Once a Day Marketing: December 2013

Friday, December 27, 2013

One Easy Jog and 23 Branded Products (Inspiriation)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. With 2014 right around the corner, we are revamping our blogs to share improved branding tips in three key categories: knowledge, strategy and tactics as well as inspiration to market every day.

On a recent cold and windy winter run in Santa Fe, New Mexico I was wearing the necessary gear to stay warm and enjoy the run. During my jog I started to wonder how many branded products I was actually wearing or using. 5? 10? 15? More?

When I returned I tallied up the labels and identified 23 branded products as follows: Nike jacket, running tights & top, hat and water bottle, Guess glasses, Polar Eyes clip-on sunglasses, Patagonia runners tee shirt, CW-X liners, Injinji and Ultimax outer socks, Brooks running shoes and mittens, Timex Ironman runners watch, iPod, Sony sports headphones, iTunes, Nike+ runners software, REI hip belt, Kleenex, Clif double shot goo and shot blocks and Trader Joe's peanut butter pretzels.

The point we're making here is that we live in a branded society. That's why it's so important for you to make sure your brand is top of mind with your customers. If all these brands can create mindshare, so can you. Brand strong in 2014.

Once a Day Marketing™ positions brands to become #1 in the minds of target customers. Visit our website at www.onceadaymarketing.com. Contact James Glover at (505) 501-1330 or email glover@onceadaymarketing.com. Listen to Ask Those Branding Guys™ every Monday at 11:00am (MST) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Make it Easy to Buy Your Products (Recon Thursday/Place)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: Make Your Product Easy to Purchase Your Product

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™ and today is Recon Thursday and we are discussing how to make it easier for your customers to buy your product.

It’s nearing year-end and the economy seems to be turning around a bit. Now is a great time to consider what you can do to bolster sales in the new year. One item to focus on is making your product easy for your customers to find and buy.

There are a few key items to consider. First, look at where your products are currently being distributed. Are you able to increase their presence in those distribution channels? Are there new channels you can implement?

If you are retailing your product online, determine how to display it on your website so it is very easy for customers to buy. If you are selling through retailers and distributors, work with these channels to enhance the placement of your product.

When your customers have finally decided to buy a product and, in particular your product, you want to make sure it’s very easy for them to find. If they have to look very hard they may accidentally discover your competitor’s products and might just buy that instead.

Ensure your product is very visible. Make that purchase easy for your customers and enjoy the enhanced sales it will generate.

Once a Day Marketing™ positions brands to become #1 in the minds of target customers. Visit our website at www.onceadaymarketing.com. Contact James Glover at (505) 501-1330 or email glover@onceadaymarketing.com. Listen to Ask Those Branding Guys™ every Monday at 11am (MST) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

What Are You Doing to Wow Your Customers? (Action Wednesday/Process)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: Building a Trail of Wows for Your Customers

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Action Wednesday and we want you to think about how numerous, small, positive customer experiences may really add up to enhance your brand.

All of us would agree that Disney is one of the top customer service companies in the world. At the Disney Institute they work with major corporations to re-think their customer service, corporate culture and their leadership practices. Disney believes that numerous little positive experiences taken together will greatly wow customers.

For Action Wednesday we want you to look across your entire company and brand to determine as many new incremental customer wows as you can to enhance the customer experience. Leverage the 7Ps as your foundation. Focus on product, price, place, promotion, people, physical evidence and the process and see how many new little customer delighters you are able create.

The easiest way to do this is to put yourself into the shoes of your customers. Be creative; these enhancements don’t have to be expensive, they just have to be a positive experience for customers. No matter where they encounter your brand, product or company, these little wows will add up and over time you will greatly enhance the customer experience and you will greatly enhance your brand.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Ask Those Branding Guys Year in Review (Strategic Tuesday/Positioning)

Listen to our featured Ask Those Branding Guys radio show podcast: Ask Those Branding Guys 2013 Highlights
Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Strategic Tuesday and Those Branding Guys―Jim Glover and Dave Hayduk―are reviewing the first year of the radio show.

On our radio show Ask Those Branding Guys, we reviewed strategies and advice from the 50 great guests we had on the show this year.

Those strategies include new location and great loyalty program for local Santa Fe Mountain Sports. Widmer Brothers Brewing advised to stay true to the story of your brand and maintain authenticity. Doodlet’s gift shop owner Steve Young noted how he shares stories behind the locally made artwork that is sold at the store.

Crisis Management was also a topic discussed on the show. In light of the recent payment data compromise at Target stores this is a timely subject. Stephan Dill’s advice is to be prepared and have a plan to respond. Glover remarked that it is also imperative to take responsibility when unfortunate incidents happen to your business.

Hype Life Brand’s advice to reach Gen Y is to ensure that social media is integrated with your advertising campaign. Look for more social media topics on the show next year. Green businesses also hold appeal for a large audience. Options beyond just “being green” include becoming a B Corp and telling customers about your socially conscious approach.

