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Tag: brand
7 Strategies for Successful Storytelling Webinar
Power Up Your Brand Story on Social Media Webinar
We developed the 7 Strategies for Successful Storytelling webinar as a companion lesson to the blog post, Your Story on Social: 7 Ways to Maximize Impact. With storytelling being the foundation of the services we offer at JRH Graphics we wanted to take a deeper dive on this topic and highlight ways businesses can utilize these strategies immediately. We also wanted to highlight how each of these strategies could be utilized in various organizations and businesses so we provided specific exxamples of each in practice and shared some of the results we have seen.
Storytelling on Social Media
We reviewed the following seven strategies on the webinar, including why the strategy is successful and how to actually utilize the strategy.
- Get Visual
- Enroll Users Help
- Verify with Proof
- Create a Story Arc
- Expand on the Blog
- Enroll Influencers to Help Magnify Your Story
- Create Connections
The 3 Big Win Strategies
We focused the webinar of the following 3 Strategies that we consider our Big Win Strategies.
- Create an expanded narrative by utilizing the concept of story arcs. A story arc allows you to tell more of your brand story over the course of multiple posts creating deeper engagement. You brand story touches multiple aspects of your business so it should naturally touch multiple areas of your social media marketing.
- The second strategy is expanding your story on your business blog. Expanding your story on your blog helps highlight your knowledge within your niche and establishes you as a leader. This strategy can result in significant payoffs as blogging has a tremendous return on investment.
- BIG WIN strategy number three is to build relationships with your audience and followers. Social media is meant to be social, and businesses must utilize the tools available to build relationships with followers. Engaging with your followers will build trust. Talking with your followers builds loyalty. Educating your followers establishes you as an expert.
Enjoy The Webinar
Since we build flexible and adaptable solutions into our strategies all of the tips and strategies are moldable to your unique situation. We make sure that each strategy is adaptable to a variety of companies and that it will help you tell your winning story. Please enjoy the webinar. If you have additional questions or want to provide feedback or suggestions please reach out. Webinar also visible on the JRH Graphics channel on YouTube
9 Essential Posts for the Holidays
Please join us for our next webinar. We will look at the 9 Essential Posts Framework utilized by JRH Graphics and review how to use it to get the most from your posts on social media this holiday season. Using the 9 Essential posts framework and pairing it with a content calendar you can plan the best ways to engage with followers. The framework makes it easy to provide varied content that is educational, entertaining and useful for your audience. Join us on this webinar, and “sleigh” your social media this Holiday! Get it, sleigh instead of slay!
Customer Service: The Foundation of Business Success
Customer Service is So Out of Your Lane, Why Are You Talking About It?
I am sure you are all thinking right now, why is this guy talking about customer service? Why not write about branding or social media or stories? Stick to what you are good at, right?
So to those questions, I have three answers:
- If you think that social media and branding have absolutely nothing to do with customer service, you are sadly very much mistaken.
- If you think that client relations is not customer service, you are in for a rude awakening.
- I am good at customer service. I am freaking amazing at customer service. It is one of my strengths, and it is very much in my lane.
So, Let’s Talk Customer Service?
I am talking about customer service because without customers (or clients) your business will close. If you aren’t marketing with customers in mind, your business will fail. Not treating your customers like family, the family that you like, then you are going to have a significant issue on your hands. Remember, the marketplace is more crowded than ever. Customers have more choices than ever before, and if you are not treating them like they matter, they will be gone. No matter how large or small your business, you need to be adding value. You need to surprise and delight your customers every single chance you get. From the first time, they contact you on social media, right to the 750th cup of coffee they buy from you. Every experience needs to give them a reason to come back.
