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Does Your Brand Sound as Good as It Looks?

page 8

features:8 Does your Brand Sound as good as it looks?

departments:6 publisher’s letter

7 contributors: who’s who in the industry

14 branding: When advertising is moving home

16 technology: technology and the human touch

18 real ideas: 4 Ways to Make Social Technologies Relevant

20 foresight: do you show up and throw up?

22 sales secrets: the a-b-c’s of success

24 marketing: repurposing

26 incentives: Build Your Business…Through Cross Promotion & Incentives

28 exhibit: public relations at trade shows

30 travel: tourism branding

31 online: Attention Marketers, email deliverability is like caller ID

32 staying sharp: 10 ways to feel good

33 ad index

34 online: trends in brand management

18

16

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Vol. 8, No. 5 2011

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publisher’s letter

Marketers create the stories that we identify with

or that we reject. stop and listen to the story your brand is telling. Do you

identify with it? Would you want to interact with it or promote it?

We as consumers identify with and reject brands based on whose stories

we feel are the best fit emotionally to our story. Since we all want to tell a

brilliant story make sure your brand sings a song that target market wants

to listen to and share.

enhance your brand by listening instead of always telling. create new

ways to tell your story. Focus on emotional communication and interaction

designed to bring your story to life.

keep the tales of your brand fresh, personal and vibrant by turning

your focus away from you and placing it squarely and creatively on them.

Marketing that helps consumers navigate the evaluation process and then

spread their positive message (song) about the brands they choose is as

important as building the awareness of the brand itself.

We all want to tell a brilliant story. Make sure your brand sings so that

they listen and retell it over and over. Your melody is what sets apart a brand

from just another here today gone tomorrow company. With the continuing

growth and importance of social media make certain your brand convincingly

sings your song so that others may join in and sing it to the world.

Brilliant Publishing LLC9034 Joyce Lane

Hummelstown, PA 17036Ph: 717.571.9233Fax: 717.566.5431

PUBLISHER / ADVERTISINGMaureen Williams

[email protected]

717-608-5869

EDITORIALEditor in ChiefMaryAnne Morrill

Senior EditorMichelle Donofry

Style EditorCharity Plata

Asst. EditorMolly Anika

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSBob Circosta, Michael Merrick Crooks,

Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D., Scott Klososky, Arnold Light, CTC, Martin Lindstrom, Lulu Raghavan,

Barry Siskind, Felix Stoeckle, Dr. Peter Tarlow, John Tschohl, Steve Woodburn

PRODUCTION / DESIGNArt DirectorJeremy Tingle

Brilliant Results is published monthly by Brilliant Publishing LLC,

9034 Joyce Lane Hummelstown PA 17036 (717) 608-5869; Fax#

(717) 566-5431. Postage paid at Michigan City, IN and additional

offices. POSTMASTER please send address changes to Brilliant

Results, 9034 Joyce Lane, Hummelstown PA 17036. Volume 8.

Number 05. Brilliant Results subscription rates: one-year $120;

Canadian $160 USD; one-year foreign $225 USD. All subscriptions

are non-refundable. Copyright © 2011 Brilliant Publishing LLC. All

rights reserved. The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject

any advertising or editorial material. Advertisers, and/or their agents,

assume the responsibility for any claims against the publisher based

on the advertisement. Editorial contributors assume responsibility for

their published works and assume responsibility for any claims against

the publisher based on published work. No part of this publication can

be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means,

including information storage and retrieval systems, without written

permission from the publisher. All items submitted to Brilliant Results

become the sole property of Brilliant Publishing LLC. Editorial content

does not reflect the views of the publisher. The imprints, logos,

trademarks or trade names (Collectively the “Marks”) displayed on

the products featured in Brilliant Results are for illustrative purposes

only and are not available for sale. The marks do not represent the

implied or actual endorsement by the owners of the Marks of the

product on which they appear. All of the Marks are the property of

the respective owners and is not the property of either the advertisers

using the Marks or Brilliant Results.

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Maureen [email protected] 717-608-5869

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6 Brilliant Results • May 2011 www.bri l l iantpubl ishing.com

contributors

a Bob Circosta, “The Billion Dollar Man”, takes lessons learned from achieving individual product sales in excess of $1 billion to help companies and sales professionals develop effective marketing and promotions techniques to produce sales results. Bob played a key role in the creation of the home shopping industry, and speaks to corporations, small businesses and entrepreneurs on how to sell more effectively. For more information, visit www.BobCircosta.com .

b Michael Merrick Crooks, owns Crooks Advertising Alliance, an advertising and promotional marketing firm that specializes in creative problem-solving. The 27-year advertising veteran is internationally recognized as a thought-leader for his ability to strip away the status quo to reveal the obscure obvious. To learn more about his creative, writing and speaking services contact Crooks through www.CrooksAdvertising.com.

c Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D. For more than two decades Fortune 500 companies, educational institutions, and government organizations have relied on Dr. Barton Goldsmith to help them develop creative and balanced leadership. His columns appear in over 500 publications. He may be contacted through his web site www.BartonGoldsmith.com.

d Scott Klososky, a former CEO of three successful startup companies, specializes in looking over the horizon with how technology is changing the world. He is also the author of two new books, Enterprise Social Technology and The Velocity Manifesto. For more information visit his websites: www.EnterpriseSocialTechnology.com, www.TheVelocityManifesto.com, or Blog: www.TechnologyStory.com.

e Arnold Light, CTC, CEO & President of Arnold Light Consults Inc., has 35 years of marketing experience specializing in incentive and loyalty marketing helping multinational corporations develop and implement B2B and B2C results oriented performance improvement programs. For additional information visit www.lightconsults.com.

f Martin Lindstrom, a respected branding and marketing expert, was selected as one of the world’s 100 most influential people by TIME magazine. The founder, CEO and Chairman of the LINDSTROM company (Sydney), Martin speaks to a global audience of approximately one million people every year. His latest book; Buyology – Truth and Lies About Why We Buy – a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling book has been translated into 37 languages and is on almost all major best-seller lists worldwide.

g Lulu Raghavan is country director for India in the Mumbai office of Landor Associates. Landor Associates is one of the world’s leading strategic brand consulting and design firms. Landor is part of WPP, one of the largest global communications services companies. Visit us at landor.com.

h Barry Siskind is an internationally recognized trade and consumer show expert. He is the author of six bestselling business books including Powerful Exhibit Marketing. Read his newest book, Selling from the Inside Out for an in depth guide to a successful sales career. Visit Barry at www.siskindtraining.com.

i Felix Stoeckle is managing director in the Hamburg office of Landor Associates. His current article, “How social media is changing the way brands are managed,” is available on landor.com.Landor Associates is one of the world’s leading strategic brand consulting and design firms. Landor is part of WPP, one of the largest global communications services companies. Visit us at landor.com.

j Dr. Peter Tarlow is the founder and president of Tourism & More Inc. Dr. Tarlow has appeared on National televised programs such as Dateline: NBC and on CNBC. Dr. Tarlow organizes conferences around the world dealing with visitor safety and security issues and with the economic importance of tourism and tourism marketing. For additional information visit www.tourismandmore.com

k John Tschohl, the internationally recognized service strategist, is founder and president of the Service Quality Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Described by USA Today, Time, and Entrepreneur as a “customer service guru,” he has written several books on customer service and has developed more than 26 customer-service training programs. John’s monthly strategic newsletter is available at www.servicequality.com at no charge.

l Steve Woodburn works with clients to develop creative and measurable solutions that solve their marketing needs using promotional products, uniform programs, online company stores, point-of-sale initiatives along with rewards and recognition. He builds long-term relationships and becomes a trusted advisor and consultant his clients can turn to for all their brand extension needs. You can reach him at Staples Promotional Products: [email protected]

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Does Your

Sound as Good as It Looks?

