Differentiating Yourself

By Alice R. Heiman

Are you selling marketing services, insurance, real estate, financial services, printing, web design, telephone systems, office products, staffing, internet access? How do you stand out in a crowd? With so much competition these days how are you acquiring new customers and retaining the ones you have?

The key is to build Relationships, understand, educate, help them choose the best solution and then continue to serve and educate.
In order to differentiate yourself you have to figure out how you are different from others who sell the same thing and then position yourself that way. So you have to know why people buy from you.

Why do people buy from you anyway? You need to know what the reasons are so that you can capitalize on them. Salespeople often have a long list of product features and benefits that differentiate their products. Unfortunately, none of these may be the reason that people actually buy from them. There are usually only two or maybe three key reasons and those reasons are unique to each customer. Find those reasons.

Know why people buy from you, don’t guess. Ask your customers. They can tell you exactly why they chose you over the competition and why they stay. Typically it has a lot to do with you, the relationship you build and the education and service you provide. Since few companies have truly unique products and services the way to stand out is by understanding the customer and serving their needs.
Once you know why people buy find more people like them. Target your market. Don’t try to sell to everyone. Find the group that you can relate to, are most knowledgeable about and most comfortable with. This will make selling much easier. Specialize in the product or service that best serves your target market and lead with that. Trying to sell everything to everybody will not help you stand out from the crowd.

Many salespeople bombard prospects with information. Instead stand out by asking good questions and learning about their needs then match the features and benefits of your product with their needs. You will move the sale forward much faster this way and learn more quickly when it is not a good fit before too much time is spent on either side.
If things are moving forward educate. Remember your job is to help the customer make a good decision on the best solution, which may be yours. Chances are the prospect needs more education on your industry and possible solutions in general. Find sources of information and experts on the topic to help them learn. Your job is to help them make the best possible decision even if that excludes your product or service.

Know your competition. Who do you compete with? What are their prices? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Do they offer something you don’t? How is their customer service and follow up? Although you want to say as little as possible about your competition and never want to bash them in any way you need to be prepared to answer questions from prospective customers. Sometimes the truth is that you have nothing over the competition as far as features, benefits or price but you can match them and you know the prospect’s industry, understand their needs and are focused on helping them reach their goals. The truth is sometimes people make their final decision based on the fact that they like you, but don’t take advantage of that. If you are not the best solution to their problem this could backfire on you.

Imagine telling someone that your solution is not the best for them and referring them to someone that can provide what they need. The credibility you build will last a long time.
If after educating the prospect your solution is still the best then follow up and deliver what was promised. Be persistent but don’t be a pest. If you have several competitors the ones who don’t follow up will be gone. I can’t tell you the amount of business that is lost for lack of follow up. Standing out in the crowd means having excellent follow up. If you are afraid to follow up because you are not sure if the prospect is still interested then ask. Perhaps they are just busy or need to communicate a different way. Communicating in their preferred method is another way to standout. If you can’t reach them by phone, ask how they prefer to be contacted.

Build great relationships, ask great questions, know your competition, be prepared to educate, follow up and you will find yourself standing out from the crowd.

AOL Repositions Itself As Aol.

 

courtesy of MediaMemo

What’s in a brand image (logo) that sets the tone for the brand itself?  Alot.

 

As of December 9th, Time-Warner is splitting the sheets with AOL who returns to becoming a publicly traded corporation.  On May 28, 2009, Time Warner decided to cease operations with AOL, and spin it off as an independent company once Google’s shares cease at the end of the fiscal year.  Time Warner reports that its shareholders will receive one AOL share for every 11 Time Warner shares that they own.

By anyone’s account who has used for followed the AOL brand from it’s popularity early in this decade, the brand has continued to struggle to maintain it’s once dominant market share.  Today, the company has made some bold moves to restructure its operations, hiring former Google executive Tim Armstrong to lead the effort to bolster content and functionality.  Don’t count AOL out just yet.

So how has AOL chosen to make this refreshed direction known to their users and the public?  With a new logo, of course, designed by the creative minds at Wolff Olins.  According to AOL’s corporate release:

“The identity itself is a platform for expression and creativity reflecting the content, products and services which AOL offers.  Some of the world’s best creative artists, including Universal Everything, GHAVA and Dylan Griffin created art and animations for the brand.”

