Tag Archives: SMEs

The Simplest Ways to Make the Best Use of Digital Activity

digital-activity-showing-carton-with-eggs

I read an article recently on Why You Should Outsource Digital Marketing, here. At the end of the piece, Robin Ayoub’s sign-off (quoted later) made me smile – and prompted me to write this post. Accordingly, I would like to discuss some ways to make the best of digital activity. In the main, we will look at whether businesses should be outsourcing or insourcing the online element of their marketing plans.

Allow me to point out upfront that, I don’t really like the description digital marketing because, in O’C&K, we firmly believe that marketing, in essence, has not changed. It’s just that nowadays, marketers must operate in an increasingly digital environment.

So, I’m using the term digital activity in this post in the understanding that it is an important constituent of any marketing activity. The second thing I’d like to elaborate on is what we mean by insourcing vs. outsourcing.

O’C&K – Insourcing means hiring team members in-house and outsourcing means working with an agency.

It recent times, a trend has been suggested of corporates insourcing more of their digital activity. Of course, these corporates may have specific and good reasons for doing so, including:

a) the spend on online marketing is rising and they want more supervision of it, or

b) because agency talent is moving across the divide! or

c) because as agencies have grown over the last 10/15 years they might not be nimble enough for ‘lean’ marketing departments. These departments constantly have to respond rapidly to their changing customer’s online behaviour, so flexibility is desirable.

Another point worth remembering is that digital activity is more than just advertising online. A move to an inbound strategy needs to reflect this i.e. inbound marketing is not a campaign.

Digital activity is more than just advertising online. An inbound strategy needs to reflect this i.e. inbound marketing is not a campaign.

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I spoke with an SME (SMB) owner recently and his fear of outsourcing digital was really about outsourcing his personal relationships. He was also worried that some ‘youngster’s’ lack of commitment / knowledge in an agency might damage a long-term relationship that he had built up. Both are legitimate worries that must be attended to genuinely.

Thinking positively, though, I believe that the suggested trend might not be all bad for agencies. For me, it shows that businesses are thinking more about, and understanding, their marketing activity, be it online or offline.

Do you Insource the Chicken or Outsource the Eggs?

Robin Ayoub’s sign-off mentioned above: “Think about this: You need a dozen eggs. Do you go to the super/farmer’s market and pick up a carton, or buy a space to farm chickens and pay for all of their expenses?”

Of course, we can all see that digital is changing how we engage customers, measure marketing activity and develop strategies. Whatever the size of the business, being smarter about marketing is key and being online is part of that.

Be honest when answering this question, though, how many SMEs really have the time, experience or the resources to develop and implement their comprehensive digital marketing activity?

In such cases, and many of our own customers’ cases, outsourcing is a good way to put their toe-in-the-water. Jumping straight into building an in-house team mostly comes with a hefty price tag e.g. experience, technology and salary+.

Outsourcing to a small, flexible marketing agency can add productivity to your business team and provide measurable results.

Outsourcing to a small, flexible marketing agency can add productivity and measurable results to your team
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We know that outsourcing is not opportune in all business scenarios and In a previous post on Inbound Marketing, here, we discussed the pros and cons of same. Here are a few questions again that might help you determine whether it makes sense for your business:

  • Does your marketing activity need a general overhaul anyway?
  • Do you understand online marketing but just don’t have the time to implement campaigns?
  • Do you know nothing about online marketing and want to start small and learn?
  • Do you want to scale up your existing online activity to drive business growth?

If you have answered, yes, to any of the above – you should probably outsource your digital activity. With the risk of this sounding like a business pitch, outsourcing can be a great way to get just the right expert that is already skilled at what you want to do. Your marketing capacity will increase, it will be fresher and, if applicable, your staff member looking after marketing will have the opportunity for continuous learning.

At the end of the day – as a business owner – outsourcing allows you to concentrate on growing the business, safe in the knowledge that the marketing is in good hands. An agency can help you understand where you are with your current digital activity, and strategise where you need to go with it.

