Market Yourself Without Trying

By Andy Bailey, an EO Nashville member and Chief Acceleration Officer of NationLink Wireless

As business owners, we don’t like to spend money on things that cost more than they return. Our company is no different, and we have found some creative ways to make “stuff” that we already spend money on work even harder for us. These things didn’t cost much, but they greatly improved our business.

Company Name

We found that our company name was just a name: It had wireless in the title but didn’t specify what kind. We never thought about it until an EO meeting when Verne Harnish advised us to brand ourselves by saying exactly what we do. I wrote down BlackBerryGuy— we offer BlackBerry solutions, so why not be The BlackBerryGuys? We still use our corporate name of NationLink Wireless but have built a sub-brand around The BlackBerryGuys that works for us big time.

Business Cards

We buy them all the time and hand them out to everyone. This is an everyday necessity that, by making a few simple changes, we were able to use as a major marketing tool. By just adding the tagline “The BlackBerryGuys,” our card now tells most of our story and potential clients are asking us questions. Questions are the best thing we can hear.

Employee Titles

People ask me all the time what I do, and I tell them it is my job to accelerate our business. So instead of CEO, I became the Chief Acceleration Officer. We renamed everyone, allowing ourselves to be creative. We have a female sales representative who is the Princess of Persuasion, a financial person who is our Chief Reality Officer and a support person named Keeper of the Magic. These new titles keep people asking questions and make us happy.

Positioning

When one speaks on a particular subject, we automatically label that person an expert. Like all businesses, we want to be known as the experts in our area. So we started looking for topics and opportunities that would allow us to get in front of a group and speak as an authority on “mobility.” Now we are speaking to our core verticals all around the country. Once on stage, we are the expert and they trust us with their businesses.

Endorsements and Testimonials

What clients say about us is infinitely more important than what we say, so we began asking every client to write a testimonial. We found that most were happy to— all we had to do was ask. We now use these statements everywhere…on our website, in our marketing materials, in every email blast, in a book we keep in the waiting area, in sales books that we carry and even in our radio and billboard campaigns. When we work with a well-known person, we ask that person to record a radio spot or agree to let us use his or her likeness and words in our ads. And we found that more times than not, they will.

These are a few ways that we get a little extra bang for our buck. Maybe something will strike an idea for you and your business. I’m happy to share ideas and other things that have worked for us. Just email me, The BlackBerryGuy.