Freakyyyy Friday: What the $%&@* is a Brand?

We all buy them.

We all love them.

We all spend our paychecks on them.

What are they?

 

They’re not lovers, nor spouses/boyfriends/girlfriends/friends with benefits.

 

They’re brands. Entrepreneurs start businesses but, how many actually create brands? Almost no one does it because, although we all want them and if we have the money we all buy them… the concept of what a Brand actually is, is quite confusing.

The concept of what a Brand actually is, is quite confusing

 

Some say: It’s the name!

Others are convinced: It’s the logo!

Still others insist: It’s the image!

tWistVox says:

 (Image + Identity + UPB) =

 1 Solid Concept, Valuable, Seductive and/or Necessary

A business without a brand is a business that is always flirting with death and/or stagnation, because we human beings are loyal to ideas and fall in love with them. In fact, our personal relationships are created because we are loyal to an Idea/Concept of the other, not to a concrete reality. And so it is logical that as consumers, we have a propensity to consume ideas. What all of this means is that a brand is the strongest component in the creation of business $value$, because consumers buy Ideas/Concepts more than they do Products.

Consumers buy Ideas/Concepts more than they do Products

So businesses Without a Brand sell Products, which you can almost always find cheaper somewhere else.

What do you want to sell?

Ideas/Concepts?

or

Products?

 

Guilty as charged: El Berea @alejandroberea

Next Freaky Friday: What the #$&#$ is Corporate Image?

¿Cuánto cuesta no tomar notas? 5 cómo’s para lograr una disciplina de notas.

Un buen emprendedor es UniTema. Hablamos, soñamos, comemos y desayunamos nuestro proyecto.

 

Perder ideas te cuesta, y le cuesta a tu marca y tu proyecto. Entonces, ¿cómo diantres le hago?

The cost of not taking notes: 5 how-to’s to become a master note-taker

A good entrepreneur is obsessive and monothematic. We speak, dream, eat and breathe our project.

Losing ideas is costly, and it is costly for your brand and your project. So then, what the heck do I do?

Even bad ideas almost always help lead us to good ideas, or good ideas can be improved, but that will never happen if they are lost in the mess inside your head. Imagine how much your business could be making with those potential innovations or differentiators that slip through your fingers… Taking notes is one of the most fundamental tools in the arsenal of creativity and entrepreneurship.

I’ll share with you some of my own techniques.

1. Post-it notebook. Start with a notebook, or block of Post-its that you always carry around with you. I would even suggest you put on your bedside table to capture whatever occurs to you before sleeping, in the middle of the night or in the morning.

2. Evernote. They don’t pay me a commission, simply, if you are reading this, I like you, and having an Evernote account leads to a happier, more satisfying life because it’s a panacea for organizing the mess we have between our ears.

3. Stop. If you’re driving, stop, jot your idea down and continue on your way. If you are doing something else, STOP, jot down your idea and move on. The brain’s subliminal region processes a lot of information while you are doing things on automatic, but almost always, while we are on automatic, we don’t stop because… we are on automatic!

4. Process. Take a look at your notes every day before you go to bed. What works? What could be of use to somebody?

5. Pending Items for Tomorrow. Include valuable items in your list of “Pending Items” for tomorrow. I make a Post-it list daily. I use “1, 2 and 3” for priority items on my daily list.

 

Do you have a story about some note that changed your life?

 

Guilty party: L Berea @alejandroberea

 

Share your opinion, share this post or de both, but do something with this tasty, steaming slice of tWist.

A “BRAND’S UNDERLYING STRUCTURE” – DO YOU KNOW YOUR CLIENT?

First of all, sorry about the long absence but we promise it will be worthwhile. We’re returning with a solid concept and clearer themes. Faithful and devoted to you and to ourselves. Thanks for reading!

 

Do you have the faintest idea of who buys your products?

 

What do they like? What do they listen to? What do they loathe?

 

One of the most valuable components of a brand is knowing the public interested in the product. In fact, your job as brand owner is creating a personal relationship between “YOUR VISION” and “what your fans want.”

 

But… what does the Mexican entrepreneur answer when she is asked about her target?

 

This is a real excerpt that I have repeatedly found in many business plans and executive projects:

 

“According to INEGI data [equivalent of the U.S. Census Bureau], the Mexican population is divided into YYY urban population and CCC rural population, of which NNN% are female heads of household…”

 

Another:

 

“At a national level, XX% of entrepreneurs are male and employ between X and Y people.”