Outsourcing can provide the business nous necessary to create value and successful delivery of online marketing objectives.

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Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Digital Activity

There is one simple way of determining whether you should outsource. Ask yourself – what is a core competency for my business? If digital or marketing (or both) are not – then you probably should look at bringing in this skill.

Some downsides of outsourcing are, that 1) you must be willing to trust the agency implicitly by sharing data, strategies etc. Also, if the agency is paid by the hour – the fees may add up. 2) you might not get the senior operator at the agency on an ongoing basis (alluded to above) and 3) an agency may not be as passionate about your business as you / in-house team are.

A few of the main advantages are (some mentioned above) that i) outsourcing can bring in the exact skill that you require, ii) the agency will have substitutes in case of illness etc; iii) agencies learn from other customers and can transfer their learnings and iv) agencies may well have existing platforms / IT that can be used for you without extra expense.

The decision whether to outsource or not is not an easy one because of individual businesses’ variables. It is our opinion though that quite often, due to time constraints, the decision is not even being contemplated.

Outsourcing tips and timesavers for SMEs

We predict that outsourcing will continue to be a good option, especially for SMEs, in the immediate future. With the advances in marketing tools and channels, funds can be allocated to measurable activity that will help grow the business.

Here are 5 overall benefits why we think outsourcing will be favoured over insourcing for the foreseeable future and 4 ways how a business might maximise results from doing so:

  1. Productivity increase – people are free to concentrate on core competencies
  2. Cost effective – less finance required for outsourcing and savings / cost reduction are paramount for start-ups
  3. Low risk – marketing accountability is passed on to the agency with the project
  4. Time management – outsourcing ensures measurable activity / milestones at a relatable cost
  5. Expertise – Outsourcing opens access to a range of other expertise that agencies use

Maximising the results:

  1. Treat the agency as a partner
  2. Provide the agency with very clear objectives
  3. Be passionate about the project and expect the agency to be as passionate
  4. Agree up-front whether hourly rates or a project fee suits both parties equally

Conclusion

Availed of at the right time and for the right reasons, outsourcing can provide the knowledge, and the experience, for focused marketing execution. In particular, it can provide the business nous necessary to create value and to successfully deliver upon online marketing objectives.

“Thank you for reading our blog post today” – Aidan & Jim.

 Would you like us to notify you, by email, when we publish new content? If so, just let us know by clicking here. Of course, we can always meet face-to-face, just leave your details here and we might grab a coffee, cheers. Jim – O’C&K

What If … Your Business Did Brainstorming for Innovation?

New-Invention-road-sign

This topic is an unusual one for us. It was sparked by my attending a conference recently in Dublin, called ARVR Innovate. I was intrigued listening to experts talking about how augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) will affect businesses in the future. At one stage during the day, I began to reflect on business innovation in general, especially in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

My first thought was that, nowadays, we should all expect that innovation is coming to our industries. Once we accept that reality, the real challenge then becomes how to effect change in our business through this innovation. Thinking along practical lines, we would suggest that brainstorming with colleagues / external experts is a great exercise to approach change together.

I thought it would be worthwhile discussing, in this post, our own brainstorming experience that we’ve learnt from various customer projects.

Meanwhile, back at the conference, I briefly strayed into thinking about business models (during a break of course). And thought, “are the majority of business models today still fit for purpose?” For decades, I suppose, brands have had the same business model and have just tried to implement it better than competitors. No innovation required.

However, look what Uber, Airbnb, Coursera et al are doing to those business models – they’re ignoring them. AR and VR are probably going to produce even more opportunities for disruption. Can existing businesses not be innovative before falling prey to the ‘outsiders’?

“Yes, they can.”

In fact, they must because a business should always be looking ahead at what their customer will want in the future. If they aren’t – a more competitive business or non-industry player will do so and overtake them. The answer for businesses is not to set-up an innovation department; it is to ensure that innovation is part and parcel of everything a business does from top to bottom.

