The Power of Storytelling

The Power of Storytelling

Tanner Dame; CEO - Proof Eyewear

I sat in on a talk with Tanner Dame, the CEO of Proof Eyewear. Though I wasn't completely sold on all of the things he spoke about, he made some really great points about how to tell a story. 

How to tell your story

1. Use your resources

2. Creative Guerilla Marketing

3. Networking

4. Tell everyone

5. Social Media

6. Self improvement (Make yourself unique)

He emphasized that stories sell products and to make sure that stories are memorable, personal and impactful.

Tanner Dame talked about his own business, an eye wear company that creates glasses frames with renewable resources. His business is built on three pillars:

Heritage

His grandfather cut down trees and made wood in Boise, Idaho, wear Proof Eyewear is located. 

Eco-friendly

Proof Eyewear pride themselves on being eco-friendly. This ties into their heritage because the original glasses frames they made were made from wood. All of the materials they use to make glasses frames are eco-friendly.

Humanitarian

They also have a huge humanitarian cause and build their brand on giving back.

AMA ICC 2017 - Marketing Strategy Competition

I very naively and blindly participated in the marketing strategy competition at the 2017 AMA International Collegiate Conference in New Orleans. This is something that I really hope and recommend the BSU AMA to practice and try out before heading to New Orleans next year! The case was for Mary Kay makeup. Participants had 20 minutes to read about the company, their mission and goals and present a marketing strategy for the brand to a panel of 3-4 judges. 

To me, it was intimidating because I didn't know what to expect and I definitely wasn't expecting the competition to run as it did. Each team showed up to one meeting room at 9 AM and was from there assigned to another time to come back to compete. My teammate and I (after giving up our early timeslot to another group with a timing conflict) had to kill 2 hours and come back at 11 AM. This doesn't need to be intimidating however! Here are a few things I wish I had known:

Practice your 'confident voice''Fake it 'til you make it' is a very real thing. I feel like I could have sounded so much more convincing if I had my confidence voice perfected. Even if you aren't positive that you know what you're talking about, a strong, confident voice can trick the judges into thinking that you know what you're talking about. 

Have a plan

Go into the reading & learning part of the competition looking to make a SWOT analysis. Look for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats while you read!

Don't spend all of your time making notes

Similar to perfecting your voice, make sure you know yourself. If you're not one to be able to talk something up on the spot, spend some of your preparation time formulating sentences and practicing what you're going to say. Charts and notes aren't going to help you in the judgement room if you can't translate them into sentences!

Good luck with the competition! 

Social Media Success

Experience Speaks! A Social Media Double Shot!

By: Luke Wyckoff

Friday March 17, 2017

10:30 am

At this session, Luke spoke about his company Social Media Energy and how they use social media for their clients. He started off by saying experience speaks. Meaning that the more experience you have the better you will be in life. He also said he has a little obsession with website hoarding. He talked about two topics but I'm going to break them up into four for better explanation.

Digital Marketing

He gave us some in sight into what is trending digital marketing. He explained that customer service marketing is something new within the past couple years. It's watching and communicating with customers through hashtags and mentions. They also call responding to customers when they post/comment with problems/dissatisfaction with a product or service, just in time customer satisfaction. He expressed how responding in real time and bringing rating in house is super important.

Big Data

Sounds scary right? Only if you don't like your data being collected. Big data is data regression analysis to find customer persona depending on certain interests and buying habits. Luke's company uses Birdeye technology to collect their big data. They also use Smhack.io to listen in on what people are saying about the companies they serve.

Creating A Persona

After you collect your data on your customers, like buying habits and certain interests. You create your different personas. A persona is a fictitious person or character that represents the majority of your customer base. Your company can have more than one persona depending on products and uses of products. To learn all about customers he uses Fullcontact and Emapping. Luke was asked the question "Do you ever get nervous that you focus to much into a niche market?" His response was "Of course I get nervous I focus to much into a niche market." He went on to say that you always need to take a step back and think about the different things people can do with your product/service.

The Changing Buyer

Gone are the days you buy what your mom bought just because she bought it and her mom bought it. Or that you buy a car because Grandpa said it was the best car. Now people buy products and services based on reviews and how many stars it got. When was the last time you went out to dinner and didn't check to see how many stars a restaurant had and decided not to go there based on poor stars and reviews? Probably every time, am I right? It's because of the type of buyers and age we are in. If the consumer is basing their buying habits on stars and reviews, where does your company stack up? Luke went on to explain that because of this buying change, companies should be focusing on their reviews and stars by offering incentives to get higher stars and reviews. How do you do that? You ask the customer to rate you and before they submit ask if their is anything they can do to make their answer a higher answer. If they say yes, than you preform that task and they should rate you higher.

