Summer’s over

Labor Day weekend at the cottage — what a great tradition! I’m taking some refreshing downtime and will be back shortly with some more thoughts on marketing.

Enjoy the last days of summer.

Impressions of Utah

I don’t really know what I was expecting. Salt Lake City was quite lovely; clean, with wide streets and friendly people. After days spent indoors at the Outdoor Retailer show, I finally ventured outside. By taking the tram to the University, I was able to gain some altitude with ease. A short hike from the end of the tram took me to a great view of the city and a first look at the famous Salt Lake. I was surprised to see how far it was from the city; for some reason, I expected the city to be right on the lake.

As the sun set, I wandered the hills, captivated by the view of the flat plains with the lake surrounded by snowcapped mountains. I wish I had more time to explore. Next time!

On the road again

Tomorrow, I head to Salt Lake City for the Outdoor Retailer tradeshow. It will be my first time at the show and I am very excited to be attending. In addition, I have never been to Salt Lake City so I am looking forward to the opportunity to see another part of America.

Some of my time at the show will be spend doing research on the companies that are part of the outdoor industry, but my main reason for attending is to manage the launch of The OIWC Guide to Turning Your Passion into Your Profession, a guide to working in the outdoor industries. The Guide will be published online on the OIWC website (www.oiwc.org) and the event will feature a number of women who work at various levels, talking about how they followed their passion and made a career in the outdoor industries.

It has been a pleasure to work with such a great group of women on this project. As editor of the Guide, it was exciting to talk to women across the country about their career paths. From professional athletes to entrepreneurs to vice presidents at large consumer brands, their advice reflected the passion they have for what they do. It was truly energizing, particularly as I shift my business to focus more on the retail, sport and outdoor industries.

Salt Lake City, here I come.

Different states, different rest areas

On a recent road trip through New England, I made an interesting observation about rest areas on the Interstates. I-93 starts at the north-west corner of Vermont and heads for the south-east corner of New Hampshire before heading into Boston. As a “national” road that crosses through several states, much of what you see — aside from the scenery — stays the same. The signs look the same as do the rest areas that appear at intervals.

But as I traveled south through Vermont, I noticed something else about the rest areas. In addition to offering vending machines, there was also wi-fi access. In the mountains of Vermont, cell coverage can be limited so wi-fi access is a great feature. When I cross over into New Hampshire, I found that the rest areas featured State Liquor Stores! Since New Hampshire has no retail sales tax, I would guess the thought was to capitalize on cross-state traffic. However, I thought it sent an interesting message about drinking and driving.

Perhaps it is a reflection of the New Hampshire state motto: Live Free or Die.

On the road

I love to travel — for almost any reason and to almost anywhere. I’ve been itching for an adventure so I’m heading out on a road trip this week. After a couple of days at the cottage, I leave for an almost unplanned trip through Vermont and New Hampshire, with potential stops in Maine and/or Boston. The purpose of my trip is to revisit one of my favorite parts of the country and to do some research.

A project I am currently working on is for the Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition, a non-profit networking and professional development organization for women who working in the outdoor industries. I am the editor and one of many contributors to a guide to working in the outdoor industries, called: The OIWC Guide to Turning Your Passion into Your Profession.

One component is the project is to interview women in the outdoor industries about what they do and how they got there. So far, I have spoken with many interesting women on the phone. During my road trip, I will have the opportunity to meet some of these women face to face.

Since I have a keen interest in the outdoors, I have found the project to be an interesting experience and a great opportunity to learn more about the industries and how they work. I look forward to some interesting conversations in the next week or so.

Keep your finger on the pulse of your customer

As it is often said, it is easier to keep a customer than create a customer, so why not focus some energy on further pleasing your existing customers. Use the relationship you already have with them to create programs that will convince them to buy more of the same or to develop additional products or services that will interest them.

Once you have a customer — particularly a good customer — you should work hard to keep them. Happy customers will continue to buy, and will spread the word. Unhappy customers will stop buying — and may not tell you why — and they will spread the word, to your detriment.

