You ARE the Brand, Not the Logo

by Genius MarketingPosted on Posted in Marketing Planning

You are Your BrandLet’s Talk about Brands

What is a brand? We’ve defined it as the essence of the company and how it delivers its goods and services. Those things that make the company unique.

However, if you asked most people about brands, they would probably respond by commenting on a logo or graphic or name. All of those things are true. The logo is part of the brand, so are the way graphics are used and the name of the company or product.

While we may think of branding in terms of logos of big retail and packaged goods firms – McDonald’s, Coke, Target, Procter & Gamble, or cool online brands like Uber or Shutterfly – branding is critical for all businesses. That includes small businesses and B2B or commercial/industrial firms.

Brands for Large Companies

For large companies, different graphic, in store and online elements make up the brand representation. For Coke, it really doesn’t matter how nice the owners are. You don’t buy Coke vs. Pepsi on how the middle managers of the company act. You buy it on taste and how it makes you feel. “Share a Coke with a Friend” makes me feel good about Coke. I recognize the bottle shape. It may remind me of a fun time at a ball game. “Live for Now” from Pepsi makes me feel young and hip. (not really…but that’s what they’re going for…)

You get the idea… big companies use advertising and brand elements like signs, packaging and digital content to drive their message and marry the experience of using their product to other appealing concepts and people.

Brands for Small Businesses

Meanwhile, over at your small business, you don’t have $10 million to spend on the shape of the bottle or the super bowl commercial and online contest. Still, brand matters. And you control it!

For smaller companies, the brand is still about the essence of the company and the customer experience. Just like it is for the big guys. The difference is that almost always, the powerful brand elements of a small business are people. You are the brand. Your staff is the brand. The service you provide, the way you do business, even how you talk about your company, products and services… all of these things are your brand.

An example – a small company I worked with had a great person answering the phone and greeting people at the door. She was so good, it is difficult to call her a receptionist. She was a customer service expert. That person, in large part, was the brand of the company. Customers knew who they would hear or see when the engaged the company. And it was good!

The rest of the company’s staff also had a customer-focused “get it done” manner. They only made promises they could keep. They exceeded expectations. You know the type of firm I’m describing (well, hopefully you do!).

As we were working on describing in words, graphics and online the company, it was really the work of capturing the essence of that customer experience. Was design important? Absolutely. Was creative and copywriting critical? Of course! However, we weren’t developing ideas that would make the brand of the company, we were coming up with ways to reflect the experience customers were already having with the company through its excellent owner and staff. We wanted to communicate how the company already went about its work.

True Brand

The true brand was how they did business. And that is how it should be. So when developing brand elements, whether a logo or a tagline or a website… be sure to start with who you are as a company and work from there. It’s fine to be aspirational… to describe how you want the company to be, that can have a self-fulling quality to it. However, there must be some level of reality, some basis to make those aspirational leaps.

Bottomline: a good brand comes from the unique attributes of a company. It’s the job of we marketers to uncover the brand attributes with you and then reflect those good things in the images and words used to describe the company. Those messages then can entice prospects with a “taste test” of how it really is to work with the company.

If you’d like help uncovering your brand attributes and developing branding that reflects it, contact us. We love to hear a company’s story.

 

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Online Marketing: SMM, SEO and More for Small Business

by Genius MarketingPosted on Posted in Marketing Planning

online marketingThe internet remains a mystery. No, this is not a commentary on why kitten videos are so popular, but rather about how a small to medium size business deals with online marketing. It’s a mysterious world of online marketing.

Most companies have tried social media marketing (SMM) and email newsletters, have at least read about search engine optimization (SEO) and wondered about digital advertising (display or pay per click – PPC). How it all is supposed to work is confusing.

In fact, we’ve met with many business owners who have said something like, “We tried social media, but didn’t get anything from it.” OR “Our website was higher on the search engines, but now it doesn’t show up at all.” OR “I tried to advertise on Google, but I didn’t get any contact forms submitted.” OR “We started an online or email newsletter but only sent a couple out.”

