Clarify Your Goals and Reach the Finish Line

All too often goals lack clarity. In other words, we constantly set goals that no one can achieve because there’s no finish line; no way of telling whether you completed the goal or not and where you stand at any given point. Here are some examples of goals that lack measurement:

·       

 

 

“Improve inventory processing.” How much?

·        “Strengthen new client relationships.” How do we measure “stronger”?

·        “Identify, recruit, and retain the best employees.” How will we know if we’ve done that?

Exiting vague theory, we activate a proven set of practices that have been tested and refined by hundreds of organizations and thousands of teams over many years. Simply put, enabling organizations of all shapes and sizes to focus their finest efforts on one or two wildly important goals (WIGs) that will make all the difference, instead of giving mediocre effort to dozens of goals.

Consider the two most common focus traps:

·        Do you find yourself saying ‘yes’ to all good ideas?

·        Do you turn everything in the whirlwind into a goal?

 

What is this lack of clarity in your goal-setting process costing your organization?

This dilemma is overcome by executing a matched set of 4 deceptively simple rules:

1.      No team focuses on more than two WIGs (wildly important goals) at the same time.

2.      The battle you choose must win the war.

3.      Senior leaders can veto, but not dictate.

4.      All WIGs must have a finish line in the form of ‘from X to Y by when.’

Lag vs. Lead Measures

·        Lag Measures – The measurement of a result you are trying to achieve. We call them lag measures because by the time you get the data the result has already happened; they are always lagging.

·        Lead Measures – Foretell the result. They are predictive and influenceable. 

Here’s a warning: Resist the temptation to oversimplify.

As a quick wrap up for now, remember, a WIG is not a strategy. A WIG is a tactical goal with a limited time frame. Some WIGs take years to implement. Use your own judgment.

7 Tips to Help You Launch Business Growth Using Content & Generosity

Published by: Tim Thomason
Thomason Media Group/Atlanta

In  Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition, Michael Stelzner dismisses traditional marketing messages and pushes the concept of success through giving the gift of great content.

 Stelzner believes people want valuable insight, access to great people and recognition – before they want products and services. Therefore, building trust with your potential customer is more important than your products and services.

 Read on to discover Stelzner’s prescription for growing and marketing your business without employing traditional marketing tactics. He walks the reader through the step-by-step process of growing a business through generosity and cultivation of great content.

1. The Elevation Principle and a Simple Equation - Launch is based on something Stelzner calls the Elevation Principle. Simply put, this principle is the process of meeting the core desires of prospects and customers by helping them solve their basic problems AT NO COST.

 Gifting your prospects with free information, you will earn their trust and they will have a higher likelihood of considering you when they are ready to make a purchase.

 This strategy requires business owners and marketers to rely less on marketing messages that only drive sales. Instead, they are asked to generously solve the problems of their potential customers without asking for anything in return by creating valuable content.

 This is great news for content creators, like myself, who thrive on producing articles that educate their reader base. However, it’s far too easy to get lost in all that content and forget WHO you’re writing for and WHY. Stelzner lays out a detailed plan to help leverage the value of great content in order to grow your business.

Great content + other people – marketing message = growth

2. Your Flight Path to ‘Out of this World’ Results - Using the metaphor of a rocket ship maneuvering through space, Stelzner helps the reader navigate a solid flight path.

 Once you’ve decided to employ the elevation principle, it’s time to refine your ‘vision statement.’ A vision statement is ‘a sentence or 2 that helps keep you focused during moments of uncertainty.’ It should answer the question: Where do I ultimately want my business to be?’

 Your vision statement is something that will help you make decisions and ensure you’re staying on course. It’s not recommended that you rush this part of the process, but work to truly uncover what it is you want out of your business.

 After your vision statement has been completed, it’s time to set those SMART goals we’ve all heard so much about.

 SMART Goals:

•  Specific
•  Measurable
•  Attainable
•  Relevant
•  Time-bound (put them on the calendar)

 Stelzner does an excellent job at walking the reader through some examples of setting goals based on a vision statement. He recommends setting up ‘markers’ or key accomplishments that will guide your business along its path to success.

 3. Inspiration Comes in Many Forms and Can Be Fleeting - Stelzner advises finding inspirational role models that inspire you to take your business to new places. These can be individual competitors, brands or any entity that has engaged you with its content.

 Inspirational and engaging content gives you ideas for your own business and these ideas need to be captured.

