Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Make the Company Name Count

Make the Company Name Count

It is better to have one quality advertisement that costs a little more than five inexpensive ads that do not have a positive image of your company. Before the final 'OK' is given, have a few of your trusted advisors or employees critique the advertisement and ask them for an honest evaluation. Rather than tell them about the purpose of the message, let them tell you if you have a quality ad or not. They should be able to express the purpose and the 'bottom line' of the message for the ad.

Press releases are a great way of getting your brand in front of the buyer and this message is free. Find something that is newsworthy: perhaps a sponsorship program, free training for the public, new hires or promotions all qualify. Send the information to your local paper and they will find a spot in an upcoming edition (they are always looking for good stories).

Advertising and Product Brochures Must be Positive

Advertising and Product Brochures Must be Positive

Branding must be consistent and positive with a single message that can be understood by all buyers. Your message must have powerful graphics that not only capture the buyer’s attention but also explain the message. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but make sure those thousand words are positive and memorable. Company and product brochures create a lasting impression that impact a customer in either a favorable way, or in a negative way that will cause them to shop elsewhere. If the company brochure explains the product and tells the reader how it will benefit them, the reader will want to read more. Most buyers today want to feel comfortable with their buying decisions and they are limited on time, so you must be concise and show them the value they will receive from their investment in your product or service.

Impact of the Internet on Branding

Impact of the Internet on Branding

The Internet has caused problems for many brands because most companies think of the web or the Net as just another advertising medium, like radio, television, newspapers and magazines. While the WWW is a mass communication medium, the difference between the web and any other mass medium is that it is interactive. The user of the message is in charge, not the sender. What the Net marketers have discovered is that people do not want advertising. As a result, when you try to advertise on the Net, people turn it off. They do not pay attention. Assuming the Web will be the same kind of a medium as television causes the biggest mistake in branding – it is not the same process, and different strategies are required in order to build a brand on the Web. The Web is a great place to start in branding your products or services.

You build a powerful Web brand by making the brand itself interactive, allowing the customer access to further information. If you are an established company with a well-known brand, the first question you should ask yourself is, "Should we move our distribution of this brand to the Web?" Every brick-and-mortar company should have a web site, but it should be an information site, not necessarily a branding or business site. It should be a place where customers can go if they want more information about a company or product.

Create the Right Impression

Create the Right Impression

* Logo Design to create the value of your product or service
* Letterhead, Business Cards and Invoices
* Web site and interactive design
* Brochures and Handouts that explain the products and their value to the buyer
* Business presentations, beginning with the telephone
* Exhibits and Trade Show presentation
* Product and packaging design
* Professional Customer Service

Unlike graphic designers, media-driven ad agencies and bloated branding firms, Sales Creators build company brands from the outside in, rather than from the inside out. That is why our brands get remembered with the people who buy them and use them. Branding is more than making a new logo or company slogan. It is the silent message that the buying public receives and motivates them to tell others about their purchase. Real branding increases the profitability and lowers the cost of getting new customers.

BRANDING MAGIC

Today's customers think of branding as that creative thing companies do with the name of a product or service. It is the packaging of a product which includes the visual impression, logo, the jingle or tune that your customer's mind conjures up when they hear your product name, and the identifiable phrase that keeps your product's name in front of the buying public. Branding can be as simple as designing a new wrapper or it can be an exciting long-term media campaign for print and television that communicates the brand message.

Today's buyers use their instincts to determine the worth of a product or service, and it is based on visual impressions. Potential buyers make the subconscious decision of whether or not they want to do business within the first few seconds of exposure to your company or product. This visual impression comes from the packaging of your product, the impression they have of your web site, and presentation information, such as brochures or business cards. A successful image is the foundation of every successful company. The image of your brand determines your credibility in the mind of new clients, and establishes the value of your products and services.

Your company has only one chance to make a great first impression. Here are some of the areas that companies use to make favorable first impressions.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Branding

Professional brand identity services

Brand Strategy Company

Is a branding strategy important to you? It should be! The perceptions your potential customers have regarding your company and offerings are vitally important to your business success. Yomites proven methodologhe BrandMasterpiece™ helps you determine which brand positioning and branding strategy you should pursue to ensure the highest revenue potential.

We analyze your market and competitive landscape, and identify your comparative strengths and weaknesses to determine the positioning approach that’s right for you. Next we ensure your messaging is closely aligned with the established positioning and branding strategy. Yomite Inv.. creates messaging that clearly communicates your value proposition to the needs of your targeted audience.

