Laura Laire: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Marriage 2 Marketing podcast, where our lifelong love affair with marketing is second only to our commitment to each other.
Todd Laire: [00:00:06] I'm Todd Laire, CEO and co-founder of LAIRE Digital.
Laura Laire: [00:00:10] And I'm Laura Laire, VP of Creative Strategy, co-founder of LAIRE Digital, and Todd’s better half.
Todd Laire: [00:00:15] Together, we found success in business and in life by combining our talents, entrepreneurial spirit, and creativity.
Laura Laire: [00:00:21] Whether you're a marketing newbie or a seasoned pro, Married 2 Marketing is a podcast that'll have you flexing your creative muscles, pushing boundaries, and thinking outside the box.
Todd Laire: [00:00:30] Our mission to equip you with knowledge, tools, and strategies that will skyrocket your brand success. Let's dive in.
Laura Laire: [00:00:41] Today's episode is on creating a remarkable business. I mean, the question is what makes you remarkable or how do you create a remarkable business? What's going to make your ideal client choose you over the competition? What makes you memorable? Is it your commitment to customer service? Is it a better product? Is it your experience? I mean, we hear all the time from a lot of the businesses that we talk to when we're looking at creating remarkables for them, and they always say, you know, it's trust, it's the relationship. You know, we have. We hear the same thing over and over. And really, that's not truly what is remarkable. Is it your success stories? Is it a specific stat that you have? This is something that we find really is the differentiator.
A remarkable is the competitive advantage. It's something that sets you apart from your competition. One thing that I think is important from Seth Godin book Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable. This is one of our agency's favorite definitions of remarkable. And according to Godin, a purple cow is worth talking about. Worth noticing. It's exceptional. It's. It's new. It's interesting. If you drive by a field and you see a bunch of cows, what stands out more? A brown cow, A white cow, a black cow or a purple cow?
So what's your purple cow? What makes your business stand apart? This is this is something that we want to dive into and identify. What are your key differentiators and ultimately translate it those into messaging that helps your prospects make a decision to work with you and feel safe about it. But truly, it's when they come to your website and they remember you when they're looking. If they're surfing the Internet and they're looking at three or four different competitors, they go back and they say, But but they had a purple cow. They remember that specific thing. Maybe it's a trademark. It's a unique differentiator. It's something that you've named. It's not a product. It's remarkable. And so we're going to talk a lot about that today. I'm going to move it over to Todd and let him give you a deeper explanation on the purple cow.
Todd Laire: [00:02:52] Yeah. Yeah. This is one of my favorite subjects. And it's, you know, we we use this in our own agency, in the digital marketing agency space. There's a lot of fish swimming in the same direction. You know, we do similar services. We say, you know, we have similar team structures and makeups. We offer similar services. So it's really hard, even more so difficult to differentiate yourself in the digital marketing agency space. And one of our remarkables one of our differentiators is how we do strategy planning.
Tons of agencies do strategy planning as well, but we have a process that we follow that we've refined over several years of putting it into practice, and it's called the Marketing Action Plan by layer. And we even registered the name with the, you know, with it with the government, with the patent office, because it's it's that important to us and it is a key differentiator about what we do. And I heard yesterday from a prospective future customer who said, you know, I really like the process you all use and it's very clear and defined what you do differently and what you're going to do for me, and I think this is where a lot of companies struggle.
They have the makings of something unique and remarkable, but they just haven't brought it to the forefront. And Laura, like you said earlier, they think it's, you know, years experience and in the industry, it's, you know, their customer service promise, you know, and it can, you know, a remarkable differentiator can be a product, of course.
But the way that we want progressive companies, growth focused companies to think about their differentiator or their remarkable is something that they have that no one else in their space has or something that they do better than any of their other competitors. And even better than that, something that they do better than anyone else in the world. That's how far we want to reach with helping a company become different, or in this case, Remarkables. And there's a few examples in the marketplace that I'd love to share in a little bit, but I wanted to get your your take, and I know you probably have some thoughts too.
