• Discover what makes a brand referable and memorable


• Find out what to do when you fall into the “echo chamber of the enlightened”


• Know more about how to make your brand influential and get the most out of it

Resources/Links:

• Check out Michael’s Referability Rater: myreferabilityrater.com

Summary

Are you struggling with getting sales? Don’t want to spend more money on advertisements or marketing, but want to make sure your brand’s message will still be able to reach people? Do you want to know the secrets to spread your brand’s message and identity for free through referrals? Do you want to know how to make your brand referable and unforgettable?

Michael Roderick is the CEO of Small Pond Enterprises which helps thoughtful givers become thought leaders by making their brands referable, their messaging memorable, and their ideas unforgettable.

In this episode, Michael shares his ideas and techniques on how to make one of the best marketing strategies, known as referrals, work for you and your business. He also shares his insights on what to avoid and do in your business that can guarantee you more referrals and interaction from other people.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 01:36 – Michael’s ideal client: “The entrepreneur who has been de-prioritizing packaging their intellectual property. They’re really brilliant. They know what they’re doing, but they don’t know how to explain it to other people.”


• 01:58 – Problem Michael helps solve: “Most of the time, the challenge they have is that people don’t know how to talk about them when they’re not there. So, I look at their business like a Broadway show, and I help them reframe it so that people would want to buy a ticket.”


• 02:43 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Michael: “Yeah, so most common is people say, ‘Well, what do you do again? Can you explain that to me again? Can you sort of break that down for me again?’ Or, ‘Wow, you’re so brilliant, and you’re so amazing, but I just can’t figure out how to explain you to my friends.’”


• 03:33 – Common mistakes that people make before they find Michael’s solution: “Most common is they try to just keep producing more content, coming up with more ideas and more things. It’s just an overload, as opposed to looking at what they already have, and saying, ‘How do I refine this?'”


• 04:09 – Michael’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): “The absolute best thing if you’re falling into what I call the “echo chamber of the enlightened”, where everybody in your industry gets you, but nobody else does, is to go to somebody outside of your industry, say whatever your pitch is, give them your breakdown, and then ask them to tell you in their own words, what you just said.”


• 05:18 – Michael’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Check out Michael’s Referability Rater: myreferabilityrater.com


• 05:53 – Q: What do most people get wrong about influence? A: Most people think influence is about persuasion, and true influence is when people do things without you asking them to. So, the best way to do that is to actually create something that makes them look good when they share it.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“We spent a lot of time focusing on telling the story, not enough time focusing on teaching people how to retell the story.” -Michael Roderick
Click To Tweet

Transcript

(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:09

Greetings everyone and welcome to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. My name is Tom Poland beaming out to you as always from Little Castaways Beach in sunny Queensland, Australia, joined today by Michael Roderick. Michael, good day. A very warm welcome from down under. Where are you hanging out, sir?

Michael Roderick 0:24

I am in New York right now.

Tom Poland 0:26

Where it is probably a little cooler than others here.

Michael Roderick 0:29

Just, just a tad right.

Tom Poland 0:33

Snow, ice. Wooh!

Michael Roderick 0:37

All the fun weather.

Tom Poland 0:38

Sunshine and seagulls always here. Okay. All right. So enough of the climate lesson. For those of you who don’t know, Michael, I’ve known Michael for quite a while. He’s the real deal. I can vouch for him. We’ve been in the same joint venture-making group for many years. He’s also the CEO of Small Pond Enterprises which helps thoughtful givers- I love that phrase, Michael. Thoughtful givers become thought leaders by making the brands referable, their messaging memorable, and their ideas unforgettable. Love that! That’s worth a repeat. Thoughtful givers become thought leaders by making their brands referable, and their messages memorable and their ideas unforgettable. So that leads us nicely, Michael, into the topic which is, How to Create a Referral Brand. You’re going to share with folks how to do that in just seven minutes. Our seven minutes start now. Question number one, sir, who is your ideal client?

Michael Roderick 1:36

The entrepreneur who has been de-prioritizing packaging their intellectual property. They’re really brilliant. They know what they’re doing, but they don’t know how to explain it to other people.

Tom Poland 1:46

Best kept secret, and I guess, the articulation of their gift is a bit of a struggle for them. So, leads us nicely to question number two, which is what’s the problem you solve for them? Six and a half minutes left.

Michael Roderick 1:58

Most of the time, the challenge they have is that people don’t know how to talk about them when they’re not there. So, I look at their business like a Broadway show, and I help them reframe it so that people would want to buy a ticket.

Tom Poland 2:09

Oh, nice. Oh, you see, folks, what he just did there? Very clever! And that’s kind of what you do for your clients, right?

Michael Roderick 2:20

Exactly.

Tom Poland 2:21

That level of simple ease, roll off the tongue referability. Beautiful. So, tell us- the question number three, six minutes left. Question number three is what are some of the typical symptoms that your ideal clients experience before they find you before they work with you? What’s going on? You know there’s kind of like a heads up for folks listening to this going, “Yeah, I better reach out to Michael, because that’s-”

Michael Roderick 2:43

Yeah, so most common is people say, ‘Well, what do you do again? Can you explain that to me again? Can you sort of break that down for me again?’ Or, ‘Wow, you’re so brilliant, and you’re so amazing, but I just can’t figure out how to explain you to my friends.’”

Tom Poland 2:58

It’s so common. Yeah. I had one friend that- I must have known him for five years, and I still don’t know what he does. And I’ve asked him, I don’t know how many times. Okay, so this is quite common- this is a surprisingly common experience. And so, speaking of things that are common, question number four, and five minutes left. You’re dealing with people who are actually mostly very gifted than the smart people. They feel like they’re the world’s best-kept secret, they’ve got a gift they want to give out to the world, so they’re going to try stuff, of course. So, question number four is, what are some of the common mistakes that your clients, that become clients, tell you that they made before they met you?

Michael Roderick 3:33

Yeah. Most common is they try to just keep producing more content, coming up with more ideas and more things. It’s just an overload, as opposed to looking at what they already have, and saying, “How do I refine this?”

Tom Poland 3:48

Right. So, I’ve done a lot of content, didn’t work, so let’s do some more. Hmm. All right. Well, let’s help people out here! Question number five, four and a half minutes left, what’s one valuable free action that someone who- they know that you’re speaking with directly to them right now, what’s a valuable free action they could take that’