 Enter the Idea Vault…An idea vault creates a place where ideas live and can be easily fetched. Recommended tools to help you capture your ideas include:

•  Bookmark sites, delicious, etc.
•  Email folders
•  Store on desktop – create folder of PDF’s
•  Physical folders

 4. Secret Sauce = Solving Your Readers’  Problems - Solving your prospects’ problems without asking for anything in return will establish trust and make them LOVE you. Solving their basic problems is an easy concept to understand, but I would argue VERY few businesses actually put this into practice.

 The first question to be answered is WHO are you trying to reach? The more targeted your answer, the easier it is to create valuable content relevant to that group.

 Stelzner lays out detailed information on how to build a profile for your ideal ‘people’ base. He advises considering the following when determining your ideal base:

 Industry focus – Does it make sense to target people in a specific industry?

 Topical interests – Does it make sense to focus on a few specific topics? (Make sure they have longevity.)

 Job title and function – Decide what is the most likely title for your target

 Company size – How big is the company size of your target and how are you quantifying size? Employees, revenue, etc.

 Geography – Should you focus on people in a particular location?

 He then takes it a step further and asks you to answer the following questions:

•  What problems are they facing? Make a list.
•  What is the nature of who you’re trying to reach? (Busy? Seeking new ideas?Skeptical?)
•  How familiar are they with my topic?
•  What are the desires of my user base? What do they really want?

 Once you have created a comprehensive persona or two, you can begin to actually visualize this person and truly uncover how to best meet their needs with your content.

 5. Content! Content! Content! - It’s all about content. But not just any content, ENGAGING, COMPELLING, OUTSTANDING content. So how you do you define GREAT content? It should include these essential elements:

•  Highly relevant
•  Educational
•  Easy to digest
•  Visually appealing
•  Conversation-igniting
•  Lacks a sales angle

 Stelzner suggests creating an editorial guide and an editorial calendar to help keep you publishing content regularly. An editorial guide should outline the following:

•  For whom are you writing?
•  Length of content
•  Layout and formatting considerations

 He tapped Social Media Examiner’s managing editor, Cindy King, for tips on creating a solid editorial calendar:

•  Publish strongest content on days you have the most readers
•  Look for variety in categories over the week/month
•  Space out multiple authors
•  Be flexible

 Along with these solid tips, working examples are provided to the reader and make creating these important assets fairly painless.

6. Primary Fuel vs. Nuclear Fuel - Getting specific about the content you’ll want to publish, Stelzner categorizes your content into two types: Primary and Nuclear.

 Primary fuel is regularly published, free content that meets the needs of your reader base. The goal of your primary fuel is to help your readers solve their problems so they will become raving fans.

 Stelzner advises that the lifespan of primary fuel is about three days. The types of primary fuel include:

•  How-to articles
•  Expert interviews
•  Reviews
•  News stories
•  Case studies
•  Contrarian stories

 Nuclear fuel is carefully designed content that has a lasting impact on significant numbers of your ideal reader base and possibly experts.

 This type of content has a lifespan easily exceeding that of primary fuel. It can sometimes be relevant for years. Nuclear fuel should always be free and includes:

•  Reports based on surveys
•  White papers
•  Top 10 contests
•  Micro events (webinars, videos, podcasts)

7. Cage Your Marketing Messages, Be Generous and Your Business Will Grow - The insights and advice I have outlined from Stelzner’s book are simply a launching pad for growing your business. If you’re looking to make the complete journey, invest in a copy and read it for yourself. It’s the type of book you’ll find yourself going back to throughout the process of growing a successful business.

 Some may find it difficult to swallow the bitter pill that marketing messages no longer work and need to be scrapped. However, I have experienced how sales-driven content will bring community activity and growth to a screeching halt.

 Today’s landscape requires a different methodology and a paradigm shift away from TAKING to GIVING. I think we can all agree that we admire those who are generous. It’s time to apply that important principle to business.

Thinking Against the Grain

8 Counter-Intuitive Marketing Principles That May Surprise You
By: Tim Thomason, Thomason Media Group/Atlanta


One of the smartest sayings in marketing is this: “Some of the best marketing principles are counter-intuitive.”

Consumers aren’t in need of 1/4 inch drill bits. They’re in need of 1/4 inch holes.

