Specializing and Being Unique, Compelling and Believable (Action Wednesday/Positioning)

Listen to our featured Ask Those Branding Guys radio show podcast: Paulsen Marketing and Specializing a Brand

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Action Wednesday and we are asking you to review whether or not your brand is specialized as well as unique, compelling and believable.

On our radio show Ask Those Branding Guys, we spoke with Mark Smither, VP and Strategic Director at Paulsen Marketing, experts in agriculture and rural lifestyle marketing.  Their Agri-branding specialty has evolved from Paulson clients’ need to understand what their consumers are thinking.  Paulsen conducts research and shares this information online.

Specializing in marketing for agri-business has secured a place for Paulson Marketing as one of the top agencies in this niche and has resulted in the agency being considered as a thought leader in their market.

Smither shared his insight around branding agriculture products and appealing to target markets.  One client, Kubota Tractor, was positioned to target customers moving back to more rural locations who needed a tractor to maintain their larger property.  This strategy has proved successful for over 14 years.

Challenges for the Paulson Agency include assisting clients to answer the question Who Am I?  To define this, Smither cited the importance of listening to your customers (market research) as well as identifying what is unique, compelling and believable about their company.

The Paulsen segment begins at 33:08 – enjoy the podcast.

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 noon (MDT)streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

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

Branding Tips From The Pros (Strategic Tuesday/Positioning)

Listen to our featured Ask Those Branding Guys radio show podcast: Real-Life Big Brand Marketing Experts

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Strategic Tuesday and we are talking branding with two real life "big brands" marketing experts.

On our radio show Ask Those Branding Guys, we spoke with Jim Patterson and Chuck Lieppe former advertising executives with the Leo Burnett Agency and Procter & Gamble, respectively.  Both of these original "mad men" had long and successful careers managing domestic and international accounts and brands.  They share a few pearls of wisdom with us today.

During his tenure at P&G, Lieppe managed brands that included household names like Tide, Pampers and Crest, just to name a few.  Patterson was involved with other familiar brands such as McDonalds, Coke and P&G.

Patterson's Leo Burnett was also instrumental in the development of many of the enduring characters that represented brands.  The Maytag Repairman, Morris the Cat, Charlie Tuna and the Jolly Green Giant all had personalities of their own and became part of the consumers lives.  He went on to say that this type of character is being seen less often due to the shorter time advertisers have to connect with customers.

Lieppe shared that at P&G there was a very specific process for product launch.  The main focus of which was understanding the need of the customer as well as the market, and striving to provide a product to fill that need.

Patterson’s tip; focus initial efforts on research.  Lieppe added that you need to ensure you tell your customer how good your product makes them, rather than how good your product is.

Enjoy the podcast.

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 noon (MDT) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

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

Understanding Product Life Cycle (Smart Monday/Product)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: Product Life Cycle and Your Marketing

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy for Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Smart Monday and we are taking a look at the classic product life cycle and how that impacts your marketing.

Products evolve a lot like people.  They are born, grow, mature, age and then pass on.  There are four stages to the classic product life cycle: introduction, growth, maturity and decline.

Introduction is when an idea is transformed into a product and introduced into the market place.  Production and marketing costs are initially high and profits may be low at the outset.

Next is growth.  Sales are climbing, consumers are adopting the product and the company is beginning to make a profit.

In the maturity phase the product has been on the market for a while.  Sales are still climbing but profits are declining because competition has now entered the market.  Other companies like the original product so they are emulating it and taking away market share.  This is the time before the product slides into decline that marketers have to consider how they are going to remarket this product.

During the decline stage, when sales and profits are falling off, a business has to evaluate whether they want to reinvent the product or retire it and bring a new innovation into the market place.

You can alter your marketing strategy anywhere during the process based on the marketing mix that is required at that time.  At introduction perhaps you employ more promotion strategies and later on move into leveraging pricing strategies.

Remember that the life cycle is different for every product.  Some may rapidly go up and then decline and others might take longer so you have to be the expert in analyzing your own product life cycle to determine the marketing strategies that you will use.

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 noon (MDT) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

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

Using the LinkedIn Relationship Feature (Digital Friday/People)

Hello, I'm Jim Glover that branding guy with Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Digital Friday and we are looking at the "relationship" feature in the LinkedIn profile.

As part of our 7Cs of Successful Inbound Marketing© we address the need to Capture and Cultivate your social media contacts and leads.  With this relationship feature, LinkedIn has made it extremely easy for you to track and engage potential prospects.

