Posts Tagged ‘Brand’

Four Steps to a Successful M&A

By Mark Wardell

When it comes down to it, the success of a merger or acquisition is all in the planning. Bringing two distinct companies together means you end up with two of everything: two sets of corporate structures, two sets of company policies and two different and unique ways of doing business. Making the transition seamless requires some detailed planning. In other words, you need to get your aim right before you pull the trigger.

Here’s how.

1. Reevaluate your organizational structure.

Start by taking a careful look at the organizational chart of each company. Does it make sense for the two organizations to be combined as one or will they go on as two separate companies? Whatever you do, it’s best to do it early in the merger with careful consideration of the resources that can now be shared, such as reception, administration and accounting.

2. Develop and articulate new corporate branding.

You’ll want to consider how the existing brands will fit with the long-term marketing goals of the companies. Will both businesses fold into one brand? Which brand? Or will it be a new brand? Is the current brand worth retaining or is it time to develop something new? How you proceed will of course depend upon your unique situation.

For example, a distribution company I’ve been working with recently purchased a similar business in another city. The acquired business, while in a similar industry, has a totally different target market and significant brand value. In this case, it made the most sense for the acquired company to maintain its distinct brand, but to be folded into the organizational chart of the parent company. The parent company took over the finance and administrative responsibilities for both companies, while the acquired company continues to manage its own operations and marketing, with some new supports in place.

3. Consider your people.

We all know a business is only as successful as the people who make up the company. In times of change, it’s more important than ever to consider all of the people affected and to proceed with clear communications. As soon as the news of the M&A is made public, get everyone from both companies together and provide your people with clarity on the news. There is often nervousness around mergers so good communication is crucial at this point.

As you move ahead with restructuring, take the time to investigate how employees at each company feel about the merger and to appropriately mitigate any negative feelings or expectations while doing everything you can to promote the positives  (excitement/opportunities) that exist.

Some companies bring in a specialist for this purpose. One of my clients recently hired a Transition Specialist to help with its corporate merger. The job of this particular specialist was to identify the skill sets of key people at the acquired company in order to offer new career paths in the parent company. It worked brilliantly.

4. Redevelop corporate policies.

Last but not least, policies — otherwise known as the lifeblood of business operations. Sounds dramatic but your corporate documents are what keep your business running as efficiently as possible. What systems or policies currently exist (or don’t exist) in the parent and acquired companies? What policies will you need to develop to account for your future direction? Developing an effective set of corporate policies isn’t necessarily fast or simple, but I guarantee it’ll be well worth your time in the long run.

In fact, each of these four steps requires consideration and time on the part of the business owner. However, if you’ve come this far in your M&A you’ll be wise to go the extra distance to ensure success in these critical areas, and in your future enterprise as a whole.

Mark is President & Founder of Wardell Professional Development (www.wardell.biz), an advisory group that helps business owners plan and execute the growth of their companies. The author of seven business books, Mark also writes regularly for several national business publications, including Profit Magazine, the Globe and Mail, and CGA Magazine. Email him at mark@wardell.biz

Posted by Ashley in Growing Your Biz, New Posts on December 12th, 2011

, , , , , ,
0 comments | Share

STAPLES BizTIPs: How to build a great reputation

By Small Business Expert Roger Pierce, BizLaunch 

The essence of brand and image is based on your product or company reputation. People are adverse to risk, so help them to buy from your small business by following these suggestions: 

  • Deliver a quality product or service. Go that extra mile with customers to “wow” them with your offering. Invest in quality materials or allow sufficient time to serve your clients. Pay attention to details because that’s often what people will notice about your company.
  • Do what you say you’re going to do. Lip service only goes so far, and actions speak louder than words. Be sure to keep your promises to develop the trust of your customers. Remember the expression, “under promise and over deliver” to truly delight your buyers.
  • Fix problems immediately. A mistake only becomes a problem when it is ignored. Remember that an existing customer is worth more to your small business than a new customer, so be sure to address any dissatisfaction right away. Replace a faulty product, correct a wrong or do something to “surprise and delight” a disgruntled client.
  • Never bad mouth the competition. It’s tempting to say rotten things about the other guy, but it can reflect poorly on your small business. It’s better to talk about what your competition does well but mention what you do better. What goes around also comes around.

clip_image002[5]

ROGER PIERCE is passionate about helping entrepreneurs achieve success. Co-founder of Canada’s largest small business training company, BizLaunch.ca, he’s launched eleven small businesses of his own and personally experienced what he calls “the good, the bad and the ugly” sides of entrepreneurship.

