&

HBWC – 6th June 2012

Marketing and Branding

Getting it right…

What is marketing???

• Marketing - Creating, communicating, and delivering value to the customer.

• Marketing is not sales! Marketing is everything you do to reach and persuade customers. The sales process is everything you do to close the sale. Marketing creates opportunities, and sales brings about outcomes. Marketing focuses on long term concerns while sales is related with short term focus.

• Marketing will make your business seen and help identify your customers.

Marketing – What’s Included:

• Branding• Advertising• Printed Materials – Leaflets, business

cards, etc• Signage/livery• Public Relations (PR)• Website• Research• Feedback/Reviews• Social Media• And much more…

Don’t work ‘against’ your competition…work ‘with’

them!• Share experience, knowledge and skills.• Collaboration can make the end product

more appealing to the consumer.• Working together will build strength

rather than embedding weakness into the business.

• It will create new opportunities and open new doors.

BRANDINGWhat’s it all about?

In 1970 you wouldsee on average

500marketing messages

every day

Today, we arebombarded with over

5,000marketing messages…

EVERY DAY!

Straplines…

Strapline (Slogan) Quiz

• Just Do It• Sail the Loch, live the Legend• Every little helps• Simples!• Because I’m worth it• Finger lickin’ good• It’s good to talk• Discover more than just discounts…

Why have a strapline?

• Increase brand awareness• Instant recognition• Show customers your aims and qualities• Differentiate you from competitors• Highlight benefits of your product• Helps communicate to a new market• Adds another dimension to marketing

materials

ConsistencyConsistency

Consistency

COCA-COLA

APPLE

INNOCENT

Going local…

Getting it right online…

P.S. Consistency, consistency, consistency!

NIKE

Facebook Twitter

Coca-Cola

Facebook Twitter

FINDOCHTY HOLIDAY COTTAGE

Facebook Twitter

HYPER ARTS

Facebook Twitter

AMSTERDAM PRINTING

Facebook Twitter

Branding checklist:• Is your logo still relevant to your

company?• Is it suitable for use on social media?• Do you use it on everything you

produce?• Email signatures – is everyone using

the same?• Do your adverts have a similar style?• Does your printed literature have a

similar style?• Be consistent!

Website Essentials…

• Choose the correct domain name, avoid hyphens and ensure you own .co.uk and .com

• If possible get website built with a content management system – allows you to do updates.

• If you’ve got a website you should have an email address to match. ISP email addresses (Hotmail, aol, BT, etc) can look really unprofessional and will weaken your brand.

• Keep content to a minimum…don’t overload it! Some people will close it just as quickly as they opened it!

• Good navigation is critical, make sure you menus are clear and the website is well laid out. Have good links back to ‘home’.

• Website SEO (search engine optimisation) should be a priority so that search engines find your website. Getting a professional to fully optimise your site is recommended.

• Make sure your website design reflects your brand. Generic website templates might work initially (Spanglefish, 1and1, etc) but won’t do your business or brand any good long term.

• Be careful with the tone of the content on your website. You may want to consider getting a copywriter to work through it.

• Every page on your website should add ‘value’, if it doesn’t get rid of it!

• Don’t distract your visitors with moving images, sound and scrolling text!

• Make sure you include your email address on the website as well as a contact form.

• If you have got business premises then make sure your full address and a map if possible are in the contact page.

• If you are using social media channels then make sure you have clear links from every page on your website.

• If you’ve got customer reviews display them! This can be done in various ways. Also include links to TripAdvisor where applicable.

• Ensure you include relevant privacy statements, website T&C’s, copyright, etc.

• Keep content regularly updated and relevant.• Use Google Analytics to monitor how popular the

different pages are and adjust to suit.

Social Media

If you are using social media for your business then you must

ensure that you do it in a controlled, professional and

consistent manner! It must also tie in very closely with all other marketing undertaken for your

business.

Why use social media for business?

• Raise brand awareness• Increase traffic to website• Its cheap and its fast• SEO (search engine optimisation)• Your customers are using it!• To find new customers• Widen your target market and potential reach• Build strong relationships with customers• Build strong relationships with local businesses• Market research• And much more…

Social Media Mishaps – What to avoid!

• Using social media channel purely for sales• Lack of interaction and updating• Not tying it in with your other marketing and

branding• Getting too personal• Having no overall ‘plan’ in place• Reacting badly to negative feedback• Inconsistent content, bad spelling, etc• Doing updates not related your business/market• Too many updates• Expecting immediate results• Using social media instead of other marketing

techniques

How to let customers know you are using social

media…• Icons/links on website• Icons/links within your blog• Links from other social media accounts• Icons on printed marketing materials• Links within email newsletters• Links on email signatures• Tent cards within your business premises• Window stickers within your business

premises• Mention it to customers in conversation

Examples of businesses doing social media

well…

Five things to do tomorrow:1. Email Signature: make sure it includes up

to date information – Facebook/Twitter links2. Stationery: Make sure everyone is using

the same typeface/size/colour/layout in all correspondence

3. Review: take all your marketing material – adverts, stationery, leaflets – everything you can think of! Lay it all out on a table; is everything consistent or a bit disjointed?

4. Avatars: Does your logo work in the square format?

5. Social Media: Not using social media for your business? It’s time to start…

www.snowmarketing.co.ukwww.clockstudio.co.uk

Find us on…