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Posts Tagged ‘marketing consultant’

The Beauty of Branding: What It Means to Your Business Success

July 07th, 2015

The benefit of consciously shaping a Personal or Company Brand is focus. When you know with utmost clarity what you want you, or your company, to be known for, it is easier to develop an effective brand platform…and that will impact everything you do as a small business owner, book author, or professional speaker!

So, what is a “brand”? It is a person’s emotional feeling about you and your company and it is a promise for a specific experience with you and/or your business. Your branding touches everything pertaining to your company…everything you say and don’t say, and everything you do and don’t do.

Lisa was voted one of the "Most Influential Brand Gurus in the World" in 2013 & 2014 by over 22,000 industry professionals

Lisa Orrell was voted one of the “Most Influential Brand Gurus in the World” in 2013 & 2014 by over 22,000 industry professionals.

A key concept that I strongly recommend burning into your brain is this:

When someone has contact with your brand in-person or virtually, one of two things happens: your brand is reinforced…or it is weakened.

This is why it is so important to know what your brand value, brand differentiators, brand positioning, brand promise, and brand personality, are. They need to be reinforced and reflected in everything you say, do, write, and create. However, many small business owners don’t focus on this and then wonder why their business isn’t doing well.

Once you “know who you are”, it makes it much easier to express it to potential customers. Plus, it enables you to have consistency across all of your business-building efforts, such as: your website, social media networks, marketing & sales materials, PR efforts, etc.

And, for those of you who have (or will have) employees or contractors working for you, they need to be aware of your brand promise and values, too. As the leader, you’re the brand evangelist of you and your company, and that means making sure anyone working for you focuses on also positively reinforcing your brand, not weakening it. Basically, they are not only representing themselves, but they are also representing you.

One of the best things you can do to create a positive brand platform is focus on being people-centric. This means to: always be open to listening to feedback; have a top-to-bottom commitment to making your customers, employees and co-workers your #1 priority; and always look at your decisions from their perspective, not just yours.

Think about it as a consumer of the brands YOU like. You’re a customer for a wide variety of products and services. Why are YOU loyal to their brand(s)? I bet it’s probably because they promise a specific experience with their product or service and consistently deliver on it. So if you can make a person’s experience with your Personal and/or Company Brand consistently consistent with your brand promise, you are heading down the right path.

However, it ALL has start with you getting clarity, and then effectively projecting that in everything you do. And, although you may have a tight budget, please be mindful of how your marketing materials look, especially your website. If you need help, hire a Consultant to help you!

That may sound like common sense BUT it’s not common practice…think about how many awful websites you come across! Be aware of these fast facts:

  • Potential buyers judge companies 90% by how they appear
  • “Designed” brands rate considerably higher on virtually ALL financial measurements

Make sure all of your marketing, business, and sales tools look professional, and that things like colors and fonts are consistent across all of them. Don’t have purple and green the main colors on your website but then use yellow and blue on your business cards, collateral, or even on things like your invoices.

You also want to make sure your social media page designs are consistent with your website. Again, branding is not just about how you describe and run your business; it’s also about how your business appears visually.

In a nutshell, Personal or Company Branding becomes the “behavior barometer” for you as a small business owner. Once it’s established, you’ll find yourself often asking: “Is this decision going to support or weaken my brand?”

And THAT type of mindset will enable you to build positive awareness for your brand, increase your sales, and grow your business!

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7 Easy Steps to An Effective Marketing Strategy For 2011

January 01st, 2011

Hi All!

The New Year is here…are you ready with a Marketing Plan and Strategy to enter 2011 organized, poised for revenue growth and career success? If you are, fabulous!

However, if you’re like many of the new clients who hire me, you’re probably “hoping” 2011 will be better but don’t really have a plan to make it happen. You may even know your previous marketing efforts have been ineffective, but have no clue what to do to fix and improve them.

Oftentimes, I find that small business owners, speakers, authors, coaches, consultants, etc. are good at what they do in their profession, but aren’t that great at marketing themselves, their businesses, and/or their products. They run in circles in a “reactive” mode (versus create a strategic plan) and then wonder why they are struggling to land new clients, sell books, secure speaking opportunities, or generate more income for their businesses through other avenues.