Therefore, it is extremely important to understand what customers want and what they think about you. You should consider the opinions of current and past customers as well as non-customers. Asking for customer feedback is a good way to get information, but you should have a plan — not only how you are going to collect the information, but also what you are going to do with it.

For example, in many retail stores, it is not uncommon to ask customers “did you find what you were looking for today?” at the cash. If you ask the question, are you prepared to deal with a “no” answer? At this point, the customer is ready to put their money down to buy. Is this the right time to interrupt the process to redirect them? Although your goal may be to increase their satisfaction (and increase your sales), can staff manage to deal with a diversion? Even if it is not necessary to return to the store floor based on the feedback, do you have a means to collect the answers that the customer provides?

With this in mind, the first step in collecting customer feedback is to think about what you want to know. You may want to learn more about your customers and their needs and/or habits, or you may want to get a better understanding of what they think of your organization and the product or services you provide.

Regardless of the focus, you also need to think about how you are going to use the information you collect. For example, open-ended questions can provide a depth of information but the answers can be difficult to categorize, making it hard to identify trends. Anecdotal feedback is useful, but hard numbers are much easier to interpret.

Collecting customer information and feedback is an ongoing activity. It is important to keep asking some of the same questions so you can track results over time. And it is important to act on the feedback. Take your customers’ pulse both before and after any changes so you can see the impact of your decisions.

The whole point is to improve your business, so be sure to focus on collecting data that will help you make better decisions. And start with easy changes that will have the greatest impact.

Seth Godin says…

“It's way more profitable to encourage each of your existing customers to spend $3 than it is to get a stranger to spend $300. It's also more effective to get the 80% of your customer service people that are average to be a little better than it is to get the amazing ones to be better still.”

Seth’s comments on the June 29th entry on his blog, titled “The magic of low-hanging fruit”, caught my attention. I liked the message of simplicity. Sometimes in trying to create something different, marketers end up creating something that is more complicated than it needs to be. Often, the shortest distance really is a straight line!

Incremental improvements across the board — on almost anything — generally have a greater impact on a business than any major improvement. Many times, the rewards of “big win” are diminished by the effort it takes to generate them. So, apply the KISS theory to your marketing and make it easy for your customers to act.

Happy Canada Day and 4th of July!

What’s in a name? Part 2

As I mentioned earlier, names are important. Whether it is your company name or a product name, what you call it will create an impression on your customers. Having said that, it takes more than a name to create and build a business.

At least once a week, I pass by a retail store that sells bar stools, chair, area rugs and accessories. It’s called “The Stool House”. When I first spotted the store, I thought the name was a rather descriptive, if unimaginative. It was on my second trip past the store that I noticed the logo — an outhouse. Now that put a completely different spin on things. With the logo, the play on words makes the name more memorable, but it just doesn’t sit well with me.

Some good friends of mine own a similar specialty furniture business. The store started out selling dinette sets and recliners, and now includes bar stools, bisto tables and other casual furniture. The name — “Dine & Recline” — reflects their origins, but still fits their expanded product line.

While these names have their merits and faults, it would be inappropriate to predict success or failure based solely on the name. A good product mix and excellent customer service have created a solid reputation for both these companies. Both have been around for more than 25 years, so they must be doing something right!

What are you trying to say?

My goal as a writer is to make the material easy to read and understand. When writing for marketing purposes, I focus on being clear, concise and compelling.

Here are a few things to consider as you communicate with your customers…

Spelling
Make sure the spelling is correct. This isn’t as simple as it sounds; you’d be surprised at how many spelling mistakes make it into print. It sets a bad example so be sure to review and review and review. English is an international language so there are many ways to spell some words depending on whether you are writing in American English, Canadian English and British English. There are also a number of “newer” words that have multiple correct spellings, such as website (or web site) and e-mail (or email). It is best if you make a choice and stick to it. Developing an informal style guide to record your choices will help you (and others in your company) be consistent.

