Gift biz unwrapped episode 346.
Speaker:And that's when I realized branding.
Speaker:Isn't what you're telling people.
Speaker:It's how you're getting them to change their minds about what
Speaker:you have to sell Attention.
Speaker:Gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.
Speaker:Now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz on wrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode,
Speaker:packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow.
Speaker:Your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there and happy small business Saturday.
Speaker:I absolutely love this weekend of sales,
Speaker:even with the lingering sluggishness of Thanksgiving dinner,
Speaker:I'm taking full advantage of yesterday's black Friday,
Speaker:today's small business Saturday,
Speaker:and also don't forget.
Speaker:There's cyber Monday.
Speaker:It's a holiday shopping mega boost for sales and hopefully your
Speaker:recipient of loads of new orders.
Speaker:And you're also supporting your favorite small businesses too.
Speaker:I also want to send a special happy Hanukkah.
Speaker:Shout out to all who start lighting the candles tomorrow night
Speaker:hugs the mayor.
Speaker:I want to remind you that holiday shoppers need you as
Speaker:a handmade small business.
Speaker:Even more this year with all the supply chain issues we're
Speaker:experiencing. I encourage you to sign up for your local shows
Speaker:and get in front of your soon to be customers because
Speaker:we need you this year more than ever.
Speaker:I talked about this in my recent tips and talk episode,
Speaker:number 34,
Speaker:go back and take a listen to hear how you can
Speaker:both help your business and customers get gifts for the holiday
Speaker:shopping season.
Speaker:We are going to need to depend on you this year.
Speaker:So the time to act is now another option for holiday
Speaker:gifts is our brand new gift biz merchant shop.
Speaker:Go take a look.
Speaker:You can find that right on our website at gift biz
Speaker:unwrapped, with all this talk about shopping going on.
Speaker:Have you ever stopped to think about how you decide where
Speaker:you're going to spend your money?
Speaker:Yes. A special eye catching graphic or creative reel might lead
Speaker:you to discover a new brand,
Speaker:but more than likely this weekend,
Speaker:you're checking out the deals from companies you already know and
Speaker:support. How did that happen?
Speaker:How did they get on your favorite list?
Speaker:And even more importantly,
Speaker:how can you get on other people's favorite list?
Speaker:It happens through a strategy called micro weirding.
Speaker:It's like concocting a potion that magically attracts.
Speaker:Yep. You definitely want to make your business micro weird.
Speaker:Here's how Today it is my pleasure to introduce you to
Speaker:Denise
a creative agency specializing in brand elevation.
Speaker:She's worked with clients like BMW of north America and eight
Speaker:o'clock coffee.
Speaker:A self-proclaimed battler of boring branding.
Speaker:Denise believes that differentiated brand positioning is critical to sustainable sales
Speaker:growth because when marketing is rooted in this positioning customers make
Speaker:decisions based on differentiation versus lowest price.
Speaker:Denise is an inductee into the advertising hall of fame of
Speaker:New Jersey and has won hundreds of awards for her creativity
Speaker:beyond agency life.
Speaker:She spends as much time traveling and experiencing the world with
Speaker:her husband and teenage son as possible.
Speaker:Denise, welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Thank you so much,
Speaker:Sue. It is my pleasure to be here and great job
Speaker:with my epithet there.
Speaker:The battler of boring branding,
Speaker:it can be quite a tongue twister.
Speaker:I love the battler of borne brand because I think this
Speaker:is going to be a really,
Speaker:really eye opening conversation for our listeners.
Speaker:But before we do that,
Speaker:I'd love to have you describe yourself in a creative way.
Speaker:And that is through a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to create a candle that really would
Speaker:resonate with you and have Denise written all over it,
Speaker:what would it look like by color and quote,
Speaker:The color would absolutely be red.
Speaker:And my quote would be,
Speaker:you can do anything.
Speaker:You can't do everything at least not well.
Speaker:So don't burn it at both ends so True.
Speaker:And I think this is something you may not be as
Speaker:familiar with the handmade market,
Speaker:but especially when people are starting as a creator,
Speaker:you can make everything because someone who's creative can paint and
Speaker:then they may be quilt a little bit and then they
Speaker:crochet a little bit.
Speaker:And so one of the big challenges here is what do
Speaker:you present and sell?
Speaker:Because when you sell everything,
Speaker:you've neutralized your creativity for everything.
Speaker:It's true.
Speaker:And I think that's actually very hard for people who are
Speaker:extremely creative in a lot of ways.
Speaker:If there's only one thing that you do and do well,
Speaker:that niche has sort of created for you.
Speaker:But when you can do so many things,
Speaker:when, when the canvas is blank,
Speaker:that's a lot harder than paint by numbers.
Speaker:Very true,
Speaker:but it gives you an opportunity for creating a personal brand
Speaker:too. They just walks you right into that.
Speaker:Talk with me a little bit about how you're zeroing in
Speaker:on Brandy and specifically where that became your passion.
Speaker:When I started working in the agency business before I had
Speaker:my agency,
Speaker:which I've had 20 years,
Speaker:so it's been a while.
Speaker:I was very fortunate that my first clients were really major
Speaker:brands. And when I looked at what made them better than
Speaker:their competitors.
Speaker:Yeah. So you could buy the Kool-Aid to drink the Kool-Aid
Speaker:and go,
Speaker:yes, this is so much better than that.
Speaker:But really it was about the idea that they were able
Speaker:to change the perception of people's minds,
Speaker:about what they were selling.
Speaker:It wasn't just about what they were selling.
Speaker:And that's when I realized branding,
Speaker:isn't what you're telling people.
Speaker:It's how you're getting them to change their minds about what
Speaker:you have to sell.
Speaker:And that was really enlightening to me.
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:wow, I love that psychological aspect.
Speaker:I love being able to go and get to the root
Speaker:of something and make a difference versus just making pretty pictures
Speaker:that some people like and some people don't right and advertising,
Speaker:you have a lot of subjectivity.
Speaker:And if you can root it in something that really is
Speaker:very, very deep and differentiated your chances for success,
Speaker:regardless of whether or not someone likes the picture are much
Speaker:more improved.
Speaker:Plus what comes to mind to me,
Speaker:based on what you're saying is it gives you so much
Speaker:more opportunity to define yourself.
Speaker:It really does,
Speaker:right? There's so many products and services are out there and
Speaker:companies are having new ones launch every single day.
Speaker:That means that there's more and more competition.
Speaker:And there kind of a couple of ways you can go
Speaker:with that.
Speaker:You can be the lowest price,
Speaker:right? So you can be like the commodity of all commodities.
Speaker:It's tough to really make a lot of money doing that.
Speaker:You can be the highest priced and like a really differentiated
Speaker:brand or at least one that people are willing to pay
Speaker:more for it.
Speaker:Because again,
Speaker:they're buying into what you mean,
Speaker:not just what you're selling or you can be in the
Speaker:middle and in the middle is almost the worst place because
Speaker:that's just like people may or may not consider you.
