|
Brand, Branding, Branded
Subject Line: Brand, Branding, Branded
The Write Market Release
Vol. 3. Issue 2
Brand, Branding, Branded
______________________
CONTENTS IN THIS ISSUE
1. Editor's Remarks
2. How to Write a Marketing Plan - Part VI
a) Quick Outline of a Marketing Plan
b) How to Brand
c) Review of "The Revenge of Brand X"
d) Resources for Branding
3. What's New at The Write Market
4. Get Your Ad in TWM's Release!
5. Administrative Information
_________________
EDITOR'S REMARKS
What a month we've had here at The Write Market.
Busy, busy, busy!
I can't wait to tell you everything that we've been doing!
Last month, we offered a free book to the 3,000th subscriber.
We sent the 3,000th subscriber an email, but he never
took us up on the offer. So.... the first person that sends
us an email at: book@thewritemarket.com will get that
free copy! Say, "I WANT A FREE BOOK," in the subject line.
The book is Search Engine Optimization and Placement:
An Internet Marketing Course for Webmasters....
http://www.thewritemarket.com/promotion-journal.htm
We've been busier than squirrels this month.
We took on two new clients and we've been working for a few
old client's as well. We must be doing something right,
because most of our old clients come back for more.
I just love that. If you want to see what we've been
working on, check out our new projects page:
http://thewritemarket.com/media/projects.htm
And while you're there, If you haven't checked out our site in a while....
you really should check it out now! We redesigned to provide
better navigation and get rid of a lot of unnecessary script.
Of course, in the process, we broke a couple of Rob Frankel's rules
of Branding, "Once you have a logo, marry it. Once you have a
web site, stay the course." We knew that!
But we are also marketing a new product and we felt that
it was time to get the site more up-to-date. That's the problem
when you have an excellent graphic designer (Terry Kent) that knows
all the new technologies, you just can't help trying them out!
I really like the new design and our new logo, though, so hopefully
this design will stick around for a long time to come!
I've learned my branding philosophy from Rob Frankel
The first article is about how to brand. Much of that information
agrees with Rob's book. (Perhaps not all of it.)
However, that article is not intended to replace the book, there
is just too much information in Rob's book not to go out and buy
it right now. The second article is a review of the book.
Write on,
Renee Kennedy
rkennedy@thewritemarket.com
**NEED INK?... SAVE 40-70% OVER RETAIL!**
High Quality Inkjet Printer Cartridges, JetPak Mailers,
Refill Kits... (Yes, You CAN Refill Your Own Cartridge!)
Satisfaction IS Guaranteed! FREE Printer Utilities!
Come Save Now!... MaxPatchInk
__________________________________
QUICK OUTLINE OF A MARKETING PLAN
(This is a quick review to show you where
we're at and where we're going.)
1. Market Research
2. Target Market
3. Product
4. Competition
5. Mission Statement
6. Market Strategies
7. Pricing, Positioning and Branding ** We're Here **
8. Budget
9. Marketing Goals
10. Monitor Your Results
For more details on this plan see:
http://www.thewritemarket.com/marketing/outline.htm
_____________________________________
HOW TO BRAND
by Renee Kennedy
This article was really tough to write. My favorite thing to do when
writing a "how to article" is to break everything down into sections;
nice, neat little piles of organized information.
The problem is that branding is more of a holistic technique.
Branding has to encompass many elements that all work together
to create a meaningful mark in the minds of the buying public.
Branding has to be at the root of ALL your marketing
efforts. Branding has to emanate out from every pore
of your business. In my efforts to organize information, I have broken
down branding into 7 elements. My suggestion is that you analyze the
7 elements, if you feel that you are weak in one element then follow
up with the resources provided. However, at the back of your mind,
realize that all the elements must work together to create a business
presence.
What is a brand?
A brand is a mark that you sear into livestock with a hot poker;
that mark identifies which animals belong to your ranch.
