Refined Branding - Refining and Managing Your Brand - Re-branding your company

Yext – PowerListings for Your Brand

rtsadam — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:29:18 +0000

I found an interesting application that makes sure a company's online listings are consistent across a variety of online web sites such as, Yelp, FourSquare, SuperPages and CitySearch. Checkout www.yext.com to see how your consistent your company listing is displayed. They also have a really cool visual infographic showing the way local business compares from "Then and Now". Check out the difference between a local business in 1962 and today. http://www.yext.com/local-business-listings-now-and-then.html.

USPS – Part of The Problem

rtsadam — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:38:50 +0000

I stopped by the USPS office in Mt. Washington, MD on Friday. The employees inside were nice enough and I was in and out in under 10 minutes. What caught my attention was the banner they had hanging outside on the rail promoting "Rent a PO Box Today". It was in tatters. Perhaps someone took a knife moments before I got there and sliced it up. I can't believe the USPS would let a banner representing their brand image (the way the consumer sees a company) stay up for more than a few minutes in that condition. It represented what the USPS is going through; it's in tatters as a money-making business.

According to The Blaze, the U.S. Postal Service says it lost $5.1 billion last year as a weak economy and increased Internet use drove down mail volume. Back in 2010, the USPS did a study costing $4.8 million conducted by three big-name consulting firms: Accenture, the Boston Consulting Group, and McKinsey & Co. The study identified 50 moves that the USPS could take to improve its bottom line. The answer seems pretty simple to me, clean up your image and take pride in your brick and mortar storefronts. Too often our energies are spent on the BIG issues when the REAL issues are right in front of our eyes.

Workface – Integrated Media to Touch Your Future and Existing Clients

rtsadam — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:04:02 +0000

I was recently notified that my BusinessCard2 profile was being acquired by Workface. So I took a few minutes to check it out. Workface is an all-in-one application that allows you to proactively respond to prospective or existing customers via chat, video and even voice. It has a local client that resides on your computer and allows you to immediately correspond with your P&E customers 24/7. The admin function allows for multiple employees to be set up. Seems like a great tool for customer support, inside sales and for introducing your company on a more personalized basis. Check it out at www.workface.com.

Have You Audited Your Brand? – Part Two

rtsadam — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:29:26 +0000

Part Two – The Brand Audit Process

In part one, Refined Branding introduced the concept and importance of having your brand audited. Now we would like to share the actual process that’s involved when undertaking a brand audit.

Whether you’re painting a picture, finishing a basement or getting ready to go fishing, almost everything you do requires a process – and conducting a brand audit isn’t any different.

We start by asking you to complete a brief brand assessment. It’s an easy online tool that gives the interviewer a better understanding of your audit intentions. Basically, it asks, “Why are you taking the time to have your brand audited?”

We meet with you and your management team to conduct an interactive interview session. Together we’ll work through a series of questions, which cover a wide variety of subjects and ideas.

The goal is to ask enough pertinent questions so the essence of your brand is uncovered. Getting into that mindset takes time, but as the process continues, and more information and details are uncovered, your brand picture becomes crystal clear.

Once we have finished the interview process, Refined Branding creates a master document that’s incredibly detailed – and easy to understand. The information is organized in a logical, concise manner so anyone could read it and instantly know everything about your brand.

The document can be given to graphic designers who are working on your logo, web designers who are creating your website, business consultants who are working on your company’s strategic direction – even copywriters who are writing a marketing piece or developing sales collateral!

Another excellent result of the process is having your message defined and documented so that it can be disseminated throughout your company.

By having one core message that can be distributed through every possible communications and marketing channel, you deliver the consistency and brand equity that builds consumer recognition and SALES!

What type of business can benefit from a brand audit?

Refined Branding’s brand audit works for businesses that fall into the 100 employees or less category.

We help companies that are starting a business, launching a product, combining two brands into one, creating a sub-brand, defining a new strategic direction or just trying to “get their head around” who they are. We give the micro and small business owner the tools that a larger company may have paid thousands of dollars to define.

It doesn’t matter if you’re in the information technology field, a manufacturer, or owner of a title company; Refined Branding has worked with these types of businesses and others to successfully develop their brand identity and story.

The Call

Are you ready to discover the essence of your brand, and how to best market and sell it to your target audience?

Contact Refined Branding today to clarify your brand and turn it into a marketable story!

Adam Edelman is the President and CEO of Refined Branding. He helps businesses refine and manage their brand by conducting detailed, interactive brand audit sessions. Contact Adam at adam@refinedbranding.com or visit www.refinedbranding.com.

