January 16, 2025 • 51 mins
Unlock the secrets of strategic branding with us on Monkey Business Radio, where your hosts, Chris Collins and Dennis Siggins, aka Bobby Downspout of Cape Cod Gutter Monkeys, unravel the power of a strong brand. Imagine transforming your small business into a household name just like our friends at Cape Cod Gutter Monkeys. Join us as we explore how aligning your passion with market needs can create an unforgettable company identity that not only stands out but also drives sales and market share.
We start by unpacking the foundational elements of building a brand before launching your business, from choosing the right business aligned with your interests to understanding your target market. Hear about the importance of a memorable company name and how leveraging personal expertise can identify underserved niches. Plus, we highlight Cape Cod Potato Chips as a real-world example of how a clear, simple message can turn a product into a beloved regional staple and show the power of a strong, consistent brand.
Bringing a touch of nostalgia, we reflect on iconic marketing strategies and the timeless value of memorable taglines. Learn how crafting the right message can capture hearts, using examples from Chudder's General Store and classic ad campaigns like Lucky Strike’s "It’s Toasted".
Tune in for an episode packed with insights, inspiration, and a bit of humor, designed to help you master the art of branding and build real wealth through business ownership.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Every once in a while someone comes along, shocks the
establishment with a newinnovation and a tired industry
From the movie Moneyball.
Here's how Boston Red Sox ownerJohn Henry put it.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Really, what it's threatening is their livelihoods
, their jobs.
It's threatening the way theydo things and every time that
happens whether it's thegovernment, a way of doing
business, or whatever the peoplewho are holding the reins they
have their hands on the switch.
They go batshit crazy.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Hello, I'm Chris Collins, your host.
In this podcast.
We dive into stories ofinnovation, resilience and what
it takes to shake up an industry.
Joining me is my co-host andresident small business expert,
dennis Siggins, or, as he'sknown on the Cape and Islands,
bobby Downspout.
Dennis, along with his collegeroommate, andy Brennan, founded
the Cape Cod Gutter Monkeys andtransformed the humble task of
(00:48):
gutter cleaning into a thriving,multi-million dollar business
that redefined the game.
Together, we'll uncover thestrategies, lessons and
inspirations behind building andgrowing a successful business.
So, whether you're here forbusiness insights, inspiration
or just a great story, you're inthe right place.
Grab a cup of coffee, sit back,relax and welcome to Monkey
(01:10):
Business Radio.
Welcome to Episode 3, brandingyour New Company.
On today's show, we're divinginto branding how it shapes your
business, builds trust withyour customers and makes you
stand out from the competition.
As always, dennis Siggins ishere with me, or, for those of
you on Cape Cod, you may knowhim as Bobby Downspout of the
Cape Cod Gutter Monkeys.
(01:30):
Should I call you Bobby?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
You can call me Bobby today For this episode.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I'd probably call you Bobby.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
This branding is my favorite topic.
It's what we do.
It's where I live.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
And as we talk, about innovation.
That's what this show is abouttaking branding to this level
for a gutter company.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well, branding is an oftentimes misused or overused
word, especially today.
But getting back to the basics,why do you market?
Why do you advertise, Chris?
I mean, why would you advertiseyour new company?
Oh, got to get some peoplecoming in the door.
Sure, you want to increasesales, Right, Increase sales or
increase profits, right.
(02:14):
If you can only produce 100widgets a month and you do not
have a marketing program, yousell them for $100 a piece.
But maybe with a little bit ofmarketing you could sell them
for $120 a piece.
So maybe you don't necessarilyincrease the amount of units you
sell or units you produce, butyou can produce a higher profit
margin.
(02:34):
You can also increase marketshare for future generations of
your company.
Grow your company, add morejobs.
Marketing is a great way toinform your customers of what's
going on.
There's a lot of reasons whyyou want to advertise and market
your company.
But let's face it, there's amillion small businesses out
there in this country one, two,maybe three-man operations that
(02:58):
really don't need to advertise,right, Wouldn't you say?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, there's quite a few.
I mean your mom and pop cupcakeshop around the corner.
I've never seen them advertised, but the place is packed.
Cape Cod Coffee next door no,actually in Worcester where I
live, oh gotcha, I've never seenthem, but it's packed all the
time.
So that's sort of a word ofmouth.
People go by there, drive bythere.
They have a sign out front.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Cod Coffee, right next door to us here in the
industrial park.
I know the owners.
I know a lot of the employeesover there.
They're doing a stroke ofbusiness.
I've never heard them with muchof a presence out there.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I think they're mostly word of smell, because
you drive by that place and youcan't help but want to go in
there and it smells so good.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Well, you do.
Oftentimes, just in my dailylife, I'm at a chamber of
commerce meeting or I'm in thesupermarket.
People bring up the wholemarketing process, the whole
branding that we do in ourcompanies, and there's a lot of
small companies that don't needto advertise the one or two
(03:59):
person lawn care company.
All they need is their 50, 60,70 repeat clients and that's
basically a relationship-basedbusiness.
Word of mouth I mean we allhave it.
Word of mouth is like notadvertising at all.
It's just organic feedback thatspreads through the community.
Then you get into seasonaladvertising.
There are businesses that areseasonal.
(04:21):
I mean, let's face it, cape Codhas a lot of restaurants that
close in the wintertime.
There's an awful lot ofseasonality to many different
businesses.
There's the call to action.
I don't know what your thoughtson that are, but the call to
action form of marketing is inits most egregious form the auto
(04:41):
dealership that says this isthe Labor Day weekend special.
Come down here and spend yourmoney before this sale is over,
because this will never beavailable ever again.
You hear it all the time.
Different products and servicesout there.
It's very popular on the webright.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Web is all about call to action All the time.
You're getting pop-ups andthings like that buy now on sale
, sure, sure.
Before you think better of theidea, right click away, and
that's the whole thing.
There's a whole thing actuallyin website marketing is getting
that person to click within 30seconds of actually seeing your
ad.
That's the whole game.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Branding.
Branding, in my opinion, is thehighest form of marketing.
There's no call to action.
There's no sense of marketing.
There's no call to action,there's no sense of urgency.
Branding, to me, is building aculture in the mind and the
heart and the soul of yourpotential target market, so that
(05:36):
you're already living in theirbrain rent-free.
And then something happens.
Their car breaks down and theysay, oh my gosh, I got to call
so-and-so.
Or mom and pop are sittingaround wondering what are they
going to do tonight?
We're going to go out to dinner.
They're going to go to yourrestaurant because you're
already living in their headrent-free.
(05:57):
That's branding.
Have you ever picked up thephone and called McDonald's?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Nope, never called McDonald's.
You've probably been there onceor twice, right?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
No, yeah, I mean I don't go much anymore, but no,
mcdonald's is so well-branded inour American culture I don't
know if that was better back inour younger days or if it's
better today, but we all knowwho McDonald's is, we know where
they are, we know how to findthem.
We don't call them on the phone, just go there.
There's no word of mouth ofthese, right?
Yeah, branding is the highestform of marketing.
That's, that's where it's at.
(06:31):
I want to.
I want to talk about cape codpotato chips.
Cape cod potato chips has justtranscended our culture.
They sell great on cape cod.
They sell great over the bridgethroughout all of New England
and other parts of the country.
What is up with Cape Cod potatochips?
When I was in college, highschool and college, my dad was a
(06:52):
salesman his whole life and hemet Steve Bernard out on the
golf course out at Dennis Pinesor Dennis Highlands one or the
other.
He met Steve Bernard, who was ayoung man who had just come up
with an idea for a potato chipcompany.
And he met Steve Bernard, whowas a young man who had just
come up with an idea for apotato chip company, and my dad
was in the packaging business.
So he and Steve became fastfriends and this little
(07:12):
three-person operation calledCape Cod Potato Chips was just
starting to gain momentum.
Over the years, cape Cod PotatoChips would become my dad's
largest account and SteveBernard was just legendary in my
household.
As a college student I watchedthis guy take an idea and take
(07:33):
it to such a high level that itwas about 1984, anheuser-busch
bought the company Do youremember any ads for Cape Cod?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
I don't ever remember any ads for cape cod.
No chips.
I always knew they.
Just those were the chips tograb.
Now the packaging was prettyrecently.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
There is an ad on tv that I see oh really, but let's,
let's just take rico flashbackand take a drive back to 1984.
Cape cod potato chips wasn'tadvertised.
They didn't need it becausewhat was occurring there was
angelo's Supermarkets.
Back then there was 11 of them,I think, on Cape Cod.
There was no Stop and Shop, noShaw's, none of that.
(08:12):
There was Angelo's Supermarketand Ring Brothers.
Steve Bernard had contacts hereon Cape Cod, where he grew up,
that Angelo's Supermarketscarried his potato chips.
I remember the original logo.
It wasn't all that attractiveand when Steve and my dad met my
dad brought their ideas back tothe art department for the
(08:32):
company that he represented andthey came up with that beautiful
lighthouse logo that you seetoday and then the folks at
Angelo's were putting it out onthe shelves.
People come to Cape Cod from allover the country to go on
vacation and I remember Cape Codpotato chips.
Before they were in theindustrial park where they are
now.
They were still a growingcompany but they weren't quite
(08:55):
there yet.
But Steve Bernard used to tellus how he's getting calls from
different parts of the Northeastand other parts of the country
because business executives hadcome to Cape Cod.
And what's the first thing youdo when you go on vacation?
You go shopping to buy somesnacks and foods, because you're
going to the beach and theseCape Cod potato chips were
flying off the shelves and theyare better than any other potato
(09:17):
chip.
It's the only kind that we eat.
Come over to my house and openthe cabinet.
That's all we have.
We don't have any other potatochip.
And business executives weregoing home with the memory of
Cape Cod potato chips and theywere sending back orders to Cape
Cod potato chips.
(09:38):
I am so-and-so.
I was vacationing on Cape Codand they were requesting a few
dozen cases for their store.
It was self-marketing.
The company was bought byAnheuser-Busch back in about
1984.
I have an idea as to what thedollar amount is, but I'm not
going to say because I don'tknow for 100%.
(09:59):
Sure, at the time my dad hadCape Cod potato chips as a
customer.
He now got the whole line ofEagle snacks which was owned by
Anheuser-Busch.
The experiment failed.
Anheuser-busch was not able tobrand the snack line the way
they wanted and Steve Bernardbought the company back for
(10:19):
pennies on the dollar.
But the reason I bring that upCape Cod Potato Chips is one of
those rare, rare companies thatwas able to cut a big slice out
of the snack food pie withoutspending a significant amount of
money on marketing and brandingdollars.
By the way, if you're abusiness owner, that's not going
(10:41):
to happen to you, it's notgoing to happen to me.
That was just amazing.
An amazing product, an amazingprocess that Steve Bernard
created.
The guy's a genius.
He was a genius.
Tragically, he passed away.
I believe it was about 09 of.
I believe it was pancreaticcancer.
It was very, very sad.
My parents were reallydevastated when it happened.
(11:04):
But, steve, your spirit liveson buddy.
I had a few mentors long beforewe used the term mentors.
Steve Bernard never knew it,boy.
I studied him, I followedeverything he did.
I made notes back then.
But let's get back to branding.
It's a common word today, thisbranding.
