As we approach the end of 2010, it is important for business owners to revisit their company’s brand identity. Does your brand still represent your company’s mission and goals? Does it continue to effectively showcase your company’s products and services? Does it appeal to your target audience? Once you’ve determined how your brand measures up, it is important to evaluate whether your company’s marketing pieces reflect this direction. Consider these tips for evaluating your brand.
Strategy. When revisiting your brand, it is important to take the time to meet with the decision makers in your company to evaluate your company’s strategic direction and if it still holds true. Through CMA’s Marketecture™ process, we take clients through a strategic planning session to determine an appropriate direction for branding and marketing their company.
Logo. As your logo is an important element to your company’s brand identity, make sure to evaluate whether it continues to standout in the minds of current and prospective clients. Does your logo format, color and design represent your company and speak to your target audience? You ultimately want to ensure your brand is identifiable throughout your targeted market.
Sales brochure. Your company sales brochure is consistently utilized by your team during the sales process. Make sure you determine whether it effectively showcases your company and its products and services, as this is a main tool in helping to bring in new business. Also, evaluate whether the information in your brochure clearly explains to your target audience why they should select your company’s products and services to fulfill their needs.
Need help re-establishing your brand? Give us a call today.
Jeffrey Barnhart
President and CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com
Showing posts with label Marketecture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marketecture. Show all posts
Friday, November 19, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Keeping Things Fresh
It’s August and the summer is still in full swing, but that doesn’t mean you should stop thinking about ways to continuously keep your marketing efforts fresh. Now is the time to evaluate your company’s marketing vehicles, as they are the drivers for increasing your visibility in the marketplace and bringing in new customers. Consider looking at the following areas of your business, so that come September, you can put your best marketing foot forward.
Key messages. Examine your company’s key messages and make sure they continue to accurately represent your company’s brand and products and services. If this has changed, bring together an executive team to determine what has changed and how these need to be altered to help move the company forward. Many CMA clients have taken advantage of our strategic marketing process called Marketecture(TM), which helps companies focus on outside forces that may be affecting your customer base as well as determine key message alterations to communicate better.
An example of a recent logo update for Homasote, the 101 year old manufacturer of building and industrial packaging products made from 98 percent recycled materials, which was the result of a Marketecture session:
Website. Your company’s website is the main information source for your target audience and the destination for all things associated with your business. Do you have current case studies showcasing your products and services? Are there up-to-date testimonials from clients? Does your newsroom reflect all current media placements and press releases? Evaluate how current the information is on your website with an experienced marketing team that can help add any items that will enhance the visitor’s experience, including social media “widgets” and other new media tools.
An example of a website redesign that helped strengthen a client's brand with rotating images and a cleaner design:
Sales materials. Determine if your sales materials truly showcase your company’s products and services. These materials aid your team in the overall sales process and help your company stand out from the competition. A seasoned team like CMA can help you stay current and creative while still making sure your information and visual imagery accurately showcase your products and services’ capabilities.
An example of a suite of sales materials designed for ESI Lighting, a manufacturer of energy-efficient lighting technologies:
Need help keeping your company’s marketing efforts fresh? Send us an email today.
Erin Higgins
Director of Marketing Services
ehiggins@cmasolutions.com
Key messages. Examine your company’s key messages and make sure they continue to accurately represent your company’s brand and products and services. If this has changed, bring together an executive team to determine what has changed and how these need to be altered to help move the company forward. Many CMA clients have taken advantage of our strategic marketing process called Marketecture(TM), which helps companies focus on outside forces that may be affecting your customer base as well as determine key message alterations to communicate better.
An example of a recent logo update for Homasote, the 101 year old manufacturer of building and industrial packaging products made from 98 percent recycled materials, which was the result of a Marketecture session:
Website. Your company’s website is the main information source for your target audience and the destination for all things associated with your business. Do you have current case studies showcasing your products and services? Are there up-to-date testimonials from clients? Does your newsroom reflect all current media placements and press releases? Evaluate how current the information is on your website with an experienced marketing team that can help add any items that will enhance the visitor’s experience, including social media “widgets” and other new media tools.
An example of a website redesign that helped strengthen a client's brand with rotating images and a cleaner design:
Sales materials. Determine if your sales materials truly showcase your company’s products and services. These materials aid your team in the overall sales process and help your company stand out from the competition. A seasoned team like CMA can help you stay current and creative while still making sure your information and visual imagery accurately showcase your products and services’ capabilities.
An example of a suite of sales materials designed for ESI Lighting, a manufacturer of energy-efficient lighting technologies:
Need help keeping your company’s marketing efforts fresh? Send us an email today.
