Brand Stand Radio: Getting the Most From Your Website

Interview with Gihan Perera on making the most from your website and converting more visitors into paying customers.

Listen Here.

To your website's success

Michael Neaylon

michael@mcme.com.au

Brand Stand Radio - The FSP Rebrand

In the latest edition of Brand Stand Radio, I interview Bill Webster from Financial Services Partners (FSP) on the ins and outs of rebranding.

Listen here

To your branding success
Michael Neaylon

michael@mcme.com.au

Are You On Purpose?

Working with coaching clients we spend a lot of time on their why. I recently spent time doing the same for the business: prioritising plans, revisiting goals and adapting strategies for the latter half of the year. It's been a healthy reminder to be uncompromising in our purpose and having a compelling list of reasons why we do what we do and how we do it moving ahead.

To support your clarity of purpose, here's an activity I've adapted from working with coaching clients. Feel free to adopt and adapt the process for your next strategy meeting, planning session, or event. To make this work, take just one project, meeting or event to keep it concentrated.

1. Look at what you're currently doing. Are you happy with the outcomes?

2. If you're not, why not?

3. If you knew what you could do to fix it, what would you do? (Don't worry if you don't know yet. This is a process and the steps to follow help).

4. Now that you know what you want to fix, ask yourself (and your team) why?

5. Thrash this why out. If you're not crystal clear on the why then you're not making the most of a meeting, project, event or presentation.

6. Be specific: What are the deliverables for this project? What examples do we need to give to reinforce our unique selling proposition? Is this the best type of event to engage our audience and give them ongoing returns after the event is over?

7. What will it look like once it's done? Does the team have a clear list of actions and timelines? Do you have a list of follow up sales calls to make for the next week? Do know the markets you need to be courting more actively? Does it give you completion or tangible next steps to take?

One you know your purpose you have a roadmap for asking better questions, eliminating unnecessary tasks and creating clearer outcomes.
To your purposeful success
Michael Neaylon

michael@mcme.com.au

Mix and Match Your Retail Marketing

I speak to many retailers who are concerned about losing their in store custom to online retailing. But online shopping doesn’t mean you have to shut up shop if you expand your online presence.

This cross pollination relies on a mix and match approach to your marketing. The key to making this strategy work is to engage people online and encourage them to come in store while also encouraging in store visitors to have an ongoing relationship with your brand online. This needn’t be complicated or time consuming, but it does take discipline and persistence.

First, let’s start online and go to where most people are for most of the time, especially consumers. That is Facebook. A Facebook fan page is easy to create and update. If you’re not already doing this, do it now. Start ‘liking’ your wholesalers, trusted business partners and your customer base. Hang out where they hang out and walk in their shoes. If you’re in fashion, like fashion trends pages or highlight upcoming trade events. Facebook is all about engagement so visuals and video work well here. As do polls, updates and strategic alliances with businesses that don’t compete, but complement each other.

Blogs are ideal for sharing your expertise and can be linked to your facebook fan page, website, and then posted to Twitter.

Ideally every retail business has these online essentials:

1. A website you can update yourself.
2. An email newsletter. Using http://www.mailchimp.com/ you can email up to 2,000 subscribers for free and personalise their email with their name.
3. A blog which you connect to your website and your Facebook fan page. A blog which is linked to your website also enhances your SEO and can be as simple as a weekly photo or video of new products.
4. A Facebook fan page. Once you have twenty five ‘like’s you can create your own vanity url eg. www.facebook.com/MCMECO

Now for how you can integrate these to promote your store, increase engagement and make more sales:

• Promote an in store event with special offers for people who attend and mention your Facebook fan page, blog and email newsletter.
• Post pictures of the event, prizes and Facebook, in your newsletter, your blog and on your website.
• Encourage every buyer who purchases to opt in to your monthly email newsletter. Always ask their permission as they’re much more likely to keep and read your email.
• Every person who subscribes receives a free eBook with tips to help them use your products, services or both. Twelve useful tips are ample. Remember it’s free, but make sure the quality of the tips is strong. The more potential customers know how to make the most of your offerings, the more likely they are to buy them.
• If you have online commerce and a store, give special offers for a limited time to the people who normally buy from you online and specials to people who normally buy from you in store. Give each offer a code so you can track its effectiveness.
• Form alliances with complementary (but not competing) businesses and showcase each other. Create your own collective VIP card between you and promote each other in your newsletters, and if appropriate on your Facebook fan pages and websites. This means you’re not just promoting your business, but adding value for your buyer.

