Perception IS everything – or is it? December 22, 2008

Humans are simple.  We absorb information into our brain and it is stored there – subconsciously. We are quick to judge and often make rash decisions.  Not so great for human kind – but great for business.  Did you ever wonder why infomercials that air at 3am are so damn successful.  They make you believe that if you don’t buy the doo-dad that will hang 250 pounds on your wall that your picture of Aunt Matilda is going to fall and break – forcing Aunt Matilda to haunt you for years to come. 

Perception is everything.  I consider myself a fairly smart individual.  I also understand the psyche behind marketing and I’m not a label hound.  I’m the queen of a bargain. Yet, ask me why I only drink Grey Goose vodka when having martinis.  I don’t know – beyond the fact I saw a ton of ads saying it was the best damn vodka.  I caved. Don’t get me wrong – I love Grey Goose – but there are probably other vodkas out there just as good if not better – I just haven’t seen their ad or no one in my peer group has told me that I should without a doubt switch.  Perception and a hefty marketing budget won me over.

If you tell enough people that you are the best and you have a “good” product AND you get the “in crowd” to buy in - you will soon be known as the best.  Does Mercedes have the best car?  No. But millions drive a Mercedes because of its status. Perception.

So…how does one achieve Mercedes and Grey Goose status.  You work hard.  You become cocky without being arrogant.  You get your product  or service into the right peoples hands. You woo that “in crowd” – you want them to tell the rest of the world that your product or service is what they “have” to have. 

You see, although we don’t like to admit it  – we as humans like to be part of the “in-crowd”. It starts at around age 5 and doesn’t end. Before you raise an eyebrow at me – listen….

I consider myself, beyond the traits listed above, to be a leader not a follower. I’ve created my own style – I’m pretty eclectic blah blah blah – yet – there are certain things I simply join the masses on:  Good vodka, good food, a good gym and I treat myself to expensive (yet great!) facial products.  I’m 99% sure I caved to peer pressure – subconsciously of course – to many a thing in my life.  Vodka was only the beginning.

Cocky, confident, the ‘In Crowd” = Being the Goose of your brand.

Now go get em!  Oh…and send me your ad, I’ll probably buy in.

Cindy

Print collateral – remember your brand! December 16, 2008

I sold printing for quite a few years prior to owning an advertising firm – I loved it and was good at it. What I learned is that the power of the printed word IS powerful AND there is a right way to do it and a definite wrong way.

Brochures – it is imperative that a client or prospect be able to identify YOU as a company immediately from the cover of yourbrochure.  It needs to be unique and identifyable.  For intance, if you are a private elementary school and you put a child reading a book on the cover of the brochure that looks like any child from any school – what makes that unique?  What screams YOUR COMPANY?  nothing.  Remember your brand.  Your printed material needs to have something that identifies you and more importantly separates you from the competition.  What should go on the cover of that brochure is something within your private school that no one else has – a landmark, a famed program something that isn’t run of the mill AND and identifiable UNIQUE logo.

Not always easy and not always easy for clients to understand.

Albeit, I do lose the battle sometimes – but I do try to make clients understand the value of “Brand Recognition”.  When you see a “Swoosh” – you think Nike.  It doesn’t matter if there is a sneaker  or a sweatshirt on the front of the  brochure- you see the swoosh and you identify with the brand.  Geico has done it with the cavemen – those ads often don’t convey any image of insurance – BUT they have “Brand Recognition”. You see cavemen in a commercial – you think Geico Insurance.

To wrap this up – when designing a brochure or any print collateral you should make it to tie into your brand AND make it memorable.  Cavemen and insurance – no connection, but Geico created brand recognition outside their genre- whether you like them or not, its marketing genius.

Don’t have a strong brand identity?  Now is the time to start working on it.  When you reach that magical place where  you have  THE “Swoosh” Nirvana  then you don’t need me anymore!

 Until then – start branding!

What does Brookhollow have?  A cow and a tag line “Brand your Name…Build your Company”  Enough said.

At left is Raisin the Cow ( in holiday attire)  She appears in the majority of my ads and says it all – she’s branded with my logo for Brookhollow Marketing.  And yes, she is a real cow from Hautboy Hill Farm in Corwall Connecticut.  Cheers!

Learn when to tell a client “no” December 12, 2008

Once you’ve been around the block – especially in the marketing industry – you will come across a client or two that try to snowball you, push you to write copy that you know isn’t in their best interest, or the worse yet – fill a damn display ad with paragraph upon paragraph of useless verbiage that no one will ever read.

For the first few years of my company I subscribed to the saying “The customer is always right”.  Eventually that damn light bulb went off in my brain again  – if the customer knew what he or she was doing than why they hell are they paying me?  Yes.  Big Light Bulb Moment.

The truth of the matter is we are all experts at something.  I don’t ask my gynecologist about my sore knee.  I wouldn’t go to a cardiologist for a mammogram, I’m not going to ask my accountant about what paint color would look best with my new couch. 

I’ve talked about being an expert before. When you reach “expert” stage you are no longer a vendor but an adviser. You don’t get asked to quote things, you are trusted and price isn’t an issue.  If you have worked with a client for awhile and they are still telling you how to do your job it is time for the talk. So how do you tell a client “no”?  Carefully.