Erin Higgins
Director of Marketing Services
ehiggins@cmasolutions.com
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Do Your Research - Understanding the Green Market
According to a recent ImagePower Green Brands Survey, 80 percent of consumers believe it is important to buy from green companies, most responded they would spend more on green products. Word of mouth also leads as the way 50 percent of Americans learn about green products and services. Online search engines and television also remained popular channels for learning about green, according to a recent quarterly update from the Green Confidence Index.
Findings such as these provide valuable information to business owners when developing and executing a plan for marketing their eco-friendly products and services. Before rushing into executing your marketing ideas, it is important to take a step back and focus on the strategic direction of your efforts to ensure your message is reaching the correct target audience through the appropriate channel in a format they can easily understand.
Through our strategic analysis process, Marketecture™, we help clients identify and analyze relationships between marketplace competitors and the criteria used by target audiences in making buying decisions. Also through this process, we can provide primary and secondary research to help clients better understand their market, in this case, the green market, to gauge how their target audience feels about sustainable products and services.
Consider the benefits of conducting market research:
1. Understanding your current position in the marketplace
2. Identifying your main competition and analyzing how you stand up against them
3. Determining your products or services’ role in the strategic direction of your company
4. Analyzing your company’s strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities to grow your business
5. Evaluating market forces that influence your target audiences’ buying decisions, helping to determine how you can overcome these challenges and remain profitable
Conducting market research is an important element in the promotional process and will truly help you develop the best strategic marketing plan for your company, enabling you to effectively reach your target audience and produce the highest results.
Let CMA utilize our strategic marketing expertise to help point your marketing efforts in the right direction.
Jeffrey Barnhart
President and CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com
Findings such as these provide valuable information to business owners when developing and executing a plan for marketing their eco-friendly products and services. Before rushing into executing your marketing ideas, it is important to take a step back and focus on the strategic direction of your efforts to ensure your message is reaching the correct target audience through the appropriate channel in a format they can easily understand.
Through our strategic analysis process, Marketecture™, we help clients identify and analyze relationships between marketplace competitors and the criteria used by target audiences in making buying decisions. Also through this process, we can provide primary and secondary research to help clients better understand their market, in this case, the green market, to gauge how their target audience feels about sustainable products and services.
Consider the benefits of conducting market research:
1. Understanding your current position in the marketplace
2. Identifying your main competition and analyzing how you stand up against them
3. Determining your products or services’ role in the strategic direction of your company
4. Analyzing your company’s strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities to grow your business
5. Evaluating market forces that influence your target audiences’ buying decisions, helping to determine how you can overcome these challenges and remain profitable
Conducting market research is an important element in the promotional process and will truly help you develop the best strategic marketing plan for your company, enabling you to effectively reach your target audience and produce the highest results.
Let CMA utilize our strategic marketing expertise to help point your marketing efforts in the right direction.
Jeffrey Barnhart
President and CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com
Friday, April 23, 2010
Are You Recycling Your Marketing Ideas?
With Earth Day upon us this week, you’ll be reminded once again of all the ways you can better serve our environment through reducing your consumption, reusing various items and, of course, recycling. But take a moment to consider recycling in another light—one that could be damaging your reputation among key target audiences.
Sometimes clients will tell us “that’s what we’ve always done” when referring to their marketing strategies. Sometimes this is a good thing. Often times, it’s not. Marketing is about innovation and keeping in touch with your audience’s needs and desires, so ask yourself how you can keep it fresh before you fall into the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” way of complacent thinking.
Here are some ways CMA can help keep your marketing messages and graphics fresh and enticing:
Just ask. When was the last time you conducted research on your target market? Have you ever sent a survey to them? Sometimes a simple e-mail survey can work wonders to help you pinpoint the right words and graphics that will resonate with key decision-makers.
Update your brand and/or campaign. One of the most successful advertising campaigns in history is Geico’s series of “caveman” spots. Sensing that their target audience had been oversaturated with these characters (remember when there was a sit-com based on them?), Geico changed the way the cavemen were portrayed in their commercials, often showing very little of their faces and limiting their dialogue. CMA’s veteran designers are in touch with cutting edge imagery as well as what still traditionally communicates to key audiences—maintain your identity, but be sure to review it periodically.
Keep an eye on your competitors. Through CMA’s Marketecture™ strategic process, we are able to help clients set aside time to analyze the competitive landscape, ultimately helping you think like your customer. Be sure to monitor what types of messages, images, and concepts are they being hit with by your competitors. When you know it’s time for a change, make sure you’re not duplicating an idea that’s been done well by your competitors—you don’t want to be pinned as a company that recycles others’ marketing ideas, but you need to be aware of what they are doing.