BRAND


BY: LuLu RAghAvAn

How does your brand sound?a strong voice will stick in people’s minds and bring

them back for more.

We preen in front of a mirror every morning and adjust

our physical appearance, but when was the last time we

checked how we sound? the same is true of brands.

Brand managers spend vast amounts of time thinking

about what should be communicated through the visual

identity, but typically very little time considering how the

brand should sound. Few brands have guidelines that

address voice, and for those that do, it is rare that they

successfully explain how to express personality through

fresh, sharp, on-brand communications.

Is it important for a brand to sound good? according

to Nancy Daniels, international speaker and voice

specialist, 55 percent of a person’s image is attributed to

appearance, 37 percent to speaking voice, and 8 percent

to content (what is said). translate this to brands, and we

can surmise that approximately 45 percent of a brand’s

image can be attributed to what it says and how it says it.

calculate the verbal touchpoints in your brand’s universe—

from how your receptionist greets callers, to what your

ceO sounds like at your annual shareholder’s meeting, to

the tone of your print and online communications, to the

text on packaging, and to copy in ad campaigns—and it

quickly becomes clear how it adds up to this significant

percentage.

Brand voice, the translation of a brand’s positioning

and personality attributes into a writing style, is a much-

neglected, but an extremely important aspect of brand

communications—especially in this digital age. Voice

plays a powerful role in shaping brand perceptions, and the

variety of voices is larger than you might expect. a brand’s

voice can be authoritative (Mckinsey), straightforward

(Fedex), powerful (caterpillar), friendly (southwest

airlines), playful (W hotels), personal (Yahoo), or even

tongue in cheek (Virgin). all of these brands use voice

as a distinct element of their personality in a way that

differentiates them from competitors. these brands are

credible and powerful because their voices are consistent

with, and reinforce, their brand promises. southwest

airlines regards people warmly, so its persona is friendly.

McKinsey positions itself as the foremost expert in its field,

so it speaks with great authority (and backs up everything

with research).

If a brand’s voice does not help communicate its

positioning and personality, it undermines the core brand

promise. Imagine citi trying to sound funny instead of

speaking as a trusted financial advisor, or Target’s voice

implying it’s a more sophisticated retailer than it is. Most

brands don’t get their tone wrong—they just fall into the

trap of sounding like everyone else in their category. scan

five print ads for mid-tier IT companies and you’ll be hard-

pressed to tell one from the other except by their logos.

May 2011 • Brilliant Results 9www.bri l l iantpubl ishing.com

Of course not every brand’s voice should be screaming with personality. sometimes

a good voice is invisible. rather than call attention to itself, a voice can smoothly point

toward other significant brand qualities. The Economist works this way. The brand’s voice

is well defined, but readers hardly notice because its focus is on delivering news and

opinions (except in advertising, when its personality is made more explicit). this works

well for the media landscape in which the economist brand operates.

Brands that pay equal attention to verbal and visual identities end up stronger and more

differentiated than competitors. how can you ensure a powerful verbal identity for your

brand? When a brand voice is consistently well executed across all touchpoints it helps tell

a unique story, connects it to target audiences, and reinforces what the brand stands for.

start witH a name

storytelling is increasingly important for brands, especially in this world of constant and

instantaneous communication. Brand voice can play a key role in telling your story in an

engaging way. Voice should be reflected in every touchpoint: from name to packaging

copy to advertising. A good name can set the tone for a brand and be the first indicator of

its personality.

australian coffee company Good co. understands this well. Its name is a play on

the dual ideas of “being in good company” and “enjoying good coffee.” Its simple name

effectively expresses its brand promise, “a break from the routine”—perfect for a café

chain located in office building lobbies that caters to businesspeople. The Good Co. name

helped inspire its verbal and visual worlds, which are intended to appeal to corporate

professionals for whom good quality coffee is paramount.

Good co.’s brand voice draws from the corporate speak its customers daily endure;

it turns typical suit-jargon into dryly humorous commentary that also references coffee

types (for example, a bold roast named “the Big Payoff” and a decaf roast called “tactical

approach”). this unique voice is present in all elements of the customer experience: from

signage and menus to coffee cups and sugar packets. Packaging for bags of coffee to take

away acts as a sneaky Trojan horse for Good Co. to extend its brand into offices, homes,

and elsewhere off-site. the brand’s narrative is refreshing and snaps the suited coffee

consumer out of her humdrum routine, offering fun mental stimulation to complement her

favorite pick-me-up.

as a result, Good co. emerges as a brand with character in a market of generic, average,

and similar-looking office lobby cafés. Its brand story is about wit, wordplay, and comedic

corporate interaction. With Good Co. many Australian office workers can delightedly start

the day in good company—and with a good laugh—and arrive at work with a smile. Good

Co.’s branding was so successful that the new company secured financing much earlier

than it expected to. aspiring franchisers, intrigued by the unique brand, have also been

contacting the company, clamoring for the opportunity to own a café.

ConneCt witH your audienCe Brand voice is a great way to differentiate your brand and connect with your target

customers by speaking their language. India’s café coffee Day wanted to attract a core

audience of upwardly mobile 18- to 25-year-olds. Its cafés are intended to act as the

modern day adda, or social hub, with coffee as the catalyst for free-spirited conversation,

meeting friends, and inspirational discussions.

starting with signage on café entrances stating “push for the best coffee” and “start

everything with a nice brew,” customers are immersed in café coffee Day’s verbal world,

where the language of its young, hip target audience is spoken fluently. Customers order

their favorite drinks and snacks from menus that read, “give your coffee the company

of delicious twin pack cookies,” further conveying the brand attitude of cool intelligence

coupled with a good sense of humor. coffee is sipped from mugs that also speak to young

customers’ tastes and attitudes with sayings like, “coffee smoother than words,” “my coffee

When a

brand voice is

consistently well

executed across

all touchpoints

it helps tell a

unique story,

connects it to

target audiences,

and reinforces

what the brand

stands for.


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inside,” and “I will share anything except this latte.” Looking around the cafés, one

sees wall graphics that further demonstrate the brand’s wit, proclaiming, “if these walls

could talk, they would join your conversations,” “great minds drink alike,” and “chat,

drink, and be merry.” café coffee Day’s voice connects the brand to India’s youth

generation better than the other coffee and café brands in the country.

café coffee Day’s verbal personality is reinforced by the graphic element of the

“dialogue box,” oversized quotation marks resembling a comic-style “talking box” and

open-mouthed talking face. It is used throughout the cafés in conjunction with copy to

help convey the conversational, interactive, and playful brand voice. the dialogue box

reinforces the idea that café coffee Day cafés are modern-day addas, a perfect place

to stop and engage in chats and philosophical debate.

reinforCe wHat tHe brand stands for every touchpoint provides the opportunity to reinforce the brand promise. hotel

brands with a distinct voice, like W hotels, do this well across the entire customer

experience. W is always fresh, surprising, stylish, almost magical, and very indulgent.

It describes its retreat and spa in the Maldives as: “cast away yet connected. Natural

yet designed. secluded yet welcoming. W retreat & spa –Maldives is a private

island and luxury playground, where style flirts with soul in a wonderland of white-

sand beaches, turquoise lagoons and breathtaking reefs.” It’s never boring: “Not your

average lobby. Meet, greet, flirt, play, sip and savor in this modern playground.” Never

mundane: “Who loves your pet? experience our Pets are Welcome (P.a.W.) program

so your furry friends enjoy the visit as much as you.”

