Cut to the Core

Marketing Messages that Clients and Prospects Consistently Identify as Unique to You

Are your clients’ perceptions of your brand a key factor in their decisions to purchase your product or service and to remain loyal customers?

Branding gives you the opportunity, over time, to associate your organization with the benefits and values that are important and relevant to your customer. In a fast-paced, ever-changing global marketplace, your brand represents the promise of service and the expectancy of future benefits. The expectancy of these future benefits motivates buyers to place a higher value on your brand and to be willing to invest in building a relationship with you and your brand. Therefore, maximize any opportunity you have to distinguish your brand. One way to do that is to identify and to clarify your marketing communications so that your brand stands out from among all the others.

Certain aspects of your brand, if updated or enhanced, can bring additional value to you and to your customers. Examine the following areas for potential improvement: 1) the promotion of core organizational values, 2) your writing style and tone, 3) the prioritizing of content messages and 4) the cultural relevance of your brand to your niche audience.

Checklist:

* Refine the details of the core organizational values your brand promotes. Does your brand convince buyers to choose your products and services over that of your competitors? How is your core brand identity conveyed in your marketing? Do your core values connect with customer needs?

* Select a writing style and tone that speaks to your niche audience. What writing style is appropriate? Formal? Conversational? Informative? Persuasive? What terminology does your customer group recognize? Are your customers experts? Or, are they new to their field?

* Choose content relevant to the challenges your audience seeks to solve. What do you want your audience/ideal reader to think or feel? What action do you want them to take? Does your core brand identity speak to customer attitudes, preferences and likes? Do your messages promote conviction and action?

* Develop messages in media that are culturally relevant to your customers and prospects. What is the culture of your organization? How does it compare with the culture of your customers? In developing messages and choosing media, consider the strategic importance of customer orientation, competitor positioning, length of marketplace initiatives and any other factor pertinent to your core customers.

Mindful Marketing Practices Are on the Rise

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do You Craft Meaningful Communications for Your Stakeholders?

Companies, once the vital backbone of our communities, provided opportunity, stability and security and were regarded as good citizens that would act in the interest of the communities they served.  However, no one can deny that customers no longer automatically confer to companies the trust they used to command. Much has been written about the breakdown in this trust, once such a very valuable goodwill asset. Regardless of the arguments of theorists, one way or the other, about how to fix the problem, the final analysis is the same. At the very least, customers must consider communications from your company credible in order for those communications to stir them to action. Therefore, restoring confidence in corporations requires a new approach. 

 

Is your company communication style outdated?

Long gone, in fact, are the ‘old school’ days of company communications. You can no longer market to customers solely on the basis of their status as consumers of your product and service. You can no longer generate public press exclusively for company shareholders. And you can no longer focus policy and performance communications toward employees only.  Especially long gone are the days where effective messaging included communications that were extensions of the old corporate paradigm. That paradigm used selected messages, such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), conceived by the public relations department for the sole purpose of creating a positive “halo” around the company. The problem was that such messages did not always represent the fundamental core values at the organization, nor did they always represent true changes in company policy or purpose.

 

How do you need to communicate instead?

Remember that the availability of today’s technology can open all the “back doors” at your company. Such access can allow stakeholders to document and to share all kinds of information about your company over vast media channels. Therefore, it is only a matter of time before the core values of any organization are made transparent to the marketplace.

Mindful Marketing takes care of such concerns! As a first step, Mindful Marketing has you take stock of the core values that are the true cultural DNA of your organization. You will then use those values to craft your communications so that they document your core, i.e., the values that really count to you and to your company, the values that will connect your company to your clients and your customers in a very substantial and valuable way.

A Mindful Marketing Model of communications will sustain your brand over time. It will also build the trust level that is so necessary to ease transactions between your stakeholders and the communities in which your brand has impact and relevance.

 

Key Point – Once they are identified and established, a company’s core values facilitate the crafting of consistent communications across sectors, industries, markets and audiences that are authentic and credible stakeholders in that company.  Company communications about your core values help bridge any of the gaps between the various roles (i.e. employee, customer, investor) that stakeholders may have in relation to your organization.

 

A Change in Mindset on the Rise in Leadership

Why are Mindful Communications the Marketing Key to 21^st Century Success?

“Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing.”  John D. Rockefeller

Where do opportunities for market leadership abound in the 21^st century? In the past, companies have created market leadership by relying on the 4 Ps of the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion), but most heavily on the uniqueness of product, the competitiveness of price and the convenience of place. Historically, the 4^th P, promotion, has been subordinate to the other three.

Why then has promotion now emerged as THE competitive advantage – if one’s intention is to gain market leadership?