Speaker:And maybe if you're on deal or you're willing to lower
Speaker:your price,
Speaker:like always trying to convince people to buy you versus having
Speaker:people specifically seek you out.
Speaker:Totally agree.
Speaker:And you're getting into a really heavy topic I believe,
Speaker:and in a really important topic,
Speaker:right from the start.
Speaker:And that is,
Speaker:don't always be defining yourself by price,
Speaker:right. Because it's so easy to do.
Speaker:And you think about it,
Speaker:like the first thing that we think of when we're buying
Speaker:many times until you really have zoned into the brand is
Speaker:always, well,
Speaker:how much does it cost?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you and I were talking in the pre-chat about Starbucks fellow
Speaker:Starbucks lovers.
Speaker:I'm committed to that brand regardless of what the price is,
Speaker:because I love what they stand for.
Speaker:I love their product,
Speaker:obviously, et cetera.
Speaker:So am I thrilled when they increase their prices?
Speaker:No. Am I still going to be buying from them?
Speaker:Yes. They have legitimately lived into this differentiated brand,
Speaker:right. From the very beginning of creating this sort of like
Speaker:third home,
Speaker:where there was a place that you could go that wasn't
Speaker:work, that wasn't home,
Speaker:that you had this new sort of community,
Speaker:right. You were buying into that,
Speaker:not just into the specific coffee or tea that you were
Speaker:getting and yeah.
Speaker:Having the language that goes along with it,
Speaker:you actually had to speak a language of how you order
Speaker:right here.
Speaker:Like all of that makes you feel like you're part of,
Speaker:kind of this club.
Speaker:And then as they would go on and do bigger and
Speaker:better things,
Speaker:and whether it was educating their employees with college or whatever
Speaker:it was,
Speaker:it just gives you more reason to love this brand and
Speaker:tell other people about it and bring them into the fold.
Speaker:Even if they weren't one of the early adopters.
Speaker:And that to me is the magic of a really strong
Speaker:brand. That is the goal.
Speaker:Right. And that drives back to your point about changing people's
Speaker:minds because they're not thinking coffee anymore.
Speaker:They're thinking the experience,
Speaker:Right. I'm not there for my team.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I'm there for my team,
Speaker:but that's not why I'm there.
Speaker:I can make my own tea.
Speaker:Right, exactly.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:Apple's another brand that everybody knows,
Speaker:same thing.
Speaker:You either are an apple loyalist or you aren't,
Speaker:people go both ways with apple.
Speaker:Right. But when you are,
Speaker:gosh, when a new phone comes out or a new product,
Speaker:like when the iWatches came out,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:people are just going to run to the brand and get
Speaker:it right away With them.
Speaker:Right. They build up a whole ecosystem.
Speaker:So you may or may not have a desktop,
Speaker:a laptop,
Speaker:right? Like that's probably the least of things that people have
Speaker:the most up when it comes to apple,
Speaker:but that is how they started.
Speaker:Yeah. It's a good point.
Speaker:We're going to get back to,
Speaker:I think the conversation about how you start,
Speaker:but continuing and sticking with this idea of price.
Speaker:It can also go the other way,
Speaker:because look at Walmart,
Speaker:very successful and their pricing strategy is the whole other end
Speaker:and their brand connects to lower price.
Speaker:So it's not just always higher price.
Speaker:No. W as we started in the beginning,
Speaker:you can own one end or the other of the brand.
Speaker:But when you're in the middle,
Speaker:like when you're sort of just in the throw with everyone
Speaker:else, that is to me,
Speaker:the most dangerous place to be,
Speaker:you're constantly struggling for survival.
Speaker:And just to be like,
Speaker:take a little bit of market share from someone else.
Speaker:And that that's really a tough sell and I don't understand
Speaker:why more people don't take it.
Speaker:Well, I'm going to do the right.
Speaker:Everyone's afraid of change.
Speaker:Everyone's afraid to differentiate,
Speaker:but you know why more people don't actually live into it
Speaker:because the rewards are clear.
Speaker:And either your differentiation that you choose will be like,
Speaker:oh, that was a really bad idea.
Speaker:You know what,
Speaker:let me try something else or you'll go,
Speaker:wow, this is really working.
Speaker:But what you won't be is in the same position of
Speaker:kind of treading that water in the middle,
Speaker:which is just it's exhausting and it's expensive.
Speaker:Yeah. I think I know why people don't do it.
Speaker:At least for my community.
Speaker:In my perspective is they haven't really,
Speaker:really taken to heart.
Speaker:What we're talking about here.
Speaker:That it's the brand and it connects with what you represent
Speaker:and it's about your product.
Speaker:Yes. And that's really hard for handmade creators because their heart
Speaker:is in what they've made,
Speaker:but it's more than just your product.
Speaker:I think with your audience too.
Speaker:Like sometimes people feel like,
Speaker:oh, I don't want to be egotistical.
Speaker:Right. I don't want this to be all about me.
Speaker:It's about my art or my creations or whatever it is
Speaker:that I'm making.
Speaker:And you don't have to be egotistical to have your brand
Speaker:come through.
Speaker:That can be an element or not an element of how
Speaker:you portray yourself,
Speaker:but differentiating yourself.
Speaker:It's hard to do.
Speaker:Right. I think that's one of the hardest things,
Speaker:but if it's a company and you've got a bunch of
Speaker:people working on or you're hiring an agency like mine,
Speaker:that gives you all kinds of clarity when it's just you
Speaker:or you and a couple people,
Speaker:it can be difficult to really see the forest for the
Speaker:trees. Plus you're probably really busy creating things all day long.
Speaker:Right? Well,
Speaker:and I want to stick under this headline of price for
Speaker:a minute and just keep it all together in this conversation.
Speaker:I think another thing that will happen is if someone is
Speaker:out showing at a craft show and let's say they make
Speaker:handmade soaps,
Speaker:and there's another person who's making handmade soaps.
Speaker:What we've would view as that the shopper is doing is
Speaker:price shopping.
Speaker:Oh, well,
Speaker:there's look nice.
Speaker:And theirs are $6 a bar,
Speaker:but so-and-so's over.
Speaker:There are only four 50 a bar.
Speaker:I'm going to buy those.
Speaker:That's what we perceive the shopper doing.
Speaker:And it actually might play out in real life until you've
Speaker:created a personal brand until you've actually communicated to people why
Speaker:you're different,
Speaker:why you're better,
Speaker:why you deserve quote unquote,
Speaker:the increased price,
Speaker:the variants,
Speaker:Right? I mean,
Speaker:if somebody said to you,
Speaker:Hey Sue,
Speaker:you can have this cup of coffee for a dollar or
Speaker:$4. So obviously you're going to pick the dollar,
Speaker:right? Like there's a reason Starbucks has commanded this price and
Speaker:this loyalty because they've created something around it and they've communicated
Speaker:and they built it up over the years and that's like
Speaker:big scale.
Speaker:But certainly that can be done on a small scale,
Speaker:but to make a big difference.