BizLaunch advises thousands of Canadian startups through its popular how-to seminars and webinars delivered with partners such as STAPLES.

Posted by Lynnette in STAPLES BizTIPs on September 17th, 2010

, , , , , , , ,
2 comments | Share

What's in a logo?

Along with your business name, your logo and word mark your meaning and say a lot about your company’s personality. Like dressing well in an interview, a clean, smart and iconic logo won’t guarantee success, but a bad one can send the wrong signal to your potential clients.

Take for instance, Apple’s original logo:

clip_image002

Now there’s no way of knowing whether ditching this logo for the iconic apple with a bite out of it was key to the company’s success. But few of us would look at the logo above and think “progressive design and technology leader.”

Graphic designer Jacob Cass lists five important design elements that all good logos share. They are:

1. Simple: A simple logo design is easily recognizable and often features something unique.

clip_image004

2. Memorable: Simple logos, because they’re simple, tend to stand out and are easy to recall – something we can picture in our mind’s eye. Think of McDonald’s, Nike or BMO.

clip_image006

3. Timeless: None of us can predict the future, but when you look at a logo does it look too trendy? Are the font, colour or graphic too similar to other logos you’ve seen recently? AT&T’s logo from the 1990s was similar to a variety of other logos designed around the same time.

clip_image008

clip_image010

4. Versatile: An effective logo ought to work in different mediums – online, print, TV, point-of-sale – as well as in different sizes and either horizontally and vertically.

clip_image012

5. Appropriate: Are you designing a logo for a children’s product or a mutual fund? You can imagine a logo treatment for one audience or product wouldn’t work very well for the other.

Cass also points out that a logo doesn’t have to be literal. Nike’s doesn’t show shoes and Harley Davidson’s logo isn’t a motorcycle. In fact, he says 94% of the world’s top 50 brand logos don’t visually describe the company at all.

But sometimes, they sort of do:

clip_image014

Keep in mind too that while many logos include icons like a panda or a globe, it’s not required. A stylized word mark – Coca Cola is a classic example – can be just as powerful.

For a wonderful repository of logos from around the world, click here.

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Started on July 29th, 2010

, , , , ,
0 comments | Share

Branded Content 101

By Chris Advansun, Digital Content Strategist, Venture Communications

All forms of marketing come down to good content. Search engine marketing attempts to attract users to what? Content. It could be a blog post, product demo, sales page, a Facebook page or a how-to video. But it’s all content. The same is true of social media; social media is all about connecting and sharing. Sharing what? Content. Having a content strategy is a natural and crucial extension of any company’s web presence and digital strategy, whether you’re a start-up or a small to medium-sized business.

When I talk about branded content, people sometimes think I’m talking about so-called advertorial or persuasive advertising content masquerading as editorial. The principle driving branded content is precisely the opposite. Instead of being intrusive and of minimal value to its audience, branded content creates real value, in the form of entertainment or information. This is what’s so exciting about this trend; instead of wrapping advertising around the content, brands can now be the content.

The strategy behind branded content doesn’t begin with a brand’s desired message. It starts with insights into a brand’s desired audience. We start by understanding our target audience, and then we create content that informs and entertains them. Then, having created a content property, we integrate the brand.