These are just some of the ways you can integrate your online and in store marketing. If you’re already doing these, great. If not, start with one tactic or tool a month and keep doing it. If you say you’re publishing a monthly newsletter stick to that, and keep building your database. If you’re blogging, start with one a week rather than every day and keep working on it. If you’re holding in store events make them monthly or quarterly to begin with and see how you can make the most of that event, before, during and after the event itself.

To your retail success
Michael Neaylon

michael@mcme.com.au

A Show Without an Intermission

Speaking True Brand recently I've been referring to Lady Gaga's definition of her brand, 'I'm a show without an intermission.' The woman certainly lives up to her brand with wild shows, a non-stop music machine and energy plus some. 

Lady Gaga also has something to teach us about the power of social media it seems. Being in Sydney for her concert this week, the woman who was Born This Way sent out a tweet which read "Thinking of going out in Sydney Tonight. How I wish we had a show. NEVERMIND, don’t listen to me. Maybe I’ll just go for a walk in the pARQ."

The tweet holds clues for Sydney nightclubs in the CAPS. And it worked. After nearly 20 minutes her clue was also posted on Facebook, attracting more than 10,000 'likes' and over 1,700 comments.

People queued up from 4 o'clock in the afternoon along for a performance slated for 1am. When some of the queue realised they wouldn't get into one club due to number restrictions they went and lined up for another. This was an exclusive die hard fans didn't want to miss out on.

Now we might not have Lady Gaga's celebrity status or PR machine workign for us, but here's some suggestions for you:

• Be unstoppable with your brand. Know who your target market is and keep working to attract their attention.
• Social media can reinforce your brand, especially if it leads to an event you can leverage. 
• Just type in Lady Gaga and Nevermind to Twitter to see how many people are spreading this news and  keeping it alive.
• Good salespeople leave clues. Even better when there's wit and a sense of humour involved. 
• Great brand engagement relies on great theatre. 

So, want to tell us about your latest show? 

To your unstoppable successs
Michael Neaylon
michael@mcme.com.au 

What's Your Disability?

Speaking for Ernst & Young’s Friday Foundation last week, I was talking on mental health, mentoring and giving back. I’d been debating whether to talk about it in the blog as I thought it was off topic. That is, moving away from authenticity in your brand, and or your business. But there was one moment – a line within the talk – which got an unexpected response. Much of the talk had been about family and community and health struggles I’ve seen in both.

The third part of the talk was about my experience mentoring a sixteen year old named Alex, who just happens to have Aspergers; a form of autism, which in Alex’s case means he sometimes lacks social empathy and struggles to read people’s emotions. He more than makes up for this with his willingness to learn and an overwhelming desire to understand others, know his role and where and how he fits.


So much so that if we’re on an outing such as a picnic given by the program co-ordinators of YWCA NSW’s Big Brother Big Sister Program, the first question he asks other teenagers is ‘what’s your disability?’

Now, when I told the 100 plus audience of accountants this on Friday, it bought down the house. And then I realised I wasn’t off topic at all. My message is about authenticity in your brand and in your business. What Alex has taught me – and what resonated with all the people in that room on Friday – is we don’t have to be perfect to succeed. And we definitely don’t have to be perfect to connect. But a willingness to learn, to serve, be accurate and committed to increasing the quality of our communication...that’s good business.

To your authentic success
Michael Neaylon
 
michael@mcme.com.au

Want To Be A Better Blogger?

Working with a client this week on their blogging strategy, I've got some pointers on more advanced tips for those of you wanting more from your blogs. 

