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Big Business Branding Makes Small Dreams Come True

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Don’t kid yourself. Successful brands don’t happen by accident. Fortune 500 companies don’t create and build their brands — i.e. their messaging, identity, personality and the like — accidentally. Instead, they first understand the best practices that strong brands require and they manage them with precision through an army of experienced “brand police” every day, at every turn. From their smallest tweet to their largest global event, their information is Compelling, Clear, Concise, Clever and Consistent at every turn. What would happen if we applied these same 5 C’s to our own personal brands?

I believe that everyone can benefit from applying the great branding techniques of big business – including you and me! The next time you update your resume or prepare for an interview for a dream job, remember what the big guys know:

Be Compelling: Plan and practice your 30-second elevator pitch ahead of time and strive to capture their imagination with your message and your delivery.
Be Clear: Be sure your message is easy to understand. You want them to see how you can solve an important problem or fill an important gap for them. The last thing you want to do is confuse them.
Be Concise: Get all your points across quickly and efficently. If you go around in circles or wander off track in your interview, they may think you’ll do the same on the job.
Be Clever: Try to leave them with a thought or idea that is truly memorable and interesting so that you really stand out about the other candidates.
Be Consistent: There’s an old saying in marketing. Tell them. Then tell them again. And tell them again. Without sounding repetitive, be sure you are consistent in your messaging so they know they can depend on you.

Tags: Branding, Personal positioning
Posted in Branding, Marketing | No Comments »

Stepping up to Social Networking

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

In theory, it should be as easy to get started on social networking as typing 140 characters on Twitter or posting your latest update on your Facebook wall. But if your goal is to leverage such Internet gathering places to enhance your company’s brand, you’ll need to do more than tweet a link to your favorite music track or post the latest snapshots from your kid’s soccer game. The first rule of thumb is to apply the same good marketing practices when writing for the Web 2.0 world as you did for Web 1.0. Beyond that, while it’s true that there’s a bit of a learning curve, getting started on being a business social butterfly is actually as easy as 1-2-3…

1. Take baby steps.
It’s a good idea to start small by simply creating a profile on one or two select social networking sites to become familiar with the territory. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are great places to start — these sites really seem to resonate as exciting new marketing vehicles for businesses everywhere. In addition, industry-specific sites with chats and blogs can be invaluable as well. Build up your network of personal and professional contacts and then, once you’ve got your feet wet, you can take the plunge try creating a “company page” on Facebook or starting a group on LinkedIn.

2. Keep it new.
Be sure your personal profile and company information are up-to-date and strive to generate fresh and interesting content on a regular basis. If you’re stumped about things to write about, follow the tried-and-true rules of good marketing and focus on your area of expertise. For instance, if you’re a solar energy start-up, tweet about solar topics and provide links to interesting industry articles and news posts. If you’re a financial advisor, offer your insights on day’s market activity. Don’t worry about overloading your fans and followers because they can always adjust their settings and usage to read your posts at their leisure or not at all.

3. Seek expert advice.
Since social networking is so new, to some degree, we’re all still learning as we go and defining best practices in real time. But there are already some highly knowledgeable experts and consultants around offering everything from free Tips & Tricks to full-court services such as content development, site optimization and website integration. Sign up for free webinars and search Twitter for postings from topic experts. There’s a lot to learn and a lot to be gained in the process.

Satow Strategies is here to help along the way with any of your social networking needs. Contact us at info@satowstrategies.com or (602) 481-1942.

Posted in Marketing, Social Media, Web | No Comments »

Get Organized! (Your Messages, That Is!)

Monday, March 26th, 2007

How Clarity Rules When It Comes to Business

by Paula Satow, Managing Member, Satow Strategies

Spring has sprung and it’s time for a little spring cleaning. Sure, you can vacuum out your car and straighten up your office but that’s not really what I meant. I am referring to your company’s messaging. Just like your home and work life can always be improved when you get rid of the clutter and focus on organizing things, so, too, your bottom line can be enhanced when you simplify your key messages and get to the point when it comes to making new customers and influencing them to buy your products and try your services. The world’s best companies know that clear, crisp messages can be the keys to the kingdom of success.
Here are a few quick tips on how to spiff up your key points and capture your market’s imagination:

TIP One: Keep It Simple.
Be sure you start with a simple, solid messaging foundation that is easy to understand, no matter who the audience. For instance, when preparing your “About Us” section on your webpage, begin with a positioning statement that says exactly who you are and why that’s important to your target audience. For instance: “XYZ, Inc. is the Arizona-based plastics manufacturer that delivers high-quality widgets and services to the auto industry at a discounted price.” One sentence says it all.

TIP Two: Take It From The Top.
Organize your messages from the top down, focusing on your corporate brand first. Then, work your way down to your products, services and the unique differentiators they deliver. For instance, when writing a boilerplate – the summary paragraph about your organization that consistently appears at the end of your company’s press releases – always start with your corporate messaging followed by a description of the products and services you offer along with their key feature and benefit.

TIP Three: Remove Clutter.
Your key messages cannot by effectively conveyed when they’re surrounded by the clutter of contradictory, outdated and/or unfocused information. Peel back the onion on your marketing collateral and determine when the information was created and whether or not it is still relevant to your business and important to making sales. If not, it’s time to update your communications suite. Instead of helping you grow your business, it might be actually be working against you, confusing your customers and fueling your competitors’ “FUD Power” – the Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt that they tell prospects about your offering.

TIP Four: Try It On For Size.
Before you charge ahead to change the world, or at least your little corner of it, try to test your new messages out with prospects, customers, employees and partners to see how they fly. You can do formerly with some market research and/or informally through a small trial balloon, perhaps through a flyer at a trade show or a simple direct mail piece. But, more often than not, this vantage will prove invaluable in honing and prioritizing your final messages.