The Customer Journey
Is it the first time you are coming in contact with the customer? What stage of the customer journey are thin? What have they heard about your business? From reviews to social media, to experts and peers impressions of your brand. A customer may have heard of your business name 30 times and gotten 15 good stories and 15 negative ones before they even contact you. As a business, you never know. Every single time I see an oversimplified version of the customer journey, I want to scream. Don’t get me wrong; the stages are valid. Their thoughts and experiences at specific stages in the buying process are essential to know so you can deliver the right message, content, and so that you understand the process. My problem is, no customer journey looks like this:
If the customer journey were that simple, all businesses would be able to control the variables, eliminate the guesswork, and get customers from awareness to retention in 5.2 seconds flat. Seriously, these customer journey charts make it look like a walk in the park. But in the real world, the customer journey is littered with land mines, lobbed grenades, and all other sorts of marketing shrapnel. Because realistically the customer journey could look like this.
Why Does It Matter
The second diagram is more representative of the modern-day customer journey. Not as easy to map, not as easy to react to and about 100 opportunities for customer service to impact whether or not they decide to buy. If you look at the journey in the way that is represented in the second diagram, you realize how important it is for everyone in your organization to be on the same page. From customer service to social media, to call centers. If one hand isn’t telling the other one what it is doing, you are destined to have customer service issues that will cost you sales.
If the overall customer experience is not a positive one, they are less likely to begin doing business with you. People like to feel good, make them feel good every step of the way.
Customer Service and Profit
Do you believe that this statement is true? To be profitable, you must compromise on the service you provide.
Many companies operate in this manner, compromise the customer experience to save some money. Not everyone believes that the customer is
always right. Many companies don’t see the value in making sure that the customer is delighted. This is a detrimental flaw in their culture and will lead to their demise. An American Express survey found that 78% of consumers have backed out of a transaction or failed to make an intended purchase because of sub-par customer service. Customers have options; if they are not satisfied with you they will move on
Show Your Customers You Care By Adding Value
Companies that value the overall customer experience are those that are successful. The only sure-fire strategy to maintain your market share is to build your policies and procedures with your customers’ interests at heart. Provide value to every customer. It doesn’t matter if they stop on your social media page, enter your store, or visit your website. Everyone should leave feeling like their experience with your company added value to their day. Be proactive, anticipate problems, provide solutions, and meet them where they are. It is your customer’s world, and you are just living in it.
More to the Foundation
Yes, what I have already mentioned represents a strong argument for making customer service the most critical thing in your business, but I have more for you. There are integral parts of this foundation like customer service is representative of the culture in your industry. Issues caused by poor service may be a symptom of more significant problems in your organization. Or the fact that lousy service leads to bad reputations which lead to customers choosing other businesses to meet their needs. Failure to keep the customer service foundation stable will lead to significant issues within the organization.
Bad Service Is What People Remember
Customers will remember and talk about the negative customer service experiences much more than the positive ones. Every negative customer service experience can potentially lose you as many as ten customers. Every negative experience can hurt your reputation, and a lousy reputation can destroy your business. You need to get it right every time to avoid a damaged reputation. Training your employees and hiring people who believe that the customer experience is the most important task at hand will help make this part of your culture. Anticipating issues and proactively solving them as well as educating and informing your customer base can go a long way in preventing negative customer interactions.
Excellent Service Strengthens Your Brand
Hey, look who is back in his lane! How you treat your customers is directly related to your brand. Poor service and a customer may choose another brand over you. Conversely, if you are well known for delivering a fantastic customer experience throughout a customer’s journey that may be what causes people to choose you over your competition. When everything else is equal, customers and clients are much more likely to choose a business that delivers a great experience.
How You Do One Thing, Is How You Do Everything
Sloppy? Poor communication? When somebody sees the way you do something, they assume you do everything in that manner. Therefore, allowing for poor customer service in your business tells customers that you may not have the highest standards. It leads them to assume that maybe your products aren’t the best, or perhaps the food you serve in the cafe is not prepared under the proper conditions. Sure, one negative situation, maybe a crisis averted, but that same crisis will arise again if you do not address the root of the issue.
Customer Service Issues Can Signal A Larger Problem in the Organization
Many times customer service issues arise as a symptom of other problems in an organization. I still believe that people are inherently good, and when given the tools necessary, and under proper conditions, they want to make other people happy. Poor service many times is a sign of inadequate training and poor communication in a business. Other times it is a result of employees not being empowered to make decisions. Or a management team that is reluctant to participate in the daily operations of a business.