(11:24):
A lot of clients of ours and alot of young businessmen and
businesswomen and startups oftenwill talk to me about their
brand and they really haven'tlaunched the company yet.
I explain to them you don'thave a brand yet.
Until you hit X or somefraction of X, you really don't
have a brand.
You might have a product, youmight have a service, you might
(11:45):
have an idea, but branding iswhen you establish your brand,
your company name, your imageand you market that brand in
your location.
In your region, the old cowboysused to take a branding iron
and they used to brand theircattle, so it was embedded in
the hip of the cow or the bull.
(12:06):
That this is my brand is onthis cow and this belongs to me.
That's branding.
You want your brand, you wantyour company name to be branded
on their brain as though youimplanted it there.
You want to be living rent-freein the minds of your target
market 24 hours a day, sevendays a week, so that when they
(12:27):
need your product, they call you.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
On top of that, yeah, things work better with your
brand as well.
Then the word of mouth, theseasonal ads, the call to
actions all have much more power.
Having some sort of personalconnection enhances your ad.
So people just don't throw themout right away because they see
that it's an advertisement.
They see that it's your brand.
So people just don't throw themout right away because they see
that it's an advertisement.
(12:50):
They see that it's your brand.
They trust your brand.
I'm going to listen to that.
You have seven seconds, I think.
When people hear an ad, I thinkthere is seven seconds to
evaluate your brand.
So you only have seven secondsin their mind.
So if it's embedded in yourbrain, if it's burned in your
brain, you're much more likelyto associate you know, have a
positive outcome from thatexperience than otherwise.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Well, one of the things I've always subscribed to
is the more times you touchyour customer or potential
customer, the better the chanceyou have of them becoming a
customer.
As you know, we rely heavily onradio advertising for the Cape
Cod gutter monkeys, but we also,I think we put 15 or 16 trucks
(13:25):
a day out on the road.
On any given day in our region,in its relationship to the city
of boston, a well-logoed truckcould garner between a thousand
and five thousand views.
Yeah, so those are greatnumbers.
If the first time somebodyhears of my companies on the
radio, the second time might bewhen they see the truck drive by
(13:48):
.
The third time could be they'repassing one of our job sites
and they might see a lawn sign.
Or maybe their neighbor mightsay, hey, I just used the Cape
Cod gutter monkeys to install mynew gutters.
Okay, that's three or four timesnow that you've touched that
customer and as that continuesto grow out there, that's what
(14:10):
causes growth and that's why wewant to spend our marketing
dollars wisely.
We want to use our marketing tocreate a brand, plain and
simple.
So, chris, you're a youngfuture business owner.
How do we choose?
Our product, our service, ourcompany, our widget.
What are we looking for?
(14:31):
You haven't put any money intoit, you haven't spent any
advertising.
Where do we go?
Where?
Speaker 1 (14:37):
do we go?
So, typically, I'd start withsomething that interests me.
I'd want to get in a businessthat I have some passion for,
some sort of you know, yeah, me.
I'd want to get in a businessthat I have some passion for
some sort of you know, yeah,yeah.
So that's probably where I'dstart also interest me?
What are my skills?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
yes, you've got to have an area of your expertise,
exactly exactly.
You got to look at the need forthe product, right, you know is
it, is it necessary, is italready out there, or is it
something that you got to createa whole new image because it
doesn't exist?
And then course, how big is theneed for it?
What's the potential size ofthis product or service or
(15:10):
widget that you're going tocreate?
And then we get to themarketing, identifying your
target market, the age, theincome level, regional locations
, the sex.
Does your target market live inthe suburbs?
Are they in the city?
Are they out in the rural areas, or do you not even have to
consider that?
(15:31):
Is it something that you'regoing to sell virtually?
Are you going to sell it online?
Is it available through yourwebsite?
There's a lot of considerationsand as you're thinking about
these, you've got to consideryour target market, who's going
to buy your product or service,and there's a difference between
who uses your service and whopurchases your service.
(15:51):
I know one time I had a smallbusiness on the side cleaning
carpet and upholstery andcleaning offices, and one of the
things that was very obvious isthat the office manager
determined what services wereused for that office, not the
president of the company, notthe owner of the company, but
(16:13):
the office manager, and back inthe 1980s that was usually a
woman in her 30s.
So I should be branding to thewoman in her 30s, not the
business executive in his 50s,because he doesn't make those
decisions.
So knowing who your targetmarket is is one thing, but
(16:34):
knowing who is the purchaserversus the end user, that's
another thing.
I mean shaving cream back inthe 1960s.
I can't remember the company,but it came to the industry,
came to be known in the industrythat men don't do the shopping
and there were a lot ofmarketing programs for shaving
cream and shaving razors andneeds like that, that the TV
(16:57):
commercials were geared towardsmen.
And then one of the shavingcream companies stumbled upon
this genius of an idea thatwomen do almost all the shopping
and it they proved to beaccurate.
It changed the way the industrymarketed back then.
Um, parents buy for their kids.
Yeah right, do you market theskateboard to a risk-taking 10
(17:20):
or 12 year old?
His parents aren't going to buythat, you know.
You market it.
This is the safest skateboardon the market because you know
your kid's going to get askateboard one way or the other,
you want to buy him the safestone.
So you know, where do youmarket that, that skateboard?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
So let's talk a little bit about Cape Cod gutter
monkeys in respect to some ofthese things.
Obviously, you probably weren'tborn a gutter monkey.
We talked about this a littlebit before in the previous
podcast.
But how did you determine thatthat was what it was going to be
?
That's what you're going tothrow your passion behind.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
You know I've always been in the trades, in
particular the roofing trades.
I was about 50 when my wife andI sold the company.
We moved to Cape Cod.
I was a little too young toretire.
I just started doing odd jobson the side.
I didn't want to build acompany again.
I didn't want to build a brandall over again.
I'd done that a couple of timesit was.
(18:11):
One thing I found out was thatgutter cleaning on Cape Cod is
an incredibly underserved market.
My college roommate, andy, andI decided to go into business
together.
We determined that we wanted togo big.
We didn't want to just be acouple of guys cleaning gutters,
that we wanted to build a realgood company.
(18:31):
And that's what we did.
I mean when you're creating aname.
I think it's the most importantstep in that process.
So you know the name has tosuit the product.
It has to satisfy your targetmarket.
A good brandable name shouldalso, or could also, serve your
(18:51):
region.
So if you look at a name likeCape Cod Gutter Monkeys, it
tells you a couple of things.
Where we are, it's Cape Cod.
What we do guttersCapecodguttermonkeyscom is our
website.
So there's a lot of stuff builtinto that name and, believe me,
it took us a little time tochoose that name.
(19:12):
We had a lot of other names wewere looking at, but this one, I
think it filled the bill.
What were some of the ones youtossed out out?
Gutter guys, gutter buddies, uh, stuff like that.
You know two guys cleaninggutters?
Uh, we came up with a lot ofgutter monkeys just rings.
(19:33):
It's first of all, it'salliterative.
Uh, cape cod is alliterativeand gutter monkeys is
alliterative I mean it justworks yeah, off the tongue.
Monkeys are cute.
The general, the general publichas a cute image of monkeys um.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Imagine them hanging off your gutters swinging,
swinging hand over hand justtake the name great name,
1-800-gut-junk.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, tells you what they do junk, right.
Their phone number is theircompany name, right, and I'm
sure it's probably1-800-GUT-JUNKcom.
I mean, there's so much builtinto 1-800-GUT-JUNK, you know,
webuyuglyhousescom Great name.
Tells you everything you needto know.
So, yeah, that's basically whatwe did.
(20:15):
You know, I've studied otherbusiness models, as I mentioned
earlier.
Yeah, I watched closely thedevelopment and the growth of
Cape Cod potato chips and I'vebeen taking notes on that my
whole adult life.
The duck boats up in Boston mybrother-in-law used to drive for
them Great company, really cool.
(20:36):
I crawled in behind the scenesup there and I devoured their
website.
I looked at their culture andtheir model.
They're doing great things upthere.
And then our friends Elliot andBarry from Jordan's Furniture.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Remember, we grew up with those guys.
What a great, great gimmick, ifyou will Right, they took
furniture and bedding to thelevel it is today.
And then everyone else followed.
Yeah, they were the leaders,yeah, so yeah, that basically
was the foundation of theGoddard Monkeys.
I mean, look, I was 54 when westarted the Goddard Monkeys.
(21:10):
I had a full lifetime ofroofing experience.
I had a full lifetime in thetrades.
I had 30 years of self of well,more than that, 35 years of
self-employment and marketing.
So I had a big advantagestarting out anyway.
And plus, my kids were grown.
Yeah, I didn't have, I didn'thave to go to little league
games, right, I didn't have togo to high school track meets
(21:34):
and wrestling matches, so Icould really focus on the
company.
And you know, getting back toyour question, the company name,
that's how it came out.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
And then you also do other things.
So your demographics here,understanding your demographics,
understanding your market.
Cape Cod's kind of an unusualplace, right Very unique.
With the demographics areprobably 55 and older being a
higher percentage in general.
Sure, some are owning homes,some owning second homes,
especially homes you don't wantto take care of, you're not
(22:03):
going to be around, you needsomeone to take care of it.
There you go, and, of course,there is a lot of wealth on the
Cape.
So you've got a lot of good.
You know demographics workingin your favor, absolutely Did
you take that into consideration.
You must have considered that,or must have been Ever since I
was a kid.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
My parents bought their or built their first Cape
house when I was a kid and I hada lawn cutting business and a
pretty serious lawn cuttingbusiness in my teen years and
we'd come down to the Capebecause my parents were always
flipping houses and buyinghouses and so we were always
down here on the weekendsworking on stuff and I remember
looking around thinking this isvery different from Framingham
(22:40):
where I grew up.
There's an older population whohas a lot of disposable income.
There's a whole lot of secondhomes, vacation homes,
investment properties and, yeah,investment property owners have
money and they need to maintaintheir property.
They understand that.
They just don't have the timeto do it.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Cape Cod is a natural hotbed for home services, plain
and simple yeah, only 80% ofhouses are occupied on the Cape
full-time, year-round.
Yeah, so 20%, that doesn'tsound like a big number.
That's a big number compared toother areas, and your median
age is 55.
So you've got 55-year-olds.
Shouldn't be up on gutters inthe first place, up on ladders
(23:20):
in the first place.
You know they've got a secondhome or they've got, you know.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
So, yeah, we didn't get lucky and you know land on
Cape Cod.
We had moved to Cape Cod andwhen it came time to start a
business, we kind of designed abusiness around the culture of
Cape Cod.
And that's the way you want todo it.
If you grew up in Ashland,massachusetts, or Albany, new
(23:45):
York, wherever you grew up orwherever you're living and
you're going to operate yourbusiness, yeah, you got to
design the name, the brand, thelogo.
You got to design it all foryour local culture.
That's going to give you a bigadvantage over your competitors.
And the name I mean, let's faceit, I think the name is one of
(24:05):
the most important parts ofbranding.
It's easy to brand a brandablename.
One of my companies was calledOn Time Construction back in New
Hampshire.
You know what Customers used tochallenge me on that.
We were primarily a roofingcompany and they would call me
up and I'd show up on time andthey would laugh and say, my
gosh, you actually did Like.
You're the only contractor Iever knew that actually showed
(24:26):
up on time.