Laura Laire: [00:05:24] Yeah, boring is, is invisible, right? People don't talk about things that don't interest them. And this is one reason, I think you brought up a good point. Trademarking like, can we take you know, we did a brainstorming session yesterday actually for a client that we are developing remarkables for. And there's three of us on Zoom. Since we're remote, we're working on Zoom, and we are each on this document. We're each typing at the same time, we're talking at the same time, and we're shooting off ideas, but we're kind of listing out, you know, what kind of feedback did we get from their customers, You know, what did we hear over and over and over again from their customers that they were talking about?
And sometimes this is, you know, one of the things that I like to say, it's a wordy word, like, can we come up with a wordy word? And like Todd said, the marketing action plan we trademarked as a map, M A P. So we're creating a word around that creates a product that is remarkable. It's different. And then we're creating steps and a path and a method and a way to look about it so that we can then brand that specific product that is unique to LAIRE. Even though a lot of agencies do strategy, there's only one marketing action plan by LAIRE.
So being able to trademark that is important and it creates something that we can talk about, something that we can brand. It's the marketing action plan by LAIRE. I think that coming up with something that you can trademark is great, although you don't have to. Just making a list and brainstorming all of the ideas that you have of things that differentiate you, and can we compile those into something that we can create a name, a product that we can package up very nicely so that it then becomes memorable because we don't we want people to walk away and go, Well, they had a marketing action plan and that trademark is important, not necessary, but important. But people remember that. They talk about it. It's a premiere service. It's our premiere product that we came up with, and it's packaging what we do with a pretty bow, if that makes sense.
Todd Laire: [00:07:28] Mm hmm. Yeah, absolutely. And you mentioned something earlier, too. Like, we see this a lot. You know, a unique brand comes to us and is wanting to grow and wanted to it, wanting to differentiate. And, you know, we look at like the competitors they give us and then also their messaging and their content. And if we took the logo away or the mention of the brand or the unique products that the company has and just put content next to competitor content, we can't tell who's who because they all say the same thing the same way. And really the goal of this is to stand out above your competition, but to create a memorable experience with your customers.
So as a lead generation digital marketing agency, that's what we're focused on, is generating leads for our clients, for them to sell to, and to ultimately close in the new clients or customers. Our users all, we're all you know, we are dependent on website visitors coming to our client's website and, and converting, you know, meaning they're filling out an email form or, you know, subscribing to a blog or a newsletter or a podcast, right? Or they're downloading content or they're raising their hands and saying, I would like to talk to someone in sales or I'd like a consultation. And they're identifying themselves and that's great. That's the end goal. But if they don't do that, what else can we do? And all we can do is create a memorable experience for them. So yeah, having a pretty website is important.
Having really great content that speaks to your ideal audience is also important, but having those one, two, or three attributes or remarkables are key differentiators that are on the home page of your website or an integral part of your product page or your process page that you know when they leave and they go to a competitor's website and they see that vanilla language and that you know, me, me, me, all about us type content and very little use statements, you know, about the, you know, the ideal customer or, you know, trying to relate to the person that's reading the content on the website. You know, they, they look at your competitor's content and then they remember you like, wow, like for us, like, okay, this other agency we're looking at has a strategy engagement or a strategy process. But their website said something about a marketing action plan by letter like it's their own process and it have a little circle are at the end of it like a registered mark like that's over and above everything else we're seeing.
Let's go back to LAIRE’s website and fill it out. So that's the goal of getting them to remember you. If they don't convert and they don't leave, we want to come back and yes, we can retarget them around the internet. But you know that might turn off a particular user, that might be our customer and that might be, you know, an ideal customer. And you turn them off because you're you're. Grabbing their attention instead of asking, you know, for their attention by the messaging and the content you put out there. So that's a key reason why we are really strong and focused on helping our clients differentiate themselves.
Laura Laire: [00:10:58] Yeah, because there is no shortage of competition for us, for our clients, no matter what marketing sector that you're trying to enter. The key is to stand out. And Laura brought up a great point. When you go to a website, when I go to a website, I don't need them to convince me or sell me on why they're so great. The websites that I like are the ones that say, You know, you're feeling this and I know that you're struggling with this. And I'm like, Yes, I am. Like, I want I want to relate to that.