Avoid non industry-specific clichés. Flip through the pages of any magazine in virtually any industry and I guarantee you’ll spot an advertisement with a goldfish in a bowl. Unless you are a pet store, chances are your audience will miss the point because it doesn’t speak to what you do. Don’t get me wrong—even images that seem overused might be perfect for your industry. Just make sure you consult with professionals who can help you make the right match and communicate effectively.
Keep in mind—Earth Day is supposed to be a time to step back and look at the bigger environmental picture. Give us a call if you think the time is right to refresh your brand for a profitable, sustainable future.
Erin Higgins
Director of Marketing Services
ehiggins@cmasolutions.com
Sometimes clients will tell us “that’s what we’ve always done” when referring to their marketing strategies. Sometimes this is a good thing. Often times, it’s not. Marketing is about innovation and keeping in touch with your audience’s needs and desires, so ask yourself how you can keep it fresh before you fall into the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” way of complacent thinking.
Here are some ways CMA can help keep your marketing messages and graphics fresh and enticing:
Just ask. When was the last time you conducted research on your target market? Have you ever sent a survey to them? Sometimes a simple e-mail survey can work wonders to help you pinpoint the right words and graphics that will resonate with key decision-makers.
Update your brand and/or campaign. One of the most successful advertising campaigns in history is Geico’s series of “caveman” spots. Sensing that their target audience had been oversaturated with these characters (remember when there was a sit-com based on them?), Geico changed the way the cavemen were portrayed in their commercials, often showing very little of their faces and limiting their dialogue. CMA’s veteran designers are in touch with cutting edge imagery as well as what still traditionally communicates to key audiences—maintain your identity, but be sure to review it periodically.
Keep an eye on your competitors. Through CMA’s Marketecture™ strategic process, we are able to help clients set aside time to analyze the competitive landscape, ultimately helping you think like your customer. Be sure to monitor what types of messages, images, and concepts are they being hit with by your competitors. When you know it’s time for a change, make sure you’re not duplicating an idea that’s been done well by your competitors—you don’t want to be pinned as a company that recycles others’ marketing ideas, but you need to be aware of what they are doing.
Avoid non industry-specific clichés. Flip through the pages of any magazine in virtually any industry and I guarantee you’ll spot an advertisement with a goldfish in a bowl. Unless you are a pet store, chances are your audience will miss the point because it doesn’t speak to what you do. Don’t get me wrong—even images that seem overused might be perfect for your industry. Just make sure you consult with professionals who can help you make the right match and communicate effectively.
Keep in mind—Earth Day is supposed to be a time to step back and look at the bigger environmental picture. Give us a call if you think the time is right to refresh your brand for a profitable, sustainable future.
Erin Higgins
Director of Marketing Services
ehiggins@cmasolutions.com
Friday, January 22, 2010
Implementing new strategies: Where do we go from here?
Frequent readers of this blog and CMA’s newsletters have seen the word Marketecture(TM) used many times in relation to the development of a marketing strategy. Over the course of this analysis session, CMA clients play an integral role in identifying and analyzing the relationships between marketplace competitors and the criteria used by their target audiences in making buying decisions.
Where many marketing firms may fail to implement strategies discussed in these types of discovery sessions, CMA excels. Marketecture’s resulting tactical marketing plan creates a blueprint for the client’s marketing program and specifically spells out key messages and branding strategies as they relate to different key audience segments.
Our team frequently turns back to the report to keep brand consistency and guide a client through new initiatives, product launches and other types of company and/or market place changes. This is to be used as a guideline and working document as the plan may need to be amended as unforeseen developments occur.
It’s easy to become disillusioned in the current business climate and many companies may feel they have lost their way. Acting on disjointed directions, holding on to out-dated traditions or maintaining the status quo can be dangerous to a company that faces fierce competitors.
It’s hard to tell what lies ahead this year, but while it’s still early on in the first quarter, take some time to look inward to your brand, measure your ability to adapt to outside forces and move forward with tactics that work.
Jeffrey Barnhart
President and CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com
Where many marketing firms may fail to implement strategies discussed in these types of discovery sessions, CMA excels. Marketecture’s resulting tactical marketing plan creates a blueprint for the client’s marketing program and specifically spells out key messages and branding strategies as they relate to different key audience segments.
Our team frequently turns back to the report to keep brand consistency and guide a client through new initiatives, product launches and other types of company and/or market place changes. This is to be used as a guideline and working document as the plan may need to be amended as unforeseen developments occur.
It’s easy to become disillusioned in the current business climate and many companies may feel they have lost their way. Acting on disjointed directions, holding on to out-dated traditions or maintaining the status quo can be dangerous to a company that faces fierce competitors.