If you're a marketeer, you may have come to think of branding
as a mark that you sear into people's minds and hearts that
identify your product, services or company.
Elements of your Marketing Plan you can use to create a
successful brand:
1. Niche/Target/Positioning:
a. What do you know about your Industry?
b. Where does your company fit into the Industry?
c. How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?
d. Who is your target?
e. How does your product satisfy your target's needs?
Resources:
Target Market:
http://www.thewritemarket.com/marketing/target.htm
Product:
http://www.thewritemarket.com/marketing/product.htm
2. Slogan or Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
a. Does your USP deliver one, strong BENEFIT to your target?
b. Does your USP tell people what You can do for Them?
c. Does your USP eliminate the competition?
d. Does your USP imply that you are the ONLY solution that
your target will need to solve their problems?
Resources:
Unique Selling Proposition:
http://www.thewritemarket.com/marketing/unique.htm
3. Logo
a. What images or ideas does your logo conjure?
b. Does it deliver a clear message?
c. Does it deliver a message that is consistent with your USP?
Resources:
All I can say here is: Hire a Professional Graphic Designer that knows
Marketing. And give the designer space. Yes, give them your ideas,
but let the designer run with it. Listen to the designer. It is the
designer's job to design, let them design.
Need a professional designer? Here's a plug for The Write Market,
Terry Kent is my partner and an excellent graphic designer:
mailto:tkent@thewritemarket.com
I have worked with Terry for years, she knows her stuff, she knows
marketing and she knows design.
4. Customer Service Policy
Do you have systems in place to handle Customer
Service Issues? Topics might include:
- billing and payment services
- how you will handle customer complaints
- first contact with a customer
- how you answer the phone
Resources:
Customer Relations Marketing is a topic all to itself.
Check out: i-CRM discussion list - comes through email
Judy Vorfeld is the moderator
Email: mailto:i-crm-html-join-request@list.adventive.com
Web: http://www.adventive.com/
(This is an excellent all-in-one resource for customer
relations marketing. Judy always includes several resources
at the end of each dialogue.)
5. Pricing:
a. How does your price compare to your competitor's price?
b. Are you using pricing to imply quality?
c. Are you using pricing to imply cheapest price?
Resources:
Next month, I will provide a nice, neat little article on pricing,
but for now here are some other articles that talk about it:
Good overview:
http://www.fawkner.com/pricing.html
Dynamic Pricing:
http://sitetipsandtricks.com/art/a062000a.html
6. Trust and Credibility
a. Trust:
- secure online shopping
- guarantee or warranty
- build a community
b. Credibility:
- are you looked at as an expert?
- do you provide information to your clients freely? (This
is a tough issue, you do want to provide some information,
but you may need to have limits - you don't want to give away the
store.)
- the Web is a great place to provide information and to make
your business look credible. It can start with the little
things like a professionally designed web site and move up to
providing resources like online manuals that show how to use
your products.
Resources:
Branding and Trust:
http://www.thewritemarket.com/articles/janal.htm
Building Trust on the web:
http://www.thewritemarket.com/promotion/trust.htm
7. Marketing Strategies (how you will build awareness of your brand):
- Networking
- Direct Mail Marketing
- Traditional Media Advertising
- Training Programs
- Become an Expert
- Direct Personal Selling
- Publicity and Press Releases
- Web Site
- Internet Advertising
Resources:
Ten Categories of Marketing Strategy:
http://www.thewritemarket.com/marketing/strategy.htm
How can a business build a brand?
First, you have to determine your niche market. You need to study the
competition and find out where you should be "positioned" in relation to
them. What are you going to offer the target market that your competition
isn't offering?
For a small business, the best approach is to find a
product or service, and make the product or deliver the service
in a different way than everyone else. This could involve a number
of strategies including customer service policy, pricing, delivery,
production... We covered several of these in our article
20 Ways to Beat Your Competition:
http://www.thewritemarket.com/marketing/competition.htm
You can begin to build your brand with that one strategy that
differentiates you from the rest of the competition.
