by Lisa Wedmann | Aug 9, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Creative, Latest
“Life can be much broader. You can embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.” – Steve Jobs
I was reading about the soon to be released movie “Jobs” with Ashton Kutcher and this quote jumped out at me. So much knowledge packed into one simple sentence.
I get it. I totally agree. Jobs is a testimony to this philosophy. I can easily live vicariously through Jobs and let this knowledge spill into all areas of my life. In this case, it captures my interest in marketing and brand building. Brand can be much broader. You can embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it. It’s about a brand’s life cycle and it being able to live in the now.
Embrace it
There’s much to be said about your product and positioning your brand. But embracing it, now that’s where it gets juicy. Embracing is about nurturing and caring. It’s the point in your product life cycle where you have done your research. You understand what it takes to make your brand strong and resilient. You are not afraid to stand behind your brand and make your mark. You own your product. You protect it. And you embrace it.
Change it
For brands, change is not always good, but sometimes it’s necessary.. Knowing when to tweak an element of your brand or when to re-haul it takes a keen sense of timing and a marketing intuition. In most cases when brands (not products) need a total re-position, it’s because the brand hasn’t had the attention it deserves…for quite some time.
Improve it
Improving your brand is not about changing it. It is about realigning your brand to keep it current. It’s about paying attention and having your brand live in the now. Improving how your brand is presented and keeping it relevant to the market ensures its success. Staying on trend. Being fresh. In today’s marketing landscape, this is keeping current with social media and all that it has to offer.
Make your mark upon it
And here’s where Jobs was so distinctive. We can all agree he made his mark. We are all familiar with the iconic apple symbol, the brand and all that it means, not only as a product, but as an experience and a promise.
Jobs left us the formula for life success that can easily be adopted to brand success
We can all follow in Jobs’ footsteps. He left us the formula albeit, for life. To my way of thinking, Brand has a persona, and therefore, as mentioned at the beginning of this post, Brand has a life. We all refer to a brand and it’s product life cycle. Create a cohesive brand identity. Develop a unique identity that demonstrates your company’s personality. Make your product so impressive that people rush to do business with you and not your competition. Do whatever it takes to make it happen.
by Miriam Hara | Aug 3, 2013 | Business Success, Latest, Marketing, Social Media
At the risk of stating the obvious, social Media is social. It’s social and because it needs to be interactive it’s high maintenance. It’s a new way of networking….for brands and businesses. As such, there should be a considerable amount of investment earmarked to be successful in this arena. The definition of social media differs from every business’ perspective. For some it’s Facebook and Twitter, others it’s LinkedIn or Google+, or YouTube and Pinterest…. to name only a few. Regardless of perspective, social media impact on brands and business is building significant momentum. It has grown and there’s no sign of that momentum capping any time soon.
You already know that if you are managing a brand, a business, local or international, you must find and exercise your voice within this channel. Now that you have your space in the social media environment, you can now exercise social media influence. Building a solid community is a must. It’s important that you create a community that is relevant for your brand and business.
Here’s a short list of what you should consider when establishing a social media presence for your brand or business:
1) Determine the why. Understand why your brand or business needs to be in the social media space. And no, you guessed it, “because everyone else is there” isn’t enough of a good reason. It’ll help if you write the pros and cons of participating in this channel. Note, I did say participate. Social Media isn’t complacent.
2) Establish goals. Don’t just go at it! Is it important to build a 10,000 strong community? If s,o understand why it’s important. Establishing how your brand or business will define success in this channel is important to get future support and budget allocation towards this channel.
3) Be strategic. Don’t go for broke! If you can’t do all the properties, then just do 1 or 2 very well. Social Media demands time… and each property you engage in, needs attention and initiatives to build a community. Investigate the different properties (ie: Facebook, Pinterest, podcast, blogging), and understand how each of them can or can not benefit your brand and business. Like with every advertising budget, understanding the efficiencies of a property and its associated costs will offer direction on what to do and not do .
