B6
W e d n e s d a y, J a n u a r y 1 4 , 2 0 1 5 ED M O N T O N J O URNA L e d m o n t o n j o u r n a l . c o m
CAPITAL IDEAS capitalid easedmonton .com
P R O J E C T L E A D E R : K A R E N U N L A N D , 7 8 0 - 4 2 9 - 5 2 6 0; k a r e n @ c a p i t a l i d e a s e d m o n t o n . c o m
CAPITAL QUESTION:
UPCOMING:
What’s the best marketing advice you’ve received?
21-22
FEB
Entrepreneurs discuss tactics that work for them
Innovation and Design Thinking
JAN
11
CAPITAL IDEAS
FEB
11
An intense immersion in the design thinking process with Douglas Solomon, formerly of IDEO and Apple Where: Startup Edmonton (10359 104th St.) When: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission: $1,995. Tickets at uofa.ualberta.ca/executive-education
Learn from Alberta’s Best Alberta Women Entrepreneurs’ full-day program for entrepreneurs who want to take their businesses to the next level Where: Shaw Conference Centre (9797 Jasper Ave.) When: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission: $135. Tickets at aweinspiringentrepreneurs.com
Alberta’s Best — Nominee reception An event to honour AWE’s 2015 Celebration of Achievement Award nominees Where: Shaw Conference Centre (9797 Jasper Ave.) When: 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Admission: $60 to $75. Tickets at aweinspiringentrepreneurs.com
Have an event that Capital Ideas should know about? Contact us at hello@capitalideasedmonton.com PHOTO SUPPLIED BY: KELSEY BULMER
Kelsey Bulmer, owner of Cerulean Boutique (ceruleanboutique.com), says that the best marketing advice she ever received was to keep her focus narrow. “The person who chases two rabbits catches none.” “It’s important to ensure your marketing plan reaches your demographic, but you also need to know what your business goals are and whether the campaign is for branding purposes or call-to-action. If it’s call-to-action, ensure that you have the staff and processes in place to execute the extra workload and ensure customer satisfaction, which will provide a return on your investment.” — Shelly Barless, president and CEO of Dust Queen Maid Service — dustqueen.com “Just go for it. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, for some experiences could be happy accidents.” — Matt Bell, owner and creative director of PinchPoint Media — pinchpoint.ca “Word-of-mouth is the best advertising. Treat clients with dignity and respect, and provide them with exceptional service. Ask longstanding clients for testimonials that can be used for social media purposes to capitalize your opportunity for word-of-mouth to reach a broader audience.” — Keltie Brisson, owner and recreation therapist at Rehab and Retreat — rehabandretreat.com “Remove the word ‘sales’ from your vocabulary. There are so many words about helping your customer, but ‘sales’ is all about helping you… That word is a constant reminder to the customer that you are trying to get money from them. Use words and phrases that are about giving value to them.” — Randy Brososky, chief rogue and bottlewasher at the Group of Rogues — groupofrogues.com “Make sure your brand is everywhere and on everything. The more your name is out there, the better. Make sure you have social media, and the more websites you join pertaining to your business, the better. There is nothing that works as well as free advertising. We have our name and phone numbers on all our vehicles, so even people in the street see our product and our name.” — Suzan Burtic, president of Legends Limousine Ltd. — legendslimousine.ca “New companies grow through PR, not advertising. Make your product so compelling that people talk about it; that’s how you grow with no marketing budget. As you come to dominate your product category, you need to advertise to protect your market share. Thanks to marketing guru Al Ries for that bit of wisdom; it’s better than any marketing wisdom I got from my MBA.” — Lindsay Dodd, CEO of Savvia Inc. — savvia.com
