I don’t know about you, but I’m a huge fan of cooking shows and celebrity chefs…. From Giada De Laurentiis (Giada at Home) to Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) to Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman). What I love about these modern cooking shows is that they’re SO much more than the great food that’s being cooked up. These shows and chefs are the epitome of how a business empire can be built with just a few simple ingredients.
5 Ways to Build a Business Empire (Like a Celebrity Chef)
Give Away Valuable Content (for Free) – One of the best ways for modern entrepreneurs to grow their following and customer base is to share their expertise and other valuable information – that their target customers desire – for free.
Depending on your business (particularly if you’re a coach, consultant or other service provider), you may be thinking, “Well if I give away too much of my great stuff for free, no one will buy my services or products.” But this isn’t the case. Take a look at celebrity chefs. Despite the fact that they’re showing us how to cook the meals on TV and offering all of their recipes online for us to print, we still go and purchase their cookbooks filled with the exact same recipes.
Their “free content” gives us a taste (no pun intended) of the chef’s recipes, cooking style, knowledge, quality, and personality. If we like them, we’ll typically be willing to pay to have everything neatly organized and packaged for us (as in a cookbook). We’ll also be more likely to purchase their other product or service offerings, as well.
Furthermore, sharing valuable, free content builds what’s known as “know, like and trust” amongst prospective customers. This important “know, like and trust” factor is how we, as entrepreneurs, establish and build those precious prospect and customer relationships that lead to sales, referrals, and business growth.
What educational, instructional, inspiring, and/or entertaining “free content” could YOU give, to build “know, like and trust” amongst YOUR target customers?
Put YOUR Personality Into It – A celebrity chef could be cooking up the most amazing meals, but that’s not what REALLY builds their fan base. People end up loving the chefs who show their great personalities. By exuding their personalities, celebrity chefs provide their viewers with the opportunity to “know, like and trust” them. As mentioned above, “know, like and trust” is an uber-important factor that leads to customer conversions and business growth.
In what ways can you integrate YOUR awesome and unique personality into your business, to build “know, like and trust”?
Go Behind-the-Scenes – Nowadays, celebrity chefs are shown shopping at local markets for their ingredients before they start cooking. Then post cooking, they’re shown enjoying their home-cooked meals with their family or friends. We love seeing people’s lifestyles – their reality. These behind-the-scenes moments are invaluable to building “know, like and trust” amongst prospective customers.
Think of ways that YOU can go “behind-the-scenes,” for your target customers, in your business.
Write Your Cookbook – After you’ve built up relationships with your prospects and customers, they’ll likely want to purchase a compilation of your best work, knowledge, and teachings (plus your personality) in one neat, easy to digest (again, no pun intended) place.
Everyone has a “cookbook” in them – whether it’s a compilation of your core teachings or it’s your career story that, in and of itself, teaches and inspires. Your “cookbook” may be a book, or it may be something else. Perhaps what you have to share fits best into an online video series, DVD, audios, or other type of media. Three awesome things about publishing your “cookbook” are:
#1. It creates passive income (income that can be generated without requiring your time)
#2. It creates fame for you and your business, and fame leads to more followers, customers or clients, and great media opportunities.
#3. It has the potential to change lives on a large scale. And after all, isn’t that the real reason why you do what you do?
What’s YOUR “cookbook”?
Build a Lifestyle Around Your Brand – Take a look at your favorite celebrity chef. Chances are, she or he has a television show; cookbooks; a product line of cookery, kitchen and dining ware and décor, and/or food mixes; a restaurant or catering service; etc. When consumers form a strong connection to a BRAND that they “know, like and trust,” they’re more apt to adopt everything about that brand into their lives.
For example: Let’s say you’re a big Giada De Laurentiis fan. You’re inside Bed, Bath & Beyond shopping for a new set of pots and pans, and you come across a set of pots and pans with Giada’s picture on the display ad. You’ll likely be more inclined to purchase those pots and pans because you identify with Giada’s brand and the lifestyle she’s built around it. You know that every time you cook with those pots and pans, it’ll remind you of that “Italian home cooking” feeling that you get from watching Giada’s cooking show. (Remember: people make most buying decisions based on emotions.)
Let’s take a look at an example of this in another industry. Let’s say you’re a yoga instructor who offers both private instruction and group classes, but you want to create a yoga empire. Perhaps you could start a YouTube yoga show; publish a book about yoga; create meditation CD’s; and start your own line of yoga mats, clothes, and/or accessories. By establishing your business into a brand and lifestyle, you open the doors to creating an empire with multiple income streams, multiple ways of reaching your target customers, and multiple ways of enhancing the lives of all the people your business and brand touches.
How will you create YOUR business empire?
So, there you have it – the 5 ways to build a business empire (like a celebrity chef). Now start cooking up that empire!
Oh, and definitely grab your copy of my Digital Marketing Guide – a requirement for business empire builders everywhere. This digital gem will visually and verbally walk you through exactly what you need in your online presence (website, social media pages, email marketing, etc.), to successfully build your business empire. And it’s FREE!