Business owners must reflect on what will drive profitability in the future and then decide how to implement change, with the help / buy-in from the team.

idea champions logo

With a hat-tip to the U.S. company ideachampions and their great article here,– to ensure a business keeps ahead of innovation an owner and his team need to start thinking outside-the-box. If one dares to do something different, the by-product should be increased energy anyway, so there would be a win-win situation.

Let’s say that a business owner realises there is a lack of internal innovation and therefore a threat from outside the industry. The first thing that they have to think about is that maybe the lack of innovation is a by-product of a fear of the unknown. Accordingly, it might not necessarily have anything to do with their actual business operation at all. If this is their only vulnerability going forward, discussing this internally or availing of external help will definitely improve this situation.

Alternatively, that vulnerability in a start-up situation might be – being afraid to fail. Brainstorming with colleagues / partners etc. will help the acceptance that failing fast brings experience that will actually build confidence and grow business authority in the long run.

The old adage of following your gut is also a very useful attitude when brainstorming innovation for your business. The next new idea probably already exists and all it needs is for you to listen to yourself (your gut) and give it structure (think like a child does i.e. with a curious and enthusiastic attitude).

Facilitating a brainstorming session

We have already alluded to situations when you might brainstorm. Of course, one doesn’t have to wait for a threat to your business to commence innovation. Other compelling reasons could be to generate new ideas or fresh approaches for your business with colleagues. It might serve to kick-start an innovative mindset in your organisation and set up a supply of new possibilities for growth. One that we really like is that it would allow for colleagues to challenge the status quo and potentially solve tough challenges (conquer fears).

Thinking outside the box might even awaken untapped genius on the team to suggest how to delight your customers in a novel way.

Thinking outside the box might awaken untapped genius on how to delight your customers.

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If you are to facilitate a brainstorming session, we’ve found that doing research beforehand is certainly a need-to-do. The more you understand what the issue is, that the participants will be trying to solve, the better the objectives that you can formulate. Based on our experience to date, during the session itself, we would suggest that you consider the following:

  • Lock the doors so that there are no distractions or interruptions.
  • Encourage interaction rather than leading the conversation yourself.
  • Keep the participants inspired by not allowing one person take over.
  • Foster even the smallest idea / thought from the floor and make all participants feel valued.
  • Keep an idea / thought going until you reach an aha moment – we love using the what if question
  • Encourage imaginations to fly and be prepared to shut down same when necessary

Some good, customer focused, discussions to be considered in a brainstorming session would be – how to get a better audience (more receptive to brand messages); discuss what the customer / donor really wants (wants are constantly shifting) and even, what do the customers fear (fear drives human behaviour)?

brainstorming-note-book

In a previous life, I distinctly remember being part of a brainstorming session facilitated by International business consultant, Valerie Pierce (her recent book is FOCUS, The Art of Clear Thinking). We were off-site in a hotel room and Valerie’s approach was unique, professional, fun and produced focused results for us as a team.

Afterwards, Valerie gave me some pointers with regard to brainstorming sessions. She highlighted that:

  • It is imperative that no ideas are censored during the session to ensure a total team effort.
  • From the outset, the session must be taken seriously and objectives agreed up front.
  • An element of fun has to be injected into the session so as to avoid individuals switching off.
  • Egos, ranks and work-related problems must be left at the door.
  • Absolutely no smart devices should be permitted and the facilitator should have a note-taker.

Tips and Timesavers for Brainstorming

The inbound marketing experts Hubspot wrote a useful guide last year on this topic titled 7 Brainstorming Tricks to Inspire Brilliant Ideas. In addition, here are 7 of our own ideas that you might find useful:

  1. Give participants relevant information on the session a few days in advance (reading material)
  2. Request that people come with some ideas already prepared
  3. If it’s just a meeting to brainstorm an issue – keep it to about 30 mins max
  4. Facilitate an environment for ‘bad ideas’ but get rid of them quickly
  5. Organise a representative sample of participants from various business disciplines
  6. Use resource constraints as opportunities rather than obstacles
  7. Provide the opportunity for anonymous submission of ideas before and after the session

Conclusion

There are many reasons outlined in this post, why a business should brainstorm. People have various views and techniques as to how sessions should be facilitated. Of all the tips above, there is one piece of advice that we would like to leave you with.