Speaker:So that you're right.
Speaker:When someone is going from place to place and looking and
Speaker:saying, oh,
Speaker:this one's four 50.
Speaker:Why should I get that?
Speaker:If they come to your table and they see your soaps
Speaker:and they hear your story,
Speaker:and it's very obvious to them,
Speaker:what is so special about it?
Speaker:They may never get to that other table.
Speaker:True. And they make a personal connection with you and they
Speaker:like you and they want to support you all of those
Speaker:reasons. But as you're starting out again,
Speaker:how long does it take to get into that zone where
Speaker:you become known or you're seeing the fact that,
Speaker:yeah, I might be losing sales to some other people because
Speaker:of price.
Speaker:But what I'm getting in terms of sales are such loyal
Speaker:customers and such supportive,
Speaker:repeat business referrals and all of that.
Speaker:It's okay.
Speaker:I think it depends on how compelling your brand is.
Speaker:Like, what is your differentiation?
Speaker:What is the quality that you're putting forth in the experience
Speaker:that people are getting and going all in on that can
Speaker:be costly,
Speaker:right? It can take time and ironing it out.
Speaker:And you have to definitely look at what are the benefits,
Speaker:how do I need to raise my prices as appropriate or
Speaker:not? What are you affiliating yourself with?
Speaker:Is there something that you do that others don't do in
Speaker:your space?
Speaker:Maybe you have a big charitable component of what you do.
Speaker:Like that might be important,
Speaker:like trying to figure out like there's so many things to
Speaker:figure out and the way I always look at it,
Speaker:when I ask brands is what are you?
Speaker:And R is my acronym for a R E how are
Speaker:you authentically differentiating yourself?
Speaker:The R is how is that relevant to your target market?
Speaker:And then the E is,
Speaker:how can you execute on that?
Speaker:And that's a very simple thing to think about what are
Speaker:we, what are you to come up with?
Speaker:What the right answer could be,
Speaker:right? Because you could have this huge,
Speaker:I think this is very important and very differentiated because everything
Speaker:I do saves one termite,
Speaker:well maybe nobody cares about termites.
Speaker:Maybe my audience doesn't care about termites.
Speaker:Maybe I'm selling woods men who are like,
Speaker:I really don't want termites.
Speaker:Right. So you have to think,
Speaker:and of course that's ridiculous,
Speaker:right? But you have to think about what is it that
Speaker:is authentically different about me and my brand that is relevant
Speaker:to the audience that I'm looking to engage with,
Speaker:or maybe relevant to a different audience.
Speaker:Maybe I should be looking at a different audience.
Speaker:Right. And then how can I execute on it?
Speaker:And one of the best ways to find the cause again,
Speaker:it's hard to think about that for yourself.
Speaker:But if you think about the sales that you've made,
Speaker:when are those aha moments,
Speaker:when do people light up and go,
Speaker:oh yes,
Speaker:I have to have this.
Speaker:When you kind of like,
Speaker:look at that and drill into those moments that oftentimes will
Speaker:unlock what it is.
Speaker:That's special about you and relevant to your audience.
Speaker:Yeah. The care about the things that people really,
Speaker:really target in on your right.
Speaker:Because it might be something totally different than what you were
Speaker:thinking Really about.
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:luxurious things from France.
Speaker:Right. And people didn't realize that just because that happens to
Speaker:be part of what you use ingredients from.
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:but it's very surprising what your focus can actually be when
Speaker:it might not be the product itself.
Speaker:Yes. I agree.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:I'm going to take another take on this.
Speaker:I love the hour,
Speaker:by the way.
Speaker:It's so perfect.
Speaker:As you talk about authentic,
Speaker:it also has to be true to yourself too.
Speaker:So if it's authentic,
Speaker:if it's certain ingredients that you use for your product,
Speaker:a certain cause that you're supporting for a very personal reason.
Speaker:And I hesitated there just for a second,
Speaker:because you know how personal is a whole nother conversation,
Speaker:right? But you don't just attach with a cause because you
Speaker:think your brand should attach with a cause it needs to
Speaker:be authentic or other things.
Speaker:And tell me what you think about this.
Speaker:We're going through the RS.
Speaker:Okay. Authentic.
Speaker:I talk about differentiating and defining your brand in a personal
Speaker:way through what I call unique,
Speaker:special powers.
Speaker:So unique,
Speaker:special powers could be how your product's made.
Speaker:It could be.
Speaker:I'll just jump to the chase here of my point,
Speaker:who you are as a person,
Speaker:like things that you like,
Speaker:because you're the maker and you're being a maker.
Speaker:Anyone who's a maker,
Speaker:that's a unique,
Speaker:special power unto themselves because it's them.
Speaker:So I will talk for myself specifically.
Speaker:I love snowflakes.
Speaker:I love the color yellow people.
Speaker:Like think I'm insane when a blizzard is coming to Chicago,
Speaker:because they're like,
Speaker:Sue, you must be so happy.
Speaker:That's part of my brand.
Speaker:It has nothing to do with any of the things that
Speaker:I sell,
Speaker:but it triggers an idea.
Speaker:And they're like,
Speaker:oh my gosh,
Speaker:snow SU.
Speaker:Yeah. So those are authentic to me as a person also,
Speaker:that is then part of the brand too.
Speaker:Wouldn't you say Denise?
Speaker:I would say so knowing that that's very important to you,
Speaker:I would also try to make it connect to the bigger
Speaker:portion of the rent.
Speaker:Like, so why do I have a yellow snowflake as my
Speaker:logo? It's because of these things and like making that connection,
Speaker:I think in making it relevant to the audience would make
Speaker:that even stronger.
Speaker:All Right.
Speaker:Cause I'm trying help other people start thinking about how they're
Speaker:authentic. Here's another example.
Speaker:It kind of goes to being relevant as well.
Speaker:But think of the card company,
Speaker:papaya, Iris,
Speaker:you know how they have the little gold hummingbird sticker in
Speaker:each of their cards.
Speaker:And then there's a saying that goes along with it.
Speaker:And It has to do with giving and being in life
Speaker:together and sharing sentimental statements back and forth and all of
Speaker:that. It aligns with their brand.
Speaker:So that's being authentic too.
Speaker:Of course it's a bigger brand here,
Speaker:but then also relevant because people who are giving cards are
Speaker:sending wishes of some sort.
Speaker:Absolutely. And even thinking back to like kind of the yellow
Speaker:and the snowflake,
Speaker:there is a technique.
Speaker:I don't know if you've heard of it or not called
Speaker:micro weirding because right.
Speaker:Like not all brands are born completely differentiated.
Speaker:So if you're like,
Speaker:okay, I make this and lots of other people make this,
Speaker:how can I be different?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:My differentiation is you can have something that you just go
Speaker:all in on.
Speaker:That is just really different.
Speaker:And unexpected.
Speaker:For years,
Speaker:there used to be a tea.
Speaker:I don't even know that exists anymore called red rose tea.
Speaker:And you would buy it in the grocery store was box
Speaker:of tea.
