Over Delivering Is Good Brand Medicine

If you'd love to make a great impression on a new customer, all you have to do is over deliver on the promise. If you've already quoted them a fee, surprise them with rolling some of the lesser costs into the main one. If delivery is not usually free, make this delivery free. Going above and beyond in your service to them and you will see a loyalty to you begin to grow. Nobody enjoys being nickel and dimed to death, so small things make big impressions. They are noticed more than you might think.

Even when volunteering to help someone out, over deliver there as well. Giving more always comes back to you in a positive way. More is always good, and more is great for your brand.

Job hunting? Look At Yourself First.

This afternoon I'll be speaking to a young group of newly arrived immigrants to Canada. My message will be that when they are searching for employment or looking to start a new enterprise, they should start with addressing their personal brand. I know for many of my colleagues, they don't hire from a resume but by referral or personally knowing someone.

Their strategy to strengthening their personal brand should have an online and offline component. Online, all social networking and professional networking sites should have a consistent profile and have flattering material to witness. Offline, I will be encouraging they join networking and professional associations. I will also suggest that they give back to their host communities by giving of themselves by volunteering. All of these activities will go a long way in distinguishing themselves in their community.

By consciously trying to stand out they have a greater chance of reaching their career goals AND their self-confidence will spike as well.

Survey Your Team Podcast

This week's podcast discusses speaking to brand stakeholders.

Fix It. Brand It. What Comes First?

The title of this article is rather a trick question. The fact is you have a brand already. Everything does. If your brand is essentially your reputation, then your brand is created through the relationship it has with it's audience. Small businesses don't consider their brand unless they think there may be a problem, and something is holding them back.

Issues like:
• an unmotivated staff • lack-lustre sales • poor customer service • a tired brand image • bad PR
... to name a few.

In order for your brand to grow strong you have to fix the broken parts. Taking a hard look at what your brand stands for and determining what your differentiator is will correctly define your brand. Leaving it broken compounds the problems. So to answer the question posed in the headline, I'd recommend a little of both, because they really can't be separate issues. Solving one, strengthens the other.

Radio As A Branding Channel

Guest Author: Tim Fenn

Radio has been proven time and time again as one of the best mediums for branding due to the intrusive nature of sound as opposed to the passive nature of visual mediums.
 
You have to look to see, but don’t have to listen to hear.
 
This is why might typically pay little attention to a print ad unless you are in the market for a product or service.
 
It’s the reason you have committed to memory the words to hundreds of songs without trying, yet can’t tell me the colour of the car in the driveway 5 doors down, though you pass it several times a week.
 
Therefore, radio is better at creating a pre-disposition for your product or service, winning hearts and minds and “branding”  BEFORE a consumer is in the market for the product. Brand awareness.

www.blackburnradio.com
 
My question is this:
 Why isn't radio part of your marketing mix?

Brand Trust...

Do you have a trusted brand? Listen in on this week's tip for more on this...

Photography Can Be Hurting Your Brand

Guest Post by Mariano Pastor

Vision is the most advanced of our senses. We understand the world through our eyes and images play an exceptional role in human perception-we evolved to make fast decisions based in what we see. To determine friend from foe at a glance.

In the modern world we grow looking at sophisticated images created by the entertainment and advertising industries. By the time we leave college we had been exposed to millions of these pictures and they become the criteria to cast opinions - in a blink of an eye - about what is good or bad. inferior or excellent. To purchase or to take a pass. There is no underestimating the power of first impressions.

The photography you use creates an immediate impression as to where your company stands in terms of professionalism, attention to detail and quality control. Or whether you employ inferior standards in return for lower costs.

When determining the price of creating the photography that helps you sell your product, step back for a moment and consider the larger picture. Does the image you use reflect the way you want customers to perceive your brand?

In this belt-tightening economy, it’s easy to fall to the temptations of using cheaper alternatives anywhere we can. Cheap stock photography floods the web, technology makes possible to have your own in house studio and employ a staff that will crank out pictures. You may even consider doing it yourself.

But does doing things cheaply have to mean cheapening your brand?


About the Author:
Mariano is an advertising photographer based in NYC. He is also the founder of Via U!—a revolutionary online photography studio that delivers quality photography at extraordinarily affordable prices.