Fill in the Blanks

Forgettable businesses are poorly defined businesses. They’re businesses that offer a product or service, and little else.  They perform a task, and you forget their name afterwards. They might even do a good job, but they don’t hold real estate in your subconscious. They have no personality. So, how do you give your business a personality? Well, I have a little homework to help set you on your way. All you need to do is fill in the blanks. Any memorable business can fill these blanks with interesting and unique answers. Forgettable businesses will fill them with clichés. That’s why I’m eliminating some words. Do not use the following...

Service - Yes, service is important, but it is expected. If the best thing you can say about your business is that it offers great customer service, you are merely reaching the starting point expected from any business. Memorable businesses excel in more than customer service.

Expertise, Knowledge, Knowhow etc... – Same reasons as above.

Parking – You know why.

Awards – They’re important to you, not your customer.

XX year in business – Not important to the customer.

Locally Owned, operated – Blah blah blah

You probably understand what I’m suggesting. So please, try not to cheat. The more original your answers are, the more intriguing your business will become.

If I was to have my customers say one thing about my business it would be ____________________.

My customers are surprised when ________________.

Nobody does __________________ better than my business.

If my business could only offer one product it would be __________________.

3 character traits of your business, if it was a person ____________________.

My business strongly believes in _________________________.

My business is strongly opposed to ________________________.

One of the traditions of my business is ________________________.

Excluding my main product, my business is known for ________________________.

If my business was a celebrity, it’d be ­_____________________________.

If my business was a dinosaur, it would be ________________________________.

_____(Another businesses name)_______ is the exact opposite of my business.

If my business had a superpower, it would be _______________________.

Nobody will ever say that my business is ________________________.

3 adjectives that describe my business __________________________________.

3 things my business believes in that are not related to its industry ________________________.

In 10 years my business is going to ______________________________.

If my business disappeared, the one thing I’d want people to remember about it would be ___________.

Some of these questions are weird, but that’s by design. The more personality you can infuse into your business, the more memorable it becomes. Answering these questions honestly and uniquely will add definition to your business. Exploring a weird question might make you laugh. It might make you think. It might lead your business down a path you never expected.

You need to think of your business as a living, breathing thing. Your business stands for something. It supports something. It opposes others. It needs to be as special and original as you are. Once you create this unique personality, you need to make it speak for itself. That’s when true marketing begins.