Speaker:And inside the box of tea,
Speaker:there would be a little like carved stone,
Speaker:figurine, a little animal,
Speaker:and people would buy that tea to collect those animals.
Speaker:They would have all different red rose animals that have them
Speaker:on their kitchen counter or window cell or whatever,
Speaker:nothing to do with tea.
Speaker:I don't even know why those were in there,
Speaker:but people love them.
Speaker:So it was just something different associated with them.
Speaker:So if everything you sold had like a little yellow snowflake
Speaker:covered chocolate or something,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:like people go like,
Speaker:oh, that goes with that's the yellows.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:chocolate. The relevancy can be anything you want it to be.
Speaker:As long as you have consistency,
Speaker:people start connecting it with you.
Speaker:But I love micro weirding.
Speaker:It's such a great technique.
Speaker:I've never heard of that before that there was actually a
Speaker:term to it,
Speaker:micro weirding and weirding.
Speaker:Like I would say the word,
Speaker:like if I'm going to Google Michael weirding,
Speaker:it's going to come up that way.
Speaker:Yeah. And this for our listeners could be a game changer.
Speaker:The conversation that we've just had in terms of really defining
Speaker:yourself on what your price should look like,
Speaker:and then creating something attached to your brand,
Speaker:in addition to your product,
Speaker:linked to your product in some way,
Speaker:or your brand that's authentic and then relevant.
Speaker:And it doesn't have to exactly match.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:I'm almost going to suggest that if it doesn't match it
Speaker:even better,
Speaker:because then it's very different.
Speaker:Yeah. Just something really surprising and unexpected,
Speaker:but delightful,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:people go,
Speaker:oh, I like that.
Speaker:And then like every time they get that,
Speaker:they know I'm going to have this with it.
Speaker:Like they used to be a wine that there,
Speaker:I think it still exists called
It's like a cheap white wine,
Speaker:I think.
Speaker:But it had shirts at cots.
Speaker:It's a black cat in German had a little like black
Speaker:cat that was like a tassel attached to the bottle and
Speaker:kind of weird,
Speaker:right. Because people give them their kids.
Speaker:And I don't know if that's appropriate.
Speaker:I don't even know if they do that anymore.
Speaker:It's from a long time we would have those hanging around
Speaker:the house.
Speaker:And I was a kid.
Speaker:I loved that little charm.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:my mother,
Speaker:when she was going to buy wine for entertaining would buy
Speaker:that bottle.
Speaker:She'd know I'd get something out of two.
Speaker:So there's so many ways that you can connect that aren't
Speaker:necessarily obvious,
Speaker:but that can be differentiating and meaningful for your sales.
Speaker:Yes, Absolutely.
Speaker:I'm also,
Speaker:it's coming to mind,
Speaker:to me.
Speaker:McDonald's happy meals.
Speaker:Yes. Dale pond is the one who created that.
Speaker:And I had the good fortune of working with him and
Speaker:getting into his mind about that and look still today,
Speaker:like the toys and all of that.
Speaker:And I remember when they first came out,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:even adults would buy the happy meals because they had to
Speaker:get the toy that their child was wanting,
Speaker:that every other kid had that their child out,
Speaker:it was like obsessive Great name too,
Speaker:like psychologically,
Speaker:right? Here's your happy meal,
Speaker:which brings to mind when you decide what your differentiation is
Speaker:going to be,
Speaker:that the E part of what are you executable like an
Speaker:executable differentiation thinking about every touch point you can make that
Speaker:happen at.
Speaker:Right. So going back to our favorite,
Speaker:right. To Starbucks,
Speaker:even the names of their sizes are different.
Speaker:Right? So whatever your branding is,
Speaker:you can bring it into,
Speaker:it gets like your size is going to be light dusting
Speaker:to blizzard size,
Speaker:right? Like anything that goes with snowflake for you,
Speaker:you can have fun things like that.
Speaker:That really unite the brand experience.
Speaker:So really naming whatever the branding experience is calling a name
Speaker:to it.
Speaker:Brand Brand.
Speaker:Yeah. Oh,
Speaker:this is so good.
Speaker:So now let's talk even more about executing because none of
Speaker:this is any good.
Speaker:If you're not going to tell people about it.
Speaker:No, that's true.
Speaker:And even if it just exists in your head,
Speaker:but you can't really do it,
Speaker:then that's not a good differentiation for you.
Speaker:Right. If you can't really do it or you can't put
Speaker:a voice to it,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:like I find a lot of people have challenges when you
Speaker:even ask,
Speaker:well, what do you do?
Speaker:What do you make?
Speaker:Or what is your business?
Speaker:People are like,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and they live it every single day,
Speaker:but they can't put words to it.
Speaker:So I think that's really important too.
Speaker:Particularly as we start talking about executing Well,
Speaker:yeah. And figuring out like that very quick snapshot,
Speaker:right? Like for me,
Speaker:I help brands that aren't as well known or well loved
Speaker:as they should be,
Speaker:become what they should be.
Speaker:Right. Like that's very specific for me.
Speaker:And that means like I'm not going to work with a
Speaker:brand that isn't willing to do what it takes to be
Speaker:a better brand.
Speaker:Right? Like that's just a waste of their time and a
Speaker:waste of my time.
Speaker:But I have a very clear goal for who I work
Speaker:with and that goal appeals to brands that want to be
Speaker:better. So I think thinking that through for your makers of
Speaker:like, what is it that you want to put out there?
Speaker:It's again,
Speaker:so easy to,
Speaker:well, I can do this,
Speaker:I can do this.
Speaker:I can do this.
Speaker:But what ties all of that together?
Speaker:What is it that makes the things that you make special?
Speaker:I think that's the key.
Speaker:Yes. Or you pick a certain product and then you zone
Speaker:into that and make that your thing too.
Speaker:There's a couple of different ways to do it.
Speaker:When you're talking about executing specifically,
Speaker:what actions do we need to take?
Speaker:Well with executing,
Speaker:there's the visual,
Speaker:right? Everyone thinks what's branding.
Speaker:Right. You know,
Speaker:what is your brand look like?
Speaker:How do you market?
Speaker:And that is true.
Speaker:And that's all important,
Speaker:but what is the entire experience like when they are presented
Speaker:with the opportunity to buy,
Speaker:what are they experiencing?
Speaker:Every single touch point when they do buy,
Speaker:what do they get?
Speaker:If it's something that you're sending,
Speaker:is there something special in the box that kind of tells
Speaker:more of the story and brings them more into the relationship
Speaker:versus just,
Speaker:Hey, I got a cool soap.
Speaker:What is it that you can do beyond just product sale
Speaker:next. Exactly.
Speaker:And I say it that way,
Speaker:because that's another thing that I try to get through to
Speaker:everybody is you're not going to make progress.
Speaker:If you just say,
Speaker:here's my soap,
Speaker:here's the price,
Speaker:buy it.
Speaker:Right. And it's not that people don't love your soaps.
