Chapter 43: Build Brands, Not Businesses - The Millionaire Fastlane

CHAPTER 43: BUILD BRANDS, NOT BUSINESSES

Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, 'Make me feel important. 'Never forget that message when working with people.
~ Mary Kay Ash

Queen Me: Marketing and Branding

In chess, lose your queen you lose the game. In business, most entrepreneurs play the game without their captured queen.

Have you ever bought a product from television, and when you used it, it sucked and didn't perform as advertised? Then, in dissatisfaction, you tried to return it and got the runaround from a guy who sounded like he had a double-digit IQ? That is the power of marketing: bad people, bad service, and bad product, but AWESOME MARKETING. If you have an OK product (a weak knight), poor customer service (drunk bishops), and incompetent people (a castle full of idiots), you can survive with a powerful queen.

The queen is the most powerful piece in chess and it is also in business. Marketing can convince people to buy mediocre products. Marketing can hide or disguise service flaws. Marketing can shadow incompetence, and marketing can keep convicted felons disparate from their product. The power of marketing is that a powerful ad campaign can move products, regardless of the cockroaches hiding underneath. Marketing is a game of perceptions, and whatever the perception is, that's the reality.

Build a Brand, Not a Business

Businesses survive. Brands thrive. A brand is the best defense to commoditization. When your business is in business just to make money and pay the bills for the month, you're playing checkers and being one-dimensional. People are loyal to brands and relationships, not corporations or businesses.

I love Coke and I hate Pepsi. I'm loyal to Coke, and I don't care if Pepsi suddenly becomes one buck cheaper-I'll always buy Coke. Coke has built a brand, and the power of that brand is a firm loyalty that is difficult to sever. Is Coke objectively better than Pepsi? I don't know or care.

When you think about the automobile Volvo, what do you think of? I think safety. How about Porsche? I think speed. How about Ferrari? I think rich. Volkswagen? Practical. Toyota? Reliability. Yet, when someone mentions Chevrolet, nothing clear comes to mind other than looming bankruptcy, union squabbles, and unpredictable reliability. Some auto manufacturers have carved out strong brands, while the others fortify a business.

Our friend with the carpet-cleaning business also has a business and not a brand. Brands don't have identity crises, businesses do. If our friend wants to excel in an industry saturated with me-toos, he's going to have to brand himself and differentiate himself. He needs to be a Lamborghini in a traffic jam of Chevys. What will make his carpet cleaning business different from the rest? Why should people hire him even though his prices might be 20% higher?

These tough questions have tough answers, especially since his entry into the industry was based on a faulty premise. However, upon further investigation, most of his unscrupulous competitors use bait-and-switch advertising tactics gummed down with fine print. Perhaps this industry weakness is exploitable? My challenge to him was to leverage that nuisance. Perhaps he can brand himself as a “no-nonsense” carpet cleaner-fixed prices, no surcharges, and no fine print.

Apple, the computer maker, is a great example of building a brand based on a need, or a nuisance. People hate viruses, spyware, and the constant “Your updates are ready” messages that are associated with PC computers. Apple exploited PC's weaknesses and solved their problems. It has built itself into one of the most successful brands in history. Apple isn't the cheapest because they've engineered a brand and they can demand a higher price. Say “Apple,” and many images come to mind: creative, trendy, easy, and hip. When I think of PC, I think of blue screens, illegal operations, and “you must reboot your computer 17 times before this update takes effect.” One is a business. The other is a brand.

Get Unique: The USP

The first step at building a brand is to have a Unique Selling Proposition or a USP. As a business without one, you're adrift in a sea of me-too businesses without a rudder, unmoored to the trade winds of the marketplace. USP-less businesses offer nothing distinct, nothing unique, no benefit, no logical reason that someone should buy from them other than hope or circumstance wrapped around a cheap price. Your USP is the anchor to your brand. What makes your company different from the rest? What sets your business apart? What will compel a customer to use you over someone else?