Whether it’s the room nomenclature or the language used when checking in at

reception, there’s a sense of oomph and oh là là when interacting with this brand:

Wonderland. Whatever, Whenever. Wow. When tone of voice is consistently applied,

it gives customers many means of recognizing the brand and ways to understand its

promise. and, perhaps most importantly, it kindles desire for another W experience.

make it work

Once a brand voice is commissioned and approved, all verbal touchpoints must be

made on-brand. It is necessary to be steadfast in your commitment to what the brand

stands for. here are some tips for success:• Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can write well. Especially writing well in the

voice of the brand. Most of us (especially those in marketing!) are poor writers. Find a good copywriter who really “gets” the soul of the brand and can write in a way that best expresses it.

• Don’t approve brand copy by committee—good writing will invariably get watered down. the integrity of the writer’s original thoughts will be lost and the brand voice will be sunk.

• Don’t stop the execution at the launch campaign or the website. All brand communications must sing in the brand voice. this is especially critical for companies that have reams of corporate and product literature for various geographies and different stakeholders.

• Don’t change your voice to suit different audiences. We may talk differently at home than we do in the office, but we’re the same person. This also applies to your brand.

• Don’t settle for anything short of a great story on every piece of communication. Your unique story is what will set your brand apart.

• Do push your writers—relentlessly. Get them to be sharp, focused, clear, and soulful in a way that is true to the brand. and don’t forget: Your media spokespeople must be on board with the brand voice, too.

The benefits of a brand that sounds as good as it looks are immense, and well worth

the added effort. successfully differentiating your brand’s voice is similar to making

a good impression on guests at a dinner party—a well-defined personality makes you

memorable. and, ideally, results in another invitation.

The benefits of a

brand that sounds

as good as it looks

are immense, and

well worth the added

effort. Successfully

differentiating your

brand’s voice is

similar to making a

good impression on

guests at a dinner

party—a well-defined

personality makes

you memorable.

© 2010 Landor Associates. All rights reserved.


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brandingBY: MARTIn LInDSTROM

When advertising is moving home:

81-Year-OLD tahakasa OMI, a Japanese

grandma of four, had spent her day excitedly anticipating the

arrival of a package from Do-co-Mo. Do-co-Mo, the largest

operator of mobile phones in Japan, if not the world, had spent

the last two years developing a concept for people just like

tahakasa Omi. It’s not hard to understand why. Japan has

the oldest population in the world – and it’s a market worth an

estimated $120 billion.

Tahakasa Omi’s package didn’t contain a flashy new mobile phone – what

arrived was a picture frame. With a simple click on the side, the frame would

immediately connect to the nationwide Do-co-Mo mobile network and in turn

connect with Omi’s four kids. the moment one of her children took, say a

photograph of a grandchild, they could press their ‘Grandma’ button, and within

a few seconds the photo would appear on the frame in her living room. the

1,200km physical barrier separating her and her children seemingly vanished

in an instant. and, by the way, the picture frame was free.

But this is far from the full story, since there’s more than pictures appearing

on the screen. the Do-co-Mo invention is the latest in an ongoing stream

of initiatives from mobile operators from Japan – all seeking to explore new

advertising channels.

advertising penetration in Japan is by far the highest in the world – with the

average Japanese consumer watching eight hours of tV commercials, seven

days a week for seven years! that’s one whole year more than americans.

step outside any Japanese doors and you’ll see that every space, every

square centimeter, contains a commercial message. When you stroll down the

streets of tokyo, even the air is pumped with thousands of sound messages

from every display, point-of-sale counter or store.


With Do-co-Mo’s picture frame the ads have not only

moved inside the home onto the mantelpiece beside the tV

screen, they’ve also managed to achieve what the television

set has so far failed to do – a steadily growing, in-depth insight

about its users. they not only know the users network of

friends, but they know that full attention will be paid to each

picture when it arrives. Not only that, the cost of the images

are all paid for by the mobile phone users – like tahakasa

Omi’s four kids. But even they have a choice – they can elect

to receive commercial messages instead.

the picture frame is by no means the only commercial

initiative on offer from the telecommunication giant. Geo-

position based advertising has become a reality – allowing

advertisers the opportunity to push messages to their

audiences according to their demographic. contextual

Branding, as I dubbed the concept when the technology

first appeared in Japan some years ago, is now offered to

every major advertiser. companies can now communicate

with all Do-co-Mo’s subscribers who opted for the lower

subscription rate. and these advertisements are of course

targeted directly to the recipients’ profiles, as well as the

where they are at any specific time of day.

Do-co-Mo is not the only company to branch out from

conventional communication and distribution channels –

the home Gecko is the latest invention converting homes

and offices into retail stores. Imagine a hotel mini-bar – then

place it in your office instead. The mini-bar is stocked several

times a week with new product innovations. so, for the staff

that arrives in the morning the mini-bar is stocked with new

coffee products from Nescafe, then at lunch there’s the latest

Maggi product and as the afternoon wears on, the mini-

bar is restocked with energy drinks and snack bars. every

product in the mini-bar is straight out of the test kitchens,

and they are distributed to specifically target the description

of the office workers they are catering for. Furthermore, the

companies are then in a position to determine exactly how

their spanking-new product is received, all paid for courtesy

of the users.

Now the office Gecko is moving home. There are 20 million

people concentrated in the city area of tokyo, and Gecko is

becoming part of many of these homes. suddenly they all

have a mini-bar to supply the latest products. this is by no

means a new concept in Japan. For more than 100 years,

Japan’s largest pharmacy chain has kept a small cupboard

in Japanese bathrooms

all stocked with headache

tablets, band-aids, and liquid

disinfectants.

For brands this means

more than another

distribution opportunity – it means an instant feedback on

what works and what doesn’t. Whereas most brands in the

West rely on research data, focus groups and interview

sessions to access the success of a product, Japanese

companies have realized that there’s nothing more real

than the real thing. they allow the consumer to experiment

with their product in their home environment. there are no

one-way mirrors or questionnaires to be filled in. If they like

the product, they’ll buy it.

this trend is transforming the entire nature of research

in Japan. restaurants, cafes and even bars are offering

companies to sample their products in real environments

with sophisticated “behind the scenes” monitoring tools.

concepts like sampleLab and samplecafe – offers

thousands of brand-hungry consumers the opportunity to

enjoy a cup-of-something while testing the latest anything

– from beer to chewing gum. the consumers are aware of

it, but are perfectly willing to participate since they are given

access to the latest gizmo.

Next week it’s tahakasa Omi’s 82nd birthday. she eagerly

anticipates what new stuff Do-co-Mo will deliver.

Japanese companies have realized that there’s nothing more real than the real thing. They allow the consumer to experiment with their product in their home environment.


TECHNOLOGY AND THE HUMAN TOUCH

teChnOlOgYBY: JOhn TSChOhL

there Is NO denying the impact technology

has had on business. It has allowed companies to market

and sell their products and services to customers in every

corner of the world, and to do so 24 hours a day, seven

days a week.

that technology has a downside, however. In far too

many cases, it has replaced real people and become a

barrier to customer service. When, for example, was the last

time you called a company and a live person answered the

telephone? and how many times, after making a purchase

via the Internet, have you been unable to locate a telephone

number for the company when you have a problem?

the popularity of the Internet clearly shows that

consumers appreciate the ability to comparison shop—

and make their purchases—at any time of day or night and

to do so without having to leave home. When they have a

problem, however, they want to talk to a live person. all

too often, the opportunity to do so is either non-existent or

frustrating.

here are three technologies companies are using today,

along with their pitfalls and how to deal with them:

Interactive Voice response systems: I estimate that

95 percent of customers prefer to dial in and talk to a

human, but 98 percent of companies prefer to use

Interactive Voice response systems (IVrs).

callers to those companies have to deal with

a variety of options, which is frustrating

and time-consuming: Press 1 for english,

press 2 if you have a question about your

account, and on and on and on. IVrs send

a message to customers: We do not want

to talk to you.