And the whole thing with thatis, I always wanted to respect
my customer.
So I never lied to them.
I never said I'm going to behere on Tuesday and then not
show up, I would say I can't getthere next Tuesday.
I can put you down for twoweeks from now and I'll call you
on Sunday and I'll give you theday we're going to start your
job.
Just be honest with yourcustomer.
(24:48):
Other really good nameswebuyuglyhousescom and
1-800-GOT-JUNK are two of myfavorites.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
You've got a couple others.
Nike is a great one.
I always loved Nike.
I mean, we were all runners inhigh school so we all were
wearing nike stuff.
Sure?
I remember even back then.
Uh, what a great name.
Tesla is another one I love.
I don't.
It's an amazing company.
Yeah, it is.
And picking that name is sointeresting because I don't know
if you know anything abouttesla I do, but he's the father
(25:15):
of ac, you know alternatingcurrent, and tesla is a battery
company which is dc, but theystill pick them.
It still still resonates.
It's a great name.
Even if you don't know whoTesla is, it's a great name.
Yeah, it's really kind of aninteresting name.
And Pepsi Pepsi is another one.
Pepsi is a really interestingone, originally called Brad's
Drink.
The guy who started it wasKaleeb Bradham, I think was his
(25:38):
name.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
The name of Pepsi.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
It was called Brad's Drink?
Yeah, because Bradham was thelast name.
He was a pharmacist.
He took cola and pepsin, whichwas a digestive aid, and mixed
them together and came up with asoda.
A lot of colas back then inthose days was looked at as a
digestive aid.
That's how they were sold, butyeah, so originally.
Can you imagine what would beleft of Brad's Drink today after
(26:02):
Coca-Cola came on the scene?
There wouldn't have beenanything left of him, so it was
a good idea to change it toPepsi-Cola, which is what he
ended up with On a smaller locallevel.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
You know good names the Fishbowl, tropical Fish it's
real easy to brand that.
I saw on Shark Tank the othernight.
Y'all Sweet Tea, oh, wow, andthey're doing real well with it.
Yeah, y'all Sweet Tea.
Some friends of mine down here,customers and I'm a good
customer of theirs too isSeafood Sam's.
(26:33):
Yeah, they own four or fiverestaurants all called Seafood
Sam's right here in Sandwich,sagamore and Falmouth.
People come to the Cape andthey want to go out to dinner.
They're looking for seafood andthose guys have knocked it out
of the park.
I have a client down in Virginiaand they run a business called
Top Dog Auto Detailing andthey've kind of become the top
(26:56):
dog in their area.
It's a real interesting story.
But it's not how they startedout.
They had to work hard to getthere.
But those are easy to brand.
If you're branding a businessand you name it the fishbowl,
it's easy to brand.
We know what you do.
You sell goldfish, you sellmollies, you're selling tropical
(27:18):
fish there.
A couple of names that are noteasy to brand.
I'm going to throw some out toyou.
Chris Pete's Lawn Care yeah,john's Plumbing and Heating.
Dave and Donna's Restaurant Areyou listening?
Yeah, I want you to keeplistening.
Paul's Carpet Care, wally's DogWalking, anthony's Pool
Services these are tough tobrand because there's nothing
(27:43):
real memorable about that.
It would be if my name wasChris and I was in the gutter
services business.
Chris's gutter service.
It's a lot harder to brand thanCape Cod gutter monkeys.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah really the only thing about.
When the industrial revolutioncame along, they started
branding products only to makethem recognizable from each
other, but not as a marketingtechnique.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
That's how branding came along.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
And that's kind of what you're doing when you put
your name on it, like Pete orDave or something like that.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Let me ask you something while you're sitting
there.
Tell me what Mike does.
I just gave you a bunch ofnames and businesses.
What does?
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Mike, do I have to look at my notes?
You don't know.
No, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Okay, well, what's the name of the tropical fish
place?
Fish Bowl.
There you go.
Yeah, that's my point.
That's my point, right?
Brad's drink?
Yeah, brad's drink.
How about the alphabet soup?
Remember back in the day whenthe yellow pages were the way to
go 70s and 80s, everybody usedthe yellow pages to find
(28:47):
information, like today we havethe Internet.
Well, in the yellow pages youwere listed in alphabetical
order.
So you have, like Acme painting, so someone would come in ahead
of you and go double A painting.
So now they come ahead of youalphabetically and it really got
(29:09):
kind of silly because the nextguy came along and put triple A
painting and pretty soon you gotfour or five different painting
companies with a handful of A'sin front of them, just fighting
for the top spot in the yellowpages, which we've now looking
back.
I mean, I used to be in theyellow pages with some of my
different companies and itdoesn't work that well it
doesn't work that well.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
It was pretty much the way it was.
Remember.
I always remember this piece,the Roadrunner.
Remember all the packages andstuff Acme, it was always Acme.
I never realized why that was,I just figured it was something
about the Roadrunner inparticular.
But no, that's actually becausethat was typical back then.
Acme was very popular.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
AAA carpentry?
How about this one?
Mms Pro Auto Detailing?
How about XYZ Roofing?
It doesn't tell you much aboutthe product and maybe it doesn't
have to, but I want to tell youa story.
Some friends of mine down inVirginia.
They started an auto detailingcompany and it was called MMS
(30:10):
Pro Auto Detailing and they werestruggling, they weren't
getting off the ground.
Anthony and Valerie nice youngcouple and they became a client
of my son who owns a marketingand promotional company down in
Virginia.
Now I've met with the owners,the couple that owns Top Dog
(30:31):
Auto Detailing and at one pointI had recommended they change
(30:52):
their name to something morememorable than MMS Pro Auto
Detailing because it was justkind of getting mixed up with
all the rest of them.
And they did, and they continueto tell me that everything they
do is just so dynamic becausethey have a great name.
Yeah, now they also have areally beautifully logoed and
lettered van and I just talkedto Valerie earlier today.
They're're buying another one.
It hasn't even been a year yetand they're buying their second
van.
So they're going through thegrowing pains.
And she talked to me abouthiring and trying to grow the
(31:14):
company.
And you need the other van.
You need a little moremarketing, you need a couple of
more employees.
So they're going through thosegrowing processes but they're
doing well.
They just had a record month inSeptember.
They've branched out a littlebit but they are in the mobile
(31:35):
auto detailing business.
I didn't even know that existed.
But they go on location to yourhome or your place of business
and they do the auto detailing,so you don't have to get in your
car and drive it to theirlocation.
That was all new to me.
Yeah, and I understand that's asignificant business.
Now, as opposed to the oldfashion, you bring your car down
(31:57):
to the auto detailing place andthen pick it up at the end of
the day.
Yeah, so they've got a goodthing going.
They got a great name top dogauto detailing.
Very, very memorable.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Yeah, it goes back to making you know the good brand
makes all the other marketingyou do much easier so you know,
branding wise mistakes that youmight want to avoid.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
You know, don't choose your name based upon its
position in the alphabeticalorder.
You know, because it'llappear'll appear where it will
appear in the yellow pages, onsigns.
The Chamber of Commercelistings that type of thing.
That's not a good reason forchoosing that name.
I also often recommend that anew upstart business owner might
(32:41):
want to not use his or her ownname, first name or last name,
unless it's really brandable,unless it's significant.
Gosh, don't ever drive a blankwhite van.
Yeah, you see this man yeah, ifyou've got a beautiful truck or
a beautiful van man, put yourname, put your phone number out
(33:02):
there, put your logo on that.
That is free advertising yeah,I drive down.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
I've come down quite a ways down here on Little Cape
to join up with you guys oncertain days and I'm always
watching the trucks go by forcompetition.
They've got a ladder on top.
I wonder if they've got it.
Sometimes I was veering intotheir lane to get close enough
to read the little sort ofmagnetic things got stuck on the
side and it's typically youknow Bob's carpentry or you know
joe's roofing and he's drivinga box truck with 20 ladders on.
(33:30):
Oh wow.
And yeah I've got to get.
I've got to get two inches awayfrom his side door to actually
see what the sign is on the side.
So, yeah, that's a good example.
I gotta tell you and say that'scrazy.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
That box truck is a moving billboard.
Yeah, if you logo that boxtruck, I mean you got three
sides, you got left, right andyou got back.
It is a potential movingbillboard and I've often.
We have a digital marketer thatworks for my son's company and
I know what digital marketing isall about.
(34:01):
I've talked to these people.
They charge anywhere from $5 to$20 per imprint for a pop-up
and this is a really wellstrategically located pop-up.
But sometimes it might be theutility company that wants you
to advertise with them on theirwebsite and they're going to
(34:23):
charge by the pop-up ad.
If you're just lookingconservatively at a thousand
imprints a day driving a boxtruck down the road, I mean at
$5 per imprint not only is thatworth somewhere, has a value
somewhere in the $5,000 range,but it's right in the
neighborhoods that you work in.
When your service truck is in aneighborhood and you're
(34:46):
performing your burner serviceor your lawn cutting service or
your roofing services, you areright in the neighborhood where
your customers live.
You want to logo?
Speaker 1 (34:56):
that truck.
Yeah, I'm driving down the Cape.
I'm sitting in Cape trafficbehind a box truck and there's
no logo on it.
Imagine I'm sitting there, acaptured audience, don't feel
away from me.
And yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Also, don't misalign your name, phone number, website
, domain name.
Make them all the same.
Every once in a while I'll havea client that has a good
business and he wants to growthat business and he might come
to me and we'll sit down and wereview what's going on and I've
had a couple of them.
Where they're, you know, thecompany name isn't the domain
(35:34):
name, so it's uh, you know,dave's lawn services and the
website is beautiful lawnscom.
Yeah, don't do that.
It's confusion there.
Call your company BeautifulLawns and go with
BeautifulLawnscom.
Make sure they're alignedbecause that will allow for a
(35:56):
much better platform to brand aswe move down the road.
Early on, you can maybe getaway with it, but make that
brandable.
Make sure that you're alignedon almost every level.
Yeah, slogans, tag lines somany great ones.
Oh, there's so many good ones.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Longest running.
One is uh from the beersdiamond is forever.
Yeah, it's one of the longest,that's a good one wrong longest
current running ones.
Yeah, 1947, I think that was nokidding, nike, just do it yeah,
that's it.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
That's a real.
Just do it right.
I forgot about's a real.
Just do it Right.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
I forgot about that Actually it's final words of
Gary Gilmore, who was executedin 1977, believe it or not, they
actually changed it.
I forget what it was.
It was close to just do it, andwhen Gary Gilmore uttered those
words, they picked it up andthen they ran with it.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
So, Chris, you have a house back in the White
Mountains of New Hampshire thisis where my wife and I lived
most of our adult life and inthe beautiful little town of
Littleton, New Hampshire,there's a store called Chudder's
General Store.
Not that memorable of a name,doesn't really jump off the page
, but Carol and Mike, thefounders, were friends of ours
30 years ago and what they didwas they built a general store
(37:14):
with the world's longest candycounter.
Just Google it.
Pretty soon it became awarethat they had applied for, and
were trying to receive, thecertificate from the Guinness
Book of World Records for theworld's longest candy counter,
and eventually Guinness had tocome out and they certified that
(37:35):
indeed this is the world'slongest candy counter.
Wow.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
I always just thought that was just a tagline they
used.
