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Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue.
Speaker:And thanks for joining me for tips and talk day.
Speaker:These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and
Speaker:things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.
Speaker:If you'd like to submit a topic,
Speaker:DME over on Instagram at gift biz unwrapped,
Speaker:before we get into the show today,
Speaker:I want to make sure that you know about the newest
Speaker:thing happening over here.
Speaker:It's called the gift biz bash a zoom party that turns
Speaker:into a podcast episode.
Speaker:Several weeks later,
Speaker:the party consists of a short training with Q and a
Speaker:from yours truly.
Speaker:And then an opportunity for you to give a shout out
Speaker:about your business.
Speaker:You can tell us about a promotion you currently have going
Speaker:on or share a collaboration that you're considering so that you
Speaker:can find a perfect partner for the event.
Speaker:A little bit of learning and visibility for your business.
Speaker:What could be better?
Speaker:There is a catch though spots are limited to keep the
Speaker:party to about 45 minutes or so.
Speaker:That means you should grab your spot right away.
Speaker:It's totally free to make sure you're included.
Speaker:Why not do that right now?
Speaker:Pause this episode,
Speaker:go to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash bash to sign up and then come back
Speaker:and listen to the show.
Speaker:I'll see you at the bash.
Speaker:I know for a fact that you have special powers you
Speaker:aren't using.
Speaker:If you tap into them,
Speaker:they'll make you and your business more personable,
Speaker:memorable, and shareable.
Speaker:The best thing about these powers of yours is that you
Speaker:don't need to act like someone you're not.
Speaker:You don't need to invent scenarios.
Speaker:You think your customers will like,
Speaker:or project anything that feels uncomfortable or staged.
Speaker:Doesn't that sound freeing and almost too good to be true.
Speaker:Well, guess what?
Speaker:It's not,
Speaker:you already have these powers,
Speaker:but you don't see them as such and since you don't
Speaker:recognize them,
Speaker:you're letting them lie dormant with untapped potential.
Speaker:That changes right now.
Speaker:The opportunity that's in front of you is so valuable.
Speaker:I've given it a special name.
Speaker:These are your unique,
Speaker:special powers USP.
Speaker:For short,
Speaker:if you've had any marketing exposure from the past,
Speaker:this will sound familiar to you.
Speaker:Old marketing lingo defined a USP as your unique selling proposition.
Speaker:Remember the days when selling was one way only a company
Speaker:pushed it to product on you in newspapers or the three
Speaker:TV channels that existed showing you only what they wanted you
Speaker:to see and telling you all the reasons why you must
Speaker:have an need their product.
Speaker:It roots back to the still ingrained sleaziness stigma of sales.
Speaker:I bet this feeling still affects your behavior today.
Speaker:We don't want to come across as too salesy.
Speaker:That's the beautiful thing with the about face available through today's
Speaker:marketing technology,
Speaker:with your unique,
Speaker:special powers.
Speaker:You're not aggressively forcing people to see you.
Speaker:Hey, look at me,
Speaker:buy for me,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:get to attract people who are the right ones for your
Speaker:product and your brand,
Speaker:and invite them to have your products for their very own
Speaker:such a huge difference.
Speaker:So what are unique,
Speaker:special powers.
Speaker:These are characteristics of you and your product that make up
Speaker:a very individual subset of your brand.
Speaker:The magic of your unique special powers is that they set
Speaker:you apart from everyone else and they provide stories which make
Speaker:it easy for people to talk about you and spread the
Speaker:word about your company.
Speaker:USP's can be product focused through either a unique feature or
Speaker:the fact that the product itself is one of a kind,
Speaker:my mind goes to the cookie joints,
Speaker:cookie fries,
Speaker:their cookies are shaped like French fries and come in recognizably
Speaker:shaped fry containers complete with dips just like up would be
Speaker:to fries.
Speaker:Then there's Lily Poulter whose fabric is specifically identifiable and related
Speaker:back to the brand product USP's can exist in shapes,
Speaker:sizes applications.
Speaker:So many things.
