What's the BIG News?
“People will forget what you said but they will never forget how you make them feel.” – Maya Angelou
In order to illustrate the power of this week’s idea I want to start by telling you two short stories.
Story # 1
When I was in High School a local real estate company sponsored a county-wide contest in which they asked English teachers from every High School in the county to have their students write commercials for the real estate company. Two of the three submitted from our school were my creations. Along with two from other schools, one of my submissions won this contest and a local radio station produced and aired the commercial.
The sponsoring company invited those whose entries had been selected to their office for a reception where we received a thank you and a check from the owner. A newspaper reporter and photographer were at the reception and a story featuring the winners’ names and pictures appeared in the paper the next day. I was ecstatic!
And, decades later, I've never forgotten the experience.
Story # 2
When my younger son was eight years old, he got the idea that he was going to set the World Record for collecting business cards.
A couple years into his effort, a friend of mine, who had contributed to my son’s collection, asked if she could tell a reporter friend about it. I agreed.
Two weeks later, the reporter reached out and said she had pitched the idea of writing a story about my son and his quest to her editors. They thought it would make an interesting piece and wanted to know if my son would be okay with having his story featured in the paper. I said I would ask him.
What do you think he said? ??
When the story about him and his collection was published in December of 2006 I bought a couple dozen papers and gave them to people. Though he eventually lost interest in collecting business cards and never set the World Record, having a feature written about him and published in the newspaper was something my son will never forget. (btw, the online link to his story is, unfortunately, broken. But, I saved to a pdf which you can read here )
Almost everyone likes to be featured in the media – to be famous for a moment. It makes them feel important!
This week’s business differentiation idea is to feature stories about your customers and their life accomplishments.
Share these on your social media sites, web site and, if you have it, YouTube or Vimeo channel. These should be actual customers and their real stories; not phony ‘actor portrayals’.
What Stories?
Though it might seem contrary to business furtherance, you are NOT soliciting stories about customers using your product or service. Instead, you ask your customers to send you stories about interesting things happening in their life. These could be stories about fascinating hobbies they have, things they or members of their family have accomplished, etc. Anything that is a interesting, unusual or incredible could be worthy of featuring. When they submit their story, they'll pitch you on why they should be the featured customer.
These stories provide people with what Andy Warhol described as ‘fifteen minutes of fame’ - that they will never forget.?
Launch a new story segment on a regular, predictable basis. This could be daily, weekly or monthly – depending on the size of your customer base and how many story submissions you receive. Be sure and tease each new story launch so people are looking forward with anticipation to reading (or watching).
Deciding What To Feature
Have a committee that is a cross-section from within your company sort through the submissions and decide which ones make the cut to be featured. Having a diverse group that votes on which ones to feature will ensure the stories appeal to a broad audience and will, therefore, generate traffic.
Obviously, many stories submitted won’t make the cut. But, recognize all those who submit stories with a special ‘Thank You To’ segment at the end of the featured stories article or video. That segment shows the names of all who submitted stories that were not chosen as features.
Knowing that they are at least going to see their name recognized will inspire everyone who submitted their story to tell friends, family and colleagues to check out the new stories premier on launch day.
Most companies default communication mode is to make everything about themselves and/or what they sell. By taking the approach of making this about your customers your company will stand out as unique - and better. Through this approach you will end up organically getting more attention than you would spending loads of money on advertising that, predominantly, gets ignored.
Internal Stories
You can do this same thing for your employees. If you want to improve your company culture, begin seeing the folks who work for you as internal customers. The same care and effort you invest into attracting and retaining customers who buy your product or service should be put into attracting and retaining those on your team.?One part of that effort can be to have this featured stories production for your employee population.
Doing this internally makes people feel important. And, those companies who make the effort to do things that make their employees feel like more than just a warm body filling a spot will find those employees to be more engaged and productive.
Need help creating a strategy that will help your company or product get noticed? Want to have one of our Certified Trainers conduct Creative Thinking Training for your team??PM me.
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Expert Tip
With the seemingly endless pandemic finally winding down people are traveling more. So, I am thrilled to have David Juergens, the Owner of Bright Journey Travel as our Expert contributor this week. His tips that will help you have a better travel experience.
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Travel Smart
Travel continues to become more and more complicated. Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your travel experience.
Travel Tip #1:
To help save money and enjoy more local cuisine, do not dine in restaurants that are in or near tourist locations. In general these restaurants will be higher priced, have less local flavor, and the dining experience will not be as enjoyable. Try walking 5-10 blocks away from the area and you will likely find more local dining options with lower prices, more local flavor and a better ambiance.