But no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
I mean there's a big banner out front and I mean it
was big stuff.
Yeah, when Guinness came out tomeasure the whole town was they
blocked off the main street.
I mean it was, it was big time.
It was big time Cause this is asmall rural community in the
white mountains.
Uh, they make the best, uh, thebest fudge fudge.
I mean everything up there, butbut home of the world's longest
(38:06):
candy counter, what a greattagline yeah, mike and carol
ended up selling the store manyyears later and, um, that store
has remained a destination,hasn't it?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (38:17):
sure, our kids, our kids went there.
Every time we went up in newhampshire they had to go to
there.
Now I tell you, they're all intheir 30s and 40s and when they
go up with their friends they goup to the house up there.
They take their friends there.
Yeah, they'll go up andactually they'll come up to the
house after they're all gone andthere'll be these bags of candy
.
These kids are like 40-year-oldpeople.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
They're all going up there, but they all do it still.
You feel like a kid again.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Oh yeah, yeah, chudders general store, home of
the world's longest candycounter.
Actually, they have a.
They actually have a store atthe top of, uh, breton woods.
Yeah, they do area.
Yeah, get off the lift andthere they are.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
in fact I was.
I was doing some work for acustomer down here in hyannis on
the cape and, uh, the buildingnext door is a little candy shop
and he asked me to come overand he wanted to have some work
done gutters on the building andI measured up and I was putting
a proposal together for him.
And I asked him and I mentionedChudder's General Store and he
(39:14):
said oh yeah, I know those guys.
Well, here you are, four hoursaway.
And he said look, everyone inthe country who's in the candy
store business knows Chudder'sGeneral Store.
And that was just a random guythat I met down here on the Cape
.
Yeah, chudder's General Storeis almost the gold standard in
the candy business.
Wow, and let's face it, youknow as well as I do.
(39:36):
They sell sweatshirts, theysell hats, it's memorabilia,
it's fudge.
I mean, they sell everything.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
Yeah, but it's the candy that brings them in the
candy that brings them in.
Yeah, you go up there and youfind little candies that we had
when we were kids that you can'tfind anymore.
Oh yeah, Little wax Cokebottles Remember oh, I love the
Wax teeth.
You can find stuff that justyou know takes your breath Pixie
sticks.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Remember those gross things?
Oh my gosh, I mean just allthis old stuff.
It's a trip discussion about it.
There was a real battle goingon back in 19-teens for the
cigarette market and LuckyStrike, the company.
(40:18):
They brought in an outsider.
They brought in a marketing guyand he went through the whole
process.
He was in the plant, he waswatching things being done and
he said what's going on?
When the tobacco on the assemblyline comes down and it goes
through this process and I guesssomebody said well, that's
where the tobacco gets toasted,we toast our tobacco.
(40:38):
And the outsider, the marketingguy, said that's it, that's it.
And the tobacco people said no,no, no, no, no.
Everybody toasts their tobacco.
You either do it in the sun oryou do it in an oven, but
everyone toasts their tobacco.
That's not important.
But the truth of the matter isthe general public didn't know
that.
So Lucky Strike launched acampaign that was based around
(41:02):
the fact that their tobacco isbetter because they toast their
tobacco.
Now the rest of the cigaretteworld said, yeah, we all toast
our tobacco.
That's no big deal, we're noteven going to worry about that.
But the truth is the averageAmerican cigarette smoker,
including both my grandfathers,they didn't know that.
They said, oh, these guys aretoasting their tobacco, we're
(41:25):
going to buy that cigarette.
And then, when other companiesstarted throwing it out there,
the belief was oh, these othercompanies are just copying them,
they were the original.
We toast our tobacco Greattagline.
Never underestimate the valueof a good tagline.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
Unfortunately, the cigarette companies were one of
the best at doing that.
They were so good that theyended up getting banned from TV
and advertising and sportingevents.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Here's something I don't want you to ever do.
Don't make the mistake ofchoosing a bad tagline.
Here's one that we often seethat just it gives me no
information at all.
Fully insured, free estimates.
Yeah Right, you're a paintingcontractor and you're you know,
pete's painting contractor.
Fully insured, free estimates.
I don't think that adds to yourbrand.
(42:13):
I think every reputable companyis fully insured, right, and
every reputable contractor isgoing to give free estimates.
So I would recommend that youdon't take up.
Don't take up room on the sideof your van with that.
Get yourself a better logo,yourself a better slogan.
Gosh, don't ever go withcheapest prices in town Lowest
(42:34):
prices highest quality.
You're just fishing in theshallow end of the gene pool.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
right there, people turn you off instantly.
It's back to that seven-secondrule.
You only got seven seconds rule.
You toss it out there andthat's it's gone right, right,
yeah, choose a good slogan.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Yeah, you know, it's okay to have um one or two good
taglines, but keep those outthere kind of understand what
you're going after.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Yeah, what's what?
What is the purpose of thistagline?
I was one looking at some ofthese uh different taglines and
one of them I found reallyinteresting was volkswagen.
Back in 1959, when the carindustry was going huge, they
were building cars as absolutelyas big as they could possibly
build them.
And when Volkswagen came out,actually what they ended up?
Coming down to use reversepsychology.
They actually came up and saidthink small.
(43:17):
That was their tagline and itwas hugely success.
It launched, you know, the bugand all those other things
hugely, hugely success by usingthis sort of reverse psychology
saying, okay, everyone's goingthis way, everyone's going big,
big, big.
We're going to go small, thinksmall.
And it was in the united states.
Surprisingly, in the unitedstates it was, uh, hugely
successful you know, and my, myparents are great parents.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
They I couldn't have had a better set of parents,
especially being sort ofentrepreneurial in my roots.
My parents were, were not, andwhen I was a kid, my brothers
and I we made a ton of moneycutting lawns, and that's a
really great story for anothertime.
But as I became a young adultand started my first couple of
real serious companies, you know, I'm now, you know, 22 years
(44:02):
old and I'm really gettingserious about it.
And my dad used to say this alot hey, if that was such a good
idea, I'm really gettingserious about it.
And my dad used to say this alot hey, if that was such a good
idea, someone else would havethought of it.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Okay, again, that's my dad trying to protect me from
the world out there.
But the truth of the matter isthere's one common thing about
all brilliant ideas is that noone else is doing it.
Now, still, nine out of 10 ofthem are going to miss their
mark, right?
Not every idea that no one elseis doing is a good idea, but
(44:34):
every idea that hasn't beenthought of yet has the potential
.
So you know, that's somethingto consider.
Just because no one else isdoing it does not necessarily
mean it's a bad idea.
If that was such a good idea,someone else would have thought
of it.
It's not enough for me, buthearing it made me think.
(44:57):
It's like, okay, I've got tostep back and give that some
extra consideration.
Let's talk about the territory.
You've now come up with acompany name.
You've got a skill set.
You're building a business.
You're making widgets.
What is your territory?
Are you a product?
Are you a service?
Are you a combination of thetwo?
(45:18):
If you're in the restaurantbusiness, how far are people
willing to drive to sample yourfood?
Because if it's 12 miles, youshould be doing the bulk of your
marketing and branding effortsin that 12 mile radius.
Maybe it's 20 miles, I don'tknow.
Everybody's different.
In the city it's probablydifferent from the rural
(45:39):
communities.
In the home services company,they don't come to me, I go to
them right.
In my restaurant business, myclientele travels to my place of
location.
In the home services business,I travel to your location.
So in the home servicesbusiness, the question is how
(46:00):
far are we willing to travel?
So that might be you cover yourtown, or you might cover your
county, or maybe you cover a 12or 15 town area.
It's all different.
It's based upon you and whatyou're willing to do.
Hair care, personal care,massage therapy how far are
people willing to travel foryour services?
(46:20):
And I don't know, I don't know,but is it 20 minutes, is it an
hour?
We don't know, but you do Right.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
If that's your business business, you should
know that it kind of depends onwhat you're selling.
You're selling goldfish, you'reselling, you know, potato chips
or whatever well, getting backto um top dog auto detailing.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
When they first contacted me, or when I, I think
I first met them, I was doing aseminar down there and Valerie
was at that seminar and I didnot realize that auto detailing
had a significant piece of themarket that was mobile.
I was thinking old school, thatthe customer drives to their
(47:00):
location, to their shop.
So the old method as a autodetailer you probably had.
You know, maybe a-mile radiusthat people would be willing to
travel for your services.
But, anthony and Valerie, theycan choose their distance.
They can travel 30 miles andthere's a situation where the
(47:23):
changing times and the changingtechnology allows them to
redefine their target market andthe area that they service.
So those are someconsiderations as well.
Then, of course, is virtualterritory.
That's a whole different.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
Yeah, we could do a whole show on that.
Yeah, we could do a whole showon that one.
But, yep, yep, it's really kindof changed the game.
In terms of small shops, we'vegot all these new advertising
platforms, nextdoor inparticular.
Nextdoor are very good for asmall area for your mom and pop,
your donut shop or somethinglike that.
Not a great option for someonelike a Cape Cod Cutter Monkeys,
(48:01):
because you've got so manyoptions, so many areas that you
cover.
Nextdoor doesn't allow that inthat sort of platform.
There's so many new ways ofadvertising online.
We do numerous shows on justthat alone.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
Just look at Facebook itself, though, how much it's
changed.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
When it first came out, facebook was a young kid's
tool, facebook's old school nowit is in terms of the posting
and stuff like that, but themarketplace has really taken off
.
I don't know if you're familiarwith the Facebook marketplace A
little, but not a lot.
My kids use that.
They furnish their homes withit.
It's amazing.
Oh, yeah, yeah, and I'mactually starting to use it
myself.
(48:38):
You can find some really greatstuff on it, just for a plug for
marketplace.
But yeah, yeah, so there'scertain aspects of it that's
changing.
It's becoming one of the mostpopular parts of actually
Facebook.
Now.
It's actually their marketplace.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
Hmm, yeah, I wanted to just sort of throw one final
consideration out.
There is oftentimes, whenchoosing a name, you might
choose a name that isspecifically geared towards
where you live, and in my case,this is Cape Cod, and, yeah,
we're the Cape Cod guttermonkeys.
(49:09):
This is Cape Cod potato chips.
Cape Cod beer oh, cape Cod beer.
I mean, there's so many CapeCod out there.
You know, we see it all thetime.
Cape Cod plumbing and heating.
South Shore plumbing andheating.
You know, you see the vans andthe trucks out there on the road
.
South Shore plumbing andheating.
Speaker 1 (49:27):
You see the vans and the trucks out there on the road
.
Now go back to yellow pages.
The C section would probably beabout 90% of the yellow pages.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
A lot of our customers are Cape Cod.
Fill in the blank.
We do service work for them.
I know because I handle theaccounts receivables and the C
section is huge.
It's because of where we live.
So it's also wise to considerthe physical location of your
business and, if it's applicable, consider that in naming your
company.
Again, the message today isit's easier to market a
(50:04):
brandable name.
Speaker 1 (50:05):
There you have it.
Yep, sounds good.
Okay, we'll go out on thatRight.
There you have it.
Yep Sounds good.
Okay, we'll go out on that note.
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 2 (50:10):
No, monkeys were harmed in the making of this
podcast.
That's right.
Speaker 1 (50:13):
See you next time.
Bye, Thank you for tuning in toMonkey Business Radio.
