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The last two days featured a case study on targeted marketing and rebranding. A fictional bait & tackle shop tried to target its “perfect customer.” The first attempt was a miss and actually hurt business for the shop. However, it also yielded a great deal of information about the market and helped determine who the
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Yesterday, I gave you a hypothetical marketing situation. We run a bait & tackle shop. Having defined our perfect customer, we changed our store layout and image to fit them and waited to see how this changed our business. Today, three months later in the thought-experiment, we see business has declined in two of our
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Once again, you need to evaluate who your story tellers are. We did just do this a few days ago, but keep in mind that this must be an on-going process for your brand. Here’s an example… We run a bait & tackle shop near a popular fishing shop. Obviously, our customers will be somewhat
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Arguably, one of the most important elements of a brand is its avatar or logo. This image is the most recognizable part of the brand; it appears on the product, its packaging, media advertisements, and possibly your storefront. Building an avatar is a task and a half, and the process involves many steps. Step 1)
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Successful brands speak for themselves. This takes a lot of work from the marketing department, but it is possible. An animated brand can stand by itself; an inert one needs the constant weight of the company behind it and remains more a sub-brand than a brand in its own right. I was asked the other
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Yesterday, I wrote about the importance of branding. Unfortunately, we have yet to define exactly what I mean by “branding.” Branding is a process of developing the corporation’s or product’s character and image in the market. This is a simple definition, but a brand itself is a very complex machine. There are three key aspects
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Many people have asked me why branding is important. In a previous post, I said branding was a means of simplifying communication. Coca-cola is distinguished from other colas by its unique taste. Rather than describing for a waiter what kind of cola you want with your meal, you ask for a Coke. This is a
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Who is talking about you? Are your products reviewed on people’s blogs? Have there been any newspaper articles about your newest ad campaign? Do you overhear casual conversation about your brand in the coffee shop? There is someone out there telling your story that is not on your payroll. It’s time you figure out who
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Every once in a while a company needs to take a close, critical look at itself. Brand managers invest countless hours in developing an honest image to represent their product or company. Stamping the brand all over company correspondence and product launches at this stage, however, is an indicator of mediocrity. A good manager will
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The next step to building a powerful brand is self-evaluation. We have determined the customers, but who is the company? Every company has an internal culture, the way it conducts business and views itself. Understanding who you are is the first step in communicating with others. Branding is a way of simplifying communication. Rather than