Marketing News Roundup
Here is a mashup of news on brand identity and marketing.
Brand Identity
- Virgin Atlantic Unveils New Livery and Brand Identity – PR Newswire (press release)
- Catch Hold of Audience Interests with Effective Logos – lonad News
- Disney is likely to promote Paul Lee to ABC Entertainment president – Los Angeles Times
- New Tampa Bay Lightning CEO Tod Leiweke to focus on ‘brand’ – Tampabay.com
- Journey of a brand, cowboy to urban knight – Bizcommunity.com
Marketing
- Meredith Reports Strong Fiscal 2010 Fourth Quarter & Full Year Results – MarketWatch (press release)
- Ambush marketing: HUL’s last-minute surprise foxes P&G – Economic Times
- DG FastChannel(R) to Present at Oppenheimer Annual Technology, Media … – MarketWatch (press release)
- FP Marketing: The unstoppable Old Spice guy – Financial Post
- What Earnings Reports Have Revealed About Ads – ABC News
Summer Soirée
Gail’s Graphic Designs joins
The Bronx Networking Group and JudyNetworks
in presenting The Bronx Networking Group Summer Soirée,
a hot summer evening of cocktails, networking, great food and great
people on the rooftop at Tosca Cafe in the Bronx.
Invite your friends and business associates to join us
at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, June 30, 2010. Arrive early for a
special treat, and be sure to bring your business cards. Learn More…
Event Page | Twitter | Forward to a Colleague
Let Them Know You Exist: “Promote And Prosper”
According to Ms. Raleigh Pinskey, Author of 101 Ways to Promote Yourself — “In order to promote and prosper, I feel that you have to take responsibility for your own success, take charge of your destiny. If you don’t introduce yourself, if you don’t tell them what you’re all about how are they going to know you exist?”
Here is a list of 10 ways to promote and prosper as recommended by Ms. Pinskey:
- Sponsor or create your own event
- Teach a class
- Exhibit at tradeshows
- Write articles or a book
- List your company in “expert directories”
- Mentor kids in the community
- Volunteer/community involvement
- Send out press releases about new hires, products, clients, and more
- Postcard or e-mail campaigns
- Sit on the boards of organizations and associations
What do you do to promote yourself or your business?
2014 Interactive Marketing Budget Forecast
Change is here—the ways in which your audience view and process information from standard media sources has changed. Technology has empowered the consumer to access information as they read and surf across offline and online media. My children (I am guilty of it as well) are engaged in watching TV, chatting with friends on Facebook and surfing the Internet to research a movie/song/gadget/concert all at the same time.
Small, medium and big companies are paying attention to the digital culture. Forrester Research provides a peek at the interactive marketing budget of US companies. The interactive marketing spending as a percentage of all advertising spending will grow from 13% in 2010 to 21% in 2014. The two top choices for interactive marketing investing are search marketing and display advertising. See chart below.
Source: American Marketing Association, Forrester Research’s US Interactive Marketing Forecast 2009-2014; Cambridge, Mass.
Website Design: Template or Custom (Part I)?
I recently sent out a proposal for branding the company of a small business owner. For illustrative purposes we will call the client Joan.
Joan was on a very tight budget as all start-ups are. I mentioned to Joan that instead of a custom website we could cut cost and time considerably if we customize a template for her. I told Joan a website is like building a house from the ground up or purchasing a ready-made new home. Here is what I shared with Joan to help her decide.
Template Web Design Pros
- Customizable
- Wide selection of premade and turnkey templates
- Quick turnaround time
- Very low cost
Template Web Design Cons
- Design not unique
- Customization may be limited
- Coding errors that prevent SEO (reducing chances that visitors can easily find you)
- Generic look of design (not branded)
With templates, the graphic design part of the work has already been done; you pay a licensing fee to use that template, as long as you comply with the terms of the license. Website templates are cheap, but like everything else you will get exactly what you pay for.
If you are a client looking to save money and time, we suggest going with a website template and finding a professional web designer that will customize a pre-made template design for you. Beware of web design scams from designers who sell premade templates as unique custom designs!
