Brand Management
Pointed Advertising By Anthony’s Pizza & Pasta
The aggressiveness of this campaign is powerful. Love it!
Naked Julianne Moore Billboard Too Much for Venice - You?
According to the Telegraph, “A giant billboard showing Julianne Moore, the American actress, naked posing with a Bulgari handbag and a pair of lion cubs has been ruled “inappropriate” by the guardians of decorum in Venice.”
Venice Mayor, Giorgio Orsoni, decided the billboard was too risqué for the city and elected a much more conservative photo of Ms Moore fully clothed and modeling Bulgari jewelry.
Is it? To you? Does this billboard exude elegance or does it expose too much sexiness?
5 Ways to Brand Your Business Online
This Week in Digital Media :: volume 14, issue 36
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5 Ways to Brand Your Business Online, For Starters
Your organization’s brand shines in your community. Your business is well-established in the Yellow Pages. Now what? Are the people still there?
Well, yes and no. The sharp increase in numbers of online shoppers over the past few years is very well documented. So your business’s brand is just as, if not more, important online as it is out in the community.
Where do you start? What tools are brand managers keeping at their fingertips? Here is a solid list to get you started.
- Blogging. Our thoughts on blogging are well documented.
- Video Marketing & Photo Marketing. Visual marketing, exposure, and branding can be the most influential strategy in your toolkit.
- Microblogging. Twitter and FriendFeed, to be exact.
- Email Newsletters. There will always be consumers that prefer email.
- Social Networks. Facebook. Period. Enough said.
Read the full article here >>>
Ad Campaign Brainstorming with the Dragas Team
Some tasks in our daily work lives are just flat out more enjoyable than others. And some clients are just flat out more fun than others.
Creative brainstorming sessions around new advertising campaigns with the marketing team at The Dragas Companies fits that bill!
JASE Creative Team Hard at Work for Dragas
Coffee, grapes, crackers, and cheese! Four vital elements to keeping the creative juices flowing.
This photo was taken during a skull session prepping to present new creative branding concepts to The Dragas Companies, a Virginia Beach builder, which specialize in building and the sale of new condominium communities.
What do you think Walt is saying to Sue? Something along the lines of “Don’t you like my cheese?”
Visit with a Local Client, Nathan’s Lynnhaven Pawn Shop
Yesterday our CEO had the pleasure of visiting the shop of a local client. Nathan Segal and Maurice Fuller were gracious enough to show him around their store.
JASE has recently signed with Nathan’s Lynnhaven Pawn Shop as their Digital Agency of Record to provide Internet Marketing evaluation, consultation and interactive services, and to guide and assist with their inbound marketing initiatives.
Here are a few photos from the visit to Nathan’s Lynnhaven Pawn Shop in Virginia Beach.
How To Build Your Business
Guest blogger and trusted business associate, Bill Boyer is the President of Tidewater CEO, a consulting/coaching organization for small company CEO’s. He can be reached at bill@tidewaterceo.com or 757-233-2577.
Every day people are starting businesses or growing their existing businesses by moving into new markets. The record for the business start-ups is not encouraging. Eight out of ten will fail in the first year and 60% will be out of business in five years. There are similar statistics on moving into new markets, but not as dramatic. The most disturbing analysis indicates that the failures have less to do with the lack of cash than with attitude and behavior.
How can you avoid crashing your dreams and not realizing your expected financial success? By following these suggestions you should be able to realize your goals.
The first question you must answer is to know what value your company or new products will bring to your clients and/or customers. Answering the question WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) for your customer/client is critical. You must be able to verbalize in a short statement what your customer will get from buying your product/service. To be able to sell something you must fill a need or solve a problem. If you can quantify the answer, that is even better.
Before you open your business or move into new markets, you must have a plan and a commitment to working the plan for success. Often new business owners start up a business and take a “wait and see” attitude. Will customers come in? Will we make it? You must have a well developed plan, and you must act on that plan daily. You must also monitor your results: if you are not achieving the progress you expected, reevaluate and make modifications.
Have a cogent marketing strategy. Be sure you are presenting a consistent image of your company to the customer. If all of your marketing materials and your discussions are not giving a consistent message about your company, the customer will not be sure of the value of your product or service.
Develop your local strategic partners. By strengthening these relationships, they can help you with business opportunities and often some very good advice. Can they help with referrals or suggest other partners? You may want to consider developing an even closer relationship with one of these who can become your mentor or coach. Consider developing an advisory board.
Don’t ever forget that no matter what type of business you have, you are always selling.
