Against the Grain: Branding

When your sales team has a marketing challenge or opportunity, who are they calling? If you’re like many of today’s companies, there’s likely no one to call on, so your sales people end up doing the work themselves. Unfortunately, this is all too commonplace in today’s environment.

Left with no clear marketing leader, it’s every (sales)man for himself.

When marketing responsibilities are distributed across your entire sales force — with dozens of individuals creating their own ads, presentations, literature and more — your brand, message, best practices and value proposition can become frayed and inconsistent. And without a consistent message and position, you may be better off doing no marketing at all.

A brand is more than a name, logo or tagline. It’s a promise. A promise to customers and prospects of exactly what they can expect when they do business with an organization.

Keeping that promise in every aspect of how a business is run is vital. Not just with marketing, but in sales, service, manufacturing, management, and even how the receptionist answers the phone.

If the brand promise is, “Tough Stuff Made By Tough Guys,” don’t paint the trucks pale yellow. If customers are promised, “The Industry’s Best Service. Always.” don’t let customers sit on hold for 10 minutes waiting to speak to a technician. It sounds so simple, but it’s amazing how often this sort of silliness takes place. Don’t let it happen. Live the brand promise.

“Wait.... hold on... I think I have a... yep, yep, I have an idea”*

Trilix is founded on the three fundamental elements of insight, strategy and creativity. Within those fundamentals is the development of ideas which are a key component in all marketing strategies, campaigns and tactics. But how many ideas need to be developed in order to deliver one? So many hours are spent developing ideas that don’t get executed. How can you use your brainstorming sessions to your maximum benefit and deliver an idea that actually works?

1. Know your audience. Knowing your target audience will save you time and allow you to build relationships – and that kind of insight is priceless. Developing strong relationships with your clients, clients’ customers and your own employees can directly benefit client relations as you discover the goals and objectives of their business. If you do your research before the brainstorming session, you’ll find you can save a lot more time, energy and resources. Before each brainstorming session you should research your audience. Know their demographic, interests and dislikes and you’ll find these sessions to be more focused and productive.

2. Be prepared. Bring paper for everyone and set a time limit on the session. Setting a time limit will force you to focus on the task at hand. Take a brief break and brainstorm again for a few more minutes – some of the most valued ideas surface at the end of the session.

3. Look for variety. Don’t brainstorm only within your department – branch out! Include people from a variety of backgrounds with various years of experience. Your entry-level employee will look at things differently than your 20-year veteran. This variety will give you an opportunity to gain the most creative, versatile and unique ideas possible.

4. Get out of the cubicle. Leaving your usual think space allows your thought process to be clear of clutter, e-mails, to-do lists and visiting co-workers which can allow you to think productively. Use open-ended questions to start the session in order to trigger the flow of ideas. It’s beneficial to the thought process if brainstorming is done in a neutral setting. This prevents distracting interruptions and allows for all members of the group to contribute.

5. Stock pile your ideas. Write all of your ideas down! Even ideas that seem far-fetched or unrealistic should be recorded – you never know when one of those may just lead you to a solution. What’s important is that you focus on the quantity of ideas and not necessarily the quality. You obviously won’t be able to use all the ideas you develop, but keep them on file as they may work for another project later on down the road.

Brainstorming can be very beneficial to your company or organization. You can profit and grow through improving the products and services you provide to your clients. It can also expand your personal creativity and help you grow within your career. While the process may take some time, in the end, the outcome may just surprise you. And it’ll be worth every minute you spent.  

** Recognize the subtitle of the article? If you guessed it as a quote from the movie Dumb and Dumber, you guessed right! **

If he hadn’t been an electrical engineer, Charles Kettering, inventor of the electrical starting motor and holder of over 140 patents, would have been a great advertising person.  His approach to innovative thinking was based on a simple statement. “A problem well-stated is half solved.” Advertising people tend to be depicted as “idea” people, popping out slogan after slogan, brainstorming concepts and drawing on napkins. Yet, the real creative part of advertising is defining the problem, not necessarily developing the solution. Here’s a story from my first job to make the point.

