The Power of You - Differentiate Yourself Through Local Branding
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The document discusses how to build a personal brand as a local business representative by understanding customers' needs, having a local presence, making local connections, and being backed by a larger company. It provides tips for communicating this personal brand through in-person interactions, social media, direct mail, and networking. The key is consistently focusing conversations on understanding the customer's situation and how the representative's brand can help while also mentioning the backing of their larger company.
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Editor's Notes
- Hello & thanks for joining us for this small business marketing 101 webinar on the power of you.
- My name is Lora Ullerich & I’m the digital media specialist for Cole Information. If you’d like to get a hold of me. Discuss today's session. The power you have over the big guys— How to set yourself apart through local branding Close it up with five action points you can start today. If you have any questions at any time, feel free to type in those question on the dashboard “chat” on your screen & we’ll get to those. Today we’re going to go over the power of direct mail and seven tips to a successful direct mail campaign.
- Before we get started, just a little background on Cole Information. In 1947, Jack Cole created Cole Directory, a directory of people by their address and phone number. While companies had dabbled in this type of directory in the past, what made Cole Directory revolutionary was that he used IBM punch cards to streamline the process and thus created a searchable database. This type of crisscross directory was groundbreaking & invaluable to a number of industries including telemarketing, debt collection and law enforcement. Today, through a number of our products, including Cole X-Dates & Cole Lists, we have continued to provide small business owners this searchable database of addresses and phone numbers that allows them to target consumers and businesses in their own neighborhood. We also want to provide small businesses with the necessary tools and information they need to grow their business. We do that through Cole community.com and also these small business 101 webinars.
- We also have a an online community called Cole Community, where with articles, a blog & other content including past webinars we think is interesting & is beneficial to small business owners like yourself. We invite you to take a look around, check out the site & use it as a resource for your needs.
- Cole Community features articles, a blog & other content including past webinars we think is interesting & is beneficial to small business owners like yourself. Best of all, it’s FREE! We invite you to take a look around, check out the site & use it as a resource for your needs.
- All the advertising you see on Television, Radio, or the Web has a global, universal focus. (if you can call global and universal focused) They have no other choice. It’s the best they can do. YOU can do better!
- Large chains and national carriers—radio, tv, newspaper, SM ads—unlimited budgets & resources, it seems like they’re everywhere and have the advantage to create brand awareness Can seem overwhelming to get your message across and resonate with both your customers and prospects, but don’t underestimate the power you hold over the local market. If you do it consistently, do it well, these national brands can’t compete with you.
- The keys to building your brand begin with understand the power of your brand, figure out how you can harness that power & then effectively communicate your brand to both your customers and prospects. Don’t forget about your staff when you embark upon this journey—engage them & get them excited and tell them the reasons behind building the local brand—because they too will help sell it and maintain that consistency & momentum.
- Understand your brand elements & more specifically: Your customer needs—you know it and can leverege it to your advantage Your local presence, knowledge, the connections & ties you have to your area Understand and realize too that you’re part of a national carrier who’s doing that national branding—use that to your advantage.
- In building your brand, recognize you have a genuine interest in your customer. They come first—and you know them. You may see them at the grocery store, they live in your neighborhood, your kids go to school together, you see them at church on Sunday. With Local customers—you can easily identify your existing customers by neighborhood. When prospecting, don’t forget to remind the prospect of all their neighbors who buy from you! When talking to customers, remind them also of their neighbor customers. Reinforce their buying decision. Ask your customers if they would provide you with a recommendation.
- Recognize your local presence. You can visit your customer or prospects in their homes and discuss, in person, their needs. You certainly don’t have time & many times, neither does your customer. But provide the option—and make sure it’s timely—you have a reason & bottom line, can save them money. Not everyone has time for that, but you do have their email address, phone number—give them a call, talk to them on the phone & if possible, meet them for a quick cup of coffee—everyone’s got time for that. You know the local weather—you’re not a storm chaser, but since you live in the area—chances are if your home is damaged by the storm or high winds or earthquake that shook the east last week—your customers more than likely had damage to their cars & homes too. You’re not an offshore call center the client never meets. You’re not a web site with stock photos of happy smiling faces. You’re not a storm chaser contractor here today, gone tomorrow. You’re real, and local! Never let your customers forget it! Start recognizing trigger events and develop communication methods that leverage events to your advantage. Insurance (Hail storms, burglaries, ice storms) Real Estate (Neighbors selling) Home service (Neighbors home improvement) you’re in the neighborhoods, if you’re building a deck or finishing off a home improvement project, you see & talk to the neighbors—be friendly, if a neighbor has interest, take some time, get their information & follow up—even if it’s just an email or adding them to your contact list—to keep them in mind. Cole Information has some products that help with trigger events to help with this—specifically Cole X-Dates—because timing is critical! Let’s face it.
- Capitalize on your local connections—chances are you’re involved in your community or have friends who are small business owners, local contractors, insurance agents, etc. If you’re a real estate agent & you know your client needs some work done, needs a new quote, etc. Refer those people without the expectation of a kickback. Insurance agents—add value to your conversation & don’t just satisfy their claim, but also give them a couple providers to receive a quote from. Your customers may not know who to turn to—so it’s a good idea to reach out to them & let them know you have resources & local knowledge that they can use when/if they need it.
- Don’t forget just as you have a personal brand, you also have the backing of a national carrier—these “big guys” who have the unlimited budgets & branding. And in the case of insurance companies, national insurance carriers are getting the hint. I don’t know if you’ve heard them lately, but their new campaign capitalizes on that local agent who’s the neighbor, a friend, etc. & knows the area, the weather, ect. & capitalizing on it.
- In the past, testimonials & referrals were hand written letters you carried around with you & could show to prospective clients. Today, the conversation is happening online with more than 700 million people on sites like FB, Youtube, twitter, etc. if you haven’t yet opened an account, we’ve got a great Small Biz marketing 101 webinar on how to open & communicate on these sites. I encourage you to check it out. Next, every time you have a positive customer interaction, ask them to “like” you on FB and tell about their positive experience on your wall, record a customer testimonial with a flip cam or even your camera or smartphone’s video recording capabilities, use some simple software & throw it up on Youtube--
- Everywhere you go, every sporting event, every fundraiser, every party, the health club, the restaurant, don’t forget, you’re a small business with a strong brand!