SALES & MARKETING: Top Ten Branding Tips - Do you agree?

Top Ten Branding Tips

Branding is one of the most important aspects of a strong company when it comes to securing the goodwill and trust of your customers. Newcastle Branding Specialists Urban River provides 10 Branding Tips advising how to build a strong brand that can add value to your company and ultimately generate sales.

1. Put your customers first

Identify who they are and how they think.  What are the factors that lead them to want your product or service? Now match your business offering to their needs.

2. Brand identity

A strong element of how your company is seen by your customers, your brand identity should remain consistent to reinforce your values continually.  This will help your customers make the decision to buy from you instead of your competitors.

3. Positioning

The way you ‘position’ yourself in the market will determine how customers think about your company in relation to your competitors – are you price lead or quality driven?  Whatever your chosen path, this should be reflected in your marketing copy, images and materials.

4. Keep it simple

Keep names and straplines short, simple and consistent.  Once chosen, use the company name and strapline in every possible means of communication to ensure future recognition and brand association.

5. Involve all staff

Your greatest ambassadors or your biggest weakness – how you involve your staff in branding will determine how much they can help reinforce that brand.  Keep them updated, encourage involvement and ensure a united front for the business.  A cohesive staff team will appear extremely professional and trustworthy to potential customers.

6. Develop a brand plan

Careful management of a brand on an ongoing basis will ensure the brand remains strong, clear and unaffected by outside influences.  Form a plan to maintain brand values and ensure any changes are made in line with brand values.

7. Consistency

A simple set of guidelines will ensure that everyone (internally and externally) can apply your brand in a consistent manner. This is crucial to ensure your potential customers develop a familiarity with, and trust of, your brand.

8. Different media

Keep a close eye on the use of your brand guidelines across different media such as newspapers, radio, print, website, social media and email marketing.  Size, colour and positioning of your logo is essential and the correct use of these should be ensured at all times.

9. Review

Make sure all occurrences of incorrect branding are tackled as they arise and the correct guidelines are understood for the future; nipping such problems in the bud will avoid long-term damage.

10. Involve the professionals

While it’s tempting to enter into a spot of DIY branding this is often not a good idea and can be costly in terms of time and money to address at a later date.  You may seek to employ a professional creative agency to help establish the future brand security of your company.

It’s as simple as that! For more branding and design insight why not pop in for a chat, sign up to our words of wisdom or view our portfolio.

MARKETING STRATEGIES: MAXIMIZING MARKETING STRATEGIES TO SERVE HISPANIC CONSUMERS

MAXIMIZING MARKETING STRATEGIES TO SERVE HISPANIC CONSUMERS

Published April 16, 2014 in Food Product Design

Posted in News, Market Research, Market Trends, Hispanic, Demographic, Retail, Foodservice, Snack Foods, Beverages, Bakery / Cereal, Frozen / Refrigerated Foods, Convenience Foods, Meat Products,Dairy, Fruits / Vegetables, Costs, Economics, Ethnic, Proteins, Consumer Preference, Nutrition, Diet,Sauces / Gravies / Soup, Grains / Pasta / Tuber

CHICAGO—A group of six companies formed a new industry alliance to develop ways to help marketers, advertisers and retailers maximize effective best practices and marketing strategies to best serve Hispanic consumers. The consortium includes IRI, Latinum Network, Univision, Telemundo Media, UM and Rentrak.

U.S. Hispanic consumers are a powerful and growing economic force with a buying power in excess of $1 trillion, driven by a population 56 million strong that is expected to grow to 131 million people by 2050. Despite the tremendous potential of this market, less than 5% of current media is devoted to advertising, representing a spending gap of approximately $22 billion.

The consortium—unique in its breadth and scale in understanding the impact of marketing activities geared toward Hispanics—has two primary goals: To develop a scorecard of brands’ performance and traction with Hispanic consumers relative to their peers and industry; and to enable members to maximize the impact of advertising targeting Hispanics by building Hispanic brand strategies and a “total market" approach that balances general market and multicultural investments.