Visit http://www.satowstrategies.com/ to learn more about getting your messages more on track and your business on target for success through organized messaging techniques. Email info@satowstrategies.com to get started on your Message Spring Cleaning.

Posted in Branding, Marketing | No Comments »

New Year’s Resolution: Write a Marketing Plan

Tuesday, January 30th, 2007

Mapping Your Way to Marketing Success

by Paula Satow, Satow Strategies, LLC

The new year is well underway and companies everywhere are putting the finishing touches on their 2007 Marketing Plans.

Yeah, right!

If you believe that, then I know a bridge…

The truth is that many firms can’t even agree on whether or not they need a Marketing Plan no less what their Marketing Plan should consist of. So, breathe a sign of relief if you’re one of them. You’re not alone and, in fact, you’re in good company. Some of the best, most successful companies either “wing it” altogether or write their Marketing Plans “as they go.” To some degree, this is because marketers, by definition, are creative, right-brain types who would rather spend the time ideating great ad concepts and designing leading websites than putting their logical left brains to work on facts, figures and…worst of all…numbers.

Well, that’s where I come in.

To me, creating a solid Marketing Plan can be a very creative process, indeed. And, no matter what you may tell yourself, your marketing results for the year will be more effective and more measurable if you start with a solid Marketing Plan. To take some of the sting out of the process and to help you kick it off, I suggest you start with a game — 20 Questions.

Let’s see how well you can handle the challenge:

1. What is the single most important thing you want to accomplish with your marketing efforts this year?

2. What is your marketing budget for this year? What percentage of your revenue does this represent? (5%? 10%? 20%? other? – 20% is optimal)

3. What is your corporate marketing strategy and how does it complement your product/service marketing strategy?

4. What is unique or special about the products or services you will be offering?

5. What is your primary target market?

6. Who are your competitors and how do they compete with your company and your offerings?

7. How does your marketing strategy support your business and brand strategies?

8. Is your communications consistent in terms of corporate and product identity?

9. Is your communications consistent in terms of messages?

10. What marketing programs have worked for you in the past?

11. What marketing programs have failed and why?

12. What is your sales channel?

13. What is your Internet strategy? (website, web sales, blogs, etc.)

14. What is the size and quality of your sales, marketing and support teams?

15. What is your sales and marketing collateral strategy? (newsletter, e-newsletter, brochures, etc.)

16. What is your event strategy? (trade shows, conferences, speakerships, web seminars)

17. What is your media relations strategy? (local/national/business press, analysts, tours, joint announcements, etc.)

18. What is your co-marketing strategy with channel and strategic partners?

19. What is your launch calendar for the year?

20. How will you measure the results of your marketing programs?

Learn more at www.satowstrategies.com or drop an email for assistance with your marketing plan to info@satowstrategies.com.

Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

Internet Tools for Marketers

Wednesday, September 20th, 2006

Five Powerful Websites I Have Grown to Love
by Paula Satow, Managing Member, Satow Strategies, LLC

These days, marketers everywhere understand the sheer power and immeasurable value of the Internet. Thanks to a torrent of tools available online, we can use the web to identify strategies, research industries and even implement programs to enhance our bottom line. And, if you are like me, there are a few websites in particular that have become my secret weapons and I return to them again and again. They have made my job easier and my results more tangible than I ever dreamed possible. But, since there are no secrets, I thought I would share my five favorite online marketing tools with all my fellow marketers. Of course, please feel free to share your favorite secret weapons with me too!

1. The WayBack Machine www.archive.org/web/web.php The “Wayback Machine” is a service of the Internet Archive. Through it, you can visit a website’s archived pages. Like the Ghost of Websites Past, it allows you to surf through 55 billion (!) web pages that have been archived since 1996. Imagine the thrill of exploring a company’s old web site designs, its past press coverage or its communications from decades past. Witnessing a business’ past can only help when it comes time to plan its future.

2. Trademark Search Engine www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm Conduct one trademark search on the TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System) system and you’ll quickly understand the power of this indispensable search engine. TESS contains more than four million pending, registered, and dead federal trademarks. It is an invaluable tool for marketing people in search of the perfect brand name, marketing term, or tagline. The USPTO main site at http://www.uspto.gov/ is also very helpful.

3. Visual Thesaurus http://www.visualthesaurus.com/ As a writer both of marketing materials and fiction, I have often dreamed about a resource just like this one. Thanks to Thinkmap (http://www.thinkmap.com/), this dream is now a reality. Visual Thesaurus is a commanding 3D visualization tool for finding just the right word. This site literally brings words to life, forming highly interactive and animated displays of words, related words, and their meanings. Marketers cannot go wrong when they are looking for the right word. You can try it out at no charge and annual subscriptions are quite reasonable.

4. Enterprise Search Platform http://www.grokker.com/ Grokker (named comes from the term “to grok” — to deeply understand — from Heinlein’s science fiction novel, Stranger in a Strange Land) is an enterprise search engine from Groxis that enhances the ability to “explore, organize, and share digital information.” It links corporate databases, subscription content, and search engines to create highly visual and interactive maps about any subject under the sun and then some. Market research will never be the same.

5. Branding Newsletter http://www.brandchannel.com/ Founded in 2001, Interbrand’s Brand Channel claims to be “the world’s only online exchange about branding.” I think this site is a valuable resource for brand practitioners everywhere. Offering a truly global perspective on brands and enough articles, glossaries, white papers and book reviews on the subject to sink a ship, this website should be a regular click stop for any marketer in virtually any industry.

When you want help tapping into the power of the internet to enhance your marketing capabilities, please contact Satow Strategies at 602-481-1942 or info@satowstrategies.com. We’re ready to help you succeed.

*Other trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.