If your company has more than 100

employees, you should have a real person

answering the phones 24 hours a day, seven

days a week. this might cost you a little more

than an IVr, but it will allow you to grow your

company. Go Daddy, an Internet domain registrar

and Web hosting company, is a high-tech company, but it

has real people answering its phones and available to help

its customers with whatever questions and problems they

might have.


amazon also has perfected the combination of

technology and the human touch. You can go to its web site,

select “contact us,” ask to have someone call you, and your

phone will ring within a couple of seconds. the success

of that quick response time and amazon’s dedication to

serving its customers is apparent in the company’s sales,

which reached $34.2 billion in 2010, a 40 percent increase

over the previous year.

E-mail: Many customers find it faster and more efficient to

contact companies by e-mail rather than by phone, especially

if those companies use IVrs. this technology, too, needs

the human touch. If a customer contacts you via e-mail, it

is critical that you respond quickly, preferably within five or

10 minutes. even when not responding to a request, several

companies use e-mail to communicate with their customers.

redbox is one of them. Within minutes of renting a DVD or

video from the company, it sends you an e-mail confirming

the transaction and does the same when you return the

item. redbox customers also can call the company 24 hours

a day, seven days a week and talk to a real person.

the Internet: the Internet has changed the way

companies connect with customers and potential

customers. In order to use this technology successfully and

to grow your business, however, you must understand how

consumers use it. they use it to learn about products and

services and to compare prices.

If a potential customer visits your web site, is interested

in one of your products, but has a question about it before

making a purchase, you better be sure you provide her a

way to contact you and get the information she needs. If you

don’t, she will quickly turn to one of your competitors.

It’s critical that you remember this: You are just one

click away from oblivion. the company that responds to

a consumer’s question first is the one most likely to make

the sale. You absolutely must back up your technology with

people. You must offer consumers a way to contact you—

either by phone or by e-mail.

the bottom line is this: technology has provided

companies with the ability to sell their products and

services to millions of people throughout the world, but it

is the human touch that improves the customer experience.

and it is that experience that will build loyalty and drive your

business.


real ideasBY: SCOTT KLOSOSKY

4 Ways to Make Social Technologies Relevant to Your Business

sOcIaL MeDIa/NetWOrkING aND the collection of tools they have spawned have moved solidly

into the strategy toolbox for organizations. If you want to be

the Zen master of social tools, then first understand the need

to implement elements of social that will both drive revenues,

and cut back office costs. Too many people think of social

tools as only being for sales and marketing when in reality,

they have valuable uses in the back office. With that thought

firmly implanted, there are a handful of social tech concepts

that are mandatory for every organization today:


1. building rivers of information – One of the least talked about dynamics of social

technologies is the massive amount of real time information

flying around the Web – on any subject. If you are a

cPa, doctor, lawyer, baseball player, or basket weaver for

example, there are megabytes of data that could be critical

to your performance uploaded each day. the reality is that

you will harness maybe 3 percent of what could be valuable

to you. social tools give us the ability to aggregate and

filter this explosion of information so that it can be funneled

into your brain. every organization can institutionalize this

process by teaching employees which information sources

are valuable, and what tools can be used to aggregate and

filter them to a manageable state. It is a knowledge economy

after all, so the smarter teams win. ergo, use social tools

to harness relevant and timely industry information, and you

will be smarter. Ps. Don’t use the excuse that you do not

have time to digest this information. that is like saying you

don’t have time to be relevant.

2. organizational voiCe – Every organization can benefit from building a powerful

Web-delivered organizational voice. there are many

channels through which this voice can be delivered,

Blogs, twitter, Facebook, podcasts, text messages. the

organizational voice gives entities a way to create a

conversation with constituents so that they can earn the right

to grab their mindshare. the only way to earn that right is by

providing a valuable flow of content through the voice. The

three biggest mistakes companies are making when using

tools like blogging, twitter and Facebook to connect with

customers/prospects/clients are these:

1 – Lack of a specific and human sounding tone. Every communication through whatever channel you use must sound human, and have a tone that is interesting, intriguing, or unusual. You don’t want to read boring things so why would you think your constituents will?

2 – Mistakes with the frequency of delivery. If you deliver content too often, you annoy people and they begin to tune you out. even if your content is great, it becomes overwhelming and people just stop paying attention. If you deliver content too infrequently, they lower the perceived value in their minds. What is the perfect frequency? It depends totally on the audience, and the type of content, there are no hard and fast rules.

3 - the mix of content is all wrong. When you send content through the organizational voice, you must be mindful of delivering nuggets that are valuable. For example, if you fill 80 percent of your content with sales related

information it appears to be spam. If you do nothing but deliver your opinions, people might get tired of the editorial. a valuable stream of content includes a mix of stories, facts and figures, and links to valuable resources, opinions, and product or company information. Get the recipe wrong and it is akin to dumping too much cayenne pepper in the soup.

3. online reputation management (orm)–regardless the size, or type of business you are involved

in, an online reputation is forming – like it or not. Internet

users (which now number nearly two billion) are increasingly

sharing their opinions about service providers and retailers

through conversations and comments online. every time

they mention your company, or your products’ names, these

comments become searchable. that means that when any

prospective customer searches to find information on you,

they will find these comments. For this reason, organizations

must have today a formal OrM program. the steps are

simple, build a listening process, document and engagement

policy, and then implement a measuring system.

4. CrowdsourCing – Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to get work done

cheaper, faster and with more innovation! that is the promise

of crowdsourcing. there are somewhere north of 75 sites

on the Web that now assist people with the crowdsourcing

process (crowdsPrING, 99designs, logo tournament,

Innocentive, mturk, etc.) Learning to tap into the Internet

herd to get work done that traditionally was sourced in

house, or by local vendors is a strategic advantage. the

quick way to learn how to use this tool is simply to dive in

and start experimenting. the risk is low and the rewards are

tremendous. the crowdsource market is growing quickly,

now is the time to give it a try.

For extra credit, go back and examine these social

tech concepts and note that two can directly help the front

end revenue generation, and two will help with the back

office operation, thus fulfilling the promise mentioned at

the beginning of this article. there are too many leaders

that still believe that social technologies equal Facebook

and twitter. the reality is that every company can use

the four concepts listed above to get a fast return on the

investment of their time. You might see them as a luxury

right now, but they will soon be mandatory if you want to

stay in business.

extra credit


OrDer taker Or trusted advisor to your clients? Most assuredly if you sell

on price alone you are the first, but even if you don’t, you may not be the second. My

business is called promotional products and yet I work to make products secondary or

even tertiary in the way I do business. Why? Because products are a commodity and if

all I’m selling is stuff (trinkets and trash as many fondly, or maybe not so fondly, refer to

it) then I’m selling a commodity that is price-driven. however if I’m selling ideas, concepts

and ways my customers can effectively engage with their customers, then I’m selling

value. It’s about solution based selling, not product based selling.

Do You Show Up and Throw Up?

BY: STEvE WOODBuRn

fOrsight


how does one go from being an order taker to a trusted

advisor? It’s not easy, it ’s not quick and it will require

you to not show up and throw up on your customer’s

desk the promotional products or any other products you

might sell.

