Archive for July, 2009

Finding Clarity

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

At Rapport we do a brand positioning session where we ask clients a number of questions about what they actually do, their ideal clients, how they find them, their goals, what makes them different. We go through lists of words that describe them and settle on some top choices. From this we go away and work on a bunch of tag lines , present several options and collaborate. Then, work on the positioning statement.

The Purpose of a Positioning Statement

The positioning statement is meant for internal use. It’s the place where we at Rapport, the client and all key players agree on how the company is going to be talked about; the angles to take, the tone. It often reflects goals to strive for, if not already there. It’s the bedrock of everything going forward – the website, all design and marketing tools.

I find it really interesting when we do this exercise with clients and it actually leads to them rethinking their business and what they’re trying to do. It’s a snag for us in the project process when these revelations actually stop things in their tracks, but it’s definitely the right thing to do.

Uncovering What You Really Do

We had a client who’s in the business of buying and selling. When we started this session he was focussed on the buying aspect, so much that the URL he bought which he wanted us to brand had “buying” in it. Not just that, it was all based around people finding him with Google. Once we went through the session we discovered two things that stopped the process. First, although buyers are more likely to be looking for him through the internet, the real money-maker is selling and that’s the part of his business he really wants to grow. Second, he doesn’t meet his clients through Google. He’s in a business that is  personal, based on face-time and trust.

We changed the plan and decided to base the branding and tag line  on him as the key face of the  business. Meanwhile, he’s digesting the revelation and rethinking what he really wants to do. We’ll be working on how to market him soon. In the meantime he needs business cards.

Clarity in Larger Organizations = Unity

It’s also a great process for partners, new or not. Sometimes they aren’t aware at all until they start talking that they haven’t been on the same page for years. “I tell people we do this.” “I thought our ideal client was manufacturing, not service industry.”  or “W e’re not warm and compliant, we’re no non sense and straight-forward.” At the very least, it can be harder to agree on the basics I listed above. At most, the partners need to go away and reassess their relationship, come to agreement  on major issues.

Wow. We don’t mean to throw a monkey wrench into  anyone’s plans, but these kinds of issues are best resolved before getting too far, wasting money on branding or marketing that doesn’t work. We’re just glad we could help.

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Do I Still Need a Traditional Website?

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

I have a colleague who I have coffee with when he’s in Toronto. Recently he told me how although he had been skeptical about blog ROI, once he started one the traffic to his company website went from a few a week to hundreds a day. Wow – what a great result! Then he said ‘we don’t need a real website anymore and took it down.’ This was my introduction to this new phenomena: completely replacing all forms of traditional marketing tools with social media. I think it’s a mistake.

Skittles Tried It

Skittles is one big social media smorgasbord with their main navigation linking away but keeping the navigation present – kind of cool. ‘Products’ links to wikipedia, ‘Chatter’ to Twitter, ‘Friends’ to Facebook, Media to Flickr and YouTube. There’s none  of the usual corporate/product information. It was a bold move and is being discussed.

But, most of us know what Skittles are. What if you landed on a site like this and had no idea what they do or who they are? B2B companies are in a much different boat than popular candy.

The Risks of Going All Social Media All the Time

Since my intro to this notion I’ve encountered several websites that are essentially big blogs or portals to social media sites and I experienced confusion. There was one person who was promoting himself as one thing and when I checked out his website I had no idea what he actually did. It was disorienting and I never actually found any ‘services’ or description of what he did. It was just reams of random information. I eventually clued in via his tagline what he did, sort of, which was different from what he promoted himself as. Other sites have had regular navigation, but the home page content was still very confusing because it was all blog posts. Another I looked at today was so blog-like in grass roots design that I thought it was broken and I was looking at the default site chart. It was his navigation. I also had to scroll past a lot of text to even find any sort of navigation.

Blogs and other social media vehicles are wonderfully valuable assets to a marketing toolkit. They are a great way to build content, community, Google ranking and demonstrate your genius by providing useful information. However, I don’t think the above is a good approach for two main reasons. One, I believe all companies still need basic traditional marketing tools like websites and business cards to look legitimate. Two, this approach defies all the basics of usability and conversion.