Next week I will share the pros and cons of custom website designs.
Client Perception is Everything: Avoid Bad Sales Collateral
Making a good impression is the top secret weapon of choice for salespeople. Sales collateral is a major part of a salesperson’s “good impression” toolkit. Sales collateral include business card, brochure, promotion gift, sell sheet, and anything designed for a salesperson to increase his/her client base.
Have you ever looked at a business card, flyer, website or postcard and immediately said I would never do business with this company or you simply dismissed the company and said next? That is your client perception working.
Some companies use collateral that hurt sales. According to Alexander Hiam, author of Marketing For Dummies, in choosing your sales collateral, avoid the following:
Plastic: cheap plastic folders, clear plastic page protectors, or big, ugly plastic sample cases all say tacky and cheap to prospects. Use high-quality papers and favor cloth or leather cases and bindings, if at all possible.
Amateur designs and layouts: Sure, anyone can design sales and marketing materials in this era of high-quality laser printers, but most people shouldn’t. Amateurs often create poor-looking, confusing layouts. Their work just doesn’t have that special look that characterizes fine design —and the better prospects notice.
Errors: An amazing number of factual and spelling errors exist in sales collateral. Salespeople perpetually have to make corrections or explain errors in front of prospects, which is like saying, “Please use our business. Of course, we can’t even type a spec sheet accurately, but we can muddle through your order somehow.” Right.
Omissions: Most salespeople go on calls without all the collateral materials and information they need to do a great job. They don’t have a good brochure. Their business cards don’t have the current address or the company’s fax number and website. The price list is out of date. Their order form is a cheap pad bought at the local stationery store.
As you send your salespeople out in the field, arm them with good collateral. Help them to be sucessful so that your company can inturn be succesful as well.
“Guerilla Marketing” In The Bronx
Guerrilla Marketing is defined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book Guerrilla Marketing. The objective of guerrilla marketing is to create a unique, engaging and thought-provoking concept to generate buzz, and consequently turn viral. The term has since entered the popular vocabulary and marketing books.
Guerrilla marketing involves unusual approaches such as encounters in public places, street giveaways of products, PR stunts, any unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources. Evidenced by my recent blog post on one of the things Blossom Flower is doing to increase profits.
Travis Bowens owner of a tax franchise, Instant Tax Service, located at 646D Neried Avenue (Bronx, NY) wowed the neighborhood with his grand opening stunt. Travis worked with AARROWADS.COM to create a buzz in the town. For 8 or 10 blocks from Travis’ office we could see men wearing bright red shirts and twirling signs with the name and logo of Instant Tax Service.
Take a look at the posted video featuring Erwin Pacheco (1-888-5-AARROW) and tell me what you’ve done in your neighborhood to earn the name “Guerrilla Marketer” or share what others are doing to maximize profits.
Building Your Marketing Collateral In 2010
New Year—New decade—Optimism is in the air. I predict 2010 will be your most productive year ever if you take action today!
Begin by taking stock of your current marketing collateral and determine what worked for you in 2009. Marketing collateral — or printed pieces that support your marketing efforts include but are not limited to:
- Brochures
- Business Cards
- Catalogs
- Newsletters
- Note Cards
- Pocket Folders
- Postcards
- Reports/Whitepapers
- Sales Sheets
2010 Action Plan
- Review current marketing collateral.
- Remove outdated or non-producing pieces.
- Post reports, whitepapers on your website and provide an easy way for prospects to view them.
- Keep extra brochures, mailers and business cards with you.
- Write thank-you notes, follow-up letters, reminder cards and more on your note cards.
- Be sure to give out brochures and business cards to people and businesses that not only want them, but can use or recommend your services.
Keep your marketing collateral current as different styles, colors, even words change from the “in” to the “out” list and a smart business stays on top of these changes and responds to them.
Here’s looking towards 2010 and beyond…put your action plan in place today!
Maria’s Insightful Solutions. Lasting Results.
