Susan
More to marketing. Welcome to more to marketing. The podcaster explores marketing, product and everything business. I’m your host today, Susan Walsh, and we’re talking about the four seas of building an unbeatable brand. Today. My guest is a professional marketer who has helped shape some of the biggest future brands, Emma Shermer, Tamir Emma has helped over 2000. Businesses boost their sales and brands. You heard me write 2000, my favourite byline from her website. Marketing by Emma is. Turn browsers into buyers. A very powerful message with a passion for breaking through the noise and clutter. Emma turns drab into money, making madness, especially on Amazon. Hey, Emma, it’s great to have you here. Today.
Emma
Hello, Susan. That was such a fun bio. I’m excited to be here.
Susan
Or tell me a bit about yourself and what you do and your career.
Emma
Absolutely. I I I I think I sort of took a a back door into the marketing and entrepreneurship world. It was not what I imagined for myself, but a series of choices ended up taking me down this journey that I am very happy that I’m on so. When I first started working, I every single job that I took, my bosses would eventually learn that I could write, and then they would approach me and say, hey, we’re looking to start a newsletter or we really need to get our blog off the ground. Would you like to help? And so I started to recognise that I might have a knack for this. And then I moved overseas. And when you’re living in other countries, especially when you’re not a native speaker to that country’s language. Being an English speaker becomes a very strong asset and so I ended up getting into the content marketing world while I was living abroad and that was where I began. Began to really dig in a little deeper to. Learning all of the things that happen before you ever sit down to write a word or make a decision about the imagery to use, and that’s what really gripped me, was learning about human psychology, why we make the choices that we make, either intentionally or subconsciously. And that was once I sunk my teeth into that. I was hooked. So from there I moved back to the United States, this time with a husband in tow. And he had the idea to start a business. And I thought he was very. Silly and I ignored it. And then I went away on a busy. This trip and when I came home, I learned that leaving him by himself for five days. May you may just come back to a new. Business.
Susan
Alright.
Emma
So he was tired of waiting for permission and he was he was really the brainchild behind marketing by Emma and saw the opportunity in working with E commerce businesses and helping them stand out and find success on.
Susan
Amazing.
Emma
Time.
Susan
Ohh. Fantastic. It’s it’s beautiful. When something’s born out of the passion as well. Because then your your hearts in it as well. And I know it is by looking at your site and everything you’ve been doing as well. So I think he made the right. Decision when you’re.
Emma
Away, I think so. It’s one of those things where when you’re able to look backwards, you understand. How all the pieces go together, but when you’re in the midst of it, it sometimes seems ludicrous. So I I’m glad he shoved the baby bird. The baby bird being me out of out of the nest.
Susan
Oh, that would have been an interesting conversation when you got home. So, honey, look, I’ve bought this business name and I’ve got this website for you, and this is our business plan, yes.
Emma
And here are all these people that are expecting. You to call them on Monday. And I am not a salesperson and. And so in my mind I’m like. What do you mean? Call them? What am I supposed to talk with them about? And he is a natural salesperson. So he thought it was the most obvious thing in the world, and I resisted. And then I got on the phone, and then we he learned why I said no to that. So he as working with your life. Partner presents a number of different challenges to work through, but we eventually got into our group, divided and conquered that way and found found a a path forward that allowed each of us to be able to really focus on where our skills naturally lie.
Susan
Perfect. And This is why today’s topic is so important, because you’ve literally done it yourself for your own business about building that brand and how to make it stand out. And I think a lot of people out there don’t. Realise. How much goes into? Like you said that pre thinking that pre work before you even. Put a logo out there so I think this is probably a great segue to like. Could you please explain what the 4C’s of branding are and why they’re critical in those foundation steps of building an unbeatable brand?
