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Archive for the ‘Branding’ Category

WHEN MARKETING… MAKE THE INVISIBLE, VISIBLE!

Potential buyers are hesitant to consider products and services that they cannot see, so they emphasize what they CAN see. As a result… visual symbols of a service become important.

Many services recognize this principle… that services are simply relationships amongst people. Visualize the following business leaders that focus on the person behind it. Charles Schwab, Henry Block, Colonel Sanders, Dave Thomas, Joel Hyatt and Wolfgang Puck. Ad agencies have consistently visualized their services through their people.

Consider the leather binders that financial firms use to symbolize prosperity, the dark columns that many law firms use to symbolize tenure and longevity, or the padded shoulders in military uniforms… and colorful medals that the armed services use to symbolize strength and honor.

Prospects look for visual clues for a service, and if they have none… they tend to look to services that do provide clues. So, provide clues in all you say and do. Make sure people see who you are throughout all of your marketing and promotional efforts… as well as in the experience you provide. You must create these visual surroundings, from the parking lot to the last page of your proposals… that will enhance the client’s perception of your quality.

Watch and perfect the visual clues that you send.

YEAH… BUT I LIKE IT

Why do people buy what they buy? Many marketers assume that buying decisions are made fairly logically. A prospect for a service adds up the cost, and benefits of one service, compares it to another’s, and chooses the service with the better score… right?

But seemingly sophisticated prospects for even sophisticated services do not behave this way, as the strange case of Visa versus
American Express clearly suggests. Consider the evidence.

Visa cards are accepted in almost 3 times more locations than American Express cards. You can pay back Visa immediately, or over time. You must pay on an American Express card at the end of each month or suffer substantial penalties. You pay $20 for a basic Visa card, and $55 for one from American Express.

Now… what “truly rational” people want from a credit card is utility relative to price. “Truly rational” people want to pay as little as possible for credit card benefits. A “truly rational” person; in other words, chooses a Visa card. Perhaps all of Earth’s rational people do choose Visa… but that leaves 25 million Americans who use American Express cards. Why?

Because of prestige, apparently. This is to say… American Express emphasizes that “Membership has it’s rewards.”

“What’s the point,” you might ask?

Appeal only to a prospect’s reason, and you may have no appeal at all.

This is an excerpt from one of my favorite books, Selling The Invisible, by Harry Beckwith. I highly, highly, highly recommend that you buy it, read it, re-read it, then read it again.

VALUE IS NOT A POSITION

If your primary selling and branding position is “good value” — then you have no position. Value is what every service promises. The price of your service must fairly reflect its value to your prospective client or customer, or your business will fail.

In services, value is a given, and givens are not viable competitive positions. If good value is the first thing you communicate, you won’t be effective. If good value is your best position… IMPROVE YOUR SERVICE.

MAKE SURE YOUR DUCKS ARE IN A ROW

Imagine this… What if you were to highlight the details of a business problem to the executives of a particular organization. What do you think their response would be?

The CFO would likely say… “It’s a resource problem.”
Human Resources would likely say… “It’s a people problem.”
R&D would likely say… “It’s an information problem.”
Marketing would likely say…“Let’s double the marketing budget.”

While I fully advocate that marketing is an absolute necessity for any business or organization to thrive… more marketing isn’t always the answer. To be successful, any organization needs to have their ducks in a row. Marketing; however, is just one duck.

Better marketing is good. A better reality is even better! Evaluate your business, your service, your systems, your leadership, your marketing. Keep getting better at what you do.

Your brand is the perception your clients and prospects have of your business or organization. Keep improving your brand.

SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL MARKETING SERVICES

Sara recently invited me to speak at their Lunch-N-Learn series on August 5th, 2009, which was held at the AGC office in Houston, Texas.  The event was sold-out, and I had such a great time meeting some of Houston’s finest marketing leaders within this community. Thank you Sara for your invitation, and I look forward to interacting with this wonderful group again.

Yesterday, I was solicited to write an article for the AGC (Association General Contractors of America) newsletter on the subject of branding. Listed below is the article I submitted… and I thought it might help you in your business or organization as well.  Enjoy.

BRANDING ARTICLE

Two men spent 7 years building a contracting company into a successful business. In 1995 these businessmen were offered $400,000 for the sale of their company. The company had no assets, employees, inventory, non-proprietary products or services, no accounts receivable, and no real estate. Even their client list was a low priority since there was very little repeat business. Furthermore the client list was only of any value at all… if and only if the clients perceived that in light of a transfer of ownership, they would continue to receive the same standard of quality.