My USP was powerful: No-risk advertising. If we send you nothing, you pay nothing. Advertisers joined by the truckload because they were tired of advertising with the Yellow Pages, which offered this risk proposition: “Pay us $5,000 upfront, then hope and pray.” I exposed a pain-point and fixed it. Our carpet cleaner had no USP. Nothing set him apart, as he might as well just been a lonely grain of rice in a 50-pound bag of feed.

USPs are the building blocks to brands and can compensate for higher prices or even an inferior product! FedEx was introduced to the world when it said, “When your package absolutely positively has to be there overnight.” M%M's said, “The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand.” Notice how these USPs target benefits. I don't like Domino's Pizza (despite once being employed by them),and yet that didn't stop them from building a pizza empire based on the USP of “delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less-or it's free.” Domino's identified the need: Pizza delivery was a long ordeal. They solved it, branded it, and the rest is history. How did Domino's infiltrate such a crowded marketspace and succeed? Branding and marketing-the QUEEN in the chess game.

Developing Your USP

How do you develop a solid USP for your company? There are five simple steps.

Step 1: Uncover the Benefit(s)
Get into business for the right reason: to solve a problem or a need. That creates your first USP. If you are already in business, find the greatest benefit of your product, one that sets it apart from the competition. Do this with your customer in mind. Think about their needs and what they want.

Step 2: Be Unique
The objective of a USP is to be unique when compared to the alternatives. This impregnates the consumer with a logical argument for choosing your company, because, without your company, they are forgoing the benefit. USPs should use powerful action verbs that create desire and urgency. “Lose weight” should be changed to “Obliterate fat” or “Shred pounds.” “Grow your business” should be dropped in favor of “Explode revenues” or “Shatter sales records.”

The uniqueness of your USP creates a consumer divergence when it comes to their buying decision. If you pick a Mac over a PC, you are choosing safety, speed, and reliability over viruses and bloatware.

Step 3: Be Specific and Give Evidence
Noise is everywhere, and if you are going to rise above it, you have to alleviate natural consumer skepticism. Do so by being specific, and if possible, offer evidence.

WEB SITE:
“Your car sold in 20 days or less or it's free.”

PRODUCT:
“Drop 20 pounds or you don't pay a dime.”

SERVICE:
“Your home sold in 30 days or I own it.”

Domino's Pizza didn't say “Delivered on time,” they said, “Delivered within 30 minutes or it's free.” It was a specific action and evidence of that action. (Your pizza is free if we don't perform!) In my case, the onus was on me to send my advertisers leads. If I didn't, I didn't get paid. “We send you business or you don't pay a dime.”

Step 4: Keep it Short, Clear, and Concise
The best USPs are short, clear, and powerful. Long phrases get skipped over.

Step 5: Integrate Your USP into ALL Marketing Materials
A USP is worthless if it isn't conveyed throughout every aspect of your business.

Include your USP on all your public communications:

• Your trucks, vehicles, and buildings
• Your advertising and promotional materials
• Business cards, letterheads, signs, brochures, and flyers
• Your Web site and your email signature
• Your voice mail system, receptionist/sales scripts, etc.

Step 6: Make It Real
A USP has to be strong enough to convince people to buy or, even better, switch brands. If it doesn't capture your audience's attention, or the benefit/hook is too weak, it won't work. And then, you have to make your USP real. You must deliver on what you say. A pizza delivered in 40 minutes makes the 30-minute guarantee a fraud. Fraudulent USPs get exposed fast and create “human resource systems” ready to rick-roll your company.

Get Noisy

Next time you're stuck in traffic, look around. Every car looks the same. Nothing commands any significant attention. It's a sea of fading exhaustive blather. Born a marketer, this is why I'm preferential to Lamborghinis. They rise above the noise, and so should your brand.

Face it. No one likes to be like everyone else. The average teenager strives not to be like everyone else, which is why we've been deluged with nipple rings, eye piercings, Goth, and tattoos-all expressions of “I'm unlike everyone else!” Successful companies take the same approach with their branding and marketing.

Writing this book, while challenging, wasn't the real challenge. Getting it into the hands of people will be the real challenge. Why? Because the topic of finance and moneymaking is crowded and saturated with me-toos. In other words, the noise is deafening. While this book is the realization of my dream, to succeed as a best-selling author I need to get my brand above the noise.

