Page 16 - 2016 MARCH issue

Marketing: Riding the Seesaw

by Janet Hager

There are two schools of thought about feel under-appreciated, when you wonder
designing product and service offerings. why your clients aren’t taking full advantage
of your abilities, when you just feel lackluster
One camp says: The customer is always about your business — then you may have
right. We design what they want and deliver leaned too far. It’s time to go back to your
it to them. brand platform and review who you are and
what you stand for. Have you tipped too far
The other camp says: This is who we are. on the seesaw?
If you don’t like it, that’s okay; we’re looking
for the people who do. When it comes to your Toastmasters club,
start from within. What is your club all about?
Neither camp is entirely right, of course; What makes you special? Then find people
extremists rarely are. The answer is some- who want what you’re offering. When you
where in between. I see it as a seesaw, with who have complete alignment between what you
you are on one side and what the client wants on have to offer and what they want in a club, it
will be apparent from the get-go; they’ll sense
the other. We all lean toward our clients a bit. it in their very first meeting, and so will you.
Those are the best members to bring on board.
But how much? How do you strike that balance? And a few of the best members are far better
than a whole raft of not-so-great members.
How do you decide where to give in, and where
Janet Clesse Hager can help you find balance on the
to drive a stake into the ground?
I recommend starting from the this-is- seesaw, and then some. She’s a marketing and branding

who-we-are end of the seesaw. Outline who specialist, a dynamic speaker, distiller of information,
you are and what you stand for as a company and solver of problems. Her company is called Tinfish
first; find clients who love you for it; then if
those clients suggest ways you can change for Initiatives.
the better, consider it.

Starting with yourself (your company’s
self) means the work you do or the products
you make come from a place of authenticity
and truth within, rather than from doing what
someone tells you to do.

None of us got into business for ourselves
so we could do what other people tell us to do.

Furthermore, people value a strong sense
of self in the companies they do business with.
People want to know what you stand for, they
demand transparency from companies in a
way they never have before.

Having a written brand platform that
outlines your core values, your core offerings,
and your core customers is valuable; that’s
your touchstone. When you get feedback from
a client about changing your offering or the
way you do business, compare it back to that
brand platform. How far can you lean before
the seesaw tips too far? Does it feel right?

When you start to feel like what you’re
doing is a little bit hollow, when you start to

16 Volume 2 Issue 8 - MARCH 2016