Past experience with high-pressure salespeople may have given you a negative impression of sales efforts in the past. Instead, look at your sales efforts as a way to develop a relationship where you understand your potential client’s business and issues. The focus must be on opening a relationship, not just closing a sale. When your customer recognizes that you have his/her best interest as a priority, you have a major advantage.
Network, network, network. There are three proven ways to build recognition of yourself and your company: networking, public speaking, and referrals. Initially, networking must be your focus. Do you know how to network? Can you describe your business succinctly and at the same time create a desire in the individual you are talking with to find out more about your business? You must do this in a way that also communicates your interest in the person you are talking to: this is not all about you; it is a way to learn about your potential customer. With networking, you want to develop the opportunity to have a second meeting with the individual so you can find out more about his/her business.
This may sound contradictory to some of the prior statements, but you must take some time off and be away from the business. This has been proven by research and experience. When you take time off you will accomplish two things. You will be more refreshed and creative, and you will be more productive.
Follow your “gut’. If something doesn’t seem right, it probably is not. Intuition has been proven over and over to be a great guide to decision making. Be assertive. Show conviction that you have a great product or service when dealing with potential customers. Don’t just talk about it. Push for the business. Take action. Make the tough decisions. Don’t be trapped into spending so much time collecting information and being absolutely sure you have all the answers, that you miss the opportunity for timely action.
If you follow these precepts your business will grow and become more profitable. Remember you must work ON your business, not just IN the business.
5 Ways to Brand Your Business Online, For Starters
Your organization’s brand shines in your community. Your business is well-established in the Yellow Pages. Now what? Are the people still there?
Well, yes and no. The sharp increase in numbers of online shoppers over the past few years is very well documented. So your business’s brand is just as, if not more, important online as it is out in the community.
Where do you start? What tools are brand managers keeping at their fingertips? Here is a solid list to get you started.
- Blogging. Our thoughts on blogging are well documented. Content is so important to a solid inbound marketing plan; a blog provides your business a way to publish quality content.
- Video Marketing & Photo Marketing. Visual marketing, exposure, and branding can be the most influential strategy in your toolkit. “People” remember video. “People” remember photos. Use the video and photo sharing communities to your advantage to touch their audiences.
- Microblogging. Twitter and FriendFeed, to be exact. The numbers of potential sponges in these online communities is massive. Be a part of those communities. Don’t get left behind.
- Email Newsletters. There will always be consumers that prefer email. The simple fact is that most C-level executives would rather have your message waiting for them in their inbox when they arrive at the office in the morning. Integrate your email newsletters with landing pages on your website, video on your YouTube page, and announcements on your blog.
- Social Networks. Facebook. Period. Enough said. Reach out and touch the millions of people infatuated with Facebook.
How To Keep Good Employees
Guest blogger and trusted business associate, Bill Boyer is the President of Tidewater CEO, a consulting/coaching organization for small company CEO’s. He can be reached at bill@tidewaterceo.com or 757-233-2577.
Right now, this is probably not a problem for many businesses. But business conditions will get better, and as business improves it will be critical that we keep our better employees. Do not ignore your stars. If you ignore them too long they will go somewhere else where they will be appreciated.
Many business owners think that money is the primary motivator. Surprisingly, in the list of reasons for working for a business, money ranks number seven. Of course, if you are paying much below the market rate for your industry and area, money will be the primary issue.
There are many factors besides money that have to do with the “quality of the job.”
Some of the important factors are a solid promotion path, the ability to be promoted, and being appreciated for their contribution to the company. There are many other important factors that also influence your employee’s satisfaction with your workplace.
First, make them a part of the organization. Make absolutely sure that they know the goals of your company and make your company’s goals a part of their goals. Let them know what is going on. You will be surprised how much they already know from just observing and listening to comments made by you and your close associates. While you may not want to give them all the details of your finances, give them general information about your financial condition. Let them know about sales opportunities and/or new products. We live in a very “small world” and your employees may have contacts you would never have imagined. If you foresee challenges or opportunities, let them know about these. They may have ideas that can help. Ask them for suggestions.
Afford them training to improve their knowledge and usefulness to the company. There are many inexpensive courses for the PC, sales training, or managerial development. Sending your people to training tells them “you are important to the organization.” Training plays a huge role in employee development and satisfaction. If you never train, you are capping their career. Your most ambitious employees will figure this out and leave, and you will be left with your weaker employees. Do not just promise training: at the beginning of each year, plan and budget for training.
