The Credibility Branding Blog

Branding Focus – Targeting the Right Audiences

One of my favorite marketing blogs is my friend Derrick Daye’s Brand Strategy Insider, it consistently delivers the branding goodies. Today’s post is from my equally favorite blogger and pundit extraordinaire Seth Godin who is this months contributing blogger.

In today’s post Seth talks about “The Brand Formula” and in his usually succinct style offers a clear presentation of what a brand is. His point is focus on the target audience that will most embrace your value, succeed among them and even as you get successful think long and hard before embracing a different demographic. This is about focus. I think one of the biggest challenges facing companies at just about any time frame of its corporate life is focus.

Focus

The focus I am referring to relates to a number of areas within the company all of them represent your brand. First is the notion of culture. Does your company have more of a sales-driven culture, (which represents a majority of companies)? Or is your company an engineering driven culture? Or is it a marketing-driven culture? In my experience, a small percentage of companies are based on a marketing-driven culture, more than half are sales-driven, and for technology, they are generally engineering-driven. Not being a marketing-driven company is big challenge to maintaining consistent focus.

What I mean by marketing-driven is looking from the ground up at everything you are doing as a marketing opportunity. So, for example, looking at your sales strategy. Is your sales guy running the show? This is very common. The sales guys come in and they want the sale, no matter the cost. And that cost is what I call a "seat-of-the- pants" approach where there is a frenetic environment and the sales guy turns on a dime depending on his customer. And features and benefits of the products are sometimes even adjusted for that one customer. That is a lack of focus.

What most companies are not doing is starting from scratch, looking at the market opportunity, looking at the market need, looking at what pain their product is going to solve in the marketplace for specific audiences. (That's actually a key issue: "product myopia" or  “benefits” versus “features”).

In an engineering-driven culture, it's kind of a "if you build it, they will come" type of approach. They focus on "that little knob over there can create this really cool GUI which really is… like, cool". Versus creating a product that is actually going to meet the needs of the customer. Sometimes in an engineering-driven environment, the product marketing person will meet with customers and will clearly see the opportunities for product improvements that the engineers will resist to their death.

What is needed is a different way of thinking for example using your marketing brain when making business decisions is of the utmost importance. For example if resources are limited and you have the choice of pursuing several different customers but can't service them all, don't just go for the money. Go for the one that will meet budget expectations but also add credibility.

Here is what Seth has to say or click here to go directly to the post on Branding Strategy Insider:

The Brand Formula May 09, 2007

Branding Strategy Insider Blog - By Seth Godin

What's a brand?

I think it is the product of two things:

[Prediction of what to expect] times [emotional power of that expectation].

If I encounter a brand and I don't know what it means or does, it has zero power. If I have an expectation of what an organization will do for me, but I don't care about that, no power.

Fedex is a powerful brand because you always get what you expect, and the relief you get from their consistency is high.

AT&T is a weak brand because you almost never get what you expect, because they do so many different things and because the value of what they create has little emotional resonance (it sure used to though, when they did one thing, they did it perfectly and they were the only ones who could connect you).

The dangers of brand ubiquity are then obvious. When your brand is lots of things (like AOL became) then the expectations were all over the place and the emotional resonance started to fade. If the predictability of your brand starts to erode its emotional power (a restaurant that becomes boring) then you need to become predictable in your joyous unpredictability!

If you want to grow a valuable brand, my advice is to keep awareness close to zero among the people you're not ready for yet, and build the most predictable, emotional experience you can among those that care about you

Case Studies and Unique Story Angles Boost Marketing Credibility

Here is a great article out of the Wall street Journal (subscription required, sorry) talking about the importance of influencer relationships in advertising. In this instance it is large companies that are showcasing small businesses as example s of business success using the large companies’ products and/or services.

The key word in the story is credibility, and with credibility comes the opportunity to raise the profile and play at a new level. This applies to large companies as well, especially in the form of strategic partnerships. The partnership can be used to pursue a new demographic, to strengthen the perception or improve the product itself to enhance the joint brands. Boasting each brand’s strengths improves overall credibility.

So for small to medium sized companies, where have you been having a great experience with a large company you have hired? Offer yourself as a case study, tell them about the return on investment you have experienced and you might just be their next poster child in a multimillion dollar campaign.

Talking about a small company increasing its profile, I recently watched the local news and they offered a story about  a race between local courier and the reporter who had an in-car GPS device  for managing traffic and directions. There were three different races and three broadcast segments, and the courier won every time. This courier who likely has zero advertising (or PR) budget just received three 90-minute spots that highlighted him and his courier company. I bet you his business saw some remarkable lift.

Where can you leverage a unique story angle like this one and pitch it to the assignment desk/producers of your regional news? Or where is there a case study that you can offer to a large company you have bought services from?

Symbiotic Marketing Helps Big, Small Businesses
The Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

Big companies are increasingly realizing that using real people with real businesses in their ad campaigns lends credibility to their efforts. It also provides a cheap and effective way to target niche audiences--be it the African-American, Latino or other communities, such as environmentalists or pet enthusiasts.

