By Sharon A.M. MacLean
I love coming across thought leaders who speak common sense.
These are icons like Zig Zieglar who took the time for personal reflection throughouth his life on building a successful business. He said, “If people like you, they’ll listen to you. But if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.”
Wow. That was true back in the day–and it hasn’t changed one pixel in the digital world.
It’s the reason that Cammie Dunaway impressed me. She previously was responsible for marketing with Yahoo! before taking over as US President of theme park KidZania. Here’s some wisdom adapted from her interview with Incite: West that I especially appreciated with a few observations from me.
1. Good marketing starts with deep understanding of your brand. This means that we must spend time training front-line employees, decorating offices to reflect your brand, and delivering a good experience for customers. It’s also a good idea to think like journalists to discover those stories that are important to customers before packaging and communicating them throughout the organization–for employees as well as for customers.
Do your core values speak to excellence in the workplace and surpasssing customer expectatons? Then please don’t forget to say, “Good morning,” to your employees. And recall another one from Zig: “If you’re sincere, praise is effective. If you’re insincere, it’s manipulation.”
By the way, packaging can mean anything from an e-newsletter, blog, infographic or company magazine to a short video or podcast to social media or targeted monthly email campaigns designed for customer groups on various databases.
2. Employees—increasingly, the public face of the company through social media—need training time. To repeat: This means making sure that employees are communicating in ways that are consistent with the brand image. It may be viewed as a time waster but the effort it takes to articulate your core values as well as vision and mission for everyone to see will do wonders for company morale. Next, think about placing these intentions in a picture frame for all to remember why you go to work each day.
3. Clear, simple messages repeated frequently are necessary. “When you feel like you’ve said something so much that you’re being redundant, you might actually just be breaking through,”said Dunaway.
Bingo.
The question I like to ask business owners who happen to be parents is this: “How many times have you asked your children to clean up their room today?” They nod knowingly (apart from the odd exception). Now, multiply that by thousands of people who happen to be adults and you will get the idea how often we sometimes need to repeat a message.
4. Understand behaviour at an individual level before matching experiences and communications. Dunaway looks at incremental revenue, both through repeat visits, as well as purchases of additional products and services. These methods really help to pinpoint people and trends more accurately.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve asked small business owners about the frequency of their customer visits, which items they purchased—at what time of year, and how often. Sadly, they often cannot tell me. Yet, it’s this granular detail that will help them to plot future growth.
5. How are experiences built for customers? “All of us today are so bombarded with messaging that if it doesn’t feel extremely personal and extremely relevant, we tend to tune it out,” observed Dunaway. A simple example would be to address customers by name, and know if they are very close to achieving a new level in your loyalty program. Next, congratulate them.
Small business owners usually do this very well. Not only do they know their customers’ names, they often know their children’s names, and special anniversaries throughout the year. It’s an area that, I believe, big business can learn from small business.
6. How have consumers changed? Trust is critical to Dunaway. You can nurture long-term relationships with consumers by educating them about you, your business, and the back stories on your products and services. It’s not just about maximizing today’s sales.
Dunaway says transparency of information about pricing is critical for customer satisfaction. The veteran marketer also encourages you to be surrounded with really good people who spend time in building relationships throughout the company. She likes the idea of an orchestra where the conductor gets all the musicians playing together.
Here’s one more from Zig: “Success doesn’t make you and failure doesn’t break you.” Amen, Mr. Ziglar.
Say, say it again. You’re not being redundant | WorldGate Media
[…] Say, say it again. You’re not being redundant. […]
Cathy Jennings
Excellent post, Sharon!
Social media simply provides us with MORE opportunities to create the same trust that we cultivate in real life. It’s amplified and easily shared, so I see it as even MORE important to adhere to the principles you’ve laid out in your article.
Sharon A.M. MacLean
You got it, Cathy. I find the whole thing amazing as we broaden our relationship circles to the whole wide world.
Everything stays the same –only bigger!
Thanks for your comment.
bodysoulcoaches
Agree with all the above. So important to be clear and sincere with our clients. People can tell right away if you don’t mean what you say. And following through with your message is vitally important
Sharon A.M. MacLean
It’s especially important for the hard-core business people focused on sales only, Lisa. Thanks for your comment.
theresarose
Great post. #3 was especially interesting to me. I never thought of it that way and loved your analogy about being a parent. 🙂
Sharon A.M. MacLean
Thanks!
