Start passing the four-second test every time. And then go further:
Build a brand that draws your audience with colors, images and even the words that define them as a special tribe, loyal to you.
Phase 1.
The Comprehensive Branding Audit.
First question: Are you passing the four-second test? Where are your strengths? Where are your biggest opportunities? And how can we tie everything together to get you going as fast as we can, as affordably as we can?
Phase 2.
Audience-Focused Identity Development.
Depending on what we uncover in your Branding Audit, you might need anything from minor tweaks to your branding materials - known in the business as your identity - to a full overhaul.
Whatever work we need to do, though, we'll start from one place:
Your audience.
Who are your very bust customers?
What do they buy? How much, how often and when?
How much do they spend at a time? How well educated are they, and what do they do for a living?
How old are they? Do they read or watch television? In what proportion? Where do they spend their time - home, office, coffee shop, the mall?
Do they like to shop? Do they like sports? How do they feel about money?
What are their hobbies and interests? Are they urban, suburban or rural? Who do they admire? Who are they mad at?
Where do they vacation - home or away? In their own country, or outside it?
How do they feel about customer service? Do they feel it's their divine right, or do they feel guilty putting anyone to any extra effort?
Then, of course, there are the issues that have to do with your industry - how they use your products an services.
And, finally, we'll want to consider their media habits, so we know how and where to reach them.
Are they completely online - with heavy use of social media like Facebook and Twitter?
If they're under about 45 and work in offices, they probably spend a lot of time online. You'll want to have a presence across a variety of social media.
Do they mix online and offline media?
Even the completely-online folks - down to about age 25 - consume some regular media. And no matter how young - including teens and preteens - people still like getting real, postal mail if it's relevant to their interests.
Older folks like it too, which makes printed newsletters the single most valuable marketing tool you have. In any industry, for any audience. (But there's a trick to doing them right, so they really build your brand.)
AFID (rhymes with avid) packages . . .
Range from the very basic Four-Second First Impression to the full-on Corporate Power Presence - and has several options in between.
The Four-Second First Impression.
- Logo update.
- Favicon.
- Web template: home + content are the same.
- Email template.
- Printed newsletter template.
AFID Print.
Visual symbols.
- Logo.
- Favicon.
Web presence.
- Fully developed home page with copy.
- Content template.
- Email signature.
Print materials:
- Printed newsletter template.
- Business card.
- Brochure.
AFID Web 1.0.
The current mix of online and offline marketing.
Visual symbols.
- Logo.
- Favicon.
Web presence.
- Fully developed home page with copy.
- Content template.
- HTML email newsletter template.
- Email signature.
Print materials.
- Printed newsletter template.
- Business card.
AFID Web 2.0.
A social-media presence that builds your brand personality - on top of the identity that shows you're a real pro for the long haul.
Visual symbols.
- Logo.
- Favicon.
- Avatar.
Web presence.
- Blog template or ning network styling, in place of your own site.
- Twitter background. (You can also use this for several other social services.)
- Facebook branding.
- HTML email newsletter template.
- Email signature.
Print materials.
- Printed newsletter template.
- Business card.
And, finally, The Corporate Power Presence.
Visual symbols.
- Logo.
- Favicon.
- Avatar.
Web presence.
- Fully developed home page with copy.
- Content template.
- Full site build, with copy and visuals on every main page.
- HTML email newsletter template.
- Email signature.
- Twitter background.
Print materials.
- Printed newsletter template.
- First year's editorial, layout and production art.
- Brochure.
- Business card.
Sales materials.
- Video.
- Product packaging.
- Vehicle or office signage.
Phase 3.
Make Some Noise!
Once we've got your identity in place, you'll want to develop some sales materials that help assess your audience's needs and tell them more about what you offer.
Here's a partial list:
- Sales letter or ad copy on any web page, if a full site build wasn't in an AFID package.
- Full site build, if it wasn't part of an AFID package.
- Store, office or vehicle signage.
- Capabilities presentation in PowerPoint.
- Capabilities presentation in Flash.
- Product or company video.
- Economy video.
- Brochure.
- Letterhead/envelopes/labels as Office/ iWork templates
- Media packaging:
CD/DVD disks and cases, presentation folders or catalog/booklet envelopes. - Product packaging.
- Advertorial/tearsheet promotion.
- Direct mail package: Letter, outer envelope, brochure, reply card.
- Self-mailer: trifold jumbo postcard.
Phase 4.
Make some sales!
With
Dynamic Integrated Marketing.
Too often, entrepreneurs will send out one mailing, one time, and decide that direct marketing doesn't work. And they're right, if that's all they do.
What it really takes is a sequence of four to seven contacts with your audience, across several different media, over no more than three weeks, that offers something your audience actually wants.
Not another exclusive private sale invitation or elite Gold member club - all of which are merely opportunities for you to separate them from their money.
But something that really solves a problem they have in their lives or businesses. That is directly relevant to their creative passions, or gives them outlets for fun and escape. That helps fulfill their needs for financial security and family well-being. Or that leads them in the direction of personal growth, as they find their best selves.
Make an offer that hits one or more of those proven hot buttons, and execute a Dynamic Integrated Marketing campaign blast to drive response, and you'll find you won't just generate response. You'll generate serious revenue.
A typical Dynamic Integrated Marketing blast includes:
6 x 9 direct mail package:
- 6x9 outer envelope, in full color, draws attention even before the prospect gets the day's mail fully sorted.
- Sales letter uses the theatre of the mind and strategically placed graphic elements to tell the story and make the emotional pitch - even in business-to-business - that persuades the reader that the product really is going to be the answer to his/her prayers, dreams, wishes in the relevant areas. It also makes the offer - the reason why, apart from the wonderfulness of the product itself, there's a reason to act NOW: the discount, the added FREE bonus gifts, the special holiday rush service, the chance to double your order at no extra cost, the package pricing that's good only for the next two weeks, the special event that only new members will get an invitation to, and so on - and sells that offer as ahard as it does the product itself.
- Color brochure shows the very features of the product that are going to produce the benefits the reader knows, thanks to the sales letter, that s/he cannot now live without. (This might, in some cases, also be a DVD presentation if the product is complex or intangible.) It might also focus on the offer, or a second one might detail the offer.
- Reply card gives the prospect several ways to respond: by faxing the card in; by email; by phone or by entering a code at a special landing page on your web site.
Landing page.
A one- to two-page microsite that fulfills at least one step of the offer and takes the prospect one step closer to the sale.
Email campaign.
Three to six emails that parallele the high points of the direct-mail promotion.
Twitter.
Multiple tweets over several days that link to a . . .
Promo/Squeeze page.
Explains the promotion to date, catches up newcomers and helps folks who've been responding advance to the next steps in the sales process.
Jumbo double postcard.
To nonbuyers; sweetens the offer to get them on board as the promotion begins to wane.
Email series 2.
Counts down to the final response deadline. As the mails go on, the tone gets more and more excited and desperate - less and less beliving that someone would actually let a great offer like this one get away. The final email, after the deadline has passed, tells the stragglers they really have missed the opportunity of the year. And we're very, very sorry.