The other conversation centered around the strategic decision to simplify marketing tactics. Streamline the website to deliver a clear message and a better usability experience. Limit white papers to 1500 words—and be sure those words are making a relevant and clear point. Make it EASY for clients/customers to engage with you. Less mumbo-jumbo industry speak, more take-away.

Both of these perspectives seem to drive from the same place—we are overloaded. Inundated. Saturated. Piled-on. With seemingly less time to focus on what we know we need to, we crave the clarity that comes with clear and direct sensory stimulus. Regardless of whether that’s experiencing a room or a brand. Now, this doesn’t mean that there isn’t a place for a nick-nack collection handed down from your grandmother, a 2000-page novel that you can lose yourself in for hours, or a lengthy explanation of your organization’s methodology—complete with supporting Powerpoint. It just means there has to be both.

It’s a review of political candidate logos with commentary by several creatives. And though is has some very strong opinionated language, I think it pretty much tells the story and makes several good points that apply to the business of branding in general:
1) Just because you have creative software and can type it doesn’t make you a designer.
2) Make the brand about what the brand stands for – not just a rendition of the name.
3) Emotion trumps all else.
Take a look at the article and share any comments you have.

Another take on this headline comes in the form of relating known brands to political parties. I came across this chart the other day and thought about how each brand may – or may not have – set out to capture their specific target group. Its a chart showing the companies that are preferred by Republicans and Democrats (in general) – meaning brands that they are satisfied with, interested in and would recommend. Any surprises? So keep an eye on the race over the next 11 months and may the best brand win!

First, that we (and our clients) need to understand—and more importantly—accept that ‘social’ does NOT equal transactional. You may have heard it explained before but think of the idea that a friend of yours did nothing but try to sell you something every time you were together. You would end that relationship quickly and not look back. The same goes for social interaction online—it’s a conversation, not a timeshare presentation!

The second idea is a bit more nebulous. It is to think of Facebook as the overlay of the internet experience. It’s connections, conversations, recommendations, a filtering device, a sharing tool, a personalization mechanism, the gateway to being online, a trusted friend, and more. It’s an experience that works with and feeds other online experiences. More and more, traffic to websites will be routed through, or result from a Facebook interaction.

With these two concepts in mind, we as marketing communications and brand experts will be shaping the planned activities of our clients and setting new expectations for results.

The article below on Marketing Predictions for 2012 was highlighted by Marketing Profs and I found it quite enlightening—yet not surprising. The ‘prediction’ we  spent much of our efforts on already is number two. Successful clients have long realized that satisfied customers are their best sales force. And the link to capitalizing successfully on that is to have clear and defining value propositions and brand promise that all customers and employees know and understand. Then when they become advocates for your brand, they are expressing the same rational and emotional benefits that you are as a marketer. So read through these and let me know if you have any other predictions!

The article in full:

by Brian Goffman

I see an interesting subtlety that was not put forth from these numbers. That while smart marketers understand that in today’s social and WOM environment, surrendering control of the message is truly not an option—it will and is happening—that doesn’t mean we need to surrender control of the brand. That’s a big difference. The marketplace will talk—but a good brand will also. And while marketers can’t control the talk, they can be very vigilant in setting the tone for conversation. By being true to their brand promise; by letting the brand experience be all that is expected; by ensuring clarity and consistency of messaging; by standing for something—often times something greater than their brand (CSR anyone?).

And to emphasize that idea even further, another survey question categorized the top two responses to the greatest impacts on long term strategy as:
1) Focusing on the entire user experience
2) Thinking about branding more holistically

And while they didn’t draw any conclusions, I believe this truly reinforces the belief that an organization-wide understanding of your brand is imperative. Which means marketing must shape and give voice to that brand in a very realistic, meaningful, relevant and palpable way. That is our new priority.

Understand the term – fully (It’s more than the specifications of the logo and other livery).
Understand that the brand will have different meanings to diverse groups/markets.
Understand it is the customer who will determine what the brand actually is.

Interesting take—that the main elements are all anchored by understanding. This speaks volumes about the misnomers and misperceptions around brand and branding. I echo this sentiment and would add that before ANY brand discussion or intiative begins, define your terminology for all involved parties.

More traditional responses followed some expected parameters, such as:
1) Understand that Brands are the sum of all customer experiences (emotional and rational).
2) Manage the whole Customer Experience.
3) Do so consistently.

and
1. Integral part of Corporate vision.
2. Positive and deliverable perception.
3. Experience.

But there was another viewpoint that we subscribe to here at McKnight Kurland:

* Brand Identity: means positioning the brand in the consumer minds in a unique view so that the brand be noticed in the crowded market; the brand must be relevant to the rational needs and wants of clients;

* Brand Integrity: fulfilling what is claimed through the positioning and differentiation of the brand, being credible, honoring promises and establishing the clients` trust in the brand; the target of brand integrity is the spirit of customers;

* Brand Image: acquiring a strong share of clients` emotions; the brand value should appeal to clients` emotional needs and wants beyond the products` features.