I was fortunate enough recently to be part of a training

class called Impax strategic account sales. the process

they teach is centered on researching your prospects and

clients and building a network of coaches within. Only after

you understand their business can you begin to formulate

solutions to the challenges they face. the steps in the

process include:

• Gathering and analyzing data and information that strengthens your knowledge of your prospects and customer’s businesses

• Conduct research meetings with coaches and contacts in these businesses

• Deal effectively with gatekeepers who want to block you

• Deliver high-impact presentations that focus on the business fit between your companies and result in new or additional business

I’ve been guilty many, many times of taking a quick look

at a website before going in to call on a new customer.

as a result I know very little about

them and end up, more often than

not, focusing on what my company

does in hopes they’ll already know

what they want and the timing will

be right so they’ll just go ahead and

buy it from me. By doing this I’m

positioning myself as a show up and

throw up kind of guy and price will

inevitably rear its ugly head.

the way to differentiate myself

though from the competition is to

learn ahead of time as much as I can

about the company. and just looking

at a website isn’t enough. here are

some additional places to thoroughly

research the company, and person,

you hope to win over as a customer:

1. annual reports: these

aren’t just a bunch of numbers that

may not make sense to you. One of the best parts of an

annual report, in terms of research, is the letter from the

CEO. Many times you can find out what the company’s

challenges are, their objectives and strategies. If it’s a public

company, most times they will have these on their website

under the Investors tab. take notes as you go through the

annual report so you can develop questions that add to your

understanding.

2. Form 10-k: this is a document every publicly traded

company must file with the SEC. In it you will find financial

highlights, risks, opportunities, strategies, trends and much

more. Good stuff to know about a company you hope to do

business with.

3. Google and Other search engines: search the

name of the company to see what you find. You can also

search the name of the CEO and you’ll sometimes find

speeches they’ve given as well as searching the name of

the person you will be meeting with or other coaches you

might have within the company.

4. Company Newsletters: If you can find newsletters

or other publications the company puts out you’ll usually

find a treasure trove of information. Also look for magazines

related to the industry the company is part of and you’ll many

times find articles or other information that can help.

5. Other Ideas: hoovers.com is a website where you

can gather some company information if you don’t subscribe

and a lot more if you do. ask friends and business associates

about the company you’re working on, call the company and

ask for a press kit or other marketing materials that might be

available, LinkedIn, Facebook and twitter are also places to

look as well as Youtube. You never

know where you can find nuggets

of information so be inquisitive,

dig around, but know that at some

point you’ll need to say enough is

enough.

the wonderful facilitator of our

training class asked if we knew

how to become a millionaire? the

answer to the question, asked by

steve Martin in one of his comedy

routines, is that you first have to

get a million dollars then you’ll be a

millionaire! easy, huh?

It isn’t easy to gain customers

for life and move beyond being

seen as an order taker. You need

to understand who your customers

are, what are they trying to achieve,

what keeps them up at night and

what strategies are they using to achieve their goals? Only

then can you begin to see if indeed there is a business fit

between your company and theirs.

It isn’t easy to gain customers

for life and move beyond being

seen as an order taker. You

need to understand who your

customers are, what are they

trying to achieve, what keeps

them up at night and what

strategies are they using to

achieve their goals?


A-B-C’s of SuccessBY: BOB CICOSTA

seLL a PrODuct’s benefits, not its features. Make sure you listen as you make

a presentation. and create a need for what you are selling for the customer.

We have covered a lot of ground in our recent columns, but there’s something behind all

these tactics that is all-important to your success in sales.

Over the years, I have had the honor of working with – and learning from – some of the

greatest marketing minds in the world. In observing their thought patterns and the way in

which they consistently approached and solved problems, I noticed they all followed three

main principles. I call them the “a-B-c’s of success.”

the letters stand for attitude, Belief and commitment. Quite simply, if you don’t have an

overarching belief in yourself and your product, coupled with a never-say-die attitude, you will

never be as successful as you could be. so, based on my experience and results, I would

heartily recommend that you think about the “aBc’s” as a way to get there.

sales seCretes


A-B-C’s of Success attitude.I’ve read that as human beings, we have thousands of

random thoughts each day, and the overwhelming majority

of them – about 85 percent - are negative. think about

all the negativity around you every day, as the media and

people you interact with talk about the lousy economy and

everything that goes with it.

this can come into play as you tell people about your

product, or a new idea. Often, the first thing you will hear is

why something won’t work.

Instead of focusing on that, focus on one big reason why

your product or idea will work. If that reason is compelling

enough, it will make the negativity fade away.

there is a well-known corporate training video that

highlights the Pike Place Fish Market in seattle, where the

employees have turned a fairly mundane job into something

interesting and fun – engaging customers as they prepare

fish. One of the store’s mottos, described in the related

book Fish! a remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve

results, is “choose your attitude.”

ralph Waldo emerson summed it up pretty well when he

said, “… what lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are

small matters … compared to what lies within us!”

unlike kindergarten, these aBcs are not that simple, to be sure. But thinking about them as you assess your success, or lack

of it, is a great way to think about how you are selling your product. and remember, part of what you are selling is you.

belief.One of the best lessons I ever got in believing in myself

came from Lowell “Bud” Paxson, my boss when we took the

home shopping Network from a local cable show in Florida to

a national phenomenon.

In those early days on local cable, when we counted

viewers in hundreds and not millions, Bud would look over to

me and say: “One day, you’re going to be looking beyond that

camera and see row after row of operators taking orders of

our products.”

It was certainly hard to imagine at that point, but Bud was

a visionary. and you know what happened – hsN is now an

international retailing giant with hundreds of operators taking

calls night and day.

Believing in yourself doesn’t mean you are boastful or

egotistical, though. A calm, self-assured confidence shows

your customer that you are genuine and that you mean what

you say.

credibility is everything in a sale – if you don’t have that,

you have nothing. so if you don’t believe in your product,

honestly, it’s time to think about selling something else. Many

salespeople get so caught up in their day-to-day work that

they don’t take a step back to think about why their product

isn’t selling.

Maybe you’re targeting the wrong kind of customer. Maybe

your pricing structure is off. and maybe, there just isn’t

enough demand for your product to bring true success. think

about these things, get comfortable that what you are selling

is actually going to help the person you are selling to, and then

show that belief, every day.

Commitment.Paul “Bear” Bryant, the legendary university of alabama

football coach, had a small sign in his office that read, “Cause

something to happen.”

Commitment is tied to how truly successful people find the

consistency and resilience to keep moving ahead, no matter

what happens. this is very different from convenience, where

you might focus on being a success after your schedule calms

down, which never seems to happen!

In the training sessions I do for salespeople around the

country, I will sometimes ask the audience why the household

cleaner “Formula 409” has that name. It’s pretty simple – it’s

because the first 408 formulas didn’t work as well!

Going back to the need to have Belief, if you have deep-

down confidence that your product will sell, it shouldn’t matter

if it seems that everyone around you is telling you are nuts to

keep at it.

as an example of the power of commitment, consider this

story. On the first day we took the home shopping concept

national, it flopped: We generated only $352 in five hours of a

nationwide broadcast!

It turns out that we had made the production too slick,

moving away from our local cable-tV roots where we had a

folksy, down-to-earth approach, typified by the “Tootie” horn

we used when we got a sale.

But when we got together for beers that night to talk things

through, we didn’t talk about giving up. Instead, we talked

about what we were going to do to turn things around - quickly.

(It worked, by the way; within a month, we sold more than $1

million in just one day!)

This commitment to our idea, tied to the firm belief that

we knew the concept would work on a national basis, is what

gave us the strength and clear-headed ability to take the

concept to the next level.