The new brand identity will be fully unveiled on December 10, when AOL common stock begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

But will it be enough to reposition the aging brand in the minds of consumers who may associate it with the speed of dial-up?  Only time will tell.

What do you think about this new position?  Does it help you to think of AOL in a new way?

Reno Tahoe USA is “Far From Expected”.

It’s been a long road for the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitor’s Authority to get to this date.  Today the RSCVA Board approved a new campaign tag line for our region – “Far From Expected”.

Personally, I don’t consider this aspect of the overall effort all that critical to the campaign’s success, although it certainly does need to convey the essence of the brand in an immediately memorable way.  The previous suggestion “A Little West of Center” was not received by local politicians (and many citizens) as appropriate or inspiring.

I would disagree with those who didn’t like the first suggestion, as “A Little West Of Center” tied nicely to Reno’s well-known “Biggest Little City In the World”.  But then, this campaign isn’t about Reno – it’s about our region.  “Far From Expected” seems a bit of a safe compromise – and while shorter for many to easily remember, it doesn’t invite questions about it’s meaning – which I think may have been a good element to invite tourists to wonder about and discover meaning for themselves.

My personal opinions aside, “Far From Center” conveys the essence of this new approach – embracing our region’s oddities and uniqueness, and I applaud the RSCVA and its agency Mortar for getting this key element approved so the campaign can move forward and hopefully reverse the 11 year streak of visitor declines that have affected businesses throughout our region.

What do you think about “Far From Center”?

(Before you suggest your own creative positioning tag line, be sure to read and investigate the research that went into deciding this campaign was needed, and what the public – the keeper of our brand, thought).

Old Brand, New Tricks

I caught this posting on Marketing Profs, and thought really relevant and well written.  So much so, that I’m going to take the lazy route, and simply repost it here for your reading pleasure.

Good news: You don’t have to lose sight of your brand’s tried-and-true persona to participate in the quest for deeper engagement at the new social sites. Just think of the social-media generation as a silver-dish serving of people who already want to talk to you; you just need to make them feel comfortable doing it. Easier said than done? Not necessarily. Here are a couple of older brands that are getting it right:

Sharpie, well past pushin’ 40, managed to tap into an enthusiastic user culture in a way we’re pretty sure no other pen brand has. Its Sharpie Uncapped gallery enables fans far and wide to express, in vivid (and permanent!) color, how they incorporate the inky wonders into their creative undertakings.

Think about the number of years kids have been using Sharpies to scribble on jeans, decorate casts and prettify their Converse tennies. Now there’s a fun place to show all that off? Score!

Little Debbie, who first made the scene in the 1960s, is using flickr, Twitter, Facebook and blog outreach to promote a cupcake Share-a-Thon this fall. A series of Smart cars demonstrate Little Debbie’s commitment to the eco-cause, and are also outfitted like the cupcakes themselves. Thus far, the aging mark has done a tasty job of reminding fresh generations of its relevance.

Now, not all instances of successful social-media outreach are even intentional. Case in point: When gay couples were finally permitted to wed in Vermont, 31-year-old ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s celebrated by renaming its Chubby Hubby ice cream Hubby Hubby within the state. Thousands of blog posts and twitter updates later, they realized they had a winner.

How’d these old-timers manage to wow a fresh-faced crowd? At ad:tech Chicago this year, reps from Ben & Jerry’s and Sharpie said they felt social media was just in their DNA. That is to say, the key to winning hearts hasn’t changed with time or tech: It’s still about communicating a message in a relatable way.

What are your thoughts on this?  Is social media quickly becoming an integral strategy for these and other brands in the market?  What kind of social media integration have you experienced that you think is a good use of the media?

Simple Tips For Renewable Energy Companies To Build Their Brand.

As we’ve all experienced more in this economy than in any other recently – you can’t make a sale unless the value of your product or service is clearly understood.  This is especially true of the rising “green” sector of our market, as many new and emerging companies struggle to find new prospects and buyers that are willing to spend their precious budget on a new product or service.

We believe that nearly everyone prefers to be considered environmentally conscious.  In this current recession, the costs of “going green” and the confusion about how to actually do it is just enough for most consumers to throw their hands up, and surrender to their comfortable habits. This is just one reason it can be a real challenge for sustainably oriented renewable energy companies to clearly market their value today, and gain enough momentum to launch their product or service line.

Add the perception that their products usually come at a higher cost to what is often a very complex set of industry related language, and you’ve got a formula that turns new consumers away in frustration and fear.