Highlights of the Hispanic Marketer’s Playbook will include efficient Hispanic reach generation strategies; Hispanic engagement and impact through social and mobile media; synergy and halo of Hispanic media with promotional levers; impact of dubbed and translated commercials versus original Spanish language creative effects; show integration strategies and effectiveness; and creating Hispanic research and metrics frameworks for success.

The study will leverage IRI’s proven Hispanic Mix Drivers platform—a powerful marketing-mix modeling platform that incorporates robust statistical techniques in modeling Hispanic sales trends and quantifying Hispanic marketing lifts. The modeling rigor is balanced with heuristics derived from a massive industry benchmarks database collected from a multitude of consumer behavior studies conducted over a 10-year period. The modeling engine is further enriched by cross-media audience data through the consortium alliance and IRI’s network of resources.

The study will enroll participants in April and through June 2014. Participants will receive results on their brands in August 2014 through in-depth review sessions. Macro insights distilled from across all participating brands ,as well as the Hispanic Marketing Playbook, will be unveiled at a industry event targeted for Fall 2014.

FPD’s Take:
Understanding which product categories appeal to each Hispanic consumer group will be critical to effectively connecting with these consumers and understanding the situations and motivations that drive category consumption will enable food companies to influence future sales to these
Hispanics make up 17% of the U.S. population, wield $1.2 trillion buying power and are more brand loyal with a lesser emphasis on price-point compared to the national average, according to data from Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA). The findings suggest consumer packaged goods brands that focus on Hispanic marketing are most likely to see more rapid topline revenue growth than those who are not as focused on the market.

Not only do Hispanics represent 56% of the U.S. population growth between 2000 and 2010, but they spend more time and money per trip to the grocery store than the national average, they bring more family members with them to shop. Data showed a significant difference in the revenue growth rate attained by CPG companies that designate a higher focus to the Hispanic market than those corporations who focus less.

Sources:

• IRI: New Industry Alliance to Accelerate Effectiveness of Marketing to Hispanics

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION: Customer testimonials are priceless. Here's how to get them

 
• Marketing »
 
• Sales

COMMENTARY

Customer testimonials are priceless. Here's how to get them

COLLEEN FRANCIS

Special to The Globe and Mail

Published Wednesday, Mar. 26 2014, 5:00 AM EDT

Last updated Tuesday, Mar. 25 2014, 3:13 PM EDT

These examples will truly grow your business while making a difference!  I encourage you to try them.

“Buyers believe buyers first, the seller second and the business third.” This is a direct quote from an entrepreneur I coach, and he’s right.

Testimonials are amazingly persuasive: They touch on both the facts and emotions that drive people to make decisions. They reaffirm that your claims are credible and that your services are the real deal. They validate the value you deliver to the prospect. And they do so with a message that is unmistakably authentic and sincere.

Here are the some great ways to acquire testimonials:When a client says great things about you, about your work or the products you sell, give them the opportunity to turn that praise into a testimonial. Simply ask: “I’d really love to share your success with others. Would that be okay?” People generally like to be helpful to other people, but they’ll rarely think to give you that all-powerful testimonial unless you ask.

1. Contact your newest customers first. Get on the phone and call your newest customers. No matter which industry you serve, the most passionate praise you’ll find for your work and the service tends to come from customers with whom you have only recently started doing business. Follow Audi’s lead: Fewer than 30 days after a new car purchase, an Audi representative calls to confirm that the customer is happy with the purchase and to ask for feedback on the dealership. If that feedback is positive the surveyor asks if that information can be shared.

2. Contact your wise and insightful repeat customers. Your repeat customers, while perhaps not as excited because they are used to the great service you give them, provide prospects with important insight about what makes your product or service worth buying. Make a point of calling up people you’ve been doing business with for a long time and ask them why it is that they call on you. The answers you get will often include a great sentence or two that can be added to your testimonial collection. Again, all you have to do is ask.

3. Make it easy for people. One of the most common comments you’ll hear from clients when asking for testimonials is “Well I’m really not much of a writer, so it’s hard for me to put it in words.” The real power of testimonials comes from the fact that they’re not polished, that they’re authentic and from the heart. A business owner I know recently told me that he interviews all clients starting with “Finish this sentence in twenty-five words or less: I really like (product/service/person) because . . .” This approach works because it gets right to the point about the feelings people have for you, and how what you do.