But, you know, customers don't buy the best and the cheapest products really, they buy because of emotion. And if I can make them feel that emotion, if I can pull on those heartstrings rather than analytical information like we're this much cheaper or we do this better or we're faster, or we've been around a long time and it's all about them. We see thousands write of advertisements every single day all over social media. We get a bazillion emails every day. I'm going to emotionally resonate with the business that's talking to me about my needs. Being remarkable isn't about being better and cheaper. It's really about connecting with your customer and supplying what they're looking for and becoming memorable. And you can do that, you know, in some ways you could do that through a pretty website, but it has to speak to the customer.
Todd Laire: [00:12:20] Mm hmm. Yeah. And so knowing this, we, you know, we do this as part of the marketing action plan, help our clients differentiate themselves and come up with their own remarkables and unique ideas. And it can be a sub brand. Sometimes we're creating a logo or a subbrand around a particular product or service to help it stand out, or we're helping them really define and name their process and is. So I'm always looking at what big and small companies are doing to, you know, differentiate themselves or use remarkables, you know, in their messaging.
And so I've got this running list that I want to share that, you know, are these are well-known brands, big, big time companies that we all know and never heard of. And so one that just recently launched Domino's launched a remarkable called Pinpoint delivery. And they've named it. They've branded it. And basically what it is, is you can order a pizza on the Domino's app and it will and you can drop a pin where you are. So if you're in a park at a park bench, you can have a pizza delivered to there. And I think it's, you know, it's an idea whose time has come. And can other can other pizza delivery companies do this, too? You bet. But Domino's has pinpoint delivery service and it's their brand and their advertising and going nuts on it. And so I thought that was unique.
AT&T has a cyber security firewall and fraud protection product called Active Armor. And it's registered name and mark and branding under the AT&T product Ambarella. And it just basically speaks to the fears of someone that, you know, got a virus on their computer or has, you know, is looking for a firewall or looking to, you know, for fraud protection. And so AT&T has this product called Active Armor, and it's branded and, you know, it looks great. It's pretty boring. But it has you know, it has a unique position behind it. And there's messaging and branding and whatnot.
My all-time favorite, remarkable. And I'll never forget where, you know, I was at our house and it's taking out the recycling and we ordered a bunch of copy paper. And one of the companies we ordered from is Hammer Mill. Hammer Mill makes copy paper and on the side of one of those big box that has, you know, 5,000, 10,000 sheets in it or whatever, just in big letters by itself actually kept the cardboard in big all caps, bold letters. It says 99.99% jam free, and it's got a registered mark on it. And Hammer Mill's slogan is Paper made, right? And they've trademarked that. But that the 99.99% jam-free is a guarantee. And I love when companies do this they. Offer a really great groundbreaking guarantee.
And side note to all of you listening. What can your company offer that just would be just stellar, like, you know, miles above any other guarantee that any of your competitors could offer. But Hammer Mills 99.99% GM free guarantee is that you won't experience more than one jam and 10,000 sheets on high-speed digital equipment or will replace the paper or offer a refund up to the total purchase price. I love that. I think that's just so great. And you know what? I remembered it. And so I'll always look for hammer mill paper. Not so much because of the jam experience. And yes, it's annoying. And actually probably I will be looking out for the jam experience. I hate getting paper jams, but no one else can say that they've registered that mark. That's unique to them and it's so memorable. Just genius on their marketer's parts.
Commercial Break -
Laura Laire: [00:16:45] Are you wasting ad spend? Are your leads dried up? Website not converting? Listen you're busy and we know it. In just 20 minutes we’ll grade your website, identify lead-generation opportunities, and discuss how to grow your revenue. Ready to learn more? Get expert advice. lairedigital.com/talk-to-todd and we’ll put the link in the show notes.
End Commercial Break.
Todd Laire: [00:17:07] The last one I'll share real quickly is great clips. We all know great clips haircutting establishment and they have something called Clip notes. Not Cliff notes but clip notes and it's your haircut or styling preferences are on file on a central database for quick reference and consistent client satisfaction. So, you know, you go get a haircut. The stylist takes notes about how long, the things that you buy, things you dislike, last products you used in your hair and all that. And it's a national database. So if I go get my haircut, in great clips in Charleston, and then go to Asheville North Carolina in a different state, same database. Then it's like they know me and they know my preferences and all of that and can bring it up.