From our experience, many emerging renewable energy companies speak in their “native tongue”, using a high degree of acronyms and technical language without simply communicating their basic values.  If they can’t provide a convincing brand message to their buyers about their economic and personal value, it’s doubtful they’ll make or continue sales.

So what can renewable energy companies do to overcome these initial challenges in perception?  Here are a few tips they might consider…

Get Local

While we’d encourage any renewable energy company to maintain their own corporate online presence through a company website, we’d encourage them to also offer individual landing pages that show their products locations and installation.  Not only will this help with their online search engine rankings, but it provide a local portal for people looking for their products in their own backyard, and helps provide new and existing customers with a sense that the company is a community entity, and not a cold, distant corporation.

Speak Your Customer’s Language

As many renewable energy companies are founded by technical and academic professionals, the language they’re familiar with often becomes the messaging to their public – and this intimidating form of communication can lead new customers to leave their sales process before buying.  To be truly successful, you need to present your information to the public in a user-friendly way that easy for your potential customer to engage and relate to on all levels.

Don’t Just Advertise, Build Conversations

Social media channels provide one of the best platforms for engaging new customers and prospects in an ongoing conversation that can help leverage leads into sales.  Current customers can serve as testimonials, and share their passion about the renewable energy’s product or services to new contacts.  We highly recommend that renewable energy companies use social media in their overall marketing strategy – while giving traditional media its due as an integral part of any campaign.

Measure Success

Whatever initiatives any renewable energy campaign undertakes, it’s critical that every effort, every channel, every initiative have some form of tracked measurement.  Without a method to know exactly who is responding to your campaign, and why – you’ll not be able to make the needed adjustments to fine tune the campaign for ongoing success.

Those are just some very basic considerations – there are many more.

What has your experience been in trying to work with renewable energy companies recently?  What’s been your impression of their products or services?  We’d like to know about your experience in this sector, so that we can help this emerging economy grow faster for all our benefit.  Please share your insights  with us!

Teaching Social Media

I was asked by one of our SmartBrand associates, Alice Heiman, to be one of several smart panel members including Michael Clawson, Camilla Downs and Dave Barnhart to present our experience and suggestions about how social media can help you grow your business and sales at this year’s Confab USA conference.

It was a very interesting, lively topic that encompassed three hours of varying perspectives and ideas to an audience of consultants and managers at the Silver Legacy Resort Casino here in Reno.  Our presentation will be shared online soon, which I’ll link here when it’s uploaded for reference.

From this experience, I confirmed my basic belief about social media – one size (and approach) will never “fit all”.  As unique as every brand is, whether a personal, professional or corporate entity, social media requires a very targeted, customized approach in alignment with the brand’s target market.  More importantly, social media is just one aspect of an comprehensive, integrated marketing campaign.  If the basics of that brand marketing aren’t in place, social media (for all it’s power and glory), will make little to no sense.

Presenting as a team to help this active group of consultants and managers was a challenge.  How can you provide some sense of strategy to a room of professionals who may not share the same end goal?  It seemed more helpful to simply provide some tactical information to them, and answer specific questions as they were asked.  And they were asked in droves.

Our panel did a terrific job of making sense from a variety of perspectives – while trying to solve a wide range of challenges from the very basic, to the very advanced.  It was really an honor and pleasure to be seated with these pros.

So my question to you is…how would you handle this kind of presentation?  What have you found helpful in providing good information to a diverse range of audience participants on a topic as broad ranging as social media?  Your insights are always appreciated here on SmartBlog.

Is Woolworths’ Logo Too Similar To Apple’s?

Most of us already know that Apple is famous for it’s aggressive defense of its brand image (or logo).  If they were willing to sue the Victoria School of Business and Technology for infringement, then certainly Austrailia’s Woolworths could have expected the same.  One key may be that Woolworth’s trademark is blanketed to extend to its entire range of products, including technology and electrical items.

Locally, Woolworths used to be a combination drug/convenience store, with a small counter style restaurant inside.  They served up some of the best milk shakes around, and a wicked ice cream sundae.  Today, the company sells a wide variety of products, including electronics.

A Woolworths spokesman put it this way: ”While we can’t rule anything out, we haven’t got any plans (when it comes to computers and gadgetry) at the moment.”

