Market-NOW! - A blog for B2B marketing today

A Strong Corporate Identity is a Marketing Goldmine

When you hear the term 'corporate identity' you most likely either wonder what exactly it means, or know that your company has a strong or a weak one. Your corporate identity is vital today because it lets others know what your company stands for. Whether you are in marketing, or any other business, your corporate identity sets you apart from all the rest, and gives everyone in your company something to believe in. It is important because it reflects every aspect of your company. It represents not only customer interaction, but also the role your employees play in your company, and how they feel about it.

Dan Vivian, joint managing director of Design Group, has some great advice for those looking to create or strengthen their corporate identities. “You need to decide what is the core proposition of the company — what you do and what you sell,” he said. “If you don’t know what the company stands for it is difficult to create an identity. If you have no vision or proposition for the company, it will fall apart.”

Here are a few tips from Vivian on working up the most powerful corporate identity possible:

• If you don't know what your company stands for, have a brainstorming session with a few key colleagues from different departments and really hash out your ideas.
• The Goal: Come up with an image and message that will lodge in people's minds.
• Your identity should be as consistent as possible. Imagine it as one loud voice shouting from a rooftop instead of a lot smaller voices, which could get confusing.
• One key goal is to get everyone in your company backing the identity. Make sure your entire company is motivated by the identity, and that no one is confused by it.
• Identify your reasons for change. The reasons could be many or few, and can range from entering a new market to realizing new competition to simply becoming more visible in your sector.
• Once your identity is in place, commit to maintaining it and check in on it regularly to be sure that everything is still relevant and 'working.'

Click here to read the full article by the Times Online.

Social Media vs. Email - The Scoop on Ben & Jerry's

As we find ourselves in the heat of the summer, daydreaming about lazy days in the sun and long trips to the beach, we should take a minute to stop and 'tweet' the ice cream. Ben & Jerry's ice cream to be specific.

In a recent blog post, Ben & Jerry's announced that their customers will no longer be receiving email marketing from the brand, and that instead they invite their fellow ice cream lovers to join them on Facebook and Twitter for updates. Ben & Jerry's is the first major corporation to discontinue email marketing in favor social media, so we can learn a lot by monitoring how successful their decision is in the near future.

Ben & Jerry's customers' preferred being updated via social media so they made the groundbreaking decision to halt subscribed email altogether. This is an extreme example of how important it is to read your customers and figure out the best way to deliver information to them. It shows that Ben & Jerry's is committed to maintaining a positive, growing relationship with its current and future customers.

It seems likely that Ben & Jerry's will find success in moving away from email as their main marketing tactic because they already have an extremely strong social media presence, but most companies will want to consider that email marketing remains a powerful tool and, in most cases, should not be abandoned. It is vital that you analyze your current marketing strategies and look for tactics that are successful for your brand while eliminating programs and campaigns that do not drive interest or awareness. More than likely you do not want or need to discontinue your email marketing, but rather hone in on what is working for your company and focus on making those strategies even more powerful.

You must be receptive and give your customers more of what they want, and also make it easy for them to get it. Once that happens, they will surely be back for more. Be inspired by ice cream...people will always keep going back for more because they know they can choose the flavor that suits them best.

Source: HubSpot. Click Here to read more.

Create Eye-Catching Marketing Collateral

When creating collateral for your company, be it a one page newsletter or a multi-page document describing your top offerings, it is important to keep design aesthetic in mind. While the content is surely the most important part of your documents, you will experience much greater readability if you follow a few simple 'rules' when it comes to collateral layout and design.