Punctuation
Rules for punctuation vary widely; you can often find contradictory advice from more than one reliable source, so it can be difficult to know what to do. Personally, I’m a believer in less is more. I feel that punctuation — and commas in particular — should work for a living; that is to say that punctuation should help the reader understand the material better, but nothing more. Again, add punctuation rules to your style guide to ensure consistency.

Clarity
When you have finished writing, think about whether you have said what you want to say as clearly as possible. Will everyone understand it? Is it clear what you are asking them to do? Could you say it in less words or clearer language? You should make it as easy as possible for the reader to understand your point. If you want them to do something, it should be very clear what it is.

Whether you hire a professional writer or not, having another set of eyes review your content is so important. Regardless of how carefully you have reviewed the material, a fresh perspective will find what you have missed and will help ensure your message is clear.

What’s in a Name?

A company’s name is important. It should explain what the company does and set the tone for the type of company it is. The name will create an expectation in the customer, not only regarding what products or services it offers, but also the attitude or personality of the company and its employees. Your name is the first opportunity to connect with your customers; all other marketing builds on the name to create your brand.

A name, including how it is spelled, will transmit meaning to potential customers, regardless of your intentions. For example, a high-end jewelry store will need a very different name than a costume jewelry shop in the local mall. Consider the expectations “Carter’s Custom Collections” sets when compared with “Kandi’s Krazy Kreations”.

For companies that operate in international markets, a good understanding of the local language, customs and traditions is important to help you communicate what your company does through its name. Two classic examples, one successful and one not, illustrate the importance of this include Kodak and the Chevy Nova.

When choosing a name for his company, George Eastman settled on the name Kodak. It was a simple word, easy to remember and easy to pronounce in almost every language. Even before dominating the US market, Eastman had set his sights on going international.

The other classic example is the Chevy Nova. A big seller for Chevrolet in the 1970s, it was a failure when exported to Spanish speaking countries. Why? “No va” in Spanish means “no go”, not the impression you want to make when you are selling a car.

Another consideration when choosing a name for your business is to think about not only what you do now but what you hope to do in the future. Having the foresight to see how “Barker Dog Treats” might develop into “Pet Care Central” in the future will save you considerable time, effort and expense.

One last recommendation… regardless of what you choose to name your company, it is important to get another opinion. Don’t just ask your friends and family what they think; ask some perfect strangers — ideally ones that fit your target market — what the name means to them. Remember to listen to them; they could be potential customers.

Don’t you want my business?

A couple of recent encounters make me think that some businesses don’t really want my business.

First example… Most Sunday mornings, I head to breakfast with a friend. Generally, we try out a new breakfast spot each week. I’ve always thought we should be doing restaurant reviews, but we are rarely that organized. Recently, we tried a little diner near one of the local universities. It’s the kind of place that offers a good deal on their breakfasts in addition to having cheap pitchers of beer at night. This particular morning, I had a hankering for French toast and eggs. They offered pancakes and eggs but when I asked if I could have French toast rather than pancakes, the waitress simply said “no substitutions”.

The restaurant wasn’t exactly busy (there were only one or two other tables) so it shouldn’t have been much trouble for the kitchen to make the substitution. Since I couldn’t have the French toast and eggs I was craving, for which I would have paid $7.99, I switched to the breakfast special at $4.99. Perhaps they had their rationale, but this was a sizable financial mistake on their part. The $3.00 difference is price is not a huge amount of money, but why not seize the opportunity to take more money rather than less? Most businesses, small or large, would jump at the opportunity to increase their revenue by 60%, especially when there is very little cost attached.

The second example relates to a landscaper I called for an estimate on fixing my lawn. I had received a flyer from the company, which was based in a small town outside the city were I live. Rather than look at my lawn to determine what needed to be done, he simply assumed that I had a problem with grubs which would require new sod, the cost of which was $3,000. As much as I would like to have a beautiful new lawn, a $3,000 investment was significantly more than I was willing to pay. Most other estimates were in the hundreds of dollars and all the other companies had came to take a look before committing their estimate to paper.