If any of this resonates with you, keep reading!

Here are 7 steps to help you create an effective Marketing Plan and Strategy for the New Year:

  1. It’s time to really research your target audience. Do you really know what your customers and potential customers want? Do you have a profile that describes your “ideal” customer/client? Or, perhaps you want to expand out of your current target audience and find new types of clients. For example, maybe you’re a Coach or Consultant and want to start attracting clients who are willing to pay higher fees for your services. Do you know “who” they are and where to reach them? You can’t effectively market to them if you don’t know all of this important information first!
  2. Research your competition. Sure, this may sound like common sense but many small business owners don’t take the time to do this. What do your competitors offer? What do they charge? What products or services do they offer that you don’t? What types of marketing strategies are they using that could also benefit your business? Not only is it good to know what they’re offering and their pricing, but you can get fresh ideas for marketing your business by learning from their strategies.
  3. Focus on what makes you “unique”. Back in college when I was an Advertising Major, one of the key phrases mentioned in my classes a lot was “Unique Selling Proposition” (USP). It’s still a key phrase and used by major Ad Agencies a lot when working with a new client. What’s your USP? Great, you’re a CPA, lawyer, landscaper, speaker or executive coach…but so are many other people! So, what makes YOU different? Find your USP, focus on it in your branding and marketing communications, and “own” it. Making yourself different from all the other people who offer what you do can be the difference between struggling or excelling this year.
  4. Outline your marketing goals. You can’t create an overall strategy if you don’t know what you want your marketing efforts to accomplish! You want to write down specific goals, such as: Secure 2 paid speaking engagements per month; land 4 new clients per month; get 75 new subscribers each month for my e-newsletter; or attract more targeted fans on my Fan Page and get 100 new “likes” per month. These types of targeted goals will enable you to start thinking about “how” to accomplish them…and this leads to determining the strategies, messaging offers, and marketing mix you’ll use.
  5. Determine your marketing mix. Once you’ve determined who your target audience is, what makes them tick, where you can find them, what your competition is doing, and what your USP is, you can develop your strategy for reaching your marketing goals. Create a list of 3-6 strategies, ranging from email, social media, sales calls, direct mail, online services, speaking at events where your audience attends, writing articles, PR, finding strategic partners, etc. Don’t feel like you have to use everything! Pick a few, focus on them, and implement them.
  6. Develop your plan. Once you’ve determined the mix of tools you’ll use, you can focus on implementation, messaging, frequency, budget, etc…this becomes your actual Marketing Plan! Work backwards from your goals, and chart your map for the year…what will you be doing each day, month and quarter to reach your goals using the mix of tools you determined? Example: You want to do eblasts. How many per month and what will you send? You want to speak at association events to reach potential clients. But what are the associations and what is the presentation topic you’ll pitch them? You want more “likes” on your Fan Page. Will you develop more strategic partners to help you achieve this? Run ads on Facebook? And if you decide to run ads, what is your budget and what will your ad say? You have to write your Marketing Plan so you have a direction!
  7. Evaluate, measure and assess regularly. Marketing Plans are not set in stone! You can change a strategy in your plan if it’s not working well. You have to! But you can’t even get to the point of “being strategic” about your strategies if you don’t start with a plan and monitor the results.

Sure, this 7 step process is a simplistic approach (there are some Marketing Plans that are much more detailed and complex), but you don’t need to make it complicated; that’s what can scare you from even trying to create a basic plan! I’ve helped clients outline an effective Marketing Plan in an hour, so trust me when I say this doesn’t have to be a drawn-out process.

I don’t care whether your plan ends up being one-page or 50…just make sure you have some sort of strategic plan so you enter 2011 feeling more organized and in control of your new year! And here’s a link to a Marketing Plan software solution that can help you: Marketing Plan Pro.

Cheers to a Prosperous New Year and Happy Marketing!

Lisa

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