Marketing

Attitude is Everything

Two of my favourite actors are Joe Pesci and Danny DeVito. Both different actors, yet also so very similar.

Pesci is more your serious actor that?s famous for his gangster roles (Goodfellas, Casino, Once Upon a Time in America) although he?s had some great comedy roles too (My Cousin Vinny, Lethal Weapon 2, Home Alone). DeVito is more known for his comedic roles ? Romancing the Stone, Twins and the TV series Taxi.

Yet while they?re both great actors, that?s not the main reason I like them. It?s more to do with their attitude of being different and using that as their strength. Neither are what you would call your typical Hollywood heroes, yet it hasn?t stopped them from taking the movie industry by storm and becoming major players.

This makes them great role models for small businesses.

If the Internet hadn?t narrowed the division between large businesses and small ones enough already, the economic meltdown of the last 18 months or so has made it even smaller. Large businesses are feeling the pinch and making cutbacks, while smaller businesses are finding that their value-based services are more in demand.

Now?s the time to take advantage of that. Now?s the time to be Joe Pesci or Danny DeVito.

Small Is Good.

Small businesses have never had a better opportunity to play on a level field with the big boys. Clients are looking for value for money and the personal touch more as large companies become fragmented and lose touch with their customers.

Use that to your advantage. Offer the kind of personal service that only small businesses can. Make every client feel that they?re your only one. Build the personal relationships that mean something, as opposed to the impersonal relationships that are old news.

Brand loyalty is everything ? customer relations foster this and for the small business owner, the opportunity for this is has never been greater.

Be Different.

As I mentioned, where Pesci and DeVito excel is using their difference from the standard Hollywood stereotype and making it work for them. They refuse to be handed roles and descriptions relating to their size, and stand toe-to-toe with some of the biggest heavyweights on the scene.

Use your business?s differences to the maximum.

Be proud of the fact that you may be small but you offer a service that will stand next to any of your larger competitors. Because you?re small, you actually have more intimate relationships with your suppliers and that transposes itself to your clients. The fact that you?re different separates you from the pack ? celebrate it and people will respond to it.

Attitude is Everything.

No matter what movie Joe Pesci is in, one thing that stands head and shoulders above everything else is his ?F**k you!? attitude. You seriously believe that this guy may be small but he has an attitude and belief that many people twice his size could only hope for.

You probably started your business with the belief that you were going to be just as good as the big guys, if not better. Do you still have that belief? Are you passionate about your company when you meet new clients or catch up with old ones?

Think back to why you found these clients in the first place ? belief in that you could do the job of competitors many times your size.

Keep that belief. Have the attitude that your business is the best at what you do, because you live and breathe for making it the best.

Encourage greatness in your employees and instill the same ?We may not be the biggest but we?re going to be the best? attitude that started you off in the first place, and that attitude will both promote and attract confidence in you and your business.

The next couple of years promise to have some tough times ahead for businesses, small and large. Yet with the reduced overheads and the more focused framework that smaller businesses have the advantage of, they can also be the years you really stand toe-to-toe with the big boys.

Aiming Beyond Business

This post has been pretty much about small business and how you, as a small business owner, can compete with the bigger boys. But it doesn’t need to just be for business.

Look at some of the comparisons between Devito, Pesci and the Hollywood mindset, and see how you can take that attitude and implement in your own surroundings.

Blogging; single parent home worker; inventor; artist; storyteller and more. It doesn’t matter how small you currently think you are – it’s how big you want to be viewed moving forward.

Joe Pesci and Danny DeVito have shown the way for the little guys. Ready to join them?

image: Omega Man

Business Lessons from Theme Parks

When you go to a theme park, do you spend time waiting on the best rides and rollercoasters? Or do you bypass them and go for the more sedate ones with the lesser crowd? Or don?t you go for the rides, more the experience of an enjoyable day out with friends and family?

If you?re like me, you?ll happily wait for an hour (or more) for the fastest rollercoaster, or the one with the biggest drop, or any of the other thrillseeker-type rides. It?s a no-brainer, and if I have to wait to enjoy it, so be it.

Yet is it really a no-brainer?

Think about why you want to ride that rollercoaster, or go on that attraction that shoots you 150-feet in the air before bringing you crashing down to earth in a matter of seconds.

Is it because of your adventurous side, or is it because of the way the ride has been sold to you? Are the words ??death-defying?, ?ultimate thrill ride? and ?your fear is all that stops you? the real reason that you?re in the park?

Theme park operators are some of the canniest minds in marketing.

They know how to reach their target audience and they know exactly which buttons to press to get that audience into their parks. And with theme park technology advancing at such a fast pace, hitting your mark is what separates the must-visit theme parks from the sympathy stop-off when there?s nothing better to do.

Own Your Theme Park

How are you communicating with your target audience?

Do you offer the most exciting rides and the reason why customers should choose your business over the competing one? You need to make sure that your customers are happy to stay in your line ? you need to offer them an end result that blows them away.

You may not have the fastest ride; you may not have the biggest; but if you have the best (or at least the best in the eyes of your customers) then you?ll fill your theme park up regularly. So, how do you make your ride the star attraction?

Offer choices. A theme park would be nothing if there was just one ride, no matter how exciting it was. The ones with the most visitors get them for a reason ? choice.