Emma
Absolutely. I feel like your build up was perfect because you mentioned logo and I think it’s a great place to start to just clarify what branding is because I think a lot of people, even the majority of people, take a very limited view of branding and assume that it’s just those external design decisions. Like your logo and your colours, however, your brand is so much more than that. It’s really how people feel when they interact with your business and what they think about when they think about your business and so. So this is happening. Always, whether you’re intentional about it or not, and so my goal in this conversation today is to help you begin to understand how you can be more intentional about these choices and also realise that a lot of the things that you’re doing that you perhaps didn’t think were branding are actually contributing to. How people perceive your brand in the world, and so the 4C’s. Are I? I massage these terms a little bit to be able to get that nice 4C’s, so I might call them something else if I wasn’t trying to fit them all into a C, But customer avatars. If you’re not familiar with that term, a customer avatar is a really thorough profile of who your target. Customer is so that when somebody reads that profile, they can instantly picture an individual and know what they like, what they dislike, how they speak. And all of those details are very important because if you don’t know who you are trying to communicate with, then you can’t do any of these other steps effectively. So even though we’re thinking about who we are as a brand, we also have to be very clear about who our end. Customer is so that we can make sure that all of the choices that we’re making are going to be in service of them.
Susan
And when you don’t have those customers, then you’ve got no business for your brand anyway.
Emma
The next. Exactly right. It’s it’s just an idea and nothing more than that. They absolutely should be the central philtre that you run every decision through. And if you’re not certain if they’re going to love it, then you may need to consider if that’s really. A choice that’s in the best interest of your end goal. So the second piece is to do a competitive analysis and to get very clear about the environment that you are selling in. So understanding who you are competing directly and indirectly against who customers may currently be purchasing from or who would be considering if they are getting ready to make a purchasing decision. So that you understand what they’re doing well, what they’re doing poorly and how you fit into that conversation at the end of the day when customers are choosing you, they’re also. So not choosing all of the other options that are out there, and so it’s important to really understand that contrast between you and your competitors and where you excel so that you can emphasise that in your messaging and when you’re engaging with your customers.
Susan
Great. And I think that the pace that sometimes a lot of businesses forget to do is. Most businesses do a three to five year plan, whether it’s on themselves or their product or their service. And everyone does do pivots at some point in time. It’s very rare to keep something the same. So you, you also need to be mindful about what your future compared to the landscape would look like, what the substitutes look like because then you can get ahead of the game. As well for when you’re ready to make those changes. That you’ve already got planned for your business.
Emma
Absolutely. That’s such a great point. And it reinforces a very important thing that a lot of people forget about all. Of these fees. Which is that they’re not a one time task that you check off and you say, OK, well, I created my customer avatar three years ago. So I’m good to go. All of these things are going to evolve. And change over time both because. Is the economy is changing peoples concerns and needs are changing the competitive landscape trends all of those different elements are influencing each one of these pieces and they can change quite quickly. And so if you are being complacent, then you’re going to potentially have blind spots. Two very important. Choices that could. Really impact your long term growth and success as a. Business.
Susan
Exactly 100%.
Emma
So I think we’re at the third C now and that is your company identity. So just like you build out a very thorough profile of who your target customers are, I actually encourage you to personify your business and to build out a company profile. You imagine if your business was a person and to fill in all of those gaps, so everything from who would they follow on social media to what kind of sense of humour they have. All of those little elements. Becomes so useful in being able to understand how to communicate on behalf of the business, and this is not just something for you, as the decision maker and the business, but really something that your whole team should have access to because it will make it so much easier. For example, for your customer service department to understand. What kind of tone to take with the customers based on how you want to be presenting yourself as a business and and picturing it as a person gives so much more clarity to that than simply using a few descriptive phrases. So if you say. Way our company is. Kind has a sense of humour and is a little bit quirky that could be interpreted in a lot of different ways. Whereas if you say our company is committed to the well being of animals and so we dedicate a percentage of our sales to our local animal shelters, we our favourite TV show is Seinfeld. And we love that. Dry sense of humour and I don’t even remember what the third descript right. But anyway, you get the point how all of these pieces really help. Anybody understand how to embody what this business should be?
Susan
Exactly. And it, and it could be even something like the business recognises and part of its personality is it clocks up at 5:00 and has pizza with its family at night to represent that it.
Emma
Exactly and.
Susan
It has the family embodiment behind it too, so so it’s definitely lots of ways that you can bring that to life and also make the employees feel that too while working.
Emma
Exactly and.
