Traditional Marketing

What is a Creative Commons License?

February 24, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

With so much business being conducted online these days, it has become imperative to have methods to protect and copyright our works in a manner just as remote as how it was posted. Regardless of whether your work is writing, photography, or even coding or programming, you will want a means to ensure that regardless of what happens with those items, you are given credit for producing them.

When you apply for a Creative Commons license you can keep the copyright to your work, while allowing others to copy or distribute you work, as long as they give you proper credit, on the conditions you get to specify. You may choose to offer your work freely with no desire for crediting, or you may determine exactly the manner in which you want to be credited regardless of its use.

There are some more reputable websites that can help you to create your licensing for your work.

CreativeCommons.org is an example of a reputable licensing site. You are able to choose a license and once done they will provide you with an HTML tag that will list your work as copyright restricted. However, CreativeCommons is not a registrar and will not retain records of your selections.

Flickr.com also offers create commons licensing and the format to help you protect your work. Flickr and CreativeCommons both have things in common. Their licensing types mirror one another perfectly.

CreativeCommons offers the following licensing options.

Attribution: An attribution license will let others tweak, change, build on, remix, distribute or otherwise alter your work, they also have to credit you for the original creation in the manner you request.
Attribution NoDerivatives: This particular license allows for commercial and non-commercial use, as well as redistribution, however, it must remain unchanged and all credit must go to you.
Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike: Like Attribution, users can tweak, alter, build on and distribute, however, they must credit you and license their own product or creation under identical terms.
Attribution ShareAlike: An attribution sharealike license will allow others to alter, tweak and otherwise build upon your original work for commercial purposes. They must however, credit you and license their own agreement under the same terms.
Attribution NonCommercial: Others can tweak, alter, rebuild or build upon your work for non-commercial purposes. Any new works should acknowledge the original creator and also be non-commercial.
Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives: The most restrictive license, this one only allows others to download or otherwise save your works and even share them with others as long as you are properly credited. This license does not permit users to alter your original creation in any way.

If you are new to creative commons licensing it may be important to read up before making the decision on your license choices.

This is also likely to be one part of your copyright policy and protection practices, an example of how this is used as part of a policy or image see: Copyright Info

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What is the SxSW? Why Would I attend?

February 21, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

What is SXSW?

The SXSW, or the South by Southwest festival and conferences, regularly offers a widely diverse group of entertainment seekers the opportunity to find independent films, original music, and even up-to-date, and up-and-coming technologies.

SXSW for Entertaining Marketing

Marketing is, of course, always targeted to those who can use a business’s products or services the most. The SXSW harbors the atmosphere for creating growth for creative and professional discovery for any and all ages and a large array of niches.

This huge pool of ideas in creative content, media presentations and musical and audio content can provide many opportunities for businesses and even for social media promotion.

How Can Business and Social Media Persons Benefit from SXSW?

The great thing is that the complex diversity of presentations during SXSW also provides a complex and diverse, almost limitless, list of marketing options.

First of all, this set of events is highly anticipated by many, giving any business person loads of time, indeed a year if needed, to plan their business and marketing strategies, and execute them intermittently.

Second, the opportunity for networking your business, its products and services, as well as its capabilities relevant to as many niches as your business caters to, is immense. This is definately the place to bring your impressive business cards, flyers, newsletters and all related material to show off and shine.

Third, you can freely sit in on some informative and highly motivational discussions and group sessions that will feature some of the leaders in the industries’ who have much wisdom to impart on any listeners.

With over 36,000 industry representatives at SXSW, you are sure to find some great new ideas to carry home to promote your own ventures, or even to delve into new ones.

Trade Show Exhibition Opportunities

Does your business directly correlate with one of the industries covered at the SXSW conferences? If you have products or services to offer the interactive, music, and film industries, than you may very well have a place as a Trade Show Representative. This could mean big business, big promotion and plain old enormous marketing capabilities, four days worth.

What Type of Business Does SXSW Need?

