Kilian Jornet is the greatest athlete you’ve never heard of. He competes in niche sports that require enormous effort and endurance: ski mountaineering, sky running, and ultramarathons. When I say “competes in”, I mean he acquires championships the way you and I acquire gas bills: so regularly and with such certainty that they become almost […]
What kind of return on investment can you promise to your customers? If they buy your products and services, how is that going to impact their bottom line, increasing revenues and/or decreasing costs? And how fast can they realize that return? If you have that kind of offer to the market, you might consider building […]
Here’s another post in my continuing series on Crafting Your Brand Promise. Small business owners get a great deal of advice about how to avoid commoditization–how to bundle products and services that add value, thereby increasing the price you can charge. But some small businesses have a real edge in offering their customers a low-cost, […]
Some years ago UPS introduced a campaign “I love logistics.” They had a jingle, visuals, and actually defined and claimed “logistics” as their own. They kept it going for a long time, with fresh new ad episodes. Not everyone loved it–some people found the song maddening and had a lot to say about that. BUT […]
Your customers want to know why you are able to do what you do, how or where your learned to do it, how have your industry and your peers recognized your accomplishments, and other measures of fitness we call “credentials.” Credentials come in a wide variety of forms. There are the basic ones like […]
In my continuing series on brand differentiation, today’s post focuses on the value of case studies in building your brand. Prospective customers really like to read compelling case studies about how your customers have engaged with you and achieved certain desirable outcomes–more money, less hassle, greater efficiency, higher profit margins, higher quality, etc. But case […]
Does your company have a unique capability? Something that only you can do or that few competitors do? If so, perhaps that is a unique differentiator for your brand. Let me give you some examples: A Call Center has the capability to specialize in the healthcare industry (which has very strict regulations about collecting payments) […]
Great brands are built through focus. It’s often very hard for a small company, especially a young one, to limit its concept of “who is our customer” and “what do we sell.” But trying to market all the things you might do or could do to all of the people who might use your products or […]
Today’s Guest Blogger is Joseph Olewitz . Joseph has been there & done that in the area of new business development. In addition to being CEO and Principal Consultant at 22nd Story Strategies, Inc., Joseph currently shares experiences deriving from years of pitching large professional services deals on his Intentional Growth blog. As I […]