You are here: Home / Archives for Blog / Branding

Branding. Are You Confused?

September 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The topic of branding has been nudging me a lot lately, sort of like my cat does when he wants attention. I have talked a lot about branding in the past; about what it is and why you should pay attention to it. It seems that recently branding has become one of the darling buzzwords of the industry and creating your personal brand is all it takes to become a gajillionaire and land your own TV reality show. Gah!! What are you thinking?

 

Here is what branding means to me.

 

Branding is the visual (or auditory, think Intel) signal that triggers a response in people. That response should be the instant recall of all you do, have done and stand for. It should imediately evoke in them a knowledge of your style and place in the industry.

It is not enough that they recognize ‘it’, they must recognize everything for which ‘it’ stands. What’s more, it had better ring true.

You can’t hang a shiny new upscale logo on a meat and potatoes caterer and think you are suddenly upscale. First you have to earn it. The same thing works in reverse.

 

It doesn’t matter whether you are just starting out or are well established, your visual trigger, or brand, has to represent the whole backstory. It has to tell the tale.

There is only one way for that to work, you have to know the backstory, you have to know who you are and what you stand for. What’s more, you have to be honest about it to both yourself and your consumer. Today’s consumer can smell a fraud a mile away.

 

You see, it isn’t really the visual signal that matters, it is what it represents.

 

You know me, here are a a few examples.

I work with a association of wedding vendors. They have established over time an repetition a solid brand represented by a certain red circle logo.  New board comes in, hate the colors and wants to change the entire look of all the marketing material.  I got to test this out last month at a series of bridal shows.

I would first hand out a piece of the new marketing material and the response would be the typical bridal show blank stare.  I would then hand them a piece of the old collateral and the response was one of immediate recognition.  They not only knew the association but had been to its website and loved it. All it took to change the response was a single red dot icon.

What do you think, should they lose the red dot device?

 

I am working with another client, a caterer who started out as a meat and potatoes, simple fare kind of operation.  Over the years  her business has grown dramatically. She has established a reputation that is trusted as a qualified professional operation and she has hired a wonderfully creative chef. She is now able to offer a decidedly upscale, gourmet type of cuisine. Unfortunatly, her logo still evokes pot roast instead of fillet with truffle butter. There is nothing inherently wrong with the logo. It is just that in the minds of potential customers is still means pot roast.

The challenge is, to create a new logo to represent what her company has evolved into without losing the positive response that already exists. The backstory has evolved, the visual trigger has to as well. The plan is to subtly change the logo, keep the colors and redo the website and copy.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Then there is the dear friend that has built a personal brand with out even thinking about it.  What logo and branding there is came about more by chance than design.  You have all heard me talk about eWedNewz and Paul Pannone. His brand has skyrocketed in the last year just by relentlessly doing what he does, by always being true to himself and never being afraid to put it out there. Today, newz with a “Z” means something. It means edgy, honest and unafraid. He didn’t go into this with the goal of claiming the letter ‘Z’ as his own, but it got hung on him and he is running with it.  In this case, he built the backstory, the brand if you will, and the visual icon just developed.

A great logo and the right colors aren’t going to make you or break you, what they stand for will.

 

Filed Under: Back to Basics, Branding Tagged With: , ,

Soul. Does Your Product Have it?

February 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Soul is a quality that is tough to define. Some products have it and some don’t; it is a uniqueness that makes it easy to fall in love with. It is a certain something that sets it apart from the herd.

Mini Coopers have it, so does Harley-Davidson.

I am rereading one of my favorite books on trends and came to the section on soul and it got me thinking of it in terms of wedding products and marketing {OK, I know, what doesen’t get me thinking in that direction}

I think the way it translates to us is in the uniqueness, that certain je ne sais quoi that our work has that no one elses does.

I came upon a photographer recently and showcased her on my other blog. There is a quality, a something that is undefinable in her work that transforms it for me from photography to art. I find myself looking at images now and wondering what Rene would have done with the subject.

I know a local cake designer that has it. She follows no trends and always goes her own way. Amazingly, her cakes don’t look appreciably different than they did 25 years ago when I first started decorating, but they still have it. They are still stunning in their grace.

It is difficult to see what it is that sets you apart. Your clients and your competetors can see it. So can your admirers. You have to find out what it is about your work that makes it what it is. What gives it soul? It was only yesterday while cleaning out some files that I figured out what it was about my cakes that gave them soul. Darn shame I’m not still doing cakes.

Once you figure it out, your job becomes using that quality in all of your marketing. Your print, your copy, your shop,  your website and every customer interaction should must capture that essence.

Here is just one example of using it to flavor all of your client interactions. Most Mini’s are custom build which takes up to 12 weeks. On their website you can “Follow my baby” while you wait. Now that line wouldn’t work for any other car, but it works brilliantly for the Mini.

