Posts Tagged ‘company branding’

10 Ways to Build Your Brand

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Of the multitude of books you see on branding, most have a huge problem - they are written by people with multi-million dollar budgets. People who think nothing of wasting 2.5 million on a 30 second TV spot during the Super Bowl (this year’s cost!) that no one remembers the next day!

At my golf marketing seminars, I don’t talk a lot about branding, because it’s just NOT as high on the food chain as most ad agencies or designers would have you believe. Most people I deal with are FAR more concerned with actually making money than building a brand. Having said that, the concept of branding should not be ignored, and if you follow a few simple rules, your brand can be quickly enhanced without the billion dollar budgets.

1. Consistent use of name. Before I start branding any name, I’d ask myself, “is it really a good name. Is it unique?” You can change; I changed my company’s name twice before getting it right with Legendary Marketing!

2. Consistent use of logo. I was at a club recently that had seven totally different logos on its golf hats. Perhaps the buyer is related to Sybil? (The woman with 32 different personalities.) Anyway, first make sure the logo defines who you are, looks good on a ball and is desirable. THINK Greg Norman’s SHARK, BRILLIANT! Not colorful Arnie’s umbrella. I mean no disrespect to the King, but was that even a great idea in 1960?

3. Consistent use of your colors. Legendary Marketing uses orange and black and orange! The Raiders are black and silver, English sports cars are racing green, Ferraris are red, Fords are blue, Ping Tour bags are white. What’s your club’s color?

4. Consistent use of USP. Most clubs simply don’t have a Unique Selling Proposition, and that is a huge mistake. Not having one lessens the power of your brand and every piece of marketing you do by 300% or more in customer recall!

For Example, Garland is Michigan’s Most Beautiful Golf Resort, is a strong, simple and versatile USP! FedEx owns overnight; Dave Pelz owns the short game. Juliette Falls Golf Community owns Florida Golf Resort. Legendary Golf Management is the the world’s leader in golf management. What Unique Selling Proposition does your operation own?

5. Consistent messages. I am constantly amazed by the number of golf clubs and equipment companies that change their message from year to year. In fact, I recently talked to a golf club owner who proudly showed me 22 different ads he ran the previous year all with different headlines and tag lines. Testing is a very good idea, but change for the sake of variety is not!

6. Consistent look and feel. You can’t say you are the most beautiful resort in Florida and run your ads in black and white on 20 lb. bond. Beauty calls for high gloss and thick paper. Make the look and feel of your collateral match the demographics, specific location, and facilities you offer.

7. Consistent exposure. One of the reasons I focus more efforts on results than brand is that building a real brand in any market takes mucho time, money and exposure. If your brand is not out there constantly in a big way, it won’t stick. You need ongoing PR and media presence of some kind.

8. Consistent delivery of promise. Your brand has to be backed by the delivery of the implied promise. You can not just promise the best greens in city and then have them covered with fungus when players arrive. You can’t offer the best steak in the town and not have a single strip steak on the menu.

9. Consistent and Quality customer contact. To many golf clubs blast everyone in their database a with a poor discount offer. High end resorts usually specialize in bland John Doe ‘return to see us’ letters. Both are contact…neither is quality content.

10. Consistent use of viral tools to spread the word. Perhaps the most overlooked way to build your brand is to provide your frontline employees and customers with the tools to spread your brand for you. Things like bag tags, yardage books and audio CDs packed full of Great Golf Stories For Your Drive Home. Reinforce the brand long after a player has left your property.

Andrew Wood is the world’s leading expert on golf related marketing. He is the author of over 20 books including Cunningly Clever Marketing, his newly released best marketing books. Andrew speaks worldwide on sales and marketing topics. He is the CEO of multiple golf marketing companies including Legendary Golf Resort Management Company.

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Ten Proven Methods to Build Your Brand

Saturday, September 19th, 2009

Of the multitude of books you see on branding, most have a very big problem - they are written by people with multi-million dollar marketing budgets. People who think nothing of wasting 2.5 million on a 30 second Television spot during the Super Bowl (this year’s cost!) that no one remembers anything the next day!

