Branding Your Business Online …

It’s been a GREAT day! We’re slowly but surely making our way from Vermont to Las Vegas. Yesterday we left Princeton, IN and headed out to Ozark, MO. The rest of the trip is as follows:

TODAY: Ozark, MO to The Grand Casino, Shawnee, OK
SUNDAY: Firelake Grand Casino, Shawnee, OK to Cracker Barrel Restaurant, Amarillo, TX
MONDAY: Amarillo, TX to Dancing Eagle Casino, Albuquerque, NM
TUESDAY: Albuquerque, NM to Cracker Barrel Restaurant, Flagstaff, AZ
WEDNESDAY: Flagstaff, AZ to Sam’s Town, Las Vegas, NV

That puts us in with plenty of time to spare before the festivities start for JV Alert LIVE on Thursday night, October 16th. (That also means that you still have plenty of time to join us in Lake Las Vegas, too! You’ll find all the details at: www.askggg.com/jvalert )

Today was a particularly exciting day because I got to spend some time at a place that I’ve been talking about for YEARS!

That place is Lambert’s Cafe & Restaurant in Ozark, MO.

What makes Lambert’s a place to talk about, especially if you’ve never been there?

Well, you need to understand a bit of the history of Lambert’s to see why I would mention it so often.

Lambert’s was originally built on Old Route 66, a historical highway that spanned from Chicago to California. Back in the ’40’s and ’50’s, families making their way across the country would do so via Route 66.

So, along the route, tons of inns, restaurants, gas stations, and shoppers paradises sprung up quickly. Most were decorated with art deco styles, resulting in loud colors, neon lights, and other things that created excitement.

Lambert’s wasn’t a place that needed any such “gimmicks” in order to stand out in the crowd. Their gimmick was MUCH bigger than any of the decorations popular in the day.

And that’s where the lesson comes in, and why I talk about them so often.

Lambert’s “gimmick” was VERY simple. Actually, so simple that I’ll even bet that most people couldn’t tell you what they loved about Lambert’s. All they could tell you was that it was one of their favorite stopping places.

But why? Did that just happen by accident?
Did they have incredibly cheap prices?
Did they have some special food that couldn’t be found elsewhere?
Just WHY did people seem to flock there so often?

It wasn’t any of these that caused people to flock to Lambert’s and to tell all their friends about them too.

Rather, what made Lambert’s stand out was their “13 Golden Rules”.

Their founder, Norm, founded the restaurant on 13 Golden Principles 4 generations ago. Those Principles became the corner stone of everything …

… Everything that Lambert’s did to serve it’s guests.
… Everything that Lambert’s did to decorate the facility.
… Everything that the customers felt and experienced while they were there.
… Everything that Lambert’s served.

I mean EVERYTHING happened in a certain way because of these principles.

Today, these “13 Golden Rules” are even printed right on the Lambert’s website. To see them for yourself, visit:

—> http://www.throwedrolls.com

So today, when I had the chance to stop there for lunch, I was obviously looking forward to seeing if they really lived up to these Rules. And, to see how these rules applied to how they ran and marketed their business.

I was thrilled to find that Lambert’s was everything that I expected and more!

Our meal was delivered in under 4 minutes from the time that we ordered.

I had rolls thrown right to me and when I missed and my roll landed on the floor, they eagerly threw me another (even though I was willing to live with the “3 second rule” and brush it off and butter and eat it anyway!).

You see, one of Norm’s “13 Rules” is “It’s our job to take care of you. If we don’t, someone else will!” Another is “If we make a mistake, we will correct it immediately.” So it came as no surprise that they would not even consider allowing me to eat a roll that had been on the floor.

Another rule is “You are our guest — guests in our home — not clients or customers, but guests.” I’m sure that’s part of the reason that drinks were served in 44 ounce mugs, the kind that you could put a lid on and carry with you in the car. The mugs were older and the designs had even faded off of most in the dishwasher.

If they had treated me as a guest in a restaurant, they would never have served my drink in this kind of a glass. But, if I’m a guest in their home, it’s completely and totally appropriate! It made me feel like part of the family even more!

There are 2 lessons that you can learn about marketing by looking at the way that things are done at Lambert’s …

The first has to do with “Branding”.

The “13 Golden Rules” that Lambert’s espouses is an example of what my friend, Ben Mack, would call a “Legend Platform“.

Your “Legend Platform” is a list of those principles that your company or business is founded upon and those principles that your company or business will never violate.

When you have a “Legend Platform”, you are able to show your customers what they can expect from you. Not once, not twice — but EVERY time they do business with you.