Paulson Marketing summarized branding in the three key attributes―unique, compelling and believable. Every brand should ensure they combine these elements to build a successful brand.

Listen to the podcast to learn more branding and marketing tips from these exciting guests on Ask Those Branding Guys in 2013.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Holiday Greetings from Once a Day Marketing (Smart Mondy/People)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: Happy Holiday from Once a Day Marketing

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Smart Monday and we are starting the week by wishing you a happy holiday.

You've worked hard to enhance your brand during the year, great job. You deserve to pause for a moment and reflect on your branding accomplishments.

We thank you for following our daily blog to build your branding and marketing knowledge, strategy and tactics. We hope through Once a Day Marketing you are more inspired to brand and market every day.

Be sure to follow our blogs next year. We promise to continue to provide the information you need to develop your brand, capture mindshare and earn more market share. From all of us at Once a Day Marketing, have a great new branding year.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Hot Digital Trend - User-Generated Content (UGC) (Digital Friday/Promotion)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Digital Friday and we are discussing a new digital trend that will impact your social media marketing in the future.

The proliferation of Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat, Google and Pinterest, along with the enhanced camera capabilities of smartphones, is resulting in consumers posting ever increasing numbers of photos on these social channels.

Given the fact that the public enjoys posting these images, many brands are beginning to harness this User-Generated Content (UGC) to further market their product or services. Here's how this works.

Fans or followers post pictures, this UGC, to a brand's social media channels depicting their usage of the product. For instance, a proud Toyota car owner posts a picture of themselves standing by their new vehicle. Or perhaps a picture is shared on the site of a wedding dress designer of a happy newlywed couple cutting the cake at their wedding.

We will see a lot more UGC in the future as brands use these images, freely shared by the followers of the brand's social media site, and make them shoppable. This means the brands will embed the photos with direct hyperlinks for customers to learn more about the product or to actually purchase the product. If you think about this for a moment, UGC are endorsements by customers for the brand.

As you plan your social media marketing for 2014, be sure to keep UGC in mind.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Yearend Review: Your Competition, Market and Company (Recon Thursday/Process)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: Year-End Review: Your Competition, Market and Company

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™ and today is Recon Thursday. As the end of the year approaches, we are reminding you to review your competition, your market and your own company. By understanding these three factors you are better positioned to get your ducks in a row and prepare for your branding and marketing next year.

To truly develop the right marketing strategy and tactics for the new year, you should have a thorough understanding of your own company’s successes and failures. Knowledge of what your competition is doing and what is going on in the market place are also essential. In-depth understanding will enable you to create a marketing plan that will make sense for next year.

Start by looking at your competition; understanding their strengths and weaknesses may allow you to identify opportunities to outperform them in the coming year.

Next review the market place. Look at the trends; what innovations can you apply to your products that will allow you to capture additional market share?

Lastly, evaluate your own company. Identify which marketing strategies worked and which ones didn’t. Develop new strategy and the tactics for your marketing plan to improve your company’s results in the new year.

Strategic planning for next year is dependent on your knowledge of your competition, market and your own company. Work with your team to develop the strategy and tactics based on that knowledge. Then have some fun in the new year and see what kind of rewards you will generate.

Once a Day Marketing™ positions brands to become #1 in the minds of target customers. Visit our website at www.onceadaymarketing.com. Contact James Glover at (505) 501-1330 or email glover@onceadaymarketing.com. Listen to Ask Those Branding Guys™ every Monday at 11am (MST) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Maintaining a Portfolio of Marketing Ideas (Action Wednesday/Process)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: Safekeeping Future Marketing Ideas

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Action Wednesday and your task for today is to take action to capture all the really good marketing ideas you have for future use.

If you're like us, new ideas surface all the time. We even did a blog recently about how to discover new ideas and innovations for your company. What do you do when you get these ideas? Are you keeping them in a safe place for future use or implementation?

We have certainly made the mistake of thinking we could remember these good ideas; but the reality is we often forget them. Now we take those thoughts and capture them in one place. You should create a location where you can store and evaluate your ideas, prioritize them, implement the good ones and save the others for future use.

Ensure you don't get caught in the trap of always jumping to the new ideas. This can be a distraction to following the strategic plan which you've already put a lot of thought into. Instead, re-visit your stockpile of ideas when you are seeking something new.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

The Importance of Top of Mind Branding (Strategic Tuesday/Positioning)

Listen to our featured Ask Those Branding Guys radio show podcast: Bill Fellows and Top of Mind Branding
Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Strategic Tuesday and we are discussing top of mind branding.

On our radio show Ask Those Branding Guys, we spoke with Bill Fellows, a branding consultant who founded Top of Mind Branding four years ago. The focus of our conversation was the importance of ensuring your customers think of your brand when making their purchase decisions.