This speaks about both sides of the brand—the rational plus the emotional connection. The strogest brands have both and understand how to develop them. What are your three main elements?

How to best describe the difference that makes Chicago so great. What key things had to be seen or understood. What experiences couldn’t be missed. How could we make it more than a mere technically good ‘tour’?

That’s when I realized we were developing the brand of Chicago. Its brand promise; key value propositions; the rational and emotional supporting concepts; and how we would operationalize those ideas into a physical experience of the brand.

Hey – this is what I do!

And this is what every organization should do. Think of your brand from an outside perspective. What are the key experiences—brand interactions—that will best support the promise and value proposition? How can you improve those experiences and clarify your distinction. Simply put: How can you make them want to come back?

I’m happy to report that it succeeded for our friends. They fell in love with the city, understood how it differs from New York or LA or Paris, and can’t wait to return. Another successful branding project!

So as we are in the process of identifying, clarifying and verbalizing the true member value statements for the organization, an interesting question was raised:

Are we only identifying member benefits that are currently supported by products and services, or can we be aspirational and create a framework of ideal member value propositions that the organization will NEED to support in order to remain viable?

This concept generated a nice discussion about the idea of brand being a true reflection of the organization. Meaning if they want to begin promoting these aspirational values, they would need to be operationalizing them—developing programs, processes, attitudes, services, etc. that support them. Otherwise it will backfire. The rebrand will be seen as a bunch of marketing-speak and membership will tune out. Our view is that a rebrand of this nature—one that is oriented to determining what will keep the association viewed as a desired choice—may well require an aspirational change to both the messaging and the organization. In this case: Live the brand as the brand needs to be.

Your thoughts?

12 Most No Good, Very Bad Misconceptions About Marketing
Posted by Margie Clayman on Jul 26, 2011 in Blog, Business, Sales & Marketing