At my golf marketing seminars, I don’t talk a lot about branding, because it’s just NOT as high on the food chain as most ad agencies or designers would have you believe. Most companies I deal with are FAR more concerned with actually making money than building a brand. Having said that, the concept of branding should not be ignored, and if you follow a few simple rules, your brand can be easily enhanced without the need for billion dollar budgets.

1. Consistent use of name. Before I start branding any name, I would ask myself, “is it really a great name”. Is it very unique? You can change; I changed my own company’s name twice before getting it right with Legendary Marketing!

2. Consistent use of logo. I was at a club recently that had seven totally different logos on its golf hats. Perhaps the buyer was related to Sybil? (The woman with 32 different personalities.) Anyway, first make sure the logo defines who you are, looks good on a shirt and is desirable. THINK Greg Norman’s SHARK, BRILLIANT! Not Arnie’s umbrella. I mean no disrespect to the King, but was that even a good idea in 1960?

3. Consistent use of your colors. Legendary Marketing uses orange and black and orange! The Raiders are black and silver, English sports cars are racing green, Ferraris are red, Fords are blue, Ping Tour bags are white. What’s your club’s color?

4. Consistent use of your Unique Selling Proposition. Most clubs simply don’t have a Unique Selling Proposition, and that is a very big mistake. Not having one lessens the power of your brand and every piece of marketing you do by 300% or more in customer recall!

For Example, Garland is Michigan’s Most Beautiful Golf Resort, is a strong, simple and versatile USP! FedEx owns overnight; Dave Pelz owns the short game. Juliette Falls Golf Community owns Florida Golf Resort. Legendary Golf Management is the the world’s leader in golf management. What Unique Selling Proposition does your operation own?

5. Consistent message. I am constantly amazed by the number of clubs and equipment companies that change their message from year to year. In fact, I recently talked to a club owner who proudly showed me 22 different ads he ran the previous year all with different headlines and tag lines. Testing is a good idea, but change for the sake of Variety is not!

6. Consistent feel and look. You can’t say you are the most beautiful resort in Michigan and run your ads in black and white on 20 lb. bond. Beauty calls for high gloss and thick paper. Make the look and feel of your collateral match the specific location, demographics and facilities you offer.

7. Consistent exposure. One of the reasons I focus more efforts on results than brand is that building a real brand in any market takes mucho time, money and exposure. If your brand is not out there constantly in a big way, it won’t stick. You need on going PR and media presence of some kind.

8. Consistent delivery of your promise. Your brand has to be backed by the delivery of the implied promise. You can not promise the best greens in city and then have them covered with fungus when players arrive.

9. Consistent and Quality customer contact. A lot of golf clubs send emails to everyone in their marketing database with a poor discount offer. High end resorts usually specialize in bland John Doe ‘return to see us’ letters. Both are contact…neither is quality content.

10. Consistent use of viral tools to spread the word. Perhaps the most overlooked way to build your brand is to provide your frontline employees and customers with the tools to spread your brand for you. Things like bag tags, yardage books and audio CDs packed full of Great Golf Stories For Your Drive Home. Reinforce the brand long after a player has left your property.

Andrew Wood is the world’s leading expert on golf related marketing. He is the author of over 20 books including Cunningly Clever Marketing, his newly released marketing book. Andrew speaks worldwide on sales and marketing topics. He is the CEO of multiple golf marketing companies including Legendary Golf Course Management Company.

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Build Your Brand Using These Ten Ideas

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Of the multitude of books you see on branding, most have a huge problem - they are written by people with multi-million dollar budgets. People who think nothing of wasting 2.5 million on a 30 second TV spot during the Super Bowl (this year’s cost!) that no one remembers the next day!

At my golf marketing seminars, I don’t talk a lot about branding, because it’s just NOT as high on the food chain as most ad agencies or designers would have you believe. Most companies I deal with are FAR more concerned with actually making money than building a brand. Having said that, the concept of branding should not be ignored, and if you follow a few simple rules, your brand can be easily enhanced without the need for billion dollar budgets.

