by Miriam Hara | Mar 10, 2015 | Advertising, Agency, Branding, Business Success, Communications, Latest
How do you determine if your branding and advertising agency is your true soul mate?
In today’s fast-paced market conditions it’s important for your agency to be part of your marketing team. What makes a branding and advertising agency a true partner? In order to come up with a good answer, what needs to be established is: What are your expectations of an agency? Is it great creative? Is it thinking outside of the box?
It goes without saying that every relationship takes two parties to come together and it’s based on both parties’ willingness to make it work. The basis of this article however, is about the degree of difficulty to making the relationship work.
Here are a few indicators to determine if the branding and advertising agency you have on board really is your business soul mate.
Adding value: The sign of a good agency is that it acts as your partner. Your agency should also always have the brand’s or business’s best interest at heart. In order to do that, they need to anticipate the needs of the brand and bring forward any issues they foresee. They need to take the brief you provided and expand on it – adding alternatives that you as a brand manager may not have thought of.
Attention to detail: When time is of the essence and turnarounds are quick, team players must all do their part to make sure that details are accurately addressed. Regardless of the relationship you have, “My bad.” shouldn’t cut it as an excuse.
Meeting budgets: Your agency needs to be in control of projects and their budgets, not the other way around. One sure way of knowing if an agency does exercise control, is if they have the ability to raise a flag at the precise time that a project’s budget starts going north.
Delivery on timelines: Let’s face it, an agency’s role is to help make the brand team look good. One of the easiest ways to do so is by meeting timelines. The agency world is all about deadlines, does your agency meet yours?
Creative relevance: It’s important for any brand initiative that the communications set forth have creative relevance. It’s not about pretty pictures, or creative awards. It’s about strategy and resonating with the consumer base. If you find that you constantly have to wrestle with your agency about what your brand is about and meeting requirements, maybe they are not the “one”.
Do you agree? What are some issues you have come across when dealing with your branding and advertising agency?
by Miriam Hara | Mar 3, 2015 | Advertising, Business Success, Latest, Marketing
In today’s business environment it is increasingly difficult to carve out an edge. So it’s understandable that when something works, one might continue to do it on an annual basis – and that’s a marketing pitfall prevalent in many businesses. Marketing complacency is a sure way to lose your business edge and start down the slippery slope towards total oblivion. In order to survive and make a mark for your brand or business it’s imperative to create excitement and provide momentum for consumers. This can only happen if you develop engaging marketing initiatives. It’s always the better ideas that require some measure of risk. However any marketing program, from a sweepstakes to an annual event comes with risk. But remember, it’s a calculated risk.
Not so long ago, consumers anticipated the Christmas season simply because the cosmetic counters in department stores would become jam-packed with great manufacturer offers and value-add packages. Consumers would wait to purchase their “product needs”, just to make sure they took advantage of the best value. Eventually cosmetic manufacturers’ caught on to this and now tier their giveaways or value offers throughout the year.
For those of us in Canada, Tim Hortons’ “Roll up the rim to win” is a reoccurring campaign. The first year it was launched was 1986. Now granted it has evolved and grown. For the first decade, when it was continuing to evolve, I believe it was exciting – even the advertising slogan was fantastic. Now, decades later they are still running it. And every year my reaction is, “Oh, that again”. Mind you, I’m sure that the reaction of the winners is quite different! But I would really like to know the uptake of this promotion after all these years. Is it still garnering the same results? Maybe the objective has also evolved? Perhaps it now acts as a reward program to existing consumers rather than one to increase trial?
Marketing complacency is a result of marketers pressing the autopilot button.
Think about what the premise is of any marketing promotion or advertising campaign. When a new marketing program is launched, it’s the result of many different factors. These include current market conditions, competitive landscape, creative brainstorming, research and timing – to name only a few. Consider this: Doing the same thing year after year may result in missing out on the next big idea that could make a huge impact for your brand or business.
When the same successful campaign is repeated over and over, the impact becomes less and less – or worse yet, expected by consumers. Many programs when repeated on an annual basis end up subsidizing sales, not increasing them. The result is that what was once fresh and exciting becomes old news. When marketing complacency sets in, there’s no win for the brand or business.
