Brand Management Archives

Daimler Learns About Viral Customer Service Stories the Hard Way

There’s an old saying in customer service that a customer who has a good experience with your business might tell a single friend while a customer who has a bad experience will tell ten. Unfortunately, those numbers might be drastically out of date in the age of social media. In an era where any individual has the chance to communicate with millions of people around the world, even a single incidence of poor customer service can have significant impacts for businesses of any kind. Continue reading “Daimler Learns About Viral Customer Service Stories the Hard Way”

When Your Brand is the Victim of an Epic Fail

by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA

Companies spend big money on celebrity endorsements. Nike alone spends billions of dollars on celebrity endorsements each year. Sometimes, the endorsements simply serve to bring publicity to a brand. Or they may entice consumers who want to emulate celebrities they respect. “A Taiwanese study shows that consumers show greater recall of products that have been endorsed by celebrities—regardless of whether they are actual fans or not,” says Guided Selling. Continue reading “When Your Brand is the Victim of an Epic Fail”

Using Push Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business

Most of us in the marketing business are familiar with the concept of – if not necessarily the term – pull marketing. Pull marketing refers to using your business development strategies to attract customers actively seeking out a product or service to your particular offering. For example, a pizza company might work on increasing its page ranking through search engine optimization (SEO) so that it shows up prominently when a hungry potential customer searches for “pizza near me” in their search engine.

But there’s another type of marketing that takes a more aggressive approach. “On the other side of the coin is a push campaign,” writes Rocco Baldassarre – Founder & CEO of Zebra Advertisement 1DollarAd.com – In an article for Entrepreneur. “A push campaign presents products and services to an audience without serving an initial demand.”

Baldassarre writes about push marketing in the context of online marketing and offers four tips for maximizing the outcome of your efforts. Continue reading “Using Push Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business”

Understanding, Managing and Communicating Consistently Across Customer Touchpoints

In an article for Harvard Business Review, Adam Richardson discusses the concept of customer touchpoints, which he broadly defines as “any interaction point between the customer and your brand.” If we think about this definition, it truly is quite broad, not least because it invokes the concept of the brand, which is itself extremely broad.

Does an online ad reflect on your brand? What about a discussion with a billing agent over a discrepancy on an invoice? While the answer to the first question is probably obvious, the second might seem like a stretch at first. But in truth, both are examples of touchpoints. And touchpoints have a direct impact on consumer brand perceptions. Continue reading “Understanding, Managing and Communicating Consistently Across Customer Touchpoints”

The Potential Perils of Tying Your Brand to a Real Person

There are numerous examples of company names tied directly to an individual. That person is often the founder but could also be a key personality. Even our current president achieved a great amount of fame by attaching his name to everything from hotels and golf courses to steaks and an online university. Naming a company after an individual can add some personality to the brand and make potential customers feel a more personal connection to that brand. We know who the frontperson is; we know what they look like; and we know a bit about their personality and character.

But that isn’t always a good thing. Continue reading “The Potential Perils of Tying Your Brand to a Real Person”

Companies Need to Make Sure Everyone, from the CEO on Down, Recognizes the Impact of Their Words

In a highly publicized conference call, first reported by Forbes, Papa John’s founder John Schnatter used the “N-word” during a discussion between Papa John’s executives and marketing agency Laundry Service. What followed was weeks of turmoil where Schnatter first stepped down as chairman of the Papa John’s board of directors, then said his decision to step down was a mistake, and then filed a lawsuit against the company he founded for what he describes as the “heavy-handed” way he was treated. The company’s stock has Continue reading “Companies Need to Make Sure Everyone, from the CEO on Down, Recognizes the Impact of Their Words”

5 Branding Missteps You Should Avoid

Branding is an area we explore regularly with clients – conducting brand audits, developing brand positioning, etc. Some of the most common errors we see are: Continue reading “5 Branding Missteps You Should Avoid”

13 Branding Skills From the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC)

An Entrepreneur.com slideshow discusses the 13 skills that will help improve branding efforts. This is a subject area we are particularly focused on, so we wanted to take a look. The list was compiled by members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). The 13 skills they recommend are: Continue reading “13 Branding Skills From the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC)”

Building Your Brand Story, One Piece at a Time

Brands are made up of multiple components – your product or service; your logos, advertising campaigns, public relations and sponsorships; the behaviors of your employees and your customers’ interactions with them; the personalities of the top executives and/or owners, etc. As we’ve said many times before, it’s ultimately the market that truly defines your brand, and they do so by absorbing all of the elements we just mentioned into an overall image in their mind of who your company is and what it stands for. Continue reading “Building Your Brand Story, One Piece at a Time”