One look at my Facebook update feed and all I see is noise.

College dropout earns $2,000 in one day. Find out how! See how I make $15,000 a month with this fantastic opportunity! New startup with a forced-matrix plan guarantees you a six-figure income! I just joined this awesome affiliate program and made $300 today! Be your own boss!

I recently used an Internet calculator that tabulated my “wealth percentile,” which ranked my net worth in comparison to all of my peers in the United States. I was ranked in the top 1%. While I'm flattered, it exposes my challenge. My net worth is indicative of “unique” and “extraordinary” but in the world of perception, it's lost in the noise. On Facebook, you'd never guess that most everyone is near broke. Nope, on Facebook everyone is a multimillionaire, a success coach, a guru, or a model. Everyone is in the top 1% of his or her game, including the real top 1%. You see, we all are marketers and some of us are marketers of an illusion. What this does is creates an abundance of noise and makes it harder for the real purveyors to be heard. Your marketing efforts must rise above the noise.

How to Rise above the Noise

There are five ways to get your message above the noise:

1. Polarize
2. Arouse emotions
3. Be risqué
4. Encourage interaction and
5. Be unconventional

Polarize
Polarization probably isn't the best business strategy for a mass-market brand, because polarization involves extreme viewpoints or messages. You don't want to piss off half your customer base! However, polarization works fabulously for Websites in need of traffic or books in need of readers.

Polarization works because it involves an extreme viewpoint, which forces people to either love or hate you. Sarah Palin is polarizing. You either love her or want to toss her off the deck of a boat in the alligator-infested Everglades. Political pundits use polarization to sell books, because readers want to rally for a cause, or furiously refute it. Web sites that polarize attract visitors as people defend their cause while others attack it. If you're a rabid fan of the Chicago White Sox and start a Web site that viciously attacks the ineptness of the Chicago Cubs, you can expect a polarized audience-people who agree and concur and people who oppose and defend.

This book itself can be classified as polarizing. Many people will castigate my viewpoints as extreme since it goes against conventional wisdom. OMG he said the cutting coupons won't make me rich! He castigated my 401(k)! Opposition to “normal” will always be considered polarizing.

Be Risqué
Sex sells, and it is the most used get-above-the-noise technique. Sex is a powerful noise disruptor because sex never gets old. You can overuse it, but people will always respond to it, because sex is always in style. In 2005, GoDaddy aired its first Super Bowl ad by using sex as weapon to get above the noise. The now-infamous GoDaddy Girl ads followed in subsequent years. I never thought the ads were that good, yet they got above the noise and got people's attention. The result? Increased sales and GoDaddy's market share surged to 32% after 2006.

I see the risqué technique used on Facebook by social media marketers. One woman does video lectures on marketing techniques in her bikini. When she does one of these, her bikini video receives five times the viewership and comments. Why do the bikini video lectures do so much better than the normal ones? Simple: Sex gets above the noise. Men see the woman's busty chest in the video preview and think, “Oooh, I gotta check that out,” while women are curious-“OMG, who is doing a video in a bikini top?” It's almost a mix of polarization and sex.

Arouse Emotion
Most consumer buying decisions are driven by emotions. You and I buy stuff because we want to feel something. I don't buy a Lamborghini to go from point A to point B; that's practicality. I buy to feel something-pride, achievement, uniqueness, adrenaline, and fame.

Another example of using emotions to move your audience comes from the nonprofit organization the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty for Animals (ASPCA.org). This organization was founded over a century ago and I had never heard of it until recently. How did they break above the noise? They launched a powerful marketing campaign that unleashed emotions; their commercials featured abused animals confined in cages with a tender, heartfelt soundtrack playing in the background.

If you can move your audience's emotions and make them care, they will buy. Exhilarate people, make them cry and make them laugh. Your message will rise from the ashes of noise and compel people to buy.

Be Interactive
It's one thing to watch, it's another to do it. They say if you want to boil your passions, test drive the car of your dreams. Interactivity increases response for anything. If you can taste it, feel it, or use it, you will be more likely to buy it.