So again, just you know what are some remarkables you see out there. This is again the way we want to want you to think because you know too much of the time, like you said earlier, Laura, it's all about, you know, the companies have the wrong idea about what sets them apart. And do your customers really care, like, you know, what you think is a differentiator or remarkable? Like all the years experience, we've got all this education, we've got this, you know, customer service is our number one priority. Like that doesn't differentiate you. That doesn't make you remarkable or even memorable.
Laura Laire: [00:18:32] Well, that's like the first step, I think, is you have to decide to be different from other brands.
Todd Laire: [00:18:38] Yes. And but here's what I was going to say and I'll finish with this. All the things that you think make you remarkable or different in the marketplace as a consumer, I look at it and that's what I expect at a minimum for you to have. You know, anything above that is a differentiator. Remarkable that no one else can say, You know, and I think of like the dentist example, Dentists are notorious for marketing to their peers and not to their end client or in customer patient.
You know, they say we've got, you know, the dental way, we've got the sonic boost image, you know, imaging equipment and we're certified on it. And I'm like, I expect you to have all those things that's, you know, that's like, you know, the lowest bar inspection of all is technology that doesn't win me over. What wins me over is something else that you do, something that it's highly unique that nobody else is saying nobody else is doing. And even more so, nobody else is guaranteeing the way you are.
Laura Laire: [00:19:40] Well, and that's a good point. The dentist that we actually see now is a biological dentist and their big selling point and they are very different is that we look at your entire body like we will test your sleep, we will, you know, we look beyond the teeth, we look at the connection between the teeth and the rest of the body. And this really makes them memorable. But even going into their office is memorable. I mean, this is I mean, not just looking at what product do I have that's remarkable, but how can I do this differently? I mean, breaking the, if you want to rise above a culture of sameness that you have to ask yourself some questions like, how can I be more remarkable? Is what I'm doing remarkable. This is really getting to know your client, number one, but showing some personality.
And when I go into their office, it was one of the first things I said to Todd. Not only was I really impressed just with their holistic view of the entire body, which is very different from majority of the the dentist that we've seen, but their office was very different. It was very modern, very clean, very bright, very happy. There was a lot of personality there. And even with LAIRE, because I believe that you do need some personality in order to differentiate yourself and share your brand story. Even with LAIRE one, we did a brand refresh. This is something that I did, you know, really want to differentiate LAIRE from other agencies. And one way that we decided to do this was to use landscapes. I will never forget Laura saying to me, if I see fingers on a keyboard one more time, you know, with because when you're talking about digital marketing, there's a lot of pictures of people typing in on keyboards. And so I wanted to show landscapes, which would be landscapes that create a different image.
And one of our employees at the time was like, I don't understand how this is going to relate to LAIRE. And it actually became known as LAIRE. Like you can tell that this is something from LAIRE, and we wanted our clients to be able to see the vision that we're going to give them some time back by stepping in and giving them the marketing tools and the results and the revenue that they need so that they can spend more time on those beaches and those sunsets, climbing those mountains and doing those things. And now it's known and we've gotten so many compliments that. It's become our brand.
And that's, you know, I think about the golden arches, how the golden arches relate to hamburgers and French fries. It's really taking the initiative to differentiate yourself, to show some personality and create a brand that is different. And you can do that in a lot of different ways with your logo, your web design, the graphics that you use, the story that you tell. But we want to kind of keyhole all the way down to creating something specific like the marketing action plan, like something that we can name and that we can outline so that your customers feel in a very organized way. Okay, I know exactly what the steps are that they're doing or I know exactly what this means. Instead of saying you can trust this partnership, we're actually building it out to become something remarkable to differentiate that's memorable. And your client will be able to go home and tell their spouse, I found this great company and here's what I really like about them, and it's memorable in that way.
So there's a lot of different ways to become remarkable outside of creating or branding a specific product. And some of that is just focusing in on your brand and asking those questions What are we doing differently? Are we speaking to our ideal client? Are we just talking about ourselves on our website, or are we actually answering the questions that they're asking? This means you're going to have to get to know your ideal client. The only way to discover this is to intimately know them. And sometimes that's just by asking a lot of questions. We like to do a lot of interviews so that we can really get the information that you may not get from your client a lot. Oftentimes we will get that information and that really they will tell you what makes the business remarkable.