4. Do unto others. Write testimonials for others in your client community and those whose services have impressed you. This creates reciprocity, and sends an important message to everyone about the high standards you have not only as a supplier, but as a buyer, too. Social networking sites such as LinkedIn are handy tools for doing this. (Please note that I am not suggesting you use the LinkedIn “endorsement” function. That I find useless and quite frankly, annoying. Instead, use the functionality that lets you actually write a testimonial for the client, supplier, or partner.) You will find that they will return the favour with glowing references for you too.

5. Thank your customers regularly. When you ask for a testimonial, you are battling with numerous other competing customer priorities. By thanking them (sincerely!) for taking the time to act on your request, your customers will treat your request with higher priority. And when you receive the testimonial, be old-fashioned; send a handwritten thank-you note.

Testimonials are the best way to convince prospects to do business with you. They allow you to say:  “Don’t just take my word for it, have a look at what my customers say . . .” When you do so, you deepen prospect confidence and dramatically reduce barriers to closing the sales.

Sales expert Colleen Francis is founder and president of Engage Selling Solutions. Ms. Francis ensures clients realize immediate results, achieve lasting success and permanently raise their bottom line.

Follow us @GlobeSmallBiz and on Pinterest
Join our Small Business LinkedIn group
Add us to your circlesSign up for our weekly newsletter

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION: How traditional companies are using social media in unexpected ways

 
• Marketing »
 
• Advertising

COMMENTARY

How traditional companies are using social media in unexpected ways

MIA PEARSON

Special to The Globe and Mail

Published Thursday, Mar. 20 2014, 5:00 AM EDT

Last updated Wednesday, Mar. 19 2014, 12:20 PM EDT

Here are some great ideas to grow your business through social media.  What is your company doing?

I hear it all the time: Social media makes sense for hot, edgy and risk-averse lifestyle brands with loyal followers. Brands that have an established reputation like Nike and RedBull use tools like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to extend their brands and excite their audiences.

No one was surprised, for example, when RedBull released the point-of-video Stratos Jump that garnered more than four million views within a week. Or when Colgate-Palmolive erected ice climbing walls in key locations across Canada. By encouraging fans to share video and photos of their experience, they were able to zero in on their target demographic (20- to 30-year-old males).

Turn up the heat But for more traditional, business-to-business (B2B) brands or those that deliver a more utilitarian product or service to customers, is there still an opportunity? Absolutely. And in fact, if done right, unexpected social media magic can happen.

Duracell Canada recently released a ‘social experiment” video, which encouraged commuters to hold hands as a way to power up a heated bus station in Montreal. The video captured Duracell taking over the bus stops and the reaction of strangers who were lucky enough to experience a little warmth during the polar vortex. The Moments of Warmth video was viewed more than 400,000 in a week, leading to thousands of conversations around a battery company that wouldn’t have happened without the support of social media.

Create the conversation

Danish container shipping giant Maersk Line is a fairly traditional company that has taken advantage of social media. After numerous ‘container spotters’ started posting photos of the ships on the Inernet, Maersk Line jumped on board with this phenomenon using the hashtag #maerskline and uploaded the photos to the Maersk Facebook page helping grow it to 400,000 fans in just 11 months. The company quickly added Instagram and Pinterest and the photos are making waves with more than 25,000 followers on Instagram alone.

Stay socially consistent

General Electric is a good example of a company that is not doing anything out of the ordinary but rather perfecting the art of consistency. In addition to posting fresh content, GE regularly taps into already trending conversations like Throwback Thursday (#TBT) by posting photos on their social feeds that date back to the 60s. Everyone loves nostalgia and the recent Pi-Day Instagram post, which celebrated the ‘circles of life,’ garnered 1,500 likes. GE is consistently owning conversations by finding ways to integrate its brand into the current news cycle.

The opportunities on social are endless. Every brand, regardless of size or status, has an opportunity to engage fans with smart, creative campaigns. It can be as simple as a smart post that leverages a trending conversation, to a large integrated campaign that encompasses everything from paid, experiential and earned. While it may not always make sense at first glance, a creative and strategic approach can make magic on these platforms.

