for a day of booming business. So far, he hasn’t seen any action besides the neighbour’s territorial terrier chasing the unassuming postman from its front lawn.

He’s put a lot of thought into his business. He’s secured a stellar venue: an old discarded brown cardboard box stabilized by several strips of packing tape. He’s got a deliciously enticing product for any hot day: two pitchers of ice cooled lemonade, freshly squeezed that morning and lightly sweetened with several carefully measured tablespoons of white sugar.  Next to his box, still neatly packaged and unopened, rests his stockpile of necessary plastic cups, with an accompanying bag for collecting recycling. Underneath his toddler sized lawn chair, he’s carefully placed a little glass jar for collecting money from his prospective customers, and a tube of sunscreen. Yep, he’s ready to do some big business.

These are the “mechanics” of his business. In this simplified example, he’s got everything he needs to open his doors business. In a grander scale of business, there are obviously more complexities involved in daily operations. This would also involve the systems of management, workflow, financial structures and all the “in and out” boxes, valves and pistons which make the engine mechanically function.

Yet, it’s from the point of opening the doors to the business which come the questions of “dynamics”, or the injecting of energy and life into the business operations to make it work. It’s the gasoline in the engine, and the spark in the ignition. It’s the grease and oil, and the heat and air conditioning. It’s the atmosphere and the culture, the approachability of management and manner of communication between staff. It’s the feeling that customers get when they walk in the door, which has been CREATED by the people in the business.

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Mechanics + Dynamics = Reputation.

It all trickles down to one thing: leadership and vision. As the leader, you need to invest value and understanding into both the mechanic and dynamic. I’ve seen many companies that operate like a nuts and bolts machine without a healthy dynamic. Eventually the company brand begins to suffer when disgruntled employees and mishandled customers begin to formulize your reputation. Really, every aspect of your business has a mechanical part, and a dynamic part. You need both. And in marketing, this is exactly the case.

One of the best ways to fortify this concept is to take a look at yourself. You are a brand. You are your own brand. Inside your head you have ideas, concepts, opinions, motives, desires, ambitions and so on. You project yourself to people around you in the way you choose. Now, if you were a “brand” and you were marketing yourself – what opinion would people have of you? Would they want to buy what you are offering? Consider your relationships: what is your relationship with people around you? With your spouse? With your children? With your family? Co-workers? Employees? Customers? What about the kid working the McDonald's drive-thru who messed up your order? Relationships tell the story, in whatever fashion. 

Have you ever met someone who is infectiously wonderful to be around? They just have “it” (whatever “it” is). You just love spending time around them, listening to them, laughing with them. You always look forward to the next time you meet. What is it based on? It is your experience in the atmosphere which they have created around them!

Conversely, have you ever been around someone who is toxic? You don’t trust them and you wouldn’t invest much in their opinions. You find yourself trying to avoid them, and you certainly wouldn't choose to be around them except that circumstances force it to happen. What is it? Again, it is their atmosphere! 

From a physical, mechanical perspective, they are a human being just like you. The thing which differs is the dynamic that surrounds that person. Just as you are, they are selling a brand. They have a brand name. My brand name is James Rozak. And when my name is spoken in a group of people who know me, it evokes an emotional response. My brand name is known by my reputation.  

As with everyone, I’ve had my share of successes and failures, both personally and in business. In whichever fashion, I am known by an acquired reputation. Based on some of my past failures, some people simply and justly would not hire me or trust me. Yet, some people know me by a different reputation; perhaps one of generosity, kindness, and integrity. It depends on me, and how I've presented myself.

The strength in understanding this is simple; you can be a creator of your reputation! Can you control your personal atmosphere? Do you want a cloud of gloom and doom to hang over your head? Can you change the way people perceive you? Absolutely. Want friends? Be friendly! Want to be trusted? Be honest. If you've done someone wrong, there should be a desire to reconcile and make it right. You have the choice to exhibit unconditional kindness. You can be honorable, trustworthy, accountable and open to correction. It's all an opportunity to learn and grow. It really amounts to your personal vision you have as the CEO of your life.  

What is at stake? Your name and reputation. How do you begin changing it? Adjust! Change! Grow! Some people refuse to accept or acknowledge shortcomings, and they will forever have a toxic reputation and their relationships around them will perpetually suffer and fail. And at the same time, some people are forever seeking to grow, to improve their relationships.  