They need anyone from the newest start-up business with innovative ideas, to established companies and brands. Anyone who has an industry targeting studios, film, music and technology education, marketing agencies, associations, commissions and all related non-profits. Additionally there is also room at SXSW for:

SEO or other Marketing Services
Software and Hardware Manufacturers and Creators
Hosting and Infrastructure Providers
Social Media Services
Media Outlets

It may help to draw a more detailed conclusion on who and what types of businesses are the current exhibitors. As once you have full understanding of the types of industries allotted space at SXSW, you may actually discovery a new aspect of your own business or services’ possibilities.

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Your Book: A look at Publish America

February 15, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Publish America, or PA, is a Print-on-Demand, traditional royalty paying book publishing company. Since Publish America only prints books as they are ordered, they are able to extend authorships to many talented writers. PA believes that if one single book is worth being published, it only need have the idea of a market for it to be accepted by PA editors.

Publish America Facts

PA has nearly 40,000 satisfied authors. Every day, around fifteen of those authors ask PA to accept their subsequent works. This is an incredibly high number of return writers and one of the reasons why PA is known as one of the best print-on-demand companies available.

Although PA may have lower acceptance barriers than other publishing companies, they also have to be choosy in accepting manuscripts that meet the PA requirements. There are no contract fees with PA, ever.

PA authors have made appearances on FOX TV, ABC, MSNBC and CNN. Also the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Women’s World Magazine. PA authors have even been heard on some of the famous radio shows such as Rush Limbaugh, Oliver North and Don Imus.

PA is not a subsidy publisher, vanity press or publish on demand company. PA does not charge for their services. No catches or hidden surprises, and PA even regularly pays small advances to their authors to show their support. PA does not want an authors money, they only want rights to their books, and it stops there. The copyright, TV rights, movie rights, merchandising and audio rights will remain under the authors legal rights. Book publishing contracts expire after seven years instead of the life terms of many publishers.

Almost all of the biggest publishers use digital technologies for printing. The print-on-demand form of publishing is used by other publishers such as Random House.

They will assign a graphic designer to create your book cover, and also take suggestions and ideas from the author.

Publish America Issues

With such a huge amount of books and authors cycling through Publish America yearly, there are also a few problems.

Authors report that graphic designers are not always willing to take their ideas when it comes to their book covers, the second most important aspect of their creations.
Although Publish America does provide an editing service at no cost, it can be extremely time-consuming. If you do not plan to have your book proofread by an outside service, expect an average wait for editing of around 3 to 6 months.

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How Much Money Should You Make? How to Sell Online…

January 31, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Have something to sell? No? You may not think so, but I’d bet good money that you already do, or have the skills to easily create things that could sell well online. Quite frankly, when it comes to selling online, you are 100% limited by your own ideas of what your limitations are. Too vague? Maybe this will explain further.

You do not have to own a jewelry store, pawn shop, or music store to have a product that is high demand and high profile that will sell well online. Regularly, regular people are creating their own businesses by doing exactly what they like to do, what they are good at, and what is easily done in their own homes.

Art – Custom paintings, creative furniture covers, frames, the list is actually endless in the art department.
Handbags and Purses – There is actually a fairly large market for handcrafted bags and purses.
Bath and Beauty – There are hundreds of thousands of people making a nice living by creating eco-friendly, and homemade bath and beauty products.
Candles – Candles of all sizes and styles are always in demand. Most especially candles that are created for weddings or religious ceremonies.
Ceramics and Pottery – This can entail many things, but a good potter will know exactly what products people can use the most and create them accordingly.
Clothing – Handmade clothing and used clothing have a big market online with many different venues. E-bay does not have a monopoly on secure online open seller sites.
Crochet – You may not have thought all of those hours you spend crocheting that blanket for the co-worker with a new baby was worth much, but blankets crocheted larger for a bed size for instance, regularly sell for several hundred dollars online.
Edibles – No one says you will be able to make a living cooking dinner for people and selling it online, though some do. But if you have skills in the kitchen, be aware that a few dozen decorated sugar cookies can rack in over a hundred dollars.
Furniture – Have carpentry skills? You don’t have to build and ship custom couches to make money. Try building light weight veggie boxes or trinket boxes online. You would be shocked how much custom designed items like this can go for. And the shipping won’t kill your wallet either.
Glass – Do you have skills at blowing glass? What about etching it? There is a huge market for these items in holiday, wedding, and religious ceremonies for this.
Holidays – Any holiday, all year long. If you have a special skill with creating Halloween costumes, or a knack for making nice Christmas ornaments, you have what it takes to sell online.
Music – You don’t have to be rock band quality. If you have a guitar and a nice voice, sell your skills online to create jingles, videos or other audio products for the many businesses that are desperately hunting them daily.
Pets – Like making dog sweaters? Seriously, browse some pet clothing shops online. Outrageous prices. If you can do better, you have a lot of money waiting on you as you read this.
Plants – Seed sharing is not only an incredible idea for producing great new strains of fruits and vegetables, but it is also a lucrative business to do so. Got some incredible moss covering some of your property? You can sell small chunks of it online for ten bucks a piece all day long.
Vintage – Vintage items of any kind are always top sellers. If you inherited some clothing from a great- great anything, don’t turn it over to the second-hand donation box just yet. Even they may not know what to do with it. But a vintage shopper online will.
Weddings – Have skills with creating invitations? Knack for decorating? Sell your skills, or your wedding products online. You may have a bit of competition, but nothing a little targeted marketing may not cure.
Woodworking – If you have woodworking skills and are not selling those in the creating of custom frames, plaques and the thousands of other quick finish job options online, you are missing out.

