@BasilPuglisi

Content & Strategy, Powered by Factics & AI, Since 2009

Traditional Marketing

Picking the Right Social Network for your Brand

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As for internet visibility, or digital brand as it is being called now, 2010 proved, without a doubt, the power of the social network. Facebook just passed Google in the number of hits per day. People are using the internet to connect and be connected more than they use it to perform searches.

Aside from it being a sociological phenomenon that no doubt will be talked about and researched, it opened a world of advertising not used before. Facebook makes it extremely easy to connect with almost anything that is a digital brand, with one click of a button. Just type into your Facebook page that you liked a certain television show and immediately you will be connected to their site, to see more.

As a way to advertising your brand, it is a goose that can lay golden eggs. And why not? It is free, it is simple and everyone with a little understanding of how the system works can join in and be effective. Right?

Not so fast. The problem with social media is that it is multiplying. New sites, with new possibilities for connectivity between people are popping up like mushrooms after the rain. You can join all of them and spend most of your time updating and chatting while neglecting your core business. You can hire people to do it for you, believing that bigger is better and the more sites you join will yield better results, only to find out that the ROI (return on investment) is not worth the effort.

Before you embark on the social media voyage, you should know that not all sites were born equal and knowing which one to join is the most important aspect.

Here are some questions you should ask yourself:

–          What is the strength of the site?  You have to do a little research. What can Twitter do for you? What can Dailybooth? Evaluate the site to see if it fits you and the character of your business. Think of a strategy; what do you want to achieve, how can this or that site get you there?

–          How much time you are willing to invest? How much time you can afford to spend on social networking? An hour a day? A week? Social media is, after all, just that – social. Scott Stratten (1), a man with over 74,000 followers on Twitter says the amount of followers started to grow when he dedicated time and interacted with others. You have to maintain presence for social media to work.

–          Do your customers use social network at all? Most businesses have communities. Check them out. Are they talking about your kind of business? Maybe they do on a forum of another kind. It is a bit of a detective work, but you have to find out where your potential customers are.

–          If you had to pay for the service, would you still do it? How much are you willing to spend on this form of advertisement? Granted, joining is free, but maintaining it will cost you a lot of time.

–          Social media is a long term commitment. Having a page up then not updating it for months has a worse impact than not having one at all. It shows you don’t care, don’t follow through and maybe you are out of business. If it’s up there it should be maintained.

Thinking ahead about a strategy before embarking on this trip is important. Treating social media seriously, as part of an advertising campaign, is important as well. Those are the things that will yield results. Use the questions above to get organized and start thinking in the right direction.

Sources:

What is Advertising in comparison to Branding?

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Advertising tells the world how great, useful, or exciting that your product or service is. Branding is when people know how great, useful, and exciting your product is without the advertisement. Advertising is a very important part of branding since the human mind forgets things very quickly and advertising reminds them of the brand.

The Brand is an experience in “an emotional economy, success is judged by a profound and indelible connection with people through sensory experiences” (Gobé, 2007), if you build a brand around the product alone then you will have missed the opportunity to build a genuine brand. The intangibles are as important, and in some services more important than the tangibles in branding.

  • Consistency is Important

To fully benefit the creation of a brand name, advertising should be done in a consistent manner that exemplifies what the brand stands for. This is very important when a brand is being created or developed so that people will remember your product or service when they make a purchase or require services that you perform. It is essential that there is a consistent look and feel to everything that is associated with the brand.

Branding is the perception that people have of a brand name. It includes their perception of the logo, packaging, and the products or services represented by the brand. Branding makes people think of your brand when they need a product or service that you offer. Advertising keeps the brand fresh in their mind.

  • Branding is a Mind Game

Branding is not always a tangible thing; branding is a sum of what people feel, think, or know about a product or service. It is a very real thing but it occurs in the mind; it is how a brand is perceived to be. Brand awareness must be promoted and sustained through marketing communications such as advertising.

The importance of a product, the delivery of the brand as well as the uniqueness of a particular brand should be stressed within the advertisement of the product. Why you need it; what it does; and what it does better than similar products are important benefits to emphasize when marketing a product or service provider. This is especially important in a tough economy when people are trying to save money and sometimes straying from their favorite brands.

  • Advertising Keeps a Brand on Your Mind

Advertising is very important to the creation and sustenance of a brand name. It keeps your product fresh in their mind which may make your brand the brand they chose to buy. Advertising helps make a brand memorable which is very important to a marketing plan.

  • Advertising to the Young

Advertising can also bring awareness of the products to different groups of people who may need or want the products or services that you sell. Young people are very brand conscious and although they don’t usually have their own money, their desires influence purchases made by adults in their family. This is the reason why many advertisements are geared towards the young. If you plan to capture the attention of this group, I suggest you think mobile first, internet video second, then down the line.

Sources:

What is a Brand? How Does a Small Business use Branding?

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What is a brand? 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. If you are in the business of selling, you are either selling your own brand, selling the brand of another or in most cases, doing both. Unfortunately, most businesses do understand the importance of brand. However, they fail to organize, or better yet capitalize behind it.

 How do we know that Small Business Owners are failing?

“In a recent report, it was discovered that 47 percent of Small Business Owners either aren’t sure or don’t think their customers spend time on social media sites. Further, 24 percent of Small Business Owners don’t think their customers do research online before finding them” (Barone, 2011)

Branding Makes You Stand Out in the Crowd

Branding is also important in the marketing of services such as the Painless Dentist or the Computer Geeks. Branding attracts certain types of people and makes a small business stand out in the crowd. Branding may not make you seem to be all things to all people but it will make you important to some people.