So what about a business? Can you adjust the way in which a business perceived? This is branding at it's deepest core. Start your branding from an inward, visionary perspective. Start with the leadership. And then when you start bringing the inner branding to the surface, the "logo" will represent something worth bragging about. 

Remember - you aren't depending on your brand, your brand is depending on you. 

Next blog, we will continue digging down a little deeper as we look at marketing and branding.

TO BE CONTINUED...(Tomorrow!)...

by JAMES ROZAK, Creative Director @ Tractor Beam Marketing

Positive Branding: Mechanics & Dynamics

Well, here goes. First blog post. No pressure. 

 My name is James, and I am the Creative Director at Tractor Beam – the guy who makes the visual candy. I often tell people that my brain works a little different than most so-called “adults”. You see, crayons rock. Fruit Loops are the best way to start the day.  Girls are still kind of icky. LEGO is way better than video games.

As I am writing this article, I’m laying in bed with my laptop. And looking over to my bedside table, I have my collection of books which I keep near for inspirational reading. So what books do I keep handy? Well – permanently (or until my toddling children decide to risk their lives by attempting to stake their claim on them), I have the entire collection of Calvin and Hobbes. Yep.

And – well, I can go on, but that kind of paints the picture. 

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The Simple Reality

Now, if you’ll indulge me, I’d like you to let your mind drift for a minute – and I’d like you to picture a simple, small town residential street. It has everything you might expect. Imperfect, well-weathered pavement lined with boulevard styled trees overgrowing the side walks. Every other house has a little driveway, with a mailbox and a trash can or two pushed against the picket fences or lush green hedges that run the length of the yards. An upside-down cardboard box is placed just to the side of one such driveway, unevenly covered with a thin and dust spotted white cloth sheet.

A little blond hair boy sits tucked into his toddler sized lawn chair behind the box, his bright blue eyes peeking over the top and his neck occasionally strained to see if any of the passing cars are slowing. On the front side of the box, taped with an excessive amount of scotch tape, is a standard letter sized paper marked with crooked and faded red felt pen lettering. “Lemonade. 25 cents”, it modestly announces.

Young as he is, this little boy is trying to accomplish what every business owner is attempting to achieve. His little blue eyes shimmer and glow with hope and anticipation, as though they are saying, very simply…”Choose me”.

It is, to me, a most innocent of beginnings – but also, a most simple and honest depiction of the reality of the business owner. While the heart of the entrepreneur is outwardly attempting to demonstrate a confidence and optimism, the sobering truth is deeply felt. Without someone to dial your number, or to darken the door to your business and ultimately to “choose you”…the shimmer and glow in your eyes, or in the eyes of this little boy, will become as a discarded cardboard box on the side of the road.

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Do You Depend on the Brand?

I have made my living working in and with marketing firms for the past 12 years, as well as running my own freelancing business for the past four years. I’m paid to make people look good. For many of those 12 years, I was encouraged and taught to believe that all I needed to do was make beautiful designs for inquiring clients and companies, and that would make those companies suddenly flourish. Throw in a catchy heading, a catch phrase and a clever tagline and “VOILA!”, the customers will instantly start calling (right?).

I observed on many occasions how excited the client was when they were presented their new logo design, business card, website and whatever else may have been provided them. And to be clear, I do staunchly believe that a company requires a strong visual (logo) brand; it is a vital cornerstone. But I have since come to believe – to a degree, we were selling false hope with the new logo and “branding” if we suggest to the client that their logo equals their “brand”. 

Shaking hands with these clients and sending them on their way to business success based on a “logo brand” is like telling the little boy selling lemonade that all he needed was a better cardboard box. Branding goes far beyond the “visual” (logo, website, etc). If a client is not educated to this fact, they will falsely depend on their brand when, in reality, their brand is depending on them.

Marketing as a whole really is one of several key aspects of a business operation. You need to ensure your business model contains all the mechanics for success, including the vital processes and systems which, although conceptually mundane, keep the integrity of a business in place. There is little point focusing and building a marketing machine when the company that is being "touted" is hardly capable of living up to what is being promoted. We all can likely name some big corporate businesses which mechanically built a marketing machine to promote what essentially was a sour lemon in the waiting. 
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Injecting the Dynamics

The concept of "Marketing & Branding" can be depicted in many ways through creative analogy, so for this blog, I'll describe a business as being somewhat like a hot air balloon. Obviously you need the physical balloon (the business model, structure, practices and systems, products, etc), and yes, it is designed to inflate. But is it “flight worthy”? Does it have the capacity and integrity to hold air? You have to make sure the "mechanics" of the balloon will sufficiently sustain what you, the entrepreneur, must ultimately bring; the "dynamics". It is you that injects the vision for the purpose of the balloon. The balloon already has it's purpose; if it is well made, it will do exactly what it is made to do. But now, what about you? 

