Once a Day Marketing: process

Showing posts with label process. Show all posts

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.

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 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.

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.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Finding New Market Opportunities (Action Wednesday/Process)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: New Markets Create New Opportunities

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Action Wednesday and we are discussing introducing your existing products to new markets.

You’ve been working hard to refine your product and penetrate existing markets. In previous blogs I’ve talked about growth vectors and in particular the market development strategy of launching an existing product in a new market.

For Action Wednesday, consider new markets you may be able to launch your product in. You can research by demographics; age, gender, income or education or psychographics which point to consumer interests.

For example, assume you have developed a rugged, stylish outdoor shoe for mountain climbing. Customer feedback tells you people also like to wear them as a fashion statement. Targeting customers interested in style rather than outdoor enthusiasts may open up a whole new market and customer base.

Another approach is around location. For instance, you may find that a product you have developed for the US market is also attracting the interest of the Chinese market.

The most appealing element of this market development strategy is that you don’t have to change your product. You are only focused on repositioning the product in the minds of new customers.

Consider how you can take your product to a place that you have never taken it before. Once you identify these potential markets you are also going to find new opportunities.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Planning Your 2014 Branding Strategy (Smart Monday/Process)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: Time to Think Strategically for Next Year

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Smart Monday and it's time to start thinking about your strategic solutions for next year.

Strategic planning is critical to the success of your organization. You now have almost two years and 500 blogs of Once a Day Marketing™ advice under your belt. It's time to apply these skills and start developing strategies around your branding and marketing to implement next year that will enhance the success of your business.

There are numerous ways to complete strategic planning, however, we want you to start by asking yourself these questions:

·         What tactics have been working for my brand?
·         Which channels are generating the awareness my business requires in the marketplace?
·         What hasn't been working? Should I modify or eliminate it?
·         What is driving bottom line profits?

In the coming year your goal is to introduce a strategy to enhance your brand or enhance the bottom line. Determine if there are new markets you would like to conquer next year as well.

Finally, create a list of goals and objectives to target in 2014 and continuously measure how well your marketing and branding efforts are achieving your goals.

Proactively developing smart strategic solutions for next year is crucial. It establishes a road map to where you want to go and also gets your team on board. A well-defined strategy allows you to have benchmark metrics to use in evaluating the results of the plan.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Crafting a Winning Culture Part 2 (Recon Thursday/Process)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: Building a Winning Culture Part 2

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. It’s Recon Thursday and we are concluding our series with Part 2 of crafting a winning culture.

The idea for this blog came from Jim Stengel’s book "Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies." The 10 principles were compiled by Martin Zwilling, a Forbes contributor. Today we are going to look at the next five principles:

#6 - Set your standards very high. You always want to challenge your team.

# 7 - Train all the time, coach every day and don’t criticize.

# 8 – Create symbolic gestures to excite your customers and your employees. Think about Apple announcing the next new product.

# 9 - Think like a winner and act like a winner. You will project this attitude to your customers and also to your employees; everyone is part of a winning team.

# 10 - Live your desired legacy. If you don’t know your ultimate goal or direction how will anyone else understand it? It’s up to you to live it and to share it.

By following these principles you should accrue two major benefits. First, that you will build a team based on your ideals and establish a good foundation for future direction. Second, you will give your team the freedom to create. Who knows what that team may achieve in this winning culture where everyone is encouraged to try new approaches.

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 4, 2013

Crafting a Winning Culture Part 1 (Action Wednesday/Process)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: Building a Winning Culture Part 1

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Action Wednesday and we are beginning a two part series on building a winning culture.

Many companies, such as Apple, have a great winning culture. I am going to share ideas from a book recently published by Jim Stengel called Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies, that you can use to build your own culture.

Today we will look at five principles. The first is: communicate your dream and operationalize it. That means your company should have an outward focus; narrow enough to be achievable and for the greater good.

Next is be clear what you stand for both inside and outside of your company. People follow what you do not what you say.

Third is design your organization to win. You should have winning strategy, winning capabilities and a winning team.

The fourth point is get the right team in place and do it quickly. Ensure you hire smart people both internally and as consultants or others that you bring on to support your efforts.

Lastly is champion innovation of all kinds and make sure that you are implementing your dream across all avenues of your company.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Allocating Marketing Resources (Smart Monday/Process)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: Is Your Brand a Cash Cow
I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Smart Monday and today and we are discussing the Boston Consulting Group Growth-Share Model of where to allocate marketing resources.

BCG created this growth-share model in 1970 but it’s still an effective tool today. The vertical axis depicts market growth. The horizontal axis represents your market share relative to your competition. This tool will enable you to map where a business unit stands with respect to growth and relative market share.