Todd Laire: [00:23:50] Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And you mentioned and I mentioned it to the Marketing Action Plan by LAIRE like that being our secret sauce, you know, our Big Mac of our agency. And does the client really care all that much? They do to a degree. They do from a standpoint of, okay, you have a process, it's your own. I'm not seeing something like that on the competitor's websites. Like you take an active step towards being very intentional and diligent around marketing strategy. But what does that get me? You know, like, okay, so I got a strategy and it's the Marketing Action Plan by LAIRE for my company. Okay, great. What else? And so something else that we have, we are a lead generation revenue growth agency. Our clients are coming to us to help them grow their companies. And we measure that ultimately by revenue growth. Like how much more money did they make this year doing marketing and lead gen with us over last year?
And so another differentiator for us, no one else is saying this, no one else has this asset layer, and that is we have a collection of clients that are millionLAIRES. And the idea is that these are clients, a collection of clients that we've helped generate over $1,000,000 in net new revenue from marketing strategies and campaigns that we've launched with them, and we've tracked it down to every last dollar. So do have other agencies helped their clients make $1,000,000? Probably, sure. But they can't say that they've made them millionLAIRES, and that's because that's ours and it's unique and it's branded to us. And so that's something that a client has mentioned and has made memorable because they've got goals. And, you know, those goals are dependent on them succeeding or not. And if they don't succeed, there might be some serious ramifications, like they can't grow their department or maybe their jobs at risk. And so they buy into that. You know, that offering that we have and we make them feel safe in offering something like that, that that we feel is important and that we're tracking this and we're reporting on it and we're setting this as a goal and we're working towards this together.
Another one that we have that, you know, we are a for-profit company. You know, we have expenses and overhead and, you know, we're a business, but we also believe in changing the world, you know, doing our part to make the world a better place, then you know how we found it. So another remarkable or a differentiator for us and just giving you examples and hoping that you'll reach deep in your own thought process and what can set your company apart is charitable contributions. And so we have an initiative at LAIRE called P.A.C.E, and P.A.C.E is an acronym that stands for People, Animals, Community, and the Environment.
So everything that we do as far as contribution goes contributes to one of those areas. So, you know. Scholarship offers for people supporting animal shelters, Supporting community events like veterans are really near and dear to our hearts, and doing things and doing fund runs and, you know, sponsoring things that make a difference. And then the environment, you know, we only have one Earth and got to take care of her. And so we're really focused as well on contributing to things that help our planet, things that are sustainable, things that are green, and so on.
So those are our three and we're working on creating more. But I wanted to share those because obviously we have passion around them, but that's the way we want you to think about your differentiators. You're remarkable. It's hard to get passionate about. Customer service is our number one priority. Like, wow, you don't even sound excited saying like me sharing with you our three remarkables like, I think they're cool and I love them. And we worked hard to come up with them and help set ourselves apart. And that's the attitude and the mindset that we want all of our clients as well as all of your listeners to have when it comes to, to setting yourselves apart from your competition.
Laura Laire: [00:28:11] I mean, it does take a second. I will say that to come up with something. I mean, this is not something that we sat down in 5 minutes and developed. We may come back to it a few times. I just feel that boring is the most risky strategy because if you're you know, oftentimes when you have a new business, you're just copying somebody else's idea and that is not going to create a remarkable business.
So it's starting the process of like, what is our purple cow? What can we come up with and starting to ideate on that process and involve other people and ask your customers, you know, really getting to know your clients and finding out why they do business with you, why did they choose you instead of somebody else? And continuing to ask those questions not just one time, but always continuing to ask those questions. I think you can also get criticism. Like I said, you know, when we, when I first really wanted to use landscapes as imagery for our website and for other things, the color choices that I went with that are very coastal, obviously it's something that Todd and I enjoy living in the Lowcountry, but criticism comes with people who do stand out.
So if you're afraid of criticism, then you're going to be afraid of risk. But boring is the most risky strategy. So be prepared for people, some people to love you and for there to be criticism from others. I think it's a good sign. I think it's you who's pushing the boundaries. This means people are talking about you and you're going to attract loyal fans. You do not need them all. I mean, if you think about which customers are underserved in your industry, these customers may not be the largest group, but they're probably going to be the most committed to you if you commit to them. So the majority is not necessarily the ones with the most influence or value.