Have You Audited Your Brand? – Part One

rtsadam — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:11:09 +0000

Part One – What is a Brand Audit?

If you’re a business owner, consider this quick challenge: explain in a clear, concise manner what your brand means to a total stranger, in less than one minute. There’s only one rule: you can’t use your elevator pitch – assuming you have one!

That makes this exercise slightly more complicated, right? There’s no need to worry, the idea of a brand is often hard to explain because it’s comprised of so many different components and descriptions of a business.

Now here’s something else to consider, if you have difficulty expressing what your brand means, do you think it is being communicated clearly in your marketing material and by your employees? In other words, if you asked 10 different employees what your brand means, would you get 10 different answers?

If you think your brand lacks consistency, maybe it’s time to consider having your brand audited. A brand audit, much like a financial or information technology audit, is designed to uncover the who, what, and why of your business – and then formulate a story to communicate those ideas consistently to your clients, vendors and employees.

A brand audit turns your brand into a marketable story that can be told through a variety of marketing media including your:

 Website

 Blog

 Marketing and sales brochures

 Targeted sales and marketing e-mails

 Logo

 Identity kit

 Company slogan

 Taglines

 Telemarketing scripts

In addition to making your communication and marketing messages clearer and more impactful, a brand audit monetizes your brand.

How?

Simple. When you understand who you are, why you’re in business and how to consistently communicate those messages, it’s easier to sell your brand to your target audience.

The goal of any brand audit is to create clarity, which forms the foundation of a successful communication and marketing strategy. The brand audit allows a business to go to market faster by identifying the strategic components that comprise the tactical marketing plan.

Experiencing a brand audit is like attending business boot camp – it’s back to basics. It requires a little business “soul-searching” and work to uncover the elements of your brand that you might not have considered.

The good news is once you have identified the brand building blocks, you can assemble them and create a clear and memorable message about your company.

Next week, In part two, we will describe the brand audit process.

Adam Edelman is the President and CEO of Refined Branding. He helps businesses refine and manage their brand by conducting detailed, interactive brand audit sessions. Contact Adam at adam@refinedbranding.com or visit www.refinedbranding.com.

How Important is Brand Identity?

rtsadam — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:32:29 +0000

I went to ARGET last night to buy a new coffee maker. They had one on sale that my wife wanted. I broke the other one we owned. Too much coffee made me knock the glass pot off the counter and it smashed into a zillion pieces. Caffeine jitters… Anyhow, I get to ARGET and found that the BIG sign in front of the store was missing a letter. I got to thinking, how long has the "T" been missing? My wife said it was missing last Sunday. What identifies the TARGET brand? Is it the red target to the left of the word or is it the word, "TARGET"? All I can say is that it cheapened the TARGET buying experience. Shows a lack of attention to detail.

By the way, I went to www.arget.com to see where it would take me. It took me to the TARGET web site. So did www.taget.com. I guess they were prepared for their storefront signs to lose a letter every now and then. Nice job, branding department.

Never Forget Your Past – Integrating Old School and New School Marketing Solutions

rtsadam — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 19:11:11 +0000

(Re-Posting from May 27th, 2009) Back in 1994, I had the pleasure of working at Sprint TeleMedia. We spent our time selling the Sprint FON network to Marketing Executives at large Fortune 1000 companies. Notice that I said Marketing Executives, notTelecom Managers. It was a very cool and creative job. I recently dusted off my old two inch V.R.U. University binder to take-in some nostalgia. Sprint TeleMedia’s service brand was called FONMagic, a play on their Fiber Optic Network (FON) brand name. FONMagic utilized the Sprint FON network to develop custom, interactive tele-promotions. Examples of some of these campaigns were Keebler’s “Brings You the Shadow” promotion, Coca-Cola’s “Monsters of the Gridiron” promotion and the Pepsi “Cool-YA” promotion. All these promotions used an interactive toll-free number found on product packaging that “called on” (no pun intended) the consumer to dial a number for a chance to win. I’m simplifying it a bit, but that pretty much sums up the campaigns. These campaigns captured a combined 30 million calls over the length of their promotions. Not too shabby. What was great about these promotions was that they provided quantifiable ROI metrics; a challenge even in today’s hi-tech marketing environment. Fast forward to 2009. Coca-Cola has been promoting their “My Coke Rewards” promotion for a couple of years now. Where the old school, “Monsters of the Gridiron” was a promotion for new customer acquisition, the new school, “My Coke Rewards” promotion has been used mainly for customer retention purposes. The development of both these campaigns required a similar process to launch. The difference was in the new school automation using digital ones and zeros. The old school method required a bit more analog and often manual processes. Today with the growth of Voice over IP, these processes might be able to move into the “modern age”…and then some. The point that we often forget in today’s hi-tech marketing age of Internet-based, cross-channel, integrated and unified marketing campaigns is that many of the old school solutions and concepts can still work and should be utilized in our marketing campaigns. We get so wrapped up in the latest and greatest technology that we forget what worked in the past. We need to utilize technology and automation to merge the old school with the new. Radio is not dead! Television is not dead! Print is not dead! Social networking and web to print solutions are not an ends; they are a means to gain positive ROI. We simply need to leverage our new school processes with the old school mediums. Until then, remember the past successes in marketing promotions and campaigns and elevate them with all the new school technology and processes. Adam Edelman is the President of Refined Branding and can be reached at adam@refinedbranding.com.