So that’s a great place to start. Now that you’ve had a moment to think on it, maybe you just need to know how to begin.

Selling Online

Product sales online are divided into three categories.

Selling physical products
Selling downloadable products
Selling services

Note: Even if you’re not taking money digitally your still selling so make sure your brand and pitch are in line with the consumer need.

Equipment

So the first thing you need of course is a computer and an internet connection. Be sure you have a reliable connection. Losing the internet for a couple of days mid-sale can cause you to end up with bad feedback or reviews that can be highly detrimental to your online business.

Tip: Setup a backup plan, who has wifi in your area and maybe a valuable tool like coffee?

Funding

You will need to have a credit or debit card to do many of the functions online. Although having a checking account is nice, not many businesses will accommodate automatic checking, instead, use your bank ATM card as your debit or credit source.

Tip: If you can’t afford a charge back or lack of funds availability get a corporate card because credit is far more forgiving then bank accounts when it comes to fraud. If your credit is in the recent tank like so many others ask your bank about secured cards that start at as little as $300. Credit cards are much more safer then bank accounts when it comes to internet transactions. (This tip thanks to Doug @ Suffolk County National Bank)

Email

You will need an email account. For business purposes, try to find an email server that will allow you to get your company name in the email address. Yet one more way to put your company name into cyberspace for recognition. Google, Hotmail and Yahoo all provide free email accounts that are commonly compatible with many other sites and services online.

If you grab a domain you like run a generic, sales@ info@ and use a POP setup, in the early portion of your business you don’t need to be spending money on exchange services and avoid any tech that tries to tell you otherwise.

Domain and Web Hosting

If you want to be easily found, and easily remembered, you will need to get your own domain name and find a web host with good solid service. Always try to get a .com if at all possible. Of course you or a hired web designer will still need to build the site, but never settle for a free option on another sites server alone.

SEOTrick: Avoid your name, you not famous or important (yet) take a look at your product or what your customer is searching for, run that through the AdWords keyword tool and buy a domain that fits that.

No one says you shouldn’t have an Ebay store, but you should also have your own. The Ebay store should actually be used to direct customers to your real store front, the one you own the domain and pay the host for.

Exercise the Options

Do not limit yourself to your website and an extra Ebay store on the side. Although you should be careful not to overextend yourself, there are so many other options available that it’s hard to imagine an online store owner that does not network themselves and their product. Check out these sites to build an extra store front. One more place on the net with your product, and one more place on the net with your name on it. Don’t let someone tell you that you should pay for this or that service because they have great online storefront options, use these free options.

This isn’t the stopping point. Check out the unique ideas these online product sellers are marketing themselves.

Take note of those sites. Register with them, offer a lower cost product you have, and with each product you send out, send a business card with your real website address on it. Offer them a discount for shopping directly through your store. Do what you have to do to network your business, but never, ever, just pop a store up and wait. There is no quicker way to fail and to let frustration cause you to give up.

Merchant Services

Get your account set up with a merchant service that will allow you to accept credit card payments. You can do this several ways, but Paypal does offer great merchant services at about the best price you are likely to find.