Interaction is like hearing your name. It's your favorite. On Facebook, the most popular applications are “surveys” and “questionnaires” because people love narcissism. My favorite movie is The Usual Suspects! I love pizza! I own a poodle! People love to talk about themselves, and if you entwine that into your marketing plan, you will improve the response to your product or service.

For example, if I launch a survey “Are you speeding the Fastlane or stuck in the Slowlane? Find out now.” I am engaging in an interactive campaign designed to get people involved and to talk about themselves. When your potential customers break down their personal barriers and expose pieces of themselves, they move closer to you as if there were a relationship. A relationship sells more than an anonymous corporate entity.

“Find out what happens next …” Some corporations are using traditional media and the Internet to foster interaction. I recently saw a commercial for an automobile manufacturer that filmed a story with a high-speed chase, except the story never concludes and we are left with “Find out what happens next … visit [Web site].” By teasing audiences with messages or stories that are incomplete, potential customers are forced to complete the story by visiting a Web site, and Web sites foster interaction.

The revolution of social media, blogs, and “Web 2.0” is founded on interaction. You just don't want to read an article; you want to comment on it! Your two cents must be heard!

Be Unconventional
Convention breeds familiarity. If you've seen it three dozen times in the last month, or something like it, do you think it will work? For example, “Be your own boss” is such an overused phrase its power has been drained. Yet, I still see advertising headlines and subtitles from so-called gurus using “Be your own boss,” as if the phrase wielded power. Its been pulverized into flaccidity, so why the heck are you using it?

What's unconventional? Have you ever seen a Lamborghini sold for a dollar? I know I haven't and if I did, I would remember. The campaign would arouse curiosity because it's unconventional. What crazy person would sell an expensive car for a buck? Is it a scam? What's the catch? I've got to see!

Another example of unconventional is to break convention by mocking it, or interrupting it. Remember the Energizer bunny? It's still going and going. These commercials built a brand based on unconvention-the advertiser created a series of standard, boring marketing messages and shattered them with sudden interruptions of the Energizer bunny. The marketer anticipated your familiarity with convention (ugh, another boring commercial) and shocked the audience by interrupting that boredom with a pink rabbit. AdAge.com recognized these commercials as one of the top 100 campaigns of all time.

Another mocker of convention is the Geico Insurance Company, which took typical situations and interjected the scenes with a surprise punch line: “I've got great news! I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance.” Conventional scenarios were shattered with the narrative, “I've got great news,” which created unconvention. Another Geico spot mocked convention when it appeared you were watching a promo for a new reality TV series called “Tiny House.” The promo featured a newlywed couple who supposedly move into a midget-sized apartment for one full year and endure cramped quarters and rising marital tensions. You see the couple hitting their heads on low ceilings and struggling for a good night's sleep in a tiny bed. But wait a second, this expected convention of reality is nothing but a ruse that will shatter into unconvention when an announcer voices: “The drama will be real, but it won't save you any money on car insurance.”

If you get someone's attention, half the battle is won. The other half is letting selfishness take over your audience and tailor your messages to self-interest. In other words, the good old “What's in it for me?” How about saving 15% or more on your car insurance?

What's in It for Me?

It's ironic: To succeed a Fastlane we must forsake selfishness yet satisfy the selfishness of others. Did I say this would be a nice cozy stroll down the beach?

The first human behavior you can count on is selfishness. People want what they want. People don't care about you, your business, your product or your dreams; they want to help themselves and their family. It's human nature. Therefore, our marketing messages must focus on benefits, not features. People need to be told exactly what's in it for them. How will your product or service help them? What's the benefit? In marketing speak, it's called the “What's In It For Me?” (WIIFM) principle.

My customers were small-business owners and yet I served millions of consumers, too. This intermediary relationship allowed me to study the behavior of both consumers and producers in a powerful, accelerated fashion. I learned things in weeks that would take educators months to ascertain. I noticed that small-business owners fall into their own selfish trap and love singing the praises of their company. They sell features, not realizing that people rent convenience and events, not limousines.

