Think different
According to Schallert, his process boils down to business differentiation – where businesses utilize differentiating techniques involving their product, employees, building interior and exterior.
“You do a multitude of these in combination so that in your marketing message, it’s front and center. So when consumers hear about them they go, ‘whoa, we need to see this place!’” he said.
What typically fails to work, Schallert noted, are top-down efforts by communities such as branding campaigns, where businesses never truly understand how they are (or can be) different.
“If you come from the bottom-up and those businesses actually understand how to make themselves different or tell their unique story better, consumers come,” he said. “And if you get multiple businesses in the same marketplace to do this, it’s just as powerful – if not more powerful – than a branding campaign.”
An emotional response
One of the critical things Schallert wants businesses to realize is that they must elicit an emotion from the consumer.
“Usually surprise is a great emotion to elicit,” he said. “If you can change things within the entryway of your business, the consumer will walk in and say, ‘I’ve never seen a place like this!’ And suddenly they take down their blinders and now they’re open to listening and seeing how you are one of a kind.”
For this reason, Schallert noted, independent businesses actually have a huge advantage over franchise stores that want to create brand uniformity.
“What we’re really trying to create is customer insistence where a customer says, ‘That’s the only place for me; I’m not going anywhere else and I don’t care if it’s farther or has some disadvantages. That’s where I’m going to spend my money.’”
The upcoming seminar is not limited to businesses in downtown Vancouver. Space is limited, so early registration is suggested.
Tickets are $30 and can be purchased at www.tickettomato.com.
Business sponsors of the event include the Vancouver Business Journal; The Columbian; City of Vancouver; The Hilton Vancouver, WA; Visit Vancouver USA; West Coast Bank; and the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce.
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