What was the buyer after? The brand! After 7 years of work, the brand alone was valued at $400k.

Your brand is undoubtedly one of the most valuable assets your business can possess. What is a brand? A brand is the perception of your business in the eyes of your clients, prospects and surrounding community. Unfortunately… it’s impossible to be in total control your brand… but you can most certainly affect it for the good. How you might ask? You affect your brand every time you interact in front of and/or with your audience. Consider a few of the following questions about your brand…

1. Does your business project and consistently deliver professionalism and the highest standards of quality?

2. Does your leadership treat your staff and customer base with an outrageous level of service and authentic concern?

3. Does your marketing collateral and advertising communicate the right and intended message? (i.e. quality, integrity, authenticity, credibility & friendliness)

4. Do you deliver your services in the timely manner you promised throughout the sales process?

5. Are you consistently innovating new and improved solutions? Are you getting better and better every day? (You’re always moving.. are you moving forward or backward?)

A brand is a promise… that you’ll do what you say you will do. Why is your brand important to you? A strong brand can offer your prospective clients and customers decision-making-shortcuts in a fast-paced world. Consumers will regularly choose a well-branded product or service that’s inferior and more expensive, over a non-branded product or service that’s superior and less expensive.

Your brand is more than a symbol… it’s a warranty. Your brand is a promise that your service will live up to its name. Actually… your brand is more important than a warranty because no warranty compensates the customer for lost time, suffering, frustration and inconvenience.

Your brand is important because it is the closest thing to a guarantee your customer will get. Brands are even more important to “service-provider” customers because few services have warranties… largely in part because most services are virtually impossible to warrant. How does one warrant that their legal counsel will unequivocally be sound? Does your CPA guarantee you that they will absolutely find every permissible deduction?

Left without a warranty, the client has only your brand on which to depend, and depending on brands is just what service clients do. A service is a promise, and building your brand, builds your promise.

KEEP IT CASUAL AND SEE CLIENTS FLOCK TO YOU

Listed below is in article I received in my AdAgeDaily newsletter. This article is written by Troy Dunn, President and Creative Director of a major ad agency based in Tampa, Florida. I thought you’d enjoy it.

Traditional networking is a bit out of my comfort zone. As a business owner, I know that networking is critical to business development. I appreciate the value of professional-association meetings, but I don’t believe attending such formal settings is the only successful approach to prospecting and obtaining new clients. Personally, I prefer to be less formal. Because I love what I do, this seems to be the purest way of delivering my message, and, as we advise our clients, we have to play to our strengths. READ FULL ARTICLE

BEING GREAT VERSUS BEING GOOD

I’ve met people in professional services, that are prone to think that the bigger they get, the better their business will be. But there is proven evidence that superior performance is not critical to success in the services industry.

In one particular survey, clients rated “track record” 9th out of 17 attributes, rating it BELOW a sincere desire for a long term relationship.

Typically, neither your prospects or ours buy how good you are at what you do… but rather they buy how good you are at who you are.

ROI IS NOT THE SINGLE MEASURE OF MARKETING SUCCESS

Everyone loves to talk about ROI. The benchmark has firmly planted itself in the soil of marketing doctrine, widely accepted as a measure that makes it simple to evaluate marketing programs and gauge spending levels. “Return On Investment” enables financial types to evaluate marketing initiatives with the same approach they use to evaluate capital expenditures and acquisitions.

There is a fundamental problem with overemphasizing ROI as the single measure of marketing success: It is often impossible to accurately quantify the impact. Although the world of marketing has come a long way in terms of analytic capabilities, applying financial numbers to the marketing equation is not always possible or preferable.

Take branding, for example. For many companies, brands are their most valuable assets. Determining the precise value of a brand at any given moment is nearly impossible. If the value of a brand cannot be precisely calculated, then it’s impossible to solely use ROI to evaluate the decisions that impact the brand.

Click Here to read this article in its entirety, written by Dr. Tim Calkins and Dr. Derek D. Rucker for AdAge.com. Dr. Tim Calkins and Dr. Derek D. Rucker are both professors of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management.

POWER-SHIFTING TO REVERSE

It’s easy to calculate the investment cost for marketing… since it’s always at the bottom of the invoice. But how much is it costing you for failing to market your businesses to its maximum potential? Consider this “reverse-analysis” case study.