Emma
Totally. And I love that example that you provided, because I think it’s also something that perhaps sometimes customers might see as a negative, but by actually really building that out and making it a core part of your identity, you can turn it into something that customers might really relate to respect and actually be. Excited about and I think that’s to me one of the parts about branding that I really love is that it helps to. To shift the conversation from something that’s very dry and cut and paste to something that’s more dynamic, just like we are as humans. And that’s actually what leads to the fourth see, which is connection. So how can we use all of the different elements at our disposal from the kind of vocabulary that we choose? To the kinds of people that we feature in our pictures to where we show up online to really forge connection and conversation with the people that we are trying to connect with. And so that can be your customers, but that might also be other. Companies that are in your space, that could be great collaborators, it could be influencers that you’re hoping will get excited about your business and will want to join in, helping to promote your. Products or services and so that connection piece can look like a lot of different things, but you’re really only going to be able to effectively do that last piece if you understand those first 3C’s that are going to inform how you go about forging that connection.
Susan
100% because again, if if you don’t understand anything about your target who you are in your competitive landscape, you can’t. You can’t talk about it, can you? Right. What do you say? Umm, that’s not going to work. That’s not going to convince anyone to.
Emma
Right. Buy you? Yes, it’s so true. And what? I I think what’s also sometimes this can all sound very intimidating, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience with marketing or you are you don’t see yourself as a creative type, but the The thing is is that we all naturally engage in a lot of these things when we’re in person with people. And so some of it is transporting.
Emma
Skills that we are born with and that we hone and develop over time and learning how to tap into those even when we are creating things on a computer. And so that’s why every single one of these C’s. I’m really encouraging you to think of a person, whether that’s real or imagined behind it, because it will make it. Easier to be able to hone in on those skills that you have within yourself to be able to create more authentic, more compelling work.
Susan
And I think one of the things that some people might be daunted about is about how do you prioritise these 4C’s and then balance them. There’s probably a few pitfalls that you’ve seen along the way. What advice would you give someone who’s just starting out on this journey or needs to revisit and redo their particular foresees?
Emma
I would say really treat them as living documents. So just as I mentioned earlier that these aren’t really something that’s ever done. I think we can still get locked into this mindset of ohh this needs to be perfect. And so wow, how much work to do, but this can be something that as you’re gathering more information over time. You can add to and refine so you don’t need. 20 page dossier on your target customer to start with. Perhaps you take some of the data that you already have and you even use an AI tool like ChatGPT to create a customer profile to give you something to start with, because oftentimes that’s the hardest part is just the starting. And so from there, then you can review that and identify what rings true, what may not be so aligned with who, who my customer is. So what do I need to? To go digging and investigating a bit more, and you can also turn this into something that’s just a bite sized project. So maybe every day you’re going to spend 10 or 15 minutes where in on the social media platform where your customers spend the most time really engaging. From their perspective, so seeing not just about your brand but what are, what are people making content about in your broader category and and having a bit of a finger on the pulse of things. So I would say. Utilising AI to help get over some of that initial hurdle and then also treating this as something that is a a constant. Project that you can continue to add to as you learn new things, just like you learn new things about a new friend or anybody else that you meet.
Susan
I think one of my biggest pet peeves, I’ve got a podcast on this side of myself is people also have the same assumption for SWAT. That when you do a SWOT analysis, it’s going to be. The. Same forever. It’s a moment in time. You’re literally just capturing that moment in time like a photograph. So you’ve really got to treat these 4C’s just the same way.
Emma
Exactly, yes. Because and in today’s world, things truly change so rapidly. So I don’t know in Australia if the very demure, very mindful trend caught on there or if that was just a United States tick tock trend.
Susan
I’m not 100% sure about that one. I don’t recall any of the branding or advertising going that way, but I might have missed. A few.
Emma
It was.
Susan
Most of it’s nostalgia right now.
Emma
Yes, so that’s absolutely a big thing. This was one video that went viral and then within a week’s time, half of my inbox subject lines. Or playing off of the concept of that video. But the challenge is, is that that actually was a very short lived trend, which it already started to seem a bit stale and inauthentic on the marketing side. And so part of that is making sure that you’re timely. But the other part of that is making sure that it. It actually fits with your brand, which you’re not going to know that if you don’t have clarity about who, who you are as a business. And so some of these businesses were using. In it and it just felt forced and like they were trying to capitalise on a moment in time and that can actually be damaging. And so you want to be thoughtful about really does this fit with what our objectives are long term. And so that’s the other side of it is, if you’re thinking too much in the moment, you can get swept up by trends that may carry you into a direction that you didn’t want to go.