 

Good grief.

 

This is one of the principal reasons why Mexican SMEs fail: they have no idea who they are trying to sell their product to.

 

So we blame the economy but… honestly, how do you expect someone to take some of their money and give it to you, when you haven’t demonstrated the slightest bit of interest in knowing who that person is?

 

So, start by asking yourself the right questions…

 

      What problem is my product addressing?

             Who has this problem?

                     Why do they have this problem?

                              How does it affect them?

                                      Who are these people?

                                                Where are they?

 

Come on!… You can do it… Resist the temptation of looking for that information on Google or the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 

Go out on the street and look for those people, have a cup of coffee where they drink their coffee, listen to their conversations, observe them…

 

How do they dress?

 

Anyway, I think you get the idea.

 

Get your butt off your chair and start by understanding your client so that you can convert him into a fan; a client buys, but buys  whatever is cheapest, while a fan will buy what you have to offer because what you offer will speak directly to him.

 

 

Tell us, what do you want to know about brands? We love listening to you… we are tWistvox and we are here for all you entrepreneurs out there!

 

 

@alejandroberea, guilty as charged: Obsessive entrepreneur, criminally over the top, unabashedly irreverent, eager mentor and public enemy #1 of all things boring.

Who the #@%! buys my products? Looking for the Ideal Client…

Who is your ideal client and why?

Send us your reply to @twistvox

But why is it worthwhile doing this exercise?

Because knowing who your Ideal Client is allows you to speak her language, visit the places he frequents, listen to her music and so on, creating a connection that can translate into $ value.

What happens if you don’t know who your Ideal Client is? It’s like trying to shoot mosquitoes with a shotgun. That means you may get one or two mosquitoes every now and again, but you’d be wasting enormous amounts of energy and resources to achieve very poor results. In other words, you’re selling your product to NO ONE, and so, almost NO ONE will buy it, only the clueless few who didn’t have any other option, and it’s very unlikely that even they will return to buy from you. So,

how do I assemble the Ideal Client puzzle?

111. Think about problems. What PAINFUL problems does my product address? Who has those problems? Now is the time to talk to your current or potential clients and listen to them. You can eat at a café near your ice cream shop and listen to what these people talk about. What do they complain about? Understand the problems they face and how they solve them. Think about how your product can solve those problems, or in what indirect way your product can help provide the solution…

Short story: A small town’s night watchman would scream every night: “ALL IS WELL!” This made the townsfolk feel very safe. One fine day a bunch of thieves came and stole a huge loot right from under their noses. That was the day they realized that the watchman was blind as a bat.

The point of the story? Human beings’ soft chewy center is easily scared, but… if you can convince your soft chewy center that “everything’s fine,” for example, by screaming something like “ALL IS WELL!”, you’ll find the balance and strength to follow your goals intelligently. When you take fear out of the equation, you only have strength, conviction and a lot of trial and error left, but we all know that enough stubbornness winds up achieving what it sets out to do.

Now back to your issue: Find a way for your business to work like an “ALL IS WELL!” for your clients, but you will only achieve this if you know who they are, what pains them and what they want.

Instead of investing in sales tactics and community managers, THINK about what’s most logical and simple, get to know your Ideal Client and focus on getting to her and speaking her language.

Guilty as charged @alejandroberea

Complain, suggest, share your opinions. tWistvox is viralizing the “invisible structure”. What can we do so that it gets to you and you are able to use it?

¿quién m*%#dres compra mis productos? Existe el Cliente Ideal…

¿Quién es tu Cliente Ideal? y ¿por qué?

Envíanos tu respuesta @twistvox

¿Pero porqué es valio$o hacer este ejercicio?

Por que saber quien es tu Cliente Ideal te permite hablar su idioma, frecuentar sus lugares, escuchar su música, en fin, crear una conexión que se puede convertir en valor$.

¿Qué pasa si no sabes quien es tu Cliente Ideal? Estás tratando de matar moscas con una escopeta. Esto quiere decir que a veces le darás a una mosca o dos moscas, pero estarás desperdiciando enormes cantidades de energía y recursos para lograr muy pobres resultados. En otras palabras, le estás vendiendo tu producto a NADIE, entonces, casi NADIE te lo compra, solo los despistados que no tuvieron otra opción que comprarte algo, pero incluso ellos, difícilmente se esforzarán en regresar contigo. Entonces,

¿cómo armo el rompecabezas del Cliente Ideal?