Give your employees reasonable working conditions and the tools to do their job. Keep the workplace clean, be sure supplies are available, and reduce the noise level whenever possible. Make sure that the employee’s equipment (computer, fax, printer, or other equipment) is adequate for the employee to work efficiently and effectively. If the equipment is not adequate, do what you can to replace it. A poor work environment is a true demotivator
Develop some simple reward systems for the well-performing employees. You may not be able to afford a pay increase at this time, but you can still give them an extra day off or a gift certificate for a movie or dinner with their spouse or friend. Even if you cannot give these rewards, be sure to compliment him or her verbally when others can hear it. Everyone likes praise and wants to know they are appreciated.
Get to know your employees. It is amazing the results you will get from finding out a little something about their family and outside activities.
Let them hear from their external and internal customers. Let outside customers speak with employees about their satisfaction with the company; share complimentary letters with the employee. Encourage your employees to thank each other for their efforts.
A true story: Melissa had been working very hard to find a very talented employee who could help her take her company to the next level. She was elated that she was able to hire George by out-recruiting a much larger firm. George mentioned during the interview and after getting hired that he needed to improve his computer skills. Melissa was not comfortable training George on computers nor did she want to spend the money for outside training, so she totally ignored the request. In addition, while Melissa was very pleased with George’s performance, she never gave him any positive feed back. Eventually George quit, citing a variety of reasons. He felt that he was losing the opportunity to take on additional responsibility because of the lack of computer training. Also, the lack of feedback was quite disappointing. By investing in a few computer courses and some management development and giving George the positive feedback he was due, Melissa could have avoided this very costly error.
5 Ways Blogging Will Support Your Marketing Campaign
Think of your company’s blog as the eyeglass to a socialgraphic world populated by millions. We all know that blogging, inbound marketing in general, can be a daunting set of tasks. For starters, where do we start? Who do we target? How do we target our sponges? What tools that are available to us will be most effective and efficient for our shrinking budgets?
During the old days of advertising, these questions were easier to answer. Today, with the onslaught of Googlers and Bingers, the new world of power online marketing is not always in the marketing department’s toolbelt.
JASE can help you when you get to that point, but here are five items outlining how blogging will support your marketing campaigns and sales goals. And YES, blogging is where you should start.
- Search Engine Optimization. Our team preaches two main concepts of inbound marketing - content, content, content and inbound links. The top way to improve your SEO rankings is to increase the number of inbound links to your web entities (website and blog). In order to increase the number of inbound links, you must create quality content for your website and, more easily and frequently, your blog so others will want to link back to you.
- Lead Generation. In order to fill the sales funnel with active tasks for your sales team, you must have a steady source. For JASE, our blog leads the way for inbound traffic that generates leads that fill our sales funnel. The majority of our inbound traffic leads go straight to our RFP form, one of our very informative and educational marketing webinars, and sign up form for our This Week in Digital Media email newsletter.
- Executing Brand Strategies. JASE centers itself around 4 major talent areas - Inbound Marketing, Brand Management, Creative, and eBusiness Solutions. The values we live by, products we produce, and the services we provide are communicated almost daily on this blog. If you want to understand the JASE brand, simply read through our Digital Media Blog. We should be able to say that about your company.
- Public Relations. The old days of publishing a press release to your database of fax numbers is gone. You hear us? Gone. Your blog can be, and should be, your shouting box to the world. Think socialgraphics. Share new products, uncovered statistics, breaking news, and educational advice through your blog posts. Then follow them up with an email to your database of contacts that include relative news organizations.
- Social Media Optimization. Think of an octopus with tentacles. At the end of each of your tentacles is a social community of your sponges - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, etc. Leading back into the main brain center of your octopus is your blog. And all trails lead to your brain center. We know you are already active in social media. Just make sure your social media interaction leads those potential clients back to your brain center where you can 100% control the conversations and more successfully guide those generated leads into your sales funnel.
photo source: ccaviness
Tired of Being Bored? Want to Work With the Cool Kids? JASE is Hiring!
We are hiring a Director of Business Development and two Business Development Professionals.
Are you tried being bored to death everyday at your current position?
Want to work with the cool kids on the block?
We would love to have you be part of our team.
See the full job description and how to apply for one of the Business Development positions here.
New Webinar is Available :: Wide, Wide World of Video Blogging … for Business
View & Download the FREE Webinar
Video blogging, sometimes shortened to vlogging, is a form of blogging for which the medium is video, and is a form of Internet television. In this session we talk about why you should video blog, how you should video blog, several techniques for video blogging, and what benefits you can generate for your business by video blogging.
In the class, we will talk about many topics, but a few of them are:
- What is Video Blogging?
