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CEO Module 2
- 1. This programme hasbeen funded with support from the European Commission MODULE 2 READY TO GET STARTED SELLING ONLINE?
- 2. This module willencourage creative entrepreneurs to assess their business position and determine whether they are ready to start selling online. It will help learners to identify what makes their business, products/services stand out and how they can communicate the benefits and features of their products to a new online and global audience.
- 3. Learning Focus • Examinethe concept of brand identity • Learn how to build an online brand • Learn about Target Audience’s and how to identify them • Learn about Product Features and Benefits • The importance of USP’s in making your business stand out
- 4. Your brand isan asset and should be treated as such. It is more than a name, it should make an emotional connection with the consumer and stay in their memory. Branding is a promise to your customers – a promise of quality, of consistency, of usability, of durability – all the things that help make your product or service special in the minds of your customers. Why is branding so important?
- 5. The keys tobuilding a strong brand are: • Know your core values: these should form the basis of all decisions you make with regard to your business and your brand • Be unique: take a look at what the competition is doing, identify the gap and fill it with your brand – great brands challenge their category • Identify your brand’s personality: then ensure this comes through clearly in all your marketing • Have one designer do everything: logo, fliers, website, signage, PowerPoints, stationery and so on – hire a professional, particularly to manage your website • Be consistent: make sure you present your brand to the marketplace in exactly the
- 6. The keys tobuilding a strong brand are: • same way no matter what the medium – you are creating one brand … not 10! • Do things properly: if this means doing less, then do less – avoid cheap, shoddy anything: printing, design, packaging or photography; every communication that goes out to your customers is an opportunity to reinforce your brand • Socialise it: make sure every person within your business (that includes retailers who sell your product – and their staff) knows what your brand stands for
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- 10. It makes financialsense to build a great brand. Brand loyal customers: • Are less price sensitive • Have more of an emotional connection to your business • Increase sales revenue overtime – so you can maximise the life value of a customer • Become Brand advocates – Get your customers talking about you to others. • Are less costly to service A brand inspires customer confidence. It must prove its difference (why is this product better than competitor)
- 11. Sameness Your challenge isto rise above others and try to uncover how your business is superior from the others in your industry. Why do you deserve to get the customer over a similar business? These days, it simply isn’t enough to compete on product or price. Today, consumers are after something more. They look for substance and often buy with emotion. This means that you need to create a memorable MESSAGE (brand story) that stands above what you’re actually selling. It’s important to set your brand apart!
- 12. Your story isn’tjust what you tell people, it’s also what they believe about you based on the signals your brand sends. The brand story is a complete picture made up of facts, feelings and interpretations, everything you do, each element of your product, business or brand, from the ingredients you use, the way you prepare and present your product, your packaging and even your distribution is all part of your brand story and every element should reflect the truth about your brand back to your audience. Your brand story is important!
- 13. What is aBrand Story & why you need one? What is a Brand Story & why you need one? It is a blend of how you came to be, what you’re passionate about (in this case healthy food), your business culture (in this case the ethics behind your business – environmental etc), how your product make people’s lives better and why your product is worth noticing. Good brands often have human traits that your targets might identify with. They have a strong emotional context. You want your customer targets to think ‘he/she is like me’ or ‘that’s how I think’.
- 14. What is aBrand Story & why you need one? Your story isn’t just what you tell people, it’s also what they believe about you based on the signals your brand sends. The brand story is a complete picture made up of facts, feelings and interpretations, everything you do, each element of your product, business or brand, from the ingredients you use, the way you prepare and present your product, your packaging and even your distribution is all part of your brand story and every element should reflect the truth about your brand back to your audience.
- 15. What is aBrand Story & why you need one? More great information on brand stories at: http://thestoryoftelling.com/brand-story-services/
- 16. Your Brand Story- The elements to create or capture your brand story… • Start with your Personal Story: Your history, how you got started, the choices you made, were other characters involved? • Your Passion Story: What you love and why you love what you do. • The Personality Story: How people might experience your brand, the customer experience or your approach to the work. • The Customer Story: What do you customers say about you? • Employee Story: How employees explain the systems, the ‘feel’ or culture of the business
- 17. EXERCISE Complete ourTell Your Story Workbook This exercise will help you to develop powerful marketing material which can be used across all your marketing One you have worked on your story, make sure you share same on your packaging, website, in your literature, in videos, through the emails you send out, events you sponsor, attend, speak at – in other words – everywhere!
- 18. EXERCISE Instagram: Digitalstorytelling This exercise will help you to explore, express and tell the story of your business through a visual medium. It will also help learners understand the importance of good images and photography for their business.