For their part, small businesses featured in these ads get the kind of marketing and recognition that might take years to get on their own. And they do so with very little effort -- and on someone else's tab.

For example, DogToys.com, a Web retailer and wholesaler of pet products based in West Chester, Pa., was showcased last month with two other local entrepreneurs in a regional promotion for Verizon's broadband technology. Although the commercial didn't result in an immediate sales increase, founder Jill Gizzio says the ad helped her business reach a higher level of credibility. - Read the whole story...

Here is a Great Marketing Publicity Stunt from Roto-Rooter

Roto-Rooter used a tricked out toilet to build attention for its services. Here is what I think worked about the campaign:

· It leverage currents trends in consumer electronic technologies

· It identified the popularity of the “tricked out” or “Pimped out” trend and leveraged it to the point of silly (which also worked)

· The novelty value of the prize that had great visual appeal for the broadcast media

· It targeted its male demographic properly with the right prize, tone, and theme

· Using YouTube as the video news releases (VNR) distribution method. (With the new FTC rules about VNR usage broadcast news stations have to report that the VNR is and “advertorial” and not created by the station. This means that many stations will no longer use VNR footage.)

· They could have gone even further by offering it to some television shows or movies for product placements. Couldn’t you picture this on The Simpsons or some of the odd reality shows out there e.g. Falva Fave?

A Woman Wins Roto-Rooter’s Tricked Out Toilet

From Promo Magazine

Much to the chagrin of thousands of men who entered Roto-Rooter's sweepstakes offering a tricked out toilet, a woman has claimed the prize.

Marcia Luhman, 55, a semi-retired Oro Valley, AZ, resident won the “Pimped Out John” valued at $5,000. She said she entered because she thought her 25-year-old son would like the prize.

"I did it as a joke because he is a little crazy and I knew he would enjoy it," she told reps at Roto-Rooter.

The sweeps garnered 318,000 entries.

The high-end Kohler Cimarron commode has a flat-screen TV, gaming system, DVD player and other electronic gadgets attached to it. An iPod docking station is equipped with a toilet paper dispenser and the seat is covered in lime green fuzz.

The goal of the campaign was to bring in a younger demographic to boost the company’s core customer base of aging Boomers and beyond.

The winner was announced April 25, National Plumber’s Day. The toilet arrived at the winner’s home yesterday, with the option of a Roto-Rooter service person installing it, spokesperson Paul Abrams said.

Roto-Rooter used a $140,000 budget for the campaign that included notifying its 200,000 e-mail subscribers about the sweeps and placing videos on YouTube.com.

A major PR effort helped boost awareness. The Pimped Out John was mentioned on major broadcast shows including the “Today” show, “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, the BBC, as well as in hundreds of newspapers.

END

Read it from the source: click here 

Increase the Credibility of Your Press Release Through Social Media Optimization

This post from Tom Foremski over at The New Rules Communications Blog based on a post by Brian Solis "Everything you needed to (or should) know about social media news releases."

Brian Comments: "I offer how to make them work, alternatives for formats, what not to do, why PR should/shouldn't participate, examples, as well as a "greatest hits" of blog posts I've written on the subject"

It really needs any comment from me. It delivers the goods on how and why to do a social media optimized press release. This is the first post I have found that gives a holistic picture of this with multiple examples. Thanks Tom!

Understanding The Social Media Release

By Tom Foremski, The New Rules Communications Blog

I had no idea that I would start such a controversial subject when I wrote "Die! Press Release! Die! Die! Die!" I was asking for a change in the format of the press release by adding URL links, deconstructing it, and labeling/tagging different parts of it for easier assembly of information.

Some of the response to the post was antagonistic, the rest was very positive. Since the publication of the post many people have worked hard to change the format of the press release and bring it into the new media age. Some call it a "social media release."

Brian Solis, principal at FutureWorks PR,  has a written a very good overview of the subject at WebProNews:

...the Social Media Release has been pushed by many influencers, including Tom Foremski’s public outcry for the death of crappy press releases; Todd Defren who offered the first template and remains an authoritative champion; Chris Heuer who helped lead an effort to propose a standard for their construction and distribution; Stowe Boyd who reminds disingenuous, lazy or opportunistic PR people that they’re not invited to participate in Social Media (and rightfully so); Shel Holtz who hosted the original NMRcast, and continues to demonstrate the value of new releases; Shannon Whitley's work to help PR "get it;" and the many others who continue to carry the flag forward.

...The social media release, aka SMR, aka social media press release, aka new media release, aka hrelease, is not a miracle pill to cure the ills of poorly written press releases. It is merely a tool that is most effective when combined with a strategic arsenal of relevant company blog posts, traditional releases, relationships, and an emerging category of press releases that tell a story (written by people for people using SEO to reach them).

There is also a case study: Click through to Read the rest and see a physical example of a press release for Coca Cola's Virtual Coke program plus some other links to relevant sources.