ASSUMPTION
Let’s assume a business sells its average product/service for $5,000, and that a new website to market your business costs $10,000.

QUESTION
What is the “least” number of new clients that would call, email or visit your doorstep… if your were to invest into a new website that was fresh, visually stunning, inviting, relevant, easy to navigate, up to date, a truer reflection of your brand… and more effective at shadowing your competitors?

FORMULA & RESULTS
If you were to only add 1 new client per month, at an average rate of $5,000 per each new client, you’d be adding $60,000 of newly found revenue over the next 12 months. If you were to add 2, you’d be adding $120,000 of new revenue. If the investment for your new website is $10,000, and the potential revenue from a new and more effective website ranges from $60,000 to $120,000… then the minimum cost of “not” upgrading your website is between $50,000 to $110,000 to your business over the next 12 months.

SUMMARY
Marketing is essential to the success of your business… and in this technology age… your website plays no small part in your marketing strategies. While counting the investment cost for your new website, brochure or any other marketing effort… be sure count the cost of “not” investing into your marketing and brand. You’ll inevitably find that it’s considerably more expensive to do “nothing” than it is to do “something.”

Computers, paperclips and office furniture are merely an “expense,” but your website and marketing efforts are an “investment” that deliver large financial dividends when executed effectively. How much revenue have you already forfeited in 2008 alone? Be a smart marketer.

HOW TO CREATE YOUR POSITION STATEMENT

Do you know how to create your position statement? Do you even know what a “position statement” is?

Your “position” is a cold-hearted, no-nonsense statement of how you’re perceived in the eyes of your prospect. Your “position statement” is a statement of how you’d wish to be perceived. It is the core message you wish to communicate in every medium, to influence the perceptions of your service.

Utilize the following questionnaire to establish your positioning statement.

1. WHO: Who are you? What’s your style… your drive… your personality… your priorities?

2. WHAT: What business are you in?

3. FOR WHOM: What people to you serve?

4. WHAT NEED: What are the special needs of the people you serve?

5. AGAINST WHOM: With whom are you competing?

6. WHAT’S DIFFERENT: What makes you different from those competitors?

7. WHAT’S THE BENEFIT: What’s the unique benefit that a client derives from your service?

Have seven good, clear… and accurate answers. Make sure these answers are consistently embedded into the fabric of your website, print marketing collateral, email marketing & broadcast advertising.

WHAT DO YOUR CLIENTS VALUE MOST?

An association recently commissioned a study of 300 clients by asking… “What do you value the most from your service provider?” You might assume that fees to be at the top of the list… but you’d be wrong. Fees ranked only 9th on the list. Technical skills and high-level certifications ranked only 8th. The 2nd highest priority for choosing a service provider was a sincere demonstration to establish and maintain a long-term relationship with the client.

What was 1st on the list? “The speed at which they return my phone calls.” That’s right! When questioned in greater detail… these 300 surveyed clients indicated that they weren’t expecting immediate answers… but simply a prompt response. These clients wanted to be treated as though they were important.

Making your clients feel important is a key ingredient to the success of your company and your brand. In spite of your busy schedule… make this your first priority.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM LOUD! CREATIVE

First, I want to wish each and every client and reader a Happy New Year. I sincerely hope that 2008 proves to be the best and most prosperous year ever for you, your families and your businesses. I am grateful for your friendships.

For me, 2007 has been a journey filled with growing and learning. As you may already know… my intention for this blog is for it to be a
no-cost, value-add resource for you, and your business or organization. It’s here that I share from my experiences, my client’s experiences, and the various resources from which I study and read.

As you endeavor to grow and develop in 2008, I thought it seemed a thoughtful gesture to share with you some of the books I’ve discovered and studied personally… and from which I post to this blog quite frequently. I hope this is helpful. I recommend all of them.

Please feel free to leave your comments. Don’t be inhibited to call me at my office should there be anything I can do for you. Again, Happy New Year !!! Congratulations on all your successes, and may you have so many more.