If you enjoyed today's episode,please make sure to subscribe,
like and follow us wherever youget your podcasts.
It really helps us reach moreaspiring entrepreneurs like you,
and if you've got a question ortopic you'd like us to cover,
leave a comment or reach out tous on social media.
(50:35):
We'd love to hear your thoughtsand keep the conversation going
.
Don't forget to leave us afive-star review if you found
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We'll see you next time.
This podcast is produced byAmerican Gutter Monkeys LLC.
Build real wealth throughbusiness ownership.
For details, visit us atAmericanGutterMonkeyscom.
Every once in a while someone comes along, shocks the
establishment with a newinnovation and a tired industry
From the movie Moneyball.
Here's how Boston Red Sox ownerJohn Henry put it.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Really, what it's threatening is their livelihoods
, their jobs.
It's threatening the way theydo things and every time that
happens whether it's thegovernment, a way of doing
business, or whatever the peoplewho are holding the reins they
have their hands on the switch.
They go batshit crazy.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Hello, I'm Chris Collins, your host.
In this podcast.
We dive into stories ofinnovation, resilience and what
it takes to shake up an industry.
Joining me is my co-host andresident small business expert,
dennis Siggins, or, as he'sknown on the Cape and Islands,
bobby Downspout.
Dennis, along with his collegeroommate, andy Brennan, founded
the Cape Cod Gutter Monkeys andtransformed the humble task of
(00:48):
gutter cleaning into a thriving,multi-million dollar business
that redefined the game.
Together, we'll uncover thestrategies, lessons and
inspirations behind building andgrowing a successful business.
So, whether you're here forbusiness insights, inspiration
or just a great story, you're inthe right place.
Grab a cup of coffee, sit back,relax and welcome to Monkey
(01:10):
Business Radio.
Welcome to Episode 3, brandingyour New Company.
On today's show, we're divinginto branding how it shapes your
business, builds trust withyour customers and makes you
stand out from the competition.
As always, dennis Siggins ishere with me, or, for those of
you on Cape Cod, you may knowhim as Bobby Downspout of the
Cape Cod Gutter Monkeys.
(01:30):
Should I call you Bobby?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
You can call me Bobby today For this episode.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I'd probably call you Bobby.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
This branding is my favorite topic.
It's what we do.
It's where I live.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
And as we talk, about innovation.
That's what this show is abouttaking branding to this level
for a gutter company.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well, branding is an oftentimes misused or overused
word, especially today.
But getting back to the basics,why do you market?
Why do you advertise, Chris?
I mean, why would you advertiseyour new company?
Oh, got to get some peoplecoming in the door.
Sure, you want to increasesales, Right, Increase sales or
increase profits, right.
(02:14):
If you can only produce 100widgets a month and you do not
have a marketing program, yousell them for $100 a piece.
But maybe with a little bit ofmarketing you could sell them
for $120 a piece.
So maybe you don't necessarilyincrease the amount of units you
sell or units you produce, butyou can produce a higher profit
margin.
(02:34):
You can also increase marketshare for future generations of
your company.
Grow your company, add morejobs.
Marketing is a great way toinform your customers of what's
going on.
There's a lot of reasons whyyou want to advertise and market
your company.
But let's face it, there's amillion small businesses out
there in this country one, two,maybe three-man operations that
(02:58):
really don't need to advertise,right, Wouldn't you say?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, there's quite a few.
I mean your mom and pop cupcakeshop around the corner.
I've never seen them advertised, but the place is packed.
Cape Cod Coffee next door no,actually in Worcester where I
live, oh gotcha, I've never seenthem, but it's packed all the
time.
So that's sort of a word ofmouth.
People go by there, drive bythere.
They have a sign out front.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Cod Coffee, right next door to us here in the
industrial park.
I know the owners.
I know a lot of the employeesover there.
They're doing a stroke ofbusiness.
I've never heard them with muchof a presence out there.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I think they're mostly word of smell, because
you drive by that place and youcan't help but want to go in
there and it smells so good.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Well, you do.
Oftentimes, just in my dailylife, I'm at a chamber of
commerce meeting or I'm in thesupermarket.
People bring up the wholemarketing process, the whole
branding that we do in ourcompanies, and there's a lot of
small companies that don't needto advertise the one or two
(03:59):
person lawn care company.
All they need is their 50, 60,70 repeat clients and that's
basically a relationship-basedbusiness.
Word of mouth I mean we allhave it.
Word of mouth is like notadvertising at all.
It's just organic feedback thatspreads through the community.
Then you get into seasonaladvertising.
There are businesses that areseasonal.
(04:21):
I mean, let's face it, cape Codhas a lot of restaurants that
close in the wintertime.
There's an awful lot ofseasonality to many different
businesses.
There's the call to action.
I don't know what your thoughtson that are, but the call to
action form of marketing is inits most egregious form the auto
(04:41):
dealership that says this isthe Labor Day weekend special.
Come down here and spend yourmoney before this sale is over,
because this will never beavailable ever again.
You hear it all the time.
Different products and servicesout there.
It's very popular on the webright.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Web is all about call to action All the time.
You're getting pop-ups andthings like that buy now on sale
, sure, sure.
Before you think better of theidea, right click away, and
that's the whole thing.
There's a whole thing actuallyin website marketing is getting
that person to click within 30seconds of actually seeing your
ad.
That's the whole game.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Branding.
Branding, in my opinion, is thehighest form of marketing.
There's no call to action.
There's no sense of marketing.
There's no call to action,there's no sense of urgency.
Branding, to me, is building aculture in the mind and the
heart and the soul of yourpotential target market, so that
(05:36):
you're already living in theirbrain rent-free.
And then something happens.
Their car breaks down and theysay, oh my gosh, I got to call
so-and-so.
Or mom and pop are sittingaround wondering what are they
going to do tonight?
We're going to go out to dinner.
They're going to go to yourrestaurant because you're
already living in their headrent-free.
(05:57):
That's branding.
Have you ever picked up thephone and called McDonald's?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Nope, never called McDonald's.
You've probably been there onceor twice, right?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
No, yeah, I mean I don't go much anymore, but no,
mcdonald's is so well-branded inour American culture I don't
know if that was better back inour younger days or if it's
better today, but we all knowwho McDonald's is, we know where
they are, we know how to findthem.
We don't call them on the phone, just go there.
There's no word of mouth ofthese, right?
Yeah, branding is the highestform of marketing.
That's, that's where it's at.
(06:31):
I want to.
I want to talk about cape codpotato chips.
Cape cod potato chips has justtranscended our culture.
They sell great on cape cod.
They sell great over the bridgethroughout all of New England
and other parts of the country.
What is up with Cape Cod potatochips?
When I was in college, highschool and college, my dad was a
(06:52):
salesman his whole life and hemet Steve Bernard out on the
golf course out at Dennis Pinesor Dennis Highlands one or the
other.
He met Steve Bernard, who was ayoung man who had just come up
with an idea for a potato chipcompany.
And he met Steve Bernard, whowas a young man who had just
come up with an idea for apotato chip company, and my dad
was in the packaging business.
So he and Steve became fastfriends and this little
(07:12):
three-person operation calledCape Cod Potato Chips was just
starting to gain momentum.
Over the years, cape Cod PotatoChips would become my dad's
largest account and SteveBernard was just legendary in my
household.
As a college student I watchedthis guy take an idea and take
(07:33):
it to such a high level that itwas about 1984, anheuser-busch
bought the company Do youremember any ads for Cape Cod?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
I don't ever remember any ads for cape cod.
No chips.
I always knew they.
Just those were the chips tograb.
Now the packaging was prettyrecently.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
There is an ad on tv that I see oh really, but let's,
let's just take rico flashbackand take a drive back to 1984.
Cape cod potato chips wasn'tadvertised.
They didn't need it becausewhat was occurring there was
angelo's Supermarkets.
Back then there was 11 of them,I think, on Cape Cod.
There was no Stop and Shop, noShaw's, none of that.
(08:12):
There was Angelo's Supermarketand Ring Brothers.
Steve Bernard had contacts hereon Cape Cod, where he grew up,
that Angelo's Supermarketscarried his potato chips.
I remember the original logo.
It wasn't all that attractiveand when Steve and my dad met my
dad brought their ideas back tothe art department for the
(08:32):
company that he represented andthey came up with that beautiful
lighthouse logo that you seetoday and then the folks at
Angelo's were putting it out onthe shelves.
People come to Cape Cod from allover the country to go on
vacation and I remember Cape Codpotato chips.
Before they were in theindustrial park where they are
now.
They were still a growingcompany but they weren't quite
(08:55):
there yet.
But Steve Bernard used to tellus how he's getting calls from
different parts of the Northeastand other parts of the country
because business executives hadcome to Cape Cod.
And what's the first thing youdo when you go on vacation?
You go shopping to buy somesnacks and foods, because you're
going to the beach and theseCape Cod potato chips were
flying off the shelves and theyare better than any other potato
(09:17):
chip.
It's the only kind that we eat.
Come over to my house and openthe cabinet.
That's all we have.
We don't have any other potatochip.
And business executives weregoing home with the memory of
Cape Cod potato chips and theywere sending back orders to Cape
Cod potato chips.
(09:38):
I am so-and-so.
I was vacationing on Cape Codand they were requesting a few
dozen cases for their store.
It was self-marketing.
The company was bought byAnheuser-Busch back in about
1984.
I have an idea as to what thedollar amount is, but I'm not
going to say because I don'tknow for 100%.
(09:59):
Sure, at the time my dad hadCape Cod potato chips as a
customer.
He now got the whole line ofEagle snacks which was owned by
Anheuser-Busch.
The experiment failed.
Anheuser-busch was not able tobrand the snack line the way
they wanted and Steve Bernardbought the company back for
(10:19):
pennies on the dollar.
But the reason I bring that upCape Cod Potato Chips is one of
those rare, rare companies thatwas able to cut a big slice out
of the snack food pie withoutspending a significant amount of
money on marketing and brandingdollars.
By the way, if you're abusiness owner, that's not going
(10:41):
to happen to you, it's notgoing to happen to me.
That was just amazing.
An amazing product, an amazingprocess that Steve Bernard
created.
The guy's a genius.
He was a genius.
Tragically, he passed away.
I believe it was about 09 of.
I believe it was pancreaticcancer.
It was very, very sad.
My parents were reallydevastated when it happened.
(11:04):
But, steve, your spirit liveson buddy.
I had a few mentors long beforewe used the term mentors.
Steve Bernard never knew it,boy.
I studied him, I followedeverything he did.
I made notes back then.
But let's get back to branding.
It's a common word today, thisbranding.
(11:24):
A lot of clients of ours and alot of young businessmen and
businesswomen and startups oftenwill talk to me about their
brand and they really haven'tlaunched the company yet.
I explain to them you don'thave a brand yet.
Until you hit X or somefraction of X, you really don't
have a brand.
You might have a product, youmight have a service, you might
(11:45):
have an idea, but branding iswhen you establish your brand,
your company name, your imageand you market that brand in
your location.
In your region, the old cowboysused to take a branding iron
and they used to brand theircattle, so it was embedded in
the hip of the cow or the bull.
(12:06):
That this is my brand is onthis cow and this belongs to me.
That's branding.
You want your brand, you wantyour company name to be branded
on their brain as though youimplanted it there.