It highlights one of the great truths in marketing — that you should spend more time studying your consumer than studying your product. If you get inside the mind of your consumer, you can understand what it is they’re really buying. And once you’ve done that, you’re home free.


To drive home this point, take this simple test:


People who buy Porsches buy them because:
1. They have 4 valves per cylinder

2. They have longitudinal engine alignment

3. They have a 9:1 compression ratio

4. They make the owner feel sexy


The answer, of course, is number 4. I truly don’t believe anyone ever bought a Porsche for its longitudinal engine alignment. The people at Porsche understand this. Which is why they sell so many Porsches every year.


What are the timeless truths about marketing that every marketing director should know? With that in mind, here’s what I’ve come up with:


There are only 4 reasons people will buy your product/service. They are 1) price 2) service 3) quality 4) exclusivity or some combination of those concepts. Everything else is just a variation of those themes.


Don’t do research on people who buy your product or service. Do research on the people who have considered your product/service, then gone elsewhere. That’s where you’ll find gold.


Your #1 job isn’t to take care of your existing customers. Instead, your #1 job is to acquire new customers. Oh, sure, taking care of existing customers is a very close second. But your #1 job is to get new customers. Otherwise, you’ll be out of business in about 4 to 6 years. Do the math. Seriously. You’ll find it’s true.


The best time to increase customer loyalty is when a customer is dissatisfied with you. This is also counter-intuitive, and it’s also true. If you can take an existing customer who is about to leave and convert them to a happy, fulfilled customer, they’ll often become your biggest advocates.


Don’t compare your company to other companies in your industry. The trick is to compare your company to best-in-class companies in other industries. That’s where you’ll find the new, innovative and growth-producing ideas that make the cash register ring.


You’ll learn more from your failures than you will from your successes. People spend their careers trying not to fail. But if you aren’t failing, it means you’re not trying new things. Remember, Steve Jobs failed at Apple plenty of times before coming back and kicking ass.


The most important order you’ll ever get is the second order. This is a classic principle first mentioned by Bob Stone, the direct marketing guru. Why is the most important order the second one? Because a two-time buyer is at least twice as likely to buy again as a one-time buyer. Treat your second time buyers like royalty. Because they are.


All the research in the world won’t teach you as much as transactional data. Transactional data is the information from people who have actually purchased your product or service. You’d be amazed at how deep it can go.

The Leverage of Leverage

'Creating highly leveraged marketing strategies' seems to be a vastly overused phrase. It's really very simple.


A problem that many business owners face is the challenge to create highly leveraged marketing strategies within their business. We should be focused on areas in the business where we can do the work once and benefit from our work over and over again. That’s the definition of Leverage.

There is gold to be mined in your business simply by systematizing many of your regular, routine processes. It does not require fancy solutions, just the discipline to document your processes, make them repeatable, train your team and require that everyone follow the process. The outcome is a set of business processes that delivers the same consistent level of quality to the customer.

We are going to focus on Marketing Strategies. Why focus here you ask? Here’s the simple answer. If we want to have consistent messaging and exposure for our business, we need to make our marketing efforts repeatable and self-sustaining.

I know this has never happened to you, but let me give you a typical scenario:

A business owner spends a significant amount of time marketing and promoting their business only to be so successful that they land several new customers. Their workload increases and soon they focus the majority of their time on fulfilling their new customers orders. Meanwhile, they are not doing much marketing and promoting. After a short period of time, the business owner looks up to find their business is slowing down, so they go back out and market heavily once again. Again, they secure more business, become overwhelmed and focus on delivering their product or service to the customer. Once again, without the consistent marketing, the new business slows down and they find themselves in a cycle that continues to repeat itself.

Sound familiar? Go ahead, point to someone else you know who lets this happen all the time. Now look at your hand as you are pointing. Count the finger pointing back at you. Yep – there are 4 of them pointing directly to the guilty person! Admit it – we all fall into this trap. I know I am guilt. So what is the fix? Build leverage and systems into your marketing processes!

You have 6-8 strategies that you are using to expand awareness of your business, right? If not, go re-read the article on Lead Generation. Every business should have at least 6-8 marketing strategies in place at all times. This eliminates variability and creates consistency in your messaging.

Now take each of your marketing strategies and ask yourself, how could this marketing strategy work on a consistent basis without my having to personally be involved or engaged in the activity? Come up with 4 or 5 ideas for each strategy. If you are the only one who knows how that particular strategy works, then one of your actions will be to document the step-by-step processes you take to do it. If you consistently do a mailing or run an advertisement, how can you systematize it so that the mailings get sent or the ad gets placed without fail on a regular basis?