There are four quadrants on the matrix. Cash Cow is a business unit that isn’t growing rapidly at the moment but it does have good market share compared to the competition. A cash cow tends to provide sustained cash flow. Another category is called Stars. That is a business unit where there is quite a bit of growth and also a good position in market share compared to the competition.

The third section is labeled Question Mark (?). A business unit falls into this quadrant when there is growth but relative market share is not very large compared to the competition. The last category is Dogs. A business unit will fall into this section when there is little growth and little relative market share.

Determine whether your business unit is a Cash Cow, Star, Question Mark or a Dog. Then evaluate the strategic options to move forward. You can build it up, hold it as it is, harvest resources or divest.

Building up a business unit requires input of additional resources to grow and increase market share. On the other end of the continuum is divestiture where you would move resources out of one unit to put into your Stars and Question Marks. Leverage the growth-share matrix to make a strategic decision as to how you are going to respond to your businesses placement.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Choosing the Right Media Producer (Recon Thursday/Process)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: Selecting a Media Producer

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. It’s Recon Thursday and we are continuing our series looking at outsourcing marketing support for your company. Our focus today is on Media Production.

Media is a vital tool to promote your brand and products. Websites, social media and phone apps are all mediums to leverage for video distribution. If you feel it is time to invest in professional media production for your company, the following are the essential elements to consider.

There are two main areas of expertise in creating video; media producers and media production companies. The media producer is the person who provides creative input as well as management of productions and other professionals. Media production companies are sometimes just that. They know how to capture images and edit, however, they may not have the creative capabilities you require. I believe having a first rate media producer is the most important element to a successful video.

Qualifications to review when you are considering a media production company include their general production skills; they should be very familiar with cameras, capturing images and ensuring they provide the kind of shots you are looking for. The professional you select should also be very competent in audio production.

Next is graphics and animation, these are powerful tools that will enhance the production value of a video or media production. Validate that the company you want to work with has a good graphic eye, knows animation and how to make images appear on the screen as you expect them to look.

Editing is another important element. The media expert should be able to take the footage they shoot and turn it into a compelling story that has a beginning, middle and end regardless of the length.

Lastly, they should be comfortable working across various platforms. Not only should the media professional know traditional video production; they should understand what it takes to run video successfully on a smart phone, computer, tablet, video wall, kiosk or any of the other environments where media is used today.

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.

© 2013 Once a Day Marketing™. All rights reserved.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Consumer Adoption of Innovations (Smart Monday/Process)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: How Consumers Adopt to Innovation

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Smart Monday and we're looking at Everett Roger’s diffusion of innovation model and how it will assist you to understand your customer’s adoption patterns for new product innovations.

An innovation is any product, service or idea perceived by your customers as new. According to Roger’s diffusion of innovation model, the length of time it takes consumers to adopt a new product is represented by a bell shaped curve.

The model breaks consumers into five groups. Innovators, comprising 2.5% of consumers, are adventuresome; they like and seek out risk and are the first to buy new products. Early adopters, 13.5% of consumers, are opinion leaders and once they make a decision to buy typically others will follow suit.

The largest group is the early majority who make up 34% of consumers. This group is very deliberate but they choose to follow the early adopters when making purchases. Next, the late majority, also at 34%, tend to be skeptical. When they see other consumer getting on board, they will seek out a new product.

Finally, we have the laggards who comprise about 16% of consumers at the tail end of the curve. This segment is very traditional and they need to know that a product is well proven before they will buy.

Understanding adoption patters for your customers is important to accurately target your advertising. Once you categorize your customers into the various groups of adopters you will be able to leverage demographics and psychographics to determine media characteristics and create a compelling advertising message for each group that will resonate specifically with them.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Blogging Enhances Traffic and Lead Generation (Digital Friday/Process)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: Impact of Long-Term Blogging

Hello. I'm Jim Glover that branding guy for Once a Day Marketing™. Today is Digital Friday and we are looking at a study by HubSpot on the impact of long term blogging.

HubSpot completed a study involving 7,000 of their customers who answered questions about inbound marketing. They found some very eye-opening statistics that may cause you to re-evaluate blogging for your company.

Here are 5 interesting findings related to blogging:

- 15 blogs or more per month generate five times more inbound traffic than not blogging at all

- Increasing blogging from 3-5x a month to 6-8x a month results in nearly double the lead flow

- B2B blogs of 1-2 times a month generate 70% more leads than those who don’t blog

- B2C companies increasing their available blogs from 100 to 200 saw a 59% increase in traffic

- Companies with blog count over 200 have 5x more leads than those with 10 blogs or fewer

You may not experience the same lift that the companies in the HubSpot study enjoyed. However, the point is blogging does work. When you have a small number of blog you generate less attention than when you have a large number of blogs. I highly recommend that you consider blogging. If you aren’t blogging and your competition is, they are the ones seeing the increase in traffic flow.