3 Basics of Target Market Research
When it comes time for business owners and CFOs to cut budgets, marketing and advertising are often the first places they turn to. As a marketer, you need to be able to recognize why this isn’t such a good idea and be able to voice your reasons. It’s tempting for businesses to try to cut money from something in which they don’t see immediate results, but doing so could spell disaster for the business in coming months and years.
By evaluating how effective your marketing is, you can present a strong argument to the CFO about why marketing and advertising budgets are not where cuts should be made. Or, maybe you can at least lessen the cuts and allocate the marketing budget into areas that will prove to be stronger than others (like moving money into the successful direct mail budget from the unsuccessful billboard budget). But evaluating your marketing is hard to do if you don’t first do research into who makes up your target market. Once you know that, you can measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaign more accurately.
Do Your Target Market Research
Traditionally, marketing involves four broad steps, which all have their own sub-steps: planning, creative development, execution and measurement. I’d like to talk more about the planning step, because I think it’s most important. Good planning sets the stage for the rest of your marketing campaign.
The insight you get from knowing your customers and their preferences will impact your marketing position and distribution channels, your media selection, the price of the product or service and your advertising offers.
Of course, researching your target market could go on for months, and can get as detailed as you want (and as detailed as you can afford!). But there are three absolute basics you must know about your customers:
Demographics: This consists of age, gender, occupation, education, income level, location and family circumstances (kids, single, married?). Lifestyle factors can also be included here. Do people have a long commute? Do they spend a lot of time outdoors? What roads do these people generally drive on?
Behavior: Is your target market full of people who love the outdoors? Are they spenders or savers? Do they like to watch TV or read magazines? What do you they like to do and what do they spend their money on?
Needs: What do they need? Why would they need your product or service? Do they know they need your product or service? Do you need to have late hours for those that work or can you be open during the day for stay-at-home moms? How can your product or service fulfill a need?
These three basics will help you create a rough sketch of what your target market looks like. Knowing these basics will allow you to create and product effective print brochures and color posters, choose the right colors in your logo and choose the right distribution channels for your marketing efforts. You have to know your audience before you can create a product or service that they’ll want to spend their hard earned money on.
Newsflash: Political Direct Mail Ads Are Negative
The Washington Post article “Direct Mail Ads Have Become Mostly Negative, Experts Say” caught my eye, what with me being in marketing. I must say I was disappointed when I read the article and it was all about political direct mail ads. No mention of politics in the headline, just something interesting that marketers and advertisers would all want to read. If I would have seen the word “political” somewhere in the article’s title, I would have thought, “yeah, what’s new?” Which I’m sure is precisely why the newspaper left it out.
But, hey, it’s still interesting to me even though I feel bamboozled thinking it was an industry-wide theme.
A review of 24 direct-mail ads sent from Obama’s campaign and McCain’s campaign shows a “below-the-radar battle in which the public message of the candidates becomes something more spiteful, more exaggerated and often more ominous.” The candidates are trying to get the swing states on their side, obviously. That’s where all of these direct-mail ads were sent to. The Democratic Party warned voters that McCain is “hiding something he doesn’t want us to know.” The Republican National Committee sent the message “Barack Obama: Not who you think he is” to 6 swing states.
Both candidates say the other is being unfair with all of the lies in the mailings, even as they approve their own direct mail attacks. Direct mail has a 30-year history of swaying voters late in elections, so it’s not likely that they are going to slow down in the next few days.
Direct-mail ads can be more alarmist, more negative because they aren’t produced for the masses. Direct mail is more focused, you know the neighborhoods and the way certain counties have voted in the past, so the direct mailers can choose a well-placed negative ad to give that county or that city the slightest push it needed to vote red or blue.
Direct mail has been used in campaigns since the late ’60s. And now it’s becoming more influential. Candidates feel like they can be more candid in direct mail because it’s proven to be less damaging to their image to attack through mail than on TV or radio.