- 19. Some interesting brandnames that stand out: Daragh Murphy, founder and director of the company, explains the origin of the odd name that everyone remembers: When I was about to register the business – with a generic name like IrishTees.com – my wife and I took a trip back to my parents’ house in Kerry. My wife was flicking through a photo album and there was a picture of me at six weeks old with a head of hair that Elvis would be proud of, while my brothers were as bald as cue balls. She made a fleeting comment that I was a hairy baby, and I named my business after it. “ ”
- 20. Why Build anOnline Brand? • Building an online brand creates awareness of what we, as entrepreneurs and our business stand for. • Building an online brand gives us instant opportunities to create likability and to foster the growth of a fan base. • Building an online brand elevates our credibility, because we embrace being ‘out there’ for the world to find. • Building an online brand allows us to gain trust – the most important part of the ‘sales process’ – leading to more prospects, more customers and more profits!
- 21. Building Brand Awareness Online “The best brandsare built on great stories” Ian Rowden, Chief Marketing Officer, Virgin Group Brand awareness is when people identify your brand to be yours under different conditions; whether they’re on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. The first step is making your brand memorable - and a blog is the perfect vehicle for doing that. So, let’s break that down a little. Storytelling and your online brand
- 22. Why Build anOnline Brand? After making it easy for people to recognize your brand, you need to work super hard at getting them to like you. The best way to do this in todays market is by connecting with your audience on a personal level. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather speak to a real person when calling a company than talking to a pre-recorded message. As new-age entrepreneurs if we want to be liked, we need to be personable. The great thing is that your audience WANTS to be able to connect with you on a more personal level, and when they can do that, they’ll be more likely to do business with you.
- 23. The key tobecoming memorable is making a good first impression… think about... • Get a Proper Logo Designed – This doesn’t have to be overly fancy. But, having something that symbolizes your brand’s image will help in building brand awareness and recognition. Use it everywhere you have a presence online – your website, online marketplaces, social media etc. • Create an ‘About Me’ Page – This page is the perfect place to speak a little about yourself, so that your visitors can get to know you better. Video is a great way of introducing yourself and your company. Ideally, you want to put your audience first here. So try focusing on a few benefits as to why they should stick around on your site. Be sure not to miss the opportunity of converting the casual visitor into an email subscriber and have an opt-in offer somewhere on the page
- 24. What to showto build trust? • You • Your team • Your location • Your premises • Your process • Your suppliers • Your customers • Your accolades • Your product/service • Your money back guarantee • Your guaranteed delivery time Building Your Brand’s Trust, Credibility & Reputation Online Building trust in your brand is all about adding value to your community in the form of high quality, extremely helpful, consumable (and sharable!) content. Let’s look at how you can use your platform (blog, YouTube channel, podcast) to build trust.
- 25. 3 ways to BuildingYour Brand’s Trust, Credibility & Reputation Online 1 Establish your credibility. There are a few different ways you can accomplish this. First, you should include a good, professional picture of yourself. Giving your visitors a professional image to associate you with will go a long way toward establishing your credibility. Next, you need to include a list of your credentials, be sure to state exactly how each of your credentials is going to translate into a benefit for your clients. Make connections and establish yourself as a professional by joining networking sites like Linkedin. Testimonials from clients are a great way to establish your credibility. An online portfolio of your work might is another option. EXERCISE Complete our Guide to a Great Online Portfolio
- 26. Be accessible. Makingit easy for prospective customers and leads to contact you is a simple and very effective way of building trust. Provide an online form, your e-mail address, phone number, fax number, physical mailing address and any other relevant information (like the best times to call you). And make sure this information is highly visible and easily accessible from every page of your site and also across your social media. 3 ways to Building Your Brand’s Trust, Credibility & Reputation Online 2
- 27. 3 ways to BuildingYour Brand’s Trust, Credibility & Reputation Online 3 Get as many referrals as you can. Encourage referrals and repeat customers. Always always, always follow up with existing clients! • Are they happy with your products? • Are they happy with the job you did for them? • Is there anything else you can do for them?
- 28. 3 ways to BuildingYour Brand’s Trust, Credibility & Reputation Online 3 Do they know anyone else who might benefit from your service? E-mail has made following up with your existing clients extremely easy and cost- effective, so there's no excuse for not taking advantage of this source of easy extra income. Don't be afraid to remind previous customers that you're there. And don't be afraid to ask for referrals. If you've done a good job for someone, they'll likely be more than happy to refer their friends and business associates to you. But if you don't ask, they'll rarely think to do it. Don't leave this to chance.