Authorize.net is arguably the largest and easiest plug and play merchant account offering integrated web systems and virtual terminals.

Promote Your Site

If you have utilized all the tips here you have definitively gotten a great start on advertising, networking and promoting your site. Go the extra mile, build a blog that provides helpful information on your products, find some affordable SEO services such as those who will help you release great PR’s for reduced cost. Remember those micro sell sites you exercised your options on? Check thoroughly through those for some quick and incredibly affordable marketing and advertising options as well.

They may not shoot your store to the top all by themselves, but with your own efforts and theirs combined you will have definitely begun to make your mark as an online seller.

Good Luck!

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QWiki: Full Media Search Engine with Results You Actually Need

January 25, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Is it the sum of all human knowledge? Tidily gathered in one place and put in the hands of every individual on earth, the internet has brought us unparalleled research capabilities, unforeseen technologies, and untold fortunes. However, there is no doubt that there are issues with the current systems.

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That said, Jan 24, 2011 marked the day that the term “Google It” started to fade away! On Oct 1, 2010 I mentioned qwiki as one of the major future technologies of the future and now just 24hrs after they have gone live I add to my thoughts.

Notoriously, as expansive as it is, it has for the most part remained a one way street. We bash some letters into a search engine, and patiently await a relative return. Google, Yahoo, Bing, and others have had great purpose, but also been an incredible source of confusion for some users who may not be incredibly aware of its algorithms and nuances.

The Solution?

Facebook Co-Founder, Eduardo Saverin launched a new search engine known as Qwiki that provides what is referred to as a ‘rich media narrative’ format. In the spirit of Wikipedia, a user can add to the knowledge available on any topic. This engine provides a combination of photos, audio and video clips that relate to the queried topic. Opened for public testing on Monday, January 24, 2011, the game has just begun.

Qwiki says their goal is to bring science fiction film to life by enabling computers to collect data on the behalf of their human counterparts. Not exactly mind reading, but not the passive system utilized so widely now. Qwiki wants to make the internet a two-way street.

So far, reviews say they are doing just that. Instead of providing one-shot information, it provides more help when even deciding on a better topic of interest.

Using Qwiki

This is a straight-forward interface. Users land on the home page, input their topic and Qwiki will load and begin to play automatically. No more robotic sounding readers. Qwiki’s voice-over has almost completely removed the non-human, monotone Robbie the Robot voice, and replaced it with a surprisingly pleasant female voice that includes highs and lows in the appropriate places. If you never thought an artificial voice could sound soothing, Qwiki may change that for you.

Resources? I would have imagined loading all of this media would have caused a bit longer load time. On a 64bit dual core processor +6000, it took no longer to load the search bar than Google blank page, it took .03 seconds longer to load the rest.

After your initial search plays, Qwiki offers you more options below and the topics seem to be highly relevant after many searches.

What Now?

I don’t see how Qwiki can help but change the way that internet searches currently work. The results are entertaining and at some point someone needs to jump on a research group that can dig into the details about learning curves and get Qwiki right now to the users who may be able to better retain information because of it. It is hard not to focus when you have a calming voice reading the text as it scrolls below gripping slideshows and photo galleries.

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Personal & Professional: Social Network at Home

January 25, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

If you’re a business owner, sometimes we forget that in the world of branding and marketing that Social Media is still about being personal. The person you are when you leave work is just as important to your customers as the professional.

There are many ways to extend your network and show the person behind the professional. One example of this is to share your experiences, and while we have taken to the 140 character world of micro blogging let’s not forget that sometimes more is, well more.

In this case I have attached a review of a restaurant in East Hampton that my wife and I recently visited. I had walked in and found at the end of my business meeting that he had missed a few basic structural needs for the SEO of his website, after thirty minutes he was well on his way to correcting the problem and my wife and I had the opportunitiy to be his guest just a few nights later.

In this case I took the time to share our experience and post it to TripAdvisor, Google Places, Yelp and more, after all, I felt this relationship and experience was worth more than 140 Characters.

(also note the added value of the link “restaurant”, this provides a SEO reference or backlink for his website)

Rugosa offers a contemporary dining experience with a service that almost matches the exquisite tastes its kitchen provides.