This insight is far from new. The first soap operas were developed by consumer product brands as a product placement vehicle. Those original soaps entertained and captivated the audience responsible for household purchasing while subtly (and sometimes blatantly) introducing products. What’s new is not the basic tactics of branded content but the fact that the costs of digital content creation and distribution have lowered dramatically. Even small companies can inexpensively produce high-quality content and distribute it on platforms like Facebook, iPhone, Hulu, Vuze and YouTube. Today, you don’t need to have the budget of Proctor & Gamble to produce a scripted drama and get it in front of millions of viewers. What you do need, however, is a strong concept, high-quality production and built-in virality.

A modern-day example of branded content is OpenForum.com, an online destination full of insightful content for businesspeople. The property is entirely supported by American Express. It’s a great example of branded content in action.

Instead of spending on an advertising campaign, AMEX invested in its own digital media property, OpenForum.com. They recruited a bunch of celebrity authors and high-profile bloggers to contribute articles and videos on marketing, management, finance and other subjects. Then they used social media to generate buzz and attract audience.

AMEX uses the site and its content as a way to generate leads for AMEX Open, one of its credit products for small businesses. You can apply for the card right on the site, which gets tons of traffic because of its fantastic search and social media optimization. And this is just one example. Many other brands are creating and distributing their own dramatic web series, reality shows and other types of content.

I believe it’s an exciting time for brands and marketers to start exploring and forging their futures with branded content. That’s why I founded the inaugural Branded Content Summit, taking place in Toronto on June 4. It is a gathering where companies, marketers, content producers and media convene to understand and profit from the shift toward branded content. For more information, visit www.brandedcontentsummit.com

 

About Chris Advansun 

Chris-AdvansunChris Advansun is an entrepreneur, writer, digital media expert and marketing professional. He has co-founded a handful of start-up companies and volunteer initiatives. He currently lives in Toronto, where he works as a digital content strategist for Venture Communications, an integrated marketing communications firm.

Posted by Lynnette in Marketing on May 11th, 2010

, , , , , , , , , , , ,
0 comments | Share

Six simple strategies to build your brand online for more impact and income

By Jan Marie Dore

In this age of new media and new marketing, the rules for marketing professional-service businesses have changed dramatically. Yet, many service-based businesses are not keeping up with the times and may fall behind the leaders in their marketplace who are embracing the new media models to build their brand online.

Having a strong brand reputation is the key to making sales in the new economy. It’s never been more important for your brand to be highly relevant. Your brand is the one competitive edge you can offer that no one else can copy or duplicate.

Brand marketing trends indicate that you need to have something highly interesting and relevant to say to build a brand that people will notice. You need to engage your community, build your platform and include social media in your marketing mix.

Here are my six simple strategies to build your brand online for more impact and income:

1. Publish a blog that positions you as a leader in your niche

Publishing a blog is a great way to expand your visibility and attract a community of followers. And it’s very easy and low cost to publish a blog. Creating a blog is a great way to find your voice as well as start to cultivate an audience base. Put the focus on your readers instead of on you. Provide solutions to the biggest challenges experienced by your audience and you’ll never be at a loss for content. Offering valuable and relevant information in your blog can position you as the go-to person in your area of expertise. You will be easily referable and people will line up to buy from you. To remain relevant, your message must be interesting and timely, communicate authority and an authentic personality and indicate that you are connected and in the know.

2. Brand your brilliance and your purpose

Personality and purpose-driven marketing can be highly effective these days when it has become so hard to get people’s attention. The most effective personal brands are built around your strengths, expertise, passion, personality and life purpose. A strong brand based on your unique brilliance can differentiate your offerings and create value-added client relationships which lead to sustainable client loyalty. What people want now is relevance, simplicity, authentic personality, honesty, imagination and inspiration. If you’ve been holding back on following your true purpose or heart’s desire in your business, or not saying what you really think and feel, now’s the time to get real.

3. Leverage social media marketing

Social media marketing is one of the easiest ways to effectively expand your reputation. You can use social media to position yourself as an expert, build your credibility, build relationships and extend your reach. Social media can be a very powerful tool for business growth if you know how to use it wisely to build relationships and not just to promote yourself. To successfully leverage social media, become highly active at a few sites like Facebook and Twitter, or LinkedIn, rather than trying to keep up with multiple networks. Get to know and get known by your online community and virtual neighbors. Become a superstar, must-read resource and source of inspiration on Twitter.