- Should you Video Blog?
- Video Shooting Tips
- Do you really have time for this?
- The Storage Facilities
- Streaming Video
- Video Blogging & Lead Generation
- When to Hire A Professional
- Are you sure Video Blogging is for you?
Buying Help at Discount Pricing
Guest blogger and trusted business associate, Bill Boyer is the President of Tidewater CEO, a consulting/coaching organization for small company CEO’s. He can be reached at bill@tidewaterceo.com or 757-233-2577.
Everyone knows that you get what you pay for. Few companies operate that way. More ironically, few businesses follow the rule “the systems run the business, the people run the systems.” Without good systems, better people are required. Because many smaller businesses have not yet developed good systems, they should compensate for that by hiring a strong staff. Yet, it is these same operators that do not want to pay the market rate and definitely not a premium rate. So they buy the help at discount pricing.
There are many reasons for this. One is that CEOs have occasionally gotten a bargain on an excellent employee; because of these occasional successes, they use a “bargain basement” pay strategy. This intermittent reinforcement has led them to believe that it is possible to get good people cheap. Conversely, many have had the negative experience of realizing that they are giving premium pay to employees who don’t measure up to expectations, so they fear that they may waste money by paying people more.
This process starts at recruitment. Good people can not be consistently recruited for low wages.
Real-life example
Sally prided herself on her bargain hunting ability. This spilled over into her employment searches. When Sally needed an administrator, she thought to herself, “This is an easy job. It really isn’t much more than a glorified clerk.” Sally figured she could get a good person for $8/hour. Sally did find a “qualified” person for $8/hour. Training the new employee took a bit longer than Sally figured, but hey, she was filling a $12/hour position for $8/hour. Over time, the administrator became an important resource for Sally. However, the administrator’s attendance became spotty. Sally was frustrated that whenever she needed the administrator the most was when she missed work. Sally felt like firing her administrator, but how could she find someone else for only $8/hour? Therefore she tolerated the spotty attendance. Eventually, the administrator took a job for $12/hour at another firm. Sally was forced to raise the pay of the position and retrain.
You may feel like you are getting a bargain when you:
- Pay less than the market rate for the position
- Pay a good person less than they are worth to the company
- Slot moderately qualified people into moderately underpaid positions.
And, for the short term, you are getting a bargain. But there are several long-term downsides:
- The company needs to have great training because it is starting with poorer caliber people. Training takes time and effort - do you have the resources necessary to train and re-train?
- If the organization does not pay market rate for good people, it will often get bad ones. When an organization is filled with mediocre performers, good performers will not want to work there. Winners attract winners.
- A tremendous amount of energy will be spent training mediocre people and turning them into good performers only to have them leave for more money. The company will be relegated to being a “farm team” for other companies.
- Here is the most important point: the CEO’s time is the most valuable time in the organization. His time is being wasted on “trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” It should not be tolerated. A business can only move at the speed of the CEO. This is keeping the company from achieving its potential.
Solution
Rate the existing staff. Prepare evaluations for each, identifying their strengths and weaknesses; give them a chance to improve within a specified time. The company may have poor performers who will never improve. If so, start the upgrade process. The poor performers will have to be replaced with better ones. Pay what is needed to get the talent that is required.
You may also have some “jewels in the rough” who are turning into good employees. You may want to increase job responsibilities or increase pay to ensure that you don’t lose their services.
Don’t pay the poor performers more, in hopes that they will improve. They are already being paid enough to not quit, so don’t waste the money on them. The company will most likely be able to reduce headcount. One terrific employee can do the work of two to three poor ones. You must get the best employee for your money, not the cheapest.
SMPSVA Panel Discussion: Businesses that are REALLY using Social Media!
This article was taken from our CEO’s personal blog. Keith Parnell is a regular blogger at keithparnell.com and a participant here in our digital media world.
Recently I had the opportunity to participate in a panel of professionals that put social media to work in their daily business activities. The event was hosted by the Society for Marketing Professional Services of Virginia at the prestigious Westwood Club in Richmond, VA.
Each time I attend and/or participate in an event like this, I learn so much valuable information from the experiences that other organizations share from their marketing experiences.
Thank you to LaTonya Whitaker, Creative Marketing & Brand Strategist at Hankins & Anderson in Richmond, VA, and President of the Virginia Chapter of the SMPS, for the invite to participate in the panel.
