A brand delivers an experience at each interaction with the marketplace. Following this step-by-step brand audit process will enable you to understand how your market feels about that brand experience – both your internal market (your stakeholders) and your external market (your customers and prospects). Understanding if the market responds to the key elements of…Read More
How do you respond when someone asks “what does your company do?” Do all your team members answer the same way? Is your response compelling enough that the listener wants to learn more, or do you sound like everyone else? Brand messaging addresses the written and verbal statements that quickly describe what you do and how…Read More
Do you know many companies that can sell their product or service without literature or other supporting materials? It’s tough to do. Sales literature and tools help you communicate and strengthen your messages. They’re also known as “marketing communications” or “collateral” and they may include: Company brochures Product data sheets Case studies White papers PowerPoint…Read More
You’ve probably seen quite a few marketing materials such as brochures, websites and ads that are dull, uninspiring, and worst of all, confusing. Good copywriting and graphic design create powerful communications with your market. They help a creative vision and message resonate with your audience. Having talented writers and designers is the first step. But…Read More
If you need to choose a great brand name for your product, service or business, start by considering the importance of the name in your branding efforts. Your name is an extension of your brand, and it can reinforce the value you provide or distance you from it. When you’re developing a name for a…Read More
Choosing a business name is one of the first big tasks for any entrepreneur. You’ve decided to follow your dream, and you need a name to form your company. We’ve all gone through the exercising of naming something – our pets, our kids, our toys – so what’s the right approach for naming our company?…Read More
Statistics show that most business buyers use the web to research vendors. And whether they learn about your company online or through other means, most buyers and potential partners will review your wesite before they transact business with you. Your websiteis potentially the most powerful sales & marketing tool you have, yet many companies still…Read More
When was the last time someone gave you a fantastic business card? Did you turn it over and look at it closely? Did you comment on it? And did you generate some sort of impression of that person and company? Corporate identity is an extension of your brand and includes everything with your logo or…Read More
Business development in the marketing process refers to high-level partnerships that generate revenue, create better products and/or increase efficiency. These partnerships can help you Access new markets Increase sales to existing markets Improve your access to technology Boost your productivity Gain capital (human or financial) In a true partnership, companies collaborate to achieve a common…Read More
Revamping your company’s website can be challenging, especially if you’ve never tackled this type of project before. OK, honestly, if you’ve never done it before it can be a nightmare. But I’m trying to be helpful here …. These days, most business buyers and potential partners will review your site before they do business with…Read More
Do you know what your prospects do with your sales literature? Do they 1) read every last word, 2) skim and file it away, or 3) glance at it and file it away? If you answered #1, you have very special prospects! However, most people don’t actually read sales literature. A quick glance, a general…Read More
Have you ever considered firing your star salesperson?? I thought not. Yet that’s just what the CEO of Anthropologie did. It’s one of the great stories in “Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win” by William C. Taylor and Polly LaBarre. We’ve talked about hiring sales reps that live &…Read More
“The sweetest word in the brand universe is your brand’s name.” This obvious quote is from Bill Schley & Carl Nichols, Jr. in their unheralded book “Why Johnny Can’t Brand.” Your name is the first and most powerful part of your brand. Choosing a great brand name can help you stand out in a crowded…Read More
I’ve heard many stories about executives that hire a marketing consultant to execute projects, yet only receive a simple report or partial deliverables for their five-figure engagement. That might not be a big issue for the Fortune 1000, but it can sour an SMB business leader’s view of the entire marketing consulting field. “Consultants” is already an…Read More
Most new companies start with shiny new logos and a clear corporate identity that is consistent throughout all print and graphics. (That’s the goal anyway.) As companies grow, they often lose control of that standard corporate image. It takes discipline to keep consistency while opening new locations, adding more employees, switching creative vendors and constantly…Read More
You’ve decided to chase your dream and form your own company. Congratulations! What’s the first item to tackle? For most entrepreneurs, task #1 is to name a business to form the entity and become official. It’s fun doodling logos and bouncing name ideas off of friends and family, looking for that name with the catchy…Read More
So you’ve decided to upgrade your website content. It’s a necessary–and sometimes daunting–undertaking, but it can profoundly impact your business. Good websites have a strong design, but great websites are content-driven (and have a strong design). Website content is all the information that you deliver: text, images, diagrams, videos, PDFs, forms and other downloads. Keys…Read More
Our last post talked about Dan Pink’s groundbreaking book “A Whole New Mind.” His premise is that we’ve moved into a new era — the Conceptual Age — where people and companies will succeed or fail thanks to right-brained skills like inventiveness, empathy, joyfulness and big-picture thinking. Dan isn’t suggesting that left-brained analytical skills aren’t important…Read More
How important is branding to a B2B company? A German radiologist, Dr. Christine Born, has presented research that shows that business brands can cause the same type of brain activity as consumer brands. Kevin Helliker’s article about the study, “This is Your Brain on a Strong Brand: MRIs Show Even Insurers Can Excite” ran in…Read More