You bring the creativity and passion, the attitude and the energy, the sweat and tears, the direction and the objective and everything that will make your business attractive to both customers and employees. Your "brand" is really everything encompassed in the attitude and style of the company. Absolutely, it does need to become "visual", yes. That is only a part of it, because what does your visual brand, or logo, stand for anyways? A brand speaks of representation, and you need to decide what it is your company is all about. That is the dynamic which you create. It's the "dynamic" which puts the "mechanics" into action. 

How do you do that? Well, if you have confidence that your "balloon" will fly, this is where the whole purpose of marketing comes into play.  That's what I'm going to try and bring in my following blog posts. Developing the “dynamics” to put your “mechanics” into purposed, driven and infectious action. It’ll weave between the practical, rubber meets the road stuff that I love, and the inspirational.

So, where are you now? Still on the ground? Drifting aimlessly? Losing altitude? Blowing holes? Shining like a glowing, colorful beacon? Soaring higher and stronger? How you fly is closely determined by how your approach your marketing. The goal is to build what can be called "Brand Equity", where your brand doing exactly what it should: working. 

I know what it is to be the little boy sitting on the curb with his cardboard box. Now let’s help that little boy turn his lemonade stand into something big.  

TO BE CONTINUED...(Next Tuesday)...

by JAMES ROZAK, Creative Director @ Tractor Beam Marketing

 

 

The K.I.S.S. Principle

When I was young, I remember being taught the K.I.S.S. Principle. “Keep It Simple, Stupid”, I was told. 

I thought keeping things simple was a good idea, but didn’t feel so hot about being called stupid. So I’ll change it up a bit. How about, “Keep It Super Simple”?

Yeah, that’s better.

Most of you can probably identify with being taught that same principle. So why is it when we get older, smarter, and wiser in our own estimation that we throw the K.I.S.S. Principle out the window? Maybe we like to hear the sound of our own voice, or we are insecure enough to feel the need to impress the rest of the world with our vast knowledge and vocabulary. It is actually the intellectual equivalent of beating our hairy knuckles against our chests and yodeling like Tarzan.

When you are dealing with customers and find yourself spewing technical jargon, it’s time to stop and back up. Check yourself. Who is the person (or persons) that you are speaking to? Are you an engineer? If you are talking to a bunch of engineers, go nuts!

But if you are speaking to laypeople, revert to laypersons terms. Buyers are only interested in the result of what you can do for them. That being said, there may be certain factors you may have to educate them on when it comes to things like pricing considerations, but do it in terms that they will understand… without treating them like idiots.

Why do you think that the ‘For Dummies’ series of books are so popular? People want information, but want it in a format that they can understand. Of course, I’ve never bought one because I don’t consider myself a dummy (grin). I guess I’m just not their target market.

When I visit my lawyer, I don’t go to hear a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo. If I was well versed in the interpretation of legal-speak, I might not need advice. One of the reasons I retain a lawyer is so that when it comes to the intricacies of an issue, I get everything laid out for me in language that I can understand. The result of which is that I can make an educated decision without being a lawyer myself.

Warren Buffett, who is undoubtedly the greatest investor of our time, said, "There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult."

I concur. One of the missions that I have set out to accomplish is to share business information that is easy to understand and easy to use. People don’t like being talked down to or made to feel inferior.

Remember this simple fact and work it into the way you deal with your clients, and you will automatically be more successful in creating strategic, long-term business relationships.

by Jake Bergen, as published in his column ‘Venture Hype’. © Tractor Beam Marketing

Why Does My Company Need A Strong Brand?

This is not the first time I have compared a company to a car. But I was watching a very captivating online video of the Mercedes SLS AMG (which I have posted here) and the thought struck me again.

The operations of your business are like the inner workings of an automobile. How smoothly each part operates, how precisely these parts work together and how efficiently the power gets from the engine to the wheels. In the corporate scheme of things; operations are the mechanics, cash flow is the fuel and branding is the part that can be easily seen, such as the body and the interior.