Marketing Strategy Competition

Mary Kay Beauty Products: How to Target Millennials

This year's case was focused on Mary Kay Beauty Products and how to target millennial consumers. Erin and I had 20 minutes to create notes from the case, and come up with a strategy for how to reach this generation. We were able to come up with the 5 P's: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, and People, and a strategy that Mary Kay could use to attract new consumers.

Product: Wide variety of high-end beauty products. (Makeup, Skincare, etc.)

Price:  Standard sets that include 5 Mary Kay products for both women and men range between $75 and $90. Individual prices were not listed in the case.

Place: Strong online presence with online assistants to help consumers that have questions about products. They also carry products in many high-end makeup stores.

Promotion: They are known for their Mary Kay parties, which are more common for middle-aged women. At these events, people invite their friends and it offers a fun environment for people to try new products. Our recommendation here was that millennials are less interested in attending parties such as these, and that they need to promote more online/social media to reach this generation.

People: The case mentioned the success of both women's and men's products, so we emphasized targeting men more for Mary Kay products. We showed the comparative advantage of CoverGirl, who had released one magazine cover featuring a CoverBoy, and how Mary Kay doesn't need to do that exact same advertising but seeing some male models for their products might attract more millennial consumers. 

One of our strategies was to offer sample sizes to millennials to get them exposed to Mary Kay products. At the conference, Mary Kay passed out two free samples to every college student, and that was a perfect example. If people like the sample, they'll go out and purchase more and recommend it to friends/family, creating that network that Mary Kay needs among the millennial generation.

Another strategy was shipping boxes of beauty product sets to consumers for a small price, similar to BirchBox or Dollar Shave Club. Offering a small set for $25 that can be shipped 3-4 times a year will draw in younger consumers due to it being convenient and inexpensive. 

Our final strategy was maintaining their online presence and keeping the online assistants to help make the online shopping experience easier. More consumers are leaning towards online shopping and deals/coupons, so if Mary Kay can continue to excel in their online market they will draw in consumers that way as well.

***For future competitors, try to make as many notes so the presentation runs the full time-limit (5 minute pres. and 2 minute Q and A). Our presentation was a bit short of the time limit. Also, review the practice case examples they send to you prior to the conference! 

The Power of StoryTelling

In this Experience Speaks! Session, the CEO of Proof Eyewear, Tanner Dame, gave us an exciting presentation about his successes and the importance of connecting with people.

Over his lifetime, Tanner has been a part of 4 startup companies, but his biggest achievement is Proof which he founded in Idaho with his two brothers back in 2010. They got the concept for Proof when one of the brothers was trying to make a bamboo ski pole in the garage. Instead of having success with the ski pole, they got the idea to make wooden glasses.

One of the interesting things that the three brothers quickly learned was the monopoly of Luxottica, the owners of top name brands like Ray-Ban and Oakley glasses. It didn't take them long to notice that they were going up against one huge competitor, not a bunch of different individuals. So, they started targeting small stores in Idaho and were able to connect with many of the sellers looking to buy/sell something that wasn't under Luxottica. The guys were able to share their story with smaller storefronts and local places that were all about hometown stories and products.

Tanner stressed that they couldn't have done it on their own, and talked about their experience on Shark Tank, a TV show which gives entrepreneurs/inventors the opportunity to have their product invested in. Despite getting two decent offers, they chose to walk away and keep producing the glasses on their own. That night, the brothers saw an incredibly large increase in online sales, as being on the show had given them the publicity they needed to get their brand name out there.

He shared with us the "3 Pillars of Proof," which are Heritage, Eco-Friendly, and to Give Back. These are the three main things they focus on as a company and want to excel in. I thought this was an interesting way to share their vision and gives customers a good outlook at what they do besides selling wooden glasses.


Tanner's Advice:

Learn how to -

1. Use Resources
2. Be Unique - Creative Guerilla Marketing
3. Utilize your Network
4. Tell Everyone Your Story
5. Share on LinkedIn and Social Media
6. Improve Your Self - keep educating yourself, find hobbies, etc.

And that when telling your story make sure it's 1) Memorable, 2) Personal, and 3) Impactful. 5% of people remember statistics and 63% remember stories. Audiences will remember you better if you tell them something they can relate to, even on the slightest scale. And finally, be impactful and make your story unique. 

