60 Seconds with Jame and Chris: A Quirk Podcast

As we close out season two, we wanted to give you the highlights of the top episodes that bring together all the main things that marketing should be at its core. We hope these highlights will help you identify where you're at and what you need to do to build a strong foundation and help your business grow.

We're interrupting our regular 60-second broadcasts to bring closure to season two. We're excited to implement new changes for the podcasts starting after the summer. But stay tuned for tomorrow's episode that highlights our favorite episodes from this season!

Communication is key to the creative process and community is essential in taking your ideas to the next level. Sharing new ideas can be intimidating, and that fear can keep you from telling others. But sharing with trusted people will help you get out of your comfort zone, and may inspire an idea for a new project.

How do you fuel creativity? Seek out opportunities who are further along in their journey. They can be incredibly helpful resources. Be teachable and listen, listen, listen!

Utilizing emails, texts or apps on your phone is a great way to capture ideas immediately as you think of them (yes, even the bizarre ones). You never know when you might need that idea again but may not remember it!

Pay attention. At any given moment you may see, hear or experience can morph into something you can use creatively. The small things make a big difference. Change your perspective on how you see things.

People want to be needed and known. It wasn't just the sell that brought you together to your client. Your client wants follow-ups, which helps build relationships. When a relationship is built there are more business opportunities where both the client and company succeed.

A change in scenery can aid in thinking outside of the box. A change of perspective can lead to a change in thinking, and a small change can make a big difference.

Have you been to get your oil changed only to be told you need multiple other replacements? As a company with integrity, care about your customer so much that you're responsible with helping them only in the areas they truly need as opposed to trying to upsell them with all of your services or products.

Empathy: Why do you care about the client you're selling to? In your heart, why do you want your client to succeed? If you can sell with empathy, they won't feel like you're being "salesy," they'll feel like you're truly trying to help them.

Evaluate where your business is and what it requires to promote your product or service, and consider cutting back on unnecessary costs like an office space to ultimately benefit your clients

Working remotely has multiple benefits, some of which include not paying for an office space, allowing freedom for yourself and your team, focusing your time on your product without neglecting your family and friends.

We're building a business of employees working remotely to create space without having overhead of office space, allowing us to efficiently grow our business and allow our employees freedom.

How can your business help your client with their specific need? Give the customer enough information on how you can solve their problem, allowing them to engage by asking questions, to provide clarity for them on their specific need.

"So many times, companies are tempted to do things that aren't part of their culture or being something they're not." Don't stray from who you are to try to win customers. Stay true to who you are and your culture.

"What happened to the days where advertising agencies help people grow and make more money?" We get so caught up in how everything looks that we don't focus on growing our business.

Believe it or not, website design is not important as important as what your website says. The key is simplifying what your website says to draw people in to your product or service.

Clarity in your message should be a priority. If your messaging isn't clear you will lose business and opportunity.

In charities, it's easy to get so caught up in what you're doing that donors become unclear on how they're making an impact. By reframing messaging so donors know how they're making a difference in the world.

We don't often invest in clarity, but what we learn about clarity helps transform our businesses and our personal lives and relationships.

The StoryBrand strategy has helped us confidently come in, help clarify your message and help build your business.

"Yoda is the one who knows all things and really should be saving the galaxy. But why is Luke Skywalker the hero?" Yoda is the guide who helps Luke succeed as the hero. Your company should position itself in the same way.

"The purpose of the guide is to help the hero transform into who they're supposed to be so they can win the day." Your company exists to help the customer succeed and win the day!

The front-end of your website should be framed to help your customers. "It's not about your story, even though your story is important once people realize you can help them.

"Customers don't care about you until they know you can solve their problems first." Of course sharing your story is important, but do these other things first.

Accountability is extremely powerful and perhaps the game changer for the amount of influence and impact that you have in what you're doing. In today's episode, Jake explains how accountability can propel your business forward.

If you're trying to be a certain type of organization, but you're not there yet, what needs to change? How close is the vision you have for the company? Do you have accountability? Quirk loves to come in and help organizations stay accountable to stay with the things that they want to do to change the world. So make sure you have accountability to help you do the same.

Does what you want to be known for, and what you're actually known for, align with your purpose? Then does it align with the DNA of your company? In order for your brand to impact the world, take note of what you want to be known for and what you are actually known for.

Who are you for, right now? There's the way you want to look, and what you're actually known for. In today's episode, Jake breaks down the difference between what you're known for and the vision for your company.