I wondered if his approach was simply to weed out the small jobs that were too far away. If that was the case though, why had he had spend good money to drop flyers in my neighborhood, and why did the flyers advertise low prices? It seemed like a waste of marketing funds or a lack of focus in their approach to building their business. Either way, this company lost the opportunity to earn my business.

One of the great beauties of a small business is that it can be more flexible than larger businesses, moving more quickly to meet customer needs. However, many small businesses simply do, without much thought about the bigger picture. A little strategic thinking about simple things — that serve the interests of the customers and place a minimum burden on the company — could help their business grow, both in the short and long term.

Reaching Your Customers

Every day I walk my dog in a field near my house. Through this daily routine, we have both gotten to know the locations of various gopher holes. Much of the field is currently covered in hay which has not yet been cut this year. My dog knows the gophers live there, but the hay is three feet tall and neither one of us can spot the gopher holes, let alone see a gopher. Every day, when we get to particular sections of the field, the dog will starts to scout for gophers. She always ends up disappointed because she can’t find them amongst the tall hay.

Today, as I watched this happen one more time, I was reminded of many small businesses who know that customers are out there but just can’t seem to find them. Often, small businesses believe that everyone will want to buy their product, but most have little or no budget to promote themselves to the masses. So, what can a small business do?

The key to success is truly understanding your customer — this means knowing who your customers are, what their needs are and where to reach them. Segmenting those customers by their characteristics and actions will enable you to identify where to focus your attention. Then, choose segments that are lucrative and can be targeted easily and effectively. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, small businesses will be most successful when they target a particular audience and differentiate themselves from the “big guys”.

If you can identify target audiences with particular characteristics, you can tailor your marketing efforts to reach them. Using messages that resonate specifically with an audience, delivered through media that will reach their effectively, you can create a relationship with that audience. A small business has the opportunity to build a personal relationship with their niche customers in a way that big businesses can’t, despite their bigger budgets. Developing a close relationship with key customer segments — and learning more about them — will help you target your message and marketing to meet their needs, increasing the chance that they will act. More effective marketing means a better return on your marketing budget, and what small business doesn’t want that?

More Thoughts on Signage and Writing

One of my pet peeves is signs you can’t read. It is such a waste of money. For example, while driving down the highway at 60 mph, who can read much more than a headline? Which begs the question, why would you put 100 words on a billboard?

Outdoor ads represent a significant marketing challenge — how do you communicate your message when there is such a short window of opportunity for people to see — and absorb — what you have to say? It takes good creative with strong brand elements, combined with copy that grabs the attention of readers while quickly communicating your message.

The goal of most billboard ads is to generate brand awareness by positioning your name in the minds of the consumer. This means that your copy needs to communicate a key product attribute and your creative must be evoke your brand. If you can accomplish just these two things, you will be in the position to get a nugget of your product’s name in the consumers mind.

If you want a consumer to act based on a billboard ad, you will need a strong call to action that is simple to comprehend and remember. Again, great copy supported by creative that reinforces your brand is key. For an action-oriented billboard to be effective usually requires proximity. A billboard touting a fast food restaurant at the next exit has a better chance of creating action than one that simply promotes it.

Regardless of your advertising goals, clear and concise copy will contribute greatly to the success of your campaign. Getting your message across in a few words is harder than you may think. Just try writing your 6-word memoir! (see May 6th entry)

More inspiration

For another creative inspiration, I offer another little gem I stumbled across last year. Called “Eight Principles of Fun”, it was created by Box of Crayons, a creative coaching company in Toronto: www.eightprinciples.com.

Enjoy!

Could you tell your memoir in SIX words?

The editors of Smith magazine (www.smithmag.net) created a book (now available on Amazon) filled with examples from the famous and not so famous. A video, complete with catchy tune, was also created, which I found on Women’s Health (magazine) website (www.womenshealthmag.com/life/tell-us-your-life-story-in-six-words). It will make you smile.

So think about what you would write — it’s a great opportunity to work on your writing skills.

What’s mine, you ask?
Traveling alone, found my inner strength.