Susan
And the importance of data really shouldn’t be overly. If you’re very fortunate and you’re a business that’s been around for a bit and you actually do have data that. You. Can dive into trust the data because there’s so many times that we see suite comes along and goes. Our persona is X, but when you actually look at the data, it’s Y and it’s significantly different. So make sure if you’re in that very fortunate situation, use the data that helps you then to find look alike audiences that you can grow from. Because if you just make the assumption that the sea suits are right all the time. You’re you’re going to fail as a business altogether as well, so data is king.
Emma
That is just fantastic point. And just like that might be coming from someone higher up in the organisation, sometimes it’s ourselves that are misdirecting because we have this perception of who we think our customers are and then we dig in and we realise. While we thought that it was. Was millennial women? Actually it’s 20s men in their 20s who are in urban environments. And so obviously a realisation like that is going to have a profound impact on all of the ways that you’re showing up and where you’re showing up. Because. We’re not. Not everyone is in the same places, and so it doesn’t matter if you’re having the most amazing campaigns on Instagram. If all of your customers are on Snapchat.
Susan
Exactly 100%. And I I think. That gives us to our next. Topic we want to talk about is you’ve mentioned AI. You’ve mentioned some social media challenge channels now technology and consumer behaviours always evolving. How do you see the foresees evolving to meet this for the future?
Emma
I see the 4C’s as really becoming even more essential as AI allows for us to be able to do a couple of things, which is one AI is levelling. It already has levelled the playing field. And it’s also allowing for. Quick. And high volume amounts of content. And so people are already beginning to feel very flooded by too much information. And so the 4C’s are a way to be able to cut through that and still forge a connection with customers who are ultimately looking for companies that get them that understand their unique needs and that are committed to helping. Meet those needs. So that’s one piece of it. The other piece is that. AI gives us. Increasingly, more precise information and ability to target and to. It’s not going to be that far in the future where we’ll have the capabilities of having dynamic websites where, depending on who’s reading it, it’s going to be a different experience. And the only way that you’re really going to be able to do that effectively is if you have this depth of understanding about all of these pieces. Because if not, then you could either.
Emma
Be very poorly targeted or just be missing out on that kind of opportunity to have that targeted message that’s really going to truly speak specifically to that individual.
Susan
Yeah, particularly with IUI and now a free versions are very cheap. Ones you’re seeing that already changing, but in recent years you had retarget. So retargeting coming through and helping brands to be able to find their look alikes and chase them around the Internet, now you’re going to be able to do a lot more in depth by connecting it even further and deeper into the consumer. What they’ve done, particularly if everything is connected through mobiles phones. Even TV’s that are connected through, they’ll then make everything resonate more. And if you’re not part of the technology or at least understanding it to some point, you are just going to fall behind. Unfortunately, because it’s not. Internet is definitely helped. So many businesses get their messages out there. I myself purchased things overseas I never would have 20 years ago, so we all need to acknowledge that and do it the way that’s authentic to our business. So it makes sense to our consumers.
Emma
Yeah, that’s such a salient point. I think it’s easy to dismiss as something that is. Just a fad? Or that it has very limited capabilities. I think a lot of people when they’re thinking about AI right now, they just think of it in terms of, oh, well, it can write A blog post for me or it can help me with my subject lines for my emails. And that’s really.
Emma
Not just the surface, but it’s also it’s it’s not the best use case of of the AI. AI is really fantastic for pattern recognition. It’s wonderful for being able to synthesise lots of information and what excites me about it is, is that it it actually also frees up. Our. Abilities to be able to really focus them on the bigger picture, the deeper strategy and those unique elements that are going to be the differentiator moving forward as it becomes increasingly more. Embedded into how we’re doing business.
Susan
I think that the Cape pace is. Businesses shouldn’t use loose the human element of them. Yeah, it’s a tool like any other tool, just like Excel, word, whatever you your tools are that you use every day. AI and other technologies are just another tool and then you humanise on top of it for whatever your personas are for your consumers. In your business and it just helps you do it. A bit quicker? Absolutely.
Emma
Absolutely.
