What is a Brand Ambassador? Is there a sash or tiara one gets? Per Wikipedia: “The brand ambassador is meant to embody the corporate identity in appearance, demeanor, values and ethics. The key element of brand ambassadors lies in their ability to use promotional strategies that will strengthen the customer-product/service relationship and influence a large audience to buy and consume more. Predominantly, a brand ambassador is known as a positive spokesperson appointed as an internal or external agent to boost product/service sales and create brand awareness.” So unless being a brand ambassador is your promotion strategy – no satiny sash or sparkly tiara for you. But let’s talk about how to make your brand shine without them shall we?
If you have a business then you have a brand. And for it to be successful, that brand has to create awareness to its target audience to ultimately achieve and acquire brand loyalty.
Fact: Promoting your brand is a necessity!
Fact: Customers will pay more for brand names that they’ve come to know and trust.
Fact: For your brand to grow, you must promote your brand consistently and disseminate your brand message in as many forums as possible.
If you don’t have confidence in promoting your brand, why on earth would a consumer have confidence in it? You are the impression-setter for your company. Being a good brand ambassador is all about having confidence when talking about and marketing your brand’s product or service. Your brand is your responsibility and the success of it greatly depends on your attention to it. It’s in your hands!
HOW A BRAND IS REPRESENTED TRULY AFFECTS THE SUCCESS OF WHAT’S BEING SOLD!
Another facet to consider is where are you promoting your brand? Representation of your brand, via your website or print marketing materials, is paramount to supremacy as opposed to mediocrity. Have you considered using the free tools provided by social media?
If you’re busy actually making your product or providing your service, you might not have a lot of time to promote your brand with your own ear to the phone or feet to the pavement. You know the old adage “if you can’t beat them, join them?” Well how about “if you can’t do it, pay for it.” Consider hiring Brand Ambassadors who will beat the street for you. It’s also called Guerrilla Marketing and it’s become a very common and acceptable marketing strategy. So there are many businesses that provide this type of service and the rewards can be worth the investment if you choose correctly.
So ask yourself – Do I have the vision, tenacity and marketing savvy to leverage my brand to all its potential and watch my sales and profit margins soar? I’m sure the answer to the latter part of that question is yes, but you may not be sure about how to employ the leveraging part. I’m no expert but I do give some noteworthy morsels in my blog titled http://blog.jpdesigntheory.com/branding-to-dos-tidbits/. So take a few maneuvers from my playbook and let me know how implementing just a few of these tips works for you, as well as your potential or current clientele. I look forward to hearing how you represent your brand best.
Small business or large corporate entities are defined by the vision of the organization, as well as its value system as it relates to society and where it ranks among its industry contemporaries. Defining that within your marketing & promotion strategy in a distinctive and definitive way can be challenging. So how do you create those strategies and consistently deliver on it when marketing & promoting your business? Here are a few tips to consider.
1. Know Your Brand Platforms The leading & most important company brand platforms are:
Company Mission
Company Long Term and Short Term Vision
Company Values
Personality
Industry Positioning
Social Media Integration
Knowing these allows you to prioritize your branding goals as well as allocation of time and resources to what’s most important.
2. Keep Your Promises
Paralleling strategy with the promises of delivery can sometimes be a complex and delicate balance. Knowing what to promise and ensuring those deliverables can have great or detrimental affects. Failing to keep a promise can have detrimental affect for your consumer’s brand loyalty. Most consumers identify certain brands that become their “go-to’s” and have no problem showing commitment when their expectations are met. Bottom line: Be a reliable & keep your promises.
3. Promote Your Brand Identity Values
In a more socially conscious era, most consumers like to know what companies stand for aside from just what they are selling to them. The best way to tap into that is for companies to articulate and translate their brand identities via a values system. To expand the potential impact of your business it is critical for companies to know what their core values are and properly promote the values they subscribe to. But what if you aren’t sure what those are? Take the time to figure out what your organizational values are and align your marketing efforts to those values.
4. Be Social…Globally
Prioritizing Social Media efforts doesn’t always come easy or depending on your size, make it to the top of your brand strategy list. And that’s a shame for several reasons.
Hello People…it’s FREE!
Every company should know that they COULD BE a global brand if they think outside of their geographical region and box-like mentality.
Social networks allow brands to capture more public attention than traditional print collateral, driving social-media chatter which equates to digital “good press”.