Let me start off by saying I am completely biased, or am I? After all, is it not a personal touch that we all want from a night out?

Bill Mammes had my wife (Natalia) and I as his guests this past Friday (Jan 21, 2011), it was an experience that I did not expect. The atmosphere is both elegant and comfortable, a combination that is tricky at best to accomplish.

We used OpenTable.com to set our reservation; it was simple and user friendly. The Open Table platform uses a web version and offers mobile applications. When visiting www.RugosaResturant.com, you will find it integrates fairly nice with the restaurant website as well.

While Yvette (Spouse & co-owner) provided a warm smile and courteous introduction, she was quickly matched by the young server Jon, whose enthusiasm and professionalism instantly uplifted our end of the week winter mood.

Jon is a student of wine (or Oenologist) and while he seems to favor Italian reds, he bolsters a wonderful respect for the Long Island whites. His enthusiasm could easily overtake an unsuspecting guest. My wife and I found him to be a wonderful part of our night out.

Chef Mammes not only didn’t disappoint, he surprised us at the start. While I started with the Autumn Salad, I found myself quickly stealing from my wife’s plate. Jon had recommended the Duck Cannelloni (Duck Confit, Trumpet Royale Mushrooms and Sautéed Spinach with Star Anise Jus) which in itself brought new meaning to “appetizer”. While I would like to tell you that the Autumn Salad was good as well, the truth is that it’s Butternut Squash, Apples and more was really just a backdrop to the Duck Cannelloni.

The main course was exquisite; I went with the 14oz Painted Hills Rib-Eye with Bulgur Wheat, Spinach in a Red Wine Sauce. My wife (Natalia) bested me once more with the Lightly Smoked Salmon, Cauliflower, Fingerling Potato and Cucumber Horseradish Sauce. As you might have guessed, I found myself once again with poor table manners reaching onto her plate.

As the evening continued on, we enjoyed live music (which was appropriate) and I surrendered to Jon’s wisdom, as by now he had earned our trust. Natalia went with the Petit Basque which is a Sheep Milk Cheese from Pyrenees Honey Glee, Red Wine Poached Prune with whole Wheat Raisin Bread, and while she enjoyed it, I finally found my treat that would leave an impression. I had the chance to finish my night with the Bruleed Lime Meringue, a fresh lemon curd with cream and mixed fresh berries on top.

Rugosa was a wonderful experience and while I’d like to say that I recommend it, I dare not be so bold, but hope you will find this review worthy of a visit so that you may follow with your own review. I can say this, we left so refreshed that while it was a late departure, we quickly made our way to the East Hampton Theaters for Black Swan, but that’s another great experience for another time.

NEVER FORGET THAT YOU HAVE A NAME AND LIFE BEHIND WHAT YOU DO! CONSUMERS KNOW THIS TOO!

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Latest Trends in Branding or Rebranding of Companies

January 20, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

The latest trends in branding or rebranding of companies are developed of necessity. To be successful at rebranding all elements must be consistent and the effect on all stakeholders must be taken into account. Rebranding should be done in a way that it doesn’t alienate current customers but does attract new customers and opens up new markets for the brand.

Rebrand to Counteract Negative Publicity

When tobacco became a product with many negative connotations, the tobacco giant Phillip Morris rebranded to Altria. At the time this happened, the company also owned over eighty percent of the Kraft Corporation. Changing the name gave the company a chance to show people that the company was involved in more than tobacco. This helped counteract the negative publicity that smoking tobacco was bringing to the industry.

Successful Rebranding

Rebranding requires that the various processes in the marketing campaign make sense. Everything should flow comfortably into the new brand image so that current customers will feel comfortable. When done properly rebranding will make potential customers take a second look while comforting current customers that their favorite items will still be available.

Successful rebranding should

Provide opportunities to communicate the brand shift in the business model
Allow the migration of your brand into new markets and new audiences
Help shed a negative image and disguise negative business events
Allow the company’s mission to be updated bringing new vision to the team involved

Successful rebranding encompasses much more than changing a logo; there should be significance to the changes and this should be communicated to the stakeholders. They should be able to see the purpose behind the change so they will be receptive to it.