Marketing to Women

Earlier this month, I attended an all-women event at a local outdoor gear store. Held on a Sunday evening, the event was called SWEET — short for Sporty Women’s Empowering Evening of Tips and advice — and included inspirational speakers, a fashion show, food and giveaways.

Marketing for the event was rather low key. I first learned about it from a simple sign on the door as I left the store a week or so before the event. Later, I saw an ad in the city’s larger newspaper that reminded me to RSVP. Based on what little I heard about it, I didn’t expect attendance to be very high. I was amazed when I approached the store and had a hard time finding a place to park. Later, I was blown away when organizers announced that attendance estimated at around 450 people.

As a “Sporty Woman”, the event appealed to me. I found it refreshing to have marketing efforts targeting me directly on this particular topic since the outdoor industry is filled with images of men hanging from cliffs and other improbable locations. Despite the fact that women buy or influence the purchases of 81% of athletic apparel, category marketing directed specifically towards women is rather limited.

I applaud the store’s focus on the women’s market and I applaud their execution of the event. The evening used real women to inspire other women from a variety of aspects, including:

• A fashion show which featured store staff of all shapes and sizes
• Advice from experts who were female small business owners
• Words of wisdom from three inspirational speakers: an Olympian (who ran the first women’s marathon in 1984), a breast cancer survivor (who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro) and a road cyclist turned mountain biker and B&B owner.

More companies should be paying attention to meeting the needs of the women’s market. In the sports industry, it represents a significant, and growing, opportunity. According to She’s Got Game: Women’s Interest in Sports Grows Significantly (SVP, 2004.), from 1997 to 2000, “sales of women’s athletic sports apparel rose 20% to $15.9 billion, while men’s spending inched up just one percent, to $15.1 billion”.

Interestingly, shortly after the SWEET event, a friend forwarded another example of marketing directed at women by a company that doesn’t traditionally target them. It was for a HOG (Harley Owners’ Group) event, called a Garage Party:

Do you know a woman who has always dreamed of riding a motorcycle?
Tell her now’s the time to shift into first gear! We are hosting a garage party event to introduce women to the fun of riding and give them inside info on how to enter the sport. We will be holding interactive sessions on topics of interest for women who dream of riding and would like to turn their dream into reality. We will answer any questions to get her started on her own Harley-Davidson or Buell adventure.

Maybe times are changing!

Signage as a Marketing Tactic

Signage is a key marketing tool that many people overlook. Most businesses benefit from identifying their location or promoting a local presence. For retail and service businesses, it is imperative that customers are able to find you. Signage plays a key role in this, along with having your location clearly numbered. For other businesses, signage can express messages about your brand. For example, building signage can convey your size or importance by virtue of the size and/or location on the building.

In addition, way-finding signage within buildings or business parks can influence the impression customers have of your company. If they are confused as to where to go or can’t find you at all, their frustration could adversely affect your business regardless of their opinion of your product offering or customer service.

Street-level advertising, such as transit shelters, sandwich boards or billboards, can be used to provide directional messaging or to supplement branding efforts. If your location is off the beaten path, off-building signage can generate traffic by indicating where you are. In addition, this type of advertising can help build awareness with pedestrians and motorists traveling near your geographic location. This is also useful if you are unable to install the building signage that you desire.

Regardless of the type of signage and its location, the key to success is that your signage is both legible and clearly expresses your brand. Legibility is one of my pet peeves. If a customer can’t make sense of what something says — whether it is a sign or other marketing material — how can you expect them to take the action you want them to. Therefore, it is important not only to choose fonts and colors that are easy to read, but also to think carefully about what you say. Too much text will clutter a sign, but consider whether it is important to include some key descriptors to ensure people know what your business does.

Color will also create an impression about your brand, so you should consider choices carefully. For example, the combination of black and yellow is highly legible, but it is also a color combination used for caution (police) tape as well as the labels on some “no name” (generic) products. This may not convey an appropriate message for some businesses.

Some color choices can reveal information about the product. Ethnic restaurants often use colors that identify with the kind of food they serve: Greek restaurants typically use blue and white, while an Irish pub may include green and orange. Recently, I learned that the colors of the New York Knicks — orange and blue — are symbolic of the Dutch origins of Manhattan.