So whether its via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google + or Stumbled Upon, people can gain worldwide access your content and ultimately your product or services. And in return, you get a global audience for your brand through some digital marketing powerhouses. This 2012 article highlights the impact and evolution of social media for businesses in 15 Social Media Statistics That Every Business Needs to Know.
Using these strategies will help you build strong, sustainable branding campaigns successfully by building your brand identity & core values, encouraging brand loyalty, delivering on your promises and increasing your company’s visibility in a broader, more global way.
When trying to market their products and/or services, most small businesses aren’t thinking about public relations. But they should. Regardless of size, profit margin, or number of employees, you must realize the image you portray is everything and is certainly what motivates consumers to select your business over your competition. Now that that is clear you might be asking…
What exactly is PR?
Why is it necessary for my business?
How do I start & maintain a good PR campaign cost effectively? Check out these free tips for a true, do-it-yourself road map to a successful PR campaign.
The Basics
Let’s start by defining PR. Per Wikipedia PR is “managing the flow of information between an individual or an organization and the public…[and] the aim of public relations by a company often is to persuade the public, investors, partners, employees, & other stakeholders to maintain a certain point of view about it, its leadership, products…”
Now consider what the best platforms are for your target audience. You can accomplish this by finding out how your customers or clients consume your content. Is it in readable form (website, blogs or in print); audibly as an iTunes podcasts; or watching videos via a business YouTube channel? Take a little time to figure that out and then get ready to leverage it (or all of them) like a PR/marketing maven!
The Bang for Your Buck by Blog
A blog is a great tool for sharing information and expertise. Having a consistent voice is important to teach consumers about your company’s perspective and interests. According to the the Social Skinny,
Getting Press
Having your business name out in the media, whether print or social, is a critical element to your image and of public relations strategy. Some cost-effective options include distributing electronic newsletters via free or low-cost email service providers. Try partnering with other local businesses for limelight events and advertisements to boost your brand recognition. Thanks to Forbes, here are some tips for starting & maintaining your media presence.
Rubbing Elbows
Participating in networking groups in a big part of getting your business local recognition. Most SBA’s (Small Business Associations) don’t require much money to join and host networking functions regularly. You can also network electronically by joining groups with similar interests through select social media channels liked LinkedIn. This is a great way to increase visibility while sitting right at your desk. For those of you not shy with a microphone in your hand, consider being a key-note speaker for a business workshop.
Earbudding PR
Most people are on the go constantly and mobile devices have almost become an appendage. So consider getting your audience’s attention on the go with the communication tool of podcasts. Leveraging podcast technology allows you to get your business name and brand message out to potential customers. Make sure your Podcast is short – usually no more than 15 minutes and contains the most value-added content to keep your consumer engaged. To get you started, check out these tips to successfully create your own business podcast.
Viral Video Marketing
Video marketing gone viral is the latest low/no-cost strategy for business to let the internet work for them. So if you or someone at your business is good at presenting, consider creating a YouTube brand channel. This allows the ever-growing audience of YouTube and potential consumers to get to know you & your business on a more personal level. Check out these tips on how to get started, get subscribers and run a successful video marketing campaign.
The Resource Table
Take time at least 2-3 times per month to peruse these great resources to stay abreast of PR tips and tricks.
Good morning all – Jean and I had a great discussion during our video blog yesterday and we hope you enjoy it. However, if you don’t have time to watch it or take notes, we’d like to share some of the key points made. The next time you take on a new client, consider these questions or issues to raise, dialogue about and seek answers to in order to successfully manage your clients expectations.
1st Element: Understanding Who Your Client Really Is
A. Find out the type of personality they have & how they best communicate (email, text, telephone or in person).
B. Through discussions, try to extract the purpose of the website and their business goals even if they aren’t clear on them.
C. Stress the importance of branding & being clear about their business identity & its goals so that the website and/or branding efforts are successful.
A. What’s the vision of the company?
B. Who do they believe their customers & consumers are?
C. What do they think their consumers & audience want to see & expect from them?
D. Take the initiative through dialogue/research to get a firm understanding of their product or service and how they want to market it.
E. What are the goals they want their website and branding to achieve?
3rd Element: Setting Client Expectations for the Project
A. What is the projected costs & overall budget (with wiggle room)?
B. What are the time frames for benchmarks and completion?
C. Are you requesting and receiving all relevant content for each page of your website upfront? Consider how this affects time & workflow of project.
D. Are their images web-worthy (i.e. are clear, look professional), of high-resolution and large enough to scale down for editing if needed?
