All posts by Jay

Speak With Passion: Start With the End

Creative Business Ideas, Publicity, Speak With Passion

Start At The End

Photo by tableatny

When you start crafting your speech, start with the end result you wish to achieve. Your audience is likely to only remember 3 things about your speech: the beginning, the ending, and how it made them feel.

Think about a recent movie you enjoyed watching. Now, imagine trying to share the movie with someone who hasn’t seen it. Can you remember the plot’s twists and turns? Can you remember the feeling of the movie? Can you concisely review the movie to encourage others to see the movie?

You want your speech to be like a well-recommended movie. You don’t want someone in your audience to tell about this great speech that moved them – but forget why they were moved. If your audience can’t remember the point of the speech (because did remember they were entertained) – you’ve missed a key chance to spread your message.

What is it you want your audience to feel? Empathy with your story? Anger at a situation? Hope with their life struggle? Excitement through vicarious exploits? A talk without feeling is called a lecture. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with lectures, by their nature they tend to be dry and unremarkable. Remember that people came to hear you talk because they want to feel something new. What feeling can you share to both entertain and inform?

What is your repeatable message? Think about that movie recommendation. If you enjoyed the movie, but can’t put words to specifically why you enjoyed it, the person you’re talking to is unlikely to see the movie (despite your enthusiasm). Each listener needs to know what the point of the movie (or speech) is to decide for themselves whether they also want to experience what you had. So, if you can’t succinctly state your message before you write your speech, how will your audience be able to spread the word (and create “buzz” for you)?

By ensuring your speech is designed around a heartfelt and repeatable message, you’re making it easier for your audience to both remember your speech and to share it with their community.

 

Top 3 Ways To Make Your Business More Awarding

Creative Business Ideas

The benefits to an award-winning business

Photo by Co-operative Group

Unless you’re selling something that no one else is, you’ve got competition. They have experience, you have experience. They have selection, you have selection. They have good prices, etc. But how do you tip the scales in your favor?

Show your prospects that everyone else think you’re the best! It’s one thing to say you’re the best, it’s another to prove it. Ideally, this is through word-of-mouth, but the following suggestions are actions your company can take to build your social proof. Remember that the key is relevance – winning an award that no one has heard of (or is in an unrelated field) won’t impress anyone. Instead, figure out how people research companies/products like yours’ and ensure you’ve got the edge over your competition.

Here are the top 3 ways to get the advantage:

Third place: A high search engine position conveys the information that you’re either highly ranked because others think you’re great or that you’ve spent the resources to make yourself well-ranked. In either case, a prominent position conveys the sense that you’re a leader, and therefore should be considered.

Second place: Showcase testimonials from your customers, either directly in your marketing or indirectly on third-party websites (such as: Yelp, Amazon reviews, or Angie’s List).

First place: Win awards that your prospects care about by independent organizations that select the “best of” among your peers – whether that be an Emmy award, Consumer Reports “Best Buy” rating, Diamond Certified, or though independent testing labs.

Since most people aren’t early adopters of new products or services, they need to feel like their choice is well-considered. By showing that others value your offering, you make people feel like they’re making the “safe” or “smart” decision.

Tagline For Our Online IT Courses

Names + Taglines

Regarding tagline to our website, we need your ideas for tag line. We are IT professionals who give online  trainings  of various computer technologies  with practical project experiences. This makes our training different from  others. Can you suggest tag line for our  online it courses service.

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Jay’s Answer:

Here are a few tagline suggestions to get you thinking:

  • Practical Solutions To Your IT Problems
  • Real-World Training Solutions
  • IT Training That Works

Is This Site Good Technically And Experientially?

eMarketing

Does the site www.tescoentertainment.com do the most important things it should, to:

1. be technically effective and efficient in attracting traffic?
2. give a high-class on-site customer experience?

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Jay’s Answer: Instead of asking me – add analytics to your website to get solid data. Who’s visiting? How did they find you? What did they look for? Did they buy anything? Once you have a baseline, then start by doing a split test to see how you can improve the conversions (visitors -> customers).

An Outrageous Name For My Wedding Planning Company

Names + Taglines

I need a shocking and an attractive name for a wedding planner company

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Jay’s Answer:  As I counsel my clients, the name is the last thing you want to create for your business. Why? Because you want to ensure you’ve thought through some of the key questions to ensure you get your business focused: who exactly are you targeting? Where are they located? What are you offering them (that others aren’t)? Why should they trust you to do the job right? How do you compare to your competition (and who is your competition)?

Once you’ve done your “homework”, then naming can begin. The name should appeal not to you, but to your prospective customers. So what’s attractive to them? Would they want to work with someone “shocking” to help them plan one of the most intimate days of their life?

Alternative Video Email

eMarketing

I have been using a video email service for a couple of years. It allows me to dash off a note with my laptop to a customer or prospect. Many times this contains information that is confidential, so I have been to use a redirect such as youtube posting for the entire world to view. The problem is the service I have been using has no customer service number. Now the site is not working and I have sent 8 emails with no response. Another one bites the dust? Do you have a suggestion or experience with a similar service that is easy to use, private and allows the attachment of documents plus an email message?

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Jay’s Answer:  A few suggestions:

  • http://www.getresponse.com/features/video-emails.html
  • http://www.benchmarkrichmedia.com/
  • http://www.flimp.net/video-email-marketing.php
  • http://www.bombbomb.com/features.html

Need Names For An Insurance Broker Seminar

Names + Taglines, Services

Hi, We are an insurance company which has recently launched its operations. We are planning to organise a dinner meet with all our broker clients. The invitees will include MDs and CEOs of renowned broker companies. The name needs to be something which will be symbolic of our new partnership and look forward to our long term association / relationship with them. Hope this will suffice. Pls help!

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Jay’s Answer:

  • Insuring Our Future
  • To Our 2011 Insurance Launch $ucce$$

Studio G Salon & Spa Looking For A Tagline

Names + Taglines

G for Geneseo (town we live in) or for green which can be our school colors or green for environmentally green. Salon has a very natural look, using reclaimed items, yet modern. Using Organic for all chemical services and about 76% of retail. First salon in area to offer organic products. Our median target is middle age women and men and teenagers.

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Jay’s Answer: “Look Great Naturally”

Promoting Rural BPO In India

Clubs + Associations

Please suggest marketing/ PR ideas that would help generate visibility and (more importantly) clientele for a rural BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) that provides back office & call center services in India? This respected BPO has the ability to provide high quality services at 40% lower costs than urban BPOs. With a all women employees, this progressive venture is based on the idea that social values can be achieved through the private marketplace. Despite satisfying business & social needs, the primary problem faced is the mindset of potential clients. Even with impressive testimonials from their global clients, the domestic mindset is typified by lack of confidence in the infrastructure and quality level of work in villages.

What PR/ marketing tools would you suggest, to help alter this outdated mindset, thus attracting greater clientele?

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Jay’s Answer: You have two basic options: (1) spend time to re-educate people who have the outdated mindset or (2) find people who would appreciate the benefit you’re selling.

Re-education takes time, but the best way to prove yourself is social proof: testimonials, case studies, etc. You want to help people see that using your BPO will save them money AND produce great results.

Finding people who are sensitive to your business can be done by looking at what charities they support, co-market with, or reading about the backgrounds of the owners of the businesses. You want to showcase how their values align with yours.