Branding Brilliance

Which movie theater do you pick?

Until last weekend, I thought of movie theaters as expensive, fattening, and inconvenient.  Personally – I’d rather stay home.  After all, there are a ton of movies on DVD I haven’t seen yet.    

Here’s how the conversation at our house usually goes:

HIM:  Let’s go to a movie tonight.

ME:  Maybe.  What do you want to see?

HIM: (after an hour of research)  Let’s go see this movie.

ME: (reflecting on expense vs. pay-off)  Eh, forget it, let’s stay home and watch a movie here.  We can open a nice bottle of wine for all the money we’re saving.

What happened last weekend? 

I discovered a movie theater that had differentiated itself to appeal to me, to fix all the things I hate about going to the movie theaters.   Sundance 608 is unique, it’s different, and it’s going to dominate my demographic. 

Really, I don’t think I’ll ever go to another movie theater in Madison,WI again. 

What I love about Sundance 608 is:

• They have healthy and affordable food (salads, etc).
• They offer wine, beer and good coffee.
• They offer a place to eat right on-site, making the evening more social.
• You can reserve your seats.  Whoo-hoo!
• They cut out all the annoying advertising.
• They support local artists.

You get all this extra service for just a nominal amenities fee of $1 to $3 per ticket.  A price that’s totally worth it!

The marketing lesson here is that you CAN stand out.  There are thousands of ho-hum struggling movie theaters out there in the world today.  Sundance 608 is not one of them.  Sundance 608 didn’t concern itself with appealing to everybody.  They went after the 35+ market, and created an environment that appealed to them. 

The question won’t be, “Want to go see a movie tonight?” It’ll be, “Any good movies at Sundance 608?”

What can you do to make YOUR business stand out?  What can you do to knock all competitors out of even being an option?

One of my clients is considering doing a web re-design.  I have web designers that I use regularly, but sometimes clients like to use someone they already know or have worked with in the past.  Being that my job is marketing, I’ve seen a lot of great portfolios of web designers in my life, but I was blown away by this web design firm that my client recommended.  Not by their up-and-running site, which is pretty good:  http://www.peepscreative.com/

But look how creative and different their “Website Under Construction” placeholder is.  REALLY, go look.  Now!

http://peepscreative.com/

I told you it would be worth a peek.  Pretty awesome, eh?  Doesn’t this “site under construction” page immediately tell you the type of firm they are?  Give you a glimpse of how it would be to work with them?  I love it.  Maybe they should never go live with their new and improved website.

One note however, is that when you see something that is “cool” is that you have to evaluate whether it makes sense for your business.  As a web design firm, spending time and money on a website under construction page makes sense.  However, if you are an accounting firm, that same spend might not be worth it — because you’re not selling your creativity.  You’re trying to project a different message.  Stay true to who you are and you can’t go wrong!

Looking for a little creative inspiration to spice up your marketing efforts? 

The whole Mighty Optical Illusions website is pretty fascinating, but particularly their attention-getting ads and billboards sections. You may not be advertising on billboards, but certainly you can get some good ideas for thinking “out of the box” and getting creative with your marketing.  Optical illusions create memorable marketing! 

If you want to see more pictures like this one:

Go visit Billboard Optical Illusions  pages on the Mighty Optical Illusions site:

http://www.moillusions.com/2006/12/deceiving-billboard-ads-part-i.html

http://www.moillusions.com/2008/05/deceiving-billboard-ads-part-ii.html

Businesses are constantly trying to balance marketing hype with reality.  Of course, you want your marketing materials to grab your prospect’s attention, but you also want to set some expectations — because after all, you have to deliver on your promise, right?!  

Request a copy of our marketing kit!

Head on over to HP’s Small Business Marketing Guide to see the article I wrote on creating incredible, credible marketing materials.   I gave readers seven practical tips for creating do-it-yourself marketing materials.  Enjoy!

Last week, one of those “famous” internet marketers sent me an email.   He was mad because people were taking too long to see the value of his product.   His readers would hem-and-haw before making a purchase.  I’m sure his email was meant to be some type of psychological ploy to get you to buy his info-product.  But it sure backfired on me. 

I wondered how much this guy could really know about marketing. So here’s what I wanted to say to him.

Dear Internet Marketer,

I know you think you have a fabulous product, but if there’s anyone you should be mad at, you should be mad at yourself.  You obviously haven’t done a great job of communicating the value of your product. You are being defensive instead of understanding that people are wary and you need to assuage them and prove to them that your book is different. It’s not that they wouldn’t (or don’t) invest in their business. It’s that there are a lot of internet marketer snake oil salesman out there promising something for nothing.

I work primarily with professional service and technology companies and hear that same indignation all the time.

“I can’t believe they bought from that shmuck when we’re a jillion times better…we take over their unhappy customers all the time.”  I know.  It DOES HURT when someone doesn’t see your value. It hurts your balance sheet as much as your ego.

As you may well know, ‘building a better mousetrap’ is only step one of building a successful business. Communicating how and why that mousetrap is better (a.k.a. MARKETING) is the key to blowing out your sales.  For all of you who are out there feeling under-appreciated and a best-kept-secret.  You have two options.

1.  Call and cry on someone’s shoulder. 

(Net effect: You’ll know you have friends who care and you’ll temporarily feel better.)