Today, access to global markets has evened out the playing field for many companies. They can now show that they also provide the product and service characteristics that created world-class standards and led to sustained market leadership for companies in the past. Promotion, the placement of your product or service, is about positioning your brand in a way that will demand or attract the attention of your target audience. Such positioning influences perception, and you gain market leadership when the perception you create confirms that the core values of your company are well aligned with the values of your target audience. Communications using this type of Mindful Marketing hit all the right notes with your target audience and stakeholders. They are, after all, the authentic voice of your core values: the beliefs and truths that guide your company’s actions in the marketplace.

The opportunity to use promotion to develop your market leadership presents itself in today’s world with more frequency and with more potential power because of the following reasons:

1. The number of communication mediums has increased – from a limited number of print and radio outlets to hundreds of channels over a multitude of communication platforms.

2. The entire globe is available, and it has become a self-serve, 24/7 marketplace.

3. The real-time use of such things as cell phones, texting and streaming video has made the immediacy of information exchange commonplace.

Therefore, the availability and flow of information between you and members of your target audience generate an ever-increasing potential for success as shown by the following:

1. You can now communicate constantly with your audience.

2. Your constant communication offers an opportunity to interact with your audience.

3. Your constant communication and interaction helps to clarify and strengthen your brand.

4. Your constant communication and interaction, as well as your powerful brand, creates your leadership role in the global marketplace.

 

Key Point – Everything in today’s marketplace is moving and moving fast. Positioning via promotion, therefore, is a daily challenge. However, as long as you take care to remain updated, muster the courage to seize opportunity ahead of the competition and provide feedback by mindfully addressing – through your communications – the concerns of all your stakeholders, you are acting in a manner that will gain and promote your market leadership.

Craft Your Company Vision as the Destination of Choice for Your Clients

How do you manage your clients’ experiences so that your clients are placed “on track” to the best possible result? How do you align your processes to ensure satisfaction during their “journey” (as they investigate or use your service or product) and as they arrive at their “destination” (become a consumer of your brand)?

Why not let your company vision serve as the “train track” that leads the client through the stages of consumption and purchase of your brand? To successfully write a vision statement that helps accomplish a “smooth ride” and ensures “arrival” to the perfect experience for your clients, make sure to include what you and your brand:

* Produce – so that they can assess its potential value in their business outcome.

* Promise – so that they have a way to set expectations for their experience.

* Deliver – so that they have a means to make a purchasing choice.

In order to create as close to 100% satisfaction at every point of contact your client has with your brand, a vision statement should answer the following questions: “In a perfect business environment, how do I want my service and/or product to perform?  What kind of experience do I want to create for my client?

What makes a compelling vision statement?

A successful vision is structured in such a way that the vision causes you and your clients to think, to feel and to act. Remember, in selling situations, people usually think through their values first, are then influenced by feelings or beliefs, and finally make a decision to purchase. If your vision statement, then, helps to justify your clients’ values, makes them feel good about the connection between those values and your service or product, they will be compelled to make that purchase.

Read my discussion on your vision’s close strategic association with your mission: “Use Your Company’s Values as a Measuring Stick for Its Performance.“

Send an e-mail message to maria@koreaccess.com today for an opportunity to receive a 20-minute free MARKETING BREAKTHROUGH consultation, with me!

Today's Trend - Marketing That Targets All Stakeholders

After the much publicized problems with the unintended acceleration of some Toyota models, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., has recalled more than 12 million vehicles worldwide and 10.5 million in the United States. The company also has responded by creating a safer technology, The Star Safety System™, along with a marketing campaign to tell us all about the innovation.

Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) will run its Star Safety campaign well into 2011. The Star Safety System™ combines five safety technologies as standard equipment on all new Toyota models. The Star Safety System includes Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), Traction Control (TRAC), an Anti-lock Brake System (ABS), Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD) and Brake Assist.

The marketing campaign centers on the message of safety and focuses on conversations about safety and quality between Toyota owners and engineers. (See the advertising online at www.toyota.com/safety.) The critics of Toyota’s safety campaign take issue with the advertising, stating that Toyota has not spent a sufficient amount of time and effort to apologize for its problems and has jumped, instead, into “selling safety” too quickly.

 

Do you agree? If your company had a major setback, how would you communicate about the incident? 

This marketer remembers the shocking Ford Pinto Memo that openly disclosed the cost/benefit analysis performed in order to justify the decision not to fix a fuel system design element, known to be faulty, when that design increased the chances of an explosion. The decision not to act was made despite the fact that an explosion upon impact greatly increases the possibility of burns or death to both driver and passengers. In contrast, the actions and messaging in response to Toyota’s design fault, although it is also potentially life-threatening, seems commensurate with the inherent danger.

Unlike the Ford scandal of the 1970’s, Toyota’s response has been one of immediate action. The company has set about to fix the problems on the existing models by issuing massive recalls and, in a very timely manner, assembled a team of engineers to design the best automobile safety system on the market. Their goal was to begin, within the quickest timeline possible, the installation of the new system, The Star Safety System™, as standard equipment on all new Toyota models.