Provide participants with information on the project well in advance.

Ask them to think about it and jot down any ideas that they may have. The brainstorming session can then be used to discuss and critique all ideas equally. As a result everybody feels included and time isn’t wasted generating new ideas in what some may regard as a pressurised environment.

“Thank you for reading our blog post today” – Aidan & Jim.

 Would you like us to notify you, by email, when we publish new content? If so, just let us know by clicking here. Of course, we can always meet face-to-face, just leave your details here and we might grab a coffee, cheers. Jim – O’C&K

Ignore a Good Brand Strategy at Your Peril

brand strategy diagram

The more conferences, expos, seminars etc. that we attend, the more we hear that, due to other distractions, small & medium enterprises (SMEs) ignore the development of a brand strategy. In this post, we’ll look at some essentials of developing a brand strategy, focusing particularly on start-up businesses and SMEs.

Most business people appreciate that funds are tight for start-ups and that the focus is on obtaining, and converting, leads into customers. However, a total focus on the operational side and a failure to differentiate your business from competitors is a big mistake.

With all that’s involved with the setting up of a business, it is understandable that marketing might get the least attention. In O’C&K, we have a process that may be of assistance to you, in this instance. We use a six-step brand strategy process when advising customers and we break them into two stages:

Stage 1

Determining business values (so as to attract an audience with similar values)

Determining vision, mission statements and a USP (for consistency and authenticity)

Developing a visual brand identity (for uniformity of communication)

Stage 2

Determining a brand story

Identifying a target audience

Establishing an online content plan

If you are lucky enough to have a business idea that is different from all other businesses out there – great! More than likely, however, your idea is not an absolute original one so you will need to make people aware of just how different you are. This presents another challenge – how do you raise awareness above the plethora of other marketing messages that people receive every day.

In this post, we don’t intend to revisit the importance of storytelling, but when Aidan and myself meet start-up businesses for the first time, we try to ascertain their story. Having completed Stage 1 above, it is the story that becomes the thread for all communications. How you tell the story must resonate with your customers and/or prospects. It is also the basis for the establishment of your content marketing activity.

Whatever your marketing purpose, be it an awareness campaign, a brand promise you want to bolster or simply a portrayal of brand values – a reiteration of the brand story will help deliver consistency. That being said, the over-riding brand strategy that start-ups need to pursue initially (if not always) is over-delivery of their brand promise. Doing so will build word-of-mouth, authenticate the brand story and eventually deliver loyal customers.

Not developing a brand story as part of your brand strategy is not a good idea

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Make Your Brand Stand Out From Others

As a start-up, more than likely, you will not be able to spend loads of money to get your message seen over and over again, based on repetition. Alternatively, you will have to rely on standing out by connecting with an audience emotionally.

Some element of intrigue will be needed. This could be ‘not doing something in a normal way’ e.g. a mobile afternoon tea service (Social Bee) or ‘having unique expertise and authority’ (RazorSocial) or ‘over-delivering on service’ (Ariel House), are good local examples that we are aware of.

The point is if you are intriguing people you won’t have to spend as much on marketplace exposure as your competitors. People like talking to friends about things that intrigue them and this is the best type of unpaid-for, marketing. Can your brand afford to not stand out?

Here are a few other ways that we find help your brand to stand out from others.