WheN MY Great-GraNDMOther grabbed a box of arm & hammer Baking soda to bake the

weekly bread, I doubt that it crossed her mind that it could

also help keep the cat box smelling fresh. Likewise, as I’m

standing there sprinkling it in the cat box, I don’t give too

much thought about baking with it.

as times have changed, arm & hammer has done a

great job repurposing its product. I keep an open box in the

refrigerator. and per the instructions on the box, at the end

of the month, I replace the box

and “ … pour the old box down

the drain to keep it smelling clean

and fresh.”

repurposing is different

than line extension. seldom

does repurposing a product

cannibalize sales or market

share of the repurposed product.

take kellogg’s rice krispies. the

invention of rice krispies treats

in the late 1930’s helped sell more

rice krispies. chex repurposed

its breakfast cereal as chex Mix

giving people a reason, other

then breakfast, to buy and consume the cereal. and I’m

pretty sure a lot of oatmeal sales through the years are a

result of the invention of the oatmeal cookie.

Savvy marketers know that finding a new use for their

product or, repurposing, can have a dramatic positive

effect on the bottom line. WD-40 is another example of

repurposing. In addition to getting rid of annoying squeaks,

there are hundreds of other uses for WD-40 such as

removing scuffmarks from floors. And recently, WD-40

has joined such iconic brand names as BIc, thermos,

coleman and Victorinox by making the 3oz WD-40 spray-

can available for custom imprint to the promotional market

(WD-40Promo.com). It may take a minute to wrap your mind

around it, but these brands and others have repurposed

a retail brand as a promotional product — effectively

broadening their market. Brilliant!

there are great examples

of repurposing everywhere.

remember when you went to

the gas station to buy gas, and

maybe a pop or some smokes?

today, many “gas stations” have

been repurposed as convenience

stores selling everything from

grocery items and hot burgers

to lottery tickets. they haven’t

stopped selling gas; they just

broadened their market. they

repurposed the business.

repurposing has a place

within promotional marketing as

well. While it’s fine and dandy to use a 9” plastic flying disk

to promote a children’s event, you can flip it over and use it

to hold a paper plate. When megaphones are repurposed,

they become pylons for a children’s bicycle safety clinic,

start and finish lines for a corporate field day and even

centerpieces for a banquet. repurposing can be a fun and

exciting undertaking. sometimes, however, the real thrill

marketingBY: MIChAEL CROOKS

Repurposing:Keeping Your Promotional Ideas Fresh

From a creative standpoint, learning to open your mind

to repurposing isn’t just for a select few. Examples are all around us. After all,

meatloaf is just hamburger- repurposed.


isn’t so much coming up with a new use for an old product, it’s

realizing just how far an idea can take you.

My friend terry Baum, owner of Baum's Promotional

Products & More in clever, MO, shared with me her idea for

repurposing a tumbler that accepts a full-color insert.

“Instead of thinking of the tumbler as merely a container

to hold a beverage, I looked at how we could also use it as

a tool. For a college, I inserted a simple map of the college

for incoming freshmen,” says Baum. “For another client, I

imprinted a map of the conference trade show floor. Through

a little imagination and proper item selection, I can add depth

to a promotion by turning a tumbler into a tool as much as a

promotional item.”

Baum understands the importance of looking beyond what

something is … and considering what something can be. she

adds that there is additional promotional opportunity inside

the tumbler. With reference to the college, she says area

businesses that “buy-in” to place a coupon inside the tumbler

can literally place their message/offer in the hands of their

target audience. In addition, the “buy-in” can help the college

underwrite the cost of the tumbler.

From a creative standpoint, learning to open your mind

to repurposing isn’t just for a select few. examples are all

around us. after all, meatloaf is just hamburger- repurposed.

a tire swing is just a tire – repurposed. French fries are just

repurposed potatoes. and if you’re a long-time reader, you

may recall how I related in vivid detail my use of a 12-gauge

shotgun and 00-buck as a cutting tool to dispatch with a tree

limb I couldn’t reach.

can we develop ideas that make the alternative use of a

product a key factor in the magic of the promotion? can a

silicone wristband be as much a fundraiser as it can be proof

of payment for admission? absolutely. can a coffee mug be

paired with flower seeds? Can imprinted golf balls be hidden

around town? can stadium cups be paired with imprinted ping-

pong balls for an effective trade show booth activity? can the

same ingredient I use to make bread be used to keep the cat

box smelling fresh?

the answer is “yes”. But only if you have the ability

to see beyond what is … in order to grasp a vision of what

can be.

as simple as:1. Plug the cG-1usB into the car cigarette charger;

2. When LeD indicator lights-up plug in your usB cable;

3. charge cellphone, MP3, iPod and other electronic

devices in your car.

(available in Black, White and Blue)

Or

consider the MI-010- universal usB retractable cell

phone charger with connector plugs for Micro usB,

Mini usB, iPhone. Micro usB plug for Nokia, samsung,

sony ericsson, Motorola, LG, Nec, Qualcomm, rIM

(Blackberry) Mini usB Plug for htc and iPhone 3G /

3Gs / iPhone 4. this charger kit is also suitable for other

digital products. Individually gift boxed and available in

Black or White.

atlantis time-Line

www.atlantistime.com

Stay in Touch – Charge on the Go


WhILe there Is no definitive dictionary definition of “Cross Promotion”

there are plenty of postulations as to what it exactly means. here’s one that seems

to work well with the use of incentives: cross-promotion is a part of a total marketing

campaign where customers who show interest through purchase of one of your

products or services are then targeted with the promotion of a related product

either your own or a referral to another company in which you have established

a cross promotional relationship. It’s a broad definition so let’s explore. When

referring the customer to another of your products or another company with related

products an incentive is offered by way of a discount coupon or gift with purchase.

the company or companies, in which you have a cross-promotional relationship

with, act in return, in the same way toward your company.

inCentivesBY: ARnOLD LIghT, CTC

Build Your Business…through cross Promotion & Incentives

Incentives play a key roll in the whole cross-promotion process because it is

the driving (motivating) force that moves the customer to act. the incentive must

be worthwhile and perceived as a real value by the purchaser. For example, target

stores in a cross promotion with ensure, the nutritional drink manufacturer of abbott

Laboratories, recently offered an incentive for its new Muscle health product with

two types of coupons. First, with a buy of two, 4-bottle packs get the third free, or

secondly a $3.00 off coupon on the purchase of one, 4-bottle package. here both

the retailer and manufacturer are benefiting by making Target the store to go to for

the purchase and creating more volume for ensure. Basically what you are doing

is getting other companies to promote your product.

another great example of cross-promotion would be an Olympics. corporations

who buy sponsorships will help to promote the Olympics by calling themselves

"Proud sponsors of the Olympics." they can and almost always do offer some

type of sweepstakes to win tickets to the various Olympic events or offer discount

coupons for its products. Plus as a sponsor they have the opportunity to place

ads, tV commercials and banners around the various events, and therefore use

the brand name of the Olympics to add credibility to their product.


cross promoting seems like a logical marketing tactic,

however, there are number of factors which must be

considered. First you must be prepared to service or have

enough product on hand because the company you partner

with will expose your offerings from cross promotion and

will drive customers to you. Next consider the fact that your

database will be expanded because through cross promotion

your company will be introduced to those clients of your

partner company and you will be able to broaden your market

reach. It is also important therefore that when selecting a

partner to cross-promote with, there is some relevancy to

the association and customers of both companies have

some similarities. For example if you are a sporting venue

you could partner with a sporting goods store and on the

game ticket you could offer a discount on the purchase of

a team jersey at the store. the store could be an outlet

to purchase tickets to your venue, therefore exposing the

stores customer to you. Obviously these same customers

would have a propensity to consume or purchase both

parties products and therefore this type of cross promotion

makes a lot of sense.

as a marketing tool cross promotion along with an

incentive can keep your budget in line or even reduce it

because you are now reaching a larger audience at half

the cost, since you and your partner are working together

to market to a much larger audience. all of the expenses

are shared such as the printing of literature, print ads or

commercials offering the incentive. the incentive is a

no-brainer as it pays for itself because you don’t award it

unless a purchase is made and the cost of the incentive

comes out of the profit of the sale.

the fact that you choose to cross promote will undoubtedly

raise the visibility of your company. Your customers will see

that another business has enough faith in your product to

promote it to its customers. this will instill a degree of trust

and stability for your company. It’s like getting the “Good

housekeeping seal of approval.” In order for cross promotion

to be successful you must be promotion minded. here are

some of the marketing tactics you can use, or, if you are

already using them incorporate your partners offerings:

send emails and share mailing lists, cooperative ads in local

papers, commercials on radio and tV, include the cross

promotion in PR releases, use posters, flyers and mailers.