These are common complaints because the promise of online marketing has been so great, the expectations so high. Most small businesses have not reaped the benefits. There are a number of reasons for this disconnect, but for the most part it boils down to the same issues that cause any marketing strategy to fail: lack of planning and inconsistent execution.

That’s why we’re pleased to announce our small business packages for online marketing. We’d like to talk to you about considering online marketing for your business (or possibly to try them again).

From website development to search engines, online ads to social media and even smartphone mobile apps, we can help your business build the online tools to drive traffic, grow your following and convert to prospects and sales.

Here’s our philosophy on online marketing:

  • Start simple…we will help you first with the foundational pieces for online success. We will develop a plan for your online presence. No more fit and start attempts on the web.
  • Help people find you…we’ll create the right business profile to describe your business and make sure it is on the directory sites that matter. We’ll coach you on tips for making your website better, or can help plan, create and post content for you. We’ll make you more mobile.
  • Everything in marketing is a test…that’s never been more true than with online marketing. There are platforms which will charge you thousands of dollars per month. We’ll start with a project and test the results, adjust and do better and build momentum.
  • If it sounds too good…We’re all for new technology and promotional ideas. However, no one idea is the answer to building your sales. That’s why we don’t chase, we plan and execute.

One other concept that you may not find from online DIY providers… we’ll help integrate your online and traditional marketing efforts. We know budgets are tight, we can help you decide how to allocate your marketing budget between traditional marketing efforts like advertising and promotion, and new online opportunities. The mix matters, and we can help you get that right.

We’ll also help integrate the two, creating ways to drive people to use your online tools and how to engage them for conversion to “live” sales calls or face-to-face meetings.

If you’ve tried online marketing and not been successful, or have been too busy (or scared!) to try, we’d like to talk to you. We can show you some programs we’ve run and talk about your options. We’ll rough out a plan or run a test project. Contact us to ask a question about online marketing, have us do a free assessment or just to set up a time to chat.

Online Marketing Services from Genius Marketing

Website Development – Responsive website design and development, content planning and creation including blogs and video, search engine optimization, analytics and managed website updates and content posting. Also ecommerce solutions.

Directory Optimization – Capturing of online directory listings, development of strong company profile using targeted keywords, ongoing management of listings.

Social Media Marketing – Planning, revitalization of currently used platforms, development of new pages/profiles, content calendar and plan, content creation and posting, and ongoing management/reporting.

Online PR – Creation and distribution of news stories with keywords and links back to the website.

Online Advertising – Pay per click or display advertising including mobile advertising network.

Email Marketing – Email newsletters, conversion tools and content management.

Mobile Apps – Design and development of apps for information, marketing and customer service. Development of content updates and app management.

Remember… you don’t have to use all these tactics! Nor will we suggest you develop them all overnight. Let’s discuss a plan for the best tools to develop and how to best schedule and maintain the content and functionality. It can be confusing… let us help you plan, execute and manage a successful, ongoing online marketing process. Contact us today to discuss your questions, do a free assessment or just talk about your marketing goals.

SLE

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Mix it Up!

by Genius MarketingPosted on Posted in Marketing Tactics

rotating marketing campaignsI read a study that analyzed social media comments (in particular, tweets) about advertisements. While one intuitively knows that the data will be cranky (what other purpose is there for social media than complaining?!?), it is instructive when considering the themes of the comments.

I found two of the outcomes informative. First, that repetition is a problem and second, that there are many inappropriate placements of ads. Let’s consider the first here, and the latter in a future post.

Repetition… it’s what makes a pop song a hit, right? It doesn’t matter what it sounds like, as long as you play it enough, it will become a hit. At least that’s the old school methodology. And it can be true, because annoyance through repetition can make something memorable. So if you run the same ad over and over… ad nauseam (pun intended), people will remember your product.

Sure, they may not like it, they may tweet their displeasure, but they’ll remember it. Those high negative reactions probably won’t make them a fan, or a customer, either.

So how do the best brands get you to remember their product without being annoying? How do they build your knowledge of the product without being boring? How do they make you remember them when it comes time to consider buying in their category? They use repetition, but they creatively mix their messages and content to keep the viewer engaged. Let’s call this practice “Rotating Repetition”.