• Utilize White Space! This is one of the best things you can do to create professional looking marketing collateral. Less is more, so don't cram all of what you have to say close together. Use more pages if necessary, or make your body text more concise.
• Be consistent in the Font that you choose. Use up to 2 different fonts per piece - remember that you can choose different variations of those fonts like Bold and Italic, or use different font sizes to increase interest.
• Choose a font other than the default. When you consciously decide to be more creative in your font choice, it conveys to your reader that you put thought and intention into your work (just be sure the font you choose is easily readable).
• Add Pictures! To avoid the 'yawn factor', add relevant and tasteful photos or imagery into your work to break up the text. Images can also be useful for creating sections in your work, allowing you to highlight different ideas or topics. Stock photos are a good choice because you will own the rights to use the images. Stock Imagery can easily be purchased online where you can browse through thousands of choices.
• Choose a color palette and stick with it. It is best not to use every color of the rainbow in your collateral - instead, choose a main color to use for your headlines and highlights, and then choose another color to use as a compliment if you wish. Muted colors often go well in marketing collateral, and using your company colors is a good option as well.

Creating an eye-catching collateral piece doesn't have to be overwhelming.  Just keep your style consistent, keep it simple, and when in doubt, leave it out.

TSL is Sponsoring the Upcoming MarketingProfs B2B Forum

This coming week TSL Marketing will be sponsoring the MarketingProfs B2B Forum. We are excited for the event, and if you are planning on being there stop by booth 17 to say hello. 

These are a few event highlights...

• Get a comprehensive B2B marketing education
  
• Sharpen your B2B skills overnight
• Use social media to grab more attention
  
• Learn from your peers in the interactive discussions

If you want to view full agenda for the Forum, click here.
 
We definitely are looking forward to hosting the Wii station at the Forum, it should be a fun way to see everyone between sessions, seminars, and speakers. If you are planning on attending, stop by and enter the raffle for a chance to win the Wii at the end of the day on Wednesday.

If you are unable to attend the forum, check back in the coming weeks and we will be sure to share some of the new information, marketing trends, and sales advice we will learn about while we are there.

Event details can be found by logging on to the MarketingProfs website, or by clicking here.

 

Top Marketing Trends for 2010

As 2009 is nearing its end and the holiday's are upon us, determining the best way to go to market for 2010 is on everyone's mind. TSL is in the process of collecting research from various sources to put together this coming years 2010 trend report. We are interested in hearing from you on what you think will be the best way to go to market this January. Here are the top 5 questions we have come across:

1. Will Social Media continue to grow at a fast pace?
2. Seminars vs. Webinars - what is your preference?
3. Are tradeshow sponsorships worth it?
4. Direct Mail - why send snail mail?
   
5. Should you use an avatar?

Feel free to answer these questions or ask your own. We would also like to hear your insight as to what you think will be a top trend in 2010. Be sure to leave your name and email address so that we may share our final trend report with you as soon as it is released.

To check out our Top 5 Marketing Trends for 2009, click here

Thanks for sharing!

Lead Generation - what's it to you?

Earlier this week I was speaking with a group of marketing and sales individuals who all seemed to have a very strong, very different opinion on what lead generation was. As it turns out, with the rise of marketing automation, social media, .com downloads, and pure cold calling, lead generation is quite the complex term. So what's it to you? Let's take a poll:

I look forward to the results of this poll as well as your comments on what you feel the term lead generation stands for.

 

Jump on the social media bandwagon

Social Media has become the highest growing medium for marketing worldwide. Have you jumped on the bandwagon yet? 

 

Here are some of the increased benefits to integrating a social media plan to your marketing schedule:

 

• Increase company reach by thousands 
• Generate awareness for your firm
• Save time and money by cutting back on travel and making "virtual" connections
• Drive new leads through social promoting
• Develop relationships through adding a personal touch to your blogging/tweets/updates/etc.  

 

If you're new to the world of social media, we find that a great place to start is through linkedin, twitter, or facebook. However there are an abundance of other sites that are becomming cluttered and confusing for the new social media explorer. The question of "how much is too much" is constantly being asked as companies continue to try to take a piece of the online social pie. 

If you have implemented social media into your world of marketing, you probably have an opinion on what works best. Let's share in our experiences... what social media sites do you find drive the most leads for your business, awareness, and overall reach?