111. Piensa en problemas. ¿Qué problemas DOLOROSOS resuelve tu producto? ¿Quienes tienen esos Problemas? Ahora es el momento de platicar con tus clientes actuales o los potenciales y escucharlos. Puedes comer en una fonda cerca de tu negocio de helados y escuchar los temas de conversación de esas personas, ¿de qué se quejan? Entiende los problemas que enfrentan y cómo los solucionan. Piensa de qué manera tu producto puede resolver esos problemas, o de qué manera indirecta tu producto puede facilitar la solución…

 

Breve historia: El velador de un pueblo gritaba todas las noches: “todo en orden“. Esto hacía sentir a los habitantes muy seguros. Un buen día llegaron unos bandidos y se llevaron un enorme botín de los habitantes del pueblo. Ese día se dieron cuenta que el vigía era tan ciego como un murciélago.

¿El punto de la historia? El chicloso centro de los seres humanos se asusta con facilidad, pero… si logras convencer a tu chicloso centro que “todo está bien“, por ejemplo, utilizando una grito como “todo en orden“, encontrarás el balance y la fuerza para seguir de manera inteligente tus metas. Cuando sacas al miedo de la ecuación, sólo te queda fuerza, convicción y mucha prueba y error, pero todos sabemos que suficiente necedad acaba por lograr su cometido.

Ahora de regreso a tu asunto: Busca la manera que tu negocio funcione como el “todo en orden” para tus clientes, pero esto solo lo lograrás si sabes quienes son, qué les duele y qué quieren.

En vez de invertir en técnicas de ventas y community managers, PIENSA en lo más lógico y sencillo, conoce a tu Cliente Ideal y enfócate en llegar a ella y hablar su idioma.

El súper culpable @alejandroberea

Quéjate, sugiere, opina. tWistvox está viralizando la “estructura invisible”, ¿cómo le hacemos para que te sirva, para que te llegue?

La “estructura invisible de marca”. ¿Conoces a tu cliente?

Primero una disculpa por la larga ausencia, pero les prometemos que valdrá la pena. Regresamos con un concepto sólido y temas más claros. Fieles a ustedes y a nosotros. ¡Gracias por leer!

¿tienes la más remota idea de quien compra tus productos?

¿qué les gusta? ¿qué escuchan? ¿qué les recaha?

Uno de los componentes más valiosos de una marca es conocer al público interesado en el producto. De hecho, tu trabajo como dueño de la marca es crear una relación personal entre “TU VISIÓN” y “lo que quieren tus fans”.

Pero… ¿qué contesta el emprendedor mexicano cuando le preguntan sobre su público objetivo?

Esto es un extracto real que me he encontrado en repetidísimos planes de negocios y proyectos ejecutivos:

“según datos del INEGI, la población mexicana se divide en un YYY de población urbana, y un CCC de población rural, de los cuales el NNN% son mujeres jefas de familia…”

otro:

“A nivel nacional XX% de los emprendedores son del género masculino y emplean entre X y Y personas.”

ja – ja.

He aquí una de las razones más frecuentes de fracaso de las PYMES mexicanas: no tienen idea de a quien le están tratando de vender su producto.

Entonces le echamos la culpa a la economía, pero… honestamente, ¿cómo esperas que alguien tome un poco de su dinero y te lo dé a ti, cuando no has demostrado ni el más mínimo interés por entender quien es esa persona?

Entonces, empieza por hacerte las preguntas correctas…

¿qué problema esta resolviendo mi producto?

¿quién tiene este problema?

¿Porqué tienen este problema?

¿Cómo les afecta?

¿quienes son estas personas?

¿En dónde están?

vamos!… tu puedes…  resiste la tentación de buscar la información en Google o en el INEGI.

Sal a la calle y busca a esas personas, tómate un café en donde ellos toman su café, escucha sus conversaciones, obsérvalos,

¿cómo se visten?

En fin, creo que captas la idea.

Levanta tu trasero de la silla y empieza por entender a tu cliente, para que lo puedas convertir en un fan; un cliente compra, y compra lo más barato, pero un fan comprará lo que le ofrezcas por que lo que ofreces le habla directamente a esa persona.

 

Platícanos, ¿qué quieres saber sobre marcas? Nos fascina escucharte… somos tWistvox y estamos para ti emprendedor@.

 

el culpable. @alejandroberea Emprendedor, exagerado, irreverente, mentor y enemigo # de lo aburrido.