Wendy Bryant Marketing

Are your social efforts taking too much time? Are you struggling to find content, manage posting and justify your time? Remember, social is like any other channel you’re already using. You first need a plan and strategy.  Would you execute a direct marketing campaign or ad campaign without a target, plan or strategy?

1. Strategy & Plan – Yes, that’s right, create a strategy and plan. It doesn’t need to be as comprehensive as your yearly  marketing plan. Your social strategy is just like all the other channels you use to drive your marketing efforts.  It should roll up to the overall marketing and communications strategy. Don’t get caught up in creating a complicated strategy.  A strategy is simply an idea that grows into a larger concept. For example, if one of your strategies is to position your company as a leader and expert, this should drive some of what you do in the social space. Maybe a company blog is the answer or perhaps you have a team of experts at your company that can “share” the blog duty. Having a strategy and plan for social will produce better results and provide you with the process of eliminating some not so great ideas.

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Naming goes to the heart of branding.  A name is the foundation upon which a company builds all its other assets.  A good name is memorable and more importantly stands for something and supports the brand.  A well-chosen name has to also look good with the primary mark/logo and be easily translated in an e-mail or text message. It is the essential way a company communicates its value to the world. A company’s name is repeated over and over, in every form of communication: email, mailings, letters, brochures, proposals, pitches, website and almost every conversation that happens in and outside of a company.

The wrong name can damage the brand.

Why would anyone want to short-cut the process or skip it entirely? You’d be surprised—a lot of companies, big or small, do not always see the value in investing the time and dollars into the process.  It is not uncommon for a business owner to think naming is easy and not want to engage with a branding expert or creative agency.  They mistakenly conclude that naming is unnecessary, a task that they can do on their own or that they cannot afford to test a name.

Marketers know that naming is just the beginning: there’s the message, positioning, primary mark, typography, colors, and all the tactical elements and strategies of how the brand reaches the world at large. Read the rest of this entry »

I was researching a particular topic the other day and found myself going to Twitter, using certain keywords with hash tags and ultimately finding a vast and rich amount of data. I use Google Alerts, RSS feeds and what now seems old-school, bookmarks of my favorite marketing industry and news websites to research and find products and information that is relevant to me. I am just like the customer that brands now have to reach:

I want my information now.  I can’t wait. I’m too busy.  My business and personal email inbox are always overflowing.

With the surge in social tools and the adoption of technology, brands do have to fulfill that need to get the information now—nobody wants to wait.  Allen Adamson’s article in Forbes, “CMOs: Your Brand is on Digital Time” really hits this point home.
According to Adamson: “Consumers are conditioned to get what they want when they want it.” I agree with Allen that all this access to information and the need to have it all right now is not particularly healthy. Even as much as I want to have the information “now” I find myself going through times of what I call “no tech” where my cell phone and laptop take a break.

What are you doing with your brand to be as “digital” as possible and reach customers now? Read the rest of this entry »