branding your path to success

branding your path to success

on a zero dollar budget

Larry DeVincenzi, brand marketing strategist




Gooooood Morning!

If you know yourself, but not your enemy,

for every battle won, you will suffer a loss.

If you know your enemy and yourself, you will
win every battle.”

Pull Don’t Push

(10 min.
)

Email Resources

(10 min.)

Effective Websites

(10 min.)

Open Q&A

(10 min.)

Positioning Your Brand

(20 min.)

Cell Phones Off Please






POSITIONING YOUR BRAND

The term
“BRAND”

encompasses the
entire experience that customers
and prospects have with your
business or product.

Your brand is what you stand for;
the promise you make;

the personality you convey.






Stand out

from the competition.


POSITIONING YOUR BRAND

Most businesses don’t initially focus on brand
strategy, but rather choose to focus

only on
sales.


A critical error, as a sound brand strategy

will help you:

Enable your
competitive position

and
value proposition

to grow.

Position you as a
specific value

in the
minds of prospects and customers.

Grow faster

than similar brands

Gain market

share = $$$.


POSITIONING YOUR BRAND

WHY?

Because the goal
of marketing is
SALES.


BRAND DNA

5 W’s:


Who:

Is your exact target
market?

(demographics/psychographics)


What:

Description of product
or service

(non
-
technical)

When:

Timing in the market
place?

Where:

Local, Regional,
National or International

(defines
marketing channels)

Why:

What is your unique
value?


S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS


READY… SET… WAIT!



2
-
3 Sentences that convey your DNA (Brand Position)



:30
“Elevator Speech”
: Practice until it’s natural


(Essential For Networking)



Press Release Development



Copywriting (set tone for your target audience
)



Logo Development / Tag Line


MEASURE

TWICE, CUT ONCE

Test Your Market



Test Marketing (brand logo ideas)



Tag Lines (try before you buy)



Measure Perception (test SWOT)



Price Points (percieved value)



Referrals (early adopters)


PERMISSION

MARKETING

-

-

.

-


-


-


What’s Working Today?

> The elephants
aren’t in the jungle…

They’re at the

watering hole!

> Decentralization of Consumerism
-

Each of us
sees more ads alone in one year than people of 50
years ago saw in an entire lifetime.

> Advertising works to those that want the message

(opt
-
in to your brand!).

> Social Media is not a default opt
-
in to advertising.

> Networking opportunities/events.


PERMISSION

MARKETING


Encourage a learning relationship with
customers


Opt
-
in to all databases


Teach your brand once permission is
granted


Deepen relationships for referrals

Push & Pull Marketing


EMAIL RESOURCES



Include your logo and tagline with contact information
(telephone number & website)

Brand Your Signature



Add your social media links if appropriate to your recipient.
Consider using more than one style of signature for different
audiences.



Watch your language! The written word is easily
misinterpreted.


EMAIL SYSTEMS



Good analytics (delivery rate, ability to opt
-
in, list
management, etc)

Choose Your Weapon



Might be “black listed” because of volume and past abuse.


Delivery fail rate up to 20% of valid addresses.



Faster than sending from you personal account. Bulk sends
from your email account may identify you as a spammer.



Provide templates and free trials (keep it branded!)


Allows you to “customize” message to recipient.



Be sure your email addresses are opted
-
in only!


EMAIL CAMPAIGN SYSTEMS



Consistency is key. Survey to determine frequency.

Drip, Drip, Drip



Encourage “forward to a friend”



Provide helpful tips, resources
-

including links to external
information.



Content is king. Selling is never just telling.



Always allow opt
-
out.


Effective Websites



Improving the volume or quality of traffic to a

web site
from

search engines

via "natural" or un
-
paid

("organic")

search
results

as opposed to

Search Engine
Marketing

(SEM)
which
deals with paid inclusion

(Google Adwords, Yahoo, etc.).



Social Media can be effective in organic SEO

(keyword tagging is critical, time intensive)

search engine optimization



Search Engine Marketing is also effective,
and addictive
.

(keyword integration is also critical here)


Effective Websites

design considerations



Memorable Branded Creative
(“brand personality”)



SEO optimization is a coded formula.
(inherent design
constraints)



Stock/royalty free imagery


(shutterstock.com / istockphoto.com, etc.)



Original photography can be more affordable.



Targeted copy “on brand” platform.



SEM optimization code on every web page is critical
to
knowing your audience.


Effective Websites



Wordpress
(blog platform, plugins = CMS flexibility)



Content Management System

(CMS
) enables you to manage

your own work flow in a collaborative environment.

a

keep control



Contribute
(collaboratively author, review, and publish
—



without learning HTML.)



















Questions? Answers!

Q

A

&












Network With Us!

SmartBrand

SmartBlog

smartblog.wordpress.com

smartbrand.biz

Project ecoBrand

Projectecobrand.com

Reno Green Drinks & Las Vegas Green Drinks

Greendrinks.org (search Nevada)

Facebook

Search “smartbrand” for group and fan pages

Twitter

Search “smartbrand” or “ecobrand”

YouTube

Search “smartbrand
llc
” for our video channel

thank you!




Larry DeVincenzi

brand marketing strategist



775.771.7004

larry@smartbrand.biz


website:
smartbrand.biz

blog:
smartblog.wordpress.com

marketing that works