You can continue to dillegently market to the mediocre middle or you can find your soul and your calling and build a tribe around it. Do it and watch your business skyrocket with clients that not just want your product, but love it beyond measure. Aren’t those really the people you want to attract?

I hope I got you looking for the soul in your product.

Bowls by Storykeeper

Cake by Dessert Designs

Filed Under: Back to Basics, Branding, Outrageous Marketing, wedding marketing Tagged With: , , ,

Don’t Think Your Brand Matters? Read This

December 10, 2010 By 1 Comment

I ran across an article in the venerable New York Times about a little auction.

At the Waldorf-Astoria on Wednesday morning, Michael Reich, who owns a company called Brands USA Holdings, put up for auction 170 product and corporate names that are no longer being used.

Now the auction wasn’t a huge success, but the fact that any of the dead brands sold should tell you something.  Brands are a bit like that old stuffed animal from our childhood. We may no longer need it, but just the site of it can stir positive memories and a sense of comfort.

Resurecting an old brand can sometimes have the same effect.

I have it on good authority that the only asset for a recently dead formal wear company may well be it’s brand.

What are you doing to create that kind of brand recognition; the kind that makes people feel all warm and safe?

Filed Under: Blog, Branding

Does Your Marketing Reflect Your Re-invented Business?

December 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

2010 was a brutal year for many. We pulled back, we hunkered down and we regrouped. We had the time and we took it to re-invent and to ponder how we really wanted our busness to look.

2011 is the dawning of a new era in the wedding busines. The smart ones have seen the handwriting on the wall and are poised to go forth and kick butt in the new enviroment.

You have reinvented your business model,

but have you redesigned your marketing to match?

If your business has evolved and you are marketing as you always have it is literally like sending out your message on a different frequency. It creates static. Static is distracting and annoying and it won’t do anything to sell your product. So now is the time to make sure everything is in sync.

Take a look at the new YOU.

How has your business model changed and how has your approach to bridal in general changed? Have you found another product that appeals to today’s bride? Have you found a way to capatalize on the here to stay DIY brides? Have you seen your weddings take a turn to casual from clean and elegant?

Whatever has changed, your marketing material needs to reflect that change. All of it.

That means more than updating your blog. It probably should include updating the look and feel of your entire website. It may even need to go as far as your logo.

One thing I can tell you about today’s brides is that if your image looks stuffy or in any way old school, they won’t look any further into what you have to offer.

Think about it this way, with so much competition today, first impressions mean more than ever. If your website or your business card or your logo screams “Mom’s Choice” you are not going to get a second look.

Today’s brides are cool, casual and very independent and they want a very personalized wedding. They don’t care that you have been doing this for a hundred years, they want to know that you are going to ‘get’ their vision and help them to achieve it.

How does your marketing speak to these women?

Here is a tip:

Lead with your work. Show off your style. Don’t try to be all things to all brides.

If your style is shabby chic, reflect that in your marketing. Your brides will find you.

The same goes if you are highly contemporary. Reflect it and the brides attracted to that will find you.

Here is the beauty of a plan like this, by setting yourself apart, you will attract the brides that you most want to work with. Everybody knows that is a lot more fun.

Sit down today and review your new, reinvented business and then see how it measures up with your current(mostly old) marketing.

Filed Under: Blog, Branding, Website marketing, wedding marketing Tagged With: , , ,

The Power of Poo: Outrageous Marketing

November 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Yep, I just had to use that headline. It got your attention didn’t it?

I read an article last week about a company in Texas called CowWow that makes an all natural fertilizer made of liquified dairy cow waste. More specifically it was about a marketing campaign that they used. It was risky, it was expensive and it scared them enough to think twice before going forward. It was also a HUGE hit. Please read the original article.

So what does cow manure have to do with marketing your wedding business? Well, nothing really, but the risky campaign they ran has some great lessons.

Much of marketing is about name recognition and buzz. Sometimes you just have to do something totally outrageous to get that.

For example, Preston Bailey and the flower sculpture he did for the Knot’s party in New York this fall. You can’t tell me that the thing wasn’t outrageous or that it wasn’t marketing. The minute I got the Knot branded bulk email pimping Preston’s blog I knew that it had been done on some sort of trade. So bottom line, Preston did it for the marketing potential. The sculpture was seen by anyone and everyone in the wedding industry at one of the industry’s biggest weeks of the year. Then pictures of it flew around the net at break neck speed. Gee, you don’t think that had any effect on brand Preston, do you?

Two other master brand marketer that tend to pull outrageous stunts are Oprah and Richard Branson of Virgin. You don’t think O gave away a car to everyone in her audience because it made her feel all warm and fuzzy do you? Yes I know, they have tons of money and they can afford it. Guess what, they have been doing this kind of thing since the beginning. Branson, espescially so.