Susan
Now. There’s a lot of things that the the poor startups or the smaller brands get fearful of because they may have an idea that they could do something better than some of the big companies. And I feel that there’s a lot of smaller businesses or startups out there that probably go. How do I start? How do I compete with that larger brands? So how can leveraging the foresees? Help those individuals or small companies, they’re just getting on board and are really wanting to to make this happen.
Emma
It’s absolutely correct that this is where you may have some of your biggest potential in competing against these larger companies that have been around for a while, particularly if you are looking to serve a different group of people that hasn’t been. Specifically served before or if you’re offering it in a a different kind of way than what’s. Offered even if not, you can still use this to just differentiate yourself based on style, but that’s a little bit emptier, so I would really encourage you to find something more substantial to use to really be able to sink your teeth into and really go full force. And actually one of the most challenging pieces of this. That I see all of the time when I’m working with new businesses who are getting ready to launch their for the first time is that you see what all of the larger companies that have been around are doing. And you say, well, clearly they know what they’re doing. So. OK, yes, I have this great idea, but I should do that because that’s what’s going to make them. That’s what’s going to make me successful. And the problem with that is that they are already successful doing that. And so if you’re trying to compete with the same strategy. Then you’re not really giving people any reason to choose you over those larger companies. So if you’re shopping, if you are selling a. A mug. And you have a a few mugs that have thousands of reviews and you want to position your mug exactly like those. Why would somebody buy a mug with 0 reviews and perhaps a higher price over mugs that are cheaper and have many reviews, however?
Emma
If you have a mug that maybe this mug. Because of the even just the design on it is perfect for people that drink matcha Chi Machi matcha tea and you know that there are no other matcha tea mugs on the market. Then you can position your mug not as the best mug for everything, but as the best mug for matcha tea drinkers, and speaking specifically to. Perhaps they like the fact that they’re not coffee drinkers, and so it’s a little bit countercultural in that. Or maybe they really enjoy the ritual of making matcha in the morning, and so it’s going to give you different. Fallouts, different benefits, different ways of speaking about your product. Also different types of images to create. To show off your product, different strategies for advertising your product. And so it’s really going to inform the complete strategy, but if you get cold feet and you say, Oh yes, but I just want that I’m going to do that, that’s that’s where you’re you make the wrong turn. And so the challenge with the 4C’s is that you have to be brave enough and bold enough to take all of the information that you’ve gained and then to really lean into that when you’re putting it into action. So you don’t just. Have it sitting there and and play it too safe. This is your biggest asset. Being able to be unique and different and the more that you can embrace that, the better opportunity that you’re going to have to be able to compete against these larger companies that are already more established.
Susan
And I think there’s also a lot of people that just assume these big, big businesses are doing it right. So I’ll copy because I assume you’re doing well.
Emma
Yes.
Susan
You you don’t know what opportunities they’ve missed out on the gaps that they’ve had. The people they may have offended along the way and they’re no longer servicing, they may have pulled out of certain supermarkets or certain demographic areas too. Yes, just because you think they’ve got these big billboards or expensive TV ads on the Super Bowl, whatever it might be, doesn’t mean that they’re going well.
Emma
That that’s a fantastic point. And the larger the business, oftentimes the slower they move and so it may just be that they’re even a little bit outdated with some of the choices that they’re making because it’s such slow change in decision making that happens in, in those types of organisational structures. So yes, very significant it. It reminds me of I read a pricing book a few years ago. And it was talking about, well, let’s see. OK, what do you think is the main thing that determines how a company sets their price?
Susan
Should be the total costs.
Emma
Well, it is looking at what the competitors are pricing at. So most most companies just pick a price based upon their competitors. But if everybody is picking a price based upon the competitors, then you’re just going in a circle without having any meaningful.
Susan
Yeah.
Emma
Yep, reason behind why. That price is the price. And so the same thing can happen with anything.
Susan
And that, and they might be at a loss for that price, again, assuming you’ve got no data, they may they may decide they’ve got 20 products and one of them is their loss leader. They’re happy to lose because they gain cross sell so.
Emma
Exactly.
Susan
You might be competing against something that is a note where you don’t know that, but it’s known from by the competitor that they’re not gonna ever make money of it, and now you’re seeing your. Price there you’re doomed to fail. Exactly. Yes, that’s why you don’t always watch and follow. Now I have my two final questions. I love these ones. What excites you the most about building brands?