Speaker:But if people are just to expand on this first,
Speaker:just a second,
Speaker:if people love your soaps and know you're there,
Speaker:they don't need to continue following your Instagram account because they
Speaker:know you're just showing all the soaps.
Speaker:And when they're ready for soap,
Speaker:they'll come and find you.
Speaker:But then you're not getting a chance to develop the experience
Speaker:of knowing you as a maker of learning what your authentic
Speaker:branding niches are.
Speaker:If you will.
Speaker:I'm not sure exactly how to say that.
Speaker:Right? The micro weirding,
Speaker:maybe, you know,
Speaker:you don't get a chance to tell your story.
Speaker:So actually,
Speaker:if everyone can think about it this way,
Speaker:it opens up a world of content opportunity.
Speaker:When that is always a challenge,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what do I post on social media?
Speaker:Well, I'm going to post my product price again.
Speaker:No, no,
Speaker:no. There's so much more.
Speaker:You can be posting And there is so much content out
Speaker:there, right?
Speaker:So it's really not about like how much more content can
Speaker:I create is what's the clarity of content that I want
Speaker:to put out there.
Speaker:Like, I think that all drills back to look every brand,
Speaker:if they had their druthers,
Speaker:they'd be differentiated,
Speaker:but few do what it takes to actually do it.
Speaker:So just by doing it,
Speaker:by making it like you're by default becoming more different,
Speaker:that gives you a competitive advantage because going back to,
Speaker:so whoever makes,
Speaker:so I hope that you are enjoying this and I do
Speaker:love a good soap.
Speaker:I definitely like my personal experience.
Speaker:I will go and I'll be,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:at a place where there's a cool,
Speaker:fair going on or something.
Speaker:Okay. Look at this.
Speaker:The sofa's awesome.
Speaker:And then I'll buy it and I love it.
Speaker:And I'll never buy from them again because I don't know
Speaker:how, and I don't know who they are.
Speaker:I'm just like,
Speaker:oh, I got this cool soap at the fair.
Speaker:It's not like,
Speaker:oh, I got this cool yellow snowflake soap.
Speaker:And did you know that they support for polar bears?
Speaker:And I signed up because of this.
Speaker:And now I'm getting more information.
Speaker:Like any of that,
Speaker:like that doesn't happen.
Speaker:Like almost ever when I go to these,
Speaker:Well, hopefully we're changing that because it's such an opportunity lost,
Speaker:like my heart just sinks.
Speaker:When I hear a story like that,
Speaker:you've become a customer and the person who's made those soaps,
Speaker:doesn't now have your email.
Speaker:That is such a huge opportunity lost.
Speaker:And it doesn't serve you either.
Speaker:Cause like you said,
Speaker:how could you ever buy from them?
Speaker:Again? People are reason to give you the email.
Speaker:Right? Nobody wants to give their email out.
Speaker:Nobody wants more emails or to be like,
Speaker:so what's the reason,
Speaker:right? Think about that.
Speaker:Like, oh yeah,
Speaker:we have our,
Speaker:whatever comes out exclusively for our customers first,
Speaker:can we tell you about this or whatever it is,
Speaker:but really thinking through what is the value that you're offering.
Speaker:So you can get that valuable connection.
Speaker:Exactly. Couldn't agree with you more there for sure.
Speaker:Okay. Still talking about executing,
Speaker:I'm thinking of the different areas.
Speaker:Can you have more than one area of authenticity or should
Speaker:you really be just focusing on one?
Speaker:I wanted to pause this discussion for a second to let
Speaker:you know that I recognize you may be feeling overwhelmed right
Speaker:now. I mean,
Speaker:I bring on great guests who are specialists in their fields
Speaker:and we get into fabulous conversations that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:can help grow your business.
Speaker:So after the show,
Speaker:you have all the full intention of grabbing a download,
Speaker:making an adjustment to your website or any other number of
Speaker:ideas that arise as a result of the podcast.
Speaker:But what happens,
Speaker:you get back to all your other activities and the momentum
Speaker:you had gets lost.
Speaker:What you plan to do is forgotten.
Speaker:Then you feel bad because your business is going on as
Speaker:usual without implementing anything that you know,
Speaker:would help grow your business.
Speaker:You're just too busy doing all the things like a robot,
Speaker:moving from one thing to another without thinking,
Speaker:because you have to,
Speaker:I get it.
Speaker:I've been there.
Speaker:But guess what?
Speaker:There is another way since I recognized this exact behavior in
Speaker:my own business,
Speaker:I set out to do something about it.
Speaker:And now what works for me,
Speaker:I'm sharing with you.
Speaker:It's the inspired daily planner made specifically for gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters and makers,
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Speaker:First off it comes with a video explaining my productivity strategy
Speaker:plus it's undated.
Speaker:So you can start using this planner.
Speaker:The second it arrives at your doorstep and that's not all
Speaker:included for each day is a motivational tip and plenty of
Speaker:space for you to write down your intention and then schedule
Speaker:time so that you can actually take action on all those
Speaker:ideas that are now getting lost.
Speaker:It's the perfect solution to truly act and move your business
Speaker:forward. And yes,
Speaker:I'm offering you a special discount to get you started with
Speaker:the inspired program because it's my greatest joy to see you
Speaker:make progress and grow.
Speaker:Go to gift biz on rapt.com
Speaker:forward slash get inspired and enter code sale in all caps
Speaker:to get 40% off of the inspired daily planner.
Speaker:That means for only $21 plus shipping,
Speaker:you'll have a hard copy planner along with my power of
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Speaker:And if you're already using the inspired program,
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Speaker:Okay. Let's get back to the show.
Speaker:Now you can have pillars of authenticity,
Speaker:but I think that you can only really have one thing
Speaker:that people will remember you for.
Speaker:Right? You can have pillars underneath that.
Speaker:What is the main thing like Nike,
Speaker:just do it.
Speaker:Like we all know that we know Volvo makes safe cars.
Speaker:They've all kinds of different,
Speaker:cool, sporty cars,
Speaker:family, cars,
Speaker:whatever, you know,
Speaker:electric cars,
Speaker:but we know they make safe cars and that to own
Speaker:some kind of positioning like that is so meaningful,
Speaker:right? If I don't want to save card who doesn't want
Speaker:to save car,
Speaker:I'm not going to look at Volvo.
Speaker:Right? And by driving a Volvo,
Speaker:you're also making a statement to the world of who you
Speaker:are and what's important to you Exactly.
Speaker:Right. And that is a real big honor,
Speaker:right? As a brand,
Speaker:if people are purchasing from you,
Speaker:because what you put out there makes them feel proud.
Speaker:Like when you walk around with your Starbucks cup,
Speaker:right, it's saying something about you.
Speaker:If you can get to that point with your customers.
Speaker:And I really think actually smaller,
Speaker:especially makers,
Speaker:it's such a personal thing,
Speaker:enormous opportunity.
Speaker:Right? We as human beings,
Speaker:especially after the pandemic,
Speaker:we know how small businesses have been hit.