Travel Tip #2:
Let your Bank and Credit Card Companies know you are traveling.
In today's environment of rampant identity theft, and fraud, it is important to let your bank and credit card companies know that you will be traveling somewhere outside of your normal routine.
Many financial institutions will flag transactions and decline them if they are made in a state which you normally don't travel to, or a country other than your own. Aside from the embarrassment this may cause you, it may be very inconvenient to be without a means to pay, especially if you are overseas and spending while your bank's customer service department is at home, asleep!
Travel Tip #3: Purchase Travel Insurance
Many trips, especially for a family or group, can cost thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars. If you do not have Travel Insurance coverage for your trip, you are taking quite a risk. ?While some hotel stays are refundable, many resorts, cruises and most airline tickets are non-refundable. If you can't go, too bad...You are out quite a bit of money.
If you become sick on your trip, especially if you are out of the country, you will likely be responsible for tens of thousands of dollars of hospital and evacuation charges (many times paid upfront.) Sickness, lost luggage, missed flight, stolen wallet, lost passport, hospitalization, natural disaster, terrorism threat, leaving early, staying extra days, injury, all kinds of unforeseen events can be covered by Travel Insurance.
Travel Tip #4: Visit the Local Office of Tourism
Before you leave on your trip, whether you are traveling to a nearby city or across the globe, visit the Office of Tourism website for the city you will be visiting. The main reason this underused resource exists is self promotion. Quite often these are great places to find discount tickets to events and attractions, to get insight on lesser known features of the locale and to gain insight on the most cost effective way to travel around the city (Bus, train, taxi, bicycle, rickshaw, etc.) If you want some extra help, call them! Speaking to a Tourism Official may get you the low-down on the coolest happenings in the city!?
Be sure to check out David's videos on TikTok! (@david_the_traveler) The are interesting and informative!
Want to be considered to contribute an Expert Tip to a future edition??PM me.
Puzzle and Trivia
To add some fun to our reader's lives, the?Freaking Brilliant Ideas Newsletter?each week features a fun Puzzle and Trivia sheet.
To view or download a pdf version of this week's Puzzle and Trivia sheet, click on the image or go?here.
Can't solve the puzzle? Find the solution and the trivia question answer?here.
These Puzzle and Trivia sheets create massive spikes in traffic to our site. Now, you can provide something fun to your customers and increase traffic to your site, too, by licensing or sponsoring them.?PM?me for details.
Thank you to Brian Butkowski and Bomb Image, Your Branding and Marketing Partner for sponsoring this week's Puzzle and Trivia sheet! Be sure to see their special offer here.
DID YOU KNOW you can now download a FREE pdf version of my landmark book, Discovering Your Greatness? No email opt-in required. Grab your copy?here.
Thank you for reading! Not already subscribed? Do that?here.
See you next week?
About Bob Sager
The Founder of?SpearPoint Solutions, Bob’s professional background includes over three decades of experience in sales, leadership and training. Combined with creative thinking, he uses that experience to develop business strategies that help organizations increase sales and margins. Additionally, Bob facilitates training on methods of thinking more creatively that organizations can practically apply to all aspects of their business so they can thrive in the modern?economy.?
Among other accomplishments, Bob is the?inventor?of the creative thinking game,?What's the BIG Idea?? and?author of the books,?Discovering Your Greatness?and?101 Freaking Brilliant Business Ideas.?He is also the creator of a budget friendly way to access his ideas, the?Freaking Brilliant Ideas Bank?and the NEW?Lite Version of the Freaking Brilliant Ideas Bank.
CEO ?? at Weatherology ?? Author ?? Podcast Host ?? Speaker ?? Entrepreneur ??
2 年Appreciate your perspective! Amazing article Bob Sager ??
?Commercial & Residential Real Estate Financing | Commercial Lender | Self-Employed Mortgage Specialist | Project Financing | Entrepreneur Coaching | Insurance Advocate | 35+ Years of Entrepreneurial Expertise
2 年Great article!
Loyalty & Payments Advisor, Book Publisher, Podcaster, 3X Bestselling Author
2 年Amazing read Bob Sager! ????
Multi-talented 3X Bestselling Author | Communication Executive by day, Storyteller by night | Hosting Thought-Provoking Podcasts & Crafting Compelling Stories
2 年Would you like me to send my card to your son ?
Husband, father, SEO getting you consistent, unlimited traffic without ads ???? FreeSEObook.com, written from 17 years as SEO agency owner
2 年The article offered some great suggestions, Bob! People can communicate with the concept more profoundly when other people's experiences are included. ??