Marketing / Branding

In today’s marketplace, you are constantly fighting to position your product or service. Coca Cola and Pepsi constantly battle over a single percentage point that represents millions of dollars in revenue.

Your business is either a start-up, in growth mode, or established – and as such requires a different strategy for each phase of maturity.

As a start-up you will need to spend a significant amount of money to gain market-share and reach your target demographic. The percentage of dollars will be out of formula.

In growth mode, you still may spend over the traditional 3 to 5 percent, specifically when targeting new marketing channels – but at this stage your CPA won’t be threatening you to get a psych evaluation.

But wherever your company is poised, your branding, market perception, word-of-mouth and customer loyalty will all be a result of your marketing efforts.

Branding begins with an ID program and a graphic look. Take note that regardless of the year, you can always recognize a Mercedes Benz. And did you know that Coca Cola makes subtle logo changes every so often? They do – but the changes embrace current marketing trends without alienating their loyal customer base.

One of the dead giveaways of an unprofessional organization is when the company uses “hotmail” or “gmail” for their email accounts. A style guide should be developed indicating how logos are used, which type fonts are acceptable, colors get specified, and uniformity in email signatures. While cute quotes are nice – they may not reflect the image you are seeking to portray.

Marketing begins with your front line. If on the phone – do you hear a smile or is the caller an inconvenience? Your front line determines your bottom line. Marketing then extends to management style, training, corporate culture, customer assets, product an service presentation.

Try this simple test. Call a sales meeting and before your staff enters the room. Put a twenty dollar bill in a piece of paper and wad it up. Throw it on the floor. See if anyone picks it up to put it in the trash. That person eared the twenty bucks.

If everyone doesn’t act like an owner – then you as an owner are de-branding and damaging all your marketing efforts.

Traditional methodologies include print, internet and radio/TV. Your product or service, your target demographic and operating budget all determine where to spend your money most wisely to generate the best rate of return.

For more information on how to maximize your marketing and branding efforts, contact Barking Toad Media.