Branded Brands

The trend in branding today points to Branded Brands. To make this simple say you are taking a United Airways flight, while on the flight you will be offered Starbucks Coffee, cookies from Mrs. Fields and a Friendly Skies Meal complete with toy from MickeyD’s. This also affects the airlines popularity since the people receive brands they are comfortable with and enjoy.

Brands that Support a Good Cause

Cause marketing is also a growing trend in branding. This trend identifies a brand with a humanitarian cause. This approach has been very successful for many brands such as GAP. Most people feel good about their purchase if part of the cost is going for a good cause and this way of thinking doesn’t seem to be hampered by the recession.

The latest trends in branding or rebranding of companies are out of the box. A lot of creative thinking and marketing techniques are required to be successful in today’ tough economy.

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How to Protect Your Digital Brand Online

January 18, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

One of the first things the small or large business manager needs to learn is how to protect your digital brand online. Your digital brand is comprised of everything that is online about you so it is important to know what is already there before going any further.

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Damage Control

One of the easiest things to do is to go to a search engine such as Google and perform a search for your name. Googling yourself will give you a good place to start if you need to do some housekeeping on the web. You may be surprised at what you find and see the need to start performing some damage control.

Social networking is the way many people communicate these days and almost everyone has or has had a Facebook or MySpace account possibly beginning in their college days. If these sites do not project you or the brand that you represent in the way that you would like to be perceived, either clean up the site or take it down. Be aware that traces may remain on your friends’ pages.

Don’t Forget About the Good Old Days!

Go back through old history that you may have forgotten and delete comments and pictures that project you in a less than favorable light. You may still appear on your friends pages so if there is something particularly bad, contact your friend and ask them to remove it for you.

Training to Protect Your Digital Brand

When setting up social networking sites for your business, it is important that the people responsible for setting up these accounts realize their possible impact on the digital brand. Twitter can be one of the worst offenders as many business rush to have a brand presence on Twitter. An untrained employee can cause irreparable damage by tweeting unprofessional comments that may poorly reflect on the digital brand.

If you find untrue content on the web that is unflattering to your brand, you can ask the webmaster of the site to remove it. Many will do that just to avoid any possible legal consequences. Depending on your circumstances you may want to check the web for fake sites that are plagiarizing your content or products that can affect how people see your brand. The important thing is to stay informed so you can perform damage control.

Create a Positive Online Image

An online presence is a must for a brand to be successful in today’s competitive marketplace. A positive impact from your digital brand can be expected if you stay on top of the situation and take control. Make sure there are many positive images of your digital brand online which also helps bury any bad content that may exist.

Make sure that those who are trusted with the responsibility of maintaining these social networks are aware of the language, tone, and values that you want your digital brand to project. This is how to protect your digital brand online and make it work for you.

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What is Groupon? How Does it work?

January 17, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Groupon – a deal a day website, brings buyers and sellers together through a web and mobile application that offers the customers a great deal, while businesses get a large number of new customers.

The idea behind it is the power of group buying. The deal Groupon does with businesses specifies a minimum number of buyers. If enough people sign up, the deal will become active. If less than this minimum of people sign up, the deal is canceled. This way, businesses can offer great deals because they rely on valium.

The company offers one deal per day per a certain geographic location. It doesn’t cost the merchant a thing, but he has to share in the profits with Groupon. There are certain businesses that Groupon is staying away from; shooting ranges, abortion clinics, plastic surgeons and strip clubs, top their list.

The company sends scouts to different cities to research the businesses, and when they identify the potential, salespeople approach the business. By helping shoppers save while letting local businesses advertise, Groupon seems to have tapped into the intersection of the internet’s social media and physical shopping.

An example – 1,600 people in one day bought skydiving lessons in Chicago, getting a 44% discount on the $229 price. The company making the offer normally sells 6,000 lessons per year. On one day they got 25% of their yearly business. They sacrificed some profit, but got lots of new customers.

And it sure feels like they hit a nerve. Groupon’s spectacular rise since 2008 turned meteoric in 2010. What started in Chicago with the first deal – half price off pizza in the building where their office was located – turned within a few short years into an amazing success. Groupon has expanded to 35 countries, growing their subscriber base by 2,500%, from 2 million to over 50 million.

With the sign of this huge success came attempts to buy them out. In October Yahoo was rumored to try and buy Groupon for $3 billion. A month later, Google offered $5.3 billion. Google was rejected in December 2010.

