Author: Garth Beyer

Two Ways To Start A Business

Two Ways To Start A Business

Garth Beyer

Starting A Business
One way is to start with your own idea, build a business plan around it, and shout, shout, shout with hopes people hear you, switch from competitors to you, and give their attention. To be successful with this, you have to change the way people think, act, and feel.

Damn difficult to do.

Another way is to start by searching for a niche, an area that’s been untouched, perhaps listening to more than a million complaints of people until you come up with a solution. The method: you find a small problem and you provide a small solution.*

To be successful with this, you gather a tribe of like-minded people who have the same complaint, the same problem and you give your solution to them. Instead of changing the way people think, act, and feel, you’re listening, understanding and reacting to how people think, act, and feel.

You can shout, advertise and sell or you can connect, gather, and give.

Two ways to start a business. I think you know which way is better.

 

Stay Positive & Either Way, Have Fun With It

*All big problems have been solved with big solutions. Times have really changed. Think the taxi industry. Big solution for big problem. Then think of Uber and Lyft. Small problem. Small solution. Huge success.

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The Best Way To Grow Your Business Locally

The Best Way To Grow Your Business Locally

Garth Beyer

Brooklyn Brewery President

Being president of anything means being the best marketer of the organization or business.

I’m learning from the beer brewing industry that when it’s difficult to expand large geographical areas because of competition, success all comes down to marketing local.

The best way to do that as President?

Be personal. Talk to everyone. Always be available. Be human. And, most importantly, you have to be outrageously passionate. No exaggeration here. If anything, I’m under-exaggerating how much it takes, how connected you need to be, how much time and care you need to give the community.

PR agencies aren’t vital for local growth. You don’t need to hire marketers on your team if you don’t want. You’re far better off taking the role as marketer yourself. The best businesses (breweries especially!) have the best Presidents and the best Presidents are often the best marketers.

This all seems obvious, sure. But look at your schedule, analyze what you do each minute of your day. Are you behind the scenes? Are you in an office? Or are you out greeting people, asking where they’re from, connecting with them, sharing your knowledge of what you know about the history of your business product or service with people face-to-face?

It’s one thing to have a business logo on your shirt. It’s another to put a face to the logo and by extension, the business. Customers need to know the face of the business or organization for them to connect on a personal, committal level.

As President and the best marketer, that’s your job.

 

Stay Positive & Being The Best Locally Often Attracts National Attention

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The Necessity Of Being Dynamic

The Necessity Of Being Dynamic

Garth Beyer

Dynamic Personality

Even as a freelance PR strategist, I never tell anyone I work alone on assignments. I always have a team. I always reach out to friends, experts, and alike. I ask for help, I have a couple other PR folk review my press release before a send it back to my client. PR is always a team-based activity whether you go at it as a freelancer or on an agency.

There’s a personality necessity I learned very, very early on that’s benefited me endlessly. I’ve also seen the lack of this personality be the downfall for other PR folk. You won’t make it the PR industry if you lack the ability to be dynamic.

If you’re being hired or doing the hiring, your team’s personalities will never align perfectly, nor should they. I like to think of perfect examples this way:

  • She can be pretty pushy, but she’s damn good at what she does.
  • He procrastinates and most of the time turns in assignments at the end of his deadline, but he always turns in absolutely brilliant work.
  • She’s an introvert, for sure, and you’ll be nervous if she understands what you’re asking her to do, but her work always proves she knows.

Madison Magazine mentioned a freelance writer of theirs who never makes deadline, but they know she always turns out the best work. (Naturally, they just give her a deadline that’s a few days before their actual deadline. It works.) If MadMag cut this freelancer, the quality of the magazine would suffer. So it goes with many many agencies and teams alike.

Be prepared to be dynamic with others, for we all have flaws others will work to overlook.

 

Stay Positive & Make It Easier For Them By Shipping Remarkable Work

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There’s A Reason It’s Called A/B Testing

There’s A Reason It’s Called A/B Testing

Garth Beyer

AB Testing

Much of the time when pitching options the only rule of conduct you need is “Here’s option A… and here’s option B, which do you choose?”

No remarkable designer goes into a pitch with only one option. Doing so makes the audience feel obligated to find a reason to dislike it or pick on it or point out a miniscule detail they don’t care for.

Just showing option A is not a smart move.

Nor is showing five to 20 other options.

It’s called A/B testing, not A/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/I/J/K/L testing.

You can certainly develop a bracket system, but I would push on whether your ideas are great or if they are merely good, which is why there are so many to face-off.

 

Stay Positive & Just Think On This Next Time You Pitch Anything

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All Talk No Action, Serious Advice

Garth Beyer

I had a professor who wouldn’t let anyone pitch their story until they talked to two others about it. The writer could talk to their friend or an expert on the subject, it didn’t matter.

Call it help or assistance; I just call it conversation.

Talk to a friend, a family member or call an expert about whatever it is you’re working on. The who doesn’t matter. And I don’t consider talking as inaction. Conversation is very much an action

I would never have gotten as good as I am without talking to people about what I was working on, and I’ll never get as great as I want to be unless I continue to talk to others about what I’m working on before I see it all the way through.

All talk and no action is a great way to start.

 

Stay Positive & Just Be Sure You Don’t Stay There

My Issue With A Team Based Philosophy

Garth Beyer

I got to chat with the staff of a general excellence award winning city-regional magazine today. Their editor-in-chief couldn’t make it, but a few of the other team members did. (One person from design, editorial, online and business.) It was a rough start when they began by trying to tell us about their magazine and philosophy.

First they had to decide who would do it. (Don’t you think they should all be jumping to talk about it?) Once they decided who would give the spiel, it came out much less a spiel and more of a “we cover these main things and we focus in on this city-region.”

A magazine philosophy, a PR agency philosophy, any team philosophy isn’t just for the top dog to know. What if the top dog isn’t there to give the spiel as was the case today? Will everyone on the team be able to fill in the blank when someone wants to know about the product or service?

As a some-what aside, something I love about most of the startups I’ve encountered is everyone working has an elevator pitch. From the founder, to the marketer, to the salesmen, to the customer service folk; everyone can give you an elevator pitch, everyone can share the startups philosophy, everyone has a spiel they can give. And, most importantly, everyone wants to.

 

Stay Positive & A Philosophy Says Just As Much About Your Team (knowing it) As It Does Your Business (acting on it)