In some cases, you may need to involve others on your team or assign the specific activities to someone outside of your business. If you are doing search engine optimization but are relying on your personal skills in this area to accomplish it, ask yourself “Is my time better utilized optimizing my SEO or meeting with prospects and landing new customers?” I often times see business owners who are personally involved in the execution of their marketing strategies rather than focusing their efforts on meeting new prospects and landing new clients. Why? Maybe it’s because it is easier for them to focus on the marketing strategies. Maybe they don’t like doing the “selling”.

You need to determine where your efforts are most optimally used in your business. What is your highest value add. Once you find that, then focus on that and put systems in place to handle the other activities. Businesses that Leverage their Marketing activities are more likely to maintain a consistent flow of new prospects and new customers. Their business growth occurs more predictably than those who turn the marketing faucet on and off as their time and resources allow. Which type of business would you rather have? One that is consistently growing or one that is constantly up and down? Let me guess…

So, time to get after it. Write down your marketing strategies and for each one, come up with 4-5 ideas on how you can continue to do each strategy with you having to personally be involved in them. Document. Delegate. Use your Default Calendar. Create Systems.

Do You Have A Skeptic On Your Team?

Tim Thomason - Thomason Media Group/Atlanta
Do you have someone on your staff that seems like he or she always has the knack to quickly and accurately size up a situation, but at the same time this person always seems somewhat skeptical of some of the company’s decisions? Is this person vocal and challenging to manage? And more importantly, does this employee have an uncanny ability to accurately predict the outcome of events before they occur?

This is the person that you pray is kind enough not to utter those dreaded words: "I told you so"-- because he or she is usually right when predicting the outcome of a bad management decision.
If you have a person like this on your team, chances are that you have a valuable asset on your staff. If someone on your team fits the description mentioned above, instead of branding the person as a “whiner” you could use this person’s talents to your advantage. (Yes, this type of skepticism is a talent!)

For instance, if your company is fortunate enough to have the flexibility to make changes (without going through a congressional delegation or corporate bureaucracy) about personnel and marketing policies, this employee could be instrumental in helping you prevent future blunders. Many managers can be very good at specific tasks, however not all managers have the ability to anticipate the fallout from a management decisions. If a manager has a blindspot for this talent (which a skeptic possesses), it can put the manager in very bad situations. Seeing situations through the eyes of others is critical. This “other orientation” is not a talent that all managers have.

A trusted employee with strong skeptical thinking talents can be a tremendous complement to a manager's decision-making.

A “skeptic” on your staff can prove to be invaluable in many ways. By playing the devil’s advocate role, this person can be added as a sounding board to help you attack an idea that may need “fine-tuning” or re-thinking before you actually put the idea into action.
Regarding personnel decisions, this skeptic can be a very accurate barometer for the entire staff and can present the “worse case scenario” to management when sensitive policy changes affecting personnel are being considered. If your company is about to change compensation plans, vacation policy (or other policies that are super-sensitive) bringing the skeptic into the loop can brace you for the reaction to expect from the staff.
While some managers may think this suggestion is risky, it is my experience that the risk is much greater to execute a highly sensitive and potentially explosive policy change without hearing a skeptic’s opinion.

I have seen many horrible management decisions over the years that have blown up in a manager’s face, with the beleaguered manager exclaiming afterward, “I can’t believe they reacted that way. I never saw it coming down like this.”

Important marketing decisions are also good to discuss with your resident skeptic. Using a skeptic that occupies a sales or customer support role can be invaluable. They know the frame of reference and mindset of the customer base. Before your company comes out with new sales collateral, brochures, advertisements, promotions, etc., it would be wise to let the skeptic attack them first. A skeptic who consistently interacts with customers can see the proposed changes through the customers’ eyes as well as through the eyes of the company's management.

Many marketing ploys have no credibility in the eyes of the customer, so ferreting out the ploys that assassinate your company’s credibility is critical. If your staff doesn’t buy into the marketing strategy, then the promotion that appears brilliant “on paper” will fall flat on its face in the field. The first selling job that should be done with a new marketing foray should be done with your internal staff. If the staff can’t be “sold” on the idea, then you should see a huge red flag pop up. If the staff doesn't buy it, there will be serious storm-clouds on the horizon with your customers. Bank on it.

