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Successful Branding is Key
Regardless of whether you're a start-up, a fifth-generation owner or somewhere in between, one of the keys to successful marketing and branding is consistency. Of course, being consistent in your message doesn't preclude you from evolving with the times. Look no further than ads for Budweiser, Pepsi, and many others of their ilk that appeared during the Super Bowl. No matter how shiny and new the packaging of the spots are, or how different the look is from 10 years or even 2 years previous, the core message of "We bring you something of value to purchase" remains.
Are you being consistent in your message to customers (and potential customers)? One way to make sure is to put a marketing plan in writing, then tracking the results. In her article "Four Great Reasons to Write a Marketing Plan," consultant Karen Morrione points out that it can take up to seven impressions to transform a propsect into a client. "Each one of those impressions needs to reinforce the others through a clear and consistent message," she says. "Consistency is the difference between a revenue stream that just trickles in and a gusher."
In addition, careful planning can save time — and money — in the long run. As Morrione notes, once you define the key benefits and features of your company, you can reuse them as talking points over and over in all of your marketing pieces. For example, when a prospect sees "We offer a money-back guarantee" on your Web site, your invoice header, your door hanger and phone directory ad, and hears it on the radio and in a sales call, and even reads about it in a local newspaper article in which you are the source about spring landscaping tips — somewhere along the way, it might very well resonate. What if prospects only received this piece of information in half of your efforts? Maybe they'll think you've stopped offering the guarantee, or maybe they won't be exposed to the messages that included the guarantee and are left uninformed. Don't let that happen!
Beyond time, money and a way to ensure consistency, Morrione's fourth reason to have a detailed marketing plan in place is to connote your professionalism. Whether it's a way to differentiate yourself from the competition (consumers know who you are and what you're about, no matter how they learn about you), or simply to help secure capital from a bank or private lenders, showing that you're serious about your business can only lead you to success.
But putting it down on paper is only half the task. How do you track your marketing efforts to see what is working and what's not? Training your office staff to include a simple "How did you hear about us?" in their scheduling of new customers can go a long way, especially if their scheduling software allows them to code specific venues that can later be broken down and analyzed. So can a simple invoice stuffer for existing customers — in this hurting economy, the chance to take 10% off their next payment, for example, for participating in a simple online or even "snail mail" survey can be all the incentive some customers need to tell you what they really think about your branding efforts.
From the color of your crew's shirts to the way your team answers the phone, every impression offers insights as to what your company is really all about. Make sure there are no contradictions to the way you want to be perceived, and let the resulting consistency do the rest.
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