While cross promotion with incentives may prove

effective for your business there are a few thoughts

worth considering to avoid pitfalls. First, don’t make or

consider cross promotion the end all and be all. It is just

one additional tool in your marketing arsenal. Monitor the

program and make sure that your partner is actually doing

his/her share and promoting your products. Do not involve

more than one or two partnerships at a time because you

may confuse the customer.

Building a business today is no easy task because of

increased competition, economic conditions and price

strategies. cross-promotion with the right partner offers

lots of benefits as noted above. And just the right value-

added incentive to any promotion will leave a long-lasting

impression on the customer and hopefully that customer

will virally talk about your products or services and they and

their friends will come back for more.

have a rewarding Day…


Is publIc relatIons just

for big companies at large shows that have a

dedicated pr consultant?

When steve Jobs or bill Gates speaks,

everyone listens, but don’t let the size of their

budget discourage you. the media is constantly

on the look-out for interesting stories, and not

just the ones everyone else is covering. so,

being big is not the panacea to pr; being

prepared with a well thought-out plan is.

trade shows are a great place to initiate a

pr campaign. Whether it is the major news

outlets that will attend large international shows

or regional publications, cable or local media at

a regional or community show, the media will

be there.

one word of caution; there are no guarantees

with the media. the best-made plans and

promises can be easily derailed when an earth

shattering global issue suddenly materializes

and captures the headlines. but, with a little

planning and execution your chances of landing

valuable pr will rise dramatically.

The online encyclopaedia Wikipedia defines

public relations as “the practice of managing

communication between an organization and

its public.” pr therefore provides corporations

and associations an opportunity to build and

maintain rapport with various stakeholders

including employees, customers, investors,

voters and the general public. there’s a lot at

stake. Follow these steps and to set your pr

efforts on the right path.

1. Piggyback onto the Pr that your show organizer is

arranging. at some large shows there might be a media

room where the media meets and browses corporate

literature. at smaller shows the media may be invited to

participate in a press conference, opening ceremonies

or hospitality breaks. Whatever the case, talking to your

show organizer to learn their media plans will give you

insights into ideas that can be initiated in conjunction with

the show organizer or on your own.

BY: BARRY SISKInD

exhibit

Public relations at a trade show:A little effort goes a long way


2. Massage your message. the media is not interested

in spending hours leafing through all of your corporate

literature. You need to focus on issues that their readers/

viewers will be most interested in learning about. each

media contact may appeal to a different audience so

its important to ensure your message is appropriate to

the media person you are sending it to. Often they are

simply interested in reporting a new product or service.

3. create a news release. this one page (typed,

double-spaced) document is what the media will

read first. If your news release captures their

attention they might be motivated to learn more,

if your news release falls flat it will be discarded.

Your news release should be structured to include

the following:

a. the headline. this one line statement should get to the point quickly and stand out from the rest of the copy.

b. answer the questions: who, what, where, when and why in the first few paragraphs. Don’t try to write the story for the journalist, rather give them enough information for them to make an informed decision as to whether they think your story is worth telling.

c. Include a photo when possible

d. Don’t forget to include contact information. they need to know who to speak to and where you will be situated in the show.

4. create a media kit. this kit will include your news

release as well as photographs, company literature

and detailed product information. the completed

kit can be sent ahead of time to specific journalists,

placed in the media room at the show. as well, keep a

supply at your booth.

5. Focus your media contacts. If you can obtain a media

list from your show organizer or have developed one on

your own, pick those journals, web-sites, newsletters,

magazines etc, that attract your specific audience.

6. Personalize your approach. there’s nothing wrong

with calling first to let the contact know that you will be

sending them some information about a new product or

service and that you will be participating in an upcoming

show. then after you have sent information to those

media personnel that you have chosen, follow up to

make sure they received it and to see if you can gain a

commitment from them to stop by your booth.

7. Develop a relationship with the media. Media personnel

are like everyone else, they don’t want to be pressured

or hassled so walk that fine line between good follow-up

and harassment carefully. the other issue is to become

a source of information. they may ask you questions or

for contacts that may have nothing to do with your Pr

objective. If you can become a source of information,

you may not have achieved your short-term goal but a

solid relationship has excellent long-term benefits.

8. keep vigilant. train your booth staff to be on the look-

out for media as they pass-by your booth. they will be

wearing a designated media badge.

a Public relations campaign is an important tool for

most companies and organizations. trade shows offer

an amazing opportunity to sharpen your Pr skills and

develop relationships with the media. the investment in

developing a Pr approach is relatively small and the pay-

off can be huge.

Public relations at a trade show:A little effort goes a long way


Tourism Branding

tOurIsM Is aLL about experiencing what one

does when not at home. as such tourism is about the

interfacing of the new with what we already know; it is the

point where the unusual interacts with the comfortable.

Because tourism must produce both a unique product

and also a known commodity branding is an essential part

of brilliant tourism. While each tourism community must

develop its own brand, what unites tourism communities is

that they each must have a brand.

What is Branding? The Dictionary of Business defines

branding as: "the entire process involved in creating a

unique name and image for a product (good or service) in

the consumers' mind, through advertising campaigns with a

consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant

and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and

retains loyal customers."

In the highly competitive market of tourism, branding is

essential if you are to differentiate your product from others

in the field. In order to create the best branding consider

some of the following ideas:

-ask, ask, and ask. Find out what makes your community

special. It may be a place or location or it may be an attitude

or a particular way that your tourism community or product

sees the world. Often professionals are so close to their

own product that they fail to see what is really unique about

their community or tourism product. seek key words that

others use on a regular basis to describe your community.

the more often the word appears the more likely that a

branding idea may come from that word.

-Develop your branding campaign within the confines

of your budget. Branding can be expensive, especially

if you have not budgeted adequately for it. Make sure

that you have sufficient funding to make your branding

campaign a success. Nothing hurts a community more

than a half done branding campaign that never really got

off the ground.

-say it simply and say it over and over again. No

matter how good your catch phrase or theme may be it

takes time to soak into people's minds. Good branding

comes from finding a few words that express the essence

of your community and then repeating those words as a

part of everything that you do, say or write. remember

that Branding is really part of an attitudinal change process

and it takes a great deal of hard work to get a concept into

people's minds.

-use a multi-media approach. Branding comes about

when you do more than simply say what you are, use

colors to emphasize your point, connect your message

with photos, music and art. the key is that wherever or

whenever someone thinks about your tourism community

or attraction that there is a consistent message.

-Connect your branding to a specific timeframe.

Branding is not only about a message but also about

timing. have a reason for starting a branding campaign at

a specific point in time and have a terminal point planned

well in advance. While no campaign should lack flexibility,

it should not simply be. For example, make sure that you

get brochures out to the public in a coordinated effort with

television commercials. remember that good timing is

part of your message.

