Branding Strategies in Marketing

It's been said that their perception is your reality.

Many companies believe that they have complete control over their brand. They believe that whatever they say, their customers, prospects and the market will blindly believe! Some of these companies also believe this to be true for their employees—as if it isn’t possible for them to discover the company's skeletons.

There was a time when that may have been true, but in the world of yelp, Facebook, and every other social media tool on the m…

We have all heard that the only way to grow your business is through word of mouth marketing. But relying on it is a HUGE risk­—so what do you do?

A study done by Ketchum and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center proved that word of mouth can make or break a communications campaign. Yikes!

Advice from family and friends is used by 44% of consumers when making purchase decisions, and nearly one in four follows the advice from co-workers. Credibility is …

Fact or Myth?

I know you have heard of Brand Loyalty. Many will say you need it—that it is the ultimate goal of marketing. Go ahead, Google it! Read the results and you will say “I have to have it!”

But what you won't find is the truth that brand loyalty is actually a MYTH!

Brand loyalty implies that the consumer is willing, at least on occasion, to put aside their own desires in the interest of the brand. Would you put your own personal needs below the needs of a brand? Not many would--and if they…

Everything changes. Birds molt and lizards change colors, styles go in and out of fashion, cartoon characters change with the times—look at Mickey Mouse, he is different now than what he was in 1928. Even established companies’ that are decades old change their identity to match with the times: Aunt Jemima, Prudential, UPS. It is all in the Power of Image! Here are three circumstances that indicate it’s time for you to update your identity:

1. You’re part of a merger.

Without going into the ma…

For years, Microsoft has taken heat on their marketing, or their lack of it, to the consumer market, especially when compared to Apple. Simply put—they just don’t get it!

Yes on occasion they come up with a really cool campaign and the market is both surprised and impressed all in one. But those feelings usually don’t last because Microsoft doesn’t stick to any marketing, let alone what works! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Microsoft, in fact, I like them and if you get me talking about OneNo…

The biggest mistake I see companies make when it comes to advertising is simply, they put all of their eggs in one basket. They do too much of one thing by taking the ‘Consistency Rule’ so literally that it actually hurts them and most of the time they do not realize this until it is to late. Companies tend to focus on one type of marketing, one media, or they beat the wrong message into their various types of media.

Marketing is this abstract thing that we have convinced ourselves we can make co…

It’s no secret that you need to track your marketing efforts—how else are you going to know what works and what doesn’t!

But there is a trick to tracking your marketing that many companies either forget or don’t know about. The trick is in tracking multiple sources. When a prospect reaches out to you, make sure you are asking specific questions like:

• How did you first hear about our company?
• How have you recently heard about us?

Specifically wording your questions in this way, makes the pros…

Imagine sitting in a bar and someone comes up and offers you a bottomless box of darts. No matter how many you take out and throw, there will always be more in the box. Sounds great right? Think of the scores you will be able to achieve with an endless source of darts. There is just one catch: to use the darts in the box, you must be blindfolded.

OK Let’s assume that the box is marketing and the darts are all the different marketing tactics—specific actions or ideas. I bet some of you are thinkin…

The essence of Employer Branding is about organizational authenticity, isn't it? But coming up with a really strong and differentiating Employer Brand seems to be easier said than done. It’s also usually filled with a lot of buzz words.

The more social and transparent that we become, the harder it is for companies to “say this” and “do that”. Accountability now comes from all angles—those who have financial power, those with political power, those with social power, and those that will have the p…

I don’t know if you have noticed, but Lego has been taking a beating lately with claims of the company being sexist in their marketing and who they target their products to. It is no secret that generally speaking, boys are more interested in science and engineering. It is also no secret that the media and toy companies have decided that all girls must love dolls and pink.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is we are creatures of conditioning. How we raise our children and what we expose them to s…