How To Be Successful At The Perfect Pitch

Pitch Perfect Competition

Friday March 17, 2017
Started at 9:30am

At the conference I participated in the Pitch Perfect Competition. I'm not going to lie, I did horrible. I'm not going to make excuses for my failure, I was unprepared. I didn't sign up for this competition at first because I wasn't really comfortable pitching myself to someone (later I learned it was a panel of someone's). I believe personally that you shouldn't have to pitch yourself, it should be a conversation, but I digress. I volunteered last minute before we departed for the conference for a friend of mine that was overbooked that day. I thought, how hard could it be, just tell them your great and walk out. Well I'm here to tell you that it is not that easy, for me at least. So since I was unprepared and the conference doesn't really give you the right material to be prepared. I'm taking my failure and giving you tips and information on how to not be a flop when you enter that room.

When You Register

If you're not like me and you signed up for this competition because you enjoy pitching yourself/items to people, than I give you kudos. So when you first sign up, they say congratulations and all that jazz, but they give you a link to a couple pages long summary of a made-up/real company and what that company is looking for. They don't tell you, but that is not the practice material. Some other competitions at the conference give you practice material and when you register the day of the competition they give you the real material, this is not the case with this competition. The summary they send you is what you use to write your pitch. I didn't know this going in, if I did, I probably would of been a little bit more prepared. 

The Pitch Instructions

You have 90 seconds to pitch yourself to this company for a job. They say in the summary that they recommend telling a story, examples or whatever you feel comfortable doing. They tell you a better summary of what the competition is on the AMA conference app that I didn't know existed till we got their (download before you get there, couldn't of gotten through the conference without it). They say "...your goal is to provide 2-3 key selling points why you are an ideal candidate and then supporting these qualifications with exemplars. And of course, the end goal is to get hire (close the deal)." This is a way better explanation than what they first give you, I would follow this format. 

Writing The Pitch

You should have your pitch written a week before you leave for the conference and have been rehearsing it to the point that it is memorized. Why? Because I didn't do that and I failed, also because you can't have note cards or paper in the room so you have to have it memorized. So when I was writing my pitch (half and hour before I was suppose to go into that room, bad idea) I looked at the summary they give you and I picked out all my strong suits. Then I picked 2-4 skills that I could give great examples for. So as you're writing all this done, remember your goal is to get the job, so you need an opener and a closer. Your pitch should look like this; opener, 2-4 skills, examples of skills, closer. Then you time yourself to make sure your not over 90 seconds. If your under, elaborate more on your example/stories for your skills. Then practice in front of people. You will be in front of a panel of judges and you will have to pitch to them. Practicing in front of people before will help tremendously!

Pitching The Pitch

So in the email they send you with the summary, they give you a time when you check in and when you enter the room. So on the day of the competition you check in and wait outside the door of the room that the panel is going to be in. Try to stay calm, and just keep saying your pitch over and over again in your mind. When you walk into that room make sure you smile and introduce yourself. Then give your pitch. This is where the practicing in front of people and memorizing comes in handy, because I got halfway through my pitch and blanked. I blanked because I was nervous but also because I was unprepared. 

I hope by writing this and giving you a better process than what the conference gives you, that when you do this competition you knock it out of the park! 

Please learn from my unprepared mistakes and go prepared to this competition.

Becoming a Top Chapter

At this session, Aurora, Penn State, and University of Nevada - Las Vegas spoke about their successes and what really draws members in to their meetings and events.

Aurora: These students stressed the importance of roles and responsibilities. Their organization consists of roughly 80 members out of a small, 5,000 student college. Of these 80, they are split up into different teams that highlight certain skills:

• Communications
• Operations
• Training
• Outreach
• Consulting
• Professional Development

Penn State: This organization has roughly 250 members in their AMA, and told us that they interview members to join due to limited space. With this many people, there is a lot that they were able to succeed in this past year. They broke it down in the following way, with different members playing a role in:

• Sponsored AMA events 
• Regional Conference
• Marketing Week
• Unique Chapter Opportunities
• Nonprofit Division - Relay for Life, Social Impact Week
• Membership
• Internal/External Communications

University of Nevada - Las Vegas: Their president stressed the importance of three things: 1) Organization, 2) Leadership, and 3) Connections. With a smaller organization of about 35 students, he explained to us that it wasn't necessarily the matter of size, but more the events and responsibilities that they offer to their members. One of his biggest recommendations was to attend regional conferences, stay connected, and offer competitions that challenge members.

Member Retention: The three schools were different in many ways, but when discussing member retention they all agreed on the following steps:

1. Offer Value - Events, Tasks, Projects
2. Track Membership Participation and Reward 
3. Form Personal Connections
4. Build up Sponsors and Outside Work/Internships 
5. Recognition - Reward members who constantly attend and participate