The North Carolina Republican State Executive Committee sent out a picture of Obama next to the quote “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.” Most people would assume that Obama said that, but in fact it was Bill Ayers, a ’60s radical whom Obama later met in Chicago. Of course, the brochure didn’t attribute the quote. That’s just plain out lying if you ask me.
But, unfortunately, some court decided long ago that political ads were part of political speech. And political speech is covered under the First Amendment, so it’s okay to have lies in political ads. Is that ridiculous or what?
Obama’s camp has sent out flyers saying McCain’s campaign is run by “seven Washington lobbyists.”
The Wisconsin Advertising Project conducted a study that found that McCain’s ads are 74 percent negative while 60 percent of Obama’s ads are negative. (These numbers are for all ads, not just direct mail.)
And the reason they keep sending out the negativity? Because that’s what people remember. They don’t remember the good deeds. People don’t even want to hear about the good stuff; they just want to hear the bad. That’s why newspaper headlines are always negative; people complain, but negative headlines are what sell newspapers and are what people respond to.
How can we break this negativity cycle if that’s what the people want?
6 Ways Small Businesses Can Create a Brand
Branding is one of the most crucial aspects of a business. In fact, clothing for humans can very well be compared with branding for businesses. It hardly matters if your business is big or small, what really matters is to have a unique identity in the market so people can recall easily. You have to reach the stage where people see your logo and instantly connect with the business or the company name. Remember everything that the public sees is your brand. The small businesses often lose help thinking, they can never match the grounds like big ones. But this is an absolute misconception. They just need to follow a few simple rules to make it happen like the biggies. Some of them which are essential are as follows:-
1. The design of the logo is not all: A coffee lover will not prefer Barista over Starbucks, JUST because of the logo! Its not that logos are not important but it is not really required that you spend a fortune on it. You can hire a professional if needed but don’t be misguided by the fact that it will have a strong effect on your sales as well. Your logo is great as long as people get the message of your company and can recollect the name of it. Feel free to put it wherever you can, including business mails, business cards, yellow pages, local directories, websites etc.
2. Do not underestimate the power of a good website: It is important that people understand the importance of a good, professional website that can carry the message of the business well. There will be infinite instances where you will be approached by people through your website and the last thing you would want is to spoil the impression through your website. So make sure you change as the world changes, and keep your website new & updated. In terms of time, make sure you update the features and the look at least every 2 years.
3. Don’t forget to blog: Well, looking at the statistics, this is one form of marketing you cannot afford to miss in the current scenario. If you cannot continuously provide content you might just lose out on valuable customers. There are information-hungry people out there and they NEED experts. Blogs will help you maintain that image of an expert. It is simple to publish blogs and with the help of a little SEO and tweaking here and there, you can reach out to a lot of people you might miss had there been no blog. This way, the conversation would not just be one sided as the customers will be able to follow the company more closely.
4. Be seen, heard and felt: A recent survey proves people need to be shown the brand (logo, face of the company etc.) at least seven times before they actually buy the product. So don’t single out your marketing strategy with blogs and move in and around different circles as well. Trade shows, events, conferences, unconferences, sponsoring local events etc. will ensure more visibility followed by more “talking about”. If you are not keeping yourself active like this you may probably be wondering why you’re not getting the results.
5. Quick overview: The only reason why people may not be interested in your company could be because of lengthy paragraphs just mentioning the highs and lows of it. Adopt the KISS rule here: Keep it simple, stupid. Make sure that the page with your company’s overview is not overflowing with words. Use short paragraphs and sentences. Just give a small intro with your value proposition, target audience benefits etc. with a case study. All of this should be done with in one page, so your customers do not have to flick in between a lot of pages.
6. Stick to your words: You may already be aware that brand loyalty can exist only if the customers are given a consistent experience. Make sure you fulfill what you say. If you give people a date, make sure you stick to it. Be professional. Unfulfilled expectations can leave a bad taste in your customer’s mouths. But if the same customers have had a good experience, they might just refer to others. Although this comes with no guarantee. But still increases your chances of being heard.