Speaker:We want to have a personal connection with the person behind
Speaker:the brand.
Speaker:So when we have that opportunity,
Speaker:when we know I can support you versus buying from Amazon,
Speaker:I'd much rather do that and nothing against Amazon,
Speaker:but like,
Speaker:I don't know the people there,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I know when I buy something handmade,
Speaker:crafted, and I know that I'm supporting someone that's important to
Speaker:me And people are willing to pay more for that too.
Speaker:So you don't have to match Amazon prices.
Speaker:No, not at all.
Speaker:And I think there's even a little bit of a pride
Speaker:that comes with that as a consumer,
Speaker:I go,
Speaker:yeah, that's right.
Speaker:I spent more on this.
Speaker:I didn't go to Amazon.
Speaker:And I hear people talk about it all the time.
Speaker:Yeah. Anti Amazon,
Speaker:Amazon is great for many things,
Speaker:but there are other things that we just need to be
Speaker:doing differently.
Speaker:I think everything is shifting right now in terms of our
Speaker:purchasing behaviors.
Speaker:Part of it,
Speaker:it was happening before the pandemic,
Speaker:but certainly through the pandemic.
Speaker:And now afterwards we're still shuffling out.
Speaker:But I do see,
Speaker:and the studies are showing that handmade is becoming more significant.
Speaker:People are attracted to handmade more.
Speaker:They're willing to pay more.
Speaker:So we're all in a great position to take advantage of
Speaker:this. And what you're sharing with us today is how we
Speaker:can really play on this opportunity and it's opportunity for us.
Speaker:But it's also a service that we're giving to our customers
Speaker:because our products that are handmade probably have better ingredients versus
Speaker:things that are made overseas.
Speaker:That is a generalization.
Speaker:I know that I would say,
Speaker:I think that most people agree with that.
Speaker:Like that's a perception whether or not it's reality.
Speaker:I think people do agree with that.
Speaker:One thing I would say also like when you're trying to
Speaker:figure out,
Speaker:okay, well,
Speaker:how can I differentiate?
Speaker:Look at the unmet needs.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:What is one of the reasons people might buy from Amazon
Speaker:instead of you all because prime,
Speaker:cause I can have it tomorrow.
Speaker:Cause I forgot that I need is my sister's birthday,
Speaker:which I would never forget,
Speaker:but I forgot it's her birthday.
Speaker:Right? November 5th,
Speaker:never forget.
Speaker:So, but if I have a maker that I love buying
Speaker:things from and they asked me,
Speaker:okay, you know,
Speaker:a few questions and they can prompt me with things in
Speaker:advance so that I'm not doing the last minute scramble.
Speaker:Like what are the big reasons people end up buying from
Speaker:someone else instead of you,
Speaker:especially as someone that is Amazon,
Speaker:you can definitely compete with in terms of quality.
Speaker:If you can crack that code,
Speaker:you have a real opportunity that can be part of your
Speaker:brand. We're like the psychic brand.
Speaker:We get you to buy things before you even realize you
Speaker:need them.
Speaker:You don't have to have last minute scramble or whatever it
Speaker:is. That's an important service.
Speaker:Absolutely. And right now with supply chain in arms,
Speaker:again, a huge opportunity for handmade.
Speaker:One of the things you talk about Denise is having a
Speaker:new logo.
Speaker:Doesn't equal having a new brand.
Speaker:And I'd love to talk about this a little bit because
Speaker:I think we've gotten some brain circling about,
Speaker:gosh, I want to re-look at my brand.
Speaker:So this conversation will be very relevant to people who are
Speaker:looking at making a change.
Speaker:So what do you have to say about this new logo
Speaker:does not equal new brand?
Speaker:Yeah. A logo is not a brand.
Speaker:I will go back to Nike here.
Speaker:Right? Is the swoosh the most amazing thing ever created as
Speaker:a logo?
Speaker:It's not,
Speaker:it's what they had imbued it with.
Speaker:Right? It's the experience of graded that that represents,
Speaker:like if you make the brand experience,
Speaker:the brand more meaningful,
Speaker:I don't want to say your logo doesn't matter.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:logos certainly can matter and you want it to be appropriate
Speaker:and memorable and all of those things,
Speaker:but just creating a new logo,
Speaker:isn't going to do anything to transform your business.
Speaker:Okay, Perfect.
Speaker:So again,
Speaker:it still goes back to everything that we were talking about
Speaker:before defining what's authentic for you,
Speaker:making sure that it's relevant,
Speaker:that it's something your buyers are actually going to resonate with.
Speaker:And you can find that out by looking at what people
Speaker:are reaching for,
Speaker:what people are talking about.
Speaker:You can even go back into your sales and see what
Speaker:people are buying to help give you clues as to whether
Speaker:you're on the right track or not also defining where you
Speaker:stand on the price spectrum and staying solid with that.
Speaker:I would say for some time period too,
Speaker:what do you say about that?
Speaker:Denise is like anything that you're testing,
Speaker:don't do it for a week.
Speaker:Right? Give it a chance.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:unless you see it's like a tremendous failure right away.
Speaker:Okay. But yes,
Speaker:I think these are business decisions,
Speaker:right? You have to look at what can I realistically,
Speaker:what can I not go below in order to make a
Speaker:profit? Because you're not looking just to make things for other
Speaker:people, you're looking to make a profit,
Speaker:right? So what's the very lowest you can go and be
Speaker:comfortable with and don't ever go lower than that.
Speaker:But then what is it worth,
Speaker:really looking at what something is worth and pricing based on
Speaker:that. And hopefully there's a big Delta between like your break
Speaker:even and what you really can sell something for.
Speaker:And if not looking at how you can make that Delta
Speaker:for you and brand is definitely a driver of it commodity
Speaker:versus a brand.
Speaker:If you don't have a brand,
Speaker:you are just a commodity.
Speaker:Yup. It goes back to buying Starbucks coffee or a tea.
Speaker:It does,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:there's a lot of money to be had when you position
Speaker:your brand properly.
Speaker:And I understand it's scary,
Speaker:right. Especially if you're on your own and you're doing this
Speaker:yourself or a couple people and you really do,
Speaker:it's tempting to be very kind of defensively selling.
Speaker:Like I just need to get the sale.
Speaker:And I understand there are realities that people have to meet
Speaker:in order to survive.
Speaker:But when you can think beyond that,
Speaker:when you've gotten to a point where you can go,
Speaker:okay, I have something here,
Speaker:how can I make this better?
Speaker:I think that's really your opportunity.
Speaker:Or if you can do it from the very beginning,
Speaker:and if you're a very fortunate go,
Speaker:I'm going to have a handmade business here and I'm going
Speaker:to set myself up as well.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:But it's unusual that it starts that way.
Speaker:Yeah. I think the closer you can be to the price
Speaker:position you want in the beginning makes sense.
Speaker:And yes,
Speaker:the Delta,
Speaker:because you want to be able to have some room in
Speaker:there. Obviously you need money to be able to grow your
Speaker:business. You know,
Speaker:it's not just about the product,
Speaker:your production time,
Speaker:there's office expenses,
Speaker:all the overhead stuff.