When you look at a hot car, it generally creates a desire in a person. You may not be able to afford it, but you appreciate it. And if the opportunity arose where you were in the position to exchange the dollars required for the vehicle, you just might do it. I’ll admit I probably would.

When it comes to your business, you want to present an accurate and compelling image to those who require your services. If your business runs like a mid-80’s K-car, but has the body of the Mercedes SLS in the original example; you are going to disappoint a lot of people. Sure, you will probably get some sales, but you will never get repeat sales because you just don’t deliver.

Of course, if the body looks like a rusted out K-car, it wouldn’t matter what it had under the hood… people won’t believe that you possess a high performance machine. As I said, the image you portray needs to be accurate. If you company is the equivalent of a K-car, that might be OK, but be real about it. Don’t promise what you can’t deliver on.

Your brand ought to stir a ‘desire to buy’ within the intended customer.  If I described the Mercedes to you and asked you to give me one word label that would sum up what I had told you, you might come up with words like fast, sleek, or performance… all things that the manufacturer has built into the automobile. And if you bought one of those cars that is exactly what you would get.

But the advertiser looks for something different.

Out of curiosity, I asked some of our Facebook fans for one word they thought described the Mercedes video. I was curious to see what stood out most to people. Some of the one-word responses were “dramatic”, “captivating”, “extreme” and “achievable”; and one person even said “fake”. When I last checked, no one had said anything about speed, performance or style. All those things were present, put people seemed to be describing their own subconscious perception or desire.

I appreciate each one who participated, and there were no bad responses! One person showed cynicism, and rightly so; because I am sure everyone who watched the commercial wondered if it was real. Others described things they enjoy and reflects them; like drama, achievement and an adrenaline rush. And if they made the decision to buy that car, they would be purchasing drama, achievement and adrenaline as much as a fast car.

When customers see your brand, they will not be thinking so much about what your business is or does; but what the ultimate benefit will be for them. Don’t try to sell them so much on features, show them how their lives will be improved by the end result of what you offer.

Then you will see the results of powerful branding.

by Jake Bergen, as published in his column ‘Venture Hype’. © Tractor Beam Marketing

How To Be A Good Customer (Complete Version)

This morning I received an email from the person whose rant got me started on this in the first place. Due to my quest for publishing relevant and valuable information; I am happy this was appreciated and struck a chord with so many people!

I’ve been wanting to write this article for a long time…

My local newspaper prints a section called ‘Rants & Raves”, and this week contained a rant that highlighted a very prevalent problem for small businesses. That was the catalyst I needed to finally address this issue.

I quote, “We own a small business. We pride ourselves in keeping our prices competitive with just enough profit margin to cover our expenses. So why is it when we quote a price that people argue and ask if that’s the best we can do? Do you go into a restaurant and argue to reduce the price on your meal? No, so why do you do that with us? The price is the price.”

Business people will always have both good customers and bad. According to the 20-60-20 rule; about 20% of customers are good ones, 60% are indifferent, and 20% are just bad customers. But those 20% can make a workday feel like a walk through the bowels of Hades.

There is a type of customer out there who I call the “Small Business Murder-Rapist”. Perhaps a crude title, but an incredibly accurate one.

When these people enter a shop or call an independent service provider, they talk about how much they love shopping local or supporting small business. But once engaged in hiring that company or making a purchase; they try to single out the owner or person in charge and put pressure on them for a ‘better deal’, many times after they have already agreed to make the purchase.

This type tries to take that business owner and hold them hostage by threatening them with taking their business elsewhere if their demands are not met. Because most small business owners want to please, and tend to be technicians who are very good at what they do as opposed to salespeople or business people in the big-business sense; too many of these rapists ‘have their way’ with the company and toss the used remains aside.

They don’t care. If that business dies, there will always be another naive and innocent business owner to victimize and pillage.

Business owners need to be aware of what steps to take to protect themselves from these ‘menaces to economy’; and some of these bad customers may not even realize that they are abusers. So it’s time to find out.

One of the reasons big-box stores are so successful is that there is virtually no way you can get to the top. The owner of a multi-national hardware conglomerate is not going to take your abuse because you paid for thirty nails and found there were only twenty-seven in the box. They hire people to take your abuse for them. And if you have time for stuff like counting nails, you really need to get a life!

If you truly want to support small business and enjoy the benefits and personal service that often comes with smaller providers; here are some steps you can take to ensure you are getting a good deal and not taking food off of the other party’s table. They are in business because they feel that they have something to contribute to the community and want to feed their families; not put up with abuse.