They now have a few competitors: LivingSocial, Group Swoop and Scoop Street have tried to cash in, as have social networks like Facebook, with Places, and Foursquare, with Deals.

The main market of Groupon is composed of young, educated women. Deals are often focused on health, fitness and beauty.

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Brand Marketing, not Brand Advertising! Difference?

January 7, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Establishing a Brand is most successful when the marketing campaign is performed in a consistent manner that projects the image that the brand stands for. In the case of tangible goods this will affect the packaging, logo, advertisements, and quality of the product delivered to the public. The same principle is true for intangible goods there are just slight differences in the branding process.

Just as a brand is the sum of people’s perception of a name, a company logo, the products carrying the brand, and the packaging of the product. Marketing is the strategy with how the brand is utilized, this can be anything from placement to targeting. This is different from advertising, as advertising is part of marketing execution. While you can advertise something in the local paper, on the internet or even with radio, it is the marketing plan that decides what is going to be presented and how, for the specific purpose of accomplishing brand recognition and the long term call to action.

One Fraction of an Example:

Advertising – 3 Month Banner Ad on a website. The banner ad has the company name and offers 20% off with mention of this ad.
Marketing – A strategic placement of a 3 month banner ad to support the brand image that offers 20% OFF “product” with the donation of a nonperishable good for the local high schools food drive.

Advertising in this case is the action of getting the word out, marketing is the art of strategic placement of different advertising means to engage the general public and create additional sources beyond the first form of advertising. The marketing example here still offers a discount, but has engaged the consumer in the sense of “community support” and developed cross promotion from the would be customers in the school and it’s students. The consumer experience is presented as a great deal, helping out a good cause. When they leave the experience should have been consistent from entering the location (visiting the website) and leaving. When it comes time to make a purchase again, they will recall your brand as a positive experience with value and be drawn back.

Loyalty to Brands

People become loyal to brands and that loyalty may come from many different areas. They may be attracted by the packaging or a commercial they see. It can be as simple as a color scheme and of course the customer will expect quality. Quality is always important since you want someone to purchase your products or services more than one time. Maintaining a brand is a major part of any marketing plan.

Customers are Fickle

Once a brand has become established, anything done to change the design of the packaging or the way the brand is advertised must be done with caution. Customers are fickle, and it is very easy for them to forget your unproven and time tested brand. It is also easy for a brand to become unrecognizable to a consumer who may decide to buy another product since they can’t find what they are looking for.

Challenges to Marketing a Brand

Brand recognition can be very tricky and many people will switch brands when a product becomes unfamiliar looking to them. They may even perceive that the quality of the product or service has changed even if it is exactly the same. This creates challenges to the marketers who are paid to advertise the brand.

Trial and Error

Discovering the right way to market a brand can be a game of trial and error. This may require a lot of research into the buying habits of those loyal to a brand. The important thing is that someone is paying attention when the marketing plan changes and stops the changes if they are not being embraced by buyers of the brand.

Marketing Must Meet Customer Expectations

The marketing of a brand must remain consistent with what people expect of the brand. Their perception of the brand has a lot to do with why they purchase it. If that perception is ever tarnished it is possible to lose a good customer over a failed marketing plan to increase market share.

The challenge to marketing a brand is to attract new customers while maintaining a consistent feel with the brand. Marketing must keep some life in the product or service offered without alienating loyal customers. This keeps the brand strong and vibrant and prevents customer sentiment from becoming stale.

Summary:

It is my opinion that the development of a brand is the first stage in any successful business.

What do you offer?
How do you offer it?
What will it look/feel like?
What will it be associated with?

Now build a perception of it around what you have discovered here and with what need this product or business is meeting. Decide how you are going to market it, then decide which advertising means will help you accomplish your marketing goals to build that brand recognition.

TIME!!! It takes time to build consistent brand recognition, if your budget it $10,000 then make sure you invest smaller portions of that 10,000 for a longer period of time. The big banner ad for $1,000 a month will not bring the same consistent value as two smaller banner ads at $500 a month, and $500 more a month in community outreach and support. Spread it around a little and make it consistently last. Before moving forward consider how this “spend” will fit into the brand in the next year, five years and ten years.

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