Remember that confidence sells.  Don’t be pushy – be confident and simply explain that this is what you do and they need to trust your advise as that is what they are paying for.  It also helps to show examples of other clients that had similar situations and how you created solutions for their problems.

If you don’t exert your “Expert-ness” you are doing your client a disservice – as they will not get the results they are looking for and expecting. You will get a lower than “great” approval rating at the end of the project.  Trust me – I’ve been there a few times and it never ever worked in my favor to go with the “customer is right” theory. Eventually they believe you are ineffective and will hire someone else who will be the expert.

Believe to Achieve – that’s all it takes. Be the expert, be firm and you will get the results and the referral for the next big client.

Enjoy the day!

Cindy

Marketing & Advertising ROI – HOW??? December 11, 2008

I just read a great blog entry at Marketing Professionals about Advertising ROI.  I preach to my clients over and over…yes and over again that marketing is cumulative. The human mind is easily manipulated. After being subliminally exposed to “advertising tid bits” over a period of time – a light bulb goes off in the gray matter and Voila! a decision is made. Rarely – unless its a one time sale, or those middle of the night infomercial impulse buys – do people make a decision based on one radio ad, one magazine ad, one bill board view, one email.  Does it happen – of course, but is it common – No.

That all being said – companies should NOT try to determine marketing ROI based on feedback from a single campaign. That is – just because someone didn’t tell you he or she bought your product because they saw your ad in a magazine doesn’t mean the ad in the magazine wasn’t part of their decision.  Marketing ROI should be measured at the end of the year, quarter, month - did sales go up or down?  Were there any other factors that could have affected the sales outcome?  ( biggest competitor went out of business or moved etc) 

Here is how I analyze my marketing efforts for my clients.

1.  I have specific strategies and plans set up at the beginning of the year or campaign

2. I review the plan quarterly and make adjustments

3. I review each and every part of the strategy – branding, advertising (all venues) , PR  – I see if one or more are having issues and fix the issues, I also see if we are getting huge response from one or more modalities and shuffle budgetary monies towards those modalities.  If you are walking down the street and hear people humming your radio ad jingle – HELLO – more radio ads.  You get the drift

4. I’m always looking for new ways to get my clients noticed – social networking, e-newsletters, PR etc

5.  At the end of the period I do an overview and regroup for the next period.

 

Not brain surgery but its tough to convince people that marketing is a revenue source not an expense.

But I try….ohhhhh do I try.

What is your Strategic Plan… December 10, 2008

I spent about an hour on the phone with a colleague today. He’s one of those friends that tells it like it is – whether you like it or not.  Jim and I have butted heads a few times, but we both agreed that we give each other great business advice – but we often don’t take it right away.  Silly stubborn us.  Anyway – enough about my thick head.  Jim is a great business man and is a big fan of “deep and narrow”.  Doing what you do best and only what you do best.  He told me that the best work I do is when I’m a strategist.  He’s right.  I’m a great project manager – I love sinking my teeth into a project and figuring out how to make the Mona Lisa out of a piece of plywood. And…I do. 

Am I creative?  Yes of course.  Do I design a good ad – sure.  But what I really love to do is work one on one with a client and solve their marketing dilemmas.  I can see the big picture where many can only see the tiny little photo in front of them.  I am a dreamer – when someone tells me ‘no’  I laugh.  I don’t see limits – I only see possibilities.

So why am I writing about this in my blog?  I had one of those light bulb moments.  I have had a few of them with Jim. Usually 6 months after he tells me something – this time I’m letting the light bulb shine immediately.  I’ve been working on my “Cindy Donaldson Strategic Plan”. What am I really good at….what do I really want to do and more importantly how am I going to get there. 

Brookhollow Marketing will continue to grow – but Cindy Donaldson will work more on doing what she loves – being a strategist, a networker and a community leader.  I have a team of great creative minds to be the task masters.  Jim is right – deep and narrow.  Thanks Jim and next we need to work on your strategic plan. Get ready!

White Space – I said “SPACE”! December 2, 2008

White space is marketing 101 – yet it is so under utilized. With the exception of the ever popular Advertorial – white space is king or queen. I  am a semi-liberal after all.  Why is this void so very important?  Here is what I tell my clients – over and over again – albeit sometimes on deaf ears. (sigh)

1. We are inundated with a gazillion  tidbits of information every day. Our minds can only absorb so much. You have less than a second to catch someones attention – if your message is a 3 column by 8 inch block of verbiage within a page of news stories – forget about it!  You lose.  Nary a brain will remember a darn thing you paid so much for.

2. We live in an age of instant gratification, multi-tasking, and no time.  This means that white space is even more important now that 50 years ago.  People want to know what your message is now – they don’t want to read about it, try to find the message or hell look at it more than once.

3. People don’t need to know every single detail about your product or service.  Just the big facts ma’am – just the big facts.  After all – don’t you want them to call you or visit your website?  I’ll answer that – yes you do. Besides- refer to 1 and 2, they won’t take the time to read all the small print at the bottom of the ad

4. A picture tells a thousand words – and it catches eyes, makes an impact etc etc etc. 

Recap – White Space is Queen or King.  Use a great photo – a strong headline – logo in the lower right corner with contact information including website at bottom.  That’s all you need. 

Can I say “Got Milk?”  Enough said.