- 29. Stand Out Tips •Need to sell YOUR personality - write in language real people understand. • Get rid of the jargon. Make your sentences shorter. Add a touch of humour. Sound like you’re a human!
- 30. Choosing a tone/platformfor your brand • Who is your audience? • Who is your customer? • Target market? • What do you want your users to do next? i.e buy your product, share an image etc.
- 31. Your Target Market Asan entrepreneur, you have big dreams. You want the entire world to know your products and services are available to everyone. Selling online is going to open up the world of opportunities to you but to fully embrace it you need to know your target market, i.e. your customers inside out! You’ve been selling offline and have tested your creative business idea already so you probably have a general idea of your target audience.
- 32. Demographics Are aGood Place to Start One of the easiest and most obvious ways to describe an audience is in terms of demographic characteristics. • How old are your typical audience members? • Are they mostly female, mostly male or an even mix? • Are they married or single? • Do they have children? • Where do they live? • Where do they work? • What races or ethnic groups predominate? • What is the typical occupation? • The typical level of income? • The level of education?
- 33. EXERCISE Define yourTarget Market This exercise will help you to identify your target audience. This exercise will provide valuable information for your sales and marketing actions. Now that you know who your taregt audience is - why not create a Target Audience inspiration board. An inspiration board is a great tool to pull together images that reflect the audience you want to target and how you/your products fit into their lives.
- 34. CASE STUDY Beardalicious,UK EXERCISE Create a Target Audience Inspiration Board This exercise will help you to create a visual picture of your target market - their lives, motivations. Creative Business: Beardalicious, UK What they sell: Hand-made Beard Oils & Beard Balms Where they sell: Etsy
- 35. KEY TAKEAWAY: Now youknow who your target audience is – you can identify what benefits and features your products/services offer and can start crafting your sales messages.
- 36. Your Products What areyou selling? Do you know that people don't just "buy" a product? They "buy" the concept of what that product will do for them, or help them do for themselves. For example • Some people like to buy art as a form of escapism as it takes them to other places and times • When I book my child on a painting course, I am buying them the experience of learning a new skill for life.
- 37. Writing great productdescriptions All your marketing needs to speak to the consumer in terms of features and benefits.. • Product Features - Features are descriptive, they describe what a product or service does. They are very effective in health food marketing as customers like, and even expect, to see the specifics of what they are consuming through your product e.g. calorie count, nutritional benefits • Product Benefits - Benefits translate a feature into a solution that solves a customer problem. Solving consumer problems is one of the best ways of finding a winning business idea. But first, laying Foundations .. How do I differentiate my business? The use of language & visuals is a powerful tool
- 38. Product Benefits Matter! •Promoting your product benefits can encourage customers to make purchasing decisions despite a higher price point. • By highlighting benefits, your marketing supports the value perceived by consumers and will result in more purchases. EXERCISE This exercise will help you to differentiate between your products’ features vs your products’ benefits. List 5 product features and 5 product benefits of your product
- 39. Your Uniqueness Matterstoo! • Be clear about your USP, your Unique Selling Proposition. This is the factor or reason that one product or service is different from and better than that of the competition. • f you cannot pinpoint, explain or highlight what makes your business or product unique from your competitors, you won’t be able to target your marketing efforts successfully.
- 40. Examples of USPs •Unique function or feature • Higher specification • Unique design • Technical feature • Better quality • Locally sourced materials What you need to do Analyse your competitors, their brand story, their marketing messages, their features and their benefits, now where can you excel?
- 41. What they sell:Irish themed clothing Their USP: The t-shirts themselves are a great conversation starter and all contain a 'you have to be Irish to get it' message. Popular slogans such as 'State Of Yerman', 'Chalk It Down' and 'Who Said Mass?' not only offer the reader a good laugh, they give the wearer a sense of pride, much like an Irish badge of honour. This is the key ethos behind Hairy Baby, creating Irish t-shirts that Irish people 'get'. CASE STUDY Hairy Baby, Ireland
- 42. Where they sell:www.hairybaby.com CASE STUDY Hairy Baby, Ireland
- 43. EXERCISE Complete ourUSP assessment tool This exercise will help you to set you and your business apart Are you ready to sell online? Check List… o Have a strong brand identity o Know who my Target Audience o Have fixed prices for all types of potential customers o Have products or services that can be delivered within a predictable lead time o Know the Features and Benefits of my Products and can communicate these o Know my USP’s and can communicate these
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