Our seminars are heading west! Look for us in Topeka, Omaha and Lincoln this fall.
Many of you are familiar with a new business "My Father's Cheesecake" in Cape Girardeau that advertises on our television partner KFVS/WQWQ. We have just received word that they have opened a second store and have been approached about starting a franchise. Advertising works!
A special welcome to our new friends in Knoxville and our television partner there, WVLT.
Please continue to share your advertising and marketing successes with us (as well as your disappointments), and we will continue to help you grow your business.Have a great day!
Larry Kirby and Jet Angel
Effective Advertising Seminars
New Business Opportunities
Four Elements of a Winning Brand |
|
When it comes to your image, are you hitting hard or striking out? Cover all your bases with these 4 critical elements to a winning brand.
What instantly springs to mind when customers hear your company name? If you are uncertain - or even worse, stuck with a less than stellar image - it's time to give your brand an overhaul. It's no coincidence that industry leaders in every category from soft drinks to spas toil endlessly to create some of the worlds most recognizeable brands. But it does not have to cost millions or take years to put your company's branding efforts on track. Just follow these 4 guidelines to create a winning brand:
- Differentiate Your Brand. Branding is all about sending a strong and consistent message. Everytime a prospect or customer has contact with your company, whether its by visiting your website or seeing a print ad, he or she has a branding experience. Fine-tuning your brand image is particularly critical if your business is in a highly competitive product or service arena, your brand will seperate your company from the pack. If it's been a while since you performed a competitive analysis, make time to take this important step in realigning your brand. Clip all your competitors' ads, review their PR coverage, research them online, and buy their products or services. Then decide what makes your product or service different. It's this point of differentiation that allows you to create an image that sticks in customer's minds.
- Promise Value. Once you know what separates your product or services from its competitors, you can redefine your brand message so that it resonates with your best prospects. How well do you know and understand them? Researching and creating an accurate portrait of your targeted prospects is essential to focusing your brand efforts. Doing so will help you reach the audience that will be most receptive to the unique qualities of your products and services. Trying to be all things to all people results in a diluted and weak brand, whereas differentiation based on what your unique customers want, need and value most will result in strong branding and sales. What does your product or service deliver that's valued most by your best customers? If you're unsure, put "listening posts" in place - from online message boards to printed satisfaction surveys - that monitor customers' perception of your brand and uncover unmet needs.
- Be a Market Leader. Delivering on this value proposition over the long term not only means your company will live up to its branding efforts, but it will also make you a marketplace leader. And performing like a leader means keeping your promises. Today, customers consider the "ownership experience" prior to making purchases. They look at reviews, read in-depth information and pay attention to word-of-mouth in order to feel confident that the purchase and post-purchase experiences will live up to the expectations raised by brand marketing campaigns. Nothing torpedoes branding efforts faster than failing to live up to marketing claims. To be a true leader in your market niche, focus on improving your customers' experiences and interactions with your company.
- Integrate your messages. Every interaction a customer has with your brand must be uniform across all marketing channels. How consistently is your brands message communicated? Do the messages of your various marketing programs conflict? For example, your in-line marketing, from website content to e-mail solicitations, should be fully integrated with your off-line efforts, carrying a single, clear branding message and related design elements throughout. To ensure your branding tune-up is a success, audit all your company's current marketing communications. Pay particular attention to sales tools, as these tend to become mismatched and disconnected from other marketing efforts over time. Realign them with your company's marketing tools and campaigns to create a stronger brand image.
Thanks to Kim T. Gordon, Entrepreneur Magazine |
Choosing an Effective Logo Important For Small Businesses |
|
Q: I am a small business owner looking to give my organization an identity by developing an effective company logo. What are some tips to keep in mind?
A: Here are some tips on crafting an effective logo from Melissa Crowe, vice president of marketing services at online design and printing company VistaPrint.
Your logo cannot sing and dance but it can express the personality, purpose and promise of your organization. It is vital for a potential customer to learn something about your organization just by looking at its logo. It can also provide a clear and consistent image of your company. Believe it or not, the colors that make up your logo are an important part in helping to accomplish this goal.
Consider implementing blue into your color scheme as blue communicates trust. Make sure your logo is bold, memorable and pops. Ensure that your logo design makes sense for your business and don't be afraid of to test it with customers to get feedback.
Don't over-think your logo design and keep it simple and clean. Attempting to do too much with your logo will only confuse your target audience and blur your message.
Legibility is key and your logo should be able to work in both black-and-white and color. Keep in mind that your logo may be viewed on a small object like a business card or on a larger item such as a presentation folder.
Many logos also include a tag line, which is a statement of the products or services you provide and separates your organization from the others. Like the design of the logo, a tag line should be short and to the point but memorable.
Now that you have a logo, it is time to use it everywhere, both online and in print. |
Companies Can Grow in Goliath's Shadow |
|
We noticed this article in USA Today by Edward Iwata and thought it had a great deal of merit.
By focusing on fundamentals and knowing the market, small firms can find success. Despite long odds, small scale firms can survive and even thrive amid the Big Boys if they play it smart. The giants have more money, more marketing, more customers, and more brand recognition. Another reason that small, local companies have found our Effective Advertising Workshops such a great help when they plan their advertising and marketing budgets and learn how to reach their market, with a frequency of messages, on a consistent basis, at an affordable cost.
Paige's Music, a mom & pop store in Indianapolis founded in 1871, sells instruments to school bands and orchestras. Despite stiff competition from national chains, Paige's, with $10 million in income in 2005, still grows at an average of 8-10% a year. Mark Goff, owner and President of the company says, "there is plenty of opportunity to succeed against the big guys, but you have to hit 'em where they ain't."
The music product industry in the USA is an $8 billion per year goliath with mass marketers like Guitar Center, Sam Ash Music and Wal-Mart and Costco, and imports from China forcing many retailers to slash costs and lower prices. A saxophone that used to sell for $1800 can be bought for half that. That's great for the consumer, but brutal for the small business owner.
Rather than expand and take on the giants, Paige's stays focused on it strengths - the market of 400 school bands and orchestras, and the 36,000 student musicians. Instead of covering the state with lots of stores, everything is done from one location: sales, order processing, accounting and instrument repairs. The salespeople visit the school orchestra leaders regularly, building loyalty.
Small businesses can pursue many David vs. Goliath strategies. Like Paige's Music, they can focus 100% on products, services, and markets ignored by corporate juggernauts. They can innovate and communicate more quickly than big firms. They can lure talent and entrepreneurs tired of working at large corporations.
In a future newsletter, we will explore how some other small companies thrive against national chains. |
|
