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Facts tell.  Stories sell.  Keep this in mind when you’re marketing your brand.  Create an experience for your customers by telling a compelling story of how your product will impact their life.

Paint a portrait of your customer using the product
Put your customer in the middle of experiencing your product with your storytelling. Describe for them the feelings they’ll experience, the time they’ll save, how they’ll be more beautiful, whatever benefit your product has.

Provide testimonials
Third-party emotional validation is powerful.  Your customers will think “If it worked for them it could work for me, too.”

Tell where your brand came from
Sometimes the story of how a product came into existence can speak volumes to a consumer.  When you meet a couple you admire, at some point you’ll probably ask them how they met. That’s their origin story.  Use your origin story to inspire fondness and identification.

Need help telling your brand’s story.  Contact Electrum Marketing to create a message that will resonate with your audience.

Emailing Without Permission – Emailing to a purchased list almost guarantees that the recipients will associate your business with spam.  Not the best way to begin a relationship.  Build up your list organically by personal networking and adding an opt-in form on your website.

Having Ineffective Subject Lines – Your subject line should promise short, digestible information that is likely to be of interest like “Avoidable Email Errors.”

Not Properly Identifying Yourself – Few people are likely to open an email if they don’t recognize the sender.  Be sure to use an email address that uses your company’s domain — a Gmail or Yahoo address hints that the company is small-time.

Blasting Irrelevant Content – Make sure your emails are relevant to the audience.  If they begin to get emails with unwanted information, they will likely delete the occasional email containing useful information.

Not Looking at the Numbers – Be sure to check your email reports to see how many were opened.  Conduct A/B Testing on subject lines and send times to determine effectiveness.  Correct or delete bad addresses.

Having No Purpose –Is your reason for emailing to establish yourself as a resource?  To start a dialogue?  To inform your consumers of news and events in the industry?  Having a clear purpose will dictate your content and prevent you from selling, selling, selling.

Need help implementing an email marketing campaign that will establish you as a trusted resource to your target audience.  Would you like to start an e-newsletter to  communicate with your customers?  Contact Electrum Marketing today!

The Consumer Federation of America surveyed 31 consumer groups who received more than 252,000 consumer complaints in 2010. Below are several complaints that crossed industry lines with advice on how you can avoid being an offender.  Electrum Marketing hopes that you are NOT GUILTY of any of these offenses.

False advertising – your “special offer” to get the customers in the door will surely backfire once they feel they’ve been duped. Instead, focus on the valuable benefits you offer that no one else can.

Billing and fees – Alerting customers in advance about any rate or fee changes will give you the opportunity to explain the reason for the change. No one likes to be surprised with increased charges for no reason.

Unfinished or shoddy work – The golden rule has never been more appropriate than here. Always provide service and work that you would want to receive yourself. Always under promise and over deliver.

Service problems or billing disputes – Frustration over service or billing issues only escalates when the customer gets lost in a phone maze or is passed from associate to associate. Diffuse their frustration as soon as possible by giving them personal attention and listening to their issue.

Spamming – Do not send unsolicited emails to people without a connection to you or your business (see below). You’ll only be viewed as an annoyance. The email may be quickly deleted but your attachment to this nuisance will remain with them.

1. Overhaul your business plan.  It was probably created in a different economy with different opportunities and threats.
2. Doubledown on what works.  Identify what goods and services are selling the best and create a plan to sell more.
3. Experiment.  If you’re struggling, try something new.  Good ideas often come from talking with customers, suppliers and employees.
4. Fire your worst customers.  Give each of your customers a grade and fire those who get a D or worse.
5. Expand your network.  Facebook and LinkedIn only go so far.  Taking a lawyer, financial planner or supplier out for a cup of coffee could result in several new leads.

Need help developing and/or implementing your business plan?  Contact the brand strategists at Electrum Marketing today.

Thanks to the economy, many businesses have reinvented themselves. That may mean offering new services, eliminating some products, pursuing new markets, or moving in a completely new direction.  Done right, reinvention could be the best thing ever.  Avoiding it could lead to obsolescence.

Often, businesses attempt to “refresh” their brand, rather than doing what’s really needed – a total brand overhaul. Change is always a risk, but sometimes it’s the right thing to do, if:

• Your values have changed. YMCA became the “Y” to become more inclusive and shed its religion/sexist bias.
• You have a crisis. Tylenol’s tampering recall was a marketing disaster. A confident packaging program helped to re-ground the brand.
• You are the leader but you look like the underdog. Federal Express changed its identity to FedEx, surpassed its competitors and never looked back.

Brand reinventions fail when the plan to reinvent turns into tactics that are more like tweaks. Here’s how to avoid the tweak:

• Ban “design by committee.” Involve all of the influencers up front then assign one person to lead the project. Every brand needs a champion.
• Do smart research. Conduct research early, thoroughly and often. Talk to consumers before you start. Loyal and potential customers can provide surprising gems of insight.
• Test new designs against new positioning. Consumers will often be more comfortable with the current look, but if your objective is to reposition the brand, beware of playing it too safe.

Are you ready for a brand reinvention? If so…

• Make sure that your product is good. Restaging a brand to compete with an innovative new competitor will only go so far if the product itself is weak.
• Anticipate roadblocks and deal with them ahead of time. Get the decision makers involved early on and keep the project moving fast.
• Measure success by measuring brand relevance and sales. Sales may not rebound overnight, but gauge if your sales team is more motivated and your buyers more interested.

Ready to reinvent or refresh your brand?  Contact Electrum Marketing to conduct your brand audit, facilitate a brand strategy with your decision makers, and train and monitor your staff to delivery it effectively.

Based on an article in Advertising Age