4) Engage Regularly! There’s a rhythm to any social media property you choose to take part in. You must walk the talk. Too many brands and businesses have a Facebook Page and don’t post regularly (and that is the key). That’s why you must not only intend to post consistently… you must plan it. If you don’t, then save yours business money; don’t be on Facebook! Same goes with having a Business Page on LinkedIn and not leveraging it. If you decide to create a forum, or blog, of newsletter, but don’t regularly post… then what’s the point? Social Media isn’t about observing, it’s about engaging!
5) Set Initiatives and Budgets. Have a realistic plan… and stick to it. It’s important to earmark funds to build momentum to set up a worthwhile community for your brand or business. It takes effort, time and dollars to build “critical mass” in order for your brand to get social!
Marketers know that social media is a staple in the new media subset and should be considered as much an advertising channel as billboards, TV, print, radio and direct mail– with the distinctive advantage of enabling a continuous dialogue flow with a brand’s market… providing information, insights and influence. To my point of view, high maintenance or not, social media for brands and business is no longer a nice to have, but a need to have.
by Lisa Wedmann | Jul 26, 2013 | Advertising, Business Success, Creative, Latest, Marketing, Objective
Quick… Pop Quiz
Answer the two following questions with the first answer that jumps in your mind.
- Who is the most creative person you know?
- Who is the most objective person you know?
Now think of those two people joined into one brain. Kind of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but they are both nice.
On the one side you have the creative person, full of original thoughts and insights, willing to try and experiment with new and innovative ideas.
On the other side, you have objective Judge Judy. Straight and by the book. Judgments are objective, based on facts and not influenced by personal feelings in the courtroom.
Creative ideas can turn into billions of dollars
Creative originality is valued in advertising and marketing. We create fresh views that draw and keep people’s interest. Just think of Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerman or Bill Gates. They all took a creative approach to their businesses; conducted creative campaigns and turned their ideas into billion dollar empires.
Objective thoughts balance creative ideas
At the same time business must be objective. You can bet that Steve, Mark and Bill were as objective as they were creative. They mixed their creative idea with business objectivity. They asked questions such as who is the market, how big is the market, where the market is headed, how much money can be made. This is objective thinking and the answers are the objective facts that are required to run a successful business.
Inventors need to be both creative and objective
We only have to look at a few examples of Dragon’s Den to understand where creative and objective didn’t always mix. On the television show inventors and entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a successful business panel. They hope to get money to grow and expand their business.
Many of these inventors, although creative come up with ideas that nobody wants. For example edible greeting cards for dogs or a pair of roller blades you strap to your knees to get from one kneeling job to another fast.
And for that reason they’re out.
by Lisa Wedmann | Jul 25, 2013 | Advertising, Business Success, Communications, Latest, Management, Problem Solving
Writing communications for business is a lot like swimming, if you don’t know the water you better stay out.
How deep is the water? What’s the temperature? Jumping in cold water… brrrrrrr… jumping into hot …well, just ask a lobster. Rocks in the water? In case you didn’t notice, rocks don’t move. And what if someone else is already in the water? What if they get in your way, panic and try to pull you under?
There are many dangers in not knowing the water.
Writing business communications is similar. If you don’t know what you’re getting into you can get yourself in some serious trouble. Here’s how to avoid those common, sometimes dangerous, errors when writing business communications.
Communications Tip #1 HOW DEEP IS THE WATER?
Many communications are written without knowing the characteristics of the audience. Who is reading your communication? Is it your team member, your boss, your client or the CEO? Each of these communications need a different style and tone appropriate to the audience. Don’t think that one style of communication fits all. Each of these audiences requires a different degree of information.
Your CEO doesn’t need all the details. What the CEO needs is a high level summary of the important points. Your client needs something different as does your boss and your team members.
You must fit the style, tone and content of your communications to the audience.
Communications Tip #2: WHAT”S THE TEMPERATURE?
Is this a hot communication or cold? Is this high priority or low?
Be clear on the urgency of your communications. As in all things in life, timing is critical. Act and expect actions depending on the pressures of the situation.