Many companies make key marketing changes based on good customer research (which is ideal). If your company is smart enough to do this type of research, then the highlights of the research findings should be revealed to the staff (or at least to the trusted skeptic) so the “why” behind the new marketing strategy is understood.

Of course it’s easier (short term) to make a decision and just to force your staff to do what you tell them to do—but doing this will just wear you out while you brow-beat them into doing what you wish. This isn't very smart. It causes resentment and morale problems.
There are several ways to get a specific mission accomplished, and in many cases the best method isn’t always the most obvious method. If I wanted to leave a specific location in town and drive to another location twenty miles away, I may choose one particular route to drive. You may choose a totally different route though. What matters is that we both get to our destination—and to arrive there safely.


There’s always more than one way to get to your final destination. As George S. Patton said “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity." Having input from the staff ensures that all views are being heard and that the best options are being executed.

While many managers discourage keeping a vocal skeptic on staff, the more savvy managers welcome scrutiny from a skeptic because it can help improve internal and external business decisions. The most talented people tend to be vocal and opinionated (because they care). Why not use their input into key decisions?

Of course you can’t choose just anyone on your staff as your skeptical soundboard, but there are some key traits you may want to look for in a vocal and opinionated employee. Most important, you must be able to trust the person with sensitive information. (Just because a person may frequently disagree with you doesn’t mean that the person isn’t trustworthy.) If the person is objective (likes to use facts to back up his or her opinions) and has proven to have strong judgment history, you may have a candidate. This person may also stand out since he or she isn’t easily duped (when others on the staff are). For example, a good skeptical salesperson can tell if a client is duping them, while the more gullible sellers go for the fakes during every misdirection play that a client runs. Your skeptical soundboard candidate must also have a good history of predicting events before they unfold.

A good manager maximizes an employee’s strength. A skeptic with the right traits has a talent that can be used to your benefit—and can save you from making costly mistakes. That is - if you recognize the person’s talent and view it as a strength, not a weakness.

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks - Updating a Tired Brand

Branding is essential for any small business. However, after a certain period of time even the freshest branding ideas can become stale and worn out. Here are some of my tips for working out if it is time for your business to have an image change:

Review competitors: Take a close look at what others are doing (branding, positioning, strategy etc.) in the same market as you. Is there a new trend that they have all adopted that you have not? It is healthy to be slightly paranoid that you are being left behind by the competition.


Ask clients: Because you are so close to your brand and you see it every working day, it is very difficult to objectively judge it. Try consulting with new customers to get a fresh opinion on your brand.


Get advice: There are numerous sources of advice available for small business owners. Take a look at some of the market research that has been done on branding or ask an expert for some pointers.


Make a list: Now that you have some insights on your current brand, it is useful to start listing your strengths and weaknesses. This is the best way to work out exactly what is wrong with your current image, if anything.


Build a strategy: You won't be able to re-brand successfully without a thorough plan of action. All the changes that you plan on making must be carefully implemented to avoid causing too much disruption to your business.


Evaluate changes: It is absolutely critical that you follow-up on any branding changes that you decide to make. Without a full evaluation six months or a year down the line, it is impossible to be sure whether you have managed to make things better or worse.

As I always say, 'there's more to this than just whiteboards and good smelling markers.'

Frivolous Attributes of a Successful Marketeer

August 28, 2010 Tim Thomason – Thomason Media Group/Atlanta

To kick off the week, a quick marketing snippet post on some slightly more frivolous personal attributes required to be a successful marketer (this one goes to 11).

1. First make sure your skin is thick, and by this I mean rhino thick, as your resolve will always be challenged.

2. Hearing should be acute when required and selective when in the presence of those way out of their depth.

3. Eyes needless to say must always remain wide open and not blinkered if you want embrace new ideas.


4. Mouths should be controlled by the brain and not the heart – a difficult one!

5. Teeth should be clenched and lips sealed when in the presence of a lesser genius.

6. Necks should be stout, always reined in and never presented for the block.

7. Backs should be strong and straight – That way you’ll stand head and shoulders above those more spineless around you.

8. Feet should be coordinated for a quick get a way but independent to avoid jumping in with both.

9. Hands should be open as fists make marks.

10. Muscles need to be flexed from time to time to ensure understanding.

11. Thoughts should be kept to yourself and ideas copyrighted in writing at the time of creation.