by Pamela on August 25, 2010
There are a few conversations I have so often with my coaching clients that they must become blog posts.
This is one of them.
Here’s the deal
When you first start out in business, experts from all over the planet tell you that you must have a targeted niche, a clear and compelling brand and a snappy unique selling proposition.
This is very wise advice to people who want to have thriving businesses, not expensive hobbies.
Here’s the problem
When you are first starting out, you may not KNOW exactly who your market is. You need to work with some people to see exactly whom you like working with, the kind of work you like doing, and the kind of people who will pay for what you have to offer.
But to get any clients at all, you need to have some kind of website. A place where you can have a simple “About” page, and a description of your services. And if you are looking to share content over the long-term, you need a blog.
Here’s the metaphor
Your first website can be like a bland, basic, boring house. It is functional. It meets your needs. It is agreeable to many, but exciting to few.
But as you grow and develop your business, and clarify your brand, you can add rooms to your house, and paint the walls, and plant beautiful flowers out front and fill it with music.
The foundation and basic structure will be the same. But it will look and feel quite different.
Here is the permission
It is OK to put up a website that is not perfect. You will not lose branding karma points or be laughed out of your web neighborhood.
Most importantly, you will stop obsessing about clarifying your perfect brand before you have had the experience necessary to define it properly.
The important thing is that you get a web presence established so that you can move on to more important things like getting clients.
Here is the caveat
Please create your first site on Wordpress. It can grow and flex with you, and there are thousands of talented designers who can help you with it.
Please do NOT create your first site on Godaddy or some other web host site. It looks clunky, and you are going to have to move it to a more elegant site later.
Please do not mistake my advice as saying that a clear, crisp brand and well-defined niche is not important in the long run — it is. It is just not important at the very beginning of your journey, when you are testing everything about your business, and building a relationship with your market.
Here is the opportunity for web designers
- Create a really simple, affordable ($500 or less) web package on Wordpress that will allow clients to get started without having a totally snappy brand name or tagline.
- Don’t freak them out with too many questions about branding — they don’t know the answers yet.
- Create a follow up plan with them so you can check in when they are ready to do a more extensive, full-on branded project with Twitter page, banners, color palates, business cards and other critical pieces for a well-established brand.
Here is my wish
Those of you who have been freaking out about your perfect brand can relax. Get your dang starter site done, and feel a flood of relief.
Take the time to discover your right market, and your brand will emerge.
—
Update 8/26:
My delightful buddy David Billings (aka SparkyFirePants) wrote a brilliant and related post on branding (the day before this one) that is like peanut butter to my jelly. You will get the analogy when you read his post Where’s the Hurry, Murray? What’s with the race to create your branded visuals?
by Pamela on August 23, 2010
Malcolm Gladwell has contributed many great books and ideas to the business stream over the years with Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers.
But Tipping Point has changed the way that Charlie Gilkey, Michele Woodward and I do our work with job seekers and entrepreneurs.
In Chapter Two of Tipping Point, Gladwell describes three special types of people:
Connectors: “These people who link us up with the world, who bridge Omaha and Sharon, who introduce us to our social circles – these people on whom we rely on more heavily than we realize – are Connectors, people with a very special gift of bringing people together.”
Mavens: “A Maven is a person who has information on a lot of different products or prices or places. This person likes to initiate discussions with consumers and respond to requests … they like to be helpers in the marketplace. They distribute coupons. They take you shopping. They go shopping for you … This is the person who connects people to the marketplace and has the inside scoop on the marketplace.”
Salespeople: “Mavens are data banks. They provide the message. Connectors are social glue: they spread it. But there is also a select group of people – Salesmen – with the skills to persuade us when we are unconvinced of what we are hearing, and they are as critical to the tipping of word-of-mouth epidemics as the other two groups.”
When you identify your primary “Tipping Point archetype,” you know how to leverage your strengths, and most importantly, you identify the archetypes you lack in spreading your message.
How do you recognize these types in the real world?
Connectors are fantastic at expanding your network. They will say things like:
“Oh you should talk to …”
“Have you heard about…”
“Let me introduce you to ..”
They think in nodes, not individuals, and like nothing more than to help you. They see people first, then money.
Salesmen will take the idea that you have been working on for years and help you package it, price it and sell it. They say things like:
“But if you do that, you won’t make any money!”
“Here is how you should position it, and here is the upsell…”
“You have to have an offer. Traffic means nothing if it doesn’t lead to a sale.”
“What is your pricing structure?”
“What specific value will this have to your market? How much is that worth?”
Mavens will dig deeply into your product and give very specific, detailed and relevant information on how it can fit within the marketplace.
“I was researching that last month, and I noticed a slight discrepancy in ….”
“Your work fits right in the xxx part of yyy’s essay on the zzz topic.”
“You could add videos to this to bring the lessons alive! And you could expand on the content in Chapter 3, Section 2, by listing …”
How to use these ideas in the real world
Michele Woodward, in her executive coaching work, created the “Connector Strategy Tool” where she helps clients conducting a job search identify the Connectors in their life. One client reported that after having lunch with a Connector, by the time she got back to her office, he had sent eight messages of introduction to hiring managers.
Charlie and I used this model in our Lift Off Retreat, and it was exceptionally eye-opening for the participants, who realized: A) They should celebrate who they really are, and ignore advice to change into something they are not. B) By surrounding themselves with other archetypes, their business will grow to a whole other level.
Tipping Point archetypes in the wild
Jonathan Fields is a Connector .He starts each day on Twitter with the question “How can I help you?” Enough said. (He is a wickedly strong Salesman too)
Crystal Williams is a Maven. She is given one task, like researching an online shopping cart, and does it to a depth that would make a retired librarian blush.
Naomi Dunford is a Salesman. She has the ability to craft an email or blog post about a product that is so funny and compelling that you cannot help but reach for your wallet. Even if you are not sure you need it.
Daniel Pink is a Maven. With a healthy dose of Salesperson and good sprinkling of Connector. He knows how to find a great specific idea (Whole New Mind, Drive), research it deeply, and sell it to a broad market. If we could all be so well-balanced!
When you recognize your primary archetype, you can look for people who compliment you. I need salespeople around me, since I have been known to connect my entire network, and forget that I actually have a mortgage to pay and a child still in diapers.
So here is your task:
- Identify yourself. Are you a Connector, a Maven or a Salesman?
- Evaluate your current business model through this lens. Are you setting yourself up for success or failure? Connectors build bridges, Mavens dig deep and research, and Salesmen influence and sell. Is that what you are doing?
- Identify your missing archetype. Do you really need a Salesperson, Connector or Maven? Go find them.
- Share and trade your superpower with theirs, and watch your business explode. Profitably.
