Masterful Marketing » brand identity

Marketing Content Review

Debra — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:10:39 +0000

This is post six in the year end marketing review series to help small business owners get ready for a wonderful new year.

Most small businesses have a Web site and some marketing materials that most likely were written a few months ago but maybe longer. Keeping your content fresh, whether it is on your Web site pages, blog or printed materials is important to establishing your credibility and a consistent brand.

Remember that your brand is everything you do and say, not just the visual image your business projects. If your marketing tools are inconsistent with what you tell people, that reflects poorly on your brand. Ensuring your content is up-to-date and your message is consistently delivered to your prospects is an important exercise that should be done at least once a quarter. The more often you review your content, the less work it will become. Doing this review once a year most likely means a lot more content needs to change.

Let the Review Begin

We’ve just determined if:

Our target market has changed;
Our products and service offerings were aligned with the needs of our target market;
We know what makes us different;
Our core marketing message helps your prospects decide why they should do business with you.

Armed with this information, it’s time to review your materials for consistency and accuracy with what you are actually providing your clients. Start with your Web site and make changes there. When you are happy with the content, then you can update your print materials (if you have any) accordingly.

As you review your content, keep the following questions in mind:

Do I clearly identify on the home page who I work with, what I do for them and how I help them so I get my ideal client’s attention quickly?
Are the description of my service offerings still something people can buy or have I changed the pricing and packaging and forgot to update the details on the Web site?
Have I added a great new service or product offering to my lineup but forgot to add it to my Web site?
Is my profile accurate or do I need to update it? What does my profile look like with respect to the one I have on LinkedIn?
Do I make it easy for people to connect with me via my social networks?
Do all the links on my site still work?
Is this the year I should commit to adding a blog to my site and create a plan for providing my target market great content?

It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day activities of running your business and working on your business usually gets put aside. But your Web site content, marketing materials and consistent brand is too important to put aside and forget. I know I had to revise my Web site content to align what I was actually providing to my clients with what was described on the Web site.

What questions did I miss that we should be asking when reviewing our marketing materials for quality content?

Updating Your Brand

Debra — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:58:21 +0000

Will the Change Help or Hurt?

A former client of mine that I’ve worked with for quite a while decided to update their brand. They had talked with me about it while I was there helping them out as they looked to hire a VP of Marketing. They had recently received VC funding and they were planning some much needed expansion of the marketing organization. My assumption was that they would refresh the image but keep the fundamental style, as after four years, their brand had an awareness in the computer security market.

Rapid7 - Original Logo

As you can see, the new logo is quite different from the original. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t dislike the new logo. But my first impression is that they took a distinctive logo and changed it into something that looks very similar to other high technology company images. The original logo was created to project speed and agility and among a sea of vendors on web sites and tradeshow signs, the logo stood out and was noticed.

Of course, I may not be too objective as I was involved with the original logo design. But you tell me if you think changing their logo will help them or not.

Rapid7 Updated Logo

And it’s ok if you like the new better than the old. I’m looking for opinion about changing your brand drastically and whether this change is for the best. There are definitely times where companies need to do so, but this company was doing well, have a great reputation and are growing rapidly – all reasons why not to change.

So let’s start this conversation. Give me your opinion on the new brand.

No related posts.

The Balancing Act in Marketing

Debra — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:53:26 +0000

Knowing What You Should and Should Not Do Yourself

Entrepreneurs and independent professionals love to do it themselves. I know, I’m one of them. But coming to grips with what you can do yourself, what you should do yourself and what you should stay completely away from is a great learning experience that will benefit your business far better than learning how to execute the best direct marketing campaign.

But many of us entrepreneurs and independent professionals also need to watch how much money we spend so we continue to have a business. But there are ways to cut costs while getting expert professional help.

I have been given the opportunity to write a monthly column for a publication, and in return they have given me a quarter page ad. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the ad, so I opened my trusty Photoshop and proceeded to create the ad with the copy I wanted. The image below is my rendition.

Then I sent the ad I created to my designer to make it better.

Now why didn’t I think of that design? Because I’m not a designer. And, as you can see, the ad created by the designer is, of course, far better than what I could do. Where I saved money was by providing the designer the copy and overall theme for the ad. She applied her expertise and tweaked the copy to make it stand out more.

As a business owner, you can save money in marketing doing the things yourself that you do well and bringing in an expert to do the rest. If you can write, do your own writing for the Web, brochures, articles and other materials and engage designers, web developers and other specialists to take your ideas and make them stand out.