With only one chance to make a first impression, you're tempted to cram all of your product or services benefits into that small pitch. But instead of bragging, why not reel in your prospects with something unexpected, interesting, and creative? A marketing message is that main line of communication with new customers, so capturing their attention through a message that reflects your personality, gives the customer value, and is unexpected may give customers that so called "love at first sight". The Dean of Marketing Know-How shares his three "Hitches" to get people to pay attention to your marketing message. Give people your personality + Add your brand’s promise + be clever and say something that is unexpected Chapter Five of The Marketing Plan Podcast will guide you through three principles to create the perfect brand message. Also in this chapter two guests on how to be creative with your advertising. Luke Sullivan, author of Hey Whipple, Squeeze This, and Tom Altstiel, Author of Advertising Creative.

One goal of your marketing plan is to get people to have conversations about you. How do you earn word-of-mouth in the Age of Social Sharing and Connectivity? Special guest Andrea Goulet Ford joins us to earn customer conversations through brand engagement. In Chapter Four of the Marketing Plan Podcast, it’s time for us to discuss earning the trust and recommendations of your customers. We discuss how to engage your customers, to start the flow of word-of-mouth conversation for your brand.

In Chapter 3 of The Marketing Plan Podcast we will consider the main character of the story the customer.  Looking at most business models, we can see that the customer is a target. Something to be captured. Customers are often considered transactions to be acquired, trophies to be won. This is the essence of transaction hunting, but I think that’s running the wrong way. The goal is an emotional bond between your brand and the customer, this transcends product and service. When you establish this bond, sales happen. And while the key to sustainability and growth is sales, creating a relationship does not come from sales tactics. I believe they arrive through four, simple relationship principles. Principle 1: Understanding Principle 2: Empathize with Action Principle 3: Give Unconditionally Principle 4: Safety

Chapter 2: Four Questions to Create Your Brand Story My new show, The Marketing Plan Podcast focuses on transforming your business into the brand you've always dreamed it could be. In Chapter 2 of The Marketing Plan Podcast, I will guide you through four, Level 1 Branding Questions. These will drill down and reveal the  essence of your brand to help you build your brand story. Below you will find a worksheet, listen to Chapter 2 for complete guidance through the questions, and examples of answers.

It's Time for a Transformation Plan This is my new show, The Marketing Plan Podcast. It focuses on transforming your business into the brand you've always dreamed it could be. Power to the Small Business is no longer being produced. This feed will continue until June 5, 2015, and then it will shut down. If you like the new show, you can subscribe in iTunes or your feed reader at http://MarketingPlanPodcast.com/subscribe But now, I'd like to treat you to the premiere episode of my brand new show: It's Time for a Transformation Plan. ...because it is time. If you find yourself in a continuous search for the answers to take your business to the so-called "next level" then I invite you to give Chapter 1 a try. My special guest is Tim Berry, founder of Palo Alto Software and LivePlan.com. He's a pioneer in business planning software and online businss planning. Complete show notes are available at http://MarketingPlanPodcast.com/Chapter1 Included in the show notes is one free month of business planning at LivePlan.com Thanks for listening!Jay EhretDean of Marketing Know-HowThe Marketing Spot

This podcast will reformatted and premier as a brand new show next week, April 24, 2014. But don't unsubscribe! I will post the new show in this feed for the first month so you can get a taste and see if you like it. It will be a focused, marketing podcast with lots of actionable ideas, AND a plan for you to become the business you've always dreamed you could be. Big promise, right? Tune in next episode to see if I can deliver. Meantime.... I invite you to enjoy the most popular episode in the history of the previous 99 episodes: Megan Duckett of Sew What: An Entrepreneur's Take on Marketing Megan has a great philosophy on branding. Take a listen and see why listeners made this the most popular episode of all time. For a list of the top 5 episodes of all time check out this link: http://themarketingspot.com/?p=6354 Thanks for listening!- Jay Ehret

If you meet ALL customer expectations, congratulations the customer considers that to be an average customer experience and they are only 42% likely to be a repeat customer and only 32% likely to recommend you to their friends and family. In this episode, Jay takes a deep dive into the Customer Experience Wow! formula to show you how to create customer loyalty and spark word-of-mouth conversations about your business. He will introduce two tools to you to help you take your business' customer experience from ordinary to Wow! Download-able worksheets are available in the show notes at website: TheMarketingSpot.com/blog In this episode: Customer loyalty and word-of-mouth statistics What is customer loyalty? The Customer Experience Formula How to take your experience to the Wow! level The two biggest factors that determine experience Wow! Tools to improve your customer experience.

Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer joins Jay to discuss the news that Facebook is ratcheting back the exposure of content posts from brand pages. Now, as few as 1-2% of your fans will actually see your posts organically. Jason Falls and Jay Ehret discuss:- Is this the end of small businesses using Facebook?- How will brands, both big and small react to this move?- It will not be important to be great at content marketing- Businesses who are proficient in PPC (pay per click) advertsing will have the advantages.- Was there every really such a thing as marketing 2.0?- Advice on how use Facebook now that pay-for-play is required. Get complete show notes and links at the blog website: http://themarketingspot.com/2014/03/small-business-ditch-facebook.html

This episode is about better brand communication. Do you feel like customers have a difficult time "getting it" about your business? Then you may have an explanation problem. Lee Lefever is the voice behind all the Common Craft videos that changed how we explain things on the internet. His videos have had more than 50 million views. Lee is also the author of The Art of Explanation and he joins host Jay Ehret to discuss how to craft a better explanation for your business. Topics Discussed: What a good explanation is. What you should be communicating about your business. The curse of knowledge and how it hinders your brand. The formula for a good explanation. Is creativity necessary? How Common Craft got started. Are those Lee's hands in the videos? Get complete show notes on The Marketing Spot blog at: http://themarketingspot.com/2014/03/how-to-explain-your-business.html **Please review and rate this podcast in iTunes**https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/power-to-small-business-branding/id272405020?mt=2

Jay Ehret, Dean of Marketing Know-How at The Marketing Spot.com answers the most common marketing questions and gives advice and tips to small businesses on how to handle these marketing issues. Questions answered are:   - How do I get my name out there with impact? - What local marketing tactics am I neglecting? - How do I know my tagline is good? Jay also previews how to get a discount on his new virtual workshop: Create a Custom Marketing Plan to Transform Your Business Use discount code 97 to get the entire workshop for only $97 atTheMarketingspot.com/plan

In this episode, how to used LinkedIn to market your business, network and directly go after business. Josh Turner, founder of LinkedSelling.com and LinkedUniversity.com joins host Jay Ehret to discuss beginning, intermediate, and advanced LinkedIn marketing tactics. Also in this episode:- How effective is social media marketing?- New online workshop announced: How to Create a Custom Marketing Plan to Transform Your Business.Get more details on the workshop at TheMarketingSpot.com/plan See the show notes and links at themarketingspot.com/linkedin-marketing-solutions.html