1. Consistent use of name. Before I start branding any name, I would ask myself, “is it really a great name”. Is it very unique? You can change; I changed my own company’s name twice before getting it right with Legendary Marketing!

2. Consistent use of logo. I was at a club recently that had seven totally different logos on its golf hats. Perhaps the buyer is related to Sybil? (The woman with 32 different personalities.) Anyway, first make sure the logo defines who you are, looks good on a ball and is desirable. THINK Greg Norman’s SHARK, BRILLIANT! Not colorful Arnie’s umbrella. I mean no disrespect to the King, but was that even a great idea in 1960?

3. Consistent use of your colors. Legendary Marketing uses orange and black and orange! The Raiders are black and silver, English sports cars are racing green, Ferraris are red, Ping Tour bags are white. What’s your club’s color?

4. Consistent use of USP. Most golf resorts simply don’t have a Unique Selling Proposition, and that is a huge mistake. Not having one lessens the power of your brand and every piece of marketing you do by 300% or more in customer recall!

For Example, Garland is Michigan’s Most Beautiful Golf Resort, is a strong, simple and versatile USP! FedEx owns overnight; Dave Pelz owns the short game. Juliette Falls Golf Community owns Florida Golf Resort. Legendary Golf Management is the the world’s leader in golf management. What Unique Selling Proposition does your operation own?

5. Consistent messages. I am constantly amazed by the number of golf clubs and equipment companies that change their message from year to year. In fact, I recently talked to a golf club owner who proudly showed me 22 different ads he ran the previous year all with different headlines and tag lines. Testing is a very good idea, but change for the sake of variety is not!

6. Consistent look and feel. You can’t say you are the most beautiful resort in Florida and run your ads in black and white on 20 lb. bond. Beauty calls for high gloss and thick paper. Make the look and feel of your collateral match the demographics, specific location, and facilities you offer.

7. Consistent exposure. One of the reasons I focus more efforts on results than brand is that building a real brand in any market takes mucho time, money and exposure. If your brand is not out there constantly in a big way, it won’t stick. You need on going PR and media presence of some kind.

8. Consistent delivery of promise. Your brand has to be backed by the delivery of the implied promise. You can not just promise the best greens in city and then have them covered with fungus when players arrive. You can’t offer the best steak in the town and not have a single strip steak on the menu.

9. Consistent and Quality customer contact. To many golf clubs blast everyone in their database a with a poor discount offer. High end resorts usually specialize in bland John Doe ‘return to see us’ letters. Both are contact…neither is quality content.

10. Consistent use of viral tools to spread the word. Perhaps the most overlooked way to build your brand is to provide your frontline employees and customers with the tools to help spread your brand for you. Things like bag tags, yardage books and audio CDs packed full of Great Golf Stories For Your Drive Home. Reinforce the brand long after a player has left your property.

Andrew Wood is the world’s leading expert on golf related marketing. He is the author of over 20 internet marketing books including Cunningly Clever Marketing Book and The Golf Marketing Bible. Andrew speaks worldwide on sales and marketing topics. He is the CEO of multiple golf marketing companies including Golf Management Companies.

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Designing Custom Company Logo Through In House Employees Or Cheap Companies Has Its Disadvantages

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
by Katt DelaCruz

One of the most important aspects of branding a company is logo designing. Some companies don’t seem to understand the criticality of the concept of logo designing and they look to cut costs. They either engage an internal resource for this activity or find out the cheapest log designers to outsource. They don’t seem to care about the importance of a logo when it comes to brand positioning. A logo is more than a symbol. Over a period of time, it conveys the essence of a company and is a vital part of the business. The most famous companies have logos worth mentioning. Coca Cola and Nike are cases in point.

Trying to cut down cost in logo designing can prove detrimental to the long term marketing efforts of the company. Having your logo designed from a custom logo designer company has several advantages which in long run outweigh the monetary cost associated with them. Some such advantages of Custom Company Logo Design over Doing It Yourself or Doing It cheap are as follows:

Expertise: logo designing is the forte of custom logo designing companies. They understand the customer psyche which distinguishes a successful logo from not so successful ones. Your company’s logo design will benefit immensely from the background of this custom logo designing company. As oppose to any naive logo designer these custom logo design companies are also in the forefront of the logo designing technologies such as flash and Photoshop, which ensures that your logo exudes the professionalism that it must to strengthen your brand image.

