Who? Frank? Frank Sanbeans? Yea, I remember him. He is one easy going guy. When I ask him how business is going, he answers, “It is good enough”. He considers it a virtue to be content with such things as you have, so he is happy with things just the way they are.

Of course, it is Frank’s inalienable right to determine what happiness means for himself. The problem with being content with good enough is sometimes we stop short of all we are destined to be. Frank tells me he only needs X amount of sales to get by. Sure he dreams of a bigger shop but does not want to get his hopes up.

Think about it this way. The only way to consistently achieve all your stated goals is to set the bar too low. If you are never failing, then, believe it or not, falling on your face for having tried something new would be progress.

Frank has a good product and could be providing jobs and opportunities for other people. By placing “get by” in the crosshairs, he ends up hitting it. Bullseye. Frank also ends up focusing on sales rather than adding value. He could be innovating to help his customers in new and unexpected ways, so his customers also are losing out.

Of course, setting the bar consistently too high would set anyone up for discouragement. But playing it small has never caused big things to happen. Our business exists to put a little rock in your shoe. We know a little discomfort can create change.

Life is too short to stagnate. Set your goals outside your reach, or what is the use of a goal? Challenge and stretch yourself as a company and as a person with daily, weekly and quarterly goals. Where should you set your next target?

If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time. Zig Ziglar

In the 26 years that we have been helping small companies with their marketing and advertising, we have seen almost every kind of difficulty one can imagine. Throughout this month, we are sharing some of the most common problems using fictitious characters in a humorous way. While all of the details in these stories are true, the names have been changed, to protect the guilty. Should any of the stories sound familiar, it is our desire that they would help steer you around some pitfalls. Stay tuned for more Complex Characters of Capitalism.  

 A boring business is a business ignored.

Meet Bill Bored.

Bill didn’t mind going to work. It was the eight-hour wait to go home that was killing him. He got a wild hair one day and he just up and quit. He figured he might as well go into business for himself. The worst thing that could happen was that he might have to dig out his resume again.

Everyone would understand if he didn’t have money for fancy cards right away. He chose the red ink. He knew that would be good. (Remember the red power tie thing?) Tagline? “Quality Work, Dependable Service” would do. And he would use those nice little bullet points. He did not want to be troubled with business plans or “target markets” just yet. He would do that later. It is all just a bunch of hoopla anyway. He had enough to do just keeping up with spreadsheets and sales and production. It is so much easier to work without vision. Everything is so much easier when you are not answering some big hairy question like, “What on earth am I put on earth to do?”

Bill accomplished what he set out to do. He created his own job. The problem is, until you have been gripped by a great compelling that is larger than yourself, it is just another job. It may be your office and your rules. But without an overarching purpose, it is just another work station with a nice new stapler and neon post it notes. In other words, it is just another great big yawn.

Are you taking your business seriously? Or just spinning in your new chair? Every new business is filled with opportunity. With great opportunity comes great privilege. With great privilege comes great responsibility. You have something of value to give the world. Until you do, we are all losing out. Beethoven says, “To play a wrong note is insignificant. To play without passion is inexcusable”.

Come on. We are all waiting. It is either yawn or yawp.

“Sound your barbaric Yawp over the rooftops of the world”. Walt Whitman

In the 26 years that we have been helping small companies with their marketing and advertising, we have seen almost every kind of difficulty one can imagine. Throughout this month, we are sharing some of the most common problems using fictitious characters in a humorous way. While all of the details in these stories are true, the names have been changed, to protect the guilty. Should any of the stories sound familiar, it is our desire that they would help steer you around some pitfalls. Stay tuned for more Complex Characters of Capitalism.  

Starting a small business only looks easy. In the 26 years that we have been helping small business with their marketing and advertising, we have seen almost every kind of difficulty one can imagine. No matter how well prepared, no one is ever prepared for it all. Even with a business degree, most business owners still learn on the job. The biggest problem for any entrepreneur is that you do not know what you do not know. How do we know?  We are a small business too and have experienced many of these problems ourselves.