Emma
I love so I am a naturally curious person. I think that if I had to say what motivates me the most, it is. The quest for learning and knowledge there. There are times when I just feel overwhelmed that I’m never going to get to learn and read all the things that I want to like. I I actually like that feeling, but it’s simultaneously stressful and exciting all at once. It’s like when you go into an amazing bookstore. And so I that’s what really excites me about brands is because it allows for that. Ability to pursue those curiosities that the curiosity really should be the driver behind this and that every time you. Even just have. A A. You know, I think that my customers. Like. Bananas. You should ask why and it should always be following it up with why and digging deeper to try to understand why do you think that that’s true? Why might they love bananas? What might be motivating the reason that that they love bananas and not apple? And and so just.
Susan
Could be what they do with it too. What are they doing with the bananas? They’re putting it in a banana split.
Emma
Right. Or are they feeding it to and maybe they have a a turtle that likes to eat bananas as I don’t know if turtles eat bananas.
Susan
But there’s so many different things that they can be doing with these bananas. It it could be giving them to a a child or like you said, maybe not, turtle. We’ll we’ll just go to my one of my twins. They love. They love bananas. They’re like a.
Emma
Exactly.
Susan
Little monkey. But you don’t know that motivation, so that’s where those personas just. Is so key as part of your discovery sessions that you’re loving to do.
Emma
Exactly, yes. And humans are just so fascinating because we also have what we think. Is the reason. And then many times, that’s not the reason at all. So if you’ve never read a book about human psychology, it and how we go about making decisions, I highly suggest checking a book out my, my, my personal favourite is the. Thinking fast and slow, and it’s just fascinating the way that it. Describes how our brains. Are leading us through life and so much of it goes against how we actually think we operate.
Susan
Ohh yeah, I would be scared to try and analyse myself on that. One, but that that’s just me.
Emma
It’s also helpful to know though, because if you know OK, well, my brain is just going to make me think that this is the better option if you know that if you have that knowledge then you can be aware of it when it’s at work. You know, even something like the sunk cost fallacy. So which states that if we after we’ve invested a certain amount of resources. Be that money or time we’re going to be more committed to sticking it out than to abandoning ship, even if it’s in our best interest to no longer pursue it. So having that knowledge of what that is and that that’s something that happens, then you can ask yourself the question. Of is it truly best to proceed or am I actually just not wanting to feel like I’m throwing away all of this effort that I put into trying to make this happen? Yeah.
Susan
Very good point. Very, very, very, very good point on that one. Now my final question that I love to ask and I do ask every single person this one what brand any brand in the world best represents you and why?
Emma
Well, I feel like this is a little tricky and I’ve been thinking about this since I read that you were going to ask me this question. And. My own brand. I feel like that’s a cop out, but my own brand is me. It my logo is my face. My companies name is marketing by Emma actually. Is that the journey of being in business? What I’ve learned. Is really one of the best tools at self discovery. Three, and that actually all of these things that I talk about in helping other businesses, they’re also the same challenges that I am needing to work on with myself. Oftentimes we neglect, it’s like the dentist that has bad teeth. I don’t know if that’s a thing or not, but you know, it’s just when we’re, when we’re looking at everybody else, we sometimes forget to look at ourselves. And so I would say that while there are certainly more exciting, more impressive brands in the world, I feel like one of my. You know this adventure I’m on is also a discovery and how to continue to be increasingly more authentic to who I am and how I want to be in the. World and. So I guess I would have to say my own brand.
Susan
There’s nothing wrong and there’s no cop out on it either. Cause. Guess what? There’s no right or wrong answer. So you passed. But thank you so much for for sharing that insight about you and also sharing everything today about the four sees. Now I’m just going to. Do a quick. Wrap up so please, just stay tuned for just a. 2nd. So some of the things we talked about today is branding is more than just a logo or some fonts or colours it it’s that depth of how a person feels when they see or interact with your brand and also what they think about your business. So it really is that emotional connection. That’s what the brand is about. So you really have to be very intentional with your choices when creating your brand and also evolving it over time. Now there are 4C’s that can assist this for you. Now you’ve got to remember. The 4C. ‘S they aren’t a one time deal that you need to go back. Review them. That could be depending on how fast your business moves. It could be yearly, it could be monthly, it could be anywhere. In between, only you and your business can decide that because these four seats are about to go through, are dynamic and they’re dynamic based on all the different pieces that involve around your business, your competitor and the external forces beyond that. So always make sure to review them and if you don’t have a specific time, put them in your AOP as as part of those discovery sessions. So you don’t forget to because they are so important. The very first one is about the customer. So a customer avatar.