 

In order to communicate this action plan, one of the advertising spots highlights Toyota’s fundamental pledge to invest the time and the people needed to follow through with their renewed commitment to safety. View the spot.

 

In another advertisement, Toyota acknowledges that they have not lived up to the expectations of safety they, and their customers, have for Toyota products. The ad outlines their plan to restore their customers’ faith in the company. View the spot.

 

In yet another advertisement, Toyota states that “everyone deserves to be safe no matter what you drive.” The ad highlights the Star Safety System, Toyota’s answer to automobile safety. View the spot.

 

In order to give a backbone to their claims, Toyota is also running a spot that talks about the safety awards their new innovations have won during 2010. View the spot.

 

Key Point - An interesting element of this marketing campaign is that Toyota has promoted the idea that safety is an issue that involves all of Toyota’s stakeholders. The messaging contains language meant to create a strong emotional connection to the primary value of safety, a value that is certainly a priority for all of us. After all, even if we do not drive a Toyota, the person who drives down the neighborhood street near where our children play, or the person who drives our husband to work in the carpool, may well be a Toyota owner.

 

Thus, Toyota’s advertising has placed the company in the spotlight as one of the responsible citizens of our communities. As such Toyota will have to live up to the ethical and moral stand they have just created for themselves, their employees and their products.

 

Online Interactions Add Value to Your Brand

Do you successfully reveal your authentic self  when you communicate online?   Even if you feel more effective over the phone or in person, you can master the art of online conversation. Search out ways to enhance your brand, participate in as many online activities as you can, and then reap the benefits. After all, the number of professionals who spend time online is on the increase, and you want to be right there to communicate your value to these prospects and buyers. How do you enhance the value of your brand by consciously creating memorable online experiences for your prospects and buyers?

 

Buyer Resistance Is Up

Are you successfully communicating your value to today’s cautious and concerned consumer? When economic times are uncertain, prospects require additional reassurance that you have the expertise to solve their challenges and the experience to customize a solution to meet their specific needs and wants. Therefore, ask yourself if you are successfully communicating your value in order to overcome initial consumer resistance, win prospects and close sales?

Read the April 2010 issue of Marketing Mindset  for best practices to improve the outcome of your selling efforts. Download KA_Ezine_APR_2010

Part III: The Core ABC’s of the Who, What and Why of your Online Brand

To assess the authenticity of your brand, evaluate the ABC’s of your online marketing messages and activities.  By examining the who, what and why of your online brand you will ensure your brand is credible and true to your organizational mission and vision.

 

Part III: The Why of Your Brand Online? Review the core Why ABC’s to evaluate and asses if the reason, the Why of your online activities, is executed in alignment with your mission and vision:

Anchors: What is your online personality?  Does it stay true to your organizational values and culture?

Brand: Does your brand talk about brand benefits as they relate to consumer needs?

Communications: Do your online efforts such as e-mail, blogging, and tweets clearly address challenges in a language clients understand? 

Once you have identified the ABC’s of the who, what and why of your online brand you will have the knowledge to target your audience with messages that speak to the core of your shared values. And remember: The who and the what will always follow your why!

Part II: The Core ABC’s of the Who, What and Why of your Online Brand

To assess the authenticity of your brand, evaluate the ABC’s of your online marketing messages and activities.  By examining the who, what and why of your online brand you will ensure your brand is credible and true to your organizational mission and vision.

Part II: The What of Your Online Brand Review the core What ABC’s to assess your organizational value and to ensure you act on core advantages:

Advantage: What is your online competitive value? How do you differentiate your services and product offerings?

Brand: Do you meet and exceed customer expectations with your online activities and client interactions?

Competencies: Do you maximize your core advantages? Are your best organizational performers involved in customer interactions?

To further enhance your online What, perform a competitive review and evaluate how your solution benefits create and deliver value to your prospective buyers and current consumers.

Use White Papers to Generate High-Volume Leads

Create a white paper and promote it in all online and offline marketing campaigns. After reading your white paper, self-qualified prospects may be led to ask you for more information on how your products and services can specifically meet their needs.

Reach more prospects with your white paper marketing initiatives. A white paper offers a broad range of uses in your organization. The same white paper, in print or as a PDF, can be effectively utilized in your efforts to attract, to inform and to convert buyers.

Offer a white paper in your Internet Marketing:   
1.    In return for customer information
2.    In exchange for an email address
3.    In return for taking a survey
4.    As a giveaway to generate Web site traffic
5.    As a bonus to a reply or registration
6.    As a bonus to a newsletter/e-zine subscription
7.    As link bait for a Web site or blog
8.    As an autoresponder information offering

Visit the free resources section of the Kore Access Web site and access many more white paper tips that will help you to gain customers. Click here.

*Produce your lead generating white paper. Let Kore Access colleagues create or update your white paper. To set up your initial, complimentary consultation and to get a customized project quote, contact us today.