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Caffeinate the Electorate: Starbucks Strategy Good or Bad?

Posted on November 3rd, 2008, 04:11 pm
Filed Under (Branding) by Daniel Natale

Aside from having a voice in your democracy, and a say in how your tax money is spent, Voting on November 4 will get you free coffee from Starbucks. Check it out: Starbucks Free Coffee

It’s a pretty neat way to caffeinate the electorate and offer another added bonus for voting.

What do you think of this as a marketing/public relations strategy? Silly stunt or good marketing?

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Using Social Networking to Promote Your Business

Posted on September 12th, 2008, 11:09 am
Filed Under (Biz Start Up, Branding, Interactive) by Brad C

In a conversation with a musician the other day I was posed a hypothetical question that made my mouth drop open: “so the internet is where things are moving, huh?” Shocked, I politely declared that this is the year 2008 and the internet has been “where things are moving” since before the freak-out of the Y2K end-of-the-world hilariousness.

Obviously, taking your business to “where things are moving” starts with some kind of company site. The question is - How do you use this site? Or, even more pressing, How do you leverage the vastness of the web to bring people back to your valuable little corner?

Whist there are a myriad of different strategies and this topic has been discussed on numerous blogs in much depth, let’s close in on leveraging Social Networking. I don’t think the argument needs to be made for interaction within these communities, but just in case, Christopher Carfi, an expert at building trust with the customer explained:

“Deceptively simple, online social networks contain great power. They change the online space from one of static web pages and stale marketing messages to a live, vibrant network of connected individuals who share their abilities, expertise and interests.”

Originally posted on The Social Customer Manifesto

Heads up: ‘Social Networking’ is the big broad general term. However, there are distinct differences between social networks, social bookmarking, social news, social media, blogs, and micro-blogging sites. (I know, that’s a lot! More on these later.)

GETTING STARTED:

Before you or your employees unleash your efforts and dive headfirst into the “social sphere” you need to set some boundaries and define a few things:

WHO YOU ARE:

Know the image you are projecting (literally and metaphorically).
Come up with a slogan or catch phrase and stick to it.
If you don’t own a URL yet, make sure you get one before you start your campaign so you can have everyone spreading the exact same links

Realize that you are climbing the “branding hill”. Consistency is key!

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE:

OK, here is where you’ll need to understand the difference between all the ‘socials’ involved in Social Networking. Here’s a brief glimpse at each:

Social Networks: like MySpace or Facebook. Meet friends and show the world who you are.
Social Bookmarking: like Magnolia or Del.icio.us (or related recommendation system Stumble Upon),share your bookmarks with your friends and find what they like.
Social News: like Digg or Reddit. Submit any type of content to be voted upon by other users.
Social Media: like YouTube or Flickr. Share your videos or pictures and comment on others.
Blogs: like Mashable (on social networking) or Technorati (on technology). Keep people informed by writing a post or article. Include visuals. Best online source for writing blogs is Skellie.
Micro Blogging: like Twitter or Tumblr. Let people know what you’re doing, what you’re interested in, or whatever - sort of like an “away message” on instant messenger.

How do you know which ones to target? It all depends on you and your business. If your product is music, like mine, then you probably won’t be spending much time on a business social network like LinkedIn Instead you might use one like ShareNow.com - the creators of Lifestyle Social Networking (my current employer) where you can participate in different communities based on common interests.

INTERACTION:

You are you - so maintain your you-ness! People don’t want a generic response, pretty sure they never did. They are done with corporate emails and packaged statements.

While it may be time consuming to actually communicate with people, Aaron Uhrmacher at Mashable tells us that “Social media platforms help facilitate conversations between individuals, not companies” - you are absolutely relished by your consumers.

Your goal is to establish a relationship here. You represent a company or product, but because you are still you people will take the time to listen. You need their trust or you will be written off to the spam pile. Once you’re in that pile it’s over.

The type of relationship you are looking to forge will give you an idea of what medium you will use to communicate (which will, in turn, shed light on the appropriate people within your business who should do the communicating.) Should you be putting up funny video responses to spread virally? Creating a fascinating blog? Running contests and promoting them with micro-blogging? Maybe you build a widget that can be embedded across the net… or eventually all of the above!

Don’t forget - be open and honest about who you are and what you do! Otherwise you will be found out. It’s inevitable!

PURPOSE:

Keep the bigger picture in mind! Your only investment here is time, but the fact remains that time is limited. Find the balance between infiltrating the entire internet to splash your link everywhere and only getting to know a select crowd on one or two communities. Maybe you split your task into a job for two or three people.

Using Social Networking to promote your business puts you directly in touch with your consumers. Have fun with it!

Brad C. writes the Official Blog for ShareNow.com - the LifeStyle Social Networking community and spends most of his waking hours either riding his motorcycle or performing around Los Angeles

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Get Out! From Behind Your Desk: How to make the best use of tradeshows

Posted on August 13th, 2008, 03:08 pm
Filed Under (Biz Start Up, Branding) by Joe Witte

Let’s face it-time management is every business owner’s greatest challenge. Picture it now: you are all set to make some calls to potential partners, then a frustrated customer calls, or an employee calls in sick, or someone’s computer breaks, or someone’s dog pees in your office (I swear this happened to a client).