Susan
Build your Persona and your profile of your target customer and make it so that it’s like an instant picture. If you can make it a character or even a cartoon that you’re aware of and you guys know what that resonates and feels and is that helps you to have that central philtre about who your customer is. #2 is the competitive analysis, so C for competitive, make sure you have a clear understanding of the environment that you’re within. Know what your competitors are doing, whether it’s good, bad, ugly or. Of it. And that’s how you can then pull out little Nuggets of how you can do what you do better so that you get more attention. Because remember, we’re all about trying to find a differentiated something unique and that’s part of the gold mine exercise. There three company identity. So not just with the customer having an avatar. You want your business to have one. Too. So what is? The profile and persona of the company this will help you and your team make decisions of clarity about what the tone is. Are we humorous? Are how are we gonna answer people who do we actually follow as a business out there on our social channels as a business? And that will help you solidify all the different ways on how you speak to your customers and how you are perceived by customers as well. Because you’re becoming of an authentic character #4 connection, the most important one. Now you need to make sure you get 123 done first. That’s competitive. A company company. Customer avatar, competitive analysis and company identity. Then it’s connection. So with the connection, all of these elements come together so that you can forge really clear communications. And connections. So once you understand everything about you, your customer and the environment, then you can actually make meaningful conversations with your customers. Now you can’t forget all of those documents are living documents, and if you don’t know where to start, this is the beauty of things with AI. So with small amounts of data, you can make powerful decisions within AI to help you along the way so you can build a persona in AI and things like ChatGPT. A great free resource that can help you with it. You also should tackle it if you’re doing this for the first time, probably in more bite sized pieces. You don’t get overwhelmed, so just make your list of all the different things that you’re wanting to do and identify and understand and just do them bit by bit so you build it up and you don’t. Feel too overwhelmed. Now the great thing about AI is it has made everything a little bit easier for people to be on the. Same playing field. You can do things quicker and higher volumes there and also be more precise with information and particularly when you’re targeting. Remember this is all about data driven decision making, so ensure that you’re using the data. Better. You can mix split of your gut in there too. If you understand your consumer and your business well. But data driven decisions will help you be able to become the best brand you can out there and resonate with the right customers at the right time. You really want to have that cut through to make the connection unique and really meet the needs of your customers. Up there, some final tips here is don’t compete and do the same strategy as your competitor. You don’t know and you’re just making assumptions that they’re doing. Well, be brave and bold once you’ve got these 4C’s made, lean into them and put them into action. And always look for more opportunities through being unique and different, because that’s how you’ll stand out and how you’ll be attractive and also resonate more with consumers. Have I missed anything, Emma?
Emma
That was a very skillful ability to be simultaneously engaged in conversation and digesting information into a very precise. Impactful summary. So no notes. I just want to applaud you because I’m just so.
Susan
Impressed. Thank you. That’s apparently my superpower. I found out.
Emma
It is a truly I feel like I just watched an artist.
Susan
Is there any final thoughts you’d like to add?
Emma
I think just treat all of this with fun and you don’t have to make it a serious exercise. This is. Just like with your question of what brand would I be? There aren’t necessarily right or wrong answers as you’re getting started as you collect data, you may realise that you need to go in different directions, but really being able to engage with all of. This with a open minded curiosity, is going to make it more fun and also lead you down more valuable, interesting paths than what you’re what you would if you’re just feeling like this is another thing you have to rush through on your To Do List. And if this is also, if you like this kind of information and you want to dig deeper into any of these topics, I do have a YouTube channel which. I have a I go in two different psychological principles and how they’re used in marketing to really digging deeper into each one of these sees and that is youtube.com/marketing by Emma.
Susan
And I’ll have all those details in the show notes as well, including how you can follow Emma on her journeys and with all the other brands that she works with as well. Thank you so much, Emma.
Emma
Thank you, Susan.
Susan
And everyone else, don’t forget to add more to. Marketing to your playlist. So you don’t miss out on more future fabulous guests. More to marketing.