4. Build a Purposeful Platform to Amplify Your Brand and Your Message

Your brand platform is the image or impression you make in the marketplace. It’s the set of associations that clients make when they think of you and your services. It’s both what you stand for and what your marketplace perceives as valuable. It’s how you create distinctive value through the unique combination of your expertise, values, vision, passion, purpose and message. By following your passion and purpose, you can build a purposeful platform that feeds both your pocketbook and your soul. A powerful online presence is one that builds and extends your platform and positions you to become well known for your message. There are many ways you can do this: article and blog marketing, social media marketing, signature presentations and programs, press releases, and developing a line of information products, to name a few. The first important step of course is to choose a highly targeted niche market that is looking for solutions to problems that you have answers to.

5. Take your brand viral with video marketing

Video marketing is hot. It’s the big key secret method to extending your reach globally and attracting more interested, pre-qualified leads quickly. A picture really is worth a thousand words! You can easily create short, two-minute video tips to post at your blog for your target audience, or a video of you outlining the benefits of your new program at your sales page, or record testimonials from satisfied clients. Upload your videos to a free video-sharing site such as YouTube. Video can quickly raise your visibility and exposure and spread your message virally across the Internet.

6. Create raving brand fans

People have so many complex brand choices today that they get overwhelmed and confused. You need to get a community of people really engaged to build a loyal following. Develop a marketing strategy that will give your target audience exactly what they want so you can attract a community of followers and “raving brand fans”. Find out where your community is. Find out what they like to read and who they follow. Build your connections, strategic alliances and audience base. Over time, people will start to trust your expertise and enjoy your style and will buy your services and products without you having to put a lot of effort into selling.

Times have changed in the Web 2.0 world. The Internet has leveled the playing field in vying for people’s attention. Online branding will give you an edge in the marketplace that will cause clients to think of you first when they need your type of services.

 

janmariedore.jpgJan Marie Dore, MCC, is the Founder of Femalepreneurs.com, an online learning center for women worldwide who want to create a more profitable business and live a great life. Jan is an authority on small business whose passion is inspiring women to new levels of success and fulfillment through her coaching programs, teleseminars, workshops and retreats. She has made it her mission to teach women simple, effective marketing strategies to attract more customers and grow their profits substantially with much less effort.

Posted by Lynnette in Growing Your Biz on April 15th, 2010

, , , , , , , , ,
0 comments | Share

Moving Marketing From Your Eyes To Your Hands

By Mitch Joel – President, Twist Image & author of Six Pixels of Separation

I have a personal gripe with anyone who questions what Social Media can do for their business.

We toss around the words “Social Media” as if it’s like saying, “I need a 30-second spot.” It’s a mistake. We keep on making it, and things have to start changing soon before it becomes a hollow term (or worse, a fad). Unlike other media channels, Social Media is many different types of content (text, images, audio and video) with many different types of platforms and channels on which the content plays out (Blogging, video sharing sites, virtual worlds, Podcasting, micro-Blogging, online social networks, photo sharing, mobile, widgets, apps, etc…). It’s not push marketing and it’s not pull marketing either, it’s more of a group expression (to steal a concept that Clay Shirky discusses in his outstanding, best-selling business book, Here Comes Everybody) where a concept can be explored, shared, posted elsewhere, mashed-up, expanded upon or completely re-invented.

Sounds confusing? It is.

One person’s Twitter feed is another person’s spam pit. What works for a brand in Facebook might crash and burn on YouTube. Some people are still experiencing great ROI from their current efforts in Second Life, and while many are quick to call MySpace as dead as Friendster, there are many musicians, filmmakers, authors and artists who still have a healthy and robust community (that keeps on growing) on MySpace with no plans of slowing down.

Social Media isn’t a fad, but big brands can make it look like it is.