A branding strategy is an important component of any positioning strategy. Yomites. helps establish the brand recognition you need to stand out from your competition. Our corporate branding strategy ensures your company develops a strong, reliable image that increases sales and builds customer loyalty. As a part of building a brand, we study the current state of the market, and how you are viewed within that space. Additionally, we research market design standards and analyze your competition in order to help you define a winning brand.

Yomites Inv. delivers comprehensive messaging aligned with a strong positioning and branding strategy to build the brand equity you're seeking.

Campaign Development & Go-To-Market Planning

Successfully executing on your marketing strategy requires an astute go-to-market plan to generate quality leads that produce the desired return on your investment. Effective campaigns help differentiate yourself to your targeted market, and give you the competitive advantage required to win greater market share.

Depending on your specific needs, our contribution ranges from outlining the tactical steps to be followed, to complete turnkey management and execution of your campaigns. Whether you need operations assistance with online marketing, or comprehensive product/service launch planning, we can customize the right solution. We also create the right plan of action for your Public Relations requirements to augment your marketing campaign efforts and build strong relationships with industry experts.

Yomites focus is on making sure you get the most out of your marketing spend to make certain every dollar spent is a strong contribution to your bottom line.

Is there a difference between a Branding Strategy and a Marketing Strategy…A BIG difference…

Many executives and marketing professionals often confuse a branding strategy, marketing strategy and marketing communications strategy. BIG has developed a quick scenario to showcase the difference between branding strategy and marketing strategy.

David is the print buyer at Coca Cola. David has many key relationships with quality printers, as he must maintain the Coca Cola standards.

David has been working on the Coca Cola annual report for the last 3 months. It is the showcase piece that Coke puts out to its shareholders, suppliers, clients and prospects.

What We Know…

Printing is extremely price competitive and is often looked at as a commodity. The annual report will be a very costly proposition, as Coke will print a large supply of its premier piece. On the other hand, the Coca Cola brand is extremely well known and trusted for its quality. In surveys it always rated as the number 1 or 2 beverage.

David Does What He Does…

David bids the printing directly to his top 3 printers that can handle the job. Printers he has worked with for years and that he can trust with this high visibility piece. A few moments after faxing out the bid requests David receives a special delivery package. The package is well designed and says “Open For Immediate Savings”. David opens the package and inside is a letter and some printed samples of annual reports. The letter says “The Annual Report Printers”, your only choice for annual report printing. Any work ordered this week will receive a 15% discount on any annual report printed. But David has never worked with this printer before. A 15% discount is a tremendous savings in printing costs and the printer had the same equipment to do the printing as the current suppliers he’s used for years.

What To Do?

So what would you do? B2B marketers often analyze their strategies in logical terms. The printer who sent the package assumed, all specs being equal, that price would compel the print buyer into placing an order today.

Truth be told that people who make critical, high visibility decisions often seek a level of security (trust) that outweighs all the other buying factors. This concept uses emotions as a device in the decision making process. Essentially fear of failure and the unknown can drive David to use the more trusted, expensive printer. In the end, would the lower price (and likely increased savings) outweigh the damage caused by the new printer for not delivering on time or at a lower quality than the proven supplier? Also consider the money saved would only be one part of the total print job, weighing against the brand of Coca Cola.

Consider that David’s trusted suppliers didn’t even market to David at the time of his decision. It was the brand relationship that drove David’s decision. When David’s trusted suppliers do market to him, David devotes real focus to them, welcomes them as credible information and truly considers them as viable options. This is because over the years, the supplier has built a brand relationship of trust and credibility with David by providing real business solutions that have proven their value.

Despite the tendency for modern marketing professionals to lump branding and marketing into the same breath, one must remember that the results of marketing programs are highly influenced by a brands strength.

Brand Communications Hierarchy

Branding Strategy
Brand Messaging
Marketing Strategy
Marketing Programs

In short, a brand is a customer relationship that is defined by all the experiences, messages, promises and performance/quality associated with it. Marketing on the other hand is the deployment of strategic programs based on business objectives. Strong brands enhance the results of marketing programs.

It’s important to position marketing communications programs as a subset of marketing strategy, which itself is driven by overreaching branding strategy. Carefully structured, consistent brand messaging is the thread that connects all levels. This brand messaging should be the springboard for all other programs and promotions.

Building your brand image can improve the results of all your marketing programs. Results such as improved lead conversion ratios and higher margins are common when delivered in the context of a consistent, integrated brand-building program

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