Lastly, the quality of the signage can also make an impression. Generally, a hand-printed sign does not project an image of a very professional business and may cause some people to simply ignore it. However, a hand-written chalkboard sign highlighting today’s specials, creates an immediacy that could generate the incentive for customers to act more quickly.

Good signage will take into consideration all four elements: location, message, design and quality, but the greatest impact will come from signage that also fully expresses the company’s brand.

Further thoughts on recruiting marketing

Most people realize that promoting your organization at the local level is essential if your company does business primarily in the local market. But if your market is elsewhere, how much effort do you need to put into marketing at the local level? At least some, since your employee pool will be local.

In the heyday of the dot.com era, competition for employees was fierce. Salaries skyrocketed, signing bonuses were commonplace and companies offered all kinds of extras to entice potential employees: pool and ping pong tables, gym memberships, flex hours, beer on Friday afternoons, you name it. The key message seemed to be: you will be well compensated and we are a fun place to work.

Today, most companies do not operate in such a hyper-competitive market. Companies still need to create awareness with potential employees and they need to create a favourable impression with those individuals. How you create that awareness and what your message is will vary with the type of organization and your location.

Regardless of your tactics and messaging, whatever you do to build awareness locally must complement the corporate branding used in customer-focused communications. This is one reason why HR and Marketing must work together. Not only is it important that recruiting messages are consistent with corporate messaging, but it may be possible to leverage marketing opportunities that address both department’s objectives. Consistency creates credibility.

Tactics:
When choosing marketing tactics, consider the following:

• Signage — signage on the building where your office is says “we are here” and “we’re big enough to put a sign on the building”. Building signage can be a gentle reminder of your name and will help reinforce your corporate identity.


• Transits ads — transit shelter ads and billboards can supplement building signage to highlight your physical location while bus ads can target particular geographic-based audiences, such as students on routes heading to a university.


• Career ads — display ads in the career section should include a blurb about the company and what it does in addition to a clear description of the open position.


• Event sponsorships — consider sponsoring both business and charitable events. Either can involve speaking opportunities, company descriptions, employee involvement, logo placement, co-op advertising, product placements, etc. Keep in mind that donations are different from sponsorship, both from what recognition you can ask for as well as how it is dealt from a business and tax perspective.


• PR — don’t forget to include local media when getting the word out about corporate or product news. Consider what messages you want to reinforce that are specifically interesting to the talent pool when working with the local press.


• Business awards — leverage any recognition your organization receives from local business associations or industry associations to highlight the company’s achievements and position it as a successful organization, whether it is as an innovator, thought leader or good corporate citizen.

Messages:
Each tactic comes with an opportunity to create targeted messaging. The message should be specific for your target audience of potential employees, in addition to being appropriate for both the marketing vehicle as well as its general audience.

When creating your message, consider what is important to your audience: what language do they speak; what words resonate with them. Is “Accelerate your career” or “Secure your future” more appropriate? Do you want to focus on the quality of your product, your corporate philosophy or mission, who your customers are, or what a great place it is to work? A research organization may want to talk about cutting-edge facilities, while a non-profit may want to reinforce what a great team they have.

Even without the opportunity to include specific content, you can communicate a message by your actions. For example, you can project an image of being community minded through charitable programs. As title sponsor for an event, your company will be mentioned every time the event is mentioned. Product placement can also be an effective way to reach both customers as well as potential employees.

Built on your corporate marketing strategy, a successful recruiting marketing campaign will include the following key elements:

• Have a goal — what’s the end result you are looking for
• Create a strategy — what’s the approach and focus
• Build a plan — with HR and marketing working together on both tactics and messaging
• Execute over time — don’t try to do everything at once
• Review frequently — what’s working and what’s not; what changes can you make

Just remember that whatever activities you use to recruit employees will reflect on your overall brand.