Many business problems are common across the board, even in a room full of entrepreneurs representing different industries. Throughout the month of March, we are going to be sharing some of the most common problems of commerce, using fictitious characters in a humorous way. All of the details in these stories are true. We have watched them unfold in businesses we have served. However the names have been changed, to protect the guilty. It is our hope that should you see yourself in some of these scenarios, that you will have time to change course and avoid a few storms.

Let’s take a look at this week’s characters:

Adam Baum is the classic bootstrapper. He has very little working capital and desires to stay out of debt. But he tries to do everything himself, and herein lies the problem. No entrepreneur can do everything well. Trying to do everything yourself is akin trying to cut your own hair. Technically you could cut your own hair, and save a bit of money. But should you? Since you cannot see the back of your own head, you may end up looking so tacky that your customers run the other way. And then you would lose money instead. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. You may just blow up your own possibility of progress. Take an honest look at your own limitations. If you do not know how to lay out that brochure, hire a pro. Otherwise, you may scare everyone away. Some things are best left to the pros.

Alan Rench is Adam’s counsin. Alan is also a bootstrapper, and also a do-it-yourselfer, but for a very different reason. While he has enough money to hire help, he believes that no one could possibly do it as well as he can. Alan is the classic sole proprietor. He cannot bear imperfection. But in reality, he is secretly afraid. He fears that someone else may do a better job if given a chance.  Alan will eventually get to the point where he can do no more with his own two hands and cap his own income. Are you having trouble letting go? What are you afraid of? Small Business owners must develop their leadership skills. You are a leader whether you like it or not. Try setting up a system for a common task, and train someone to fill that task. Work with that person until they can meet your expectations. Setting up a work flow and training systems will free you to become even better at your craft than you are now. Growing other people and helping other people to become the best that they can be will also help you to become the best that you can be.

Stay tuned next week, for Characters of Capitalism- Part 2

Passion is good. Purpose is better. Part IV

We have spent an entire month talking about the foundation of your Brand: Purpose.

Today, in Part IV, I want to show you how a strong company Purpose infuses life into every nook and cranny of your marketing. Just a heads up– if you are only looking to increase sales, this article is not for you. I am speaking today to a different tribe. I am speaking directly today to those that want to sustain business for the entire marathon.

First, this may come as a shocker. I hope you are sitting down. When I was a teen, I use to give snarky lip service to my parents. Can you believe it? I am certain I am the only one who ever used all the right words but with precisely the wrong attitude. My Mom would respond,  “How you say it is just as important as what you say.”

Many small businesses pay snarky lip service to their branding as well. Somehow, they convince themselves that they can avoid all the hard work and they do not have to experience the pain of defining and expressing their Purpose. In reality, they avoid nothing. They find the pain later when they discover they have failed to provide the very reason the customer should buy from them in the first place. Placing priority on sales, businesses express themselves with the wrong attitude. Whenever your Purpose is not expressed and understood, your business is reflecting a ‘tude. And like a resistant teen, the world is missing out on what you have to offer. You could be so much more.

But let’s say you have done the hard work. After you have defined your company purpose, how do you give voice to your raison d’etre? Your Visual Voice should be designed to match the identity and character and personality that you have carefully and purposefully chosen. Whenever a company is not getting the desired return on their marketing dollar, you can almost guarantee their purpose is not getting through. Style is hugely important in delivering the Purpose and identity of any brand. Maybe you have a great message, but you are not delivering it in a way that is becoming to your identity. If your business has a fun-loving personality, but all your marketing materials are straight-laced, and your colors are navy blue and burgundy, you can guarantee the right perception is not received. Or perhaps your style is inconsistent–changing with every new campaign–and so your message is, for all practical purposes, starting over with every touch point. Whatever the reason for the marketing fail, with inconsistent or inappropriate visual branding, your marketing must work ten times harder to produce the same results. Who has money or time for that?

Your company logo is a great place to start. Does your logo give expression to what you are all about? The definition of the word “Logo” as “word” is interesting. But that definition reaches all the way to communication–that of speaking or giving expression to something, and in an understandable way. The ancient Stoics went so far as to define it as the divine animating principle that gave expression to the entire Universe. Philosophers derive the word logic from it. You have to agree the “word” carries some weight. Is your logo logical? Does it express the animating principle of the life of your entire business?

