by admin | Feb 4, 2012 | Blog, Design, Promotion
The web allows ‘small business Davids’ to compete with corporate Goliaths.
Your website is the most flexible and accountable content marketing weapon today. Usually the first thing that your prospects see and experience about your business, it is your most public face to the world, a showroom open every hour of every day.
- The investment into your website is 100% measurable and hence accountable.
- Your website is an interactive medium and a distribution channel that allows 1 : 1 personalization
In the case of a recession the use of the internet by consumers will only be accelerated as they will spend more time at home. So remove the cobwebs from your website today!
Internet Advertising is still very underutilized.
A typical US consumer might spend 25% of their media consumption time on the Internet but a typical US advertiser spends only 7% of their communications budget on the web.
Web technology is more accessible than ever: Low Cost and Easy to Use, if you choose to DIY in-house and cheaper than ever to be outsourced to a third party web marketing agency. But be careful who you choose!
Design, Build, Promote, and Maintain to maximize results and make your website work as hard as you do to:
- Provide visitors with a taste of your product or service
- Tell visitors why they should buy from you and not your competitors
- Collect information about your customers
- Customize customer experience
- Improve customer service and provide a vehicle for feedback
- Generate sales leads
by admin | Jan 13, 2012 | Blog, Design
Brand Positioning
Here is a mix of examples of logos, brand names and positioning statements that we have had the pleasure of working with and/or developing for our clients.
Most importantly, note how easy it is to develop creative, campaignable marketing communication for these brands.
by admin | Jan 12, 2012 | Blog, Design
Take a look at the websites of 2 similar categories at different stages of maturity:
1. The General Home Services category and
2. A sub-segment of this category ‘Cleaning’
Their brand positioning are clearly shown through their design and content development.
The first is much more mature in terms of marketing communication. Its’ websites project a much more professional and corporate image.
The second is less professional and looks like it is a “small” business, which it is compared to the larger Head Office Marketing driven Franchise!
by admin | Dec 19, 2011 | Blog, Design, Promotion, Strategy
I am sure that you can put your hand on your heart and say that your new product or service is different and unique.
You have a point of difference that would convert a prospective customer in seconds. But how?
Here’s a checklist to ensure that you convert your prospective customers with the proper positioning strategy:
1. Look reputable:
- Have you got a logo that looks substantial?
- Do you have a tagline/slogan/positioning statement under your logo that communicates your point of difference?
- Does your website wow your customer?
- Is the content on your website relevant and proof read?
- Is all your marketing material consistent and themed?
- Do you have an office address and customer service number?
2. Build confidence:
- Do you offer guarantees and or warranties?
- Do you have testimonials from existing customers?
- Can you use the logos of existing customers to create instant credibility?
3. Get noticed:
- Do you have and regularly update a blog, to exhibit thought leadership and improve your SEO?
- Do you update your customers through email and LinkedIn/twitter/facebook?
- Do you have listings and or advertisements in business directories?
- How is your Google ranking?
- Do you do sponsored(Pay Per Click)advertising on Google?
- Do you regularly communicate through email and direct mail with your customers and new leads?
- Is your point of difference obvious and consistent in all your forms of communication?
To find out how we help our clients to play with the big boys, contact us now. We are a marketing agency and advertising agency, all in one and our website is full of information on brand identity and styling, content development and campaign development. By working on looking reputable, building confidence and getting noticed through the right positioning strategy, you’ll look just like a big player in your market, on a small budget. Remember ‘Perception is Reality’! We’ll help you to launch your brand successfully and maximise the return on your marketing investment.
![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 19, 2011 | Blog, Content, Design, Promotion, Strategy
A Brand Positioning Statement, also known as a slogan or a strap line, is the creative interpretation of the Brand Promise or USP which we discussed earlier.
Brand (Positioning Statements) should be able to hold their position in the long run and ideally achieve the following 4 criteria:
- Differentiate the business (Communicate the USP)
- Provide a Creative (Campaignable and Sustainable) platform
- Benefits should be ideally expressed explicitly to the customer
- Provide support to the brand name
Even when designing a brand from scratch it is difficult to satisfy all 4 criteria, so meeting 3 for a new brand or even 2 during a re-brand is often a great result.
You need to communicate with:
- Clarity
- Consistency
- Compression
to ‘cut through’ the clutter that is now prevalent in most service and product categories to consumers who are bombarded by more commercial messages than ever before!
So how do we do this?
Firstly we need to “own “own” a place in the consumer mind.
the easiest and most effective way of “owning a place in your customers’ and prospects’ minds is to focus on the things that matter. Most small and medium enterprises do not have the time or the money to be all things to all people, in fact neither do the very big companies, and when they try, they end up meaning nothing to anybody.
The result is at best mediocrity.
Focus demands Sacrifice – To own something you need to give up something else.
Focus on the particular type of buyer. Markets consist of buyers who differ in their:
- Wants
- Resources
- Locations
- Buying attitudes
- Buying behaviours
Simplicity adds value, by adding a halo effect for other benefits:
- Simple benefit (the most important promise) oriented word works best no matter how complex the product or market.
- The word must be exclusive.
- Avoid change, personalities don’t change, neither should your Brand.
- Positioning takes years and people don’t really change.
Next we will illustrate the power of brand positioning and focus with some examples.
How 2 Players Effectively communicated their Brand Positioning
Here are 2 industries and examples how the different players have through focus have found their niche and then effectively communicated their brand positioning.
Examples of the segmentation and brand positioning in the car…
Examples of the segmentation and brand positioning in the car industry.
Positioning examples through segmentation in the car insurance…
Positioning examples through segmentation in the car insurance category.
Most of the builders don’t have a positioning statement…
Most of the builders don’t have a positioning statement and are missing out on a great opportunity to truly connect with their prospects as well as be able to develop creative and more effective communication.
There is always an opportunity to be the “first”…
There is always an opportunity to be the “first” through even more focus. At the same time one has to be careful to protect their brand name!
…and then you can focus some more!
…and then you can focus some more!
Recent Comments