Speaker:Plus you want a little bit in there.
Speaker:If you want to do any promotions,
Speaker:if you're not priced properly there.
Speaker:So I'm a big advocate for deciding what your price is
Speaker:going to look like and working towards it for at least
Speaker:a certain amount of time before you would make any changes.
Speaker:And maybe you even have,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we're makers.
Speaker:So you can have different size products that where your cost
Speaker:of materials is less.
Speaker:So they could be priced less.
Speaker:We can do a little testing,
Speaker:do some research before you just decide randomly things.
Speaker:Right? Right.
Speaker:So let's give everybody three.
Speaker:They've heard the whole conversation and we've kind of just been
Speaker:chatting back and forth.
Speaker:Denise covering a bunch of topics.
Speaker:All of them really,
Speaker:really potent topics for branding.
Speaker:But if someone were going back to our soap maker,
Speaker:again, our sweet little soap maker,
Speaker:she's never done this.
Speaker:She's made soaps.
Speaker:She's gone to shows her prices are set,
Speaker:but there's no real rhyme or reason.
Speaker:There's really no branding.
Speaker:As we've talked about it.
Speaker:Now, what would be,
Speaker:someone's very first steps to getting this all in sync in
Speaker:the way where it can be powerful and help them grow
Speaker:their business.
Speaker:Really, I would start with the,
Speaker:what are you I would drill down and say,
Speaker:I'm going to analyze these three areas,
Speaker:right? What is authentic about me?
Speaker:That's relevant to my audience that I can execute on.
Speaker:I would ask people,
Speaker:I would ask my best customers really sit down with a
Speaker:conversation. They want to help you.
Speaker:Your best customers want to help you.
Speaker:And even the people that haven't bought from you may want
Speaker:to help you to tell you why they didn't buy,
Speaker:which is also important to know.
Speaker:I would really dig around those three things.
Speaker:Cause it's like everything else stems from that.
Speaker:Okay. If this is what's important,
Speaker:if, if the lowest price is important,
Speaker:is that going to be something I can do?
Speaker:Maybe not.
Speaker:Right. But if making sure that there's aloe and every single
Speaker:soap and I'm going to be the aloe soap person and
Speaker:I have these really unusual things around the world,
Speaker:that's why people buy me.
Speaker:Okay. I know that's important that I need to make sure
Speaker:that's part of my messaging and my portfolio of what I'm
Speaker:putting out there.
Speaker:Okay. Wonderful.
Speaker:And then talking about it regularly,
Speaker:keeping it top of mind,
Speaker:maybe even writing it out on your computer or somewhere where
Speaker:you're going to see it all the time.
Speaker:Because if you don't continue talking about it multiple times,
Speaker:it's never going to really sink in you.
Speaker:Can't just talk about it.
Speaker:One, Because that is really important,
Speaker:right? To become whatever you're going to be specialized.
Speaker:What, what your brand is,
Speaker:you need to be a thought leader in that space,
Speaker:right? So they'll make sure everything you're putting out,
Speaker:like, know everything about it.
Speaker:As much as you can put information out there,
Speaker:educate people,
Speaker:give them those little kind of tidbits of information that make
Speaker:them feel smarter about what you do.
Speaker:They give them a talking point to tell other people,
Speaker:this is why I bought this oboe.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I got you the soap as a president or the one
Speaker:you're using in my powder room is this.
Speaker:And it does this for you versus just being a soap,
Speaker:like make yourself more than a soap,
Speaker:make yourself more than a coffee.
Speaker:If you're Bomba socks,
Speaker:my very favorite product of all time,
Speaker:make yourself more than SOC,
Speaker:right? Like these are coffee socks.
Speaker:They're not things that are super differentiated unless you put the
Speaker:power behind it.
Speaker:And to me,
Speaker:any kind of handcrafted world already has something special.
Speaker:It's just really like articulating what that is and making sure
Speaker:you hone in on it rather than spreading yourself so thin
Speaker:that you are making everything instead of a brand for yourself.
Speaker:Absolutely. And I'm going to suggest,
Speaker:we're talking about aloe and also socks.
Speaker:Google points about your product.
Speaker:Like I just learned recently,
Speaker:Denise, that if you wear socks,
Speaker:you know how the heavy blankets are a big thing right
Speaker:now. And they do something for you health wise,
Speaker:so do wearing socks to bed and it doesn't have to
Speaker:do with keeping your feet soft.
Speaker:It has to do with your quality of sleep who knew.
Speaker:And I can't give you all the details.
Speaker:I just know that point.
Speaker:So that would be something cool for somebody who makes socks
Speaker:to be able to say,
Speaker:by the way,
Speaker:did you know one of the values of socks is now
Speaker:they might not have known that before,
Speaker:but Google things that might be relevant to your product and
Speaker:you might come up with these cool facts that then you
Speaker:can be talking about Your product.
Speaker:You might say an end.
Speaker:That's why I make these special sleep socks.
Speaker:You don't want to wear this all day,
Speaker:Right? Exactly.
Speaker:Oh, that's good.
Speaker:Denise. That's really good.
Speaker:Are you listening for all of us?
Speaker:Don't listen,
Speaker:let the hand makers make it.
Speaker:Yeah. Well aloe,
Speaker:same thing.
Speaker:Like what are the health benefits of aloe?
Speaker:What are the recent stories or did you know that aloe
Speaker:comes from like,
Speaker:who knows what it would be,
Speaker:but Google,
Speaker:it finds some interesting points.
Speaker:It doesn't have to be all your knowledge at first because
Speaker:I think there'll be some people sitting out there saying,
Speaker:well, I don't know.
Speaker:I have no clue.
Speaker:I know how to make my product.
Speaker:And it's awesome.
Speaker:But I don't know any of this stuff.
Speaker:You don't have to be the creator of the information.
Speaker:You can be the spreader of the qualities.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:I agree with that.
Speaker:Yeah. Ooh.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:Very, very,
Speaker:very good.
Speaker:Okay. One final question that comes to mind.
Speaker:I try to put myself in our listeners head of like
Speaker:what the objections would be that would prevent them from moving
Speaker:forward on what we've talked about.
Speaker:That could,
Speaker:like I said before,
Speaker:be such a good,
Speaker:solid business growth strategy for our business.
Speaker:And that is what do you say about again,
Speaker:I'm going to stick with our soap maker.
Speaker:I'm just a small handmade business product provider.
Speaker:And there are these big brands out there that are spending
Speaker:millions of dollars for their strategy.
Speaker:I can not compete with them.
Speaker:Why should I even try?
Speaker:Well, I mean,
Speaker:without trying,
Speaker:right, you're just dooming yourself,
Speaker:but you can,
Speaker:right. We know that you can,
Speaker:there are other people out there being successful in this world,
Speaker:doing that,
Speaker:talking to some of those people,
Speaker:the ones that aren't directly competitive with you is always a
Speaker:great thing.