E. Have you established a good client relationship that can endure project delays and/or disappointments?
F. Can that rapport endure if there are issues with responsiveness from the client that affect workflow, benchmarks & completion dates?
4th Element: Clients Expectation for ROI
A. Make sure you set realistic expectations of the actual ROI and timeframe in which they might see the fruits of their investment.
B. What do you do with a client that has unrealistic expectations of ROI?
C. Explain why advertising their website is crucial once it is launched and the need for continued marketing efforts.
– They need figure out how they are going to notify current customers about their new website.
– Make announcements via Social Media platforms.
– Invest in marketing materials that reflect an online, worldwide presence.
D. Encourage them to think outside the box to market their website.
– If you’re a Mom & Pop, consider Small Business Association meetings, posting marketing materials in coffee houses & restaurant/business lobbies.
E. All businesses need to focus on and execute strategic customer outreach campaigns to see profitable ROI.
The Wrap Up It’s important to set the expectations from both parties from the beginning. Set your workflow & do your best to stick to it. Hold your clients accountable for their website’s success. Help them understand that the success of their website requires THEIR initiative, drive
& passion for THEIR business. Remember, good content does wonders for customer engagement and willingness to purchase the product or service. Understand it’s about client relationship & the longevity of that relationship.
The power might have gone out in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for about 30 minutes but that didn’t slow down the momentum of 2013’s NFL Super Bowl XLVII powerhouse marketing commercials for this highly anticipated event. Yes indeed – the business of the NFL Super Bowl is big business for the marketing and advertising world. Anyone from car manufacturers to soft drink brands and celebrities alike want to capitalize on the most widely televised and watched American broadcast event. So although not a huge football fan, I couldn’t resist witnessing the branding and advertising giants go head-to-head in one of televisions most highly anticipated sporting event.
As highly anticipated as this years Super Bowl XLVII is, it’s got some benchmarks to surpass based on last years numbers. According to the International Business Times, “Super BowlXLVI (2012) was the most-watched television event in American history.” Check out this cool Super Bowl infographic created by Nielsen reflecting how much consumer exposure there is to the event as well as the marketing and advertising opportunity derived from this volume of viewership.
Despite the exposure upside of the jaw-dropping amount of people tuning in, equally jolting t a hefty price tag that viewership for Sundays event comes with. The price of a 30-second 2013 Super Bowl advertisement was $3.8 million and a whopping $7.5 million for a 60-second commercial spot. Needless to say there is big money coming from fat wallets to make you move, groove and laugh all they way to the brand loyalty bank.
Several talented advertising agencies and internal marketing departments pushed the envelope and some emotional buttons as power brands caused us to laugh, feel sentimental and gave us lots of eye-candy in these coveted commercial spots. Let’s see who ranks MVP among marketing genius with innovative concepts and content.
Game Time Advertisers – The Most Valuable Players
Get Happy with Volkswagen! You can’t help but to smile and even crack up thanks to Volkswagen’s innovative and fun commercial during this years Super Bowl. Their marketing team scores big points with the release of several teaser ads leading into their game day ad and a campaign that actually has some longevity thanks to branding not just the concept but downloadable music as well!
Coca Cola gets the most sentimental and socially conscious MVP award with their Give A Little Bit “Security Camera” Super Bowl ad. It reminds us that despite horrific school shootings and self-centered “team me” mentality, there remains quietly kind humanity across our globe. This ad will surely be one of the most memorable ads for me and many others.
Equally moving is Jeep’s “Whole Again” ad reflecting our nation’s wartime heroes, family values and unwavering perseverance all to the powerhouse voice of Oprah Winfrey. A smart move in the wake of our country’s wartime to reflect patriotism from one of America’s most well known brands – kudos Jeep!
Talk about guts for God’s glory! Dodge Ram unapologetically campaigned for brand loyalty with their Guts & Glory ad celebrating God and the life of the hardworking farmer.
The much-anticipated Super Bowl Halftime Show left not just the crowd, but I’m sure many of the football players, swooning as Beyoncé brought her A game with a high-energy, sexy & gyrating performance this year.
Post Game Winner
It’s not just the pre-game teasers and during the game advertising where brand giants coveted consumer face time. Some companies were smart enough to leverage marketing oppotunities even for the team that lost. Check out this unexpected and funny ad from Jello Pudding products for San Francisco.
The Touchdown
So whether it was the funny commercials or the super sexy Super Bowl Halftime show, this years Super Bowl XLVII revealed great sportsmanship as well as great branding efforts. Stay tuned next week when I discuss the impact of Super Bowl XLVII on Twitter and Facebook and how brands leveraged these mega social media outlets to their advantage.