Today I will aim to list 12 of the most very bad misconceptions about marketing I’ve run into, and I’ll even offer an alternative view. Here we go!
1. ROI has something to do with your mother
Measuring the ROI of social media is not at all like measuring the ROI of your mother. It is not that elusive. Nor is measuring the ROI of anything else. That “I feel good” feeling is not what ROI is about. It’s a very simple mathematical formula. You invest time (which equals money). You make sales. Do the sales relate to the time you invested? In what way? That is measuring ROI. Now if you don’t track where your customers come from, measuring ROI can be very tricky. It can be very tricky if you don’t track your investments, too. But it is a solid, scientific process. It is real. Like Santa Claus.
2. Logo and brand are synonymous
A lot of people seem to think that logo is brand and a brand is a logo. It’s true that a logo can be a major signifier for a brand, but in fact, branding far exceeds the development of a logo. Branding is about your company voice, your company presence in your industry, the message you want customers and prospects to take away, and what you want your competitors to worry about when they think about you.
• I’d also add it is one of your organization’s most valuable assets—so protect it.
3. A lead is the same thing as a comment on your blog post or a like on your Facebook page
In the non-social media world, lead *tends* to relate to an action a person takes that indicates they are interested in your products or services. A click on a banner ad or a scan of a QR code they see on your ad could be seen as a lead. The quality of the lead needs to be measured after those actions are taken. But in the world of social media, an action does not translate to a lead. You could comment on every blog post a person writes and have absolutely no intention of ever buying anything from them, right? And “liking” company pages is sometimes done to help out a friend. I’m never going to buy advertising services from a friend, but maybe I show them a bit of a support by clicking a button. See the difference?
4. A prospect is a follower, fan, or subscriber.
This is very similar to point 3, but the logic remains the same. A lot of people follow everyone back automatically. Their follow of you, in that case, means absolutely nothing. A person may subscribe to your post because they really enjoy reading your stuff. They may have no idea what you are hoping they buy from you. A prospect is someone who seems interested in purchasing something from you. Not everyone is a prospect, no matter what business you are in.
• This is the current challenge in integrating social media into the marketing mix.
5. Figuring out marketing by “throwing spaghetti against the wall” is a good idea
This is a commonly voiced sentiment in the online world especially, and it freaks me out. The logic goes that you can just keep trying stuff, and if it doesn’t work, you move on to something else until it “sticks.” There are so many problems with this approach, not the least of which is that you are leaving behind a legacy of failed marketing attempts. You are leaving behind people who had just started to engage with you (and maybe they really were prospects!). It is a waste of resources, maybe even a waste of money, to try marketing this way.
• I say start with strategy and be smart about implementation. The outcome will work. Sure, it may require tweaking, but that is very diffferent from the ‘spaghetti’ concept.
6. If it worked for you it’ll work for me
I think one of the reasons why a lot of people don’t like marketers or agencies or consultants is because it’s really easy to look for a magical formula that will help everyone. Every business, just like every person, is different. Painting with a broad brush seldom works, and in fact, it tends to do more harm than good.
• This is the challenge—and the thrill— of marketing: every client, every brand, every opportunity is unique. The marketplace is not the same today as it was yesterday. There is NO silver bullet.
7. Posting to a social media platform is marketing
This may ruffle some feathers, but I think some folks have kind of lost track of what it really means to market something versus what it means to engage online. Posting reallllllly cute kitty videos to Google Plus is not marketing. Posting information that could be useful to your customers is how social media marketing works. Think of yourself as a walking, talking billboard for your company. When they see you, they should see your business embodied.
• This is the most difficult line to walk.
8. Only traditional media needs to be held accountable in the marketing world
A lot of social media folk act like they’re kind of picked on because so many people talk about the mystery of social media ROI. In fact, everything in the marketing world is being held accountable by companies. If you send out a news release, you should be able to show that it did some good. If you place a print ad, you should be able to show that there was a good reason to do that. Companies that turn to you for marketing advice are placing tremendous trust in you. It’s like giving your baby to a babysitter.
9. There is no way to measure the effectiveness of marketing
Another reason why people sometimes think of marketers in a negative way is that some marketing professionals have adopted this kind of light and fluffy “Que sera sera” attitude about their profession. “Oh, like, placing that ad…it’s good for branding or something. Just trust me.” Other marketers start talking about silos. “Well, sales never shares the info with us, so how could we ever really gauge the ROI?” The answer? Keep pushing on it, or at least find out how you’re doing at bringing prospects to the table. Ask if you can see Google Analytics reports. Ask if you can see SEO results.
• Getting the message here?—measurement and return are vital to marketing’s budgets and respect in the c-suite.
10. PR/Email/Marketing/Advertising is dead
When websites really started taking off, the great cry was, “Print is dead.” When email really started taking off, the great proclamation was that “direct mail is dead.” Now that social media is around, everything is dead at some time or another. And yet it’s not really. The fact is that now more than ever, traditional marketing tactics could really be a showcase for new ways of thinking. Ads supplement a social media campaign. A direct mail campaign works hand in hand with a Facebook page. The possibilities are not ending. They’re endless.
• Integrated programs, folks—integrated.
11. Marketing is evil
I often see a lot of talk in the online world about how evil and icky marketers are. I’ve guessed at some of the reasons above. Some people think marketers don’t get the “person-to-person” effect. Some people think marketers don’t listen well or that marketers are only about marketers. I’m sure there are some in the marketing profession who live up to those low standards, but it’s not across the board.
12. You don’t need an agency
Perhaps the only thing I see more of than “Is dead” is “Ew, agency.” Again, like the definition of marketers as evil, there are some agencies who create this backlash effect, I’m sure. I’ve heard horror stories about agencies who don’t listen, who swindle clients, and the list goes on. But here’s the thing. All of that talk about how you don’t have the resources, the skills or the time to do this that or the other thing? That’s where agencies can help you out. An agency can help you do that planning and strategizing that everyone complains is so time-consuming. An agency can really be another employee- one with many heads and sets of arms (although that sounds kind of scary).
• Obviously, I agreee on this one. We’re good—no we’re great. Let’s do some Work That Works!

This is the exact point that we are entering in with a client of McKnight Kurland’s right now. They have gone through an extensive rebranding research and messaging development phase. Now it needs to come to life. Enter design. Sure there’s strategy, concept, insight, and hard work underscoring all of this, but what an employee, client, prospect or influencer sees and reacts to is entwined with creative and design. So our charge is to ‘bring the brand to life.’ Every brand should have such a goal in all it does. After all, that’s what makes it relevant, meaningful and actionable. Now, to the drawing board!

Basic Steps in the Re-branding Process (not in marketing speak!)

Determine the distinctive value: This is what your brand promises and delivers at its most basic level—the one thing that separates you from your market. You should know this. Your employees should know this. Your clients should know this.

Define your key audience(s): Know and understand your audience. Your brand’s differentiation lies in meeting needs no other organization can meet. Understand who your brand is built on. Understand who the future of your brand depends on.

Craft core messaging: Keeping these two things in mind, create your positioning, key value propositions and elevator speech. Use language that clarifies—plain speak combined with common industry terms. And always include the benefit to clients—why should they care?

Determine voice: Tone and manner matter. Reflect your organization accurately in the style of writing and the use of the language.

Develop the creative strategy: Think practically about what will communicate our message and make our primary target audience remember it. Research what the competition is doing—sometimes you mirror it, sometimes you turn 180 degrees away.

Implement: Be clear what the new brand image is. That’s all of the visual and verbal attributes that can be used to present the organization. Then implement it with passion. A new visual look, a new way of speaking, doing events, recruiting, selling, reaching prospects, recognizing clients and more.

Measure and improve: Make sure that you are set up to measure the effectiveness of your strategy. Organizations that succeed long-term are always listening and adjusting.