Take that strategy and build a USP, design a logo, use it
to determine how you will develop trust and credibility,
even use that strategy to develop your customer service policies.
Then take it out to the public and build your brand awareness
through marketing strategies. Your brand culminates in building
loyalty in the hearts of your buyers.
__________________
SPONSOR MESSAGE
If you're serious about search engine promotion, it is a must
for you to own Web Position Gold. WPG does it all - checks
ranks in all popular search engines, analyzes your competitors,
tells you what's wrong with your pages and how to rank higher,
tracks your traffic and so much more.
http://www.webposition.com/cgi-local/index.pl?DS1=RP&DS2=CYO-555E
____________________________
REVIEW OF "THE REVENGE OF BRAND X"
by Renee Kennedy
I don't think I've ever read a book where I wanted to stand up and
shout, "YES!" I literally did that while reading Rob Frankel's book,
"The Revenge of Brand X."
Rob writes in an easy-to-read, conversational style. His writing is
funny and witty, but most importantly, he lives up to his name.
He's frank...el. (Sorry, Rob, I absolutely couldn't resist saying that!)
His focus is on Web branding and he caters to the idea that a small
business can make it if they "build a big time brand." He brings home
the point that branding is really the key to making your business work.
He presents exercises throughout the book that will help you analyze
your branding strategy. He also sites numerous
examples of good branding and bad branding. These examples will
help you rethink old school marketing ideology.
Rob's book is written for a new generation of marketers.
Rob shoots down the old philosophy that internet marketing is a
numbers game. The drive behind his theories is that marketing is
about finding your "niche" or "target market" and then making those
people love to love you. Rob is keen on marketing philosophy, but the
drive behind his book is methodology and strategy. In other words,
it's a "how to" book.
I've been marketing on the Internet for three years, I've been
searching for someone to explain how to use this phenomena we
call the Web, in a way that I could quickly absorb. (Like most small
business owners, Terry and I do not have time or money for market
research, surveys, reports, the endless stream of information, the
infinite learning curve, etc, etc....) Rob explains branding in such a
way that's easy to understand and when you grasp the essential
techniques, they are applicable for us little guys.
Visit Rob's website to buy the book:
RobFrankel.com
(I do not gain anything by directing you there.)
______________________
SPONSOR MESSAGE
*** FREE marketing advice from master copywriter Shel Horowitz ***
Monthly Frugal Marketing Tips, excerpts from his books, Grassroots
Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World and Marketing Without
Megabucks: How to Sell Anything on a Shoestring, 200+ articles.
All at http://www.frugalfun.com
$2 discount on any book order if you mention this ad. 877-FRUGALFUN
or http://www.frugalfun.com
_________________________
RESOURCES FOR BRANDING
i-branding discussion list - comes through email.
Rob Frankel is the moderator:
Email: mailto:i-branding-join-request@list.adventive.com
Web: http://www.adventive.com/subscribe.html
Rob Frankel's site:
http://www.robfrankel.com
More articles on branding:
http://www.thewritemarket.com/articles.shtml
________________________________
WHAT'S NEW AT THE WRITE MARKET
We've redesigned. I know you can hardly believe
it, this time we didn't even let a year pass, but I tell you
it's the last time, I PROMISE.... after reading Rob's book,
we don't want to change our image yet again....
http://www.thewritemarket.com
________________________
GET YOUR AD IN THIS EZINE
Get an ad into TWM Release:
Contact:
webmaster@thewritemarket.com
Current number of subscribers:
3150
____________
INFORMATION
You may forward this newsletter to anyone.
You are receiving this email because you
signed up for it! Either you signed up through
Marketing Course Newsletter Network (MCNN)
or somewhere at
http://www.thewritemarket.com
or you simply sent an email to our subscription
address below.
Subscribe:
mailto:subscribe@thewritemarket.com
Copyright 2001 The Write Market All rights reserved.
|