Glover and Fellows reiterated how imperative it is for any size brand to ensure they are top of mind with their customers. Social media is a powerful tool for creating aided awareness, which contributes to the goal of consumer awareness and the ability to recall a brand at point of sale; however, it also creates clutter.

Fellow contributed that a brand resides in the mind of the customer. A company can influence it but ultimately cannot control what an individual consumer thinks. Branding is the sharing of what a company would like their customers know about the brand. The two keys to successful branding are consistency and time.

Fellows shared that the path to top of mind begins with identifying your target customer. Then determining the image you want to have in the customers mind. For existing brands, you also have to understand the perception of your brand in the marketplace. Once you understand the landscape, create a plan to deliver that message across your company as well as to the customer.

Enjoy the podcast.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Tactical Implementation – Opening the Playbook (Smart Monday/Process)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: Field Tactics: Making the Right Plays

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Smart Monday and those of you that follow my blog know I am an avid football fan. I see many similarities between preparing for a football game and preparing your marketing plan and tactical implementation of that plan.

Let’s say the start of the season is the start of your business year and your team is in place. First create a playbook or marketing plan of items you will implement during the year to get your message out. Then identify which items are the best to implement during the season and which players are well suited to carry them out.

Review your game plan, that marketing action plan, and determine which tactics are working best for you. Ensure you continue to implement those items. Just like in a football game, when a play is working keep using it until the defense stops it. Also review tactics you had planned but aren’t implementing. Now is the time to identify those items, put them into the game and see how they do.

You may want to consider adding trick plays that weren’t in your play book at the start of your business season. Use your insight about your company, the competition and market to add new ideas; a few things that just may shake up the marketing game a little bit. Perhaps you will have more customers take notice.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Social Media Statistics to Ponder - Part 2 (Digital Friday/Promotion)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Digital Friday and we are sharing five more compelling social media statistics for you to ponder as you develop your social media marketing. These statistics were originated online by Buffer, a company that posts social media content for its clients.

#6: The fastest growing demographic on Twitter is the 55–64 year age bracket. Takeaway: You now have a broader audience to reach with your social media messaging. Be sure to tailor your content accordingly.

#7: 189 million Facebook users are "mobile only". Takeaway: As we mentioned in Part 1, 25% of smartphone owners 18-44 always have their device nearby, along with this Facebook statistic, it's important to make sure you design content that works well on mobile devices.

#8: YouTube reaches more U.S. adults aged 18–34 than any cable network. Takeaway: It's time to add video to your outbound marketing if you aren't already doing so. The production process is simple and production cost is down, making it easy to produce and post videos about your business.

#9: Every second two new members join LinkedIn. Takeaway: LinkedIn is a site used by many potential business prospects. Ensure you have a strong presence and share your social media posts through this channel. LinkedIn drives the most referrals to the Once a Day Marketing™ website by far.

#10: Even though 62% of marketers blog or plan to blog in 2013, only 9% of US marketing companies employ a full-time blogger. Takeaway: Social media is a great tool to add to your marketing portfolio but you will need to allocate the appropriate resources to make social marketing work for your brand.

Be sure to keep these additional five statistics in mind as you mold your future social media marketing.

Once a Day Marketing™ positions brands to become #1 in the minds of target customers. Visit our website at www.onceadaymarketing.com. Contact James Glover at (505) 501-1330 or email glover@onceadaymarketing.com. Listen to Ask Those Branding Guys™ every Monday at 11am (MST) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Seeking Your Next Big Idea (Recon Thursday/Process)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: Discovering Your Next Big Idea

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™ and today is Recon Thursday. Our tag line is “Inspiring Ideas Inside” and we are going to inspire you to find the next big idea for your company.

We can’t stress enough the importance of innovation, it’s critical to everything you do in your company. Next we are going to provide you with a few thoughts around where you can look for the next big idea for your company.

You probably don’t realize it, but that next big idea is right in front of you. Here are some ways to search for it. First, ask your customers; they are knowledgeable about your product and people and they have good ideas to share about how to make your product or brand better.

Next, ask your employees; they are literally in the trenches every day marketing your product and working with customers. They also will have ideas to enhance your brand.

Then examine your market landscape. Review what your competition is doing. Are there any tactics they are using that you can adopt? Also review material from large companies who spend a lot of money and time marketing and branding and see if there is anything you can employee for your company.

Research major trends; there are numerous innovations emerging all over the world which we have discussed on Digital Friday. Is there anything here that your company can take advantage of?

Lastly, use search engines to seek out the 10 best “fill-in-the-blank”. You might search the ten best ideas, trends, innovations or something more specific to your industry, brand or product. As you begin to explore the search engine results; ideas are going to surface that may be a good fit to improve your brand or your product for the coming year.

Once a Day Marketing™ positions brands to become #1 in the minds of target customers. Visit our website at www.onceadaymarketing.com. Contact James Glover at (505) 501-1330 or email glover@onceadaymarketing.com. Listen to Ask Those Branding Guys™ every Monday at 11am (MST) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.