You want to be living rent-freein the minds of your target
market 24 hours a day, sevendays a week, so that when they
(12:27):
need your product, they call you.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
On top of that, yeah, things work better with your
brand as well.
Then the word of mouth, theseasonal ads, the call to
actions all have much more power.
Having some sort of personalconnection enhances your ad.
So people just don't throw themout right away because they see
that it's an advertisement.
They see that it's your brand.
So people just don't throw themout right away because they see
that it's an advertisement.
(12:50):
They see that it's your brand.
They trust your brand.
I'm going to listen to that.
You have seven seconds, I think.
When people hear an ad, I thinkthere is seven seconds to
evaluate your brand.
So you only have seven secondsin their mind.
So if it's embedded in yourbrain, if it's burned in your
brain, you're much more likelyto associate you know, have a
positive outcome from thatexperience than otherwise.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Well, one of the things I've always subscribed to
is the more times you touchyour customer or potential
customer, the better the chanceyou have of them becoming a
customer.
As you know, we rely heavily onradio advertising for the Cape
Cod gutter monkeys, but we also,I think we put 15 or 16 trucks
(13:25):
a day out on the road.
On any given day in our region,in its relationship to the city
of boston, a well-logoed truckcould garner between a thousand
and five thousand views.
Yeah, so those are greatnumbers.
If the first time somebodyhears of my companies on the
radio, the second time might bewhen they see the truck drive by
(13:48):
.
The third time could be they'repassing one of our job sites
and they might see a lawn sign.
Or maybe their neighbor mightsay, hey, I just used the Cape
Cod gutter monkeys to install mynew gutters.
Okay, that's three or four timesnow that you've touched that
customer and as that continuesto grow out there, that's what
(14:10):
causes growth and that's why wewant to spend our marketing
dollars wisely.
We want to use our marketing tocreate a brand, plain and
simple.
So, chris, you're a youngfuture business owner.
How do we choose?
Our product, our service, ourcompany, our widget.
What are we looking for?
(14:31):
You haven't put any money intoit, you haven't spent any
advertising.
Where do we go?
Where?
Speaker 1 (14:37):
do we go?
So, typically, I'd start withsomething that interests me.
I'd want to get in a businessthat I have some passion for,
some sort of you know, yeah, me.
I'd want to get in a businessthat I have some passion for
some sort of you know, yeah,yeah.
So that's probably where I'dstart also interest me?
What are my skills?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
yes, you've got to have an area of your expertise,
exactly exactly.
You got to look at the need forthe product, right, you know is
it, is it necessary, is italready out there, or is it
something that you got to createa whole new image because it
doesn't exist?
And then course, how big is theneed for it?
What's the potential size ofthis product or service or
(15:10):
widget that you're going tocreate?
And then we get to themarketing, identifying your
target market, the age, theincome level, regional locations
, the sex.
Does your target market live inthe suburbs?
Are they in the city?
Are they out in the rural areas, or do you not even have to
consider that?
(15:31):
Is it something that you'regoing to sell virtually?
Are you going to sell it online?
Is it available through yourwebsite?
There's a lot of considerationsand as you're thinking about
these, you've got to consideryour target market, who's going
to buy your product or service,and there's a difference between
who uses your service and whopurchases your service.
(15:51):
I know one time I had a smallbusiness on the side cleaning
carpet and upholstery andcleaning offices, and one of the
things that was very obvious isthat the office manager
determined what services wereused for that office, not the
president of the company, notthe owner of the company, but
(16:13):
the office manager, and back inthe 1980s that was usually a
woman in her 30s.
So I should be branding to thewoman in her 30s, not the
business executive in his 50s,because he doesn't make those
decisions.
So knowing who your targetmarket is is one thing, but
(16:34):
knowing who is the purchaserversus the end user, that's
another thing.
I mean shaving cream back inthe 1960s.
I can't remember the company,but it came to the industry,
came to be known in the industrythat men don't do the shopping
and there were a lot ofmarketing programs for shaving
cream and shaving razors andneeds like that, that the TV
(16:57):
commercials were geared towardsmen.
And then one of the shavingcream companies stumbled upon
this genius of an idea thatwomen do almost all the shopping
and it they proved to beaccurate.
It changed the way the industrymarketed back then.
Um, parents buy for their kids.
Yeah right, do you market theskateboard to a risk-taking 10
(17:20):
or 12 year old?
His parents aren't going to buythat, you know.
You market it.
This is the safest skateboardon the market because you know
your kid's going to get askateboard one way or the other,
you want to buy him the safestone.
So you know, where do youmarket that, that skateboard?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
So let's talk a little bit about Cape Cod gutter
monkeys in respect to some ofthese things.
Obviously, you probably weren'tborn a gutter monkey.
We talked about this a littlebit before in the previous
podcast.
But how did you determine thatthat was what it was going to be
?
That's what you're going tothrow your passion behind.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
You know I've always been in the trades, in
particular the roofing trades.
I was about 50 when my wife andI sold the company.
We moved to Cape Cod.
I was a little too young toretire.
I just started doing odd jobson the side.
I didn't want to build acompany again.
I didn't want to build a brandall over again.
I'd done that a couple of timesit was.
(18:11):
One thing I found out was thatgutter cleaning on Cape Cod is
an incredibly underserved market.
My college roommate, andy, andI decided to go into business
together.
We determined that we wanted togo big.
We didn't want to just be acouple of guys cleaning gutters,
that we wanted to build a realgood company.
(18:31):
And that's what we did.
I mean when you're creating aname.
I think it's the most importantstep in that process.
So you know the name has tosuit the product.
It has to satisfy your targetmarket.
A good brandable name shouldalso, or could also, serve your
(18:51):
region.
So if you look at a name likeCape Cod Gutter Monkeys, it
tells you a couple of things.
Where we are, it's Cape Cod.
What we do guttersCapecodguttermonkeyscom is our
website.
So there's a lot of stuff builtinto that name and, believe me,
it took us a little time tochoose that name.
(19:12):
We had a lot of other names wewere looking at, but this one, I
think it filled the bill.
What were some of the ones youtossed out out?
Gutter guys, gutter buddies, uh, stuff like that.
You know two guys cleaninggutters?
Uh, we came up with a lot ofgutter monkeys just rings.
(19:33):
It's first of all, it'salliterative.
Uh, cape cod is alliterativeand gutter monkeys is
alliterative I mean it justworks yeah, off the tongue.
Monkeys are cute.
The general, the general publichas a cute image of monkeys um.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Imagine them hanging off your gutters swinging,
swinging hand over hand justtake the name great name,
1-800-gut-junk.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, tells you what they do junk, right.
Their phone number is theircompany name, right, and I'm
sure it's probably1-800-GUT-JUNKcom.
I mean, there's so much builtinto 1-800-GUT-JUNK, you know,
webuyuglyhousescom Great name.
Tells you everything you needto know.
So, yeah, that's basically whatwe did.
(20:15):
You know, I've studied otherbusiness models, as I mentioned
earlier.
Yeah, I watched closely thedevelopment and the growth of
Cape Cod potato chips and I'vebeen taking notes on that my
whole adult life.
The duck boats up in Boston mybrother-in-law used to drive for
them Great company, really cool.
(20:36):
I crawled in behind the scenesup there and I devoured their
website.
I looked at their culture andtheir model.
They're doing great things upthere.
And then our friends Elliot andBarry from Jordan's Furniture.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Remember, we grew up with those guys.
What a great, great gimmick, ifyou will Right, they took
furniture and bedding to thelevel it is today.
And then everyone else followed.
Yeah, they were the leaders,yeah, so yeah, that basically
was the foundation of theGoddard Monkeys.
I mean, look, I was 54 when westarted the Goddard Monkeys.
(21:10):
I had a full lifetime ofroofing experience.
I had a full lifetime in thetrades.
I had 30 years of self of well,more than that, 35 years of
self-employment and marketing.
So I had a big advantagestarting out anyway.
And plus, my kids were grown.
Yeah, I didn't have, I didn'thave to go to little league
games, right, I didn't have togo to high school track meets
(21:34):
and wrestling matches, so Icould really focus on the
company.
And you know, getting back toyour question, the company name,
that's how it came out.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
And then you also do other things.
So your demographics here,understanding your demographics,
understanding your market.
Cape Cod's kind of an unusualplace, right Very unique.
With the demographics areprobably 55 and older being a
higher percentage in general.
Sure, some are owning homes,some owning second homes,
especially homes you don't wantto take care of, you're not
(22:03):
going to be around, you needsomeone to take care of it.
There you go, and, of course,there is a lot of wealth on the
Cape.
So you've got a lot of good.
You know demographics workingin your favor, absolutely Did
you take that into consideration.
You must have considered that,or must have been Ever since I
was a kid.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
My parents bought their or built their first Cape
house when I was a kid and I hada lawn cutting business and a
pretty serious lawn cuttingbusiness in my teen years and
we'd come down to the Capebecause my parents were always
flipping houses and buyinghouses and so we were always
down here on the weekendsworking on stuff and I remember
looking around thinking this isvery different from Framingham
(22:40):
where I grew up.
There's an older population whohas a lot of disposable income.
There's a whole lot of secondhomes, vacation homes,
investment properties and, yeah,investment property owners have
money and they need to maintaintheir property.
They understand that.
They just don't have the timeto do it.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Cape Cod is a natural hotbed for home services, plain
and simple yeah, only 80% ofhouses are occupied on the Cape
full-time, year-round.
Yeah, so 20%, that doesn'tsound like a big number.
That's a big number compared toother areas, and your median
age is 55.
So you've got 55-year-olds.
Shouldn't be up on gutters inthe first place, up on ladders
(23:20):
in the first place.
You know they've got a secondhome or they've got, you know.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
So, yeah, we didn't get lucky and you know land on
Cape Cod.
We had moved to Cape Cod andwhen it came time to start a
business, we kind of designed abusiness around the culture of
Cape Cod.
And that's the way you want todo it.
If you grew up in Ashland,massachusetts, or Albany, new
(23:45):
York, wherever you grew up orwherever you're living and
you're going to operate yourbusiness, yeah, you got to
design the name, the brand, thelogo.
You got to design it all foryour local culture.
That's going to give you a bigadvantage over your competitors.
And the name I mean, let's faceit, I think the name is one of
(24:05):
the most important parts ofbranding.
It's easy to brand a brandablename.
One of my companies was calledOn Time Construction back in New
Hampshire.
You know what Customers used tochallenge me on that.
We were primarily a roofingcompany and they would call me
up and I'd show up on time andthey would laugh and say, my
gosh, you actually did Like.
You're the only contractor Iever knew that actually showed
(24:26):
up on time.
And the whole thing with thatis, I always wanted to respect
my customer.
So I never lied to them.
I never said I'm going to behere on Tuesday and then not
show up, I would say I can't getthere next Tuesday.
I can put you down for twoweeks from now and I'll call you
on Sunday and I'll give you theday we're going to start your
job.
Just be honest with yourcustomer.
(24:48):
Other really good nameswebuyuglyhousescom and
1-800-GOT-JUNK are two of myfavorites.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
You've got a couple others.
Nike is a great one.
I always loved Nike.
I mean, we were all runners inhigh school so we all were
wearing nike stuff.
Sure?
I remember even back then.
Uh, what a great name.
Tesla is another one I love.