Make Informed Decisions By Talking To Your Team
If things have been going great, and then suddenly you see a rise in complaints look at the changes in your organization. What roles are different? Were associates not trained on specific procedures? Are there open lines of communication? Or are people unaware of policy changes? Engage your staff and ask for input. Listen to what they have to say. Many times employees will tell you what they perceive to be the problem, and they may be 100% right. Even if your employees don’t see the issue in the same way, they will appreciate being consulted. No matter what, don’t just ignore the problems.
When Service is Great Things Are Just Better
When you treat your customers like family, they will return the favor. You will be less likely to have angry customer issues, complaints about the operations of your business, and fewer lawsuits. Because when you treat your customers right, you are opening the lines of communication and allowing for the flow of ideas. Your clients and customers are much more likely to approach you to discuss issues rather than resorting to other alternatives. Treat your customers poorly, and you can almost be sure that you’ll run into problems at one point or another. They don’t have a connection with you, they don’t know your story, and they don’t care if you succeed or fail.
Delighted Customers Leads to Advocacy, and Social Proof Money Can’t Buy
When you provide a delightful customer experience, from start to finish, Across all avenues for every customer, client, and audience members. You will begin to see people pinballing through the customer journey into the advocacy phase. With some people arrive at the advocacy stage quicker than others. It may take more time to earn the trust of other customers. But continue to deliver the same positive experience, and they will reach the advocacy phase as well.
What is magical about the advocacy phase is your clients and customers are doing some of the marketing for you. In our blog and webinar on social proof, we highlighted the power of a brand advocate. Someone who writes reviews or recommends your business to peers is proof that you are practicing what you preach and delivering value to your clients. It is a big win for your business so keep up the excellent work. And don’t forget, to keep the trend of positive proof going by using the great reviews and testimonials in your marketing.
Keeping Customers Is Cheaper than Attracting New Ones
Remember those profits you were protecting by settling for mediocre service; you can say goodbye to those right about now! Another reason customer service needs to be the foundation of your business is that keeping a customer is cheaper than attracting a new one. Once a customer purchases with you, they are more likely to continue to use your services if you continue to meet their needs. Keep in mind that those needs include being treated with respect and continuing to see value in the relationship.
Attracting new clients requires a business to attract leads. Engage those leads and provide them more value than the competition. Hopefully, a high percentage of those leads are converted to replace the customers you lost due to poor customer service experiences. And if the cause of the negative experiences is unresolved, you will continue to lose customers you acquire. Keep your clients when you delight them with a fantastic customer experience. Then build your business when you receive new clients not just maintain the status quo.
Customer-Centric Businesses FTW
When your business is customer-centric, it will make sure that the experience every customer has is a positive one. Your people will go above and beyond to deliver the service that your clients expect. You will anticipate and resolve potential problems making the lives of your customers better. And you will see growth as you retain clients, move customers into the advocacy phase and continue to add value. The only path to business success is having a customer-centric business, and doing all that you can to make every decision with the customer experience in mind.
Branding Workbook: 9 Brand Components
Creating Your Brand Is Not Easy
Are you in the process of brand building? It is overwhelming, isn’t it? There are so many things that you want to say. So many services that you offer and they are all to solve problems that are loosely related. Or you are offering an alternative to the status quo. It doesn’t matter it feels like it is going to be impossible to get all of this into 10-15 words that speak clearly about your brand! It is not impossible, many have done it and you can as well. We created the “9 Components of Brand: Branding Workbook” to help you get organized and break you “brand” into pieces that you can manage and help you work up to the big picture.
For more information on Brand, click here
What Exactly Is Brand
Remember that a BRAND is not your logo. It is not your identity and your BRAND is not something that can be sold. Brand is moments, memories, sights, sounds, tastes and smells. It is a gut feeling that a person has about your business. A BRAND is emotional because humans are emotional and they make decisions based on feelings. Therefore, your brand is not what you say it is… it is what your audience feels it is. You have to make your audience feel something. What are you going to make them feel?