1: As I always tell business people, try to create a win-win situation, and the same goes for customers. ‘The customer is always right’ is a crock. The customer is only right as long as their demands meet to protect the best interests of both parties. An unreasonable demand is not made reasonable because somebody once said that ‘the customer is always right’.

In fact, the only time I have ever experienced that line was from people who used the saying as a weapon to assault others. I wouldn’t stand there and let someone abuse a child, and I most certainly would not stand there and let someone abuse one of my employees. If you are not willing to try and work out a concern like a mature adult; then you ought to get shown the door and asked not to return. Don’t be surprised when it happens.

2: Threatening that you will bad-mouth that business to all of your friends because meeting your demands was not something they were prepared to do is a futile weapon. If you are a jerk and your friends are anything like you, that business owner and their employees do not want your friends around either; so you are doing them a favor!

And if the people you whine to are reasonable, they will see through the type of person you are and go support that business anyhow. You don’t believe me? I have seen it happen many times, and it is an effective form of word-of-mouth advertising.

3: Granted, not every business is worth supporting. To ensure you are getting the best deal possible, shop around not only for price but for level of service and quality; and consider which two of these factors are most important to you. When it comes to Quality, Service and Price, you will never get all three. Ask around to find out if the business is reputable. Are they a member in good standing with a trade association, Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau?

4: How do you feel when you are dealing with them? Do you feel valued, respected and catered to? It might be worth a negligible price premium to continue with an experience that you love. Don’t ruin it for yourself, and if you do opt to try another provider, don’t burn the bridges! You just might need to hire the first company back if another company’s services aren’t what they are cracked up to be.

Also, if someone works their behind off for you and helps educate you on the things you need to know to make the appropriate buying decision, honor their efforts if you can. Again, if there is a negligible premium for the services you have received, don’t just purchase from some schmuck that will do nothing for you but undercut their competition by a couple of bucks. If someone cares enough about you to work hard on your behalf, reward them if you can!

5: Once you have made a deal, be honorable and stick to your part of the bargain. Otherwise, you deserve to get tossed out on your ear!

6: Treat others with dignity and respect. If you have respect for others, you will earn respect and will not have to demand it.

You might be reading this and severely dislike me for what I have said, but trust me; these are things that millions of business owners want to say, but are too afraid that it will hurt them to go ahead and say it. I felt it was about time somebody stood up and said it for them!

The bottom line is that the ‘Law of the Harvest’ works the same way as it always has; you reap what you sow. Those who have no respect for anyone but themselves end up lonely and pitiful. By following these tips you will have a better buying experience because your relationship will be one of synergy, not adversity.

Now go shopping… be smart, but be nice!

by Jake Bergen, as published in his column ‘Venture Hype’. © Tractor Beam Marketing

How To Be A Good Customer - Part II

If you truly want to support small business and enjoy the benefits and personal service that often comes with smaller providers; here are some steps you can take to ensure you are getting a good deal and not taking food off of the other party’s table. They are in business because they feel that they have something to contribute to the community and want to feed their families; not put up with abuse.

1: As I always tell business people, try to create a win-win situation, and the same goes for customers. ‘The customer is always right’ is a crock. The customer is only right as long as their demands meet to protect the best interests of both parties. An unreasonable demand is not made reasonable because somebody once said that ‘the customer is always right’.

In fact, the only time I have ever experienced that line was from people who used the saying as a weapon to assault others. I wouldn’t stand there and let someone abuse a child, and I most certainly would not stand there and let someone abuse one of my employees. If you are not willing to try and work out a concern like a mature adult; then you ought to get shown the door and asked not to return. Don’t be surprised when it happens.

2: Threatening that you will bad-mouth that business to all of your friends because meeting your demands was not something they were prepared to do is a futile weapon. If you are a jerk and your friends are anything like you, that business owner and their employees do not want your friends around either; so you are doing them a favor!

And if the people you whine to are reasonable, they will see through the type of person you are and go support that business anyhow. You don’t believe me? I have seen it happen many times, and it is an effective form of word-of-mouth advertising.

3: Granted, not every business is worth supporting. To ensure you are getting the best deal possible, shop around not only for price but for level of service and quality; and consider which two of these factors are most important to you. When it comes to Quality, Service and Price, you will never get all three. Ask around to find out if the business is reputable. Are they a member in good standing with a trade association, Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau?