Did you know that the strength of your company is evident in your Visual Branding? Your marketing materials express the state of your universe. Your marketing materials will never be more effective than your plan. You say your plan is non-existent? Telling. With Inbound Marketing, perceptions are the new cold call. If your company is lacking the gravity of Purpose, and if your Purpose is not understood, you cannot expect your customer to perceive what you are all about or be attracted to your Brand. 

Think you are too small to dig into your marketing like this? The small business is best suited for it. Small business can swim circles around the big boys. But any size business can lose sight of the goal. And any business can benefit from returning over and over to their founding Purpose.  Where is your focus? A business that churns out product with no profit is a business without a head. A business with great systems, and a great product, but has lost sight of the big picture goal is a business without a soul. But a business that is focused on making sales, and has forgotten their Purpose to make at least someone’s world a better place, is a business without a heart.

Your Visual Brand should reflect your Purpose, your Vision, your Core Identity, and the very structure of your company. And how you say it is just as important as what you say. Take a fresh look at Purpose and infuse life into every nook and cranny of your Brand.

That is taking care of business. By Design.

That is this week’s Imagination Hat!

Be sure to read the prior posts:

Part 1- Purpose defines your Vision.

Part II- Purpose defines your core Identity.

Part III-Purpose provides the very structure your business needs to grow.

Passion is good. Purpose is better. Part III

The fuel of February is Passion. This entire month we have been discussing why Passion is good, but Purpose is better. Both are necessary elements in any business. But while Passion supplies great motivation, it must be constantly renewed. Purpose, on the other hand, is a perpetual motion machine.

In Part 1 We talked about how Purpose defines your Vision. A company Vision does not provide every detail. The point of seeing your Vision clearly is so that you can believe in it yourself.

In Part II We discussed how Purpose defines who you are. It forms your core Identity as a company–and is the very foundation of your Brand.

Today in Part III, we are going to talk about how Purpose provides the very structure your business needs to grow.

Purpose is like a dot to dot. Once you begin drawing the line in a dot to dot, it is easy to see the next step. Purpose provides a path and a trajectory. You need simply to continue moving forward. Without forward motion, the picture will never materialize, and making progress will be like trying to steer a parked car. Taking in the big picture view, you can imagine the completed image, even though the connecting lines do not yet exist.

Purpose is like Gravity. Entrepreneurs are full of ideas. In fact, it is characteristic for true Entrepreneurs to have more ideas than they have limbs to complete. While a passion-filled life is good, too many passions will distract you from your highest end. Purpose is like the Sun, pulling all the orbs of passion into orbit. It supplies energy and light for every effort. And Purpose will compel you forward, even if the space junk opposes your way.

Purpose is like a basketball hoop. Once your team understands what kind of game you are playing and understands how to win, everyone can instantly see what efforts are helping to achieve the goal. Team members can implement new strategies to achieve more points. Each basket is celebrated by everyone, whether they made the basket themselves or another person did it. Each effort can be analyzed to improve the next effort. Playing without a clearly defined purpose is like playing basketball with no hoop. No one knows if you are winning or losing. The team becomes distracted, tired of running around, demoralized, and disengaged, because no effort really matters. Purpose is an essential tool for leadership. Good leaders share their purpose over and over, keeping team efforts focused, and fueled.

Purpose is cool, like Jazz. A Jazz Chart does not provide every note for the musicians to play. It provides the structure. It provides the key. It keeps everyone together. As long as each person stays within the framework, it allows for infinite variation. Therefore, Purpose is an essential tool for developing and enabling creativity. Like Jazz, Purpose gives everyone a chance to solo and show off their unique strengths, all the while yielding to the ultimate structure. Without this structure, all you have is ego. Purpose allows the perfect balance of individual gift and teamwork.

What is the ultimate goal of your business? When all is said and done, what will you have accomplished? Who will you have helped?

