Posted by Rahna on November 29, 2007 under Branding | 
I am conducting a four-part tele-seminar about branding, and the discussion came up about consisitency. It is of critical importance, as it ensures that every little touchpoint with the consumer resonates with all the other communications that impact your brand identity. I was trying to point out how clear branding is by asking people to quickly choose: “Coke or Pepsi? Target or Wal*Mart?” It’s an easy enough exercise when the brand is clear; but not so easy when inconcsistencies come in. The person responding to “Target or Wal*Mart?” struggled because, while they liked the Target commercials and loved the stores they visited in California, they did not like what they saw in Connecticut. Hmmmm. Seems even the big super-marketeers stumble over their brands occasionally. Their inconsistency cost them a consumer. Multiply that by a few million people and that can really make a difference to the bottom line! Ouch. Is there any inconsistency in your brand that might be costing you a customer?
Posted by Rahna on November 26, 2007 under Branding |
I read an article from BrandWeek today about how taglines are being used less and less www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003677226. Are taglines going away? I don’t think so. It has to do with being true to your brand. What are you about? If you can comunicate that without a tagline, that’s fine. They pointed to Starbucks as an example of one who doesn’t need a tagline….but what the article does not address is all the other ways that a brand has to communicate its message. Creating distinctiveness is not always done with words. It can be done visually (think about the Target advertising), audibly (anyone can sing intel’s jingle), through a spokesperson (the Maytag repairman), or a creative format (like the Apple guy who apears regularly with the sadly inept PC guy). It’s not that taglines are going away; it’s that they aren’t always the best choice for creating brand consistency and messaging!
Posted by Rahna on November 19, 2007 under Consumer Engagement |
I attended The Learning Annex’s Wealth Expo this weekend in New York, and there are lots of marketing lessons to be taken from it. From Tony Robbin’s motivational session that talked about how anyone can achieve happiness by a change of mindset to Donald Trump’s typically self-aggrandizing and simultaneously sobering message that not everyone in the bright-eyed audience is cut out for entrepreneurialism, there were a diverse group of real-estate-related gurus in attendance. The weekend was a masterful sales machine, a 28-hour infomercial given to a highly motivated target audience of real estate junkies seeking wealth. Sales for the two days can be counted in the millions!!!
The weekend was informative on many levels. Here is what I learned:Â
- Getting to the right target audience with a highly compelling time sensitive offer will result in massive sales no matter what the economic indicator show.
- I am glad I am not friends with Donald Trump. He admitted that he likes to hang out with losers because it makes him feel better about himself.
- It is important to motivate your customers, not just inform. Marketers should strive to make their consumers feel–cherished, empowered, confident, satisfied–that what they are offering is going to positively impact their customers’ lives.
This event will be discussed in more detail in the newsletter at beacon-marketing.com.
Posted by Rahna on November 15, 2007 under Consumer Engagement |
I was having a conversation with a media industry executive recently  about consumer engagement, and they made the argument that that topic is passé, that it was hot last year or the year before, but was not now. I disagree. I don’t think consumer engagement should ever be passé. It is the critical element of any brand—relevance! If consumers engage with your brand consistently, you will never go hungry. Your bottom line will always reflect that you are providing something of value, something worth engaging in. There may be new buzzwords to describe it, but in the end, it’s involvement with your brand. I don’t know of any marketer worth his salt who would say that emotional connectivity is something he does not want or need for his brand.Â
I realize this is a simple idea. I do think, however, that simple doesn’t necessarily mean boring or useless. In any of my jobs, I have gotten so caught up in whatever challenges I was facing, that I often would forget the basics. Being reminded of the simple truths, the clear principles of advertising and marketing that were just as important when David Ogilvy wrote about them as they are today, is worthwhile. Marketers need to find fresh ways to bring their ideas to consumers (Facebook, cell phones, podcasting, YouTube) but the principles remain the same.