4: How do you feel when you are dealing with them? Do you feel valued, respected and catered to? It might be worth a negligible price premium to continue with an experience that you love. Don’t ruin it for yourself, and if you do opt to try another provider, don’t burn the bridges! You just might need to hire the first company back if another company’s services aren’t what they are cracked up to be.

Also, if someone works their behind off for you and helps educate you on the things you need to know to make the appropriate buying decision, honor their efforts if you can. Again, if there is a negligible premium for the services you have received, don’t just purchase from some schmuck that will do nothing for you but undercut their competition by a couple of bucks. If someone cares enough about you to work hard on your behalf, reward them if you can!

5: Once you have made a deal, be honorable and stick to your part of the bargain. Otherwise, you deserve to get tossed out on your ear!

6: Treat others with dignity and respect. If you have respect for others, you will earn respect and will not have to demand it.

You might be reading this and severely dislike me for what I have said, but trust me; these are things that millions of business owners want to say, but are too afraid that it will hurt them to go ahead and say it. I felt it was about time somebody stood up and said it for them!

The bottom line is that the ‘Law of the Harvest’ works the same way as it always has; you reap what you sow. Those who have no respect for anyone but themselves end up lonely and pitiful. By following these tips you will have a better buying experience because your relationship will be one of synergy, not adversity.

Now go shopping… be smart, but be nice!

by Jake Bergen, as published in his column ‘Venture Hype’. © Tractor Beam Marketing

How To Be A Good Customer - Part I

I’ve been wanting to write this article for a long time…

My local newspaper prints a section called ‘Rants & Raves”, and this week contained a rant that highlighted a very prevalent problem for small businesses. That was the catalyst I needed to finally address this issue.

I quote, “We own a small business. We pride ourselves in keeping our prices competitive with just enough profit margin to cover our expenses. So why is it when we quote a price that people argue and ask if that’s the best we can do? Do you go into a restaurant and argue to reduce the price on your meal? No, so why do you do that with us? The price is the price.”

Business people will always have both good customers and bad. According to the 20-60-20 rule; about 20% of customers are good ones, 60% are indifferent, and 20% are just bad customers. But those 20% can make a workday feel like a walk through the bowels of Hades.

There is a type of customer out there who I call the “Small Business Murder-Rapist”. Perhaps a crude title, but an incredibly accurate one.

When these people enter a shop or call an independent service provider, they talk about how much they love shopping local or supporting small business. But once engaged in hiring that company or making a purchase; they try to single out the owner or person in charge and put pressure on them for a ‘better deal’, many times after they have already agreed to make the purchase.

This type tries to take that business owner and hold them hostage by threatening them with taking their business elsewhere if their demands are not met. Because most small business owners want to please, and tend to be technicians who are very good at what they do as opposed to salespeople or business people in the big-business sense; too many of these rapists ‘have their way’ with the company and toss the used remains aside.

They don’t care. If that business dies, there will always be another naive and innocent business owner to victimize and pillage.

Business owners need to be aware of what steps to take to protect themselves from these ‘menaces to economy’; and some of these bad customers may not even realize that they are abusers. So it’s time to find out.

One of the reasons big-box stores are so successful is that there is virtually no way you can get to the top. The owner of a multi-national hardware conglomerate is not going to take your abuse because you paid for thirty nails and found there were only twenty-seven in the box. They hire people to take your abuse for them. And if you have time for stuff like counting nails, you really need to get a life!

If you truly want to support small business and enjoy the benefits and personal service that often comes with smaller providers; tune in next week for steps that you can take to ensure that you win, but without it being at the expense of someone else.

by Jake Bergen, as published in his column ‘Venture Hype’. © Tractor Beam Marketing

The Power Duo: Creativity and Innovation

Creativity and innovation. Two words that many experts treat like the holy grail of business disciplines. And they are not far off.

The only problem I have with most of the teaching on this is that many of these ‘experts’ deal with either one topic or the other, when the truth is that they are inseparable. Creativity without innovation is useless, and innovation without creativity is impossible.

Creativity is the use of the imagination to create original ideas or refine existing ones; but does not necessarily denote putting those ideas to work. Innovation is the act of putting creative ideas together for all the world to see. The word is designated as a noun; but I tend to think of it as a verb, because it truly is an action word.

