We’ve all heard it, we need to be able to describe our company and what we do in the space of time that it takes to travel from one floor to another in an elevator. And even in knowing it, it’s still difficult to conceptualize and spit out unless you’ve taken time to think about it, practice it, and modify it appropriately based upon feedback from those you’re talking to.
What does your conversation with someone you’ve just been introduced to sound like?
Him: “Hi, I’m Joe. What do you do?”
Me: “It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Tisha, I’m an owner at Paradux Media Group”
Him: “Paradux huh? What do you guys do?”
Me: “We’re a traditional advertising agency that specializes using social media, Facebook and Twitter, to expand our message and to create positive word of mouth for our clients. We manage Facebook and Twitter accounts for businesses.”
Short, sweet, but also critical. In those 35 words, a tremendous amount of information is passed, and if I’ve carried my message correctly, the person I’m speaking with now knows that first, Paradux Media Group is an advertising agency, second that we have a specialty, third why we believe that specialty is important, and fourth how we do it.
Now, I have an advantage because there aren’t many agencies doing what we do in social media and usually the person I’m talking to has more questions about my business after that initial conversation. Which I have intentionally set up and which gives me the opportunity to expand on my message without actually giving a speech. If your business is a little more mainstream, you’ll have to work harder to set it your introductory sentence to get the person to ask you another question about your business. But it can be done – with a little planning and word play.
Take a few minutes right now to imagine your introductory conversation and how you want to answer the question, what do? Then practice it so that it becomes habit and your automatic answer. Next listen for how people you’re talking to react – and modify it accordingly. This technique will help you to make sure your message is being carried every time you meet someone new, and will help to create the on-the-ground truth about what your business stands for in the community.
- Published: December 10, 2010
- Author: Tisha Oehmen
- Blog: Finding Brand Blog
- Category:
- Tags: Advertising, advertising agency, Brand Creation, community, Facebook, guerrilla tactic, Planning, Social media, traditional media, Twitter, word of mouth
- Comments:
Quacktastic Reviews:
Excellent team to work with! Mike and Tisha are fantastic at coming up with new ideas while staying true to my companies vision, values, and…
Operating a restaurant and bar is hard enough. It demands wearing many hats. Promotions and marketing is not one of them any longer since we…
Can not recommend this team enough. What started as a one-time website re-design has evolved into Paradux handling the vast majority of our marketing. Business…
We would not be able to run as smoothing, quickly, or efficiently if it was not for Paradux Media Group. Tisha and team is hands…
Recently, I had the opportunity to work with Paradux Media on a website build, and I just couldn’t have been happier with the process and…
Mike and his team are well known within the region and marketing community as an insightful industry leader. If you are looking for a Marketing…
Paradux Media is a very professional group, and they know what they’re doing. Whether they are placing buys for clients, or producing high-quality TV spots,…
Paradux helped build my business in all capacities. Without them, I would never have had the resources and ability to get so much accomplished –…
Mike, Tisha, and the team can build you anything you want for your company or small business. Very knowledgeable and easy to work with. They…
As a long-time client of Paradux, I can confidently say that their creative team is one of the best in the business. They consistently produce…
Great point, Tisha. I want to stress that you cannot rehearse this too much. This needs to be like your favorite song or your favorite motto. You simply have no idea when you’ll need to use it – elevators, parties, talking to the guy next to you in line at Starbucks. Another thing: Modify as needed. Think about buzzwords that are so 2011. Little things like that can make a traditional business sound innovative and exciting.
Great reminders, thanks for sharing them Paul!