Just about everyone on the planet knows that Facebook has become the go-to media strategy for business promotion. Using Facebook provides businesses one of the best opportunities on the Internet for targeted advertising. This is key because Facebook users provide pertinent information such as their age, gender, location and interests, which allows you direct access to target your audience. These Facebook ads can be used for lead generation, traditional brand advertising, and more all to promote your business – FOR FREE! Here are just a few ways to leverage Facebook advertisements for your business.
1st – Know How It Works – When you run your ad or sponsored posts/stories you are charged for the number of impressions (CPM) or clicks it receives. The amount that you pay can be restricted by your daily or lifetime budget and there are no additional fees associated with running ads or sponsored stories on Facebook. Facebook suggests you name your campaign, select your budget and set the time schedule for running your ad. When multiple ads are running in a campaign, Facebook automatically allocates more of your daily budget to higher performing ads. You can use the Ads Manager feature to monitor your campaigns performance, to measure its success and ultimately determine if you are spending your Facebook advertising $’s in the best way possible.
2nd – Consider Psychographics vs. Demographics in the Setup – Psychographics study and measure attitudes, values, lifestyles, and opinions versus demographics, which provide quantitative data based on geography, age, gender and the like. Psychographics give a true, life-like portrait of the targeted audience and consumer base for your individualized marketing purposes. Facebook gathering this key information allows advertisers to target & pinpoint their audience in a very precise and henceforth successful way. 3rd – Always Use Effective, Eye-Catching Tools & Creative Options – We know that we “eat” with our eyes first. What catches our attention through imagery certainly opens the door leading us to the relevant information. So smart use of imagery in your Facebook ad will make a significant impact on the success of the advertising and marketing campaign. And there are various forms of these eye-catching options to consider.
Infographics are a great way to grab the reader’s attention especially when you add imbedded links to your page to promote key information about a product or service being provided.
Video Ads – For those who prefer to watch than read, video ads are a great way to convey pertinent healthcare information or solicitations to the masses. For example, there are sports companies like Nike that use ads like Nike’s Football: The Vapor Trail to create amazing & captivating video ads to entice their target audience and promote their products.
Job Opportunities – In need of more sales associates or another CPA for your growing accounting firm? With over 1 billions people on Facebook, it is no brainer to use ad space to market career opportunities within your business.
Free Services & Apps – Nothing attracts new customers like the words FREE and even more so when they can actually obtain something. What better way to entice a consumer than offering a limited service for free? What about creating engagement via a free app offer as you lead consumers to your own website. Use Facebook the way Facebook uses you – to get new subscribers i.e. new consumers.
Emotional Response Ads – Emotions are one of the most powerful influences we have. Emotional Response Marketing & Advertising works wonders in the various forums such as healthcare because there are emotional attachments to health concerns, issues and supportive causes such as Shriner’s Hospital Love to the Rescue.
Hosted Event Ads – Events promoted on Facebook have a greater chance of success than any traditional marketing method. Business exhibitions and conferences, trainings, and career events can have a much higher participatory turnout when advertised through Facebook.
So are Facebook advertisements worthwhile for your business and particular industry? Only you know who your general audience is comprised of. But if there are more than 50% that you believe are online and use Social Media – than the answer is YES. Especially if you look at the IMMENSE EXPOSURE opportunity versus the amount of money spent on the campaign. Using Facebook creates unlimited opportunities to attain new customers, host successful events and bring global awareness to your company’s product or service.
What is a Brand Ambassador? Is there a sash or tiara one gets? Per Wikipedia: “The brand ambassador is meant to embody the corporate identity in appearance, demeanor, values and ethics. The key element of brand ambassadors lies in their ability to use promotional strategies that will strengthen the customer-product/service relationship and influence a large audience to buy and consume more. Predominantly, a brand ambassador is known as a positive spokesperson appointed as an internal or external agent to boost product/service sales and create brand awareness.” So unless being a brand ambassador is your promotion strategy – no satiny sash or sparkly tiara for you. But let’s talk about how to make your brand shine without them shall we?
If you don’t have confidence in promoting your brand, why on earth would a consumer have confidence in it? You are the impression-setter for your company. Being a good brand ambassador is all about having confidence when talking about and marketing your brand’s product or service. Your brand is your responsibility and the success of it greatly depends on your attention to it. It’s in your hands!
Public Relations Society of America-The Strategists
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