Unless you go beyond producing excellent product, you have yet to start a real business. A real business, and on ethat sustains, has one solitary Purpose––to make a difference in the world.  How will you make a difference today?

That’s this week’s Imagination Hat!

Passion is good. Purpose is better. Part II

Few experiences compare with starting a new business. How do you think a business owner might feel when they open the door for the very first time? Being in graphic design, we have often have a front row seat. On opening day, entrepreneurs are like helium balloons. Pull on the string and woooop they pop right back up. The air is electric–supersaturated in excitement. But on the flip side of intense excitement, is a good deal of anxiety. In many ways, becoming a new entrepreneur is like a young woman giving birth to her first child. Much joy and anticipation are followed by a tremendous amount of labor, followed by a boatload of new things to worry about that have never crossed your mind until now.

It is a boatload of responsibility for anyone. But in the evolution of business, starting, for all practical purposes, is the easy part. After the launch, it is the business with the ability to grow and evolve and change with the environment that is most likely to succeed.

I do not know what your stance is on the theory of evolution. For the purposes of this article, it does not matter. Evolutionary scientists believe that all we are is a random collocation of atoms and cells. We just happen to be here by sheer roll of the dice. But as smart as these scientists are, science cannot tell us everything, nor answer every question. Take my Grandpa, for example. If I put Grandpa in a blender and whirled him up (sorry Grandpa!), now that would be a random collection of atoms and cells. What made Grandpa Grandpa is not the atoms and cells themselves, it is their order and their particular pattern that made my Grandpa who he was. Science even tells me that every seven years, my Grandpa was made up of a completely new set of atoms and cells. I can tell you for sure, it was no random collocation of atoms that made up his electric smile. He was so much more than a set of cells.

Another example: I can put Grandpa in an MRI machine. I could measure the value of the chemicals and the materials that made up his body, (approximately $160.00 US dollars). That MRI machine could tell me thousands of things about his physical body. But it cannot tell me how special he made me feel when I was a kid. Or how funny he was. He would take us to the fridge, pour us a soda, and convince us that pouring in a little pickle juice, and a little worcestershire sauce, and little ketchup made it so special–so much more so than just regular ol’ soda. I believed him too! We cousins would all respond with an appropriate, “Mmmmmmm”. Science simply cannot tell me about him as a person.

How is your business assembled? Many entrepreneurs believe that as long as they have an accountant, and a sales system, an administrative assistant, and a social media manager, they have a business. Nothing could be further from the truth. Without a bigger purpose, all you have is a mindless group of things. That bigger overarching Purpose is your Brand. Do you do what you do for a reason, serving a higher purpose, and in such a way that it causes your clients to talk about the way you do the things you do because it is just so different than your competitors?

Without a higher purpose, all you are is a collection of systems. Without your unique personality as a business, you are a cell phone in a blender– all the right parts but no communication. Without your unique Brand? You are all parts on the table and no radio. You have no way to tune into the outside world. What you have created is just a job. A business without a larger purpose is just another business.

Your business is so much more than a set of mindless unguided processes. Focus on your higher purpose and make everything you do serve that purpose. It will make your business different, memorable, and matchless. And that, my friend, is pure chemistry. 

That is this week’s Imagination Hat.

Passion in your journey is good. Purpose is better.

Every entrepreneur is on a journey. As with human development, this journey is divided up into clearly discernable stages:

     There are baby business. (“Waaa!”).

     Toddler businesses. (A little wobbly, but practicing).

     Teen businesses. (“I don’t have to do anything you say!”).

     Young adult businesses. (“Clear the way! I’m changing the world!”).

     And even elderly businesses. (“We are tired. Just tired”).

The goal of course in any business is to find the fountain of youth.

Eventually, during the course of evolution from one stage to another, something happens in every entrepreneur’s journey. Perhaps it is a cash flow crisis. Perhaps a competitor moves in. Maybe they just need to ditch the ‘D’ customers and attract better clients. But whatever the reason for the restlessness, they begin to question, and realize that what they use to believe about business is not working anymore. Entrepreneurs often get so caught up in the tyranny of the urgent that they find themselves unprepared for these challenges. And they find themselves dissatisfied. They know that there has to be something more. Much of the problem lies in the vision and the goal.