Business owners often are surprised that someone hasn’t heard about them –after so much advertising, communicating, etc.
Just gotta keep it up.
Beth Blacker
Trust is huge and you definitely can’t buy it. My husband has spent almost 30 years as a mortgage broker and even though he has a great reputation he never rests on laurels. It us always a work in progress.
Sharon A.M. MacLean
I’ll bet he’s got some stories to tell about trust!
Carol Rundle (@CarolRundle)
These are really great insights. I think as companies get bigger and the world gets smaller through interconnectedness, we need to adopt a small business philosophy.
Sharon A.M. MacLean
That might be the secret sauce, Carol!
Sharon A.M. MacLean
I’m with you on that one, Carol.
Crystal Maleski (@ClearPathSocial)
I often tell people, you know everything there is to know about your business, but your customers don’t. Sometimes it’s helpful for them to hear about your business in many different ways, especially as it pertains to solving a problem for them, before the message sinks in. It just goes to show you, social media isn’t about blasting a message once, it’s about developing a relationship over time. Nice article!
Sharon A.M. MacLean
Thanks, Crystal. It’s message. Repeat. Message…:)
Sharon A.M. MacLean
Thanks, Crystal. Relationship building is like so many layers of an oil painting. Gotta keep working at it.
Michael Kawula
Social media gives the opportunity to reach so many people at once and but to reach those people you have to give a clear and consistent message.
Sharon A.M. MacLean
A tricky part is to help that client who believes their message already is clear. A focus group/test might be the answer to prove either way.
Sharon A.M. MacLean
You’ve got the clearn and consistent message nailed, Michael. Thank you, again, for your helep with Social Oomph. So, so appreciated!
Beth Niebuhr
Clear simple messages are so important. Tell them, tell them again and tell them a third time.
Sharon A.M. MacLean
…amd a fourth…and a 24th…:) Thanks, Beth.
pricelesslifeforless
Hey there — Point 3 really spoke to me — “Clear, simple messages repeated frequently are necessary.” We must be consistent but also, repeat our messages to our audience. Thanks for the post.
Sharon A.M. MacLean
Yep–No. 3 about repeated messages resonaed with many. Rinse and repeat. 🙂
Sharon A.M. MacLean
We gotta look after those lists!
rozbeads
All your above points apply to the small business or solo business. This was a unique way of stating points we are familiar with. Love Zig Ziglar too.
Sharon A.M. MacLean
You know this so well, Roz. Sometimes, I’m surprised at how business people are surprised they need to keep up the messaging.
Sharon A.M. MacLean
Thanks, Roz. I agree with you that the message applies to small and big business.
jbdondolo
Awesome! Yes, Zig is right! Success doesn’t make you and failure doesn’t break you! I loved your tips on gaining trust. It’s true that our message is more understood with repetition. Also, similar to advertising. You advertise once, you don’t really make connection. But, the more you advertise, the higher your chances of attracting someone.
Thank you for sharing!
Sharon A.M. MacLean
Yep — and if we take it a step further–it’s always been true that it’s easier when we really understand the people we want to connect. Enter the persona!
The Burgandy Boudoir
Thanks for a great post Sharon, point number 3 resonates hugely with me.
Sharon A.M. MacLean
Thanks! No. 3–Clear, simple messages repeated frequently–resonated with a lot of people. Sometimes it surprises me, and it shouldn’t. 🙂
Stacey McCoy
Great post! People will do business with us if they like and trust us, another reason why authenticity is so important again.
Sharon A.M. MacLean
It’s such a sensible approach, Stacey. We work with people this way in our real world. It’s even more impportant in the cosmic sphere where we have yet to meet them before doing business.
Sharon A.M. MacLean
That Zig knew what he was doing, Stacey!
Jackie Harder (@keydynamics)
Good stuff, Sharon. Sadly, training is often the first expense on the corporate chopping block but it’s vital to have it in all areas, not just social media. Loved your comment about repetition, too. I get so tired of repeating my offers…and I figure my readers/fans/followers are, too. But they need to know you’re in business and this is the way you tell them…a hundred times. 😉
Sharon A.M. MacLean
Over and over and over we roll, Jackie!
tradurretranslateblog
Also agree with a clear and simple message, and the need for trust. For the rest, as I do not have employees and sell a service, translation, not any products, I cannot really relate that much. Thanks for a great article.
Sharon A.M. MacLean
Good take away on the simplicity of a message, though. Thanks!