December 15th, 2010

The Importance of Establishing a Brand

Imagine going through life with just a name and no unique physical attributes. What if everyone was the same height with the same hair, eyes and skin color? Of course there are many ways to distinguish one from another, but research indicates that physical appearance is the first cue from which we form the basis of attraction. The same is true in business. A name is only the beginning. Once you have a name, you will need a set of clothes.

What is branding? It is the perception of who we are and what we offer. Notice I used the word “perception”. I use this because the truth is really only a matter of what we see and believe it to be. And it is different for each of us. We cannot control how someone else sees us because they see through the lens of their own experiences. But we can do our best to communicate our truth, our perception of how we see ourselves.

The establishment and development of a brand is as necessary to your business as it is to your personal identity. Professional appearance is not some standard packaging that wraps everyone in a coat and tie. To be competitive, we must stand out. Decide who you are and then communicate it clearly. You will not be for everyone, but you will be a perfect fit for some. And the goal is to help those who are, find you.

Without establishing and clarifying who you are, whether through words or pictures or both, it is difficult to identify exactly why you might be a good fit for a potential client or customer. These embellishments may seem superfluous, but they do convey a message and can create confidence in our ability to get the job done right for them. Sometimes all we have is a few seconds for someone to decide whether or not to buy from us.

Imagine going into a store to buy a pair of shoes and everything is strewn across the floor haphazardly. Would you be able to get past the disarray in order to spot the perfect pair? More likely, you would turn and walk out of the store before ever even looking through the inventory. Let’s face it, visual cues can make us feel good or uncomfortable. If we feel good, if we like what we see and there is a connection, we are more likely to investigate further and make a purchase.

This past weekend I had a visit from an old college boyfriend who I hadn’t seen in 30 years when I was an art student and liked long-haired hippie boys. When he showed up at my door I was glad to see him at first, but once we settled into a conversation, I felt a bit uncomfortable. I knew it was more than just the years. He was the same kind, fun, smart guy I knew before, but clearly his foo-man-chu mustache and stringy hair were getting in the way of a current connection. What was once interesting and attractive, now just felt shabby and out-of-date. As much as I wanted to believe that his appearance shouldn’t matter, it did. We were different and those differences made me uncomfortable. I couldn’t wait for him to leave.

Physical appearance is an instantaneous way of communicating whether positively or negatively, and we brand ourselves every day by the way we present ourselves. We move through the world unconsciously looking for connections, and in fact mirror each other looking for bits of ourselves in the people we meet. When we relate, when we share beliefs, we form a bond and beautiful things can occur. These connections are communicated in our personal brand and are a necessary part of the relationships we form, whether in business or in our personal lives.

So how do you determine the right communicators for you? Here are a few of the questions to ask when you are trying to come up with a logo and tag line:

1) Are you traditional or contemporary?
2) Casual or buttoned up?
3) What is your company’s mission statement?
4) What are your qualifications?
5) What is your USP (unique selling proposition)?
6) What colors resonate with you?
7) Do you prefer sans serif or serif fonts?
8) What do you want people to know about you that they might not?

So when you think about your marketing, be sure to include a logo and tag line in the development of your brand. Without it, you might leave people wondering, uncertain, confused about how you can meet their needs.

Posted by Nancy Sloane, principal with Zoom IQ2. For more information about branding contact her at nancy@zoomiq2.com.

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October 18th, 2010

Is it time for a change?

Today’s economic times call for more effective use of budgets, people, marketing strategy and business acumen.  Businesses are calling for more results utilizing less money, asset allocation and human resources.

As advertising, creative and communications innovators, we help people who may be confused by the changing media landscape create compelling campaigns that produce measurable results.  Lately, as we sift through the posts and questions on LinkedIn, blogs and other networking sites, we hear more and more conjecture about how can we increase traffic, drill down further in our target markets and increase revenue – all with smaller budgets.

Here are some things to look for.  Feel free to add yours, too.

• Try a new creative/marketing/online firm for a project.  Most will work on a small project pro bono to show you what they can do.  A lot of firms are hungry for new business and the ones that aren’t will be weeded out quickly.  Smaller firms with lower overhead still have powerhouse talent and great ideas.  Like a hugely successful campaign I created years ago for a small, yet very successful client, ‘big things come in small packages’.
• Want to jump on the social media bandwagon?  The onslaught of social media options flashing before your eyes can be overwhelming.  Just trying social media can be dangerous.  If you’re going to launch a fan page, YouTube channel or other social media strategy, you’ve got to commit.  Starting a fan page and driving traffic is an undertaking that requires consistent contact, meaningful content and the stamina to ensure your ‘followers’ are characterized by quality, not quantity.
• Online advertising can be a very efficient means of reaching the target.  Reaching the right demographic with appropriate frequency remains one of the most effective means of delivering your message and driving traffic.  Nearly every time I log on to my Facebook page, the same attorney’s ad appears for drunk driving charges in the county I live in.  Broadcast, outdoor, direct mail, etc. could never deliver such precise targets – and it could render immediate electronic contact (immediate gratification and CTR) while traditional media typically lags.  However, it is still important to have a full complement of media to ensure effective reach throughout the day (i.e. in the car on the way to work, online at work, online leisure, watching the news at night, reading the paper, etc.).
• Two of my favorite words – reach and frequency.  Try finding an account rep that will truly give you a reach and frequency report for the life of your campaign.  We have found that selling rarely incorporates these pillars of advertising success in today’s DMA’s.  I volunteered for a nonprofit recently to help with their ad buying.  We approached 3 broadcast reps and required the reach and frequency reports from each with their proposal.  None provided it.  One didn’t even know what it was.  In the end, we never received it from any of the three.  The magic number to truly reach your target and manage recall is a frequency of 3.  How many prospects did you reach at least 3 times in your last campaign?
• It’s your job (the client) to close.  As professionals, it is our job to deliver traffic.  But, it’s the client’s job to close the sale.  It’s their product, their store, their service, their expertise.  Check your sales.  Did your campaign deliver traffic, but not revenue?  You might have a training issue, operational deficiency, capacity constraint or other malfunction that may not have been the fault of your marketing plan.

In essence, it may be time for a change.  Look at your plan.  Look at diversifying your strategy across the changing landscape of media available today.  Evaluate how well you handled the traffic internally.  Did a couple of sales slip by?  Of course it depends upon your product/service and where and how you advertise or brand, but is your creative firm, consultant or in-house department really on top of it?  Or, is it just a job, what you’re used to doing or simply the account rep’s special of the week?

Posted by Jonathan Lappin, Vice President Marketing & Client Services for Zoom IQ2. For more information please contact him at jon@zoomiq2.com.

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