Being Beleived…

Garth Beyer

is worth more than being noticed.

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That’s why we as marketers tell stories instead of show what’s new and shiny with a product or service. (At least the smart marketers do.)

Moreover, understanding the motivations of the customer helps you tell the story they’ll believe in,  easier.

What need do they want fulfilled?
What does she want to feel?
What desire does she have the drive to satisfy?
What kind of stories does she want to share with her friends?

 

Stay Positive & Tell A Story That Resonates

The Problem With Brand Ambassadors

Garth Beyer

How To Make A Better Product

Naturally, every brand deems it beneficial to have brand ambassadors, but is it the right marketing choice?

Product and service success comes when a brand matches the expected experience the customers have of the product or service. This philosophy explains why it gets more difficult for Apple every product release (and it often leads to the moment your competitors have the advantage).

If brand ambassadors are set forth to talk up the product or service, to embody and represent the brand in the brightest light possible, then aren’t they accomplishing the opposite because one can’t possible meet the ever-demanding rise of expectations the ambassadors are setting?

Better to build a work culture that speaks for itself, one that people talk about because it makes them feel good; it puts them in the light.

If you’re in a business, you’re in the business of making people feel good, consistently. Sometimes that calls for exceeding expectations, but not setting the expectation before the experience that they will be exceeded (what many brand ambassadors do).

Rather than thinking what information brand ambassadors can share, think of what feelings they feel when interacting with your brand and how they can share those.

Anyway, isn’t everyone who touches your brand a potential ambassador? You tell me.

 

Stay Positive & Brand Ambassadors Work When The Culture Was Built With Them In Mind

How To Measure If You’re Doing Work That Matters

Garth Beyer

How To Measure If You're Doing Work That Matters

Day in and day out, unless I’ve felt like I’ve had my legs hanging over the edge, then I know I haven’t taken a chance at doing work that matters.

I see two parts to this picture.

There’s what’s in front: risk, fear, uncertainty, cluelessness, and, of course, a bit of excitement about what we’re doing. (It’s that excitement that defines great work.)

Then there’s what’s behind: support from those around you, the foundation you’re sitting on, the fear of conforming and upholding the status quo – all of which we so often forget when we’re looking at what’s in front of us.

Today, go to the edge, there are more people there than you think and they’re becoming more remarkable and successful by the hour. In fact, what they’re looking for is a new edge. Can you beat’m there?

 

Stay Positive & Go Dangle On The Edge Of Something Remarkable

Photo credit

Unless You Ask Why

Garth Beyer

Strategy and tactics mean nothing unless you ask “Why?” every moment along the way.

I like to think of it this way: if someone were to write a book about everything you’ve done for a business (yours or someone else’s) would they enjoy reading it? Would it hold their attention? More importantly, will they understand it (the why!)?

 

Stay Positive & You’re In The Business Of “Why” Now

Being Better Or Being Different

Garth Beyer

You can call more often to get more leads, sell at a lower price, make a camera that’s more powerful all to be better than your competition. More often than not, trying to be better is racing to the bottom, and the worst part is you might win.

Better, I feel, to be different than to be better.

What motivations are your competitors not fulfilling? What gap does your competition not care enough to fill? What void can you place yourself in to leverage the power of giving something that people need, but have not yet gotten? What angle are you pitching that your competitors can’t?

 

Stay Positive & Be A Maker (Race To The Top)

The Energy That Drives You

Garth Beyer

Have you found the energy that you thrive off?

Put me in a room of people who accept and are excited by the challenge of finalizing a creative brief in three weeks instead of the average nine — that gets me going.

Team me up with people who use “Yes, and” instead of “No, but” — the mentality gives me permission to suck and the confidence to voice my thoughts. Damn, that’s a good feeling.

Send me into a meeting where the people are short and to the point, ultimately driven to reach a common goal as quickly and smartly as possible – that gets my blood pumping.

Once you take a moment to recognize the energy that drives you, you can set out to surround yourself with more of that energy.

I look at it this way: YES, you can work on energizing yourself without anyone else AND you can leverage the energy of those around you.

 

Stay Positive & You Are The Average Of The 5 People You Spend The Most Time With

What PR Executives Often Delete From The Brief

Garth Beyer

The hardest part of a creative brief isn’t the demographics. It’s not the competitive analysis. It’s not even the creative idea and all that’s going to be done to instill brand devotion in the audience. The hardest part is how we’re going to measure success.

I saw a funny card at the American Players Theater last night in the gift shop. It showed a CEO discussing a chart to a roundtable of people. The chart in place showed negative growth/a decline of success.

Barging in the door was a man with another chart showing positive growth/an increase of success. The statement underneath the image: Wait! Use this chart from the PR team.

The reason that scenario works is because no explanation of what success means was established from the start. What happens is the team and the client agree to do something interesting and then the PR team chooses to measure whatever worked in whatever way it worked. It’s a client-pleasing tactic.

PR Executives get away with it because they often delete the “How are we measuring success?” prompt from the brief. Answering it is risky. It’s far easier to see what works and ignore what doesn’t; easier to praise gaining 50 followers on Twitter, but ignore the unstated goal of engaging with 50 current followers on Twitter.

If we want to produce real value in our marketing strategies then we have to answer the question of how we will measure success in all we set out to do. Brands are driven by focusing on what works and dropping what doesn’t, but if we don’t know if something is working (we need measurement to know!) then we’ve succumbed to the blind leading the blind – not a profitable or connective marketing method.

 

Stay Positive & Well? What’s Success Look Like?