Build Your Brand In Summer to Prepare for Winter

Recessions:
Yeah, they're kind of like that.

A recession is a bit like a forest fire. It causes great destruction, but it also serves to clear away debris and waste and make room for strong, healthy trees to thrive. In a recession, many businesses will fail, but the the strong ones will survive. The strongest will actually come out of the trial of a recession stronger than they went in, expanding market share and often having the opportunity to buy up their weaker competitors.

Proper work during the boom times on establishing a powerful and robust brand is crucial to being one of the companies that thrives in the downturn rather than being one of those that is forced to sell out.

In 1862, Clément Juglar discovered that the Juglar Cycle, in which he found that the booms and busts of the economy tended to cycle every 7 to 11 years. It is a natural part of the business cycle. There are various factors that go into this: monetary policy, government policy, the need for the economy to correct itself, and more.

Of course, we see this borne out in the last few recessions. Here are years that the last seven recessions started in the United States.

It's been 11 years since the last
recession. On average they occur
every 6 years.

2007
2001
1990
1981
1973
1969
1960

They are actually an average of 6 years apart, and the last one started 11 years ago.

We can discuss all kinds of complex economics and contentious politics when looking for reasons why the next recession will come, but it is simple math to see that the next recession is coming. Economists do not seem to believe that it is imminent, growth likely continuing into 2019, but whether it's in 2019 or 2022, now is the time for a business to prepare.

As the Bible says, "Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. (Proverbs 6:6-8)"

How do you prepare, and avoid King Solomon calling you "lazybones"? Naturally, you should make sure your business is on firm financial footing. Pay down debts. Maintain a cash reserve for unexpected downturns. But financial reserves enough are not enough to ensure that you are one of the businesses that will come out stronger rather than one of those that must sell out to a competitor.

The Most Valuable Investment
The most valuable investment that you can make today is in your brand reputation. I speak to many business owners who say, "I'm too busy. I'm turning away jobs. I don't need advertising right now."

This is an ad that runs for Amazon.com. When your
brand is as well known as Amazon, you can think
about saying you are well enough known that
you don't need to advertise anymore.

They are correct that they do not need direct response advertising like coupons and special deals. What they do need right now, however, is sponsorship and brand marketing.

What's the difference? Direct response advertising is advertising that seeks an immediate result. It's almost like day trading. You are asking for something today. Use this coupon. Get that deal. Call now. Operators are standing by. You either get a result or do not in a very short period of time. This is your Google Ad Words, many TV and radio ads that call for immediate action, that sort of thing.

Branding and sponsorship advertising is more like making an investment in the future of your business, specifically in the reputation of your business. Branding is done by sponsoring events and organizations that people care about. It is done by supporting community publications that people are connected with. It is also done with advertising, whether TV, radio, print or online, that focuses on the values and value proposition of your business rather than an immediate call to action.

Coca-Cola is the most recognized brand on Earth, yet they
continue to use ads like this one to maintain their top of
mind awareness.

It's the difference between the friend who only calls you when they need something, and the friend who's always around occasionally asking for a favor. With branding and sponsorship, your business becomes that friend who is always around, not only there when they have their hand out.

Right now, the economy is hot, and the pie is large. Everyone has a slice. In the foreseeable future, in the next 1-4 years, that pie will shrink. Those businesses that have invested their profits wisely, especially in building their awareness and reputation in the community will be those that will thrive in the next recession. Those that do not will find themselves losing their market, and possibly their business, to those that have.

How to Do It?
Many small businesses only focus on direct response advertising, so they may not be familiar with what brand marketing is. There are three key aspects to look at: Sponsorship, Brand Marketing, and Content Marketing.

Sponsors at a local Little League field.

Sponsorship
Sponsorship means putting your brand identity adjacent to things that people feel positive about. Putting your name on a Little League team, sponsoring a community magazine, or supporting a Rotary event are examples of this. It makes people think of your business as local and as a part of the community rather than simply as another business after their money.

Just because people know your business exists does not mean that their impression is positive. Placing your business adjacent to causes that they care about can move consumers from awareness of your business to appreciation for your business, a crucial improvement.

Brand Marketing

An example of brand marketing.
No call to action, details, or even
contact information. Simply a
mention of the brand to maintain top
of mind awareness.

Brand Marketing, is marketing with the intention of increasing awareness and positive perception of your business. Awareness can be increased with sponsorship activity, and it can also be done by putting your brand, logo, slogan, jingle, or face in places where people will see it consistently (many times) and persistently (over a long period).

You can engage in brand marketing on any platform, but it is more cost effective on some platforms than other. Branding on television is prohibitively expensive for all but the largest companies. Branding on most online platforms like Google AdWords and Facebook is nearly impossible given their shifting algorithms. Community magazines can be very effective at branding to a targeted market. Billboards can also be effective, although it is more difficult to pinpoint the market.