Many small business owners begin with a goal to simply make money. (“We will get to the important stuff later!”). It is not uncommon for these same entrepreneurs to later find themselves like the shrimp on a treadmill. (Have you seen that video?) Some entrepreneurs begin with much passion for the product, knowing exactly what they want to do. Unfortunately, they have never bothered asking the customer what they want to do. Once the customer figures out that the business is only interested in the almighty dollar and has taking mentality instead of a giving mentality, sales will naturally slump. And the thrill is completely gone.

Without a worthy vision and goal, entrepreneurs find themselves falling into a crisis of identity, context, and meaning. They fall into the ditch, whether financially, intellectually, or emotionally. If you find yourself there right now, good. You now have a perfect opportunity to create a business with deeper meaning and richer purpose.

Take a step back from your business for a moment. Context is everything. Get the big picture view.

What is it that you are trying to accomplish? How will the world be different because your business existed? Your business does not revolve around you. It does not revolve around your product. (What product line ever lasts more than a few years?). Your business revolves around your customer. What is it like to be them? Focus on their objectives, and a reason that goes beyond the almighty dollar. Your business also revolves around your gifts, and what you are best suited to give to the world.

Imagine your business in ten years. Now imagine it successful. What does it look like? What are you doing? Who are you doing it for? What are people paying you for? If you want the world to be a different place, what does the world look like when you have done what you have set out to do?

The point of seeing into the future is not to see everything. You do not need to answer every question. The point of seeing is to believe in your own vision. Seeing the goal helps you to know how to take the next step.

Sure, like many non-thinking entrepreneurs, you can wing it. You can wait and see.

But how much better to see and wait.

And while you are waiting you can work diligently and intelligently, toward your Big Picture Goal. This is doing business–by design.

That is this week’s Imagination Hat!

This article is longish and I apologize in advance. I have much passion about this subject, because it hinders the success of many a Small Business. I am asking you to please bear with my little rant. For the past month, we have been discussing common marketing questions that all entrepreneurs are afraid to ask. Both Marketing and Advertising have done a great disservice to Small Business by not clearly defining their roles, and by creating endless battles. When big companies have trouble moving product? The Marketing Dept. blames the Advertising Dept., and Advertising in turn blames Marketing. When small companies have trouble moving product? They often blame the advertiser. Let’s clarify the roles of each discipline to help us to build a better business, and clear up some of these misconceptions.

I listened to a podcast a while back about gaining connection and traction in your business, from yet another social media expert. Social Media is certainly the wild, wild west, and the next talk show will surely feature anyone packing some new idea. “Your business is nothingwithout sales,” he yelled. “At the end of every business day, you should stop to ask how many new visitors did we get on our website, and how many conversions did we make today?” His customers were not people. They were notches on his belt.

Wow. I wondered how many of the people listening were buying into this and falling off their brand wagon at that very moment. “Your business is nothingwithout sales”? Really now. Herein lies the shootout at the not-so-OK Corral. . . the shootout between daily task lists vs. meaningful work. This expert’s attitude is the real reason marketing and advertising does not work for small business. It is backward thinking.

I would like to share with you, from 26 years or experience helping the small entrepreneur, thee five biggest misconceptions we see in small business marketing and how you can reframe your thinking and avoid these errors. Let’s jump right in.

1. The first misconception, (and it is a biggie!) is that many, many entrepreneurs believe that the primary purpose of marketing is about making sales. Get ready. This may be shocking. The primary purpose of marketing is not sales. As Seth Godin says, the primary purpose of marketing is to create something worth talking about. Marketing is about creating a product as an art–a better product than has ever been made before, with a specific reason and for one specific audience. One. In short, real marketing makes a product that makes a difference in the lives of the persons who buy it. If marketing has done its job, no arm twisting is required to get anyone to buy. If you have already created and planned and packaged something of indisputable value to a specific group of people, it isn’t hard to find those people who want the product. Advertising simply collects on those efforts. If you cannot find customers, it is not advertising’s fault. Go back, and reevaluate your marketing plan.