So how does that translate to you, the micro-biz owner?

How about we start out by rethinking your marketing plan for next year. Do a deep analysis and dump a couple of the the things that aren’t really doing a lot for you. Use that savings to build a slush fund named Outrageous. Then start to keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities.

Your opportunity may be something as obvious as the bridal show you do every year. Instead of just doing your booth do something outrageous. Bring coffee and breakfast for all the vendors if you are a caterer. If you are a florist build a damn 15 foot tall tree in the entrance that is dripping with flowers. If you do gowns hire a bunch of model to walk the show floor in gowns. If you are a band or a DJ, buy a quad and rent a dance floor and hire a few people to act as plants and get a party going.

I never said that outrageous equaled cheap.

If you are a venue, host a “Kick-Off” party or an “End of Season” party for the vendors in your area. Make it a killer event, make it free and fantastic.

Once you have found your opportunity, make an entire campaign out of it. Use all of your social media to support and reinforce it. The florist with the 15 foot tree should be posting pictures of the frame in progress on his blog, twitter and Facebook. Just sneak peeks. Then right before the show make sure to flood the network with “don’t miss this” messages. After the fact, post your pictures and full story on your blog. Any advertising going forward should have a picture of this now famous piece on it.

You can’t just pull an outrageous stunt and just let it lie there. You have to tap it gently on the behind and push it out into the world.

The secrets here are to establish the slush fund, be open to oportunities, do something BIG and be fearless.Then promote, promote, promote. Your tribe will take it from there.

One thing that you may have noticed is that not all of the ideas I mentioned are pointed at brides. Word of mouth is still the strongest tool in pulling in wedding business. You should work dilligently to make sure that the other wedding professionals in your sphere of influence are recommending you.

Go back and read the article that started all this. They were scared through the whole process, but thier gut kept telling them YES.

Filed Under: Branding, Marketing, Outrageous Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Who Are Your Twitter Followers?

July 2, 2010 By 1 Comment

If you have ever been to one of my seminars on Social Media then you know that one of the things I recommend is that you take a look at who your followers really are. I have long suspected that most of the phenomenal growth in followers and friends is with other wedding professionals. Stated simply. it isn’t brides-to-be following you, it is most likely other wedding pros. Finally someone has done the heavy lifting to prove the point. Many thanks to bloggers at NearlyWed Blog for this fab infographic. Go read the whole article, it’s fascinating.

Well now, what does that mean? Should you bail on Twitter? For me, that is exactly where I want to be because my primary clients are wedding professionals, but what about you? If you are thinking about Twitter as a marketing tool how much time should you be investing in it  if it isn’t attracting clients? Twitter and building your network of like minded professionals isn’t with out merit. Networking is always valuable, but it isn’t the be all to end all in marketing. Don’t get me wrong, I have made some lovely friends because of Twitter, none of them brides. I go back to the question, how much time are you spending tweeting and are you thinking you are marketing? Well, you aren’t marketing, but you are building your personal brand. If a potential client want to know more about you it’s out there for them to find. (Do I need to remind you how search savvy today’s brides are?) Be careful what you say on social media. I suspect that the same is true if you sort through your friends on Facebook. Facebook however may just be a much smarter place to be. I’ll give you some more of the how’s and whys on that one in an in-depth look later this month.

Filed Under: Branding, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

Crafting Your Elevator Speech: 60 Seconds to Fame

June 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Everyone will acknowledge that you need an elevator speech, but do you know how to craft a remarkable one?

The basic elevator speech goes something like this: “My name is Judy Baxter and I own Flowers For All Occasions.”  The listener now has your basic information and a sense of what you do, but no reason to find out more. Suppose instead Judy had said something like, “I’m Judy Baxter and I create thoroughly amazing contemporary floral designs for less than amazing budgets.”  Now I know a lot more about you. You have intrigued me enough to ask for more.

The point of an elevator speech isn’t just to introduce you, it is to say just enough to compel those listening to want to find out more.  Marketing today is about being remarkable. A million people like Judy own flower shops, but how many have the ability to create amazing on less than amazing budgets.  I read an interesting article from one of my favorite marketers, Seth Godin, What Is Your Superpower? Much like the minor superheroes in The Justice League of America, no one knows your superpowers unless you tell them. Yes you do have superpowers.

What is it that sets you apart from the pack? That is what your 60 second speech should has to be about. It is up to you to figure out what it is that you do that makes you remarkable. I know, it’s hard for most of us to think we are remarkable and even harder to state it in front of strangers without feeling arrogant.  It isn’t about arrogance; it is about embracing what it is that makes you unique and stating it with complete inner confidence.