Communications Tip #3: WHERE ARE THE ROCKS?
What is lying in wait for your communications?
Is there a chance your communication could be interpreted the wrong way? Could someone take the wrong action based on this misinterpretation? Could your communication get blocked?
And though seemingly innocent, you mustn’t overlook those nasty little fish that hover around rocks and cause you distraction?
Don’t assume that you can simply avoid issues without knowing the dangers. Know the danger of your words and write your communications with these risks in mind.
Communications Tip #4: IS ANYBODY ELSE IN THE WATER?
This is the tip that many tend to forget. Who else is in the water? Who are the other players? Are they sending communications for or against your needs? How can you take advantage of communications by others? Can you piggyback on their information?
Be aware of others, whether they support or negate your cause and determine your best approach.
STAY SAFE
In swimming and in business communications, play safe. Do the right thing, at the right time and you will enjoy your day and all going well, catch some additional rays.
by Miriam Hara | Jul 24, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Latest, Marketing
Sales makes money and marketing spends money. It’s usually said in a snotty way and the person saying it usually acts all superior as if they have the secret to life and anyone who doesn’t understand is low, low down on the food chain. Say what you will, those of us in the advertising and marketing business we understand what’s behind the comment. We know where the truth lies. Let’s clear up a major misconception. Marketing and the advertising it propels gets customers and clients in the door, sales closes the deal. There’s different types of marketing for different types of business. But regardless of what business you’re in, there are considerations that should be part of the equation when you decide to go the do it yourself route.
Cutting Costs: Bring marketing tactics in-house
Since sales generates money, there are times when the marketing support areas feels that they are looked upon as an expense… not an investment. Therefore, the quick and superficial analysis says…cut costs by bringing design and media planning in house. You say the media commission and you don’t have to pay agency premiums of simple design. Bright idea in theory. But not so bright in application. There are two very real impacts to this decisions.
1. In-house marketing doesn’t cut costs
Hard to believe? But time will tell. Consider this.For you accountant types out there… outsourced marketing doesn’t require vacation pay, pensions, statutory holidays, office space, computers….think of the savings!!! All kidding aside… look at it from this perspective. Chances are in house marketing creative staff are not as skilled as specialists in an outside agency. The real aspect of a design is being challenged creatively. That ceases to become an option once they have been working on the same business of over a year. An outside agency works on many business, thereby creating a natural environment of creativity and growth. It wouldn’t be fair to expect your in house marketing creative team to be as nimble. They have little exposure to other creative talents. They must rely on themselves for inspiration. Isolated, tucked away in some remote area, creativity comes hard in this type of situation. Time drags on. And no, a marketing coordinator can’t do the media strategy and planning…nor should they. There’s an artform to strategically choosing which media to go to and what the benefits and results are going to be . A handful of people can’t be experts in graphic design, copywriting, social media, web design, packaging, advertising, television, radio… do I need to go on. In house staff will give their best efforts but their efforts will take longer and they can make costly mistakes.
2. In-house marketing can cost money
Mediocrity becomes the norm. Breakthrough thinking becomes a thing on the past.This will, over time, weaken sales. Unfortunately lack of inspiration, creativity and lack of expertise will slowly destroy your brand. It’s an insidious degradation, hard to detect and even harder to understand. Sales weaken and everyone wonders why. Some will say it’s the economy, the company needs restructuring, let’s burn the sales manager but few will look at their marketing department. Take this recommendation. Rather than try to staff for a department that is a vertical business to your business, take the time to choose the right agency. Agencies provide a new perspective. An outside perspective and will stand and fight for the right solution for your business and brand. Based on expertise and experience that is vast and varied. To make sound analogies and fair business assessments to grow your business. It’s important to choose the right agency for your business. Before you bring your marketing in house find and talk to a few advertising and marketing businesses and discuss your needs.Instead of bringing your marketing in house consider outsourcing your advertising and marketing. Let’s see, you want to know if we can give you a referral? Oh yes… a company called 3H comes to mind. 🙂