  • Have a 3-second description of what you do ready to integrate into conversations (forget the elevator pitch)
  • As an SME owner, you must be the chief storyteller (tell your stories all the time)
  • Make sure that everything you do and say communicates your brand values (live them)
  • Your brand message should be consistent and clear (and customised for different channels)
  • Use influencers you know e.g. Bloggers, Tweeters, Facebook and LinkedIn group members

Tips and Timesavers for building a brand strategy

There are many relevant questions that you might have asked yourself, read about or have been asked when building a brand advantage. It is always useful to review same, especially as a start-up in the first few years. We have mentioned a few above, but here are 7 thoughts for you to mull over:

  1. Have we tightly defined our target audience / customers?
  2. What does our brand stand for in our customers’ minds (unique value proposition)?
  3. What is the awareness of our brand amongst our audiences (do we share values)?
  4. What is it that our customers like about our brand (do we surprise and delight them)?
  5. Does our brand engage with our customers in meaningful ways (varied customer touch points)?
  6. Have we determined our brand story (with customers consistently depicted as the hero)?
  7. Do we present our brand in a consistent manner to the public?

A good brand strategy can build awareness of values, create likeability, raise your business’s credibility and gain trust from a targeted fan base.

Conclusion

Before you start creating your brand – research your target market. Then, as alluded to above define your brand so as to differentiate it from competitors by giving it a voice. Get an identity designed by a professional and build brand awareness online. Above all, be innovative. SMEs have a lot more flexibility to be creative with their marketing and to have a brand that is memorable and unique.

As mentioned in many of our blog posts in the past – people are more likely to buy from a business when they recognise the brand and know the story behind it.

“Thank you for reading our blog post today” – Aidan & Jim.

 Would you like us to notify you, by email, when we publish new content? If so, just let us know by clicking here. Of course, we can always meet face-to-face, just leave your details here and we might grab a coffee, cheers. Jim – O’C&K

 

16 Reasons To Be Cheerful – Part 1- Marketing Builds Customer Relationships

customer-relationships-connections-O'C&K

When non-marketers refer to marketing, it is understandable that they equate it just to advertising. Most of the time this is because they feel that the sole objective of marketing is sales. In fact, this misconception is probably more a marketing industry problem, due lack of clarity in our own communication, more than anything else. What we don’t clarify enough is that marketing is a management process to build customer relationships and advertising is just a part of that.

Good management is critical to all aspects of a business, and it is just as important that marketing is included and managed in a smart way if opportunities for, and threats to relationships are to be identified. Business growth results from increased customer relationships – fact.

Every business, of whatever size, needs a marketing strategy to build customer relationships; otherwise, their business will not grow.

Every business, of whatever size, needs a marketing strategy to build customer relati­onship­s, otherwise their business will not grow.

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Time and time again, when we meet with potential clients for the first time there are some obvious signs that they may not be focused on building relationships with their customers.

Here are some examples: 1) No planned marketing activity online and even if there is a website created – it might not have been reviewed for mobile friendliness, SEO, conversion optimisation etc. 2) Not being on social networks where their customers engage with each other, 3) No specified marketing budget or if so, still investing it all in conventional advertising, 4) Sales figures dropping due to lack of brand awareness or ineffective / outdated promotions.

A less obvious sign is that the brand identity is not unique anymore or has become stale. I say less obvious because it probably requires some research to determine brand perceptions. My final example is signs of a lack of real customer relationships, evidenced by one-off buyers, no repeat sales, high bounce rates online etc.

In the current volatile business environment where the customer really is the king, the most worrying sign alluded to above, would be the lack of engagement with customers. As consumers – nowadays we all expect personalisation, customisation and excellent service so the business that is not providing these is going to lose out in the long run.

The Difference between Strategy and Execution.

If you are a business owner reading this, you are probably aware that you can have all the strategy in the world, but unless it is executed, it will just gather the proverbial dust-on-the-shelf. What is required is a commitment to turning your marketing vision into a reality. If you are a one-man business then this commitment is your responsibility. If you are a small to medium enterprise (SME) owner – then it is still your responsibility. As an owner, you are the one with the vision and a strong sense of self.

Business owners with a strong sense of self can focus their talents on opport­unitie­s that are best suited to grow their business.