Mia Pearson is the co-founder of North Strategic. She has more than two decades of experience in creating and growing communications agencies, and her experience spans many sectors, including financial, technology, consumer and lifestyle.

Follow us @GlobeSmallBiz and on Pinterest
Join our Small BusinessLinkedIn group
Add us toyour circles
Sign up for our weekly newsletter

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION: Video marketing provides great return on investment

• »
 
• Advertising

COMMENTARY

Video marketing provides great return on investment

LISA OSTRIKOFF

Special to The Globe and Mail

Published Thursday, Mar. 27 2014, 1:07 PM EDT

Last updated Thursday, Mar. 27 2014, 1:11 PM EDT

This is an excellent article for growing your business.  Remember to "target" your audience.  Monitor results so that you can gain more support from your executives.  

If you’re interested in the immense potential of creating, sharing and distributing digital content in 2014, consider who’s doing it best to help you achieve great results.

It’s been known for some time that online video helps businesses increase their brand awareness, generate genuine buzz, and increase sales. What’s becoming more evident is how much of a difference it makes, which is reflected in the results of the latest industry studies.

73 per cent are more likely to make a purchase after watching a video.
One of the latest, released this year by Animoto, which surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers, highlights the impact of video: 


• 96 per cent say online videos are helpful when making purchasing decisions.
• 71 per cent say watching online video content leaves them with a positive impression of the brand, service or company.

According to eMarketer, online video is one of the marketing approaches that promises the greatest return on investment.

One key business-to-consumer sector is retail, where we are seeing video used to assist a customer’s journey through the sales funnel. Videos offer a better view of products, they promote trends, they express brand culture, and they make a statement that’s much bolder than most advertising methods. From longer-form videos on YouTube to bite-sized content on Vine and Instagram, the smart brands are getting on board, and they’re seeing results.

Zappos was one of the first and it continues to be one of the most mentioned retail brands leveraging online video. Tens of thousands of videos are embedded on its website at any given time and its YouTube channel is full of products, how-tos, and company culture videos. Zappos also encourages its customers to play a role by allowing them to upload their Zappos Experiencevideos. While the online shoes and clothing shop is a huge video-hustle example, smaller retailers can start to emulate its success with a few small pieces.

French Connection is another example of a brand that regularly pushes video content to its network on YouTube and other social media. It creates and releases seasonal fashion updates, fashion tips, campaign teasers and series of short “films” that celebrate the “power of clothing.”

Most of them are short and sweet with creative fair – the company puts some of its fashions on a 360-degree moving display, which offers a more engaging experience that is trusted by consumers more than, say, digitally manipulated photos. 

Other top retail YouTube channels includeHome Depot – with a variety of cool DIY project tutorials – Bed Bath and Beyond “product of the week” segments, and Best Buy how-to videos and “latest technology” news.

With mobile traffic set to increase 13-fold by 2017, retail brands have been quick to experiment with short-form video platforms such as Vine and Instagram. From Ford to H&M, Reebok, GoPro, Ralph Lauren and Tide, there’s even a mashup of the top branded short-form videos of February, 2014. From informative content to entertainment to shock value, there’s no shortage of creativity and unique approaches.

Strategically, it’s about honing in on content a retailer’s target demographic would find intriguing, engaging, informative and helpful, all of which contributes to brand awareness and increased sales. Most brands take a similar strategic approach to video, though the content, of course, is quite different and tailored specifically to their audience.

Not convinced yet? Here are a few more stats from the initial study mentioned:

• Video plays an impressive role in consumers’ lives with 94 per cent watching it at least once a week from their desktop.
• 76 per cent of smartphone owners watch videos at least once a week on their devices.
• 89 per cent are likely to share a video if they consider it educational.
• 86 per cent are likely to share a video if there is an incentive, such as a promotion or discount.

Roll and record, retailers. 
This is your year to make an impact with online video.

Lisa Ostrikoff is a TV journalist and anchor-turned-creator of BizBOXTV, a Canadian online video production, advertising and social media marketing agency. You can find her on Twitter and Facebook .