They have a name in the market: The biggest advantage of hiring professional logo designing companies is that you as a company will not have to worry about plagiarism or trademark and patent issues that might happen in case of in house jobs or jobs through cheap logo designers. The best professional logo designing companies have a reputation in the market and they hire designers who also understand the concept of customer need and show some form of accountability to deliver their projects in time. In contrast, cheap logo designing companies cannot be relied upon when it comes to reliability and they are perfectly capable of abandoning a project midway. The client has no control over that.

Creative ideas and new concepts: Professional logo designing companies usually assign a project to a team and not an individual. The team comes up with various creative ideas and new concepts to create a unique logo for your company. Some of the team members are also assigned the task of interacting with you to understand your need and requirement for the logo.

Customer support and time adherence: Professional logo designing companies invest in customer service teams that will spend time with you and do their best to handle any queries that you may have about the project. They are available round the clock and make it a point to be in constant touch with you during the designing phase. These companies also make sure that they finish and submit their projects on time, hence saving on time and cost both for themselves and their customers.

Don’t try to cut corners when it comes to designing your custom company logo. Any expense here will come back as a great return on investment.

About the Author:
[MN]interactive.com is a web design and creative design studio based out of Miami, Florida USA. If you need assistance with company logo designers or need custom company logo design [MN]interactive.com will exceed your expectations an assure you results.

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For Business Advantage It Is Essential To Have A Corporate Identity Package

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
by Katt DelaCruz

There are not enough words to describe the importance of corporate identity in the competitive business environment today. A corporate identity characterizes a company. Through the corporate identity, business associate, customers and clients associate with a company. It takes a lot of time and effort to create a brand image within and outside the organization. Various mediums of communication are used to create a brand among the minds of people. A corporate identity helps a company maintain that brand image.

There are three components that manage the corporate identity package of a company.

Corporate values: This is the inherent culture of the company. These consist of acceptable and unacceptable set of norms, ethics and values.

Corporate Communication: This is an important part of any company because it lets the outside world know about the character of the company and its people. Corporate communication happens through public and media relations and various forms of commercials.

Corporate Artifacts: Corporate artifacts consist of the logo of the company and other promotional brochures and stationery. The business cards that the company executives use also form part of the corporate artifacts.

A well designed corporate identity package can offer a company several advantages over its competitors like:

Better recall value: A well designed corporate identity has a good recall value. For example- if you go shopping for a shoe and you have to make a choice between a Nike shoe and brand X shoe, everything remaining same it is more likely that you would choose Nike over brand X .The deep seated psychological reason behind is the strong brand identity of Nike which consumers trust. This proves that well designed corporate identity packages can a business’s customer base strong.

Cost saving: A strong corporate identity package helps a company reduce marketing cost to a great extent. Companies spend millions to advertise their products and services. Once a strong brand is created through a corporate identity package, then there is no need to market newer products and services. All the company needs to do is to make sure that the customer gets to know about it. In the long run, this helps reduce the cost of advertising and promotion.

Retain and motivate employees: People love to work for companies that have a name in the market. This aura is created through a well thought of corporate identity package. Employees not only tend to stick to branded companies, they also work hard to maintain the brand. Employees of competitors also want to work for a branded company and as a result, a branded company is always able to attract the best talents in the market.

Helps in sailing through difficult times: Johnson and Johnson’s top selling drug, Tylenol, was tampered with and nine people died in Chicago in fall of 1982. It was the brand image and strong corporate identity of Johnson and Johnson as responsible, trustworthy and caring corporate that helped the company sail through difficult times and reinstate Tylenol as top selling drug in the market once again.

Corporate id package is not an advertisement and it is not designed to fool people. It is a continuous process of evolution that keeps a company ahead of others.

About the Author:
Katt DelaCruz is a contributing writer and intern at [MN]interactive.com. [MN]interactive.com is a web design and creative design studio based out of Miami, Florida USA.

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