When you have customers, you want to differentiate them. And that small pool, fine. Find that small pool or that group that's the most profitable and figure out what they particularly love about your brand and why. And then dig in there, right? Work out how to offer rewards and target those specific people with ads and products that are catered to that small audience with the largest amount of spend. It's a smarter way to think about rather than trying to to throw a large net and capture everybody too, to really make your stand out to the people that really matter most.
Todd Laire: [00:30:39] Absolutely. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Shall we shift gears a little bit and talk about how you can make your relationship more memorable, more remarkable and differentiate? This could be this could be fun or it could be a total disaster.
[Laughter]
Laura Laire: [00:30:56] Sure.
Todd Laire: [00:30:58] All right. Well, last time I checked, we're married. We're going on 18 years, in a couple months we'll be married for 18 years. And what comes to mind for you, you know, working on your relationship and being married takes work. Right? And it's about commitment. It's about making things fresh and new. And I think about things that like, pull us together or make us remember that commitment to each other.
And I think, you know, some things that we have in common, you and I like, we're really focused on growth and we like, you know, we live in paradise and where we want to live. And, you know, you picked out this house that we live in before we even saw it. You already had it in your mind, like literally had pictures of the house that we live in on Houzz saved because you wanted to build it. And then we ended up buying that house.
Laura Laire: [00:31:55] I think it's compromise because you weren’t so dead set on moving to Charleston as I was. But I took a risk and I stood fast to all of the reasons, I built a plan. I built a business plan on why it made sense and why we should do this now before you know, because I'm 48. Before we turned 50, why wait until I just kept saying over and over again, Why wait until we're retired to do what we want to do?
So a lot of these same concepts that we're talking about, you know, for being remarkable do move over into being married. It's a partnership versus the business with the customer. Our partnership is between one another. And so oftentimes we're not on the same page. We don't have the same plans or the same ideas, but we pose them. You know, that, you know, I'll never forget I don't know if it was 12 years ago ish. You coming home from working and me popping my head out of the shower and saying, we're moving? Like when we were moving within the week we were moving like we made the decision to do that together.
But it's. It's not always. I'm not always 100%. You're not always 100%. But we meet where we are. There are times when I have about 20% to give, and so you pick up the other 80%. And then there are times when you have 0% to give because you're out of town for the week. And I have to give 100% to the family or times when we're 50/50 and we're both running high octane on all cylinders. I just you know, I remember that you're not always going to be 100%, and neither am I. But love is a choice.
And I remember my dad and some other wise people saying to me that, you know, marriage is a commitment, that love will come and go. But you make that decision every day that today I'm going to choose to love. Today I'm going to decide to be nice even if I don't feel like it. And of course, you know, never go to to bed angry. But it's that decision to say, you know what? Okay, we both suck. We're both wrong. We both should say I'm sorry, but both of us feel like we're right. But you know what? I don't really want to fight anymore. And that's I think, you know, as time has gone by in our relationship that we've made that commitment to, you know, what's the point? What's the point of being mad?
So sometimes it's actually most of the time it's one of us looking at the other and cracking a small smile. And the other person's like, I don't like you right now. Still at smile me. But as soon as you start laughing or as soon as you start smiling, that's it. Forget about it, you know. And that's something that I think that's remarkable in a lot of marriages is that ability to let things go, to say I'm sorry and to be a partner and to say, okay, I don't like what you did, but we both can get over it and move along and have fun. Like, let's go ride our bikes, let's go on a walk. Let's do something fun instead of spending the rest of the day arguing about who's right. Because we're both right. I'm a Capricorn, you're a Leo, and you're either sleeping or right. So there you go.
Todd Laire: [00:35:06] Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that. And I was thinking, you know, as it relates to this house, you know, and like, where we live in paradise. Like one thing that I think that makes our marriage in our relationship remarkable is we never settle. We never settle. You know, like when we met each other, like, you know, you were not settling. You had goals, like you wanted to have children. You had some great relationships. Like, that's all I'll say about that.
Laura Laire: [00:35:35] Remember my mantra? Dog. Baby. Fence. Pool.
Todd Laire: [00:35:39] Dog, baby, fence, pool. I want a dog. I want a baby. I want a fence and a pool or a fence, you know, to fence it all out.
Laura Laire: [00:35:45] I think I said that every day, dog, baby, fence, pool.