-know that even the best branding has a life span. at

some point you will need to rebrand your product, continue

to do research so that it is clear when the brand is beginning

to die. Do not be afraid to let a brand go and substitute it

with a new brand or concept. remember your loyalty is to

your product and not to your brand.

travelBY: DR. PETER TARLOW


Attention, Marketers. Email Deliverability is Like Caller ID

BY: JOhn MuRPhY

Online

Marketers of any stripe need to

be concerned with the end user. Who will be reading this

message? how will it be perceived? how will the message

result in a call-to-action? these are the questions to ask to

stay on message, and rightfully so.

But before the message ever has a chance to reach the

inbox, it first needs to receive a stamp of approval from email

service providers like Gmail, hotmail, Yahoo! and aOL. so

what’s the secret?

the most important predictor of your deliverability is the

reputation of the Internet protocol (IP) address you use to

send your emails. email service providers evaluate your

email by looking at the IP address, similar to the way caller

ID is used to screen incoming calls.

People are selective about which phone calls they pick

up. We might let a call from an unknown number go straight

to voicemail, or choose to ignore a call from an ex or boss

altogether. Based on the number that’s calling, the situation

(i.e. time of day) and your previous interactions with the

number, you make your decision to accept or decline the call

based on the information on your caller ID. Internet service

providers judge IP addresses in a similar manner.

to ensure you have the best reputation possible, here is

what to do:• Use an established IP address. Internet service providers

like IP addresses that they’re familiar with. this also applies to domains. Don’t register a new domain name and attach it to an IP; instead, use one that’s existed for at least six months.

• Establish a regular sending frequency. Consider starting out with monthly emails, and then move to weekly if you

are able to provide your subscribers with quality content.

• Keep complaints to a minimum. Provide quality content to keep your subscribers engaged. Your goal should be less than one complaint (a complainer is a person who hits “this is spam”) per thousand emails.

• Keep your list clean. Remove invalid records from your list frequently. If you send email campaigns to lists that generate high bounce-back rates, Internet service providers will think the list was purchased and will shunt the emails to the bulk folder.

these tips are vital for marketers sending to a dedicated

Internet provider, either with an email marketing service

provider or through their own system. Most email marketing

service providers will set up your account on a shared

IP address that hundreds of marketers use to distribute

their marketing emails. Instead, marketers should request

a dedicated IP address so they can enjoy the highest

deliverability possible. a dedicated IP provides the following

benefits:• Easy tracking

• A sending reputation that can’t be compromised by other marketers

• A safeguard against blacklisting because you control what is distributed

• Scalability for large distributions

remember, though, that making it to the inbox is only

the first half of the battle. A subscriber can press “delete”

just as easily as a person can hang up a phone. For the

best response, target your recipients with individualized and

relevant messages with clear calls-to-action.


Ways to Feel Better About Yourself

BY: BARTOn gOLDSMITh, Ph. D.

staYing sharp

some days are better than others. On those days that go

less well, we usually end up being hard on ourselves. here

are some tools to avoid doing so.

1. Keep going. Don’t let life’s changes throw you off

track, but remember that most extenuating circumstances

are temporary. Gain more clarity by staying the course and

channeling your energy in a positive direction.

2. Trust yourself. Believe in your inner resources,

no matter what, and you’ll grow from the experience. I

believe that the answers usually lie within and you are

probably smart enough to figure out what you need to do.

Give yourself a little time and have patience.

3. Be friends with life. remember that the world

is not out to get you and it does not punish you. You do that

to yourself. Learning to focus on other opportunities or in

another direction can give you some perspective.

4. Watch your thoughts. Your thinking will never

be 100 percent positive. You must learn to dismiss the

negative thoughts and stay open to other ideas that will help

you move in a positive direction. start recognizing negative

thoughts and use your mind to quell them.

5. Summon the strength you have inside. Learn to access and direct your strengths to the highest

good for all concerned. Believe that your strength and

intelligence can help you deal with anything. remember

that you have survived worse.

6. Learn to love yourself. You do not have to be

who you are today, and your life is not scripted. changing

how you feel about yourself means creating a strategy,

gathering some new tools, and making yourself into the

person you want to be. a good way to start is to stop doing

things that hurt.

7. Don’t want too much. Desire can be a powerful

motivating tool, but wanting something too much can be

very painful and very expensive, so don’t live beyond your

means or covet the unattainable. seek your desire, but keep

your integrity.

8. Don’t get insulted. It is wise to be dispassionate

about critical comments. human’s will always bump heads,

but consider the source, and if it’s the other person’s issue,

ignore it. Learn to respond instead of react, and don’t show

your ire.

9. Recognize that disappointment is part of life. even the most successful people have to deal with

disappointment, but they’ve learned how to use it to get to

the next level of life. the trick is to process your feelings,

then take some kind of action.

10. Deal with your fears. Overcoming fear makes

you stronger, and being a little scared can make you better.

You want to have butterflies; you just want them flying in

formation. It helps to understand and admit your fears. then

you can kick them to the curb.

Feel good about yourself, no matter what life brings.

know that each time you wake up, you have another chance

to make things better. Don’t waste it.

10


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Trends in Brand Management

OVer the Past year, we’ve seen our world

grow smaller and more transparent. People are feeling

empowered by social media: breaking news on twitter

before it reaches major media outlets, boldly critiquing

products and experiences online, trusting word-of-mouth

over traditional marketing. Demonstrating sustainable

practices has become the cost of entry for businesses

and is no longer a differentiator in the marketplace. and

the good a company does within and for its community is

beginning to have an impact on its bottom line.

In spite of a sobered financial consciousness, people

are ready to be surprised and delighted again—not by

the flashy or the fancy, but by authentic brand stories and

personal connections.

as public awareness of marketing, brands, and design

continues to grow, those in the business of selling have

to work harder and smarter to earn the money consumers

are spending so carefully. What will this mean for brands

in 2011?

demoCratiC branding

the rise of social media has catapulted marketing into

an era of total transparency as Facebook, twitter, Youtube,

and consumer blogs have made it possible for ordinary

consumers to communicate with millions of people they

have never met. Before the digital era, brand owners relied

on paid advertising to control and spread their message.

today, digital word of mouth allows uncontrolled brand

communications to go out to a massive global audience.

social media conversations focus predominantly on

brand delivery. People use these outlets to communicate

and evaluate their personal experiences—and especially

to share stories about how brands are delivering against

their promise. the bigger the gap between promise and

delivery, the louder their voices will be; and often, the more

sarcastic and cynical in tone. ultimately, the customer’s

brand experience is what influences peer impressions.

as a result, marketers will need to move away from

brand promise statements and toward brand experience

management, with more attention given to how the intended

experience is delivered, monitored, and measured.

this trend will continue in 2011, especially as constant

communication through mobile devices becomes the

norm. expect branding to become more democratized and

increasingly open source.

tHe open paradigm

a brand manager is now a facilitator who engages

with a community of consumers to solicit their input.

successful brand managers will provide consumers with

tools that encourage feedback, invite collaboration, and

offer possibilities for brand personalization. and they’ll pay

attention to what customers are telling them.

the brands that adapt best to this open paradigm—being

authentic in the delivery and co-creation of experiences—

will win in the coming year. Those that don’t will lose first

relevance, then credibility, and eventually sales and market

share.

I hope brand managers realize that they are in charge of

the customer experience, rather than relying on agencies

to communicate their positioning. They must find new ways

to measure the efficacy of their brand’s experience and

to embed great power apps in all functions, from product

innovation to customer service.

© 2010 Landor Associates. All rights reserved.

in fOCusBY: FELIX STOECKLE


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30 High School Students with Hearts Toward Christ Bret Welshymer www.mfwbooks.com

32 Dyslexia - A Neurodevelopmental Approach Jan Bedell www.littlegiantsteps.com

35 A Veggie U Recipe Barbara Jones www.veggieu.org

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