What do you think?
by Miriam Hara | Feb 18, 2015 | Business Success, Latest, Marketing
If you’re the owner of a business that is 5 years or older, you are obviously doing many things right. It takes real know-how to keep a business sustainable. Good for you – no, great for you! Many businesses never make it past the 5-year mark.
So how do you springboard from your current success? How do you continue growth so that your business prospers even more?
It always amazes me how many successful businesses don’t take marketing seriously. Either that or they don’t understand it well enough to evaluate if what they are currently doing actually is “marketing”. It stands to reason that no one knows your business better than you do. However, when it comes to marketing, many business owners tend to have a misconception of what marketing really is, how it works and how much it costs.
To help explain this common marketing pitfall, here’s what marketing isn’t.
Marketing isn’t inexpensive. It isn’t a business card. It isn’t a logo and no, it isn’t a website. If that were the case, then crowdsourcing would rule the industry!
Instead, marketing is a professional vocation that takes a look at any business or brand holistically. Business owners should take more care about entrusting their business to just anyone. Just because you can write, doesn’t make you a writer. Just because you can draw, doesn’t make you a graphic designer and just because you have profiles on Facebook and Twitter, doesn’t make you a social media expert.
Marketing definitely includes all of the aforementioned skills. However, marketing a business involves much more. Marketing is about defining your promise to your audience as well as your ability to articulate it succinctly to them. It’s about developing how your business will be perceived from a simple leave behind, visiting your website or receiving a direct mail piece.
From the get-go, marketing is about determining your definition of success for your business. It’s about setting clear objectives and then formulating a plan to achieve those objectives. Once you outline a plan, you must keep in mind that every initiative you implement, (from business cards to direct mails or even your website), needs to feed into your business position and promise.
Business owners don’t usually think twice about the expense of hiring a certified accountant. But, they won’t usually invest the appropriate amount for their business marketing. Make no mistake, marketing a business properly is an investment. The dollars you spend for your business in marketing, when executed properly, will bring in more business. The old adage, “You have to spend money to make money”, has some truth to it. But you also need to spend the money properly. One of my favourite sayings is, “Spending $1,000 may be more expensive then spending $10,000.” If the $1,000 isn’t attached to a pre-designated outcome and brings your business nothing, then it’s like burning money. If $10,000 is spent with pre-designated objectives and achieves appropriate results, then it’s a good spend.
If you haven’t been already, it’s time to market your business properly. Don’t get caught unaware of this marketing pitfall. After all, doesn’t your business deserve better?
by Miriam Hara | Feb 13, 2015 | Branding, Business Success, Communications, Latest, Marketing
The most common marketing pitfall that brand keepers make that I have come across is “talking to themselves”. I am not eluding that I have never fallen into that marketing pitfall myself. However, I believe after years of training against “talking to myself”, the lesson has finally kicked in!
It goes without saying that most of us marketers pride ourselves on the the fact that we know our brand. Not only do we know it, we live it, breath it and love it. In order to excel at our profession, we need to understand and know our product, our market, its various segments, the competition and of course our target markets.
It’s so easy to fall into the marketing pitfall of “talking to yourself”. After all, aren’t your views, your expertise and experience what the brand needs? Isn’t that why you’re at the “marketing table” so to speak? The short answer is yes and no. How do you determine if you are succeeding to make important decisions about your brand not basing them on your own point of view?
As professional marketers, it can be easy for us to believe that we see the world the same way that consumers see it. Simply put, that’s not accurate.
That’s really the most common marketing pitfall. Think of it this way: There’s a reason why market research surveys eliminate those of us who say we are in marketing. We just don’t view the world the same way.
The truth is, to be a good marketing professional, you need to immerse yourself in your brand and then you need to step away from it. You need to ask the key questions, listen to the responses and most importantly, be prepared to make the necessary changes.
As marketers we need to understand that consumers don’t think of our brand for a fraction of the time that we do. Hopefully, your brand is in the subconscious minds of your consumers, although they just don’t think of it in the same way that you do. But, your brand will become top of mind for those consumers who are in need of the ‘product’, from cars, tablets, detergent to salt. Of course, that’s if you’ve done your job properly.
