by admin | Mar 22, 2011 | Blog, Strategy
If we accept the notion by the grandfather of modern management, Peter Drucker, that “Business is about two things and two things only, innovation and marketing” and that people are in fact our greatest assets, then it would make perfect sense to deduce that your company’s marketing consultants are your most important and valuable assets. So much for theory, the stark reality of marketing as a discipline and a profession in the small business arena is quiet different.
Why is it so? Because unfortunately, for most small and medium sized businesses, marketing is an expense and not an investment. Most small business owners do not understand the meaning of marketing or branding let alone have any basic understanding of advertising principles to effectively and efficiently reach their target audience. Hence much of the small business marketing efforts are wasted and as proof all you have to do is to open your local paper, look into your mailbox or jump online and that’s just in the consumer space, the business to business and professional categories are even worse!
But this is not another article pointing out the shortcomings of marketing by small business owners. We’ll focus on those entrepreneurs who understand the importance of marketing for the success of their business. The 8% (PWC survey “Private Business Barometer IV”) who didn’t nominate the slashing of their marketing budget as a coping strategy during the Global Financial Crisis; the 8% who know their history and understand the importance of maintaining or even increasing marketing investment in a weak economy. They know that competitors tend to cut spending during a recession thus creating opportunities and that maintaining promotional spend during tough economic times will sustain or even grow their market share.
Yes, we are talking to you, you the minority who carry the hope of all small business owners and it is for you, that we write this guide on how to get the most out of your marketing resources – your human marketing resources.
You who would never dream of appointing your personal assistant to the position of Marketing Coordinator or Manager! You would never promote an engineering professional to the position of Marketing Director or make the HR person responsible for marketing your professional services firm! Sounds crazy right? No-one in their right mind, with any understanding of the marketing profession (noun, a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science) would ever do this? Unfortunately it happens every day, so we won’t waste precious space on the CEO’s, MD’s, GM’s and business owners who allow this to occur. We’ll focus on those who understand and appreciate the importance of professional marketing in their business, where maybe our message and advice will do some good and not fall on deaf ears.
So you have come to a realisation, a point in your business when you recognise, unlike 92% of your small business counterparts, that most people couldn’t walk in off the street and run your business, so you do not expect to somehow be an expert when it comes to marketing.
So, where to from here? You have 2 choices; to outsource your marketing services or employ a marketing professional.
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![Brand design advice for start-ups and new businesses]()
by admin | Mar 8, 2011 | Blog, Design
For many small and medium size business owners, a graphic designer is the first point of call when it comes to brand design and strategy for their business.
A scenario we come across on a daily basis is one where the entrepreneur starting a business, realises the need for a business name and basic business collateral; business card, letterhead, website, brochure, etc and they seek the services of a graphic designer. This hence becomes the critical point in the development of their business, not just their business image.
You should be asking the following:
- Do many graphic designers raise warning flags with their clients if their chosen brand name is unlikely to pass the trade mark application?
- Do graphic designers explain that a properly ‘designed’ brand name can make an emotional connection with your audience, and help to build a brand that ignites the passions of your customers and propel itself through the world on its own, becoming a no-cost, self-sustaining PR vehicle?
- Do graphic designers check that the brand name achieves its key objectives:
- Differentiation from competitors
- Reinforcing a unique positioning platform
- Creates a positive and lasting engagement with their target audience
- Is unforgettable
- Provides a deep well of marketing ideas and advertising images
- Do graphic designers stop their clients and ask them for a Positioning Statement (a creative interpretation of the business USP – Unique Selling Proposition), which in most case should form part of the logo?
Of course these questions are not the expertise of most graphic designers or design studios and not really their job. It is the job of the clients’ marketing people (in a small business it is the owner) or their marketing agency or consultant. qubePartners’s truly integrated team of marketing communication specialists makes sure that the following questions are asked, checked, debated and agreed upon before developing the right solution for your business:
- How can the design better communicate the personality of the brand?
- How can the positioning of the brand be enhanced through visual communication or
- How can the brand experience be enhanced in store or on the website using visual cues that make decision making easier?
You really do get what you pay for, so think twice before “ordering your logo and collateral online” or getting your cousin’s brother to do it for you. think about how you and your company will be perceived by your target audience and whether the brand design you get will give you an advantage over your competitors or will it make you look like a one man band!