Looking at it in the way I have just described it, it seems so simple; but I am sure we all know incredibly creative people who have never done anything with the inspiration they have been blessed with. And on the other side of the equation, I’ll bet you also know people who are doers, but don’t seem to have an original bone in their body; they just get things done.

How great and powerful the potential of businesses that have both elements at work!

Are you a business owner who is so tired because of operating your company day by day that you don’t have any energy left to be creative? Or maybe you don’t feel that you are a very creative person. Sure, it would be great to be all things, but few people truly have the whole package.

Do the best with what you’ve got.

For those of you with limited creative juices, there are plenty of ideas around that are not ‘owned’ by others. If you notice something is working for another business that strikes you as a great idea; see if you can take the kernel of the idea and adapt it, making it your own. The idea is probably most effective if it originates from outside your industry.

You may have heard of a blues guitar legend named Eric Clapton. If you haven’t heard of him, you might want to check if your passport is from another planet. Born thousands of miles from the Mississippi Delta, the birthplace of the blues; he interpreted the music that influenced him in his own way, and in turn became one of the most influential blues/rock guitar players of all time. How cool would it be if you were the Eric Clapton of your industry?

Sometimes you can be creative just by being a contrarian. If everyone in your industry is doing things the same way, just doing things a little differently will get you noticed. Blaze your own trail, it is good marketing.

If you are intensely creative but lack the skills or the gumption to put your ideas into practice; it is not a bad idea to partner with someone who knows how to get the job done.

Worried about the potential of a business partner to steal your creativity and run with it? Spend the money on a lawyer and have them create a unanimous shareholder agreement. This will help provide you with protection and peace of mind that things are above-board. Of course, if the other party objects to this, run away as fast as you can!

Again I say, probably the most powerful combination I can think of is a fantastic idea that has been well executed. A one-two, knockout punch! It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it, and it is within your reach.

by Jake Bergen, as published in his column ‘Venture Hype’. © Tractor Beam Marketing

Assembling the Puzzle of Your Business

This morning, I helped my daughter put together a puzzle. When we were done, it looked exactly like the picture on the box. And it’s a good thing we had the box to refer back to, because the puzzle wasn’t easy!

It is a simple yet accurate analogy for business. You see, even with the picture on the box for a reference, a puzzle can be difficult. But if you take that box away, although completing a challenging puzzle may not be impossible, it becomes exasperating. Many would judge that it is not worth the effort or headache, and simply abandon the project out of frustration.

Now think about the tremendous failure rate of businesses under five years old. I will not quote any numbers or studies here because they vary quite a bit, but it is agreed by all that the failure rate of businesses in the first one to five years is titanic. I genuinely believe, due to my own experience, that this is largely due to the fact that there is no ‘picture on the box’.

Budding entrepreneurs usually fall into two categories. The first is the one so accurately described by Michael E. Gerber in his book ‘The E-Myth Revisited’ as those who fall victim to an “entrepreneurial seizure”. These are people who work in a company and are frustrated with the way things are being done. 

How many of us, while working at our jobs, haven’t thought, “I could do a better job of this!”

But we tend to think in specifics. Doing a better job of customer service, or building a widget, or research and development. These entrepreneurs who are technically very skilled in one facet of an operation go into business to compete full-scale, without full-scale knowledge. That is when the problems begin.

The second type of entrepreneur are those people like me. Big thinkers… way out of the box. These characters feel stifled in the mundane, and are passionate and driven to succeed. Some people respect our ambition and some think we are downright looney! But we are built differently and (fortunately or unfortunately, depending on what side of the fence you are on) we are not going to change.

The truth is, though, that both of these categories of entrepreneur are at the same disadvantage. Both groups are missing the puzzle box. They have no idea of what the big picture is supposed to look like; and find themselves frustrated at the attempt to put together pieces of bookkeeping, maintenance, customer service, material acquisition, sales and numerous other tasks that fall way outside their level of expertise.

Most entrepreneurs I know, whether they possess vast amounts of post-secondary education or not, have no idea where to find a resource that will give them the tools that they need to succeed. You as entrepreneurs need to think about what your business ought to look like down the road. Create a vision, your own personal puzzle box, and take steps toward making your life and your business look like the picture you want.

Then go to the work of figuring out what pieces need to go where. If there is one thing that you get from reading this column, I hope that you understand the importance of starting with the end in mind.

by Jake Bergen, as published in his column ‘Venture Hype’. © Tractor Beam Marketing