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Here are six thoughts that might help you focus on the execution of your strategy:

  • Stay true to delivering your brand promise / value proposition every day and every way.
  • Focus on your capabilities. Don’t try to be the ‘best in class’ at everything.
  • Leverage the strength of teamwork. Get your working colleagues to strive for the same goals.
  • Save money by smarter investing. Cutting costs might lead to a mean and not lean operation.
  • Don’t wait for things to happen. Embrace change constantly.
  • Remember who you are. Don’t just focus on beating the competitors.

Moving from strategy to execution by just doing it means a focus on marketing tactics. You could argue that big businesses have big marketing budgets and, therefore, better advantage. Well, if the big guys use their budgets in a smart way, yes they absolutely may have an advantage. As the saying goes, though, – In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king – meaning there is nothing wrong with being a big fish in a small pond (sorry about the clichés, but you know what I mean).

SMEs can be more agile when it comes to relationship building.

One of the advantages of being an SME is the ability to make changes to strategies and their execution, on the run. Decisions can be made by a smaller team without the bureaucracy (and politics) of corporations / large institutions. It is imperative, though, that owners focus on what’s important for growing their business and how marketing can help in that regard.

Loosely based on the warning signs outlined above, here are 5 relationship-building tactics that SMEs can use:

  1. Increase web traffic by providing relevant content to your audience, e.g. blogging.
  2. Ensure that your business can be found by people through an online search (and encourage reviews).
  3. Engage with your audience on an authentic and human level. Have a social media programme.
  4. Build your database with an email marketing campaign. Provide information etc. through a newsletter
  5. Build a team culture. Reward hard work and dedication – loyalty will follow.

Tips and Timesavers for building customer relationships

Most marketing guides will stress the importance of building customer relationships. Unfortunately though, businesses still focus on short-term gains rather than long-term relationships. Why? – Because generating short-term cashflow is paramount to keeping the day-to-day operations functioning. However, without a marketing strategy to gain customers, the business won’t last.

Here are five tips that may help business owners grow long-term relationships.

  1. Engage with customers on a regular basis. Use email, but make sure it is relevant and not a sales pitch (people won’t mind communication if they believe that you are interested in them)
  2. Identify with your customers. Find out what challenges they have in their lives (keep updated through local media, network at relevant events, and listen on social media)
  3. Try to make a difference to a customer’s life. How can your product / service help them solve a problem that they have (make information accessible)
  4. Understand that relationship building is a marathon and not a sprint
  5. Continue the engagement long after the purchase (this will show authenticity)

Conclusion

In the current connected world, information on brands is in everybody’s pocket. Therefore purchasing decisions are becoming more fact-based and in a sense, less brand identity based. Customers will still value strong brands, but more and more that value will be based on a relationship. That relationship will be determined by their engagement with (who / why) and their experience of (what / where /when) a brand.

As Peter Drucker said, well before the advent of the information age, “the sole purpose of a business is to create a customer.”

“Thank you for reading our blog post today” – Aidan & Jim.

 Would you like us to notify you, by email, when we publish new content? If so, just let us know by clicking here. Of course, we can always meet face-to-face, just leave your details here and we might grab a coffee, cheers. Jim – O’C&K

Focused brand development leads to less stress and more success.

brand development stress

Does your brand help compliment what your company stands for?

Is brand development a marketer’s playground or is it an essential element of successful business growth?

There were over 185,000 active enterprises in the private business economy in Ireland in 2012, with over 1.2 million persons engaged (CSO – Ireland). This represented a 2% decrease on 2011, which I suppose is not surprising in the prevailing economic climate at the time.

The Small Firms Association (SFA) published its annual survey report (Small Firms Outlook 2015) earlier this month. In it, they showed that 66% of businesses are growing, 28% are maintaining their business at stable levels, and just 6% state that they are still seeing a decline in business. Good news for the 94%, I reckon.