Years ago, I was working as a writer for a radio station. Unlike this winter with its record snow and sub-zero temperatures, the winter I was working for the radio station was a mild one. As a result, a ski shop account was having a lackluster season. “We need to have a sale to move the merchandise,” suggested the owner. “We’ll put together a buy and possibly include a remote,” offered the radio rep.  Then it was up to me to write the spots. I decided to visit the store. There was no lack of customers in the store, but there was a lack of sales. People would try on coats and sweaters, but they seemed to have a problem committing to making a purchase at that time.

It became fairly obvious that a sale was not the solution, because the problem wasn’t a lack of customers or interest. The problem, simply stated, was people did not perceive a need. To increase sales we needed to somehow convince customers that it could get colder and snow tomorrow. So rather than a radio campaign, we suggested that the owner cover the picture windows with white paper, turn the heat down in the store and have employees wear sweaters.  A series of radio commercials featuring a threatening old man winter added to the message — winter could be here tomorrow so get ready. Together, these traditional and non-traditional approaches make a difference.

My point is simple, finding advertising/promotional solutions are a lot easier when you analyze the problem before you jump in with ideas. Often times, the solution may not even bet advertising. It could another element of promotion, a change in pricing or distribution or even a product/service enhancement. And only a well- developed problem statement will direct your creative thinking.

Albert Einstein once said, “If you could state a problem so succinctly, the answer would walk up to you, tap you on the shoulder and say here I am.” So the next time you are faced with a marketing challenge, take the time to state the problem and you won’t have to search for the ideas, the ideas will come to you.

I grew up two blocks from the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, NY. As a child I was well aware of the Eastman name—Eastman School of Music, the George Eastman Museum of Photography—but who was Kodak? I learned the answer while taking a field trip to the company in grade school. Kodak was a name made up by Eastman in 1888. He took the first letter of his mother's maiden name—Kilborn—and put it at the beginning and end of a five-letter word. After trial and error, he filled in the blanks with the letters o, d, and a, and a brand was born.

Not long after Eastman trademarked the name Kodak, another Rochester photography business began operation as the Haloid Company. Ever heard of it? Probably not. But in 1961, that company changed its name to Xerox. Knowing the background of the Kodak name, I always assumed that Haloid executives chose the letter X and like Eastman tried to fill in the blanks, finally arriving at Xerox. In reality, the Xerox name came from a process of printing patented in 1938—xerography, which was a word developed from two Greek words meaning dry printing.

There was never any question as to how another Rochester business got its name. In 1853, John Jacob Bausch and Henry Lomb partnered to begin a lens company. Today, Bausch & Lomb is the recognized leader in developing new materials and new technologies to help people see better.

Although these three strong brands used different approaches to naming their organizations, they share the common characteristics of what today's marketers would consider an excellent name. So if you are about to start an organization or rename an existing one, consider the following criteria for good names.

Is it distinctive? If your name doesn't separate you from the competition, no one will remember it.

Is it short and sweet? It's much easier to remember five syllables or less than an epic novel. Plus, a short name prevents employees and customers from creating confusing acronyms for your name.

Does it tell a story? Branding is all about storytelling. Does your name tell any story about your organization?

Can you spell it? A company name should not be a spelling test. Make it easy for people to spell your name. This is especially helpful when they do a Google search.

Will people use it? Some names are hard to pronounce. Some names are not appropriate for certain target markets. Will your customers embrace the name and feel comfortable using it?

Is it legal? Your name is one of your most valuable assets. Make certain it can be trademarked. You may also want to make certain that name and possible variations are available as URLs.

George Eastman summed it up best when explaining how he came up with the name Kodak—"The word Kodak was devised after a considerable search for a word that would be short, unique, easy to spell and meet the requirements of trademark law. Most importantly, there is commercial value in having a peculiar name; it cannot be imitated or counterfeited."

What's in a name? Everything—your past, present and future. So take the time to make certain the name you choose will accelerate your brand-building process.