Who or what are you using to support your action plan? It's great to know where you're heading and to have a purpose, but you also have to make sure your company has people and tools that put the action into place. The people can bring their gifts, talents and passions to help push the company forward. But also, there are many tools that can help you support tasks that help you to raise money for your company.

So you have an action plan, but is it profitable? If money doesn't come in, money can't go out. Today, Jake encourages you to take another look at your action plan and focus on the areas that actually make money. It's easy to get caught up in daily tasks, but your action plan should be based on focusing on the main areas of your company.

Once you know the purpose of your business, the DNA of the leadership and what problem your company solves, it's really easy to create an action plan. In today's episode, Jake teaches how to create an action plan to solve your customers' problems.

Once you understand why your business exists and how your company is equipped to move towards that purpose, you need to understand what problem you're solving and how you are different.

Most people forget that companies have a DNA because of why the company started. It started in the beginning by the leadership which is what they were passionate about. But unless we know the purpose of the business it's hard to understand the DNA. Today, Jake wants you to question if the DNA of the leadership is still what the company is passionate about.

Do you know the purpose of your business? Whether you own the business or you work in the business, unless you are clear on the purpose, it can be tough to push through the trying times and it can be challenging to gain momentum. Without passion and purpose, you can't make big strides forward. So today, Jake encourages you to go back and figure out the purpose of your business.

Our Quirk team is reading the book "Know What You're FOR" by Jeff Henderson, and it has radically improved our team's minds on our interactions with our customers. Listen to Chris' testimony on the value of truly engaging with customers rather than just providing customer service.

We've talked a lot on the importance of being clear on your messaging and how you can clearly explain the journey to success for your customers. But today's episode, Chris gives you a few different resources that can help you help your customers.

When you're driving, you likely know where you're going in areas you're familiar with. But if you're venturing to a new area, you need to know have a plan on how to get there and understand what the area might be like. Google Maps is a great resource for your journey. As a company, your responsibility is to be that clear with your clients to help them understand that plan.

Your client may be confident in you, but they need to actually visualize their success after they start doing business with you. What are ways we can communicate the values they will receive after working with you? How will their lives be better for doing business with you?

Are you equipped to help or serve your customers? You may understand customers' problems or motivations, but do you know how you can truly help them succeed? We need to be clear to ourselves about our strengths and provide only what we can provide.

What is motivating your customers to search for your product or service? Their motivations are a deeper layer in understanding how to craft your communication to attach more meaning to what you can provide for them. If you can clearly explain how you understand what their motivations are, it will make a long-lasting connection and a deeper relationship between your company and the customer.

How can you help your customers if you can't fully understand what they want? How can they see the meaning and value in your company if they don't understand what they want? In today's episode, Chris explains how to put yourself in your customers' shoes to understand what they want.

Have you ever thought about changing your communication style to being more story-driven? What that means is, people can process their experiences and giving meaning to all of their experiences with you. There's a lot of advertisements and words in our daily lives that don't mean anything. But stories make communication meaningful.

Donald Miller from StoryBrand says, "People buy products only after they read words that make them want to buy products." It's super important that the words we use draw people in to take action. No matter the framework you use to ensure your messaging is clear, make sure your communication is clear, concise and calls people to take action.

You have a very specific gift or talent that the world needs. People are looking for the product or service you provide. And you want to share that gift with the world to help your customer succeed. But is your message clear and calling customers to action?

A lot of studies show that most people don't care if a business shuts down. But are you featuring, prioritizing and focusing on helping your client or customers in a way where they would miss your products or service if your business shut down today?

Is your website written in a way that talks about who your clients are while showing 'who you are? In today's episode, James gives another quick test you can do on your website to ensure you're making your clients your top priority.

In trying to keep your client first, how can you remember details that are important to specific clients or customers? Listen to hear James' secret to prioritizing relationships with customers and clients by remembering these special details.

Focusing on making your clients your top priority really comes down to who you're for. In today's episode, James gives you a simple way to test out your social media content to see who your company is for.

Have you found a way to make everything you do in your business all about your clients? Not just the products or services you provide, but have you framed everything in your business where you're the guide and your client is the hero? Ask yourself, are the clients we serve the hero, or are we the heroes?

James wraps up this week on marketing tips and tricks by telling people about our @quirkadvertising Instagram account where you can find more tips and tricks on marketing and more