People really want to do business with companies that have principles. It helps them feel more secure about the transaction. It helps them to feel that you are a person they can trust.

And more, it helps to create a true EXPERIENCE for your customers! One that they like so well they tell all of their friends and family members about! Now that is TRUE VIRAL MARKETING!

Lambert’s actually takes this to another level by posting it on their website. Look at what that does for them …

When someone locates Lambert’s on the internet, even though they’ve never been there, they immediately know what to expect from a visit to their restaurant. They immediately have a FEELING about Lambert’s.

I knew well before I ever set foot on their property, much less inside, exactly how I expected to be treated, what I could expect from my food, what kind of service I was likely to find.

Lambert’s not only lived up to my expectations, it went WAY beyond! That’s what a “Legend Platform” can do for you!

Before we get to the second lesson, think about how you can use this in your business …

You could create a “Legend Platform” for your business and post it on the “About Us” page of your blog, for example.

It would help to tell prospects what they could expect when they do business with you.

It could help to build stronger relationships with prospects as well. No longer would you have to compete as much on price for you would now have a way to make people want to buy from you instead of your competition for other reasons as well!

The second lesson to take away from Lambert’s is this …

When you have a set of principles that your company is founded upon, it is more important than ever to use a strategic process to make sure that you are following through on the promises you make.

What I mean by this is that each principle will cause you to do things a certain way. Let’s look at a few examples and see how they apply to your business …

One of the “13 Golden Rules” is “Quality rather than quantity, matters. We offer both.” How do you work backwards from this principle to change how things are done?

Well, at Lambert’s, the meals are gargantuun! I ordered the “Chicken Fried Steak”. It was enough for 3 people! It came with a 1 pound round steak, a huge bowl of corn, a good sized serving of mashed potatoes, an entire bowl of gravy, a bowl of pineapply walnut salad, and an apple ring. I couldn’t even put a dent in any of it!

Drinks aren’t just served in a 16 oz tumbler as in most restaurants. They’re served in 44 oz mugs. Coffee isn’t served in an 8 oz cup, it comes in a 16 oz mug.

And the quality is unbelievable! I could cut my steak with a fork. I can’t even do that when I ordered the same dish at a Cracker Barrel!

All of these are examples of little ways in which Lambert’s lives up to it’s “Legend Platform”.

How would you live up to the principles in a “Legend Platform” if you were doing business online?

Let’s say that one of your principles is this:

“Quality rather than size matters. We offer both.”

Now work your way backwards to determine what that could MEAN within your business.

How about instead of offering just an ebook, you offer a package that contains an ebook, an audio, and a checklist to make it easier to implement the lessons inside of the ebook?

But quality is equally important. So, instead of just offering a regular old ebook, you bring in a graphic designer to lay out the product in a way that makes it look like a printed book or even a magazine.

That means included great graphics — things that stand out with a glossy look to them. That means having a 2 page layout with a typeset look to it.

It’s simply a matter of looking at each principle as an outcome and then asking yourself how you would do things in order to achieve that outcome.

Let’s take a look at another example …

Let’s say another one of your principles is something like:

“The customer is always right.”

Now, let’s say that a customer emails you to tell you that your pdf file just doesn’t open. You go to the download page, you right click on the link and hit “Save Target As”. The file opens like a champ!

How do you respond to the customer?

Well, if you’re like many internet marketers, you fire off an email saying “The file works fine. Try again.”

But, if you have your “Legend Platform” ready and you KNOW that “The customer is always right” is a part of it, then you do things different.

Instead of firing off such a terse email, you instead send an apology for the file not working. You attach to your email a “fixed” copy of the report (even though you haven’t touched it before, and maybe you even send the customer a link to download the upsell at no charge as well, just to apologize for the extra time that it took for the customer to access the file.

You didn’t HAVE to do these things. You did them because that’s how you live up to your principles.

What is the result?

The customer is so impressed that he tells all his friends. You make an extra 10 sales that you would never have otherwise made. And, most importantly, you have created a loyal customer for life!

This is not only a BRANDING technique, it is also:

* Strategic Relationship Building
* Strategic Planning
* Goal Setting

And, it even applies to:

* The graphics that you create for your site
* The type of products you sell and how you create them
* The copy on your site
* How you handle your cusomter service as well as how you treat your customers
* How you build your list and what you do once you have one
* And even the name for your blog, the theme for your blog, the plugins you use on your blog, and even, what you blog about!

When I say it applies to EVERYTHING, I really mean EVERYTHING!

