Flourish & Grow to CEO: Episode 5

Episode 5 Show Notes

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Flourish and Grow to CEO podcast!

Episode Summary:​ ​ Branding, marketing and messaging can make a business flourish and grow or derail it completely. Although all the foundational pillars are interconnected, branding, marketing and messaging need to be clear and compelling for client attraction and resonance.

Pam Ivey talks about the 5 step process of marketing so you have a clear plan for marketing success.  She also discusses why creating a message in the language of your clients, rather than in your own, can be the make it or break it when it comes to marketing. Jane Garee talks about the power of storytelling and how your clients should be taken on a journey that ultimately leads them to you.

Topics discussed in this episode:​ ​In today’s episode, you will hear about –

• Why strong branding, marketing and messaging provides a feeling of security to your clients and how you can create that [timestamp]
• How clients liking you isn’t enough and why you need to be clear that you are the solution to their problem [timestamp]
• Why getting into the head of your ideal client is more important than getting into yours and how a client journey leads to more business [timestamp]

We have been talking about the eight pillars all business owners should master in order to make their businesses grow.

In our last episode we talk about the first two essential foundations: Inner game and Vision and strategy, if you saw our previous episodes, we’ve also mentioned the importance of seeing these foundations as interconnected elements and not a succession of activities that happen one after the other. So try and connect everything we mention in this episode with the previous topics and the rest of the elements we will address in upcoming episodes.

And now, for today’s topic we’ve decided to talk about something that has become quite popular over the years: Branding, messaging, and, Pam’s favorite, Marketing.

Branding 

When we say branding people often mistake it for the visuals, a logo, colors, and all that has to do with graphic design skills, and they go straight to playing with typography, fonts, and imagery, but never really understand what branding is all about.

In fact, branding is the place you occupy in your client’s and prospect client’s mind. It is what people think and feel just by thinking or hearing the name of your company. In simple words, it’s your business’s personality.

Developing our brand’s personality, as to say, the personality we want our clients to perceive from us, will help us develop our messaging.

Messaging

This is one of the most critical components of your entire business model and brand, because it is through this message that you can actually reach your potential clients to start and reinforce your business relationship with them. When your message is on point, it will result, naturally, in recognition and resonance from your ideal clients to your business.

Without these two things happening as a result of your spot on message, it’s going to be really challenging to get clients, so let’s take a look at them:

Recognition means your ideal clients are aware of you, your product and/or your brand. Think of a person that has a problem you can solve. Recognition has to do with this client realizing that you exist and that you are able to provide a solution to their problem.

Resonance, on the other hand, has to do with your ideal client feeling seen, understood and identified with what your brand has to say. By creating a bond through empathy and genuinely connecting with your client, you’ll also make sure they want to do business with you.

But how can you create a powerful message that reaches your ideal clients? It’s not enough to only ask your clients for what they want, because more times than not, they don’r really know what they want. We, as business owners, need to look for what Jane calls “2:00 am problems”, which are the real problems that don’t let people sleep at night.

We have collected a list of words to help you get the right information of what your client really want and align your messaging to reach those ideal clients

• What are their problems?
• What are their challenges?
• What are they sick and tired of dealing with?
• What do they no longer want in their lives?
• What do they wish worked as it were?
• What do they want the most?
• What do they dream of? And hope for?

If you still don’t have clear answers to these questions, a great exercise to do is to ask your previous clients and people you’ve loved working with. They surely will give you a clear view about this. And don’t forget to pay attention to what the say but how they say it, how they describe their problems and hopes, because this will also give you some idea of the language they use.

Marketing

To get to this stage you need to set your strategy first and identify your ideal client avatar.

Then you can start thinking in terms of the AIDAS model, which consist of five stages of interaction with you client:

A – Attraction: this is the first interaction with your potential client, one in which you catch your clients eye.

I – Interest: Keep them interested. Here is where you want to add your hook, and the most common hook to use is storytelling. Download the episode to listen to Jane’s take on storytelling, one of her great abilities.

D – Desire: Turn that interest into a desire. In this stage you must go from your client saying “I like that” to “I want that”.

A – Action: Once your client desires your product, proceed by presenting your client the option to act on that desire. This is when you have to tell them to buy, and don’t be afraid to do so. This is also the stage where you would make use of those great Call to Actions!

S – Satisfaction: This is the final step, satisfying the customers. Your product solved a problem for them, but you have to stay there to make sure they have had the best service possible. This will result in recommendations, testimonials and, ultimately, more business.

Keep in mind that the ultimate goal of marketing is always building relationships and to create sales conversations with others. This is our business!

This is the key point of today’s episode, but we invite you to download the audio and leave your questions, doubts and comments on our social media! There are still other pillars we will talk about in future episodes, so we hope you enjoy this topic as much as we do!

Have a great week!