There are several other things that you one can do to get your brand give tight competition to the already famous ones. McDonalds is just one example for a crowd of thousand others. Devise a strategy to understand your customers well and give them what they want. Your brand and image will go down the drain if you fail to provide what you are considered to be the “best” at. Remember, experts are not good at a lot of things but the best at one. So stick with it.
Article written by Mark
Logo Design Basics and Tips
A logo is one of the first things you should design when you start a new business. Your logo is what customers look to when they remember you or identify your business. Your logo also gives customers more faith and trust in you as a business. A business that doesn’t even have a logo is not yet a business in many people’s eyes. That’s why you gotta get a logo first!
A logo contributes to your credibility, memorability and visibility. You might want to put off designing your logo until you get more money, but the longer you wait, the longer you’ll have to wait to create marketing materials, including your Web site. That’s because your logo needs to go on every piece of marketing material and your product packaging too. That’s how important it is.
Your logo should be unique and heaven forbid, please do not use ClipArt! ClipArt screams amateur and unprofessional. Besides, if you use ClipArt, your logo could end up looking just like your competitor down the street.
The first step: design or text?
The first thing you want to decide on is whether you’ll have a design represent your company, your company’s name as your logo or a combination of both. There’s no right way to design a logo: all of these choices are equally good. It all depends on what’s needed for your company.
Design
If you decide on design, try to think of a way to incorporate your industry or your product into the design. I saw one clever logo for an airline called Peace Air, and its logo looked like a peace sign – the plane’s body was the vertical line that makes up the middle of the peace sign and the plane’s wings made up the two smaller lines that go out to the side of the peace sign. That’s pretty clever if you ask me.
Of course, you can’t always incorporate something from your industry into your logo. But it’s always nice if you can!
Text
On to text. If you decide to use purely text as your logo, here are some font tips:
1. Choose a font that fits your business’s personality. Serif fonts, the ones with “feet” give off a mature and established feeling whereas a sans-serif font (without feet) looks more modern and young.
2. Use a font that no one else uses. You can buy fonts online and download them, and some you can even download for free. I’d advise against the free ones, because those are the ones everyone else will be using. Buy a good, wide-ranging set of fonts so that you have less of a chance of looking like some other business. You can also create your own font by hiring a designer or buying software that lets you create fonts, like CorelDRAW. There are plenty of other software options out there, so just Google “create fonts software.”
3. Modify the font if possible. If you choose a font that looks similar to others, or if you just want to add a little bit of flair, modify your font just a bit. You could add longer serif “feet” or stretch the font to make it look wider. You could even just modify one letter of your logo to make it look different. A slight modification can make your logo look unique and add visual interest.
Branding: More Than a Logo
I have bad news for people who think they can slap their company’s logo on a product and call that branding. A cow might be “branded” just by slapping a name on it, but a product that looks like all others needs more than a logo to be considered branded.
Customizing Products
Nowadays, consumers can customize almost anything. From cars to clothing, you can design the product you want online. And then you can order it. You can “have it your way” anywhere, not just at Burger King anymore. Nike has been allowing consumers to design their own Nike kicks on their Web site since 1999. Jones Soda offers customization of their labels. Even kids get to design their own lovable companions with the Build-A-Bear workshops where kids can customize their new furry friends.
All this customization means that businesses can’t rely on their logos as their only brand identity. Once everyone starts customizing products, the product itself is what needs to shout to world “I’m a Mac” or “I’m a Nike.” The apple and swoosh just won’t cut it. That’s why Apple and Nike have built other brand recognition into their products so that they don’t need that logo recognition.