In a press release in relation to the report, SFA Director, Patricia Callan, welcomed the results, stating “we predict that 2015 will see strong growth remain in the economy in the order of 4-5% GDP growth.”  Of course, there were a lot of positive statements in the report, but the finding that we were interested in was that, ‘Investment in brand development is the priority for 41% of respondents, with 26% planning to make investments in staff’.

“Small firms have now moved from survival mode, to focusing on how they can grow their market share. Brand development and marketing are key parts of this strategy and hiring and retaining the right people is already emerging a problem in many sectors”, commented Ms Callan.

The business landscape, in Ireland, appears to be changing from being dominated by large corporations to more SMEs and start-ups. Within this changing environment, as highlighted by the SFA, there appears to be a realisation that focusing on brand development is an integral part of SME growth and one which requires investment. It is not just for the ‘big’ brands.

More than likely, however, SMEs will not have the resources (time or people) to hire a large ‘agency’ to spend months working on their brand development strategy. They want a strategy ASAP, with a purpose, and to be flexible, creative, authentic and totally linked to their vision and business mission. If the skills aren’t available ‘in-house’, external experts can fill this gap, and usually, in a cost effective way.

Let’s face it, brands are commonly started as a small idea, by people with vision and a purpose. They appreciate that they have to be flexible with their business operations, based on customer demand. Equally though, nowadays the same flexibility is required with regard to a brand. SMEs have to allow their audiences shape their brand to an extent that they are seen as brand partners rather than financial targets.

SMEs have to allow their audiences shape their brand and be brand partners, rather than financial targets
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Your brand development can be your competitive advantage.

We’ve said on many occasions in previous blog posts that brands that treat their customers as human beings, and not wallets, will be the ones that will survive. Many trends (driven by technology), reinforce the notion that people are becoming more values-driven and more empathetic in their consumption habits and in their choices of places to work.

In a previous blog, (here), we suggested that people want to work for a company where the motivation is more than a monthly salary. More and more people appear to want to ‘give something back to society’ or at least help in the local community in some impactful way. As a result, instead of believing the advertising hype, many are looking at what a brand stands for and whether it matches their own values in any way. Companies are starting to realise that despite our attempts to make purely rational decisions, we are primarily driven by emotional motivations.

In our opinion, the future drivers of competitive advantage are going to be:

  • Authentic values (brands that genuinely care)
  • CSR activity (undertaken with a measureable impact)
  • Employee trust (energetic and pleasant staff)
Despite our attempts to make purely rational decisions, we are primarily driven by emotional motivations.
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Tips and Timesavers.

When defining your brand, stay in line with who you really are. For SMEs and start-ups, in the absence of prior experience, establishing who you are, can be a difficult task. Many of the larger corporations have teams of people looking after brand management. My own previous experience was in this area with 26 colleagues.

Outsourcing to O’C&K (disclosure – our company) is an option of course, but either way here are six steps to take, that should form the pillars of your brand development strategy.

  1. Determine what are you trying to achieve? (have a clear statement of what your brand is trying to do)
  2. Create a persona for your brand (personality, positioning and a storyline)
  3. Decide who is your target audience? (by the way – it is NOT ‘everyone’)
  4. Establish your competition. (can you ‘do’ it better ?)
  5. Determine what is the end goal and how do you get there? (be there at all customer touch-points)
  6. Keep monitoring your brand (measure your effectiveness through engagement)

 

When defining your brand, stay in line with who you really are – O’C&K
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So, to finish off, I’d just like to draw attention to the notion that sometimes, people like to use the word ‘reputation’ instead of ‘brand’. Usually this is because they believe that a brand relates to ‘selling’ and one’s reputation is above that. We say – ‘whatever’ – just make sure that it is you that’s telling your story because if you don’t, others will.

Your brand (reputation) – what is left when all else is taken away.

“We hope you have enjoyed our marketing tips and timesavers blog” – Aidan & Jim.

Would you like to be notified by email when we publish new content? If so, just let us know by clicking here.

Of course, we can always meet face-to-face, just leave your details here and we can grab a coffeet, cheers.   Jim – O’C&K