The best marketing delivers a solid value proposition or explains a brand attribute. It gives a promise of what benefit the customer receives or the feeling that a purchase will elicit. Good advertising does this. When you communicate your value and brand well, and mix it up with different creative, you’ll not only be memorable, but also will generally have high likeability/approval ratings (i.e. the majority will not be trashing you with tweets).

Easy examples: Progressive and GEICO insurance companies. Both these companies define their value proposition and brand attributes clearly in their advertising. Save money, simple process, quickly get a quote. Both have used advertising to create highly recognizable icons for their brand (Flo and the gecko). They also continually evolve and rotate their spots to avoid the creative becoming stale. GEICO has completely gecko-less spots (the caveman, the motorcycle spot, etc.). Progressive continually moves Flo from the white Progressive showroom to a home, camp, road, beach, and so on.

Now, I’m not saying all customers love these campaigns (speaking of pop songs, doesn’t Taylor Swift say that haters are always going to hate?). I’m sure they get their share of criticism on social media. Still, the strategy of “rotating repetition” served both well. They are memorable campaigns which do deliver the key value and brand propositions. Anyone who consumes media, when they face an insurance decision, can’t help but think of having these companies in the mix for consideration.

So how do you accomplish rotating repetition when you don’t have millions of dollars to spend on media time, a paid actress spokeswoman or a CGI lizard? The principle still is valid. No matter the media used (an email newsletter, website, billboard, salesperson, whatever!), by delivering your value proposition and brand statements in different ways while always hitting on the two or three key elements, you’ll deliver informative content that will be less likely to be ignored (it’s never possible to eliminate ignorance :-).

Any business can do it. It requires some planning, forethought and a little creativity. We’ll touch on those themes in future posts. In the meantime, if you’d like to try some rotating repetition and need some help, let us know… we can help.

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3-D Marketing

by Genius MarketingPosted on Posted in Marketing Tactics

3-D MarketingWhile the best strategy comes from a well thought-through plan, I often am asked about tactics. In other words: “We’re going to a show next week, I need a display.”  OR  “We need a brochure for our sales folks to hand out.” There are other countless examples.

This kind of issue comes from operating marketing on a day-to-day basis without a plan or calendar.

It happens, so let’s deal with it. There is a call for a tactical element that is not part of a bigger plan. Let’s go with the event example. An event is coming up in a few weeks, the question arises about a display for the booth. What do you do?

Typically, it’s decided what product or service to feature in the display, or perhaps just a logo and tagline. Then the display is made, some pens or other giveaway is packaged up and given to the reps attending the event. The reps attend the event and collect some business cards, trade some information for a pen or 50, and connect with a few contacts they know. After the event, they get back to the business of selling. Maybe follow up with one or two “hot leads”. In a week, the show is forgotten until 50 weeks later when the cycle repeats.

That’s not very effective marketing, and frankly, a waste of money. Instead, I suggest 3-D Marketing. Think of the event as one dimension, and the time before and after as two other dimensions. There is a key question for each dimension:

     At the show: What are we going to do at the event to maximize our ROI?

     Before the show: What can we do to make our time at the show most productive?

     After the show: What can we do to make sure our efforts at the show has the most opportunity to become sales?

I know, they are all the same question. The point is this: what you do at the show matters. What you do before and after matter more. Developing a simple plan to get people attending the show to meet with you (at the booth or otherwise), people that find you at the show the most impact, and converting people after the show from suspects to prospects is what matters.

It’s the same with that sales sheet or brochure I mentioned in the first paragraph. There should be 3-D Marketing thinking around it as well. What comes before? What comes after.

Be Three Dimensional! Yes, it take a little time and thought, but that’s where we can help you. We’ve built a lot of “mini” plans to get the most out of a display, a sales sheet, brochure or other elements. If you’d like to discuss how to get the most out of your marketing, Contact us.

Check back regularly for the latest Marketing Tip, or email us to be emailed the tips. Or if you’re on Twitter, follow us to get the tips @StephenLEckert.