The Brand Function
Your brand is people’s perception of your products and company. Branding is the marketing effort of telling people about your company and your beliefs. Branding doesn’t only include your logo. It includes
• Colors (brown=UPS; red=Coke)
• Slogans (“Have you driven a Ford lately?” “I’m lovin’ it.” (McDonalds))
• Fonts
• Promise (“We try harder.” (Avis))
• Packaging
Basically, anything that consumers see when they look at your product is branding. So, if people are customizing everything about your product, how does it stay yours? How does your brand stay recognizable?
iPod: Good Branding
I hate to use Apple yet again in a branding blog, but darn it, the branding minds there do such a good job that I have to. The iPod is a great example of branding without the logo. Where’s the logo? On the back. Which goes against everything that is taught in Logo 101. You always put the logo on the front of a package where it has the greatest chance to be seen. But the key with the iPod is that the whole product is branded – from the click wheel to the shape – you know it’s an iPod without having to see the logo. No one would confuse a portable CD player made by Sony with an iPod. But people might confuse that CD player with one made by Samsung or Panasonic. If Sony removed the logo from the CD player, you wouldn’t be able to tell it from other brands. With the iPod, you can take the logo off and everyone will know it’s an iPod because the design is part of the brand.
So when you’re thinking of how to brand your product, think about how your product looks or feels different from competitors. What can you offer as part of your brand that others don’t and can’t? When consumers customize your product by altering the color or accessories, what’s left? Can you still tell it’s your brand?
The Key to Brand Differentiation
It’s hard to stand out in the marketing arena. Many marketers do basically the same things: advertise on TV, Internet, radio, magazines, newspapers, etc. Many attend trade shows, create sales presentations and hand out sales brochures. You see Coke and Pepsi commercials in the same time slots on TV. You see their magazine ads in similar magazines, or maybe even in the same magazine.
Everyone is telling consumers that their brand is better than their competitors. So what makes some marketers different from others? Why are some marketers more successful than others?
It’s strategic differentiation. This relies on the consumer’s perception of the brand. It’s easy for marketers to forget that the brand is not what they make it; it’s how the consumer’s perceive the brand to be.
Consumer Perception
Let’s look at an example. If someone is thirsty, they’ll stop at the convenience store and get a drink. Everything from water to Coke to Pepsi to milk to Gatorade to coffee can fulfill this need of eliminating thirst. But perceptions of each type of drink’s brand goes through the person’s head quickly. If the person is an athlete and needs a drink because he just exercised, he might pick water or Gatorade. Gatorade is especially connected to athletes. Water is also, to a lesser degree. Water is the ultimate thirst quencher and it has no calories or sugar, so someone on a diet might grab water. People tend to like Coke or Pepsi, not both, so the person’s brand perception of each type of soda will dictate which he picks. If the person is worried about not getting enough calcium, he’ll pick the milk.
This example shows how an everyday, seemingly simple decision can be affected by strategic differentiation. Each brand brings something different to the table. They all bring it in the same ways, i.e. commercials, advertisements, but each differentiates itself from the competition.
So it’s the message that is at the core of strategic differentiation. The more focused that message, the better. The key to focusing your marketing message across all channels is to identify your unique selling proposition (USP).
USP Defined
The term and concept was introduced by Rosser Reeves of Ted Bates & Company in the 1940s. Reeves explains in his book Reality in Advertising that a USP: (1) tells the customer a specific benefit gained from using the product (as Reeves puts it: the copy is “not just product puffery”; (2) the proposition must be one that the competition cannot or does not offer; (3) the proposition must be strong enough to move millions of people to act.
Two examples of good USPs: Head & Shoulders: “You get rid of dandruff.” M&Ms: “The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hands.” (Although, I beg to differ! Especially on a hot summer day.)
The point is that these brands were the first to offer these USPs. Other shampoos now get rid of dandruff, but Head & Shoulders was the first to make the claim. The unfortunate thing about a good USP is that it doesn’t usually last long. What I mean is that your competitors will copy you or at least try to copy you. The good thing is that consumers will remember that you brought the USP to the market first.
Steer Clear of a Calendar Campaign Catastrophe
If you are looking for a marketing method that puts your brand in front of your customer day after day, then look no further than a calendar. Calendars are useful giveaways that you can use to promote your company. Not too many promotions will garner a “Thank You” from a potential customer! When you give your customer something they will use daily and that will keep your corporate identity in front of them year-round, it is win-win for everyone.