High quality, high engagement community
magazines are one of the most powerful
platforms for content marketing to
reach a targeted audience.

Content Marketing
Content Marketing is a form of marketing that puts a deeper message than simply your brand and product or service offerings. It is sharing content such as expert advice and valuable resources. It can also take the form of giving people a deeper familiarity with your business, such as business history, employee biographies, and the like. Either way, the goal is to make the market see your company are more than just a logo and a quote, but to make it human, deep, and familiar to them.

Content can take a variety of forms: print articles, online writing, podcasts, video, audio, and more. It is important to realize that there are two key elements to content: the quality of the content itself and having a strategy to make sure that people actually consume the content. The greatest article in the world will bring no customers to your business if no one reads it. I have seen amazing videos on YouTube with 50 views on them.

Tools like blogs and newsletters can be a very effective method for driving content to your existing customers and those already familiar with your business.

How do you push that great content to the rest of the community? The best way to ensure that the broader public consumes your content is to place it in a platform which they are already engaging with. The ideal, although it can be difficult to achieve, is to become an expert contributor to a community publication that has high engagement or to have a show on local television or radio.

This article, for example, is an example of Content Marketing. I am using it to share important information, to build relationships with my readers, and to establish a reputation for expertise.

For More Information
Marketing is a complex and ever changing field. If you have questions, feel free to reach out to me at feedback@michaelwhitehouse.org or call 203-707-1245, and I'd be happy to help or discuss consulting options. I am also available to speak to your organization. Contact me for details.

Making the Most of Business After Hours Networking

They say that in business, it's not what you know, it's who you know. Some people use that axiom as an excuse for failure, but I simply see it as a fact of business. If who you know is very important, and you don't know the right people, what do you do about it? Meet the right people!

One of the best ways to start making connections is an open networking event. Most chambers of commerce run something similar. Some call it "Business After Hours" others call it "After 5". Whatever it is called, the structure is the same. A member organization looking to show off what they do hosts the event, which runs every month or so at different venues. There is generally food and drink provided, and a whole bunch of people show up and put on name tags.

The after hours networking event.
Valuable opportunity or terrifying
chore, depending on your
perspective.

This can be one of the most valuable and rewarding or terrifying and stultifying events you will encounter depending on how you approach it.

The first thing to do before you even show up is to prepare. Be sure that your look is the look that you want the business community to know you by. If you are a creative type who always wears jeans and a polo, and that's how you want people to know you, you can wear that. If you want to appeal to the professionals and bankers and lawyers, you'll want a suit, or at least a nice button down shirt. Whatever look you are going for, make sure it is neat. Tousled hair, 3 days beard growth, and ratty sneakers will not give anyone confidence in your business.

If you have business cards, make sure to bring them. If you don't, get them printed. They're cheap, and they are a very good way to start the conversation.

Finally, figure out what your goal is in attending the function. Are you looking for clients? Are you looking for networking partners who can help introduce you to clients? Are you looking for other people in your industry with whom you can share ideas? Are you looking to enjoy the company of other business people because it's a nice change from the office? Depending on what your goal is, you will want to adopt a different approach to the event.

If you are lucky, you have a friend to introduce you around. Most chambers have "ambassadors" who introduce new people around. If you have someone like that to guide you, then you are in good shape, assuming that your guide can introduce you to the people you are looking to meet.

If there is a specific individual you are looking to meet or someone from a specific company, ask a member of the host chamber if they could introduce you. It is much easier to get an introduction to a specific person than an introduction to some people.

The experience of a new person without a guide is often the same: you walk in, possibly knowing one or two people. Maybe knowing no one at all. Everyone seems to know each other. They are all standing in little knots of twos and threes and none of them seem particularly interested in talking to you. Some people, at this point, will start to think of the group as cliquish, and write it off as just a bunch of old buddies getting together, making it hard to meet anyone. Resist that temptation.

Of course, they are not particularly interested in talking to you. They don't know who you are, what you do, or what you have to offer. It's your job to create interest. (You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?) If you have someone to introduce you, the introduction can create the interest. If you are on your own, however, it's up to you. So, how do you meet people at an event where everyone seems to be engaged in conversation?

While the food is often phenomenal,
you came here to build your business,
not feed your face.

Everyone at a networking event is wearing a nametag, and most of them are there to network and meet new people. Most of them are also just as shy about walking up to new people as you are. The difference is that they know people there, so, where your alternative to meeting new people is holding up a wall, their alternative to meeting new people is talking to the ones they already know.

