Small business branding issue - where is the line between you and your business? What are you really selling?

I have just received an email from a client who is seeking clarity on an issue she has with her marketing. Her query is as follows:

“I need to get clearer about ''my name" or "my company name's" (footnote 1)  USP, and I am still not sure whether I am my business or not”

First a little bit of context. My client is a consultant/coach working on personal and professional development with individuals and teams. Her specialist subject is by definition personal to people and in order to be effective she needs people's trust. The paying customer/decision-maker may be the direct recipient of her service or may be an HR person who sources and arranges on behalf of the organisation.

I hear business advisors tell business owners “you are your business”. They insist “you must sell 'you'. And the poor business owner, who is likely to be at home with the operational side of their business, but less comfortable being its marketing manager, is left unclear on what this means. Conclusions may be drawn that you have to be a nice person, or a popular person, to run a successful small business. Then there is the current buzzword 'authenticity', which a lot of people are translating as sharing everything about themselves as individuals. And, then add to that the now obligatory adjective 'passionate'.  Can't you just be good at what you offer any more?

I send out a challenge to these business advisors. I am not satisfied that you have to “sell yourself” and “you are your business”. I would like to offer some health warnings to small business owers regarding this advice.  

Back to the client query re the USP.  Let's differentiate between 'USP', ethos, brand, and 'personal selling!

USP – so hard to offer something “unique”. USP has been downgraded to “wow factors” with good reason. A wow factor of your business could be that it uses the latest technology, has the most comfortable premises, has some amazing quantifiable results etc etc (nothing personal there). If you are struggling to think of some wow factors trying asking your customers what they think.

Ethos and brand are very linked in my mind, as a brand without an ethos is in danger of becoming just a meaningless logo device. No matter the size of the business, there are brand values wrapped up in it. The difficulty for micro businesses is unravelling what they are because the business owners are so close to it and simply do things 'their way'. In Henmore's Marketing Club we have some fun working on this area. Have a think, what standards and values do you have that are appropriate to share with your customers? What values do your customers seek?

Personal selling is a marketing text book phrase for when there is a face-to-face sales person as one of your marketing tactics (part of your promotional mix - see 2 below). Sales reps are the essence of this tactic. So if you are the business owner and selling your expertise you are inevitably both the sales rep and the delivery mechanism so possibly the concept of having to sell yourself and be authentic and passionate looms large (see 3 below).

Could someone else sell your product/service?

Try testing yourself with this question. Could someone else sell your product or service for you? There should only be one answer to that question – yes! Imagine what information and approach this ficticious sales person would need. Actually, don't just imagine it, write it down. What steps would you suggest the sales rep takes to convert a prospective customer into a paying customer? Give your ficticious salesman the job description of having to demonstrate credibility - would you equip her with some prepared information? How would she build conviction? This may involve a demo or trial – so that is possibly where the real you comes back in again. How would you make sure your sales person sets expectations about price and service levels? I bet your sales person wouldn't give away so much for free in the way that small business owners do!

If you couldn't answer yes to the salesperson question and you are more comfortable selling 'you' then let me leave you with this thought: You may be over-identifying with your business. You may be viewing its success, financial or otherwise, as validating you as a person. When something goes awry - business owners do make errors, products do fail, markets can collapse - the disasters or failures could have an affect on your mental well-being. Some entrepreneurs evaluate and start again with new information, others don't. What would you do?

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1. You'll spot that names were deleted – there's a balance between transparency and appropriateness.

2. Personal selling is part of the promotional mix, which for the sake of completeness also includes advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, and publicity. The promotional mix part of your marketing plan specifies how much emphasis to apportion each of these techniques, and how much money to budget for each. (Reality check – not many micro businesses have a marketing plan beyond a 'to do' list unless their bank requires one).
3. I will publish my blog on authenticity another time because I want to run it past a kindred spirt in the US first. In the mean time I'd advise people to start being wary of describing how passionate they are about their business or product because it is fast becoming a cliché.

Marketing and use of Social Media

Henmore's virtuous circle of marketing communications diagram illustrates the marketing challenges businesses need to address.

During the workshops this week we helped businesses with the use of Social Media in their marketing.  Participants came armed with laptops and applied changes to their online presence during the workshop.  I am driven by a determination to help businesses translate ideas into workable strategies, that they succeed in putting into action, gaining desired results. It is not enough for me to see people scribbling notes of their good intentions, because I have experienced those intentions myself and subsequently lost the piece of paper (or the good intentions).  We all know about this inevitable loss of momentum.  That's why I like interactive workshops and year plus programmes like our Marketing Club.

Last week people in the room were there to make changes.  But of course we worked our way towards that part of the workshop.  First of all we looked at the challenges faced by businesses in generic terms, referencing Henmore's much-referred-to trademark diagram (as shown above).  Each workshop participant in the room articulated the particular marketing communications challenges that were a priority for them.  Then we took action on the laptops.

I am sure someone once advised it is high risk to present live in an environment of children, animals and IT.  We only had live IT, and it seemed to work OK on this occasion.

As presenter and facilitator I really enjoyed the sessions and the enthusiasm of the business owners in the room.  I would like to thank everyone for all the positive comments and the reviews and recommendations that we have received as a result.  And I would like to thank Jane Stretton at Dove Studios for the refreshments and the perfectly functioning IT connections.

If you would like to join one of our marketing and social media training courses in Staffordshire or Derbyshire please check our upcoming events or sign up to receive email invitations.

Social Media for Business - marketing training event

Social Media - your business voice

Social media has revolutionised small business marketing. There ever never before been such a cheap and easily accessible set of tools. More and more small businesses are seeing the benefits of social media to help increase awareness, create and nurture relationships, generate new leads, increase search engine placements, monitor marketing effort ... all with reduced expense.

It takes thought, so many organisations are not yet effectively establishing and managing a strong social media presence, let alone keeping up with the ever-changing landscape of social outlets and tools.

Henmore's interactive, hands-on workshop session covers:

• Social Media Basics & Beyond: Understanding key social media outlets, emerging trends and new tools and communities to consider in your social media plans
• Creating Your Social Media Strategy: Developing and implementing a social media strategy that supports your specific brand voice and vision, takes into account your day to day realities,  identifies which tools make sense (and which don’t) for your business.
• 5 Marketing Questions to ask yourself: What you need to consider before diving into specific social media outlets - and tips for making your effort worthwhile when you do.
• Tips, Tricks & Real-world Examples - ideas, practices and lessons learned from helping clients with their marketing on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Blogging, and more.

Our social media session is always one of the liveliest. We share our knowledge and give you tips
and tools to help you get started, grow and solidify your social media strategies.

2012 Social Media Workshops - schedule and booking

pdf downloads

We have spent the week reviewing and revising most of the pdf download materials for one of our clients. It was quite a fiddly job, with close collaboration between client, copy writer and graphic designer (our web designer has yet to do his bit and upload them all to the client's site).

Many of the pdfs had been in circulation for a while and needed the content editing to reflect new sales messages. To complete the set we researched and wrote new copy for both fact sheets and case studies. Meanwhile on the design side, the client's corporate image has evolved over the years and the pdf fact sheets and case studies now looked dated. It was time for a new template style to be designed and implemented across the whole set. They are now all proofed and with the client for approval or amendment.

Whilst working on this project we received a call from one of our printers wondering if there were any printing projects on the way. I confessed that these pdfs are unlikely to be printed because our client makes them available from their web site and uses them to email to potential clients. Posting printed material is a bit last century.