For more information on Brand Storytelling, click here
Getting the Most Out of the Branding Workbook
In order to get the most out of the Branding Workbook, you should set aside time to work on each of the activities, time that you can focus on just the topic at hand. Be completely honest with your answers. Make sure that you are realistic with your strengths and weaknesses so that you aren’t building your brand on false pretenses. As you proceed through each component in the workbook, take a look back at the previous components and see if they align with one another. If they don’t think about why that is the case and how you may reconcile those differences as you continue to develop your brand and brand story.
Most importantly, be open and honest with yourself about why you decided to do what you do and why it matters to your audience. Your “why” is the foundation for all the other components, if you aren’t honest with this then your brand will forever fail to be authentic. Branding is an iterative process, you won’t complete this workbook and have the perfect brand statement immediately, but you will get there. What you will have is a better understanding of all the components you should take into consideration when working on branding your business.
What Are the 9 Components?
- You
- Your Competition
- Your Differentiators
- The Audience
- Your Business Personality
- Your Story
- How you React In Crisis Situations
- Your Vision (Goals, Plans and How You Communicate them)
- Perceived Authenticity
You Are the Number One Component
The first component of your brand is you. It is your business, after all, so it makes sense that you are the number one component of your brand. Component one is where you are going to look at your passions, your values, the things you want your business to be known for, and most importantly, you examine your “why.” Take your time with this section; honestly think about your answers to the questions.
Don’t stretch the truth; don’t overstate the facts, and think about how your answers will be received by the audience. You are building all the other components of Brand off of this foundation, make sure it is stable. If you nail this component, you are well on your way to creating a viable brand. Your chances of being seen as authentic by an audience are not good if you lie, stretch the truth or “fudge it.” Be honest, real, and emotional in your answers.
The Next Component Involves Examining Your Competition
Presumably, you are entering the marketplace with a product or service that was not available before, or you have an improvement to an already existing item. To know this, you examined the marketplace and what other vendors and businesses had available. What were the voids in the market before your product? How does your product fill those voids? How does your product/service change the lives of users? This is a basic before and after arc in a brand or product story, and the only way to tell it is to examine your competition. Honestly and objectively look at how you compare. They will naturally do some things better than you, and you will do other things better than they do.
Component Number 3 is Defining The Differentiators
You have determined what you do well, you have looked at and compared what others in the market do well, and you know how you, your business, and your products compare, So now, what are some of the critical aspects of your business that makes you different. At the core level, not superficial things but a differentiator that will make someone choose you over your competition.
Differentiators should be marketable things AND something that your customers/clients will value? Remember you can’t be everything to everybody, so if your differentiators narrow your audience down a bit but open the opportunity to have more engaged followers who share your values and believe in your business, then that trade-off is undoubtedly worth it.
Without Component 4 Your Brand Does Not Exist
Your audience holds a great deal of power in this process and it is imperative that you examine the likes, dislikes, habits, and expectations of your ideal clients and make sure that your brand is offering them what they are looking for. Your audience is your potential customer base and they are the reason you are in business. Without your audience, you have no customers. No customers mean no business. Oh, and if you don’t have an audience then you don’t have a brand, remember your brand is based on the emotional response to your business. So take the time here to do some research and develop a few personas that accurately represent your customer.
What Emotion Directly Proceeds the Purchase
You felt overwhelmed, so you bought a planner to help you keep organized. You felt old, so you bought a bright red sports car. You felt betrayed by corporate America, so you get your coffee at the local coffee house. An emotion directly proceeded these decisions to purchase and emotions are powerful motivators. Marketers know this and that’s why they capitalize on them to sell products, yes even the local coffee house does, and it’s not betrayal it is a smart business strategy. So what emotion are your customers feeling right before they come in to make a purchase with you? Pinpoint that, and your business changes. Emotions are universal, sell the emotion everybody will get it.
Your Business Personality
Businesses have personalities just like the people who run them. After all, you would not expect Oprah and Gary Vaynerchuk to run a business the same way. Oprah’s company has a different character, then Gary V’s who curses all the time provides blunt, real advice, and he most certainly will not be wearing a gown to a gala anytime soon. The idea here is if you are representing the company, the personality of the company should match your personality.