Speaker:The only downside with these is that they are easily copied
Speaker:unless you go through the hoops of legal protection,
Speaker:that is which of course won't apply to most of us
Speaker:makers. Do you have something out of the norm with your
Speaker:product that you can highlight more?
Speaker:Is it a special size or shape?
Speaker:Is your product made for a different application than others address?
Speaker:Even though you're in the same product line,
Speaker:do you offer non-traditional colors,
Speaker:patterns, clasps that don't show up anywhere else?
Speaker:How about sense or flavors that are outside of the regular
Speaker:standard offerings?
Speaker:Someone started the now popular sea salt chocolate,
Speaker:everyone loves,
Speaker:or the bacon chocolate.
Speaker:Remember when that first came on the scene,
Speaker:maybe you've created a custom stitch that you can call your
Speaker:own or a method of creating your product,
Speaker:that steers away from what others do and brings a very
Speaker:special result to your finished product.
Speaker:If any of these already exist for you,
Speaker:call them out,
Speaker:start highlighting them as special.
Speaker:Talk about it,
Speaker:pointed out people aren't good at connecting the dots.
Speaker:You absolutely have to show them so that they recognize them.
Speaker:You have to tell people,
Speaker:do you source your materials from somewhere unexpected that ed does
Speaker:spin to your product or supports a cause in some way,
Speaker:that adds another layer to our understanding of your products.
Speaker:When we know that HumanOS from underline,
Speaker:his designs dies her own yarn for an exclusive line of
Speaker:her weave to shawls.
Speaker:She shares behind the scenes of her process at every stage
Speaker:of production on Instagram.
Speaker:Of course,
Speaker:these shells are rare pieces.
Speaker:You can be proud to own and PS,
Speaker:they command a higher price point too.
Speaker:Okay? Okay.
Speaker:So you're saying you don't have a unique,
Speaker:special power as part of your product.
Speaker:Why not create one consider a Piras cards?
Speaker:They include a hummingbird sticker inside each card with an inspirational
Speaker:message relating to the meaning of these cute speedy little flyers.
Speaker:A hummingbird has absolutely no connection to a greeting card,
Speaker:but piracy has linked the two.
Speaker:If you're familiar with the brand,
Speaker:you know all about the hummingbirds and if you're not,
Speaker:but you get a card from them,
Speaker:you learn about it and can share the fun story or
Speaker:fact about the connection.
Speaker:This same idea can be applied for your product,
Speaker:integrate something into your brand that has meaning and brings with
Speaker:it a story that can be shared.
Speaker:Let's now get to even more powerful USP's that can be
Speaker:found right inside yourself.
Speaker:These are even more valuable because they can't be copied.
Speaker:I know we worry all the time about being knocked off.
Speaker:Here's part of the solution,
Speaker:a personal USP.
Speaker:What are things that you love and that people associate with
Speaker:you, people meaning part of your normal life,
Speaker:your friends,
Speaker:your family,
Speaker:what is there in your background or what are you passionate
Speaker:about that you can talk about with your potential and current
Speaker:customers? You don't deliver it in a resume type format.
Speaker:It comes gradually over time.
Speaker:And as I said before,
Speaker:deepens the connection between you and those who follow you.
Speaker:They know a lot more about you over and above that
Speaker:you sell soap.
Speaker:A perfect example.
Speaker:Here is my mother.
Speaker:She was a branding genius,
Speaker:and she didn't even know it.
Speaker:Her favorite color was red and you could find her wearing
Speaker:it every single day.
Speaker:She loved classical music and dark chocolate.
Speaker:And as long as these things were part of her life,
Speaker:besides her family,
Speaker:of course all was right with the world.
Speaker:Everyone knew this about her.
Speaker:Everyone with these personal interests and passions do is make you
Speaker:into a personality unlike any other.
Speaker:And most importantly,
Speaker:it gives people a story to tell about you and your
Speaker:business and having this information prompts reminders of you when they
Speaker:encounter something in their life.
Speaker:That brings up a thought of you.
Speaker:By way of example of this,
Speaker:I'll use myself.