Looking Legit

I’ve had clients who, for many reasons, have asked ‘do I really need an address on my business card?’ I always encouraged them to include one because there’s something suspicious about companies that don’t have one. Without, it invokes the idea that you’re a fly-by-night or working out of your mom’s basement. Maybe you are, or close to it and are wonderfully successful. However, when wooing new clients, especially any larger than you, an address implies a sense of brick and mortar, of longevity, professionalism, dependability. I feel the same about websites. They need to include basic information about your company, along with your brilliant insights and generous information sharing.

Keep a Level of Professionalism

The blog look is also amateurish in presentation, as it should be – on the blog. Although content is king, websites still need to be ‘designed’ to look professional. It should be consistent with the rest of your branding. Additional benefits of professional design are if it’s easy/attractive to look at, engaging, if visitors identify with the images it makes, the user experience is much more pleasant and they’ll probably stay longer. A professional look with organized type, images and colour versus a wall of black text. Hmmm.

Some of the basics of usability are to make information really easy to find and fast to get to. People have no patience anymore. When they arrive at your website they need to see something engaging and a short blurb with the basics of what you do to let them know they are in the right place and entice them to keep clicking. Traffic analysis repeatedly shows that when visitors arrive at a site with a lot of text and too many navigation links to choose from they are overwhelmed and leave. This is how I feel when I arrive at the type of sites I mentioned above. Especially when it’s all blog entries – it’s like joining in a conversation halfway through and being totally confused when I just wanted to find basic information.

The basics rules still apply: 5–9 main navigation items with short, sweet and concise copy especially on the home page. People also like threes, so three special links directly to the top things visitors are likely to be looking for works very well. This may be a duplicate of a main navigation tab or a specific page they’ll also find in your sub-navigation, but it helps them get there fast and adds visual interest to the site. One of them can be your blog.

Think of your home page like a first date: don’t give too much information or ask for too much commitment up front. Let them get to know you a little first. But, do make it easy to get to that fabulous content.

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How is Social Media Effecting Brand Value?

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

A friend forwarded an article to me called the ‘The Trouble with Brands’ looking at why there’s a huge difference between the way consumers and financial markets valued brands. One of the reasons cited is that because of social media people are inundated with so many brands that the playing field is diluted and consumers are much harder to impress – it takes greater creativity. I can see that. It is a good article, though long, and I’m paraphrasing.

However, I think there’s more to the difference between consumer’s and financial markets’ valuing of brands due to the affects of social media.

How Has Social Media Affected Brand Value?

Social media has changed the landscape and therefore the rules of PR and Marketing so much that, as I’ve heard it phrased by folks like @mikaelsandblom and @thornley around my yacht club entering this new world “you no longer own your brand.”

I think this split in valuing is also occurring because so many people are participating in public dialogues about brands. Most of us use the internet to research before we buy and find thousands of real people’s opinions and feedback. We used to just buy into whatever we were told by advertisers. Now we have much more information available to develop our own opinions. Regarding the discrepancy – perhaps the people behind ‘financial market valuing’ aren’t paying enough attention to the public and or simply using out-moded metrics.

Use it to Your Advantage

So what can brands do to protect or heighten their value with the public? (This also applies to less widely known brands like those in the B2B market). Get out there, get to know what people are saying and what matters to them. There are many stories that show brands who are interacting with their public in an authentic way are more highly thought of and respected. As a start, this means monitoring the internet for any comments on the brand and reacting immediately, especially when there’s a problem – you are more likely to garner support by responding and being open about it. This may also mean inviting dialogue and feedback on your own website without editing out the negative ones (obscene yes, negative no). Address any negatives in the same medium.

The internet moves very fast and there are other stories about brands practically self-destructing by not responding to blog posts and tweets fast enough. Pay attention, get involved.

A lot of the large brands are right in there using Twitter, Facebook, etc to build communities. They cannot control what people say about them but they can certainly make a difference in it. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Develop a Strategy First

For those not up to their elbows yet, remember that all blog posts, tweets, Facebook discussions, etc. initiated by or participated in by anything with your company’s name attached is an extension of your brand just like your printed materials and websites. My advice is to clearly define your brand for all expressions, then develop a strategy specifically for how to approach social media. For example, it would be a really bad reflection on Rapport’s brand – where we’re all about relationship building – if I tweeted complaints about a client.

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