As consumers, we buy things to solve needs. We engage in transactions to fill voids. You don't buy a drill; you buy a hole. You don't buy a dress; you buy an image. You don't buy a Toyota; you buy reliability. You don't buy a vacation; you buy an experience. We must become problem solvers, and to identify our business as a savior to someone, we must translate features into benefits. Does the fact you are the largest limousine company in Colorado solve my problem? It doesn't until you translate that feature into a benefit.

Translating Features into Benefits

If you want to sell anything, translate features to benefits. A four-step process accomplishes this.

1. Switch places.
2. Identify features.
3. Identify advantages.
4. Translate advantages into benefits.

First, trade places with your typical buyer. Be them. Who are they? What is their modus operandi? Are they affluent CEO types? Or price-sensitive Wal-Mart shoppers? Cash-strapped students? Or single moms? If you can't identify your typical buyer, your results will be flawed and your benefit will be no benefit. Once you identify your buyer, ask: What do they want? What do they fear? What problem do they need solved? Or do they just want to “feel” something?

For example, two brands of the same product could have two different buyers. A person who buys a Corvette is going to have different psychological motives than someone who buys a Volvo. Both are cars, yet the sports car buyer isn't buying basic transportation. The Corvette buyer is most likely a risk-taker, self-employed, independent, outspoken, and assertive. The Volvo buyer is probably more concerned with family and safety. He or she is probably conservative, analytical, and family-oriented. Two totally different buyer profiles means each marketing effort must be specifically targeted to the desires of each group.

After you switch places with your customer and grasp what they want, your next step is to isolate the features of your product. For my Web service, here are just a few features I had: 1) Upload pictures 2) Target leads by vehicle, date, and service and 3) Schedule vehicles. While these features were great, it was my responsibility to translate them to benefits. What makes them so great? What advantages do they offer my client?

After you isolate the features, translate those features into benefits, or a specific result. Extrapolate forward the benefit of that certain feature. This is where you drive home why someone should buy from you, versus the other guy.

For my Web service, the feature of “upload pictures” translated to: “Quit wasting time with client meetings at garages. Upload photos of your fleet and show your clients your product!” The target leads feature translated to: “Target the clients you want-right down to the day, service, and vehicle type.” Schedule vehicles translated to: “Maximize your fleet's road time and receive leads based on your vehicle availability!” Each feature transcribed to a specific benefit that would compel my buyer to join. I didn't let them fill in the blanks; I filled in the blanks for them.

Using Price as a Branding Weapon

Price is like a paint job for your product or service.

My first taste of “paint” and its implications came young. I wasn't much older than six or seven. Mom staged a two-day garage sale, and she permitted me to sell some toys and keep the money. One item I offered for sale was a “football clock,” a time keeping monstrosity. I vividly remember its sale price-$2.55. A steal, I reasoned.

On the first day of the sale, my football clock gathered many looks, but no sale. My young mind plotted. How can I get $2.55 for my clock? I didn't want to budge on my price, surely because $2.55 was the cost of some gadget I wanted to buy at the corner store. Then I had an idea.

I grabbed the masking tape Mom used for labeling prices. I tore four small pieces of tape and stuck them above the current price. Then on the first piece of tape, I boldly wrote $5.55 and crossed it out. The next piece of tape I wrote $4.50 and crossed it out. Then, $3.95, and the next $2.95. Each piece of tape successively had a lower price, clearly crossed out so buyers could see the “price reduction,” leaving the same old price of $2.55.

Now my clock was priced exactly the same, except it was presented differently. The taped higher prices, visibly slashed, conveyed two things: 1) A higher value and 2) A smoking deal. And guess what. The second person to look at the clock bought it. I succeeded at reframing price in the mind of my buyer. Of course, at seven years old, I had no clue what “marketing” meant nor what I was doing. Yet this was my first exposure to marketing and the implication price has to value.

Price Conveys More than Just Cost

Price is a brand-builder because price implies value. The more expensive your price, the higher its perceived value. The cheaper your price, the cheaper its perceived value. Price isn't simply a number that tells someone what something costs. It conveys value and worth.