If you are the chief behind the scenes guy, then the personality should match your chief front of house officer. Neither is right or wrong, but it may feel incongruous and impact the perceived authenticity if the eccentric scientist at the head of your company was forced to waddle out on stage for company presentations in a tuxedo he only wore for those occasions, and shoes he always fell in. Let the man wear his Birkenstocks and lab coat for goodness sake.
Your Brand In A Crisis
We don’t like to think about things like a crisis, but you are better off preparing for a disaster that will never happen then assuming it will never happen and having to scramble to make difficult decisions in unfriendly conditions. Have plans in place, communicate plans clearly, and if the worst happens, you activate those plans. The essential thing to keep in mind here is how you will respond to the crisis without undermining your values. In a crisis, you must make decisions based on your company values do not abandon them for the business as you are merely prolonging the demise. A business shaken by a crisis can recover, a business that leaves its values to save face is doomed to fail.
Component Number 7: Your Vision
The goals and plans for the company and how those are communicated to employees (if one of your goals is to grow).
A vision statement is a form of internal branding that reflects the values of the company and plan for where the company wants to be in the future. Every member of your business should be able to identify with the vision statement .it should make them all feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves. Think big and stretch the concept of your business with your vision statement. Your own little business may surprise you and show what it is really capable of.
Bringing It All Together With Your Story
Component 8 is where we start to pull it all together. You are looking to engage your followers with an authentic story that answers important questions like the following:
- What do you do?
- Why do you do it?
- What problems do you solve?
- Who is your ideal customer?
- Who else do you serve?
- How are you different from your competitors?
- What does the company believe in?
- Why should the audience care?
Man, that is a mouthful… and I even forgot something, you need to be able to boil your story down to 10-12 words at times! As you begin the process of building out your story you may feel a need to go back to a previous component and revise it because it does not quite ring true to you. That is okay, it is why we call it a workbook. You are working to develop your brand and you should do everything possible to make sure it feels right for you. If it doesn’t feel right for you it won’t feel right for others. Go back tweak it, make it feel good. Be honest, and be real. Include your struggles and don’t forget your journey.
Once you have your brand story you can use it to create your key messages, brand talking points, and other marketing materials, Brand story first so that your brand identity is reflective of the values and story.
What is Number 9?
That last component of a brand is an essential one, and that is authenticity. You have not arrived at your finalized brand, brand story, and visual components to support it until you can say, “yes, I feel good about all of that and I have no problems defending that statement for as long as this company is in existence.”
Ask yourself if you are being real. If you can answer a truthful yes to all these questions you might be ready to go.
- Does your brand story sound like something a human would say?
- I can not identify a single place I embellished the story, used hyperbole, or misrepresented my experiences.
- I made sure the emotions portrayed are real and will connect with others.
- I talk about the struggles and hard times for myself and the company.
- I let my passion show?
- I highlight the unique qualities of the company in a way that will appeal to our audience.
You know your business better than anyone else. You know what is true and what is a lie and so will your audience. Branding is a long term strategy when it is layered together with storytelling, and engaging your followers regularly on social media it helps you build an audience that likes, knows, and trusts you. An audience that will call you first when they need your services, or know somebody who does. Don’t rush it. Sit with it for a couple days, allow it simmer in your brain and if it feels good in a couple days then try it out on somebody. Edit based on the input you recieve, let it sit, repeat.
Download Your Copy of the 9 Components of Brand: Your Branding Workbook Today
This workbook is created as a tool to help you focus on your brand and what items should be taken into consideration when brand building. We believe in the power of stories, We recommend you develop your story first and then focus on the brand.
Your Brand Is Not This… Discover the Key to Branding
Brand is Not
… your colors, it is not your logo. The business does not control it. These things are all part of your identity, and while they may speak to your brand, they are not your brand. Your audience defines your brand. It is an emotional response to your business that includes sights, sounds, tastes, and past experiences.