Bach and Integrated Marketing Campaigns

rtsadam — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:41:01 +0000

I’m a huge fan of J.S. Bach. Probably because his music is full of ADHD-laced 16th notes which was common for the Baroque period of classical music. 16th notes are fast and allow for integration and scaling of other musical instruments. Bach’s style was also notable for the way he built his musical compositions on a common theme. He would start out with one instrument and then add additional instruments building on the common theme. In the end, he would have a beautiful, flowing masterpiece. Just listen to the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, 3rd movement (allegro). It builds and builds…

What does this have to do with integrated, on-demand marketing? Think about it. With a true, integrated marketing campaign, you start with a medium and specific theme (just like Bach); be it a design, message or whatever. You then add additional marketing mediums (instruments) to compliment the original medium without losing the theme. By the end of the multi-touch, marketing campaign, you will have created a beautiful, flowing masterpiece and hopefully a positive ROI for your efforts.

In the words of Corporal Walter O’Reilly of M*A*S*H fame, “Aaahhhhh, Bach!”

(Re-posted from January 2010)

“Moments of Truth” – Aloft Hotels Case Study

rtsadam — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 13:37:40 +0000

I recently spent a weekend at an Aloft hotel, part of the Starwood chain of hotels. I'm always telling clients that they need to create "Moments of Truth" or positive client experiences to reflect their brand. During my stay at the Aloft hotel, I decided to sleep in on Saturday morning and put the "do not disturb" sign on my door. Around 10 a.m., I heard something slide underneath my door. I got up to check it thinking why are they giving me my bill as I wasn't leaving until Sunday. When I picked up the piece of paper, I found a copied letter with my room number on the top. It said that they were honoring my "DO NOT DISTURB" sign and would not be entering my room to clean it. If I needed fresh towels, etc. to please contact the front desk. I've been to quite a few hotels in my day and I've never been "touched" like this from a member of the hotel staff. It was a subtle way to let me know that they recognized me and my wishes, but gave me an option to reach out to them if needed. Learn from this! Find ways to create Moments of Truth with your clients. Oh, I've already told more than 10 of my friends about this experience. And that's the point of good customer service, isn't it? A copy of the letter that was slid under my door.

IT and Marketing – A Match Made in Heaven

rtsadam — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 02:32:21 +0000

The cover of April’s Information Week magazine (yes, I still get it in mashed-up tree form) had a very telling cover story. It was titled, “IT and Marketing: How Digital Media’s Changing The Relationship“. As business owners,”c-level” Executives, shareholders, etc. continue to pressure marketing folks to produce measurable metrics and results from their campaigns, the marketing department is forced to come up with creative and streamlined ways to entice their target market into buying their products and services. Some takeaways;

1. It’s all about the data. There are good job opportunities for IT pros who know how to manage and analyze that data. Data is King!

2. Marketing execs don’t always trust the IT folks to implement the necessary marketing software. Trust needs to improve!

3. IT pros need to work more closely with their marketing colleagues to understand their business needs and goals. Relationships need to improve!

4. IBM, Oracle, Teradata and SAS are using their analytical focus to delve more deeply into marketing applications. Coordinate the Data!

5. Each division needs to show revenue contribution. Kodak employs a chief listener and chief blogger. They monitor and respond to relevant social network comments and reviews.

6. 46% of CMOs blame IT for insufficient support of the technical applications as to why they aren’t ready for full-steam ahead digital marketing.

7. Only 25% of marketers said they consult IT, contact centers and back office groups when selecting and deploying marketing software.

8. 46% of marketers don’t think their CIO understands marketing objectives and requirements.

9. To improve that percentage, IT needs to show it can help marketing folks with data management and the analytics of modeling and A/B testing results.

10. IT folks wake up and say, “I want to get integrated because it’s cool”. Marketing folks wake up and say, “I want to make money so I can keep my job.”