Brian

BRIAN WEBB’S RECOMMENDED READING LIST
(not necessarily in this order)

ALL MARKETERS ARE LIARS Author: Seth Godin

SELLING THE INVISIBLE – A FIELD GUIDE TO MODERN MARKETING Author: Harry Beckwith

THE FOUR OBSESSIONS OF AN EXTRAORDINARY EXECUTIVE
Author: Patrick Lencioni

THE DREAM MANAGER Author: Matthew Kelly

THE DIP Author: Seth Godin

THE TIPPING POINT Author: Malcom Gladwell

E-MYTH REVISITED Author: Michael E. Gerber

E-MYTH MASTERY Author: Michael E. Gerber

DEATH BY MEETING Author: Patrick Lencioni

SECRETS OF CLOSING THE SALE Author: Zig Ziglar

THE INVISIBLE TOUCH, THE FOUR KEYS TO MODERN MARKETING Author: Harry Beckwith

WHAT CLIENTS LOVE, A FIELD GUIDE TO GROWING YOUR BUSINESS Author: Harry Beckwith

GETTING REAL Author: 37 Signals

HOW TO WIN FRIENDS & INFLUENCE PEOPLE Author: Dale Carnegie

ADVANCED SELLING STRATEGIES Author: Brian Tracy

THE FIVE TEMPTATIONS OF A CEO Author: Patrick Lencioni

NEVER EAT ALONE Author: Keith Ferrazzi

GOOD TO GREAT Author: Jim Collins

BUILT TO LAST Author: Jim Collins & Jerry Porras

IT’S THE ECONOMY STUPID

James Carville said… “It’s the economy, stupid,” and helped to win the presidential campaign for Bill Clinton. This campaign relentlessly focused on the economy… and the results? Well… you know the rest of the story. Bill Clinton was the “economy” candidate. Focus won. Clinton won.

Here’s another example. Sears used to be America’s department store. Now… they’re a casualty. Consider their competitors though…

NEIMAN MARCUS – Stuff to die for.

WAL MART – Good stuff so cheap you won’t believe it.

BLOOMINGDALES – Shopping as entertainment.

Sears focused on everything, and ultimately nothing. If you do not have a focus, you may soon not have a business.

ALMOST NOTHING BEATS A BRAND

Your brand is more than a symbol. In the public’s eye, your brand is a warranty. It is a promise that your service will live up to its name, and perform. Your brand is even MORE important than a warranty. No warranty does enough, because no warranty compensates the warranty holder for the lost time, suffering, frustration and inconvenience.

Your brand is more important because it is the closest thing to a guarantee… that the customer will not need the warranty, and have to endure the claims process. Brands are even more important to service customers because few services have warranties, in part because most services are difficult to impossible to warrant.

How does one warrant that their legal advice will be certainly good… that a waiter’s service will be good… that a tax accountant will find every permissable deduction? Clearly, in most cases, one can’t.

Left without a warranty, the client has only your brand on which to depend. And depending on brands is just what service clients do. A service is a promise, and building your brand, builds your promise.

THE POWER OF NAMES

I can’t even remember how many instances in which a prospect shared with me, that the reason they called us… or selected our company to call from a list of our competitors… was sheerly because of our name. They just had to find out more about LOUD! Creative Group.

“I saw your company listed in the Houston Business Journal, and I had to find out more about the company with a name like LOUD! Creative Group.” said a recent prospect.

Why do Fortune 500 companies pay over $35,000 for a name? Because names make a company’s first impression. First impressions are crucial, and convey much of the little information about you that the prospects have.

Think about it for a moment… It’s not a gear shift… it’s a “Magnesium Paddle Shifter.” It’s not just water… it’s “Propel Fitness Water.” It’s not just a family diner… it’s “The Cheesecake Factory.” It’s not just an electric razor… it’s the “Braun Contour.” It’s not just hand soap… it’s “Tranquil Mint Aromatherapy.” It’s not just a personal computer… it’s a “Quad-Core Mac Pro.” Clearly I could go on and on, but I think you’re getting the point. Whether you’re naming your company, your organization, your service or your product… names matter.

In his book; “Selling The Invisible,” Harry Beckwith articulates this very well. He suggests that you put your name to the “Information Per Inch” test. How much valuable information per inch does your name imply?

A wonderfully named San Francisco based company perfectly illustrates the “Information Per Inch” principal. “NameLab”, a company that specializes in naming products. With lighting speed, NameLab’s name suggests the company takes a near scientific, analytical approach to developing names… something distinct in its industry.

Beyond that… the freshness and slight whimzy of the name also suggests the companys capacity for creative, right brain thinking. “NameLab” conveys a powerful double meaning to its prospects… with an excellent information per inch ratio…

Ask yourself… If you needed a name… Whom would you call first… Names Inc., The Name Company, or NameLab?

A week later… which comany’s name would you remember? Give every name you consider… the “Information Per Inch” test.

 

 

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