Own Your Why
Below is what I originally hand wrote to speak at Burn Both Ends. Leveraging techniques from Valley Haggard's "Life in Ten Minutes" class, I gathered thoughts I felt worth sharing... I hope the small business owners that attended thought the same. I didn't read this and probably even missed pieces and added in new ones, but this process of writing through the ideas in a patchwork fashion really helped me pull the bigger ideas out and into the content.
So now what?
I want to kick off this final part of today by congratulating you all. It’s no small feat to be a small business owner, an “entrepreneur,” and spend your whole day here, investing in you and not “making the donuts.”
This is the part of the day where I remind you that without YOU and your ideas… Your belief in your skillset and ability to see a “need” in the world YOU can satisfy. There is no small business. WE are the dreamers and the believers… the DOERS.
And you know what? That is hard work. We do hard work. I want to give us all a few moments to turn to your conference neighbor and thank them for doing the hard work. Simply turn to that person you know or don’t know and see them for their investment in themselves and our community. And then thank them for doing the hard work, day in day out.
(Pause to cheer on your neighbor)
MARKETING
Now let’s talk Marketing.
I studied marketing, advertising and PR in school. I’ve tried to talk myself out of being a marketer many times since I graduated from UT Austin in 2000, but here I am. Because every time I try and get out, I find myself using my skillset to do something I believe in. Helping people share what cool stuff they are doing with the world.
When it’s boiled down, Marketing is really just this perfect mix of Art + Science. Two things I appreciate more and more the older I get (which is 40 on May 17 - Yikes!)
ART + SCIENCE
These things fascinate me. Things that fascinate me make me think and question and seek.
Did you know that section of your Business Plan Template that asks you about your marketing plan is just really about art and science?
It’s time to reframe your relationship with Marketing. Marketing, like art, can be fresh and fun. And hardworking like science. People also refer a lot to the Form + Function.
Equally analytical and emotional. Engaging, encouraging and memorable
GLITTER + AUDIENCE
When people think of marketing, it usually goes right to tactics - instagram, youtube, adwords, tv ads…. These are all just glitter. The thing that grabs the attention of your audience
And if asked who someone’s audience is, so many time’s I’ll hear “everyone” … my product or service is amazing and for everyone
So I really thought hard about this valuable time with you all today.
WHAT I WANT TO HELP YOU LEARN ABOUT MARKETING
BRAND
All good marketing begins with a well developed brand
All well developed brands answer three core questions
Who are you
What do you do
Why do you matter
Only after a brand has spent time steeping in it’s core questions can it begin to think about the glittery stuff like IG, Youtube, and etc. and who they want to see the glitter
Who, What and Why actually shape your audience.
Knowing EXACTLY who your audience is is SO crucial to developing your brand’s look and feel, voice, tone and message. All these elements work together to create the elements that create awareness, build emotion and drive action.
And knowing your audience helps you prioritize your glitter - creating a marketing channel portfolio that gives you your best bang for your buck. Prioritizing where you’re going to be seen or heard is a must… even if it’s “free” - you’re paying for “time” - either yours, or someone else.
My husband refers to the conversation that “tactic” driven vs. “big idea” driven - as talking about making lunch boxes before we’ve even written Starwars. We need to build the big idea that hits home, then build out all the ways we share it with the world…. Like lunchboxes.
This well developed brand; your who/ what/ why…. Take time to figure it out, define it from its competitors, really create its story and purpose.
OREO / NIKE / STUDIO TWO THREE CASE STUDIES
That last one… Your WHY - this is the hot ticket. It’s my biggest hope for you to know and OWN YOUR WHY. WHY does your company and brand matter? When you begin to spend time with that questions, it can be your “true north.” That thing you come back to make sure everything you do lines up.
It can be the foundation of your Vision and Mission. It should echo on our website and in your sales materials.
TACTICS
So what does all this mean for your current marketing plan? It’s a great time to pull out that original Business Plan and take a read. Did you capture your “why” in it?
After a few years of business, have you found that your focus or opportunity has shifted. Treat your business plan like a “working document.” Update it with what you know now - good and bad. Hard fails and super successful.
Try to fine tune everything with that mixed eye of Art and Science. Form and Function.
Dig into who’s converting - whether you’re looking at the type of people who are coming in and buying what you’re selling - product or service or taking close looks at your highest converting pages in your website >> Profile out your Target Audience
Ask yourself the hard questions, too. Who isn’t buying that you thought would? Is your look and feel, voice and message talking about the WHO and WHAT - But missing the WHY? Or is it a straight product issue where you have the Call To Action to low on the page?
