Notes

6 Steps TO OBTAIN Slightly Famous
A couple of years ago, Bruce Smith experienced a slowdown in his Salt Lake City-based travel agency. Airlines had eliminated his sales commissions. The recession and recent terrorist attacks also took a toll. And as the travel industry was ultra-competitive, he knew he had to find methods to distinguish his company from a large number of other travel agencies.

Then, he had a fortunate accident. His wife asked him where they would celebrate their first loved-one's birthday. When he gave her a blank look, she set about planning for a trip-but wouldn't tell him what she was planning. Because he enjoyed the mystery leading up to the trip, and the hints his wife gave him, he repackaged his travel service as The Veiled Voyage, selling 'destination unknown' vacations to couples and others.

Smith's clever branding strategy was a hit. It not only helped him create a unique and memorable brand, but also made him 'slightly' famous.

Now, most of Smith's business comes through referrals from happy clients who eagerly tell their friends about The Veiled Voyage. He's regularly featured in newspapers, magazines and radio programs and was even invited to speak at a national travel conference. Moreover, he's been able to increase his brand with a major grocery store chain by way of a lucrative co-branding relationship which has further expanded his company.

The 'Slightly' Famous You

Some business owners attract clients and customers like magic. They don't cold call or depend on advertising. Yet they're regularly featured in newspapers and magazines and get invited to speak at conferences. Everyone understands their name, and they get all the business they are able to handle.

It's almost as if they were famous.

In fact, they are, but not in the manner celebrities and athletes are famous--they're just slightly famous. Just famous enough to make their names one thinks of when people are seeking a particular service or product. They get more business - not only more, but the right kind of business - plus they need not work so hard to obtain it.

Desire to join them and enjoy this ideal state of affairs, where customers arrived at you? You can, but it may require a new thought process and a new marketing strategy. Although their efforts take different forms, underlying all of them are six basics.

1. Targeting the best prospects

Slightly famous entrepreneurs focus their marketing to focus on the best prospects.

Alex Fisenko is well known in the world of coffee as 'the Dean of Beans.' The 60-something coffee expert started his first espresso shop in the 1960s. Since that time, he's focused his energies and now sells his expertise on launching an effective coffee business to aspiring entrepreneurs. Alex conducts restaurant seminars and sells a training course called 'Espresso Business Success.'

His Web site, http://www.espressobusiness.com, generates thousands of dollars a month in products sales and consulting engagements in america, Thailand, South Korea, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, and Barbados. 'By targeting the very best prospects, I now make more money through book sales and consultations than when I ran coffee shops,' says Fisenko.

2. Developing a unique market niche

Smaller businesses with a 'slightly famous' strategy establish themselves within a carefully selected market niche they can realistically hope to dominate.

Dan Poynter, for example, is a successful self-publisher who started writing books about parachuting and hang-gliding over thirty years back. Though it could sound as though his audience will be too small to create significant sales, he knew his market and where to find them. Best of all, he has the marketplace all to himself!

Rather than make an effort to fight for attention generally bookstores, he sold books to skydiving clubs, parachute dealers, and the U.S. Parachute Association. He developed a reputation in skydiving circles, and contains enjoyed steady sales of his books for a lot more than three decades.

3. Positioning your business as the best solution

Positioning is about identifying a key attribute of your company not provided by competitors which is clearly valuable to your marketplace.

When Harry Shepherd started his bookkeeping service a few years ago, he realized that he was in competition with dozens of other bookkeepers selling basically the same thing. To stick out, he mastered a favorite accounting program and marketed himself as a 'QuickBooks Software Training Consultant.'

Shepherd went from blending right into a sea of look-alike competitors to occupying a compelling market position. He charged higher fees, and he didn't have to are hard to get new customers. Word spread fast among accountants because they referred him with their clients. He even trained other bookkeepers to use accounting software.

4. Maintaining your visibility

When was the last time your name appeared in print? Yesterday? Last week? A month ago? Because you remember doesn't mean a potential customer will. To become 'slightly' famous, you must have your message out there, or even continuously, then often enough to help keep your name alive in customers' minds.

When Bart Baggett decided to make handwriting analysis his career, he embraced the media, and studied newspapers, magazines, and radio and television programs to find out what types of guests were popular, and then looked for methods to tie his professional abilities to specific media. His strategy paid off.

At the height of the O.J. Simpson trial, he delivered a news release about Simpson's handwriting that led to several timely media interviews. He later appeared on Court TV to discuss Timothy McVey's handwriting, and was recommended by the director of this program to CNN. A feature in Biography Magazine led to stories in the London Times, the Dallas Morning News, among others.

5. Enhancing your credibility

The surest way to earn credibility is by establishing yourself as a 'recognized' expert with intimate understanding of your clients, customers and industry. read more out-position their competitors because they are recognized as knowing more than their competitors.

Fred Tibbitts, Jr. founded Fred Tibbitts & Associates to help food and beverage companies reach global markets. He strategically cultivated a reputation in his industry as a well-connected and knowledgeable global beverage-marketing expert who's fluent in all the details of his business.

Tibbitts monitors global beverage trends on a daily basis while staying in connection with account managers at hotels and restaurants. He hosts a number of special events, 'Fred Tibbitts Spring & Autumn Dinners with Special Friends,' in key markets, including Hong Kong, Singapore, and New York. Tibbitts also contributes a column to Hospitality International Magazine and numerous industry publications.

6. Establishing your brand and reputation

Slightly famous entrepreneurs use their smallness and specialty in ways that corporate giants can't touch. They make certain their brands strike an emotional chord by bringing their business 'soul' to the forefront of these marketing.

When you meet Dave Hirschkop at a trade show, don't be prepared to shake his hand. That's because he'll be wearing a straitjacket while standing before a simulated insane asylum to market his popular line of 'Insanity' hot sauces.

Dave established his brand by making the hottest sauce possible. Rather than sensual pleasure, he promised pain, even danger. Now, Dave's Gourmet, Inc. steps to the front of the crowded hot sauce category because he embraced a humorous branding strategy that resulted in fiercely loyal customers and great media exposure.

When Dave introduced his Insanity Sauce at the National Fiery Foods Show in New Mexico, he made attendees sign a release form before tasting from the bottle that came in a coffin-like box wrapped with yellow police tape. His best, if unintended, publicity coup happened when a show promoter had a minor respiratory problem after tasting his sauce, and banned him from the show.

To enjoy 'slightly' famous status, you don't need to be insane. But, you need to cultivate a brand identity that will end up being the guiding star of your entire business. It'll ensure that all of your marketing efforts pull in the same direction. You'll waste less time, make fewer marketing mistakes, and stand out within an increasing cluttered world.

Steven Van Yoder is author of Get Slightly FamousT: Turn into a Celebrity in Your Field and Attract More Business with Less Effort. Visit http://www.getslightlyfamous.com to learn the book and find out about 'slightly' famous teleclasses, workshops, and marketing materials to greatly help small businesses and solo professionals attract more business.
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