In the following video, Jonathan Howard, the owner of JRH Graphics, discusses how a company can impact its brand, how every single interaction with a sales associate, or operator, or online service bot can influence the customer’s perception of your company. He also reminds people that it is incredibly important to believe in your brand. Make sure that everything you put out to your audience is representative of the values you think are essential. Be unabashedly true to your beliefs; don’t water them down to appeal to the masses. A company that aims to please all people ends up pleasing nobody.
Differentiators
The idea behind differentiators is also discussed in this video. A brand is what makes someone choose you over another company. So what is it that makes you different? Why would somebody decide to use you instead of another company? Branding is the art of differentiation, and if you don’t stand out, you aren’t going to win. For more on differentiation and how to win with your unique values, check out this blog post.
What is the Key?
The key is to find out what makes you different and find an audience that values those differences. Once you have discovered that audience, begin engaging them and providing solutions to the problems that they are facing. Keep your audience in mind whenever you are launching a program, product, or service offering.JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwd2lkdGglM0QlMjI1NjAlMjIlMjBoZWlnaHQlM0QlMjIzMTUlMjIlMjBzcmMlM0QlMjJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy55b3V0dWJlLmNvbSUyRmVtYmVkJTJGWW5CcXd1UDlhTkUlMjIlMjBmcmFtZWJvcmRlciUzRCUyMjAlMjIlMjBhbGxvdyUzRCUyMmFjY2VsZXJvbWV0ZXIlM0IlMjBhdXRvcGxheSUzQiUyMGVuY3J5cHRlZC1tZWRpYSUzQiUyMGd5cm9zY29wZSUzQiUyMHBpY3R1cmUtaW4tcGljdHVyZSUyMiUyMGFsbG93ZnVsbHNjcmVlbiUzRSUzQyUyRmlmcmFtZSUzRQ==
What? That’s Just Stupid of Course I Control My Brand!
Welcome to A Rant on Brand:
Your Brand Is One of the Most Important Things You Can’t Control!
I could fill pages if I was asked. I have filled hours at the front of a class (hours no joke) talking about a brand. Things like misconceptions about it, why it is important, what differentiators really matter, what connects with your audience and the list goes on and on. But it always comes back to one important thing…
How do you even define a brand?
Dare to be distinctive
What makes you different? Why would someone select you over another? But the differentiators are just the start. Yes, it is important to be able to speak to why are you different from X. What do you offer that Y doesn’t? What do you do better than Z? These all help consumers decide if they value what you offer more than they value what another has to offer. But differentiators are not the end all and be all.
It is important to remember that a comany is not in control of it’s brand. All you really control is the identity- the colors- the language – the logo and the differentiators.
BRAND IS…
…WHAT HELPS PEOPLE DECIDE ON ONE OVER ANOTHER.
…IS A RELATIONSHIP WITH CUSTOMERS
…IS MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES
…CAN BE SIGHTS SMELLS SOUNDS
…BRAND = EMOTION!
A company can not directly control the emotion of others.
So why is all of this important?
Why should you dare to be different? Why should you remember that brand is more than just things you create that represent your brand identity?
It is important because
BRAND SHOULD INFORM AND DIRECT YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA, WEBSITE, AND BRICK AND MORTAR REPRESENTATION OF YOURSELF.
It should be front and center in everything you do. Not just because you want all your things to look pretty, but because every customer interaction, every social media post, every experience is creating those memories and moments that truly create BRAND.
Every employee you hire can impact your brand, every social media post you like without fully understanding what the author represents impacts it. Every product you decide to carry, every product you decide to not carry. All of these decisions impact the emotional responses of your customers to your company and therefore impact brand.
My Suggestion
I have always made one suggestion to all my clients when it comes to brand. The first thing you need to do as a company is to define your brand clearly. What would your company say in difficult situations? What are your core values and what do you offer to your customers? But what is most important is simple… you need to believe in your brand and show that belief in all that you do, all that you say, and in every interaction with your customers/clients. The moment you waver is the moment you have a brand identity issue and in this social media age, an identity issue could mean major issues for your company.