Archive for January, 2010
What makes you different?
Monday, January 25th, 2010
Whether it’s at a networking event, meeting with a potential client or vendor or speaking with budding graphic artists, the same question always arises: what makes you guys different?
As a young creative studio of 3 fairly recent college grads, one MBA and visual communications expert classically trained on the West Cost, you want the answer to be something like:
“Well our father learned the art of communication from his father, and he learned it from his father and these age old family secrets of being creative and doing business have been passed down to us.”
or
“We’ve developed a new technology that blah blah blah and blah’s and it works amazingly.”
or
“We have the ability to read minds. It helps.”
I think you get it. The point is that we all want and feel the need to say something memorable and impressive but really, half the time it’s just you! Your team! The people who make your company what it is.
And that answer is not memorable and unfortunately is the default answer that everyone is most likely using.
Last year BCG was nominated for an award, 25 Under 25, which recognizes the top small businesses under 25 employees in Kansas City. Applying was rather grueling as we were forced to look under the hood and figure out what was fueling our engine and what made it different than the other cars parked down the street (that was a metaphor for the other 6 or 7 creative agencies in the River Market btw).
Well, after asking our clients and looking at how we did things, we got an answer…but it’s still not as exciting as being apart of a creative lineage.
The answer is simple, old school and obvious…We offer superior customer service and account management.
I know you were looking for something else. So were we! But to be honest, we have acquired several clients solely based on their bad customer service experiece with other agencies. And we’ve kept our flagship client since day one *knocking on wood* because of it. And the awesome part about it is that great customer service is actually not as common or as easy as you would think or hope.
To make a long story even longer, please read the article that spurred this post.
McGarryBowen Is Ad Age’s Agency of the Year
It’s a short article about John McGarry and how his “Old World” approach to account management, coupled with adapting to the change in the game, has fueled 25% growth (600 Million dollars) in ‘09.
Tags: Account management, Small business
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
A stop-motion video for the 21-30somethings
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
As a young, dynamic group we are always looking to push the envelope with creativity, try new things and innovate as often as possible. Working with non-profits, this opportunity presents itself more often than not! Thanks to Variety of Kansas City we put together this stop-motion photography video made of 377 still photos…and we got it in 1 take! Enjoy!
Young Variety KC – Beers For Bikes 2010 from Brockton Creative Group on Vimeo.
Tags: online marketing, social networking, Video production, Viral marketing
Posted in Innovation | No Comments »
10 Tips on Chamber of Commerce networking for small businesses (Part 2)
Thursday, January 7th, 2010
TIP #6 – I double dog dare you!
Chances are, if you aren’t the inventor of a a new cutting edge product (potentially built in your garage), then at face value, you and the widgets you sell are not much different than your competitor and his widgets who is across the room.
With that said, I dare you to be different! I’m not saying stick your tongue on the frozen flag pole, but take a unique approach.
When introducing your company, use that catchy tagline you’ve been going back and forth on. Think of this as a test market. If you sell t-shirts, you should be wearing the coolest t-shirt in the room. If you can’t think of something catchy or how your product or service differs, than maybe you’re just the best dressed person in the room. I’m okay with that!
TIP #7 – Follow up
You’ve heard it a million times but it continues to separate the good from the great. It’s important to follow up with everyone that you exchange cards with because you never know where that next sale or partnership will come from. Collect those cards, send those emails and give people the chance to remember who you were.
“It was nice meeting you. I was the guy wearing the Hungry-Hungry-Hippos T-shirt.”
TIP #8 – The Big Fish…maybe
More important than following up is Following Through. You met some nice people that you will “keep on your list” but there was hopefully that one “prospect” that had you smiling, rambling (speaking highly of your company), making promises and thinking “I can’t wait to tell my team who I just met!” No matter how much potential lies in this new relationship, if you don’t do what you said you would do, when you said you would do it and how you said you were going to do it, it will fizzle into nothing. It could potentially get your brand off to a bad start as well…but that’s another subject!
TIP #9 – And for the Grand Finale…
…here a few quick and small tips that I think should make the list. I know they’re simple but many people forget the little things…and it’s the little things that count.
9 1/4 Keep a little cash on you. Tip bartenders, especially when the drinks are free.
9 1/2 Check your breath. Chew gum before networking, not during.
9 3/4 Take your parking garage ticket in with you to get it validated.
9 7/8 Hold your drink in your left hand to prevent cold, soggy hand shakes. (But when eating hold your plate in the right hand and eat with your left-switch when you shake).
TIP #10 – Other peoples money
During your free chamber networking experiences, if you head the above 9 tips in any way, you just may get a new client, partner or vendor. Hopefully, the revenues or cost savings will be enough to finance your new chamber membership!
Try these tips out with a few different chambers around your metro area and before you know it, your business will be a household name (in the business community).
Tags: Chamber of Commerce, Networking, Sales, Small business
Posted in Networking | 1 Comment »