2.  Improve your marketing so that your product or service looks as good as it actually is. 

(Net effect: Pretty soon you’ll be selling more and attracting more of the clients who value you.)

Simple, huh?  So which path will you choose?

WOW, that Superbowl was exciting!  I’m not much of a sports fan, but I really watch because  I love to watch the Superbowl advertisements (and OK, I love an excuse for a party too!)  Normally my Tivo zaps all ads for me, but for this one day, I eagerly anticipate the advertsing.

My first impressions are that I:

• Hated the GoDaddy ad
• Doubly hated the NBCLA ads that were SO LOUD
• Was grossed out and vaguely annoyed by the Careerbuilder.com ad with the naked guy touching his toes
• Loved the Bud ads – clever use of their iconic clydesdales
• Thought the Coca-cola morphing avatars ad was just downright strange
• Loved the eTrade babies ad – very cute and clever
• Thought Denny’s will get the best bang for their buck due to their strong offer, and their appeal to the frugal buyer.  Get them in once and they’ll probably come back again.

What did you like or hate about the Superbowl ads? Did you learn anything from the Superbowl ads that you can apply to your own marketing?

With the economy and the election all that people seem to be able to talk about, I thought I’d provide a moment of light-hearted levity.   Can you believe these ads?  I think in some cases here there’s a little TOO MUCH truth in advertising – and in other ads, no truth at all.  

That beauty micrometer looks painful.   And who knew Lysol could create such a happy marriage?  Now where does that Lysol go?  WHAT?  Not on the floors or appliances?  Oh my….

http://www.weirdomatic.com/creepy-ads.html 

Enjoy.  Focus on the positive.  Control what you can control.  And stay tuned. Subscribe to my workshops newsletter if you haven’t already.  I’m putting together a session, “The 7 Secrets to Small Business Advertising.”  And though I admit my session won’t be nearly as funny as these ads are, you will see big mistakes current day small businesses make all the time. 

THANK YOU JOHN JANTSCH!

Recently I spent some time trying to explain Twitter for business to a client. After the conversation, I kept thinking ’someone should write a guide’ but just didn’t have the time. Well thankfully I wasn’t the only one in need, and John Jantsch has answered my request. If you are wondering about Twitter for business uses too, check out the rest of John’s blog and his free beginners guide.

Are your marketing messages crafted through a business owner’s eyes or through a potential client’s eyes? 

A business owner sees the cost, the time, the effort and energy that goes into creating a marketing piece. The business owner’s perspective is that marketing is meant as a means to sell something. A potential client sees an opportunity – to save money, to learn something or to look or feel better – based on the offer, the ‘what’s in it for me’, and whether or not it captures their attention. 

If you get too caught up in the business owner’s need of marketing and selling vs. the potential client’s need to be educated and informed, you will be off-target in your messaging, making your marketing expenditures less effective.

Owner focused:  We’re offering a 25% discount if you buy before 8/31!
Customer focused:  You can save 25% if you act before 8/31!

Owner focused:  We’re the best in the country, and have won the grand-poobah award 10 times!
Customer focused: Our award-winning team will make sure you achieve fantastic results.

Now, what can you do about it? Start looking at your marketing from a different perspective – the perspective of the people that buy your product! Before you say it – yes, there are thousands of reasons that people buy your product, and no, you can’t realistically figure them all out, BUT you can ask your current clients why they buy, and then use those ideas to find more clients!

My friend and fellow Duct Tape Marketing Coach Randy Vaughn of MarketingTwins.com sent me this hilarious video.  Well, for those of you who HIRE designers, this might not be so funny, but for those of us that are sometimes asked to deliver on impossible demands, this video definitely struck a nerve.

Graphic Design Process of Designing a Stop Sign

How could this team have produced a better outcome?  Here are 5 tips for companies hiring graphic designers and marketing agencies.

1.  Begin with the end in mind.  What do you want done?  Leave the “how” to the professionals.  For example, if you say, “I want a big, red blinking box that says STOP” – that’s what you’ll get.  But if you want someone to STOP, a graphic designer can often find a less obnoxious, but more effective way to accomplish that same objective.

2.  Every partner logo does not need to be on everything. 

3.  Every perspective does not need to be included.  You absolutely CAN get “too many cooks in the kitchen” and end up with nothing but stone soup.   (That’s a story from my childhood, where every kid comes in and asks for something to be removed from the soup recipe. “I don’t like carrots.”  “I don’t like onions.”  “I’m a vegetarian, no chicken please.”)   Pick a voice.  Stick with it.

4.  Marketing research has its place, but PLEASE apply common sense to your findings.  Just because you market to women doesn’t mean you have to make everything PINK. 

5.  Don’t feel obliged to have all the answers.  Give the graphic designer or marketing agency an opportunity to speak up.  They are trying their best to please you!  But they can’t read minds.  And they don’t want to be rude.  You may know your company and product better than anyone else on the planet.  But you have presumably hired a graphic design or marketing expert, someone who has spent years honing their craft.  Usually they are thrilled to tell you why they are making the suggestions they’re making.  You just have to ask, then come together as a team to make a collective decision.

If you continue to do what you’ve always done,
you’ll continue to get what you’ve always got.

Any other suggestions for working with a graphic designer or marketing agency?