For each connection you make with LinkedIn you can enter how you met and who introduced you; make notes about conversations and action items; include tags to help you sort through your database; and add automatic reminders to approach the individual again.

This LinkedIn relationship feature is a very powerful tool to help you manage your inbound marketing efforts.  Although not as powerful as a dedicated lead tracking tool like SalesForce.com, it still provides the bells and whistles you need to build your online relationships and close deals.  Our recommendation: start using the LinkedIn relationship feature 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 noon (MDT) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

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

Be Bold in Your B2B Marketing (Recon Thursday/Promotion)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy for Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Recon Thursday and we are discussing the importance of being bold with your business to business (B2B) marketing.

We recently read a blog that noted how most B2B marketing is bland.  The blog even used the phrase boring to boring to describe the lack of creativity in B2B marketing.  There is a commonly-held misconception that B2B marketing doesn't need to be glitzy or bold; that brave, brash and bold marketing is reserved only for business to consumer (B2C) marketing.

We strongly disagree.  To achieve success with B2B marketing you should be brave, brash and bold.

Our reasoning is simple. We are all constantly exposed to clever, entertaining and informative consumer advertising and messaging.  In essence, as consumers we know a good ad from a bad.  Consumer brands produce this kind of quality advertising because they know what it takes to attract attention and drive purchase behavior.

So why do B2B marketers abandon this successful approach when marketing to businesses?  We don't know why but we do know they shouldn't.  The customer evaluating a B2B offer is still a consumer who wants to feel good about the product or service, just as they do with any consumer purchase.

Boring advertising is just that...boring.  It doesn't excite and might even turn a prospect away who is wondering why the advertising isn’t more appealing.  As you develop your next round of B2B marketing, keep this important point in mind.

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 noon (MDT) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

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

Creating a Great Marketing Team (Action Wednesday/People)

Once a Day Marketing™ featured video blog: 5 Characteristics of a Great Marketing Team

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Action Wednesday and we are discussing how to build a great marketing team.

In his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni describes the factors that hinder outstanding team performance.  We thought it would be fun to flip that around and discuss the five characteristics that make a great marketing team.

Let’s take a look at each one of the elements in Lencioni’s model.  The first is trust.  An environment that promotes trust is one in which team members will be able to take risks, ask for help and be given the benefit of the doubt.  Second is conflict.  Teams need some amount of conflict to generate engaging conversation when brain storming new ideas and discussing critical topics.

Next is commitment.  All team members should be on the same page, align with the goals and move forward without hesitation.  Fourth is accountability.  This factor is a very important to success. Ensure team members are accountable for their tasks.  Apply pressure on them to follow through to completion if necessary.

Lastly is attention to results.  All team members should be goal driven and able to deliver on their assigned tasks.

Trust, conflict, commitment, accountability and attention to results; these are the five factors of a great team.  Focus on pulling together individuals with these skills.  Start by selecting one characteristic that you think is the most important to begin working on to improve your team.  If you spend time working hard to build your team, you are going to have great marketing results in the coming years.

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 noon (MDT) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

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

Branding a Solar Energy Installer (Strategic Tuesday/Positioning)

Listen to our featured Ask Those Branding Guys radio show podcast: Branding Positive Energy Solar

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing™.  Today is Strategic Tuesday and we are talking about branding with a New Mexico solar energy company.

On our radio show Ask Those Branding Guys, we spoke with Regina Wheeler, CEO of Positive Energy Solar; a company that installs solar power equipment for homes, business and institutions.  The market for solar equipment has become more competitive and costs have fallen.  Consumers may now see a payback in as little as 8 years and numerous financing and support programs are available.

From a branding perspective, Glover observed that the company could not have a better name.  The tagline of “It Pays to be Positive” also does a great job on numerous levels as it conveys the sentiment that is pays to both install solar equipment and chose Positive Energy Solar.

Wheeler shared that the marketing environment has been very dynamic and is constantly changing.  Currently, 60% of Positive Energy Solar business is derived from referrals and customers are incented to refer others.  Parties and events are also a successful advertising method.  Marketing effectiveness is monitored and methods are revised as needed.  Wheeler knows it is important to remain top of mind, especially for a product that has such a long purchase cycle.

Positive Energy Solar’s biggest challenges include an evolving demographic where the target market is shifting from an older, wealthier customer to a younger client.  They are also in a market where there are competitors that run very aggressive advertising campaigns.

Enjoy the podcast.

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 noon (MDT) streaming live on SantaFe.com KVSF 101.5 FM.

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