2. The second misconception: everyone will love our product because we do. When my son was about three years old, he would bring me gifts. Sometimes he would bring me a bug. Sometimes he would bring me a fistful of mud with dandelions. He was giving me his best. I loved it, of course, because I am his Mom. But in his childlike passion, he thought I would like it because he liked it.

Many small businesses market in the same childish way. I hear them say confidently, “Everyone will love this product”. They only wish it were so because they have to pay the mortgage. Later, they will be asking, “Why isn’t anyone buying my product? I’m trying so hard!”. They have never stopped to ask if anyone does like the product or ensure it is better than the alternative. If you are not delivering a product worth believing in, it is not advertising’s fault.

3.The third misconception: a true entrepreneur sets up shop then people come in the door. No one is going to walk in the door. No one owes you a living. Just because you sell something does not mean anyone, not your friends and family and not even your past customers for that matter, have any obligation to buy from you. Even if you tell them about it weekly in your weekly email newsletter. Well, I take that back. Maybe your Mom will buy from you.

We are no longer in the age of scarcity. We have so many choices, that no one wants your advertising or wants to know about your products. They already have something like it. You need to be ten times better than the alternative to get them to change to your brand. Rather than waiting for customers, we must produce our best work, get it out there and then see if it changes anything for anyone. If no one is revolutionized by your product, we need to fix the product. If it is not selling, it is not advertising’s fault.

4. The fourth misconception is believing that everyone is your customer. Your job as an entrepreneur is not to make a product for everyone. A one-size-fits-all product is attractive to no one. (When was the last time you bought a one-size-fits-all anything?) Our job as true entrepreneurs is to make something that matters to enough people that they will talk about it to their friends. If they are not talking about you, it is not advertising’s fault.

And 5. The last misconception? Entrepreneurs forget that markets are now conversations. Gone are the days of television and radio and newspaper advertising that talks at you. Markets are now places where your customers are talking with you and to you. The value of marketing is in those connections. The more connections you have, the better. If your customers are not talking with you, then you have not given them anything to talk about. It is not advertising’s fault.

How I wish that this social media expert had said, “At the end of every business day, you should stop to ask how many new people did we get a chance to help today?”. Or perhaps to ask, “Did we do any meaningful work today that made a difference to anyone?” This expert was oh so wrong. 

 Business is nothing without conversions? Without likes? Without sales? No, no, and no. Your business is NOTHING without a product that makes a difference.

That is this week’s Imagination Hat.

Did you like this week’s post? Find more here: http://ow.ly/HXAIQ 

This month we are discussing some of the questions you have had about marketing, but have been afraid to ask.  Last week we discussed the difference between marketing and advertising. This week we will take a look at the difference between marketing and branding.

Confusion abounds in small business marketing.

If you are a new entrepreneur, you may have noticed a bit of conflict in the marketing world. Well let’s be honest. It is more like a showdown at the OK corral. There are two different camps of opinion about marketing in small businesses. Maybe you have already picked up on this conflict when you have been searching for marketing help and yielded two completely different answers to the same question. One camp says that branding is best reserved for the Starbucks of the world. This camp says that building a brand is too costly for small business and that they should focus on getting instant ROI from direct marketing campaigns, and build that brand later. The second camp says building a brand for your small companies is extremely worthwhile and should be carefully crafted from the start. The chasm between these two viewpoints is wide. Which one is correct? 

Before we answer this question, it is good to begin with definitions. Marketing is everything and anything your business does that comes into contact with the customer, before, during, and after the sale. Branding, on the other hand, is what your business believes. It is who you are as a company.

Branding is about big picture strategy. Marketing is about tactics.

Branding is a relationship game. Marketing is a numbers game.

Branding focuses on providing an unique experience. Marketing focuses on bringing in sales.

Branding says there is nothing more important than what a business believes. Marketing says there is nothing more important than sales.

Branding concerns itself with inbound or pull marketing. Marketing concerns itself with outbound or push marketing.

Marketing concerns itself with what is said. Branding concerns itself with how it is being said.