Brand Awareness for Recruiting

Recently, I was asked about generating local brand recognition for a company — to help with recruiting. I hadn’t expected the question and I don’t think my answer was as good as it should have been, so I’d like to consider this a do-over…

The first question you need to ask is: who are you trying to recruit? To answer this question, you need to define your target audience (potential employees). To start with, are you looking for recent grads or seasoned professionals? Also, what type of position(s) do you need to fill — is there a key functional area such as technology, finance/administration or sales/marketing.

Depending on the organization and the positions they are trying to fill, it might be helpful to create a detailed profile of potential candidates. Are there specific demographics and psychographics that apply? Also, is there anything you can identify that these people are not?

From this information, you will get a better idea of how to reach your audience. Two common tactics for generating local brand recognition are: getting involved in local events and advertising. Knowing something about your potential candidates will help you determine which events are most appropriate to reach your target audience.

Getting involved at an event can mean many different things: sponsoring a sporting event, participating as a speaker at a business or industry event, or having a booth at a job fair or tradeshow, to name a few. There are also a number of advertising channels to be considered — building signage, transit ads, advertorials, career ads, radio spots, etc.

Before choosing how you will reach your audience, you need to consider what you want to accomplish. Are you just looking to get your name out or do you want to engage with people? Do you need to explain what you do or do you want to position your company as an industry leader or innovation-focused organization? Which will best serve your recruiting goals?

This step will lead you to developing messaging. What do you want to say about the company? How much will you be able to say given the situation? And, how open in your audience to what you have to say? If you are sponsoring a business luncheon and get to introduce the speaker, you might have the opportunity to mention your organization, but a blatant sales pitch will be frowned upon. As the title sponsor of a sporting event, you may get your logo plastered everywhere, but you likely won’t have the opportunity to explain much about your organization.

To key to success is an integrated approach that includes a variety of activities, planned to build on each other. If possible, different campaigns focused on specific types of candidates will improve your chances for success. In addition, including a public relations element will further strengthen your message.

Brand Personality

Many years ago, early in my marketing career, I worked for a small marketing agency. One service we offered was a management session that helped define the company and objectives for its growth. As part of this exercise, we would create a personality for the company that would enable us to ensure we were on brand with the messaging and creative that was developed. At the time (10+ years ago), this was a fairly distinct approach, and different from the customer personas that many companies use these days.

The light bulb went on for me when, while sitting in traffic, I noticed a white station wagon with the Budweiser logo. Something felt wrong and it took me a minute to put my finger on it. A station wagon is NOT the type of vehicle that would be associated with the Budweiser brand. It isn’t as bad as driving a Hummer while promoting an environmental brand, but it certainly doesn’t build brand credibility for Budweiser. For me, it is an illustration of the need to think about every aspect of how and what you communicate about your company. Even the smallest things can affect the perception of your brand.

I expect that the car I saw was a sales rep’s vehicle and perhaps he (or she) needed the cargo space and fuel economy that the small station wagon provided. However, I believe a more suitable vehicle — one that would have met those needs while projecting the Budweiser brand — would a Jeep or SUV.

While I still believe creating a brand personality will help evaluate the brand marketing you do, I think that customer personas are more helpful when anticipating how prospective customers will act in reaction to targeted marketing strategies and tactics.

What to know more about personas? There is tons of information online, but I liked these:

• “Persona-lizing a site”, November 2007 article from Internet Retailer: http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=24243
• “Get In Your Customers' Heads: Creating Great Personas”, September 24, 2007 blog entry by Ian Lurie of Conversation Marketing: http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2007/09/get_in_your_customers_heads_cr.htm
• Also, check out Marketing Profs for more articles: www.marketingprofs.com

Welcome!

Congratulations! You found my blog. Since this is one of many million blogs out there, I appreciate the visit.

My focus in this blog is marketing in the real world. When I look around my day-to-day life, I see so many things that marketing could help — from bad signage to mixed messages to poor customer service. I believe that every little thing a company does affects its business. So why not build your brand and your business with things that will improve your relationship with your customers?

Stay tuned for specific examples of what I see out there, along with my thoughts on how marketing could help.