We tend to measure the success of Social Media using traditional mass media metrics (audience size, amount of advertising revenue, etc…). We’re getting it all wrong. Social Media is not about advertising… it’s about Marketing. Authentic Marketing. Ethical Marketing. Social Media is about creating engagement with consumers and getting those that are uber-excited about your brand to connect even closer (to the brand and other denizens or evangelists). In essence, we’re mining for the quality over quantity of people who can best connect to our brands, but we continually stumble into the mass media metrics trap.

Will big brands only care when Facebook has 500 million users?

Facebook recently surpassed 400 million users, and it’s somewhat humorous (and a little bit tragic) to think that brands and marketers usually only care about a channel or opportunity when the masses are there (as if 10 million is paltry). The smarter brands are slowly weaning themselves off of this very traditional metric and are starting to look at who they are connected and not how many people they are connected to.

So, what’s the big deal?

The old Web and traditional mass media were always about “eyes” – how many people were looking at the content (remember in the early days of the Web, how excited we all got over the amount “eyeballs” and “stickiness” our websites had?) Social Media changes the body parts from “eyes” to “hands”. What are people doing with this content? What are they creating with it? How are they sharing it? How are they re-inventing and creating their own pieces of content around it?

It’s a big deal. It’s a big change.

Do your own brand analysis and figure out how much of your content, media and marketing can people simply look at with their eyes versus their ability to use their own two hands to really do stuff with it (and that includes very simple stuff like writing a short review)?

It’s a great question to ask, and I wonder how many times it has been asked in the boardrooms across this great, big world?

 

MitchMitch Joel is President of Twist Image — an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency. In 2008, Mitch was named Canada’s Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly-prestigious Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. His first book, Six Pixels of Separation (published by Grand Central Publishing – Hachette Book Group), named after his successful Blog and Podcast is a business and marketing best-seller. You can find him here: www.twistimage.com/blog

Posted by Lynnette in Marketing, Technology on April 13th, 2010

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2 comments | Share

BRAND-BUILDING

By: Sandy Salmon

When you start thinking about advertising your business and building your brand – be it product or service-based – you have to know what it is about your business that makes people keep coming back. What do you stand for? If you don’t know, I have to wonder how you’ve made it this far. But, let’s say you’re just not very self aware – start asking your customers. They’ll probably be only too happy to tell you. Then, once you know what makes you a GREAT business – sell it in every piece of communication that leaves your office – be it a business card, letterhead, invoice or e-mail! And then make sure you live that promise in everything you do.

If you don’t deliver on your promise, you’ll lose a customer. Remember it’s not unlike the things your mama told you – don’t try to be something you’re not – people can spot a phony a mile away. Okay maybe mama didn’t say it quite that way – but I think you catch my drift.

So what are the 5 Easy Steps to Start Building Your Brand:

1. Know what you stand for! If you don’t know, do some research – even if it’s just one-on-one conversations with your 20 Best Customers. Feeling a little shy, why not hold a contest. It’s simple – make up a little ballot for a chance to win ‘”one of your services or products’ and ask the question, ‘You keep coming to me because ‘fill in the blank’’.

2.Take the top 3-5 things your business brings to the table and brainstorm – you don’t need a high-price agency to come up with a tag line. Let’s say your customers come back with ‘quick’, ‘good value’, ‘great/fun personality’. And you’re a plumber. Leaks stopped quick – no ifs, ands or plumber’s butt! See – it’s easy and can be a lot of fun!

3. Hire a freelance designer to create a logo! Can’t afford one – approach a Graphics Design School to see if you can hire a student, or better yet, you might just get it for FREE if you offer up printed samples and an endorsement for the kid’s portfolio!

4. Put your new logo on everything!

5. Live your brand – and ensure that everyone you hire does too!

Have a GREAT tagline you’d like to share? We’d like to hear it – how about telling us how you came up with it and how you live it every day!

 

Sandy Salmon is the Director of Advertising for STAPLES Canada. Sandy has been with STAPLES for over 15 years and brings extensive brand experience. Previously Sandy has worked at CFTR/680 News and Saffer Advertising.

Posted by Lynnette in Growing Your Biz on February 17th, 2010

, , , , , , ,
0 comments | Share