I welcome Maria Marsala as a new contributor to our blog. Maria is a Business Strategist, Coach, Speaker and former Wall Street trader. You will find her articles insightful and I urge you to visit her website at www.coachmaria.com.
The One-Hour Marketing Solution
Summary: If you hate the thought of marketing, this article is for you. There are people who have found ways to market with integrity and have lots of fun, too. If this describes you, then skip this article! Other people would rather be doing anything else – even getting a tooth pulled (well almost) – instead of marketing. If that describes you, then start marketing 60-minutes each day.
Just 60 minutes/day
Now, I’m not talking about creating forms, business cards, etc. Instead, take 1 hour each day and “really” market. First use that time to design a marketing plan (review your business plan for some ideas). Make sure that your plan includes many enjoyable ways to market or ways you think you’d enjoy. Do I hear lunch? Next, spend one hour per day conducting any type of marketing! Or spend the equivalent of that time – 2 afternoons per week or whatever way works for you – as long as it equals 5 hours per week.
Over time, you too will realize that marketing is fun. Without realizing, your marketing time will automatically begin to increase. Remember, if you get stuck… go to the web or your local bookstore and check out all the marketing information. There are rows upon rows of “how to market” books. So, keep in mind, you can market your way, market with integrity, and have fun, too.
Use the books below to investigate fun ways to market:
- “Guerrilla Marketing Handbook” (or any guerrilla book) by Jay Levinson and Seth Godin Lots of inexpensive and great ideas to build a marketing foundation and see what enjoyable methods you can add to your marketing plan.
- “Selling The Invisible: A Field Guide To Modern Marketing” by Harry Beckwith Especially good if you market a service vs. a product.
- “The Portable Coach: 28 Surefire Strategies for Business and Personal Success” by Thomas Leonard Marketing using the 28 principals of attracting people and business to you.
- “Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends, and Friends into Customers” by Seth Godin and Don Peppers.
- “Integrity Selling: How to Succeed in Selling in the Competitive Years Ahead” by Ron Willingham.
- Visit our recommended business foundation books, at www.TheResourceQueen.com/books.
Contributor: Maria Marsala
© 2009 Chief Business Collaborator Maria Marsala has been publishing MORE BUSINESS ezine since 1999. If you’re ready to make more money, kick-start your marketing and live a high quality life, get your FREE tips now at www.ElevatingYourBusiness.com.
What One Business Owner Did To Increase Sales?
The key to promoting any business in hard times isn’t to reduce your marketing but to switch to low-budget or no cost marketing activities.
While driving in my neighborhood last weekend a sign caught my eye. Although small, and seemingly inexpensive, it was a fantastic marketing idea:
“If your name is Frederick?
Come in to receive your FREE GIFT”
I was excited because my brother-in-law’s name is Frederick. I told the kids we should tell Fred to stop by for his free gift. This little inexpensive sign made me stop the car and enter the shop to see what was going on inside. The shop was full of holiday cheer, beautiful flower arrangements and best of all helpful store associates. I made a note to myself that this shop is a must stop next time I am on the block.
A young lady at the register greeted me with a smile and I asked her for the manager. I then met Christine Price (order coordinator and graphic designer at large). I asked Christine about the sign and this is what she said. “We have been using it for a few years. This was thought up by the owner to get “window shoppers” into the store. They might not buy anything at the time they come in to get their free prize. Our hope is that they remember what they got and also what they saw while waiting. We have a lot more to offer in the store that they can’t see from the street. So when people come in they can browse around while they anxiously await their prize. Also it’s nice to meet people in the neighborhood. People like to win things; it is a small price to pay for a new customer!”
Are your marketing and promotional ideas stopping customers in their tracks? Share your ideas by leaving a comment below.
Photo and marketing idea was posted with permission from
Blossom Flower: The Kegan family established its floral business in the Fordham area of the Bronx, NY, in 1925. Now in our fourth generation of continuous family service, we have grown in orderly manner to a central distribution facility in Yonkers, NY (just 15 minutes north of Manhattan) and 1 additional shop in White Plains, NY. Visit our Blog: www.blossomflowerblog.com and Website: www.blossomflower.com.