It’s hard to tell what lies ahead this year, but while it’s still early on in the first quarter, take some time to look inward to your brand, measure your ability to adapt to outside forces and move forward with tactics that work.
Jeffrey Barnhart
President and CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Don’t Fear the New Year
Let’s face it. 2009 has left many business owners reluctant to make any large investments in their business’s future—even if those investments are essential for long term growth. The financial crisis left a sense of unpredictability, and decision makers are still pulling back on planned marketing projects and strategies while the storm blows over.
Back in September, we discussed the paralysis of decision makers to move marketing initiatives forward. The consolidation of roles and possibly, the creation of new positions, have left businesses frozen by uncertainty.
While the emergence from the recession is expected to be slow this year, 2010 provides us with a fresh start. Stop feeling helpless by developing strategies that play on your business’s current strengths and position your brand for future successes.
Yes, there are outside forces you may be unable to control. CMA’s Marketecture™ process analyzes the best ways to position a company through marketing and advises company executives how to deal with outside forces such as technological advances, political/policy changes and socio-cultural implications. By focusing on these forces and how your company ranks among the competition—something most business owners are not able to devote time to on a regular basis—your business will once again become agile and ready to move forward into the year ahead.
Perhaps the new year holds new opportunities for your business. What needs will emerge out of the recession? While the economy strengthens, consider working with experts who know the ebb and flow of business cycles and can customize marketing strategies to fit your business.
Jeffrey Barnhart
President and CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com
Back in September, we discussed the paralysis of decision makers to move marketing initiatives forward. The consolidation of roles and possibly, the creation of new positions, have left businesses frozen by uncertainty.
While the emergence from the recession is expected to be slow this year, 2010 provides us with a fresh start. Stop feeling helpless by developing strategies that play on your business’s current strengths and position your brand for future successes.
Yes, there are outside forces you may be unable to control. CMA’s Marketecture™ process analyzes the best ways to position a company through marketing and advises company executives how to deal with outside forces such as technological advances, political/policy changes and socio-cultural implications. By focusing on these forces and how your company ranks among the competition—something most business owners are not able to devote time to on a regular basis—your business will once again become agile and ready to move forward into the year ahead.
Perhaps the new year holds new opportunities for your business. What needs will emerge out of the recession? While the economy strengthens, consider working with experts who know the ebb and flow of business cycles and can customize marketing strategies to fit your business.
Jeffrey Barnhart
President and CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The Big Chill
Like every President of their own business, it’s hard not to feel puzzled by the uncertainty in today’s business world. The truth is today’s business environment is different than it was a few years ago because of the consolidation of roles and possibly, the creation of new positions. Many executives and managers new to this level of power feel paralyzed, FROZEN even, by uncertainty, leading to long periods of indecision.
Aldonna Ambler, The Growth StrategistTM who has helped literally hundreds of companies live up to their potential over the course of her career, recently became CMA’s strategic partner as we advise our clients on the right path to take. She says: How can you be an effective leader if you don’t want to take a chance, risk failure or disappoint anyone? And she’s right.
Businesses are fluid and always changing due to outside forces you may be unable to control. CMA’s MarketectureTM process, analyzes the best ways to position a company through marketing and advises company executives how to deal with outside forces such as technological advances, political/policy changes and socio-cultural implications. This strategy is needed now more than ever as the recession causes us all to rethink the way we approach marketing and redefine our value propositions.
Ask yourself this—will you ever know when the right time is to take a risk? Is being proactive really a risk anyway? Maybe forgetting about the “all or nothing” approach to marketing your business is the key to thawing out your business’ big freeze.
Jeffrey Barnhart
CMA President and CEO
www.GoToCMA.com
Aldonna Ambler, The Growth StrategistTM who has helped literally hundreds of companies live up to their potential over the course of her career, recently became CMA’s strategic partner as we advise our clients on the right path to take. She says: How can you be an effective leader if you don’t want to take a chance, risk failure or disappoint anyone? And she’s right.
Businesses are fluid and always changing due to outside forces you may be unable to control. CMA’s MarketectureTM process, analyzes the best ways to position a company through marketing and advises company executives how to deal with outside forces such as technological advances, political/policy changes and socio-cultural implications. This strategy is needed now more than ever as the recession causes us all to rethink the way we approach marketing and redefine our value propositions.
Ask yourself this—will you ever know when the right time is to take a risk? Is being proactive really a risk anyway? Maybe forgetting about the “all or nothing” approach to marketing your business is the key to thawing out your business’ big freeze.
Jeffrey Barnhart
CMA President and CEO
www.GoToCMA.com
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