So when you’re designing your next brand campaign or building a better website, don’t assume. Research, develop questionnaires that are designed to flesh out the real story of your brand to determine what it means to consumers and how they perceive it. To avoid this marketing pitfall of “talking to yourself” you need wear your consumer’s shoes. That way, you’ll talk the way they do.
by Miriam Hara | Feb 11, 2015 | Business Success, Latest
Just in time for Saint Valentine’s Day, here’s a post about business love!
Business love: Does it have a place in the work-life balance mindset of today’s business environment? There are many times while in the process of interviewing potential employees, I hear about the importance of work-life balance. Although, I rarely hear about the passion for the work or business that is necessary for the role they’re applying for. I recognize that there is a shift in people’s mindsets regarding the “space” that work or business takes up in their lives, and I am all for that. With technology making us all so accessible, it is often difficult to set parameters. However, setting parameters doesn’t mean giving up on business love.
Generally speaking, I’m surprised to see that there seems to be a lack of enthusiasm about the “business” itself. Regardless of work-life balance, there is still a considerable amount of physical time spent at work – making “business love” necessary. However, business love doesn’t mean that work must be all consuming. What it does mean is that people need to take ownership and have consideration for the business they’re in.
Ultimately, practicing business love translates into loving the business you’re in. There is really only one key factor that determines if you practice business love. That factor is passion. Whatever you do, no matter the industry or the role, in order to have business love you need to be passionate.
Here is a list of ways to practice business love:
- When you are entrusted to do something, do it. Ensure it is done in the precise manner and time it requires.
- Understand that good enough is never good enough. It must be better than good. It has be right and it has to sparkle.
- Do more than just show up. Just like exercise, showing up and going through the motions won’t get results. You have to be dedicated during the time you’re there!
- Understand that business isn’t personal. Just because something doesn’t go according to your plan, doesn’t mean that the business love you’ve exercised was a waste of time. In fact in any business, flexibility is a must. Learning to bend is always a good thing!
- Loving what you do doesn’t take away from your work-life balance – it actually enhances it. Loving what you do makes for a happier you.
So embrace enjoy your work-life balance while reaping the rewards from practicing business love!
by Miriam Hara | Feb 9, 2015 | Branding, Business Success, Latest, Marketing
What type of marketer are you really? Are you a brand maker or a brand keeper? Is there a difference? Before going any further, I would like to point out that there is no shame in being one or the other – Brand and business need both.
In the era of personal branding, it is becoming vastly important to define yourself within your profession so that you and your brand can achieve success. At the same time, there is no gain in not being truthful about the qualities you have.
Defining these two types of marketers is probably the best way to distinguish their differences. A brand maker is involved with key decisions that involve the destiny of a brand or business. Whereas, a brand keeper holds to the path of the brand as it has been determined by others. Also, a brand maker takes risks, albeit calculated and educated risks, but risks all the same. A brand keeper is ofter risk adverse. A brand maker relies on intuition coupled with the information they have through all other channels. They can “see” the next curve and aren’t unafraid to go up to bat and fight for the direction that the brand needs to go in.
In reality, a brand existence needs both to grow and flourish. In my view, whether you’re a brand maker or brand keeper is subject to the market environment. Due to globalization, it’s a market reality many marketers are faced with today. However, regardless of why, the truth of it still applies.
I read a statement from Beloved Brands, taken from a slide presentation about Personal Branding for Leaders. The author, Graham Robertson, eloquently and succinctly stated, “With less control over the pure direction of a business or brand, marketing becomes a bit more of a do-er support function who explains what has already been done by the brand, rather than a strategic marketer who leads the business.”
As markets are merging, and the world is getting smaller, so is the business world. The advent of technology has facilitated the ease of viewing information and content internationally. Like all situations in business, it’s a matter of opportunity. There does still exist opportunities to shape business and brands wherever you are. So essentially it’s a matter of if you are willing to take that opportunity and run with it. You decide.