All of this will grab your attention and require you to take action (especially the last, can you say “Oxi Clean?”). But, are they more important than what is at hand? After all, if your objective is to grow your business from $500,000 in sales to $5,000,000, you won’t do it by going through the same routine day in and day out. At some stage, you’ll need to land a “bigger fish.” The only way to land a big fish is to set aside time each week to prospect, network, and develop relationships with solid prospects that can have a major impact on your company.

One great way to achieve this is to exhibit at targeted tradeshows, and you’ll be able to see the country while you are at it.

I’m going to focus on the business development aspect of tradeshows rather than the educational perspective, which can help you find key vendors and keep you abreast of industry changes. As most small businesses are on a tight budget, I usually recommend visiting the tradeshow you plan on exhibiting at prior to investing in a booth.

Setting up an exhibit is a significant investment, often north of $10,000 including travel, booth development, design, promotional items and marketing materials. After you “try out” a tradeshow, and you feel that the attendees would be good prospects for your business, get ready, grab your top salespeople, and start planning!

Ok, so you are thinking, “I don’t have $5000 to invest in a booth, and can’t afford another $2000 to transport it and pay ridiculous fees for electricity, chairs and a union guy to lay down carpet for me.” Well, that is all true, but you can set up a simple booth on a shoestring budget. Our company just invested around $1500 at FastSigns for 2 pull up screens and a large banner. It wouldn’t win any booth awards, but it was respectable. And even better-all of this was shipped in a box by FedEx (or, I could have carried if I wasn’t so lazy) and it took 10 minutes to set up.

The next step is to get effective promotional items. Try to be creative, and think of something that stands out and is complementary to your company’s theme. We have recently adopted a “stand out from the competition” theme, so we ordered some unique orange coffee mugs with our logo and tagline on them, and they were very well received during the morning session. (But beware of shipping expenses with larger promotional items).

Now, the pursuit of partners doesn’t stop here, in fact, it is just starting. It’s critical that the booth staff have a clear understanding of what their objective is while they are at the show.

Are they there to promote? Find vendors? Develop relationships? Make sure you establish some goals for everyone before the first attendees walk through the door.

Next, practice your pitch on each other. I swear, even as an experienced owner, my pitch was very rough at the beginning of our last show. By the end, I was smooth like butter. Why? Practice! How would a 23 year old without supervision or training do on their pitch if they don’t practice? Most likely, they’d struggle and lose out on key opportunities.

The next step is big: Don’t sit down. Get out in front of the table and use your promotional items to draw people in and make conversation. The question “Want a yo-yo?” can do wonderful things for initiating a fun conversation.

As you are meeting prospects and collecting business cards, be sure to write on the back of their cards little reminders or “grades” so you can prioritize the business cards you collect after the show. Once you return to your office, start smiling and dialing right away. Follow up with emails and track the results. If you’ve selected and prepared for the right tradeshow you should develop some excellent partnerships within 3 to 6 months.

Joe Witte is a partner at Logo Design Guru (http://www.logodesignguru.com) and has successfully started 3 small businesses including CentricSource and Travel Ad Network.

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Building a Small Business Brand:Why Your Logo Matters (But Not That Much)

Posted on July 17th, 2008, 01:07 pm
Filed Under (Biz Start Up, Branding) by Joe Witte

I’m not sure I should say this, since I’m a partner at a logo design company, but your logo just doesn’t matter that much, and neither does your company name. So, for all you small business owners who are spending hours every day pondering over your company name, wondering if you should call it “Smith Jewelers” or “Jewelry World”, or calling Uncle Ned to see if he likes your logo in dark blue or light blue, I have terrible news for you, it doesn’t really matter.

How can this be, you say? Well, let’s take a couple real life examples and see how important their company name and logos were to their success. Ford, Dell, Hewlett-Packard—boy, they thought hard about those companies didn’t they? Hmm, what’s my last name? Great! McDonald’s (another winner of a name) has a big “M” for a logo. Nike has a swish, Microsoft has—nothing, just their name in a lame italic font. ExxonMobil didn’t even take the time to put their logo in italics. Somehow, I don’t think these company logos had any effect, whatsoever, on their billions in revenue last year.

Now, before you run out and name your company “Slobby’s Suit Makers”- it’s important to be aware of what is important when developing your brand, and where you should spend your time, and money. When it comes to a company name, there are some excellent rules to abide by when you are in the “naming” process. First, keep it short and easy to pronounce. If your last name is Stratklowvitz, you probably want to come up with another concept. Second, try to be descriptive with a subtle name that can let people know what you do (I know, Logo Design Guru is not subtle-it’s a long story). And finally, pick a name that’s easy to spell, and someone can understand over the phone. Nothing is worse than having to repeat your company name 3 times until someone understands you.