Members of the panel were Erin Orr, Marketing Director at FOX Architects LLC in Washington, DC; Tracy Gould, Director of Marketing at Baskervill in Richmond, VA; Sara Lowery, Marketing Coordinator at KSA Interiors in Richmond, VA; Keith Parnell, CEO at JASE Digital Media in Norfolk, VA.
Businesses that are REALLY using Social Media!
Tuesday 29th June 2010
http://smpsva.org/events/event-detail.php?id=129Join SMPS VA for a lunch session where we’ll be featuring four professionals who are utilizing social media as a part of their marketing and business development efforts.
You’ll learn about:
* What it takes to maintain a successful social media program
* Real examples from professionals currently using online media
* Best practices
* How to sell it to your firm’s leadershipSpeakers include:
* Erin Orr, Marketing Director, FOX Architects, Washington, DC
* Keith Parnell, CEO, Jase Digital Media, Norfolk, VA
* Sara Lowery, Marketing Coordinator, KSA Interiors, Richmond, VA
* Tracey Gould, Marketing Director, Baskervill, Richmond, VA
Are You a Decision-Maker or a Decision-Non-Maker?
Guest blogger and trusted business associate, Bill Boyer is the President of Tidewater CEO, a consulting/coaching organization for small company CEO’s. He can be reached at bill@tidewaterceo.com or 757-233-2577.
During my many years of working with or in companies, I am often aware of individuals who are very reluctant to make decisions. Decision-making is not easy, but not making these decisions generally leads to continuing problems in the company and sub-par performance.
The Latin word decido has two meanings. It can mean “to decide” or “to fall off.” Plants called deciduous have leaves that fall off. “Taking the plunge” suggests relevance for both meanings. Making the wrong decision provokes the fear of falling. Maybe this second meaning drives indecision–we are afraid of falling or failing. Or maybe we just don’t think the problem is big enough to require making a decision. Yet delaying decisions normally makes the situation worse.
There are many various methodologies that can be used for decision making: Pareto analysis, Kepner Trego, and PEST Analysis, for example. Most of these are based on the following steps:
- Define the problem or state the decision to be made. This may be a simple issue, as when you obviously need to hire a new employee. But if it is a more complex issue, you first need to define the problem and then try to understand it. Define the problem by answering these questions: where, how, when, and to whom it is it happening? But the most important question to answer is “Why is this problem happening?” If it is a complex problem, it may have to broken down into smaller segments; rank these according to severity. It is often helpful to discuss the problem with someone else to verify that you understand the problem, and to solicit different perspectives as to where, how, when, etc. This also helps clarify each person’s role in the problem.
- Look for potential causes by not only making a list of your ideas, but also collecting information from other associates in private meetings. Be sure to write these down. After performing this analysis, develop a final list which defines all of the collective issues and/or the necessary criteria. Prioritize these issues by determining which most likely has been the greatest contributor to the problem. When deciding to add a new employee, get others to suggest the necessary job responsibilities needed for this position. Then develop the job description for this position.
- Identify the alternatives. With most issues, you should include others in the process. Brainstorm for solutions. At this point do not make any judgments on each, just keep the list. This way you will collect as many ideas as possible. If it is an employee acquisition decision, and it is appropriate to include other employees in the process, list the candidates. Now compare your solutions or candidates to the priority lists that you have developed. You may find it helpful to put a numerical ranking on each, with the higher number being the most important.
- Now you should be able to narrow down your alternatives. If you are using the numerical rankings, put an additional value on how well each alternative will address the issue. Again the higher number is the most critical. By multiplying the “importance” factor times the “effectiveness” factor, you should get a mathematical indication of the solution. If you do not want to do this, use your judgment to rank each solution or individual. Once you have identified the best alternative, test it by asking these questions. Will it solve the problem for a long time? Is it a realistic answer? Do we have the resources? Is it affordable? And finally, what is the risk with each option?
- Put the decision into action. List the steps necessary to implement. Does it change processes or procedures? If so, define the changes. More importantly, communicate the changes and define who will be responsible for each. With personnel issues, it usually is just hiring the new employee. Although it could include terminating another employee.
- Having made the decision, it is often easy to ignore this critical step: monitor the results from the decision. Are the changes on schedule? Am I getting the results I expected? Do I need to make some modifications? If it is not working as expected, reevaluate. No one makes perfect decisions all the time. If we were wrong, do not be afraid to admit it. Carefully review the process, the basis for the first decision, and make another decision. Mistakes can be helpful when they lead to new learning and effective action.
- Has the problem been solved? Can we resume normal operations and not have to be concerned about the issue recurring?
- And finally, what did we learn? This analysis should help avoid similar problems in the future.
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