• Be clear on the blog’s purpose. Mine is to give small to medium business owners tips and advice on how to maximise their profits and productivity. Within that there’s still a lot of scope: sales; marketing, time management; promotion; social media; product creation; brand alignment and engagement. I'm sure you get the picture.
• This is because business owners often need to be across a lot of areas to increase their profitability and productivity.
• If you blog to middle managers on optimised service delivery, then brainstorm all the ways in which you can give specifics on the topic.
• One to two paragraphs is ample. Better to have two good paragraphs than ten diluted ones.
• Write for one, to appeal to many. Know who your target market is and speak to them, just as you would in an email, or even better a conversation.
• Keep it consistent: Commit to an amount of blogs you’ll post (eg one per week or month) and then stick to that.
• Confess mistakes without compromising your client’s confidentiality. But don’t just stop there. Give people insights into how you recovered from the mistakes to value the client and save the day.
• Give good information that positions you as an authority in a specialised field.
• Be personal but remain professional.
• Keep an eye on your grammar. If in doubt get someone to check.
• Mix It Up: Add pictures, screen shots and video from time to time. Not all at once though. If your blog has a picture each post, and you decide to add video, then don’t include a photo AND the video.
• Include your email address in your sign off and invite people to ask you questions or engage with you. Don’t just ask for comments, ask for questions, thoughts and comments to give more opportunities for readers to engage with you.
• Avoid words such as might or perhaps and phrases such as I think. You’re the authority. Claim your online space. If someone emails you and points out your wrong, fix the mistake and move on.
• Lists Work: 5 Reasons to Give Up Smoking; 10 Wrong Ways to Install Software; 7 Top Blogging Tips
• Do’s work
• Dont's work
• So do pitfalls and success stories.
• Give it time. You won’t always get followers straight away. Stick with it.
• Give yourself time limits. Dedicate a set period of time to research, write and publish the blog. It’ll keep you motivated, make it less of a chore and give the blog greater focus.
• If you’re stuck on a headline, do the blog first and then create the headline. But remember that a catchy headline makes it more likely to be read.

Hope that helps. If you've got blogging tips of your own, let us all know.

To your blogging success
Michael Neaylon
michael@mcme.com.au

Brand Authenticity

This is the second interview with Flying Solo's Robert Gerrish for BNET on the importance of authenticity in your business.

Your Business Goals

Looking over a simple monthly goal setting program I work with clients on over the weekend, thought this a good reminder for setting our new financial year goals. 

This is s goal system I use and refine to help clients and myself clarify and embed goals - and keep accountable to them. 

Repeat each of these steps for each major goal you have, however I recommend having only three major business goals at any one time to avoid overwhelm and maintain focus.

1.    What is my vision?  What does this goal look like? What does it sound, taste and feel like?  Be specific here, and cast yourself as the main player in your own script. Write as much as you want, picturing yourself in the heart of the experience. 

Remember to write the experience in present tense, as if it’s already in motion.

You might already do this, but think of giving yourself a dream board or vision board specific to your business. Make the pictures meaningful for you.  

2.    When will I achieve this? Give a specific date eg. 11/11/2011

Congratulations. You’ve just clarified your major goal. Read this goal – out loud – briefly each morning to set your frame for the day.

3.    Now, put the goal in action.

Working back from the goal’s date, give yourself concrete actions to achieve it. Create three columns with these headlines: 

1. Major Goal
2. Date to achieve this by
3. Who can support me?

Then look at the steps you need to achieve that goal.

And before that?

And before that?

By now, you’ll have a clear idea of what you need to get in motion this month to achieve your goal, and when you need to do it by.

4.    Now write a list of the internal and external obstacles that might get in your way. This is not being defeatist. Far from it. Better to face these realities now and plan for them than be discouraged and give up when you realise it’s harder than you imagined. Write the obstacle, and next to that ask yourself 'what can I do to overcome this? 

                               

5.    Now, give yourself an accountability buddy. Let them know what you intend to achieve this month, and enjoy achieving it!  

Questions? Comments? Goals?

To your highly financial New Financial Year
Michael Neaylon

michael@mcme.com.au