Contact qubePartners on 03 9018 7224 and see how we can make your life easier and your business more profitable.
by admin | Feb 13, 2011 | Blog, Strategy
Having a brand personality is important because brands are an emotional connection between your products and services and your target audience, and we now know that this emotional connection is critical in attracting and retaining customers.
Having a brand with a personality allows marketers to deliver communication that stands out from the “sameness” of their category and connect much faster and on a deeper level with prospects and customers. People can relate to things they feel have a personality, especially one which they can identify with. From the cars we drive to the pets we choose, we are subconsciously guided by our reflection in them.
Brand personality is usually a function of the following:
1. Personality and values of the founder
2. Personality and values of the current leader
3. Personality and values of the company’s most loyal customers.
Brand Personality is a critical input into the design of the overall brand, especially the:
– Brand Name,
– Brand Story, and
– Positioning Statement.
Brand Personality should flow right through the company and be positively reflected in the customer brand experience.
To work out your brand personality, you can engage the help of your best customers, colleagues, employees, suppliers and even friends, asking them to describe firstly your personality in 5-8 adjectives and then do the same for your company or organisation. In most cases you will find that they align. Alternatively there maybe a good reasons why you do not want them to align. What ever the outcome it will assist you greatly in projecting the right perceptions for you business to its target market.
The brand personality is the BRAND!
Here are a few famous examples: Virgin, Body Shop, Walmart, Oprah, Dr. Phil, Beckham Paul Newman’s Own, and most fashion designer label brands are all intrinsically linked to the personalities of the founders.
Although this has worked tremendously well for these and other businesses naming your brand new “baby” after yourself has many drawbacks, especially if you don’t have the name recognition of a super star athlete and in general naming the brand has a number of criteria that you need to consider a strategic process you should follow.
Here are a number of brand personality examples that have been created through focusing on a specific niche; great brand naming that reflects these personality traits:
– Geek Squad is both a consumer as well a USA SME technology company owned by the giant Best Buy retail group, assisting customers with everything from installing in home theatres to computer networking in their businesses. It’s great name and personality that permeates the company has now been copied in various formats all over the world yet none of the copycats can dream of the same success.
– Mr. Mutual Fund – Vern Hayden is one of the top financial planners in the USA specialising in mutual funds (superannuation). He got to be where he is by focusing and being the greatest expert on his area of expertise – mutual funds! However he chose a more traditional name for his company http://www.haydenwealth.com/ and decided not to link it directly to his personal brand of Mr. Mutual Fund.
– Ms. Megabyte and Gadget Guy are 2 independent Australian technology experts who entertain and inform Australians by providing reviews and demystifying technology. Everyone knows who they are, yet few would know of Yvonne Adele and Peter Blasina. This illustrates the power of correctly branding your business.
– Bounce Back Fast is a consultancy and training organisation that focuses on building resilience to pressure and stress.
– The Productivity Queen needs no explanation,
– Powerful Points is a leading Powerpoint training organisation that counts some of Australia’s top companies and their C-suite executives as it’s clients
When we look at most of the examples above, it quickly becomes apparent that these sometimes “one man bands” have a number of things in common:
1. They are specialists, they are “the only” in their market
2. They are easy to remember
3. They are easy to promote because they have a great name, a personality and a STORY to tell
4. They are famous amongst their intended target audience.
The next entry will cover the importance of telling your brand story!
Image via Wikipedia
by admin | Feb 9, 2011 | Blog, Strategy
When examining examples of good and bad brand names we must use a set of reasonably objective evaluation criteria. As these were discussed in the last post, I will summarise all of them like this:
“It’s not what it is, but how you use it – your brand name that is!” This is especially true for small businesses that do not have multimillion dollar budgets to “make their brand synonymous” with a particular product or service through the sheer weight of their media investment.
Hence ‘campiagnability’, how the brand name provides the business with creative flexibility to promote it’s services and more memorably and emotionally connect with its customers is paramount.
Let’s look at a few examples:
Radio Rentals – the iconic Australian electronics retailer’s brand name may have been great when it was founded in the 1930’s in the UK, but today this functional or descriptive name is no longer relevant and is in fact very limiting. No brand consultant would ever recommend changing it unless there was a multimillion dollar budget and a great reason to do so, because the brand equity built over the years is too great but ‘radio rentals’ lost its relevance probably by the early 1950’s.
