Posts Tagged ‘brand management’

What Should A Magic Business Success Box Include?

// June 24th, 2009 // Comments // Business Resources

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I constantly find myself looking at companies, cool products and studying visionary leaders and marketers.  I have to say that I’m attracted to success and I love trying to understand how to mix the right ingredients for my own success potion.  I also love to share experiences and lessons learned to help others and really enjoy connecting with and collaborating with others, sharing ideas and trying to make a significant impact on this world.

Some times I have the answers some times I don’t.  Yet, one string of passion that keeps a strong hold of me is trying to help other entrepreneurs and small businesses succeed and get to the next level.  So, I got to thinking - if I had a magic box with a handful of success tools given to me, what would it include?

Now, my personal box will probably be a bit different than yours but, there could be a few things that are constant in all business success boxes.  Here goes my short list:

  1. You must have a Meaningful Marketing potion ( here’s a great recipe ).
  2. You must have a Great Team of People with Excellent Leadership, Strong Values & Vision.
  3. You must have a Keg of Passion, a Troth of Determination and an Evangelist that is a network monster who brings in customers and business deals like there’s no tomorrow.
  4. You must have Faith, Belief & Focus if you expect to succeed.
  5. Some cold hard cash and luck are always fantastic but you can do it with lots of elbow grease.

Here are some great resources to consider:

There is a ton more out there and I’m sure that you have some great information and resources to share so please do.  I’m personally working on a Social Media Starter Kit of sorts with Dean & Mark, who are fellow members of building43.com another fantastic resource for learning about cutting-edge internet technology and strategy. And, I would love to add any suggested resources to the starter kit.

What would you include in your business success box?

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It’s Gettin Hot In Herre And Your Brand Sucks…How To Change The Perception With Social Media Monitoring

// June 8th, 2009 // Comments // Social Media Marketing

YourBrandsSuck.com

YourBrandsSuck.com

Suppose for a minute or two that Your Brand became an innocent by-standard of an endorsement deal gone really wrong.  I mean really wrong…so wrong that you got submitted to YourBrandsSuck.com and the world is bashing you for something Your Brand had no control over.

Yep, HE said that, “It’s Gettin Hot In Herre, So Take Off All Your Cloths” at a night club and took her back to a hotel room according to HER, which was written on her MySpace page and now thousands of people are talking about it.

HE is a super star athlete with hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsement contracts for companies like Nike, Pepsi, and Your Brand, which targets married soccer moms. She is a young woman who also happens to be good friends with Paris Hilton, who was present when this interesting occasion occurred.  HE is married to a faithful soccer mom and has just been accused of an extra-marital affair by HER.    HE was apparently captured on video

with another woman, not his wife, early that morning leaving a hotel room wearing Your Brand’s T-Shirt.

Now, that video has been remixed on YouTube and has spread like wildfire all across the internet with millions upon millions of views and Your Brand is front and center of the conversations.  Several popular Soccer Mom blogs and forums have started talking about Your Brand and how could Your Brand be associated with such an individual.  As “Your Brand’s” Brand Manager, what are you to do?

Brand Managers:  Wait & It’ll Be Too Late

Your Brand is quickly becoming associated with a lot of negative press of word-of-mouth buzz.  However, you can do something about it and I would encourage you to strongly research and understand how social media monitoring can provide you the proactive technology and capabilities that can help you put out a firestorm such as the one described above.

Social Media Monitoring as an industry is in itself starting to take off like a wild fire with new companies and solutions popping up everyday.  So, what can these tools and companies do for me and who are they?  Radian6, ScoutLabs, Sysomos and a handful of others.

How can they help you?  Well, Sysomos appears to understand the power of video marketing best as they are the company that has prepared the best overview video of their product - take a look below.

Changing The Perception by Being Proactive

If you’re still here and have not run off to Sysomos,  I would strongly encourage you to read the following two blog posts Grudge Match by Jason Falls and Tools Analysis by Frederic Lardinois .

No matter which of these tools you use, they all provide a clear value proposition in that they can enable you to proactively change the perception of your brand through participation and conversational engagement with data and metrics.  If you don’t know that Your Brand is in danger of its reputation being damaged before it’s too late, then it’s too late.

However, if Your Brand was listening and engaged in what is happening out there you will have a much better chance at being able to mitigate the risk of damaging your company’s reputation by not acting.  Furthermore, developing a social media strategy with monitoring tools can provide your company an immense amount of business intelligence that could greatly improve lead generation, sales revenue and brand reputation.

With the landscape of the internet changing and moving so rapidly, you cannot afford not having a Reputation Management & Social Media Monitoring plan prepared and put into action for your company.  Not taking action will only result in Your Brand being smeered and being submitted to websites like YourBrandsSuck.com .

What do you think?

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3 Key Marketing Strategies For High LTV: Get Attention, Making Meaning, Listen

// June 1st, 2009 // Comments // Interactive Marketing, Social Media Marketing

In today’s world consumers are looking for more than just the best deal and the newest widget.   For small companies trying to get noticed and build a brand, you really have to work much harder than you ever have before.  Why?  Because there is so much noise and barriers that you must break through just to get the attention of your potential customers.  Once you get people’s attention then you must be able to keep their interest and maintain their loyalty, which can only be achieved by standing for something important that the customer values i.e. you mean something to them.   Then, to build a lasting customer relationship you have to listen, listen, listen to them.

1.  Get Attention by Standing Out

Getting noticed is the first step and this takes some creativity and strategic thinking.  But, this could also be a very fun process when you think way outside the box.  Now, I could go into a big narrative about how to get noticed but I won’t.  I’d rather you watch one great video from a well known marketing thought leader, Seth Godin.  If you’ve seen this it’s worth watching again and reflecting on it.  Or, you can jump down to the second key strategy on meaning.



2.  Connect With Customers By Making Meaning

Many iconic brands have risen to the top of their markets because they have derived a strong connection with their customer community.  Take for instance Apple, Nike, Lance Armstrong; these brands all have strong meaning with in their respective spaces.  Yes, Lance has become a brand and I think his brand stands for determination and a strong-willed spirit.  Apple to me stands for innovation and creation, if you want to be on the cutting edge you need to have an Apple product.  Nike to me means high performance with an edge, if I want to be the best I put on my Nike gear and get out there to rip things up and I’ll also look good while I’m doing it.

Now, what I just described is my own personal reflection of what these brands mean to me.   Do you think this what Apple & Nike want their brands perceived as?  I’m sure they want the brand to connect on a human emotional level that’s exactly why they hire people like Lance Armstrong to represent their brand.  People like Lance carry a strong connection to deep-rooted human feelings and this means something to people.

Here Tim Leberecht of Frog Design puts into perspective how to make meaning.



3. Listen To Customers Who Are Buying

As soon as you make the sale it’s time to find out how it happened.  What made the customer buy?  How can you improve the product/service they just purchased?  Give the customer time and allow them to tell you what sucks?  What do they really wish the product had?  What would make them leave to go to the competition?  Every chance you get take the opportunity to ask and discover but, really listen to what the customer says.  You might even consider a rating system that can help you prioritize what is the most important benefit people want out of your product or service and do it.

Guy really puts it into perspective here.  Enjoy!