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The Disney Marketing Machine

by Genius MarketingPosted on Posted in Marketing Tactics

This letter is in response to Maryling Yu’s (@Call_Me_Mare) article on forbes.com.

Dear Concerned Parent,

It’s your future writing and everything is fine. I, too, am a marketer by trade, and I, too, was anti-Disney Marketing Machine (DMM).

I was you a dozen years ago when I wrote an article about my feelings towards the DMM. Many of the concerns you laid out, I did as well. One that really bothered me at the time was the skill at cross-selling the princesses. You couldn’t buy a Cinderella plate without it containing Jasmine and Belle. Seemed every toy or garment of clothing had a different mix of three princesses. As a marketer I thought, “Brilliant!”, as a dad I thought, “A little girl is going to go through every one of these princesses like a sneeze goes through a daycare center.” And my marketing (and dad) ears heard, “ka-ching!”. Did I really want my sweet young daughter consuming all of these princess messages?

Disney MarketingSo, I took the path of avoidance. We didn’t initiate the princess domino run by not letting her see a Disney movie. Sure, she had books that told some of the older fairytale stories, but we didn’t buy (or rent) any of the full length features.

One day we went to a family friend’s home and the kids played while the adults chatted. After a while, we went to check on the kids (the other family had a teen who was watching the lot of kids). I turn the corner to the family room and I am aghast at what I see. There’s my three-year-old daughter standing 14 inches from the screen watching Cinderella. And so we were instantly transported to a Space Mountain-like speed ride through the princesses. Our daughter told her aunts and grandparents that she saw Cinderella and off we went. Toys, movies, clothes… you name it.

As predicted, she loved them all, one by one. From Cinderella to Snow White to Ariel to Belle to Jasmine and so on. A decade later, a vacation to Disney, throw in a younger brother awash in Peter Pan and the like, and the result is… all good.

Fear not, former me, the DMM did not inhibit my daughter’s imagination. It did not reduce her to a focus only on finding a prince. It didn’t slow her maturation into a fascinating, confident teenager with a desire to learn and achieve great things. In fact, maybe I need to credit the princesses for some of my daughter’s more admirable characteristics. Story can be a powerful learning tool, but living, breathing human girls do not take on all the attributes of the story… but they can reinforce what they are being taught by their parents and other key influencers. Still, maybe I owe the princesses…

  • Maybe I owe Belle a bow because my daughter loves books, and was mesmerized by Belle’s excitement in finding the Beast’s library.
  • Do I owe Jasmine a cheer for teaching that a woman must choose her own path, even in the face of tradition?
  • Can Snow White and Cinderella take credit for helping my daughter learn that trusting in kindness, hard work and integrity will eventually bring good things?
  • Does Pocahontas deserve some props for teaching my daughter about leadership and facing change?
  • Does Merida hit the mark for her ability to stay true to her own path – even if it’s not a “girl thing”, and helping change the (hurtful) course of her family history?
  • Frozen tells the story of a sister’s love, and how true love comes in many form. (Yes, even though she’s a teen, she still likes the Disney stories….I’ve seen them all!)

Disney MarketingI, too, am glad that Disney has changed its princesses as the culture has changed. Yet, I think the (too often) anachronistic values and sensibilities of the movies made in the 40s and 50s can be a learning tool as well. Yes, it was a different place, time and culture, but those are our roots and there are plenty of women who still (as a part of their life at least) want to find their prince. Today, however, that desire is not an all-or-nothing choice.

Your daughter was made to be a special and wonderful woman (just as mine was) and you are the guide to help her get there. There is much to filter out or avoid, but don’t minimize the positive impact of the princesses. With guidance and conversation, they can be a force to help shape the heart of your daughter.

Not that there isn’t anything to avoid with Disney. Don’t get me started on the pre-teen junk on the Disney Channel! (Maybe someone with older children can counsel me on the unseen (to me) benefits of those shows.) And the constant stream of new Disney movies (and associated toys and merchandise) still bugs me, too.

Still, I can report from your future… the princesses helped grow my daughter’s imagination, not limit it, as well as her understanding of the world and differing groups and individuals. At least with her mother and my helping her. So fear not! And save up for that trip…

All the best!

