Case Study: The Magician
Meet the Client
Let me introduce you to Coach Greg and Lorelei McNeil, the owners of Coaches Korner, a StrongFirst kettlebell gym located in Clovis, NM. Their gym is unique in that it’s not focused on how many reps you can perform or how heavy you can go. The coaches teach strength as a skill that translates into a healthier, happier, and safer life. It’s living life on your own terms and not being hindered by poor health or mental habits. Your main tool is the kettlebell, but training in their gym goes way beyond physical. You leave each session more mentally fit, too!
Meet the magician
I want to take you inside the journey with one of my favorite clients, Coach Greg McNeil and his beautiful wife, Lorelei, to show you the true essence behind profitable branding.
On October, 14, 2019, I received an email from Greg alerting me to some issues with my site! Not the best way to start.
Hi Mrs. Wilson,
My name is Greg McNeil, I'm a veteran, contractor at CAFB, and new business owner/chamber member here in Clovis. I attempted to confirm my subscription but I received an error message. Also, I would like to take the brand personality quiz. If I overlooked anything please let me know.
I look forward to meeting you at my first Fast 45.
Sincerely,
Greg McNeil
Owner,
Coaches Korner, LLC
I was so embarrassed that my email subscription service wasn’t working, and he couldn’t take the brand personality quiz that I had just created! But I was so thankful that he decided to reach out instead of just moving on. That’s the kind of person he is. He loves serving others and helping others succeed. He also could see that my site is well designed and branded inspiring confidence that I could do the same for him. He also voiced his appreciation for the free resources I have for business owners, which sends the clear message that I give more than I’m paid for. Now many might think I have those resources just for capturing emails so I can pester potential buyers with offers. While I am all about building my email list, I’m very careful and strategic in how I use it and have some resources that you don’t even need to give your email for!
He took the quiz and learned he is a Magician brand personality. Magicians are all about making others’ dreams come true. They are charismatic, clever, motivational, and deep thinkers. They enchant and inspire. Armed with this information, I met him at his gym (he’s a StrongFirst kettlebell coach). I noticed three things right off the bat—his energy (with a dose of caution and curiosity), the inspirational phrases on the walls, and the boring Facebook blue wall. I knew the wall was a leftover from the previous tenants but that had to change quick!
We sat down and discussed his business, marketing needs and desires, and his brand personality. I suggested a couple of more assessments to nail down what I knew to be true—he was a DI personality with a strong dose of C (based on the DISC assessment) and a Passion Fascination Advantage (https://www.howtofascinate.com). This means he’s high-energy, vibrant, enthusiastic, insightful and serious about what he does. The first thing—paint the blue wall orange, which he immediately and enthusiastically did. Changed the ENTIRE feel of his gym.
The Website
I was pretty confident after that first meeting that I had what I needed to brand Coach Greg. You might be wondering why I’d brand him because I was invited to discuss branding and marketing his business. Here’s the thing (and this is important)—branding is way beyond website colors, business cards, and marketing materials. Branding is the personality of the business and that is defined by the one starting the business, especially with solopreneurs and small businesses. Managers might come and go but the essence of the business is always in the one who birthed it, which is why I ALWAYS start with the person. There are exceptions when I’m working with a corporation or small business with multiple board members and others running it, but even then I find that the original founders shared core values that are reflected in the business.
That evening I looked at his website and felt my stomach drop! It was NOTHING like I thought it would be and that got me to wondering if I had completely misjudged Greg. I’m seeing Magician, color, energy, etc. but his site actually scared me! It was black, white, and gray with maybe a couple of places where there was some orange or gold. The background was like concrete. There were too many words. And it evoked feelings of elite athletes and military that made me scared to have him train me; yet, he had told me his target market and I knew it was people like me. And I consider myself pretty fit and strong but there was no way in hell I would train with him after looking at his site. You’d have to be navy seal level of fitness. I showed my husband to see if maybe I was wrong with my first impression, and he agreed with me. He’d be scared, too!
I went back to him and told him my thoughts. He agreed. I had him gather some fonts, colors, and textures that he liked on Pinterest and got a cohesive picture and translated that into a website that was clean, easy to use, and fit his personality and his business. We added some rust type texture and orange (his favorite color) along with some black (to evoke seriousness and professionalism) along with plenty of whitespace to allow the eyes to rest as people viewed his site. He loves vintage so his fonts evoke that vintage feel like you might get watching old westerns.
Here is the mistake the first designer made—he focused on Coach’s target market too much. Greg definitely trains soldiers, but that’s only one aspect of his business. You can’t box him in or make him one-dimensional. He’s a magician. That’s impossible. The original designer more than likely focused on the military aspect and designed the site that way. But when you design a brand around the personality of the owner, you actually attract that person’s tribe from all different aspects of industry and society.
Approaching branding this way does not negate the absolute necessity of knowing your ideal target client because it allows your marketing message to resonate with that client. I know who my ideal client is, and I work with them every day. Startups and small businesses with 10 employees or less that know they need to utilize digital marketing but are not sure how or if they even want to. They are successful and average $100,000 or more a year. They are between 30-60 years old and full of integrity, passion, and are mature in their thinking with excellent work ethic. They come from all industries but mostly service industries like realtors, insurance, banking, coaching, etc. and for that reason, they have a high core value for service. I keep these things in mind in all of my branding and marketing, of course, but my own personality and core values come out in all I do like how I love to educate my clients, give them more than they expect, and provide resources that will truly help them accomplish their goals.
What branding really is
Branding is all about creating an experience that sets the course for future business interactions. Branding is the entire package not just the business cards, signs, and marketing materials. The key is to capture a whole picture of your client or yourself and translate that into the website, business cards, how the building looks, the small touches, and anything else that communicates clearly the experience the client will receive. That is creating a seamless brand that can be communicated through the marketing vehicles most effective for the client.
The best compliment ever
The best compliment I ever received was from a potential client that I was meeting at my office. She had carefully went over everything on my website—my free resources, blog posts, and my products and services—before meeting me. She took one look at me and said, “You look just like your website.” I knew what she meant. My website, my office, and myself were all seamless and conveyed the experience I wanted her to have.