I don't.
It's an amazing company.
Yeah, it is.
And picking that name is sointeresting because I don't know
if you know anything abouttesla I do, but he's the father
(25:15):
of ac, you know alternatingcurrent, and tesla is a battery
company which is dc, but theystill pick them.
It still still resonates.
It's a great name.
Even if you don't know whoTesla is, it's a great name.
Yeah, it's really kind of aninteresting name.
And Pepsi Pepsi is another one.
Pepsi is a really interestingone, originally called Brad's
Drink.
The guy who started it wasKaleeb Bradham, I think was his
(25:38):
name.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
The name of Pepsi.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
It was called Brad's Drink?
Yeah, because Bradham was thelast name.
He was a pharmacist.
He took cola and pepsin, whichwas a digestive aid, and mixed
them together and came up with asoda.
A lot of colas back then inthose days was looked at as a
digestive aid.
That's how they were sold, butyeah, so originally.
Can you imagine what would beleft of Brad's Drink today after
(26:02):
Coca-Cola came on the scene?
There wouldn't have beenanything left of him, so it was
a good idea to change it toPepsi-Cola, which is what he
ended up with On a smaller locallevel.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
You know good names the Fishbowl, tropical Fish it's
real easy to brand that.
I saw on Shark Tank the othernight.
Y'all Sweet Tea, oh, wow, andthey're doing real well with it.
Yeah, y'all Sweet Tea.
Some friends of mine down here,customers and I'm a good
customer of theirs too isSeafood Sam's.
(26:33):
Yeah, they own four or fiverestaurants all called Seafood
Sam's right here in Sandwich,sagamore and Falmouth.
People come to the Cape andthey want to go out to dinner.
They're looking for seafood andthose guys have knocked it out
of the park.
I have a client down in Virginiaand they run a business called
Top Dog Auto Detailing andthey've kind of become the top
(26:56):
dog in their area.
It's a real interesting story.
But it's not how they startedout.
They had to work hard to getthere.
But those are easy to brand.
If you're branding a businessand you name it the fishbowl,
it's easy to brand.
We know what you do.
You sell goldfish, you sellmollies, you're selling tropical
(27:18):
fish there.
A couple of names that are noteasy to brand.
I'm going to throw some out toyou.
Chris Pete's Lawn Care yeah,john's Plumbing and Heating.
Dave and Donna's Restaurant Areyou listening?
Yeah, I want you to keeplistening.
Paul's Carpet Care, wally's DogWalking, anthony's Pool
Services these are tough tobrand because there's nothing
(27:43):
real memorable about that.
It would be if my name wasChris and I was in the gutter
services business.
Chris's gutter service.
It's a lot harder to brand thanCape Cod gutter monkeys.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah really the only thing about.
When the industrial revolutioncame along, they started
branding products only to makethem recognizable from each
other, but not as a marketingtechnique.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
That's how branding came along.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
And that's kind of what you're doing when you put
your name on it, like Pete orDave or something like that.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Let me ask you something while you're sitting
there.
Tell me what Mike does.
I just gave you a bunch ofnames and businesses.
What does?
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Mike, do I have to look at my notes?
You don't know.
No, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Okay, well, what's the name of the tropical fish
place?
Fish Bowl.
There you go.
Yeah, that's my point.
That's my point, right?
Brad's drink?
Yeah, brad's drink.
How about the alphabet soup?
Remember back in the day whenthe yellow pages were the way to
go 70s and 80s, everybody usedthe yellow pages to find
(28:47):
information, like today we havethe Internet.
Well, in the yellow pages youwere listed in alphabetical
order.
So you have, like Acme painting, so someone would come in ahead
of you and go double A painting.
So now they come ahead of youalphabetically and it really got
(29:09):
kind of silly because the nextguy came along and put triple A
painting and pretty soon you gotfour or five different painting
companies with a handful of A'sin front of them, just fighting
for the top spot in the yellowpages, which we've now looking
back.
I mean, I used to be in theyellow pages with some of my
different companies and itdoesn't work that well it
doesn't work that well.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
It was pretty much the way it was.
Remember.
I always remember this piece,the Roadrunner.
Remember all the packages andstuff Acme, it was always Acme.
I never realized why that was,I just figured it was something
about the Roadrunner inparticular.
But no, that's actually becausethat was typical back then.
Acme was very popular.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
AAA carpentry?
How about this one?
Mms Pro Auto Detailing?
How about XYZ Roofing?
It doesn't tell you much aboutthe product and maybe it doesn't
have to, but I want to tell youa story.
Some friends of mine down inVirginia.
They started an auto detailingcompany and it was called MMS
(30:10):
Pro Auto Detailing and they werestruggling, they weren't
getting off the ground.
Anthony and Valerie nice youngcouple and they became a client
of my son who owns a marketingand promotional company down in
Virginia.
Now I've met with the owners,the couple that owns Top Dog
(30:31):
Auto Detailing and at one pointI had recommended they change
(30:52):
their name to something morememorable than MMS Pro Auto
Detailing because it was justkind of getting mixed up with
all the rest of them.
And they did, and they continueto tell me that everything they
do is just so dynamic becausethey have a great name.
Yeah, now they also have areally beautifully logoed and
lettered van and I just talkedto Valerie earlier today.
They're're buying another one.
It hasn't even been a year yetand they're buying their second
van.
So they're going through thegrowing pains.
And she talked to me abouthiring and trying to grow the
(31:14):
company.
And you need the other van.
You need a little moremarketing, you need a couple of
more employees.
So they're going through thosegrowing processes but they're
doing well.
They just had a record month inSeptember.
They've branched out a littlebit but they are in the mobile
(31:35):
auto detailing business.
I didn't even know that existed.
But they go on location to yourhome or your place of business
and they do the auto detailing,so you don't have to get in your
car and drive it to theirlocation.
That was all new to me.
Yeah, and I understand that's asignificant business.
Now, as opposed to the oldfashion, you bring your car down
(31:57):
to the auto detailing place andthen pick it up at the end of
the day.
Yeah, so they've got a goodthing going.
They got a great name top dogauto detailing.
Very, very memorable.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Yeah, it goes back to making you know the good brand
makes all the other marketingyou do much easier so you know,
branding wise mistakes that youmight want to avoid.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
You know, don't choose your name based upon its
position in the alphabeticalorder.
You know, because it'llappear'll appear where it will
appear in the yellow pages, onsigns.
The Chamber of Commercelistings that type of thing.
That's not a good reason forchoosing that name.
I also often recommend that anew upstart business owner might
(32:41):
want to not use his or her ownname, first name or last name,
unless it's really brandable,unless it's significant.
Gosh, don't ever drive a blankwhite van.
Yeah, you see this man yeah, ifyou've got a beautiful truck or
a beautiful van man, put yourname, put your phone number out
(33:02):
there, put your logo on that.
That is free advertising yeah,I drive down.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
I've come down quite a ways down here on Little Cape
to join up with you guys oncertain days and I'm always
watching the trucks go by forcompetition.
They've got a ladder on top.
I wonder if they've got it.
Sometimes I was veering intotheir lane to get close enough
to read the little sort ofmagnetic things got stuck on the
side and it's typically youknow Bob's carpentry or you know
joe's roofing and he's drivinga box truck with 20 ladders on.
(33:30):
Oh wow.
And yeah I've got to get.
I've got to get two inches awayfrom his side door to actually
see what the sign is on the side.
So, yeah, that's a good example.
I gotta tell you and say that'scrazy.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
That box truck is a moving billboard.
Yeah, if you logo that boxtruck, I mean you got three
sides, you got left, right andyou got back.
It is a potential movingbillboard and I've often.
We have a digital marketer thatworks for my son's company and
I know what digital marketing isall about.
(34:01):
I've talked to these people.
They charge anywhere from $5 to$20 per imprint for a pop-up
and this is a really wellstrategically located pop-up.
But sometimes it might be theutility company that wants you
to advertise with them on theirwebsite and they're going to
(34:23):
charge by the pop-up ad.
If you're just lookingconservatively at a thousand
imprints a day driving a boxtruck down the road, I mean at
$5 per imprint not only is thatworth somewhere, has a value
somewhere in the $5,000 range,but it's right in the
neighborhoods that you work in.
When your service truck is in aneighborhood and you're
(34:46):
performing your burner serviceor your lawn cutting service or
your roofing services, you areright in the neighborhood where
your customers live.
You want to logo?
Speaker 1 (34:56):
that truck.
Yeah, I'm driving down the Cape.
I'm sitting in Cape trafficbehind a box truck and there's
no logo on it.
Imagine I'm sitting there, acaptured audience, don't feel
away from me.
And yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Also, don't misalign your name, phone number, website
, domain name.
Make them all the same.
Every once in a while I'll havea client that has a good
business and he wants to growthat business and he might come
to me and we'll sit down and wereview what's going on and I've
had a couple of them.
Where they're, you know, thecompany name isn't the domain
(35:34):
name, so it's uh, you know,dave's lawn services and the
website is beautiful lawnscom.
Yeah, don't do that.
It's confusion there.
Call your company BeautifulLawns and go with
BeautifulLawnscom.
Make sure they're alignedbecause that will allow for a
(35:56):
much better platform to brand aswe move down the road.
Early on, you can maybe getaway with it, but make that
brandable.
Make sure that you're alignedon almost every level.
Yeah, slogans, tag lines somany great ones.
Oh, there's so many good ones.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Longest running.
One is uh from the beersdiamond is forever.
Yeah, it's one of the longest,that's a good one wrong longest
current running ones.
Yeah, 1947, I think that was nokidding, nike, just do it yeah,
that's it.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
That's a real.
Just do it right.
I forgot about's a real.
Just do it Right.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
I forgot about that Actually it's final words of
Gary Gilmore, who was executedin 1977, believe it or not, they
actually changed it.
I forget what it was.
It was close to just do it, andwhen Gary Gilmore uttered those
words, they picked it up andthen they ran with it.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
So, Chris, you have a house back in the White
Mountains of New Hampshire thisis where my wife and I lived
most of our adult life and inthe beautiful little town of
Littleton, New Hampshire,there's a store called Chudder's
General Store.
Not that memorable of a name,doesn't really jump off the page
, but Carol and Mike, thefounders, were friends of ours
30 years ago and what they didwas they built a general store
(37:14):
with the world's longest candycounter.
Just Google it.
Pretty soon it became awarethat they had applied for, and
were trying to receive, thecertificate from the Guinness
Book of World Records for theworld's longest candy counter,
and eventually Guinness had tocome out and they certified that
(37:35):
indeed this is the world'slongest candy counter.
Wow.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
I always just thought that was just a tagline they
used.
But no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
I mean there's a big banner out front and I mean it
was big stuff.
Yeah, when Guinness came out tomeasure the whole town was they
blocked off the main street.
I mean it was, it was big time.
It was big time Cause this is asmall rural community in the
white mountains.
Uh, they make the best, uh, thebest fudge fudge.
I mean everything up there, butbut home of the world's longest
(38:06):
candy counter, what a greattagline yeah, mike and carol
ended up selling the store manyyears later and, um, that store
has remained a destination,hasn't it?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (38:17):
sure, our kids, our kids went there.
Every time we went up in newhampshire they had to go to
there.
Now I tell you, they're all intheir 30s and 40s and when they
go up with their friends they goup to the house up there.
