Page 70 - The Magic of Tiny Business

Chapter Four  Listen to Your Tiny Voice

Exercise: Get Clear On Your Story with OPM

You know your brand better than anyone, but you may not be the best
at communicating it or have the budget to hire a marketing team.
Here’s an exercise to open your thinking that won’t drain you. OPM is
an acronym for “other people’s money” but in this exercise, it means
“other people’s marketing.”

Think of this exercise as a shortcut that’s a lot like those Mad Libs
books where you fill in the blanks to create your own twist on an
existing story. Find brands you love and study their marketing and
advertising. Pull ads out of magazines or off the web—wherever
you find something that speaks to you. Try on the campaigns of
larger, more well-established brands. Analyze their stories, how
they tell them, who they tell them to, and how they position
themselves. Put your brand—your images and copy—into their
marketing pieces. First go with their perspectives, then make up
your own. Guaranteed, you will find new insights and approaches.

The point isn’t to copy someone else’s work outright; it’s to
leverage skillfully created platforms that inspire you. It’s an easy way
to spark ideas. Sometimes my idea will end up being the opposite of
the brand I studied; sometimes it will be very close. The point is to
absorb what is pertinent and bounce off what isn’t.

This is also an awesome exercise for your own personal
branding—who you are as a leader of your business. Research
business leader profile pieces in magazines. See what is being said
about a leader you admire. Then think about what could be said about
you. What can you say about yourself? Remember, this is not about
boasting but about building up your communication tool kit so that
you have it at your fingertips.

With a Tiny Business, the mindset is to grow sustain-

ably, staying focused on the reason you started in the first

place, practicing patience, and being consistent and per-

sistent with what you stand for. It’s about how to get the

most with “whatcha got” while staying true to “who you

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