I went out looking for a resource that could help you learn more about branding and I just couldn’t find one that I liked that really taught you about branding step by step.

But here’s what I did find …

I found two great games that will REALLY illustrate to you how you go about building a brand as well as the importance of branding.

The first game is at:

—> http://www.askggg.com/brandgame1

This one is just 14 short questions and answers. But, it gives you some great insight with every single multiple choice answer.

I managed to get a 100% score on this one. What will your score be?

The second one is kinda fun. It’s called the Lemonade Stand Game. I learned about this one from Morgan Westerman this past summer and I was shocked that I hadn’t seen it before!

This one isn’t just about building your brand. This one is about being an entrepreneur. You’ll find it at:

—> http://www.askggg.com/brandgame2

Here’s the way that this one works. You have 30 days to launch a lemonade stand game. (It’s 30 viritual days, the equivalent of an hour or two at most if you want to draw it out.)

Your goal is to make as much money as possible in those 30 days. You’ve got control over everything including pricing, quality of your lemonade, inventory control, purchasing of supplies, etc.

But things like the weather will affect your business and you’ll have to plan for it. The weather can change the demand for your product.

Your customer’s satisfaction plays a HUGE role in the success of your business. If your customers like their overall experience, they’ll be more likely to tell their friends and relatives. If they don’t, then you’ll have to drive all that traffic on your own.

Even though you’ll be building a business that would exist only in the offline world, it is absolutely no different than building one in the online world … right down to your brand! Your customer’s satisfaction can be affected by your brand so plan it carefully!

The neat thing about this one is that you can even share it with your kids to teach them how to become great entrepreneurs as well!

Both of the games are totally F.R.E.E. so you’ve got no excuse for not trying them out!

So what is the fastest, easiest way to put all this new knowledge into action so that you can actually USE IT to get results?

Here’s 3 SIMPLE STEPS to get you started right now …

#1 — Set up a blog. Think about the name for the blog, the colors for the blog, the graphics, etc. and choose those that will help you to build your brand. Not sure how to get started with your blog? “21 Days to Blogging Profits” has helped hundreds get their blog online and get a steady stream of visitors to it in less than a few weeks! Download your copy at:

—> http://www.askggg.com/21days
(This one’s only available for another week or so before it’s taken down FOREVER!)

#2 — Write down your principles that your business is founded on. Include these on an “About Us” page of your blog. If you want to see another business that’s already done this, check out Lambert’s website at:
www.ThrowedRolls.com

#3 — Find a PLR product and use it to create a product of your own. This takes only a few hours and you’ll have a product that will help you to build your brand, grow a valueable list of customers, and start building relationships. Inside, make sure that you include links to other products that your customers will benefit from! These don’t even need to be your own — they can be affiliate links or links to products you have PLR rights to that you have turned into your own!

You’ll find an awesome collection of 20 brand new PLR products that you can edit and call your own at:

—> http://www.askggg.com/8plr

These include some really great titles in a number of different niches. I’m planning on taking at least 4 of them and adding them to other materials I have, recording an audio to go with them, creating a checklist for each, and turning turning them into $47 products with my name on them!

Even if I sold only 100 copies of each one at $47, that would mean $4,700 from each one — a total of almost $20,000!

All from an investment of less than what I spent at McDonalds for a dinner for 2 tonight and a few hours of my time!

What can you do with 20 PLR products that can help you to build your brand and your business?

How much will it put into YOUR bank account?

You’ll find more great strategies, tips, and advice inside of the 30-Day IM Challenge. As a F.R.E.E. Member, you’ll learn step-by-step how to build relationships with your prospects and customers strategically, how to choose your market, how to set up your online presence and get up to 5,000 unique visitors per day to your blog, and much more! Register now at:

—> http://www.askggg.com/30days-e

See you on the calls this week! Remember, you can always check any of my blogs for a current calendar of Upcoming Events! You’ll find them at:
http://www.TheIMUniversity.com
http://www.TheIMUAffiliates.com
http://www.askggg.com/blog
http://www.JVSuite.com/wp

The awesome package of 20 brand new PLR products that I mentioned above (the one that I’m planning on making almost $20,000 with in the next 60 days!) is only available for a few more days at:

—> http://www.askggg.com/8plr

How much will you make with 20 new products with YOUR name on them?

Don’t forget — you can also use PLR products yourself, too, to help you build YOUR business — even if you don’t sell them to other people! This collection has some really TOP NOTCH information in it — stuff that I just haven’t seen anywhere else! And at this price, it’s a STEAL!

Tags: gina+gaudio-graves, branding+your+business, the+im+university, the+jv+queen

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