They take their friends there.
Yeah, they'll go up andactually they'll come up to the
house after they're all gone andthere'll be these bags of candy
.
These kids are like 40-year-oldpeople.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
They're all going up there, but they all do it still.
You feel like a kid again.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Oh yeah, yeah, chudders general store, home of
the world's longest candycounter.
Actually, they have a.
They actually have a store atthe top of, uh, breton woods.
Yeah, they do area.
Yeah, get off the lift andthere they are.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
in fact I was.
I was doing some work for acustomer down here in hyannis on
the cape and, uh, the buildingnext door is a little candy shop
and he asked me to come overand he wanted to have some work
done gutters on the building andI measured up and I was putting
a proposal together for him.
And I asked him and I mentionedChudder's General Store and he
(39:14):
said oh yeah, I know those guys.
Well, here you are, four hoursaway.
And he said look, everyone inthe country who's in the candy
store business knows Chudder'sGeneral Store.
And that was just a random guythat I met down here on the Cape
.
Yeah, chudder's General Storeis almost the gold standard in
the candy business.
Wow, and let's face it, youknow as well as I do.
(39:36):
They sell sweatshirts, theysell hats, it's memorabilia,
it's fudge.
I mean, they sell everything.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
Yeah, but it's the candy that brings them in the
candy that brings them in.
Yeah, you go up there and youfind little candies that we had
when we were kids that you can'tfind anymore.
Oh yeah, Little wax Cokebottles Remember oh, I love the
Wax teeth.
You can find stuff that justyou know takes your breath Pixie
sticks.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
Remember those gross things?
Oh my gosh, I mean just allthis old stuff.
It's a trip discussion about it.
There was a real battle goingon back in 19-teens for the
cigarette market and LuckyStrike, the company.
(40:18):
They brought in an outsider.
They brought in a marketing guyand he went through the whole
process.
He was in the plant, he waswatching things being done and
he said what's going on?
When the tobacco on the assemblyline comes down and it goes
through this process and I guesssomebody said well, that's
where the tobacco gets toasted,we toast our tobacco.
(40:38):
And the outsider, the marketingguy, said that's it, that's it.
And the tobacco people said no,no, no, no, no.
Everybody toasts their tobacco.
You either do it in the sun oryou do it in an oven, but
everyone toasts their tobacco.
That's not important.
But the truth of the matter isthe general public didn't know
that.
So Lucky Strike launched acampaign that was based around
(41:02):
the fact that their tobacco isbetter because they toast their
tobacco.
Now the rest of the cigaretteworld said, yeah, we all toast
our tobacco.
That's no big deal, we're noteven going to worry about that.
But the truth is the averageAmerican cigarette smoker,
including both my grandfathers,they didn't know that.
They said, oh, these guys aretoasting their tobacco, we're
(41:25):
going to buy that cigarette.
And then, when other companiesstarted throwing it out there,
the belief was oh, these othercompanies are just copying them,
they were the original.
We toast our tobacco Greattagline.
Never underestimate the valueof a good tagline.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
Unfortunately, the cigarette companies were one of
the best at doing that.
They were so good that theyended up getting banned from TV
and advertising and sportingevents.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Here's something I don't want you to ever do.
Don't make the mistake ofchoosing a bad tagline.
Here's one that we often seethat just it gives me no
information at all.
Fully insured, free estimates.
Yeah Right, you're a paintingcontractor and you're you know,
pete's painting contractor.
Fully insured, free estimates.
I don't think that adds to yourbrand.
(42:13):
I think every reputable companyis fully insured, right, and
every reputable contractor isgoing to give free estimates.
So I would recommend that youdon't take up.
Don't take up room on the sideof your van with that.
Get yourself a better logo,yourself a better slogan.
Gosh, don't ever go withcheapest prices in town Lowest
(42:34):
prices highest quality.
You're just fishing in theshallow end of the gene pool.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
right there, people turn you off instantly.
It's back to that seven-secondrule.
You only got seven seconds rule.
You toss it out there andthat's it's gone right, right,
yeah, choose a good slogan.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Yeah, you know, it's okay to have um one or two good
taglines, but keep those outthere kind of understand what
you're going after.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Yeah, what's what?
What is the purpose of thistagline?
I was one looking at some ofthese uh different taglines and
one of them I found reallyinteresting was volkswagen.
Back in 1959, when the carindustry was going huge, they
were building cars as absolutelyas big as they could possibly
build them.
And when Volkswagen came out,actually what they ended up?
Coming down to use reversepsychology.
They actually came up and saidthink small.
(43:17):
That was their tagline and itwas hugely success.
It launched, you know, the bugand all those other things
hugely, hugely success by usingthis sort of reverse psychology
saying, okay, everyone's goingthis way, everyone's going big,
big, big.
We're going to go small, thinksmall.
And it was in the united states.
Surprisingly, in the unitedstates it was, uh, hugely
successful you know, and my, myparents are great parents.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
They I couldn't have had a better set of parents,
especially being sort ofentrepreneurial in my roots.
My parents were, were not, andwhen I was a kid, my brothers
and I we made a ton of moneycutting lawns, and that's a
really great story for anothertime.
But as I became a young adultand started my first couple of
real serious companies, you know, I'm now, you know, 22 years
(44:02):
old and I'm really gettingserious about it.
And my dad used to say this alot hey, if that was such a good
idea, I'm really gettingserious about it.
And my dad used to say this alot hey, if that was such a good
idea, someone else would havethought of it.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Okay, again, that's my dad trying to protect me from
the world out there.
But the truth of the matter isthere's one common thing about
all brilliant ideas is that noone else is doing it.
Now, still, nine out of 10 ofthem are going to miss their
mark, right?
Not every idea that no one elseis doing is a good idea, but
(44:34):
every idea that hasn't beenthought of yet has the potential
.
So you know, that's somethingto consider.
Just because no one else isdoing it does not necessarily
mean it's a bad idea.
If that was such a good idea,someone else would have thought
of it.
It's not enough for me, buthearing it made me think.
(44:57):
It's like, okay, I've got tostep back and give that some
extra consideration.
Let's talk about the territory.
You've now come up with acompany name.
You've got a skill set.
You're building a business.
You're making widgets.
What is your territory?
Are you a product?
Are you a service?
Are you a combination of thetwo?
(45:18):
If you're in the restaurantbusiness, how far are people
willing to drive to sample yourfood?
Because if it's 12 miles, youshould be doing the bulk of your
marketing and branding effortsin that 12 mile radius.
Maybe it's 20 miles, I don'tknow.
Everybody's different.
In the city it's probablydifferent from the rural
(45:39):
communities.
In the home services company,they don't come to me, I go to
them right.
In my restaurant business, myclientele travels to my place of
location.
In the home services business,I travel to your location.
So in the home servicesbusiness, the question is how
(46:00):
far are we willing to travel?
So that might be you cover yourtown, or you might cover your
county, or maybe you cover a 12or 15 town area.
It's all different.
It's based upon you and whatyou're willing to do.
Hair care, personal care,massage therapy how far are
people willing to travel foryour services?
(46:20):
And I don't know, I don't know,but is it 20 minutes, is it an
hour?
We don't know, but you do Right.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
If that's your business business, you should
know that it kind of depends onwhat you're selling.
You're selling goldfish, you'reselling, you know, potato chips
or whatever well, getting backto um top dog auto detailing.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
When they first contacted me, or when I, I think
I first met them, I was doing aseminar down there and Valerie
was at that seminar and I didnot realize that auto detailing
had a significant piece of themarket that was mobile.
I was thinking old school, thatthe customer drives to their
(47:00):
location, to their shop.
So the old method as a autodetailer you probably had.
You know, maybe a-mile radiusthat people would be willing to
travel for your services.
But, anthony and Valerie, theycan choose their distance.
They can travel 30 miles andthere's a situation where the
(47:23):
changing times and the changingtechnology allows them to
redefine their target market andthe area that they service.
So those are someconsiderations as well.
Then, of course, is virtualterritory.
That's a whole different.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
Yeah, we could do a whole show on that.
Yeah, we could do a whole showon that one.
But, yep, yep, it's really kindof changed the game.
In terms of small shops, we'vegot all these new advertising
platforms, nextdoor inparticular.
Nextdoor are very good for asmall area for your mom and pop,
your donut shop or somethinglike that.
Not a great option for someonelike a Cape Cod Cutter Monkeys,
(48:01):
because you've got so manyoptions, so many areas that you
cover.
Nextdoor doesn't allow that inthat sort of platform.
There's so many new ways ofadvertising online.
We do numerous shows on justthat alone.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
Just look at Facebook itself, though, how much it's
changed.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
When it first came out, facebook was a young kid's
tool, facebook's old school nowit is in terms of the posting
and stuff like that, but themarketplace has really taken off
.
I don't know if you're familiarwith the Facebook marketplace A
little, but not a lot.
My kids use that.
They furnish their homes withit.
It's amazing.
Oh, yeah, yeah, and I'mactually starting to use it
myself.
(48:38):
You can find some really greatstuff on it, just for a plug for
marketplace.
But yeah, yeah, so there'scertain aspects of it that's
changing.
It's becoming one of the mostpopular parts of actually
Facebook.
Now.
It's actually their marketplace.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
Hmm, yeah, I wanted to just sort of throw one final
consideration out.
There is oftentimes, whenchoosing a name, you might
choose a name that isspecifically geared towards
where you live, and in my case,this is Cape Cod, and, yeah,
we're the Cape Cod guttermonkeys.
(49:09):
This is Cape Cod potato chips.
Cape Cod beer oh, cape Cod beer.
I mean, there's so many CapeCod out there.
You know, we see it all thetime.
Cape Cod plumbing and heating.
South Shore plumbing andheating.
You know, you see the vans andthe trucks out there on the road
.
South Shore plumbing andheating.
Speaker 1 (49:27):
You see the vans and the trucks out there on the road
.
Now go back to yellow pages.
The C section would probably beabout 90% of the yellow pages.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
A lot of our customers are Cape Cod.
Fill in the blank.
We do service work for them.
I know because I handle theaccounts receivables and the C
section is huge.
It's because of where we live.
So it's also wise to considerthe physical location of your
business and, if it's applicable, consider that in naming your
company.
Again, the message today isit's easier to market a
(50:04):
brandable name.
Speaker 1 (50:05):
There you have it.
Yep, sounds good.
Okay, we'll go out on thatRight.
There you have it.
Yep Sounds good.
Okay, we'll go out on that note.
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 2 (50:10):
No, monkeys were harmed in the making of this
podcast.
That's right.
Speaker 1 (50:13):
See you next time.
Bye, Thank you for tuning in toMonkey Business Radio.
If you enjoyed today's episode,please make sure to subscribe,
like and follow us wherever youget your podcasts.
It really helps us reach moreaspiring entrepreneurs like you,
and if you've got a question ortopic you'd like us to cover,
leave a comment or reach out tous on social media.
(50:35):
We'd love to hear your thoughtsand keep the conversation going
.
Don't forget to leave us afive-star review if you found
the episode valuable, and makesure to share it with anyone who
might benefit from our tips andstories.
We'll see you next time.
This podcast is produced byAmerican Gutter Monkeys LLC.
Build real wealth throughbusiness ownership.
For details, visit us atAmericanGutterMonkeyscom.
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