Most SME brands are today still named after their founders or are very descriptive in nature, a benefit when the business is starting out and the name tells the target audience exactly what the business is all about, e.g: John’s Plumbing Supplies, etc. However as the business grows the name doesn’t lend itself to be easily promoted…
The Shaver Shop franchise – a great concept – looks like it is facing a similar dilemma. What started as a focused category player is now selling a number of product categories that are no longer about shaving. Only time will tell if this “brand extension” will be successful. The brand name again was most likely too descriptive and limiting in the first place.
Let’s compare that with one of the world’s most famous and successful brands like Apple – which was never a name that sounded like it was in the computer business. Jobs came up with the name “Apple” after visiting an orchard and having a wonderful experience, an experience he wanted his customers to have with an approachable company, which the name Apple fit perfectly. Experiential names and names that tap into consumer emotions are more likely to become much greater assets. Branson did the same with Virgin in the music industry!
Here are some of the names we have developed for our clients:
D&M – A brand of natural skin care products
Fighting Fit For Life – A Personal Trainer that specialises in boxing and martial arts training
Room to Improve – For an interior designer and decorator
Money Rules – A debt reduction educational program and software
Sirius Business – A business coach
Meaningful Exchange – A multi-lingual translation service
Guys Domain – A psychotherapist specialising in men’s issues
Schoffered Tours – Personalised Wine Tour Operator
Everyone of these names creates a myriad of promotional possibilities for many years to come and this is further complimented by the brand positioning statements / slogans. You can see the names, logos and the positioning statements on the next post.
Finally a great name is worth protecting – ‘Trade Marking’. Do it through a professional IP lawyer, you may pay more but it is worth doing it correctly the first time around. There are a number of legal issues than can make the DIY approach more expensive in the long run.
For example in the Australian market place there are 2 “Women at Work” and 2 “The Extension Factory” businesses that obviously didn’t protect their great names when they started their business. If your name is worth using it is worth protecting.
by admin | Jan 30, 2011 | Blog, Promotion, Strategy
Deep thinking is required to work out the optimal offer for your customers and prospects.
Once you have a good understanding of your customer needs you can begin to formulate your offer. Start out by asking these basic questions and remember that often best ideas come from people who are closest to the customer!
- What problem do you solve and what is unique about the way you do it? E.g.: Sometimes all it takes is a different attitude. Max Super (a Superannuation company) in Australia took a boring and jargon laden product category and made it fun, by making fun of itself and the industry thus appealing to a younger audience. Groupon and it’s now many copy-cats have taken the concept of online auctions and group buying, word-of-mouth, and consumer desire for a bargain to create a whole new fast growing category.
- What are the different market segments?
- What are the Competitors offering? If your offer is no different to your competitors then how do you expect prospects to choose your company? If your offer is essentially the same and in many cases it is, then the how you communicate (promote) that offer to your target audience becomes paramount. Which is why “we marketers” focus so much on the Promotion versus all the other parts of the Marketing Mix.
- What is the Opportunity Cost of your product? E.g.: what will your customers miss out on or give up by buying your product or service? How can you minimise this cost?
- What features are the most / least valued? The innovation that is iPod came about precisely using this type of analysis. There were many much more technically superior MP3 players on the market when iPod came on the scene, but the ipod gave the simplicity of operation to consumers that they craved and took away the features they didn’t value (complexity). Can you imagine if this was done with Video Recorders / Players or software like Microsoft Word – where the vast majority of users only used about 10% of the product’s potential?
- What is the Pricing Structure & Role of Price? E.g.: Price is the simplest and oldest signal of any market place. We have all grown up with the phrase “you get what you pay for”, so make sure you align your price with the perceptions you want to create. Telling prospects that you have the best software, service or widget on the market at the cheapest price may simply mean you will not be believed, so make sure you either price it as being “the best” or take great care explaining how you can deliver it at this price point to make sure your story is credible.
- What is the Distribution Strategy?
- What is the Selling Process?
Make sure that your distribution strategy and sales process are aligned with your customer buying process.
Another great way of discovering new ways of solving old problems is actually examining the existing and recurring customer problems and frustrations and then overcoming those. Every customer problem is actually an opportunity in disguise to improve your customers’ brand experience.
Image by maxymedia via Flickr
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