Not all calendars are created equally, and that’s not a reference to the leap year. You can waste a valuable opportunity to reinforce your brand if you do not carefully consider the elements of a successful calendar: the right size, the right look, and the right branding method. Besides missing a golden opportunity, you will be wasting money on a marketing tool that is ultimately ineffective. The key to a successful calendar campaign is to understand your customer, and the following ideas illustrate several elements that will ensure you give your customer a calendar that they will actually use.
The Right Size
Calendars come in all shapes and sizes, but what does your customer need? Would a full-size desk calendar be the most helpful, or would a miniature calendar with a magnet that can be affixed to the fridge in the break room be better? Calendars can also be designed to be put on the wall of the office or cubicle. Maybe you need multiple sizes so your customer can make their own choice. Whatever size or sizes of calendar you choose to print, keep your customer’s needs in mind.
The Right Look
The calendar has to have an appropriate look and feel. If your customers work in a professional office, make sure the photos and the content you use are appropriate for this environment. Peaceful scenes and landscapes are standard fare. If you have customers that work in an industrial environment, high energy posters may be better. Think about using sports scenes with figures in motion. Your customer wants something inspiring that will complement their environment. So, give them what they want and you will have a customer advertising on your behalf.
The Right Branding Method
It is easy to get greedy at this stage. Of course, the natural temptation is to put your logo or other branding tools all over the posters. But keep in mind that your brand influences the look and feel of the calendar. Nobody wants to feel like they are promoting for another company. Be careful with how you integrate your brand into the calendar. Subtlety goes a long way. Consider a simple logo in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture or even along the bottom of the dates. Do not compromise the calendar by plastering your logo all over it as the result will more often than not be that the customer simply will not use it.
It is easy to ruin a good calendar campaign. Keep your customer’s needs in mind and design calendars that are the right size, the right look, and are branded carefully.
How to Get More Exposure, Professionally
Once you are on top of the corporate world, you don’t have to do much work to get good gigs. They just come to you. Of course, you have to work your way to the top to … not work. Or at least not work for your gigs. Here are some ways to claw your way to the top at work or just in your professional life to boost your career.
Att-i-tude
You have to have some attitude to get those high-roller jobs. Don’t be afraid to give others your opinion, but state them in a non-condescending way. You want to be authoritative without belittling others, especially the higher ups. When you’re in a meeting, don’t be afraid to speak up or to disagree with management. Just make sure you have sound reasoning and facts to back up your position. People that speak up are seen as leaders and will often be chosen as leaders later on when a new project comes up.
Create some controversy
Call out your boss or another company by criticizing something they’re doing wrong. Only do this if you know how to do right and you have the confidence and know-how to do it better. It seems counterintuitive, but by calling someone on their mistakes and telling them how to fix them, you’ll be seen as a fix-it person, a go-to kind of employee. Many people have been hired for telling a company what they are doing wrong and how to fix it. If you can argue your point effectively, you’ll stir up the waters but then you’ll have the power to calm the waters back down.
Get involved
If there is some kind of industry event going on, ask your boss if you can attend. If you’re your own boss, go to as many industry events as you can to hobnob with the higher-ups at other companies. Get your business card out there, along with your face. By going to events, you also get to impart the info you learned back to your boss or your colleagues. You might even get interviewed for the company newsletter or company Web site. This could lead to the CEO of the company calling you for a briefing or for lunch to discuss what you’ve learned.
Another way to get involved at work is to sit on committees and actually contribute to ideas and events. This is a great way for other departments to get to know you and vice versa. The more people that know you at work, the more authoritative you seem. Why else would everyone know your name?
Stand out from the crowd
Whether this is a crowd of peers or a crowd of job seekers, you need to differentiate yourself so that employers take notice. You can differentiate yourself through your clothes, actions or thought process. Elvis was famous because he was doing something no one else was at the time. Try to channel your inner Elvis and find some way you can stand out that makes you better, not weirder.