The hard part is often putting your superpowers into words that you can embrace unapologetically and with complete confidence in their truth. What is it that you do better than anyone else? You have to look closely at not only yourself but at your competitors. Trust me, there is something that you do differently or you wouldn’t still be in business. If you are just starting out, what is it that made you think you would be able to establish a competitive edge? Figure it out and boil it down to a single phrase. That is the basis for your introduction. THAT is what goes in your elevator speech.

It doesn’t matter what you do, there is something that sets you apart. Maybe you are a bridal salon that carries the complete line of a certain designer, or a caterer that is fluent in eight different cuisines or a transportation company that specializes in vintage convertibles.  We are all snowflakes, each unique. It is your job to discover your uniqueness.

Filed Under: Ask Christine, Branding Tagged With: , ,

Why Your Business Identity Is So Important

February 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

brandingOne of the things I love most about the one on one consulting I do is that it always gives me ideas on what matters most to my target market…you, the readers of Think Like A Bride. While every consulting client has a different specific need (Hey, that’s why they called me in the first place) in a larger sense they are all struggling with similar issues.

I see so many wedding vendors struggling with identity issues. Whether they are looking for a web make over, trying to figure out what to put in their blogs or  if and where to place advertising it almost always boils down to an issue of identity. What is your businesses identity, what is your “Brand”.

Exactly as I have told brides over and over, first figure out the style and theme of your wedding; you as wedding professionals have to do the same. By finding, defining and understanding your unique brand you have a template for all of your other decisions. When faced with a question simply ask yourself, “Does this fit with my brand?”

For many, defining the brand is the hardest thing they have to do in marketing their business.

Here are a few articles that may help and I plan to explore this yet again in the March issue of Think Like A Bride.

Branding. What Are You Missing

Branding. Again> Or why you need a second opinion

If all else fails, call me.

Filed Under: Branding, Marketing

How Are You Using Social Media?

January 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

For our industry, blogging and email marketing are the most effective tools in the social media tool bag. Yes there are  Facebook and Twitter to be included but for most of my clients the first two are the most powerful and easiest to incorporate into the mix; the last 3 take a measure of dedication and devotion that not many of you have. Heck some days even I don’t.

Our most effective tool is email marketing. I’m sure you have put a bulk mail program like A Weber in place but have you customized your template? Is there a lead generator on your website for people to sign up? Do all of your email blasts look alike and friendly? Do they include your branding and pertinent information like phone number and hours of operation? Do they have links to your website? Or are they just plain, boring text messages that lie there like yesterday’s news? This is advertising people!

How often do you send out an email blast? This isn’t like the old days when you had to pay someone like the Knot an arm and a leg to send out a blast. Today’s bulk mailers are dirt cheap and completely DIY for very many of us. You should be sending out a blast to your lead list at least once a month, every other week is even better. Surely you can think of something to say that is short and informative. You are trying to build a relationship with your leads.

When I say leads, I don’t just mean brides. You should have a lead list for other wedding professionals too. It goes back to networking. The other professionals in your area are the true influentials in your market. Keep them informed on what is new and exciting in your field and you will quickly become the go to guy in your market. They will bring the brides. I hope I don’t need to remind you to do the same for them.

The other most effective tool is your blog. I know you have a website but a blog is different. As I have said in the past your blog is where you let your personality come through. It is where you show your excitement. Your excitement get’s others excited. Talk about your events and your products. Use your blog to show case upcoming promotions and highlight your successes. Corporate blogging, unlike blogging for profit, is about showing the human side, the personality if you will of you and your company. Because of that difference, your posts don’t have to be long winded research pieces. They should just be short little bites that illustrate your day.

Blogging platforms today are a breeze to use and when you add all the cool free tools on the internet that you can use to enhance them your blog should be a lively place for prospective clients to visit.  Pop up a slide show of last weeks wedding or one about the backstage setup on your last big catering job. Do a slide show of a recent trunk show to show how much fun the brides were having. Keep it up to date and exciting.

Oh thing you must understand about social media marketing is that rather than broadcasting your message to a massive group and hoping it lands on a few friendly ears you are building relationships with a small group of influentials and encouraging them to spread your message. To that end, one of the things you can do to get your message out to the right people is by reading and posting comments on their blogs. You should be following blogs of like minded individuals in your market and making a connection with them. Let’s say you are a photographer that wants to expand into destination weddings. You should read a list of blogs written by wedding planners that specialize in destination weddings and you should comment frequently and intelligently enough that they begin to recognize you. When you do get to the point of pitching them they will already know you. Hmmmmm, that’s a good thing, no?  Suppose you are a caterer, you should be leaving comment on the blogs connected to venues you like. Again, it is about making connections and building relationships.

Social media marketing only works if you work it. The thing is that it get easier to use every day and the cost is next to nothing.

Filed Under: Ask Christine, Branding Tagged With: , , ,
« Older Posts