Todd Laire: [00:35:48] But getting back to like, you know, I think that's something, you know, a remarkable attribute about our relationship and our marriage is that we just were both focused on not settling. And so soon as you know, we've been here two and a half years and we love it, but we're always already thinking about the next move, you know, And that next move could be next year. It could be ten years from now. We may never move. We don't know, you know, if we go back and forth on it.
But I love that aspect of our relationship that we're always like, what's next? Like, this is what I think, you know, the next dog fence, baby pool, it's, you know, dock with a boat out back and, you know, the intercoastal. And I just, you know, if we ever get to it, awesome. If we don't, I don't care. But what I do care about is that we think that way. And I think that's a really cool and unique attribute about our relationship.
Laura Laire: [00:36:39] You know what it is? It's open-minded optimism. You know, neither one of us when one of us comes up with some crazy idea. It's never a no. It's okay. Tell me more. It's open-minded optimism. So, you know, I don't know. Maybe that could work. I'm not sure. Let's look into it. Let's investigate. That's kind of how we ended up in Charleston. We just kept coming back and we would look at houses and we put offers a few times and went back home and not the right time. And we came back again and we just kept thinking about it and kept marinating on that idea.
And that's really what we want you to do with your business, with figuring out how your remarkable is to keep coming back to it, keep asking those questions, What do we do that's different? How can we be remarkable? How can we keep from being the same boring business that everybody else has? How can we take a risk and do something different? You know, Is that the language we use? Is it the way that our website looks? Is it how we're talking to our customers? What can we do to become a purple cow? You know, what can we do to create a marriage that, you know, stands the test of time? A lot of it is just making the decision that we are going to make this work and that we're going to figure out a way, whether it be in marriage or in business.
It's really about being open-minded and having sight for the future. Where are we going to go now with what's next and continuing to talk about it? And that's where ideas come from, Usually in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning, is when you know you've been thinking about it and you've been talking about it. And all of a sudden, like each time that we were moving, we've moved a lot. We've lived in Seattle, we lived in North Carolina, we've lived in South Carolina.
Because opportunity. There was opportunity. And, you know, hey, what do you think about this? I'm like, let's do it. You know, I moved from North Carolina to Seattle. We moved from Seattle back to North Carolina. And I just kept saying, this is going to be a great adventure. You're going to learn a lot by taking risk, by asking questions, and by opening your mind to the possibility of what can be done there. There is no such thing as a business. That is not remarkable. It is there. If you are looking for it, you'll find it.
Todd Laire: [00:38:59] Absolutely. Yeah. So I guess wrapping up, you know, think about what makes your company unique. What do you do better than anyone else in your space? You know, if you're thinking of something like that, I think this is something that we could do. Ask yourself this question. Could our competitors say the same thing in the same way about the same stuff? And if they can, it's not unique, it's not a differentiator, it's not a remarkable.
And then on the same token, with your relationships, you know, whether you're married or maybe not married or in a committed or long-term relationship or just, you know, your relationship with your family, what makes your relationship unique, Differentiating, remarkable. What keeps you coming back? You know, it's sometimes, you know, it's not all about love. Love is a strong bind. There's always the…
Laura Laire: [00:39:54] No it’s the cooking. It’s the cooking.
Todd Laire: [00:39:54] It's the - Yeah, that was about how the big one. Hey, I'll clean any day for your cooking. So it’s fun.
Laura Laire: [00:40:05] Yeah, it's a great partnership. And I'm going to leave you with a quote from Seth Godin. “Ideas that spread win.” So coming up with an idea that is cut, you know, that is something that people will talk about, will bring them back to you. So become remarkable. We promise you won't regret it.
Todd Laire: [00:40:23] Differentiate or die.
Laura Laire: [00:40:27] Thanks for listening by. That's a wrap on this week's episode of the Married 2 Marketing podcast. I'm your host, Laura, along with my husband and partner Todd. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. Your feedback fuels our passion and keeps the marketing fire burning bright.
Todd Laire: [00:40:43] And if you're hungry for more marketing magic, be sure to visit our website Married2Marketing.com, where we've got a treasure trove of additional resources, episode transcripts, and mind-blowing bonus content.
Laura Laire: [00:40:55] We'll be back next week with another engaging episode. Until then, be creative, get strategic, and never go to bed angry.