Speaker:Again, people want to help people.
Speaker:I always talk to people who are interested in learning about
Speaker:what they're starting an agency or anything else that I can
Speaker:do to help them.
Speaker:Because I think we just kind of feel like it's our
Speaker:job to be building on our shoulders.
Speaker:But I do think that it's not really a legitimate argument.
Speaker:That just because someone else that there is doing a great,
Speaker:I don't have a chance.
Speaker:It's not true.
Speaker:You have to do it differently.
Speaker:Maybe you're not going to have big TV commercials,
Speaker:super bowl saying that you make soap,
Speaker:but then again,
Speaker:that's probably not appropriate for you anyway,
Speaker:and it's not appropriate to your audience.
Speaker:It all comes back to what is it?
Speaker:That's special about you?
Speaker:How can you communicate differently?
Speaker:It does take being creative,
Speaker:but that's the awesome thing about your audience.
Speaker:We're talking about some of the most creative people on the
Speaker:planet, as long as there are some guard rails,
Speaker:because again,
Speaker:creativity without kind of guardrails can be really,
Speaker:really difficult to reign in.
Speaker:But with kind of the,
Speaker:what are you guardrails the authentic to you relevant to your
Speaker:audience executable that gives you the real path that to pull
Speaker:in all the information and go,
Speaker:okay, how do I do this?
Speaker:And you can,
Speaker:there's no question.
Speaker:You can,
Speaker:other people are doing it.
Speaker:Why shouldn't you?
Speaker:I like that rather than someone else did it.
Speaker:Why should I love it?
Speaker:Yeah. I agree with you.
Speaker:And I think the other thing as a small business is
Speaker:we don't need millions of customers to be successful with our
Speaker:business goals,
Speaker:right? It's not really even comparing apples to apples,
Speaker:but I was curious as to what you would say about
Speaker:this. We all continue to need the dog about this topic
Speaker:and just continue to take it to heart that we don't
Speaker:need to be matching anybody else we need to be doing
Speaker:what's right for ourselves.
Speaker:And I would even add into that.
Speaker:The world is becoming much more savvy about marketing right at
Speaker:that personal brand.
Speaker:So not doing it actually puts you further behind,
Speaker:like it doesn't even keep you on a level playing field.
Speaker:You're right.
Speaker:Yeah. I agree with that.
Speaker:A hundred percent.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:This has been absolutely gold in terms of the information that
Speaker:you've provided in our conversation.
Speaker:I heard you mentioned,
Speaker:I believe that with your agency,
Speaker:you help people define what their brand messaging should be.
Speaker:Zero in and define it.
Speaker:Is that,
Speaker:and talk a little bit about more what the S3 agency
Speaker:does. Thank you.
Speaker:Yeah. So we really are like to us working with a
Speaker:brand, the biggest way we can make a difference is to
Speaker:make sure that brand has its differentiated positioning figured out and
Speaker:then do our marketing.
Speaker:On top of that,
Speaker:we have 20 years of honing this experience.
Speaker:We know how to take people through the process of differentiating
Speaker:the brand.
Speaker:And then we know that when we do marketing with that
Speaker:clear alignment of what is different,
Speaker:that our results are better.
Speaker:There's no question.
Speaker:We're not guessing.
Speaker:We're not wondering,
Speaker:gee, will this message be working?
Speaker:Is this the right thing?
Speaker:But we know what to put out there.
Speaker:And it also is a great filter for us and for
Speaker:our clients to go,
Speaker:Hmm, should we try advertising that way or doing some light
Speaker:little, does that fit with our differentiated brand positioning?
Speaker:No, the,
Speaker:no, the answer's no,
Speaker:we shouldn't do it.
Speaker:That's like very clarifying having that alignment,
Speaker:that clarity,
Speaker:that is what we provide and then the things that go
Speaker:with it.
Speaker:So whatever's right for the client,
Speaker:whether it's advertising digital advertising,
Speaker:broadcast, advertising,
Speaker:marketing, social media website,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you name it like we are a full service agencies.
Speaker:We pull that whole picture together and I know that can
Speaker:sound daunting to your audience.
Speaker:You don't have to be doing all those things.
Speaker:The big thing is figuring out your brand,
Speaker:do the things that are meaningful for you.
Speaker:It doesn't have to be incredibly overwhelming,
Speaker:just like bite-size it and make progress towards it.
Speaker:It doesn't have to be an overnight success.
Speaker:And do you have a sweet spot for accepting clients?
Speaker:We work in a few different verticals.
Speaker:So we do a lot of consumer packaged goods.
Speaker:We do a lot of automotive.
Speaker:We do a lot of health care and then other clients,
Speaker:when we feel the brand is right for us,
Speaker:if we feel like we can really make a difference for
Speaker:them and they want to actually go through the differentiation,
Speaker:then that's the most important criteria for us.
Speaker:Okay, Perfect.
Speaker:And if people want to know more about you and the
Speaker:agency, where would you send them?
Speaker:Please just go to our website,
Speaker:which is S three.agency.
Speaker:So letter S like Sam,
Speaker:the number three.agency,
Speaker:Denise, this has been a fabulous conversation.
Speaker:I am thrilled that we're presenting this information specifically to our
Speaker:listeners, because I think if they take this to heart and
Speaker:really spend a little bit of time,
Speaker:follow the AR elements,
Speaker:this could really be a game changer.
Speaker:And you brought that to us.
Speaker:So for that,
Speaker:I am so indebted,
Speaker:Denise, thank you so much for being on the show.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me,
Speaker:Sue. This has been an awesome conversation.
Speaker:I wish you could see me because you'd see him smiling
Speaker:from ear to ear.
Speaker:And anytime you want to talk,
Speaker:I'm available.
Speaker:Wonderful. Thanks again,
Speaker:Denise. It's time to make your company micro weird.
Speaker:I encourage you to follow Denise's our method to get you
Speaker:moving in this direction.
Speaker:And one more thing I want to emphasize from our talk
Speaker:today. Remember the discussion about pricing that you can't be all
Speaker:over the board,
Speaker:or even sit in the middle with your product prices.
Speaker:If you are,
Speaker:your job is so much harder,
Speaker:something to rethink.
Speaker:As you move forward into the new year up next week,
Speaker:I'm bringing you a new online selling opportunity.
Speaker:If you haven't narrowed in on a product to sell yet,
Speaker:or if you're creative,
Speaker:but not sure that you want all that production involved with
Speaker:a handmade product business.
Speaker:This show will be for you.
Speaker:Thanks so much for spending time with me today.
Speaker:If you'd like to show support for the podcast,
Speaker:leaving a rating and review helps the show get seen by
Speaker:more makers as a loyal listener.
Speaker:There are other ways to show support for the podcast to
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Speaker:I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook
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Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
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Speaker:Got a really fun post in there.
Speaker:That's my favorite of the week.
Speaker:I have to say where I invite all of you to
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Speaker:because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody
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Speaker:without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what aren't you part of the group already,
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