Speaker:If you hang around with me for even a short amount
Speaker:of time,
Speaker:you'll find out I love the color yellow,
Speaker:M a huge candle fan and obsessed with the snow.
Speaker:None of this has anything to do with either of my
Speaker:companies, really.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:yellow is one of the gift biz brand colors,
Speaker:but I don't make candles or work with or in the
Speaker:snow. But I get messages about these all the time.
Speaker:Someone walks by a field of yellow flowers and sends me
Speaker:a picture.
Speaker:And when a blizzard is headed to Chicago,
Speaker:I get emails,
Speaker:messages, and calls from all over the world.
Speaker:Seriously, even international saying,
Speaker:Sue, you must be so happy.
Speaker:Some come from people.
Speaker:I don't even know,
Speaker:which is really fun,
Speaker:but they know me because they've been following me.
Speaker:I have to say,
Speaker:it's very exciting to learn that someone thought of me at
Speaker:a random moment because of a trigger in their day.
Speaker:And you see where this goes.
Speaker:When they think of me,
Speaker:they may think of the podcast and go listen to the
Speaker:latest show,
Speaker:or they may have wanted to invest in a program.
Speaker:They heard me talking about or something else related to things
Speaker:that I offer.
Speaker:Think of what it would be like.
Speaker:If you found out that someone remembered they needed to buy
Speaker:a birthday gift and your product would be just the right
Speaker:fit, or they want a new knitted scarf for themselves or
Speaker:a baby quilt for a friend,
Speaker:these reminders of you initiate sales for those who have the
Speaker:need for your product at that time,
Speaker:or maybe they want to just buy something because it's from
Speaker:you and they want to support you.
Speaker:How amazing would that be?
Speaker:All because you've placed personal information in their mind.
Speaker:So when they encounter it throughout the day,
Speaker:it triggers a thought of you.
Speaker:Other examples of personal unique,
Speaker:special powers.
Speaker:Scott, open burger from twice baked pottery.
Speaker:He quit his full-time super stressful law career for a maker
Speaker:life. Julie Scags of the mad scientist,
Speaker:she and her husband are science teachers with a candle company.
Speaker:Sharita Lucas of dosa.
Speaker:Naturals is in business with her sisters and named the company
Speaker:after her.
Speaker:Great, great grandmother.
Speaker:Jeanette king has been a color street associate as she works
Speaker:on her professional music career.
Speaker:You can watch the video of her first released single on
Speaker:YouTube, called kiss N towel.
Speaker:All of these examples bring a richness that could never exist
Speaker:if they didn't share this part of their story with us.
Speaker:And I wouldn't be sharing it here with you.
Speaker:If we had more time,
Speaker:I could go into detail about each of these people.
Speaker:I you'd feel closer to them too.
Speaker:And you've just met them.
Speaker:I'm not saying you have to be a complete open book
Speaker:here. Share only things that you feel comfortable with,
Speaker:but by integrating more of who you are into your business,
Speaker:you're attracting people to you in a way just promoting your
Speaker:products, never will.
Speaker:As a handmade product business owner,
Speaker:highlighting your unique,
Speaker:special powers enhances your brand.
Speaker:Even more.
Speaker:Here are your takeaway action steps.
Speaker:There are only two,
Speaker:one, identify three things about you that can be classified as
Speaker:unique, special powers,
Speaker:make them authentic and genuine.
Speaker:Number two,
Speaker:start sharing them from time to time,
Speaker:integrate them into social posts,
Speaker:emails, and keep them top of mind to bring up when
Speaker:appropriate. And this should be easily natural because they're genuinely you
Speaker:unique, special powers at a socially appropriate intimate layer of personality
Speaker:and even friendship to what you do.
Speaker:You're letting people into your world and letting them get to
Speaker:know you feel trust and a closeness to you.
Speaker:And that is reciprocated with support for your business.
Speaker:That's a wrap.
Speaker:I'm a get to the point kind of girl.
Speaker:And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek
Speaker:sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream
Speaker:of yours.
Speaker:Share your handmade products with us.
Speaker:We want them,