Your customers are no different ? but are you catering to them, or excluding them? Do your products cater to left-handed people, for example? If not, you can knock 10% from your potential sales figures immediately. Are you excluding minorities? Are there different sizes or designs for the same product? If not, should there be?

Look at what you offer and ask yourself if you can offer alternatives for those that need it. Use analytics and market research to understand your audience and what they?re buying. More importantly, understand what they?re not buying and why.

There are thousands of theme parks all vying for your visitors. Are you giving a reason why yours is the best?

image: Carol Browne

The Problem with Automated Urinals

I have a problem with automated urinals.

Not in how I use them; I know how to pee in public (and I’m sorry if this post veers off into uncharted territory here – I’ll try keep it clean). No, I’m more frustrated with the way automated urinals use themselves.

For anyone not sure what an automated urinal is (my lady readers might not be aware of their delicacies, for instance), here’s the quick overview.

You go to a public toilet (or washroom, as they’re called here in North America).
You “do your business” at the urinal.
You have the choice of pressing a button or flipping a handle/switch to flush, or you leave it to the urinal’s automatic flush.
You go wash your hands and leave.

Simple, right? So you’d think. But there seems to be a new breed of automated urinals on the loose, and they’re the ones that are out to frustrate. Here’s why.

Jumping In Prematurely

The difference between a manual flush and an automated one is clear. With a manual flush, you know when you’re finished and ready to flush. Perfect – pee, put away, push button. Job done.

With the automated approach though, it can often begin the flush cycle before you’re done. Which is always fun to get some nice splashback from a still-in-use urinal (sorry, I did say I’d try and keep it clean!).

So, no matter if you’re ready for it or not, automation is kicking in and probably ruining your day. Not good.

One Size Fits All

While this isn’t really a problem just for automated urinals, it does come into play a little bit more when it is automated.

Basically, most urinals (at least the ones I’ve used) are all a standard size. Unless it’s open plan – then it just looks like a line-up not too dissimilar from pigs eating at a trough.

With the closed ones, though, they’re pretty much standardized as far as dimensions go. So, you can be tall, small, wide, thin, hunchbacked or any other numerous descriptions that separates us from each other. And this can be a pain at an automated urinal.

Say you get an extra-wide guy next to you – you have to try and accommodate by moving over a bit (trust me, you don’t want to share pee space!). Of course, the issue is, because you’ve moved over, you’re now in the line of fire of the urinal next to you. And if the automated system kicks in too early again… You get the point. Again, not good.

Being Unprepared for the Unexpected

It happens. You might go to the toilet, and you could be on the phone as you go in (either calling or texting/instant messaging). Generally, if I’m on a call, I’ll say I’ll call back before going in, so no problem there. But I have been texting occasionally before I need to use the urinal.

Of course, the problem here is that the automated urinal only sees what’s in front of it, and gauges that (by the amount of time I’ve been stood in front of it), I must be done. On with the flush cycle which, once more, can come with the lovely splashback syndrome if the urinal isn’t at optimal emptiness for a flush cycle.

Again, as before, not good.

Are You Taking the Piss?

Okay. So we’ve gone through three examples of why I hate automated urinals. And you’re maybe thinking, “What the hell is Danny telling us this for? This is meant to be a marketing blog with social media insights, no?”.

And you’re right.

So, switch out automated urinals for your business. Or your marketing. Or your sales pitch. Or your advertising. Or your branding. Or any other metric that makes or breaks a business. Look at the sub-headers, and ask yourself the following questions:

Jumping in Prematurely. Are you jumping into a new market prematurely? Are you expanding your services too prematurely? Is your quality control process premature in offering solutions, and actually causing more problems?
One Size Fits All. Are you offering a one size fits all solution when every customer needs a different one? Are you missing leads because you’re focusing on the same sales pitch for every customer? Are you herding your employees into the same “do as we say” mindset instead of encouraging creativity and leadership?
Being Unprepared for the Unexpected. Do you have a back-up if things go pear-shaped? Can you run your business if a key supplier went out of business? Are you putting all your leads into a single or limited client basket? Are you prepared for a crisis erupting around your brand?

I started this blog talking about automated urinals (and they do actually bug the heck out of me). But like I say, swap that out to a business view, and it still rings true. If you’re automating things when manual would be better, you’re probably being less useful than you think.

So – are you prepared or are you just flushing your success away?

image: salendron

The Most Powerful Marketing

Any good marketing pro will tell you the most powerful marketing is the type that gets people talking.

After all, if people are talking about something then it means the marketing team behind the subject has done its job. Sometimes, though, the most powerful marketing is the simplest, and nothing is simpler than a picture in order to tell a story.

Which, at the end of the day, is what marketing is all about ? telling a story to sell an idea.

Witness Photography by James Nachtwey is a collection of Nachtwey?s photographs from some of the most destructive conflicts and social issues in the last 30 years.

From the Far East to Europe and beyond, Nachtwey?s photographs capture the human side of war and social disillusion. They often don?t make for pleasant viewing, but they do make for a powerful argument against the darker side of humanity.

The most powerful marketing is the kind that gets people talking. The most powerful marketing is also the simplest. If the futility of war and ineffective social politics was ever a marketing campaign, Nachtwey?s photographs would be the guaranteed seller.

You owe it to yourself to look.

Image: James Nachtwey