Marketing desires to create systems to make it easy for the customer to buy. Branding wants to create trust to give the customer the confidence to buy.

Marketing tells your story. Branding determines whether the customer believes you or not.

Branding is about the style, culture, and personality of your company. Marketing is about qualified leads, conversions, and sales. 

Branding is what people say about your company when you are not in the room. Marketing wants to know how many people are in the room, and how they came into the room.

Marketing concerns itself with tactics to get the story out. Branding concerns itself with the context of the story, and how the story gets told.

Marketing concerns itself with increasing the touchpoints with the customer. Branding makes sure all points of contact are consistent so that each effort will build on the last. 

Branding focuses on building long-term customer relationships. Marketing focuses on how many new and returning customers there were in a certain period.

I hope by now you have picked up on the point. Every small business needs both a Brand Strategy and a Marketing Plan. They are not in conflict with one another. If you are already in business, you already have a Brand and a Marketing Plan. They have either been created by accident or by design. It is not expensive to build a Brand. Your company is not too small for Branding. And you can’t build it later because you are building it all the time, with every customer interaction. It is far easier to design it right from the start. Forming your Brand by choice and on purpose will make your marketing plan more effective. It will create the perception of a well-managed company in your customer’s mind. And, it will build a stronger foundation. Every small business can use that.

Probably no surprise which camp we are in! Ah come on! Let’s drop our weapons, do a group hug, and work together on this.

What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments below.

That’s this week’s Imagination Hat!

Or, why stopping your advertising for a while may be the smartest thing you ever did.

Small businesses frequently feel like they are in a life and death struggle. Half of all startups fail by year five. Only half of those remaining will make it to year ten. Yet here in our small office, we still believe that entrepreneurship showcases the very best that humanity can offer and brings out the best in people. We believe in the evolution of the fittest businesses. The environment does not cause a company to fail, but rather proves its preparedness and adaptability.

In order to help our small business clients become one of the fittest, we practice Intelligent Design, applying its principles to strengthen the core of business and to help entrepreneurs tell their story in a visual way. Intelligent Design fights for the survival of the small business specie, to preserve it from extinction.

Let me tell you about a typical day in the life of an Intelligent Designer. A business owner comes into our office, desiring to advertise their product by creating a trifold brochure. The litmus test: they do not know what they want to say. Not being able to verbalize their story is a symptom of a deeper issue. It is an indicator that we need to help them start from the bottom up.

Take a look at this pyramid illustration. This entire pyramid is marketing. Do you see the little red triangle at the top? That tiny word reads “Advertising”. Advertising is only a small part of marketing. It is the very last thing that happens in the process of building a brand. Without foundation underneath, the advertising will not have the very support it needs to work.

The reality is, if you are already in business, you are already a marketer. Your marketing is either by plan or it is by accident. One indicator that people are working without a marketing plan is they are only focused on advertising. Marketing by accident is a bit like flying without instruments. Sure, you can fly without instruments for a while, but you will not be able to weather any storm.

Your Marketing is not the features and benefits of your product. It is not your logo. It is not your graphics. It is not your advertising. Marketing is the entire thing. It is the overarching customer experience, beginning to end. Your marketing plan is a set of choices for how you wish to conduct your business. It is the company you have chosen to be, it is the value you place on your customer’s table to the research and development of your best possible product, to your external story. Every person at every level of your company, even the person sweeping the floor, is involved in marketing.  Advertising is only an itty bitty part. Marketing tells your whole story. Advertising collects on the results, but only when the marketing story is worth listening to in the first place. After that, Brand can only happen when and if the customer agrees that your story is true.

Until you understand what marketing is, and where it begins and ends, you will never have a strong foundation for your company. And until your marketing plan is clear, your advertising will never work or will work poorly at best.

Making your business what you want it to be right from the start is a massive challenge, but also a massive opportunity. If your current advertising is not working, the best thing you can do is stop. Stop advertising and work on your foundation. Make your product irresistible. Your advertising will then work better, as if by magic. And your business can then evolve to become the fittest in the ecosystem.
That’s this week’s Imagination Hat!