Once you’ve decided on your business name, GET A PROFESSIONAL LOGO DESIGN. Find a reputable online company (make sure they have a US office), or a local designer, but please don’t jump on Word and try to create your own logo. As a new business, you are building credibility, and your customers will know. Here are some rules to consider when you are giving your designer some input:

1. Keep it simple: Big, crazy, illustrative logos are hard to print and produce on marketing collateral. If your logo wouldn’t look good on a golf ball, it may be too complex.

2. Minimize your colors: Unless you own “Rainbow Dry Cleaners”- keep your logo to 2 colors. Ideally, your logo will look good in grayscale as well.

3. Make it memorable: A slick, original logo is optimal. However, keep rule #1 in mind.

4. Balance: If you use an icon, it is typically centered above the text, or to the left of the text. However, it’s ok to break the rules, if done with caution.

5. Don’t pay too much: A close friend of mine developed software for $60,000. He was quoted by a local marketing company to build his brand for $75,000. These companies are self righteous and will squander your company. This is outrageous.

Your brand is something that you will develop and build upon, and, if you grow large enough, may even change. However, keep in mind that people won’t buy because your logo is red or blue, they’ll buy from you because you have a desirable product or service at a reasonable price.

Joe Witte is a partner at Logo Design Guru, and has successfully started 3 small businesses including CentricSource and Travel Ad Network.

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Why Brochures Still Matter in a Paperless World

Posted on July 1st, 2008, 10:07 am
Filed Under (Branding, Brochure) by Daniel Natale

In this increasingly paperless world, the majority of marketing collateral and business presentations consist of digital documents. From your latest PowerPoint masterpiece to a flashy interactive website, electronic media can be quick, easy, and visually stunning. There is no denying the advantages of electronic media.

However, due to these strengths it is likely your message will be forgotten. Your clients will want and need a permanent reminder of your message. Offer them the presence and physical cache of a slickly designed brochure.

1) A Brochure is Tangible

Made only of simple paper or basic card stock, a brochure is a tangible object that your clients will hold on to and keep. This is especially important if you offer a service that is abstract or industry specific. A brochure will give you a prime opportunity to explain your services and will allow your client time to absorb the finer points of your proposition.

2) A Brochure is Impressive

Traditionally the costs of designing and printing a brochure kept all but the biggest companies from producing a printed brochure. Fortunately, with the ease and efficiency of online design and printing, the cost has significantly fallen. Take advantage of this development, and present your small business as a juggernaut. Underscore to your clients that you know the value of professionally designed and printed collateral.

3) A Brochure is Simple

With the alphabet soup of file formats (PDF, DOC, PPT, HTML) the last thing you want to do is confuse a potential client. Don’t force them to take a training course in computer science just to read your pitch, give them a prepared hard copy. Not only will your client’s appreciate this, but also your message will be clearer without the noise of unwanted technical questions.

4) A Brochure is Timeless

Today’s cutting edge web presentation will be passé and outdated in a matter of months. Rapid shifts in technology can make your slick electronic collateral dated and obsolete overnight. Don’t waste time and money chasing the next big thing. Invest in a brochure, a time tested and proven medium.

A brochure with a classic design will stand the test of time. Easily portable, and simply stored, a brochure will always remain not only on someone’s desk but also in their mind.

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Why You Should Hire a Professional Web Design Company

Posted on May 16th, 2008, 02:05 pm
Filed Under (Branding) by Jeffrey Heiserman

If you’re just starting your business, or already running a small business, hiring a professional web design company may seem unnecessary, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve highlighted a few of the more common arguments below.

I have a web site, and I made it myself in about 10 minutes.
Most web sites that are generated by do-it-yourself software use templates, which are stored in a database for any and everyone to use. If you want an online identity of your own, do-it-yourself software can’t provide it. A professional web design company knows how to translate your overall business objective into a visual, functional solution, using current web design trends; whereas, a template can be used by anyone, at any time.

I Don’t Have the Budget to Hire a Designer.
False – You may not want to admit it, but you just don’t want to have a budget to hire a designer. One appealing thing about web sites is that you can build onto them as needed. Most reputable web design companies understand this. As long as you have a well–designed web site with valuable content about your company, it doesn’t matter if your web site has ten pages or a thousand. This means that you can start with a reasonable budget if necessary. The most important fact to consider is that, in today’s technology driven world, you need to have an online image to stand out. There’s only one way to be available 24/7, and that’s via your web site.

They Know What They’re Doing.
Not to mention, a professional web design company has more resources. When you hire a professional web design company, you have a team of professionals that make web sites day in and day out, working to create the best possible web site for your business. Design, programming/development, and optimizing your site to rank higher in search engines, are generally each handled by separate employees. Would you rather have a web site created in this manner, or by yourself—learning as you go, and hoping that you’re doing things the right way?

Do what you do best.
Just as you know your business better than anyone else, a professional web design company knows what type of web site your business needs. Essentially, a web designer applies all the principles of graphic design to the web—only they know how these principles need to be re-thought so they do apply to the web. Trying to learn web design on your own will be way too time consuming, and will test the limits of your patience to the fullest possible extent. Running your business is busy enough. As they say, “Keep your eye on the prize.”

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