There's an old story I heard about how price equates to value. Cleaning his basement, a man found an old dresser and decided to give it away. He moved the dresser to the street corner and placed a sign atop it: FREE. Shockingly, the dresser stood there all day, and for several days thereafter. This confused the man because the dresser, albeit old, was in decent shape and just needed a quick wood stain for perfection. The man decided a new strategy was warranted. He went to the street corner and replaced the “FREE” sign with “$50.” Not an hour later, the dresser was stolen.

Same objective, different pricing strategy.

Unless price is your brand (Wal-Mart, Southwest Airlines), don't let price steal your brand when it should be defining it. Price is more than just a competitive metric that slides up and down to sell goods faster. It also indirectly conveys the value of your product or service. I had multiple competitors who undercut me by 10%, sometimes even 20%. Yet I continued to prosper. I wasn't the cheapest, so why did I do well? My service had better value, and I kept my price correlated to that value. My leads were better targeted. I had better joint venture partners. I had great support. I was running a brand while my competitors were running businesses.

My artist friend, who painted the most exquisite, beautiful paintings, priced her work through her own limited price filter. She was a single mom, struggling to the pay the bills, living paycheck to paycheck. For her, $500 was an extraordinary amount, and because of that, she priced her works far below their true value. Her own corrupted vision of price distorted her earning power and degraded the perceived value of her work. I suggested a price increase. Take that $90 painting, make it $300, and see what happens. Sure enough, she sold just as much art at the higher price, because price implies value and defines brands.

Even in the Slowlane, pricing can play a role, in the form of a salary you're willing to take. For example, this was posted at the Fastlane Forum (TheFastlaneForum.com):

A company placed two ads for only one Web programmer position in the paper. One listed the salary as $120K a year. The other ad listed it for $32K a year. The first, higher paying ad received only about four responses. The second ad for MUCH less pay got over 100 responses. Most people have a lack of confidence in themselves and their ability and are willing to settle for so much less.

Are you settling for less in business? Is your warped frame of value corrupting your unrealized potential? The right pricing strategy is crucial to brand building and marketing. The wrong price conveys the wrong meaning. For industries with heavy commoditization, price is crucial. A public relations consultant can charge 30% higher than their competitors, but a gas station can't.

While I'm completely heterosexual, I have a fascination with designer purses because I admire their pricing strategy. How does a handbag sell for $4,000 when it probably costs them less than $100 to produce? Branding and marketing. Price is apart of the brand build.

Price is one of the many ways to get into the consumer's head. To use price for your brand, you have to convince the consumer of value beyond the cost of its practicality. What makes you different from the rest? Why should someone pay you more? As a marketer you have to drill into your buyer's mind and get your brand differentiated. Own the consumer's mind and you own the consumer.

Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions

• Marketing and branding (the queen) is the most powerful tool in your Fastlane toolbox.
• Businesses survive. Brands thrive.
• Businesses have identity crises, brands don't. Identity crises force business owners into price commoditization.
• Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) are the keys to your brand and differentiate your company from the rest.
• People have a natural disposition to be unique and unlike everyone else.
• To succeed in marketing, your messages have to break above the advertising clutter, or noise.
• Polarization is a great above-the-noise tool if your product targets a polarized audience-usually politics, minority opinions, and even sports teams.
• Sex sells and always draws eyeballs.
• Consumers make buying decisions based on emotions before practicality.
• If you can arouse emotions in your audience, you will be more likely to convince them to buy.
• People have a natural disposition to talk about themselves. If you can incorporate interaction into your campaigns, you will have better success.
• To be unconventional means to first isolate and identify what is conventional, then doing the opposite, or interrupting that convention.
• Consumers are selfishly motivated. Always target your messages toward the predisposition of “What's in it for me?”
• Features are translated to benefits when you switch positions from producer to consumer, identify the feature's advantages, and extrapolate those advantages into a specific result.
• Price implicitly conveys value and worth.
• Don't allow your own perception of price direct your brand to mediocrity.