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At 2pm last Wednesday, I got a call from one of my clients. Before I could barely utter my "hello," she launched headlong into her story - "I am so frustrated! I have this client who has been dragging her feet at every stage of our project. I'm working on a branding campaign for her company and expected to be finished nine months ago, but every time we get to a stage in the project where the ball is in her court, I have to follow-up umpteen times and push and prod just to get her to move forward. In almost every case, it takes her about two months to do something that could have been done in a week. Then, two months later when she's finally finished with her part, she cheerily announces that she's ready for me to start the next phase and wonders how quickly I can do it. Every time this happens I have to completely reacquaint myself with her project. All in all, I've spent almost twice as many hours as I budgeted. How can I get her to wrap up this project so I can move on?," she finished. I cannot think of one service business owner that hasn't faced this issue at one time or another. We all started our businesses concerned about providing great customer service and a quality service delivered on time. We thought that was the key to having happy clients. But, at some point, we find out that great customer service means that we're not allowing one client's delays to impact another client's project, the profitability of our business, or our own personal satisfaction. This is when we have to recognize that we are responsible for this situation. If you've allowed a client to run amuck dragging a project on forever, changing project parameters numerous times, delaying payment of the final bill, why shouldn't they continue to behave this way? It's up to you to put into place policies and procedures that communicate this to your clients and prospects from the very beginning. One format I've seen used very effectively is a one-pager called "How We Work Together." It's a very basic document that outlines the responsibilities of both you and the client. It makes clear who is responsible for what and when so there are no questions later. It also outlines the consequences if either of you misses the target. Not only does this put the client on the straight-and-narrow, it shows them that you are willing to be held to high standards as well. znicze znicze baby By using the How We Work Together document, you can begin setting the stage for productive client relationships from your very first contact with a new prospect. During your first meeting, give them a copy of the document and go through it with them. When I ran my web development company, mine included a rough timeline for each stage of the project and described how the responsibility shifted from me to them and back again throughout the process. It also included a description of consequences should particular stages of the project go beyond the timeline by a specified amount of time. This applied to me as well as them. People like to know what to expect. It left them feeling that I had a system I followed and could be relied upon to do what I was proposing to do. I feel confident that this is one of the reasons I got 90% of the projects I pitched. I used the How We Work Together document again once I had received the signed contract and deposit payment. At that point, I would consult my project calendar and assign specific dates to each stage of the project included on the document and mail it out to the client. They had already seen the document once, so it wasn't new to them. Now, they just reviewed the dates and used it as a follow-up tool. If you are currently in a similar situation, handle it as best you can in order to preserve the client relationship and introduce the How We Work Together document at the beginning of the next project with this client. To begin to set boundaries with all of your clients and prospects, create your own How We Work Together document and utilize it in every new project for new and existing clients.
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Branding Basics

Branding is the process by which you try to become the first business a person thinks of when they consider buying goods or services in your category. If you can "own" a word in the public's mind, you have a huge competitive advantage.
Branding is the process by which you attempt to differentiate your business from your competitors. Just as a brand will allow your horse to be recognized among the rest of the herd, so too must your business’s brand set you apart. Although your name and logo are important features of your brand, there’s a lot more to it than that.

You Must “Own” Your Category in the Minds of Your Customers

The absolute best way to create a brand is to invent a new product or service. Being first to market is a huge advantage. Coca-Cola has turned its “secret formula” into a 70% market share of cola drinks worldwide.

However, most of us run businesses in categories filled with competitors. What’s the best way for us to create a strong brand?

The secret lies in narrowing the focus of your business until you’ve created a new category you can be first in.

From Ford to BMW

Consider the auto industry. Henry Ford didn’t invent the automobile, but he was the first to combine it with an assembly line. That reduced his costs enough so that millions could afford a car. Being first with an affordable car allowed Ford to dominate the category, even though there were literally hundreds of car companies in the U.S. by 1910. That’s a powerful brand!