Every client I’ve ever worked with has a mix of all sorts of challenges and opportunities we need to review, talk through and think about… but it’s the WHY that makes that next step so much more efficient because there is a bigger purpose behind connecting your product or service to the end consumer.
You may also find that you’re spending time on channels that are popular, but not necessarily delivering quality conversions. Do you know your quality metrics? What makes a target audience primary vs. secondary?
Did you do some awesome Instagram ads that drove traffic to your site, but your bounce rate went up. A bounce rate is when a person lands on a website page and makes no clicks and leaves. They aren’t finding what they are looking for easily enough. What do you do when you see this happen?
It’s like a check vs. egg. Is the IG audience you attracted not quality or is website hard to use and confusing?
Have you been trying AdWords and seeing a lift in traffic, but new clients are only hitting on the up side of $1k. What if you stopped AdWords, beefed up your organic content and tried an influencer strategy?
If you’re a B2B business, maybe that looks like leveraging your good content on your company page and having all employees share it with their networks. Then start planning out lunch meetings to remind complimentary industry peers that you could help their clients.
Or if you’re B2C, maybe you start leveraging strategic partnerships with like-minded brands that have complimentary services or products.
By DEFINING YOUR WHY AND OWNING IT, you can begin to look at everything you’re doing with fresh eyes. From your internal brand and culture development that impacts talent retention to external awareness and standing out in a noisy world where attention spans are dropping, OWN YOUR WHY.
AUDIENCE PROFILING
I’ve found it can be really helpful to profile out your user I as much details as you can. Create the story for that person that needs your WHY. I’m a big believer there is power in writing. That you can literally create your ideal customers by visualizing them once you know your WHY. WHY they need you - for the form and the function. How you solve an emotional need and a physical need.
Then figure out where that person will be during the day, on and offline. Figure out who their influencers are and how you can get your WHY message in front of them to create brand awareness and ultimately you’re shooting for affinity. You want that clients or customer to ALWAYS come to you for that WHY need.
Remember if you’re a small staff, it’s hard to do every social channel well, even though they are free and tempting.
Focusing on amazing website content that stays fresh, leverages keyword search terms for your category, and continues to reinforce that WHY can help you increase your organic search ranking (FREE) and be leveraged as informative posts across your marketing channels.
One of my friends who is an software engineer turned SEO expert always says, Google is God. Content is King. And Organic Search is a marathon, not a sprint.
BUT FIRST - you have to clearly know WHO you are talking to and WHY you’re waving your hands for their attention.
OSTM
Objective - Define what you want to happen (ex: Get more new clients)
Strategy - Leverage cost effective online channels to tell people about a deal you have
Tactic - Break down the tactics you want to try: build a content calendar and write every day / email refer a friend / paid google ads / join an affiliate program / etc.
Metric - Look at your analytics and see what’s happening; then optimize what you’re doing for the greatest ROI
POWER OF WRITING
267 men and women from all walks of life (entrepreneurs, education, healthcare, professors, artists. Lawyers, bankers)
And they divided them up in two groups. Writers + Non Writers of Goals and Dreams
She found that people are 42% more likely to achieve their goals and dreams simply by writing them down on a regular basis
AND if you share your goals and dreams with someone that believes in you, that likelihood that your goals and dreams become reality goes up even further.
That “partner in believing” may be your spouse, or it could be your staff or board
WHY does this work?
Thinking only uses your right hemisphere = the imaginative center (art!)
BUT writing taps into the left hemisphere = your logic based hemisphere (science)
The sheer act of writing dreams and goals ignites new consciousness
And these ideas when written opens subconscious “seeing” opportunities that can’t be observed just by thinking
EXPERIMENT
So I’m going to leave you with a 7-day experiment today to layer on top of defining and owning your WHY. The research above did this experiment about their personal lives, but we are going to do it for our businesses.
Every morning I want you to writing down your goals/ dreams that relate to these 4 areas of your business
Define your ideal clients/ customers
Dream up your powerhouse staff/ team/ board/ employees/ partners
Explain your amazing brand reputation
Outline your optimal time and revenue
Be BIG AND BOLD.
OWN YOUR WHY as your write these and use it to bring real focus to each of these areas
Lotsa love,
Leah