Looking at the example above, is their logo a stylized apple?  Woolworths say’s “no”.  It’s simply a stylized “W” with an “abstract leaf symbol”.  Some have gone as far to suggest that it’s a stylized consumer with outstretched arms, or even an apple being peeled.

I think you’ve got to admit to the similarities between the two logos, and in fact, Woolworths may be the seller of products that are similar to those of Apple’s.

But what do you think? Are the two logos too similar? Is Apple stepping over its bounds, and being too legally aggressive in protecting its brand image?

We’re interested to learn what you think – so please weigh in and comment.

Sparks Nevada Bets On “It’s Happening Here”

For those of you who frequent this blog, you’ll recall a somewhat heated discussion about Reno’s “sister city” to the east, and its efforts to define it’s tourism message with a new brand platform.

With less “bang” and more “whisper”, The Sparks City Council adopted a campaign platform aimed at marketing their community based on their perceived unique value – special events.  When proposals were first announced in conjunction with Destination Development International’s (DDI) research and recommendations, the public outcry could be heard even here in Reno – several miles away.  Many could not believe that public funds (reportedly $114,000) were spent on such a campaign awarded to an out-of-state agency.  Some, like me, wondered how they would accomplish repositioning The Rail City as “Nevada’s Festival City”, expense aside.  I believe hiring an out-of-market agency is a smart move as they can provide perspective often difficult to find within the community itself.

Then came allegations that the concept was not entirely unique, while a debate ensued over why it would be necessary to rename several of the City’s landmarks and community centers, including the Sparks Marina and central Victorian Square.

Needless to say, the announced “Nevada’s Festival City” drew criticism from many community stakeholders, although the process itself included several key representatives to help participate (and guide) the new brand’s development.

This week, Sparks’ “Brand Leadership Team” (or “BLT” – which, I have to say, could use a new name itself), proposed and adopted part of the recommended campaign direction, the tag line – “It’s Happening Here”.

Currently, the City “famous” for its festivals and events hosts some 60 annual event days throughout the year – from the large Rib Cook Off to much smaller endeavors.  The goal, according to this new campaign, is to develop up to 200 event days by 2013.  Many have seen this an unattainable in today’s current economy, and certainly not within Sparks’ capacity as a City to achieve.  Many question the four to five year plan that is to provide the time and infrastructure development needed to achieve this events based goal.

I met very briefly with Sparks officials off record to review this initiative before it was presented to the Council for approval.  And in that short meeting, noted the same problem I’ve personally had with this approach since its very inception.  I simply don’t believe that brand positioning should be based on an aspiration – but rather a leveraging of the best assets to promote the unique values of the company or product – in this case, the City of Sparks.  Sparks, if you’ve ever been there, IS unique in so many ways, but yet they aspire to “build” their brand perception rather than leverage what they currently offer visitors.

In the presentation given to me, the Brand Leadership Team notes that “branding (is) what you want to be known for”, while “development (is) what you have to do to ‘own’ the brand”.  While I understand the intent of those statements, my concern is one of timing in this overall effort – and the urgency to create a believable brand message that can be readily adopted by stakeholders and the target audience.  Once again, I’m reminded by the presentation that “Brands are earned.  You NEVER ‘roll out’ a brand”.  Personally, I can’t agree with that, which was the basis of the controversy to begin with this past February during DDI’s initial release.  Once you begin announcing your brand position – even in an informal announcement to media – you’ve “rolled it out” for review.  It may not be the anticipated brand experience or perception, but you’ve let your audience know what you intend to be known for, and invite questions and comments to that projected brand platform.  You (including municipalities) ARE a brand – the key is to leverage your unique values to your advantage.  Quit trying to be percieved as something you’re not – or worse yet – may not be able to achieve before the “promise” rings untrue.

I believe Sparks officials understand (and accept) the limitations of the 26 recommendations produced by DDI.  The BLT used these recommendations and research as a “guidebook”, and “a starting point in creating a brand” for Sparks.  I question the validity of those recommendations if they did not result in a sound brand platform that could be readily adopted by City officials – and Sparks’ stakeholders; including business and residents.  After all, the research came from those key groups, so why were they so openly rejected when reported?  That may be “water under the bridge” at this point, and the work of positioning Sparks as a viable, enticing place to visit still remains.

While “It’s Happening Here” may seem (to some) like a lackluster attempt to position the community with any memorable value – it may also provide the ambiguous positioning needed if the campaign’s infrastructure to support it cannot be produced in time.  And time will tell.  Personally, I don’t think the campaign’s tag line invites interest or investigation – but that’s solely my opinion.