So how did other auto manufacturers develop successful brands? By creating new categories in the mind of the buying public. If you’re in the market for a “safe” car, Volvo is probably the first brand to pop into your mind. If you’re looking for the “ultimate driving machine,” BMW owns that category. Buyers shopping for a high-priced luxury car think Mercedes Benz.

Notice that none of these companies is trying to be all things to all people. They narrowed their focus until they had a new category they could be first in. Even though other car companies could make claims about the safety of their cars, it’s unlikely they’re going to supplant Volvo in the public’s mind. Volvo “owns” the safe car category.

Two Fast Food Examples

When Tom Monaghan owned a small pizza restaurant near a college campus, he started asking his customers what changes they would like to see in his business. Did they want a higher quality pizza? No, the quality was fine. Did they want a cheaper pizza? No, the price was fair. What they really wanted was a pizza that came to them. Thus, Domino’s Pizza created the new category of pizza delivery, and even though others offer the same service, being first allows Domino’s to enjoy a dominant share of the market.

Little Caesars saw another opportunity. If they focused on take-out pizza, they could save money on delivery and a large restaurant. That would allow them to make money even if they sold two pizzas for the price of one. Pizza. Pizza. Brilliant.

Apply These Ideas to Your Business

If you’re trying to grow your business, it might seem logical to expand your offerings, but that’s unlikely to be successful in the long run. As these few examples have shown, it’s often better to narrow your focus until you’ve created a new category you can be first in. If you’re a specialist, people will regard you as more of an expert in your field than a generalist.

Let’s say you’re a photographer. If you live in a town or city of any size, you no


doubt have lots of competition. Look around for the opportunities to separate yourself from the herd. Maybe you could become known as the only one in town to call for action shots during kids’ athletic games. Or maybe you specialize in soft-focus sepia-toned photos of mother and child. Fly fishermen. Architectural details. Even though you’ve narrowed your pool of prospects, you’ve also eliminated most of your competition.

Our photographer could expand her business while maintaining focus by publishing a book, printing greeting cards and calendars, or teaching lessons, all in her specialized area.

She’ll know she’s created a powerful brand when her name is the first one to pop onto a parent’s head when they want a “hero shot” of their young soccer player.

Publicity First, Advertising Later

One of the great benefits of being first in a new category is that you become newsworthy. Newspapers and magazines, TV and radio are always looking for “something new under the sun.”

Remember Pet Rocks? This small outfit gained international coverage, all of it free, for their unique idea. Millions of Pet Rocks were sold with virtually no advertising costs.

Advertising alone is rarely enough to create a new brand, although lots of businesses try that route. Remember the Super Bowl of a few years ago when the media was filled with stories about the millions that were spent on 30-second ads? This was supposed to be the launching of several new dot com businesses and the amount of money spent to launch these brands was incredible. In spite of all that money and the creative efforts of Madison Avenue’s finest minds, those businesses failed quickly and are totally forgotten today.

A better path is the one followed by Google, the world’s most popular search engine. Google wasn’t the first search engine, but they created a new way to rank web sites that garnered them huge amounts of free publicity. I’ve never seen an ad for Google, and yet just about everyone who has surfed the web has heard of it. Just this morning our local paper ran a large article about Google’s decision not to sell shares of stock in the company yet. More free publicity, which will further boost the strength of their brand.

Conclusion

Focusing your business until you’ve created your own category is just one step to branding your business. An excellent resource for learning more ways to create a strong brand is the book, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding (http://www.zmoon.com/cgi-bin/pl.pl?branding22) by Al and Laura Ries. Next time I’ll have some specific ideas on how to brand yourself through your web site. Until then, stay focused!

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About the Author

Les Goss is President of ZebraMoon Design, Inc. To see a partial list of high-ranking web sites we've created for our clients, please visit our web site at http://www.zmoon.com. Sign up for our free newsletter at http://www.zmoon.com/webdesigntips.html. You'll receive two issues a month on topics that should help you stay a step ahead of your competition.