Now, that you understand that most of the people there actually are open to meeting you, let's meet some people. Find a clot of people who are of interest to you. Perhaps the business indicated on their nametag tells you that they would be someone good to meet. Perhaps they are the group standing closest to you. It doesn't matter, you will meet lots of people in the next two hours.

Approach the group, and observe their body language. Most people at these events are engaged in casual conversation, but some might be trying to conduct some sort of business or at least formally introduce themselves in preparing for future business relations. If that seems to be what is going on, then you might want to move on to the next group. You are less likely to make a good impression if you interrupt what was developing into a valuable opportunity for those you are interrupting.

A glass of wine might help you relax
and be more open to approaching
people, but remember you are here
for business. Stay sharp, not
shnokkered.

I discussed cliquishness earlier. That happens between people who have known each other a long time. If people know each other, they won't be talking serious business at their after hours event. They'll be chatting about golf and that thing that happened last year and kids and wives and cars. In other words, the clique standing around talking might be more open to being interrupted because they are more likely to be shooting the breeze, while the newer members, just meeting people and feeling out opportunities, may be harder to break into a conversation with.

So, let's say that you are approaching a group, and you find a break in the conversation. Often, a member of the group will notice you standing there, and draw you into the conversation. Since the only thing they really know about you is what's on your name tag, they will often start there. "So, Michael, what's Concardia?" I am often asked by way of introduction. Have your business card ready to hand to them as you explain what you do.

This is what the "elevator speech" is for. Be prepared to explain your business in 30 seconds or less. One or two sentences is better if you can do it, especially if they are crafted to elicit the response of "oh, really, that's interesting. Tell me more." You'll know you are doing it well if your business becomes the seed of the next conversation more often than not. After a polite amount of discussion of what you do and what you are looking for, turn it around and ask them what they do.

If no one starts the conversation, and if no obvious segue comes up to enter the conversation, wait for a lull in their talk and use the networking pick up line I described above. "So, Susan, what is Phillipson Associates?"  or "So, Robert, what do you do with Liberty Mutual?" There are few things wrapped up in this introduction. You are saying:

• "I am interested in you and what you do."
• "I am giving you the floor of this conversation for a moment to talk about yourself."
• "Please tell me what you are looking for so I can see if I can help you with it."
• "When you are done talking about you, I hope you will reciprocate with the opportunity to talk about me"

Your mission at these events is not to make sales. It is not even necessarily to make appointments to meet later. You have a very short 90-120 minutes to meet as many people as you can. During your time with each person you meet, your job is to arouse interest and get their card so that you can follow up and arrange an appointment to meet later. We'll talk about networking appointments in a future article.

If you approach an open networking event well prepared and equipped with a goal, you will come into a room seeing dozens of potential business contacts with whom you will have valuable, long lasting relationships. If you come in ill-prepared and unplanned, you will see a noisy, crowded room full of unfriendly strangers.

I attend the Eastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours events regularly. If you are in Eastern Connecticut and would like some introductions, drop me a line. I'll be happy to help!

Panera Bread Shows How It's Done

I was at a meetup at Panera Bread this evening, and, more than any other restaurant I have ever seen, Panera knows the value of, and the way to keep, a group.

First, if you are not familiar with Panera, let me tell you a bit about them. Panera is a national chain of restaurants. They make panini, salads, and various other kinds of yuppyish food without seeming pretentious. Customers go to the counter to place an order and get a little remote vibrating device to inform them when their food is ready. They were in the news a little while ago because they are working on a model for a charity restaurant. The concept is "pay what you can." People who do not have the means can pay nothing. Others may pay more than the menu price to help those in need. Interesting idea that I think will work.

The group was expected to be about 5-8, but it turned out to be 17. This made Panera a bit small for the group. Hard for people at one end of the table to talk to the other. I have been to many places with various groups. Some places get it that groups are good and are friendly enough. Other places don't get it at all and harass the group, insisting that everyone order something. (Most places in the later category have gone out of business for some reason.)

This Panera, however, really nailed it. I have mentioned before the value of giving before getting. Well, tonight, an employee comes over with a tray full of smoothies, and not shot glasses either, but 8 oz cups. They were free. Smoothies all around. No particular explanation, just free smoothies all around. Later, a manager came by to clear plates out of our way so we could keep talking. (Normally you bus your own dishes.)

I rarely see such good table service at restaurants that have waiters, let alone one which is normally counter service. Needless to say, some full sized smoothies were purchased after the gratis ones were handed out.

This particular group will probably end up meeting elsewhere just because it is really too big for the venue, but you can bet that if any of those 17 people needs to pick a place for a meetup, Panera will be high up on the list.

This is a company to watch. Consistently high quality and service. One of the first restaurants to offer free wifi in every store. Excellent Twitter presence, and a creative mindset. I hope that they keep it up, as they continue to impress me in many ways,