In Marketing, Perception is Reality and Visualization Helps Perception

NASA was the first organization to use visualization techniques, which led the way to successful missions that brought man to the moon long before anticipated. A NASA psychologist, Dr. Denis Waitley (who endorsed The Credibility Factor) took those visualization techniques, which were then called “visual motor rehearsal,” to the Olympic program. What the research team discovered, using sophisticated electroencephalograms and biofeedback equipment with Olympic athletes, is that when an athlete was visualizing the race, the same muscles fired in the same sequence, exactly as they might during the actual race. In other words, the brain couldn’t tell the difference between the real race and the imagined race.

So what does this have to do with credibility? Well, it is the perception piece, and it is twofold; your perception is as important as the perception of potential of customers. If you don’t believe what you are saying about your product, then your customers won’t either.

So here is a visualization planning strategy that we use in our Credibility Branding program. It is a very powerful tool; oftentimes it provides a much better picture of how the product will be used, and it even reveals how the company might support the development, production, and marketing of that product.

Visualization Planning Strategy

The idea is to create a story about your business in the not-too-distant future, describing in detail the outcome—the final result of how your product or company has impacted multiple layers. Pretend you have a magic wand and you can swish it over your business, products, customers—everything. What does this future business look like? What are you feeling? Where are you physically? What does the office look like? Who is surrounding you (customers, clients, employees, colleagues)? What are they like (describe them in detail—how they act, what they do, how they are feeling, how they respond to you)? How has the company impacted your personal life (remember that this is absolute genie-in-the-bottle wish time—whatever you want, you describe)? What do you or your company stand for? What are you feeling? How are your customers feeling? How do they act? Who are they? What do they do? How are they responding to your products or services?

The exercise entails writing a detailed story outlining the answers to the above questions. Take your time, and write stream-of-consciousness style, meaning don’t stop to correct sentence structure or grammar. Let your thoughts flow on the paper until you feel you’ve said everything you want to say.

In creating your story, follow these rules:

· Throughout your story, describe how you feel. Feeling it makes it more real. Also, when the exercise is complete, it will provide new words, phrasings, and descriptors that could help create the brand persona (the emotional piece) and perhaps help in establishing some messaging.

· When describing the individuals that are part of the business, you don’t have to name names; just describe the qualities of these employees, colleagues, and customers.

· Do not choose a specific time in the future or a timeframe when your vision will come to fruition; don’t put any restrictions on it.

· Do not include “hows.” Do not think about how it will come about; just describe the outcome, the end result.

· Dream big; whish loud.

· Write it in a stream-of-consciousness way. For example, if you can’t think of anything to write to start it, start with: “I can’t think of anything to write. This seems like a dumb exercise, but I will give it a try. What is it that I see as the future description of my company…?” And so on.

· Describe how you feel all the way through the story. (Did I mention that before?)

Why are you doing this? It takes you out of marketing speak. It takes you out of planning and traditional business practices and puts you into a new context of imagining what is possible. It takes your thinking to a new level of creativity. It will truly surprise you when you compare what you wrote with what you thought the company, product, or customers were before you started.

Take this story and read it regularly. If you want, take out excerpts and put them on your bulletin board to remind you of what’s possible. If you have a team, each member should do this exercise, and then share the results in a group meeting. Powerful new understandings can arise out of this exercise, and insights into how your team thinks become crystal clear. You might also become aware of differing visions, which will eventually emerge—better to have them revealed in this forum rather than two days before a launch.

Blogging Your Brand - Can Brand Building and Link Building Cohabitate?

I saw something today on MyBlogLog. A member used a very famous celebrities name to entice a click through. Once at the member’s site it was obvious that it was just a ploy and the site delivered on the ongoing brand identify of that ploy. “I tricked you to get here, now I will likely trick you to sell you something,” is what that particular brand stands for. This type of clever traffic building tactic is impacting your brand every time you use it. If you really want to create an interesting effect on users, don’t be lazy and use obviously manipulative tactics, create something worthwhile visiting, leverage influencers to help you get the word out and build credibility through third party endorsements. Use sound SEO tactics of keyword relevance and proper back end coding, network and build your links with an integrity that represents your brand.

I also noticed as I purused the blogisphere there are these complicated link building practices among bloggers. My philosophy is don’t link to something unless it is in alignment with your readers interest. Otherwise what is the point of the traffic. You want traffic that is targeted and qualified right? You want visitors that are going to eventually buy something from you don’t you? Traffic for the sake of traffic is not going to help you over the long run even if you are going for Ad Sense links or building circulation to sell advertising. The target audience won’t link if they are driven to you for the wrong reasons from the wrong blog. Advertisers will eventually catch on that the traffic is not authentic and doesn’t deliver the demographics or the content focus they were looking for. Even if you do increase your Google and Technorati rankings there is a risk to your brand perception by using these tactics. I am not saying don’t do interesting link building programs… but do them with a brand aligning publicity hook or with the right partners one who will deliver the right demographics and have a quality site to start with.

So what does your brand stand for? Think about this for a moment, write it down. It may surprise you. Now look at your traffic building or offline marketing strategies, are they in alignment with what your brand stands for? Look at you blog itself, does it speak to your brand? If not make adjustments, go back to credibility marketing basics, find the points of credibility in your company or product then promote those and use your brand to highlight it. This will build long term loyal customers not fly by link throughs.

For bloggers, your customers are your brand so be careful who you invite.