“Marketing is one of the key investments for your business. You have to spend money to make money, so come up with a plan and do it. The short-term investment to get started will bring long-term results.” — Gail Hall, chef and owner of Seasoned Solutions Cooking School and Culinary Tours — seasonedsolutions.ca “The best marketing advice I received was from Simon Sinek in his book Start With Why. The part of the brain that makes decisions is the limbic brain, which is responsible for all feelings, such as loyalty and trust. However, the limbic brain has no capacity for language, and therefore most decisions are rationalized by what feels right. The best marketing focuses on the why, not the what or how.” — Roy Hendrickson, founder of The AgentC Perspective — taptheappnow.com “Don’t be afraid to give your products or services away for free from time to time. This is a great way to get customers through your door to experience what you have to offer. Half the battle is getting them in; once they see what you offer, turning them into long-term customers is that much easier.” — Stacey Hogbin, owner of Wevive Fitness — wevivefitness.com “What I want to portray in my marketing message is the value that my clients receive — confidence, comfort and encouragement.” — Rayne Johnson, owner of Tear Cups — tearcups.com “Know the difference between a feature and a benefit, and promote the benefit by making it real to the client or customer.” — Stuart Kehrig, senior planner for small enterprise at City of Edmonton — edmonton.ca “Find something that your team and customers can have an emotional connection to… If you can do that, you will be able to get the best advertising — word-of-mouth and family or friend recommendations.” — Ashif Mawji, CEO of NPO Zero — npozero.com “Create fun events, nurture relationships, and leave people feeling better about themselves than when they first met you. True for marketing, and for generally being a good human being.” — Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail, author and Edmonton’s historian laureate — daniellemc.com “The best marketing advice I ever received was to treat customers exceptionally well, because they will drive business to you. Great marketing is driven by great customer relationships; if you can create an experience where your customers become your advocates, they will market for you.” — Margot Ross-Graham, owner of Sandbar Coaching and Consulting — sandbar.me
“Remember — people may not remember exactly what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel. When marketing your business, inspire at least one of the following four emotions: Trust, confidence, dependability and excitement.” — Laura M. Schuler, general counsel at Schuler Law Group “As a marketing firm owner, I give a lot of marketing advice. But the best piece I’ve received is to ask your clients and customers why they chose to work with you. It’s not enough to guess why your company is the best; the way to build an authentic brand is to understand why your clients choose you over your competitors. And it’s an authentic brand that will be most effective in the long run.” — Susie Sykes, owner of Catapult Marketing — catapultmarketing.ca “Sales and marketing are not the same things, but many people use the words interchangeably. To illustrate the difference, I use the analogy of a volleyball game. Marketing can be seen as the set of the ball, while sales are the spike. Both are dependent on each other to score a point. A poor set will result in an awkward spike, with a low probability of a resulting point. But a great set will give even a poor spiker a higher ability to score. If you set the ball first, the points will follow.” — Kurian Tharakan, managing director at StrategyPeak Sales & Marketing Advisors — strategypeak.com
COMMUNITY QUESTION: How do you know how to price your product or service? Building a product or service is one thing, but figuring out what to charge for them can be a challenge in and of itself. That’s why Lauren Sergy, owner of Up Front Communication (laurensergy. com), is curious to hear from you: How do you know how to price your product or service? You can answer the question in two ways: • Open today’s Capital Ideas email if you’re a member, or • Visit capitalideasedmonton.com We’ll publish the best answers, along with your business name and website address, on Jan. 21. Lauren is hosting an eight-part workshop, Public Speaking for Beginners and the Truly Terrified, starting on Jan. 20. Learn more at laurensergy.com.
B U S I N E S S OW N E R S H E L P I N G B U S I N E S S OW N E R S
These answers are in response to a question posed by Wellington Holbrook, executive vice-president of ATB Business. Here’s his take: “The best marketing advice I’ve received is to build your elevator pitch. You should succinctly be able to sum up the essence of your business and its differentiating factor in a few short sentences. It is the opportunity to give a compelling ‘why’ and reflect your company culture in a consistent way. It’s powerful both internally and externally, and everyone in your business should be able to pitch it the same way.”
JOIN US! SIGN UP at
capitalideasedmonton.com
Join our LinkedIn group: Capital Ideas at the Edmonton Journal. Follow us on Twitter: @capitalideasyeg