A Parent from Your (Hopeful) Future

P.S. If you have a son, the whole gun avoidance thing doesn’t work either. We tried that, and one day found our then three-year-old son in the yard with a stick yelling, “Gun! Gun!”. Presumably because he didn’t know the sound a gun makes. I think it’s just hard wired.

Try Some Stuff

by Genius MarketingPosted on Posted in Uncategorized

referralI love soccer. The other night I was watching a game and the goalie (I played goalie) bollocks-ed a save. Real howler (that’s english football lingo)… bad goal and he was looking like it. Really unsteady. And everyone on his team and fans looking at him like… you know.

So, it of course made me thinking about referral marketing (not really). What do you when things don’t go your way?

  • you get no referrals
  • you get a bad referral
  • you get referred to what is supposed to be a golden goose, and it turns out its a competitor (hey, it happens)
  • you try to find referrals, but you can’t seem to find any…

Nothing is going your way.

What do you do?

Well, let me tell you what a goalkeeper does when things go badly. You think about that goal for a moment of two, decide what you could have done better, and then you remind  yourself that you’re the man (or the woman – there are some great women keepers out there) and forget it.

With networking and referrals, its the same way… when you aren’t getting a lot out of referrals, take a moment. Here are some steps to get back in the game and start winning.

Analyze Your Game

Sometimes we have bad streaks. Analyze what you’re doing and what you could change. Do you need to take a new approach? Do you need to ask some other folks for input? Do you need just to ask your referral partners for more help? Do you need to find some new folks to get to know or spend some time re-energizing your current relationships?

Try Some Stuff

Bruce Arena, former US Soccer coach said he liked Clint Dempsey because he was willing to try _____ on the field. Do you need to test our some new material? New tactics? Test it out with your referral partners or at a networking event. What’s the worst that could happen?

Make a Plan and Stick to It

If you realize you need to make some changes, write them down. I will do an extra event every month. I will start a power team. I will follow up within 48 hours of every promise I make to a referral partner. Check that list every week… and do it.

Don’t Give Up!

After I gave up a bad goal (which happened rarely), one of the things I always told myself was that there would be another chance to save the game and I needed to be ready. It always happens.

So don’t give up, referrals to give and to get will come if you stay in the game.

Oh and that goalkeeper I was watching? Sure enough, late in the game, a striker broke through on a breakaway. His defense let down and a guy is one on one with him. He came out confidently and made a huge save. It always happens that way.

So if you’re down on your referrals and networking. Analyze, try some stuff and make a plan and stick to it. If you need some extra help… let me know.

 

SLE

Responsive Design

by Genius MarketingPosted on Posted in Uncategorized

What is Responsive Design? Why does it matter?

Responsive Design is a term used to describe the programming of website pages in a gridded layout that “reshuffles” and resizes depending on the browser/device size. Meaning: your website has one set of information that can be viewed on computer, tablet or phone. The exciting piece is this: the content, menus, and photos are all the same (and managed in one content management system – CMS). So, you no longer need to manage two sites… one for browser on computer and one for mobile. This is obviously a time saver, but also, probably more importantly, it makes the experience of your website users consistent. Yes, things reshuffle, but they are assured that if they found something on a page on their office computer, it will also be there on their phone…but resized for easy viewing on that device.

Perhaps you haven’t experienced, but I have… absolute frustration as I try to share some info from a website, but cannot do so because the mobile site is different than the “full site” (on which I originally found the information). Instead of quickly accessing and showing the information to a companion, I end up looking all over the mobile site, then going to the “Full Site” link, and then having to try to resize and navigate the site on my phone. Let’s hope it doesn’t use Flash!

The point is this – research from Forrester Group shows that people want the same experience from you no matter what the method of contrivance – on the phone, in the store, via the web, via mobile, via an app. Responsive Design helps you go mobile with a seamless experience for your users and a simple content management tool for you.

Contact us to learn how we can retool your site, or give it a whole new look. Or view samples of responsive design sites here.

SLE