In the meantime, our regional tourism authority, the RSCVA works diligently on a similar branding effort – but with very different results to date.  I believe they’re on the right track in retaining the San Francisco agency, Mortar, to develop a unique brand platform and message that will resonate with our target tourism market, while providing the kind of creative energy and momentum to carry the campaign from its intended launch in early 2010 for many years to come.

Given the 11 year decline in tourism to our region, can Sparks afford to wait four or five years to achieve its brand promise?  And in the end, will Sparks be able to depend on 200 event days a year to provide businesses and residents with the kind of tourism dollars to reverse the past decade of trending?

What do you think about these latest developments for Sparks’ brand today…and tomorrow?

Bigger Isn’t Always Better – The New Agency Paradigm

As the economy seems to hit hard in our region now, we’ve been seeing a new trend in advertising agency developments – the “virtual agency”. Large to small agencies that once flourished with as few as 5 to as many as 60 staff have all cut back in both size and operations.

With this new moniker comes a kind of subtle embarrassment – as if being a virtual agency is surrender to “real” agency status. These newly reduced agencies are obviously not proud of their new found reductions, and often refer to the non-centralized operations as “an experiment”, or a “temporary downsizing”. The virtual model rips apart the dynamics that traditionally operate at big ad agencies.

Given our technology-assisted ability to effectively manage both projects and clients via non-centralized tools and resources, we SmartBrander’s are a bit perplexed at this subtle perception of status. As a collaborative agency for since our beginnings in 2006, the “virtual” structure has worked perfectly for our teams – and our clients. Granted there have been minor challenges at times, and nothing replaces face-to-face meetings with clients and partners (which we continue to have). But overall, our “virtual” structure was the very reason we formed SmartBrand – and it works.

It’s true that the long hallways or conference rooms full of awards help clients and prospects breath a sigh of relief that their investment in the firm is a sound decision. Those of us with similar awards in boxes don’t have the need or space to display our accolades. Frankly, I find awards to be self-serving, and often subjective and pointless (depending on the type of award). But they do make great doorstops and file dividers in a pinch. I’m not degrading awards, but they often do not measure the effectiveness of the agency’s work – but rather the creativity that is judged by other creatives rather than other client types. We have ample amounts of awards and recognitions among our virtual team to support the “award winning” claim – but find those accolades are best served to our clients than to our prospects.

However, if I had say, ten million dollars to spend on a brand – I’d look first to the large, proven agencies because of their ability to provide the kind of scaled attention to protect that investment. But in these days of tightening budgets, and hesitant economies, those with larger-than-life communications budgets are not investing with the same kind of confidence they did just two years ago.

Is this the time for the virtual agency to become mainstream? If you were to consider working with a virtual agency – what differences would you be willing to accept as part of that relationship, if any?

Ten “Easy” Questions About Social Media

I was asked to participate in a panel presentation today about social media with two other savvy individuals – Tommy Inglis of Xpositioning and Dr. Bret L. Simmons  from Positive Organizational Behavior.  The three of us sat in front of a fairly young crowd – I’d say 40-50 people total, with a daunting task.  Answering these ten questions:

1. What are the best tactics to use?
2. How do I measure the effectiveness of social media?
3. Where do I start?
4. How do I manage the social balance?
5. What are the best sites and tools out there?
6. How do I make the most of my available time?
7. How do I find and focus my efforts on my target audience?
8. How do I convert my social media marketing efforts into tangible results?
9. How do I cohesively tie different social media efforts together?
10. Does social media marketing work, and if so, how effective is it?

Each of us approached these questions from our own, unique perspectives.  Tommy’s work with Xpositioning is very focused on social media for businesses.  Dr. Simmons, as you can see from his site, is an accomplished advocate of leadership and management skills and processes, while I think I represented a more overall marketing-centric approach to social media.

What fascinated me was our agreement on so many key levels.  First, establishing a strong brand platform and message before venturing out to any social media campaign.  And secondly, tailoring that campaign to very specific markets with a consistency in messaging and process to build a community around the brand.

I had to seek a bit of clarification for a few of them in order to position my answer correctly, as some of the questions are very broad in scope.  A few terms, like “tactics” could mean quite a few things – but our discussion helped clarify the context of the question itself.

All this lead to my wondering…how would you answer these basic ten questions about social media today?