Product Differentiation: Defending Your Prices
Have you ever wondered why some companies are able to offer products at much higher prices than its competitors and still outsell them? Sure, you say, it’s because with the higher priced product you are paying for a brand. But how did that brand become able to offer such high prices? The answer is high product differentiation.
Product differentiation gives a company the ability to defend their prices. This term refers to the differences that make a product stand out from others like it. A company that has successfully used product differentiation has promoted both the key features and minor details of the item. They have created the perception that theirs is the best and will always be the best. Product differentiation is what gives buyers the ability to shop without needing to think. Yes, your product may be priced higher than the one next to it on the shelf, but a customer trusts that yours is worth the higher cost. For instance, consumers who purchase Cheerios know that it is priced a couple dollars higher than its off-brand competitor. Cheerios buyers, though, know that it lowers their cholesterol, has less sodium, and encourages a healthier lifestyle.
Before being able to offer higher prices than your competitors, you must use product differentiation in your marketing campaign. Your advertisements may contain tables comparing your product next to leading competitors’ products. In these tables, emphasize the better features, reliability, and results of your product. Many times, you may be up against loyal customers of your competitor, which is why it is necessary to make consumers rethink their purchase habits. You may decide that free samples may also help change consumer perceptions, but this could also backfire if your product is very similar to the lead competitors’ brand.
Companies with a strong brand are not able to offer higher prices just because of the brand. Yes, the brand may have become a symbol for those products, but the perception began through product differentiation. Therefore, if you are trying to distinguish your company and its products as an elite brand and want to be able to charge higher prices, begin a product differentiation marketing campaign. Over time, your products just might become the new top brand.
How to Harmonize Your Brand Content and Consumer-Generated Content
Between personal and corporate blogs, YouTube and social networking sites like MySpace, consumers have more control over company brands than ever before. The Internet has made it possible for consumers to practically write brand content for the brands.
Forward-thinking companies are getting in touch with customers through blogs, product reviews, consumer forums and email. But social sites like forums not run by companies can have wrong or bad information that reflects badly on the brand or company.
Most companies have their own Web sites, which is great, but the Web sites are growing bigger every day, with more and more content to browse through. With all this brand content by the actual companies floating around and consumer-generated content floating around, consumers are bound to get confused.
It’s not in your best interest to get mad and post your own fiery blog response when someone states something negative or wrong about your company. But there are some ways to harmonize all of the information out on the Internet, starting with the following:
Don’t try to control all the data and conversations
Instead of tracking blogs or product review sites to contradict every person who has a negative feeling or incorrect assumption about your product or company, create a place for all those people to converge. Create a blog or forum on your Web site or where people can leave comments and converse among themselves. If you ignore all the comments on the Internet, they won’t go away. Let customers speak their minds on your site and use your site to correct any rumors or wrong information you find on the Web.
Pay people to blog for you
Many bloggers are pros these days and get paid to blog. Seek out some freelance bloggers or writers and ask them to blog for you on a weekly or daily basis. They can either blog on your site or on their own site and link to your Web site. By having someone on blog control, you’ll be able to put out fires and start conversations that wouldn’t have been started otherwise. (How many people know you give some profits to charity? That’s the kind of thing you want people to blog about, but they won’t if they don’t know about it!)
Create good content
You can’t just babble on for paragraphs on your Web site talking about nothing. Talk about topics that have some substance and are relevant to your industry and how your customers fit into that industry. Tell customers what you are doing for them. Otherwise, people will stop visiting your blog or Web site.
Stand up for yourself
Blogs and forums are made for conversations. Search for your products or your company’s name in blogs and forums (a simple Google search will show you where to go) and then comment on what has been written. If something written is false, respectfully correct that person and direct him or her to your Web site if needed. Treat people with respect, but don’t let them walk all over your brand.
Give consumers the content they want
If you read comments about how people wish your Web site were easier to navigate, listen to them and evaluate your navigation. Could you make it easier? If people wished you had a FAQ page on your Web site, give it to them! If you give consumers the content they want, they won’t go elsewhere to get it or to complain about it.