When developing a business, you should find a need then tailor to that need. If you create a product and then hope people need it, your success will likely be short. Your brand should be treated the same way. Target a need or concern and meet an expectation.

Kohl’s has done fairly well with this, while much credit has been given to the brand in being a great “price for value”, the Kohl’s brand has started to shift from general value to specific. When Kohl’s started excepting any item for return at any time, they shifted from value when you shop, to value for life. In response would be casual shoppers started spending at Kohl’s like it was an investment.

Over time a company normally develops a brand identity, through customer experiences and the perceptions of others who are outside the business. Creating a brand identity is different but it takes a lot of the chance out of the situation since creating a brand identity is carefully thought out and carried out consistently across the product lines and services that are offered. This ensures that the effects of branding have a positive impact on customers and also attracts potential customers to your brand.

How Does a Small Business Use Branding?

Major brands have strong corporate identities; these companies spend a lot of money making you remember their name, their look, and their products. This is branding, and it is a carefully thought out process that is important for large and small businesses alike. Branding makes people remember you and hopefully put you on the top of their list which can make or break the success of a small business.

To be successful a small business should:

  • Discover what they do best and then do it.
  • Do what you do best over and over again.
  • Quality customer service is also important when trying to establish a brand.
  • Consistency in packaging, advertising, and quality will make your brand and your small business stand out in people’s minds.

Developing a specific identity and then communicating your identity consistently is key to creating a brand identity. Social Media has created a great new tool for Small Business Owners to capitalize on strategies used by the big boys for centuries.

More than just being on social media, consumers want a Small Business Owner to establish a real presence there. (Barone, 2010)

For example:

  • 81 percent say it’s important for businesses to respond to a post.
  • 78 percent want to see promotions.
  • 74 percent want regular posts.
  • 66 percent want to see pictures.

Summary:

Brand or Branding, is a crucial part of any business in any field, while you may be successful with what you do, without a brand strategy you will never reach your full potential. This may feel fine to you, just realize that your capitalization will be limited by the “brand” investment you have put into your concept, product or business.

Sources:

Fan Page List, retrieved October 28, 2010

Kohls.com retrieved on December 28, 2010.

Las Vegas Business Press retrieved on December 30, 2010

Small Business Trends retrieved on Jan, 2 2011.

Wenatchee Business Journal retrieved on December 30, 2010

New Year – Brand Marketing Educator

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What does this mean?

  • Brand – The name, image, idea or concept that is associated with something.
  • Marketing – Marketing is the processes for strategizing for the creation of campaigns that communicate, deliver, and/or exchanging offerings that have value for the general public, be it customers, clients, partners, or the society at large.
  • Educator – Someone who chooses to continually learn themselves, while teaching others what they have learned. An individual who seeks knowledge for the purpose of sharing or disseminating it to others.

As a Consulting Coach for the last decade I have taken what I have learned in Banking, Student Affairs, Public Policy, Politics, Small Business Development, Advertising and Marketing, Web Development, Social Media and more to help develop businesses, political campaigns and support non-profits. This decade long process that started as Puglisi Consulting has helped me define what role I have in society. I also believe it defines what I offer to those that I work with, work for, or have the pleasure of their company.

As a Brand Marketing Educator it will be my responsibility to continue to develop my understanding of how to reach people. In the end, a business, a political campaign, a charitable cause only finds success in its ability to get seen and be found. After all the best message, even the one that may save your business, organization, campaign or life has little value if it does not reach those who need or want it.

This blog is the collective work of so many, even in the last year as I started these articles, part or majority have come from volunteers and paid sources who helped research the topics. One person cannot claim to be a source of value alone, but can claim to be a facilitator of sources and knowledge.

I pledge to use this blog as an extension of what I know and more importantly learn during the next year. I ask for no pay, no donations and no for profit advertising on this blog. I do this in the hopes that those that visit it, will always find an unbiased opinion and suggestion for what I believe can help increase visibility, so that you can be successful.  

Why?

Because I am a SPARTAN! If those who can, choose not to, then they have lost the best of themselves or in some cases ourselves.

 Basil C. Puglisi – Brand Marketing Educator

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Google Aims to Save you Time

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Google Aims to Save you Time

The long tentacles of Google are everywhere these days – in a good way.

The company is thinking ahead and making life more comfortable, more connected, more immediate than ever before.

It is no longer just a search engine. Google Chrome is gaining in popularity among the web browsers. It had 10 million users at the end of 2008, 30 million at the end of 2009 and in mid-2010 already had 70 million active users. How is that for a growth spurt?

G-mail is popular, simple to use and basically works in a “cloud” – all your information is stored on servers, not on your home computer, accessible from anywhere at any time. It can store all your contacts, all your e mails; you don’t have to back up that information because it doesn’t matter if your computer crashes. The hardware became less important and the information is safe behind strong firewalls.

Google Docs  enables you to hare documents and collaborate with others on the same page, set appointments on Google calendar, and see what’s new with Google Reader and Google Reader Play.

Google Reader

Most of internet savvy people, and especially the young ones, have a few website they like to visit often to see what’s new. The sites can be blogs, professional sites, membership sites etc. Going to each website separately takes time, and then you might find that there was nothing of interest for you this day.

Google Reader comes to the rescue. A program which was launched in 2007, in now becoming very popular. Google reader is an aggregator of feeds and news from your favorite websites, all in one place. Once you go to the site and list your favorite websites, one click only will show you all the new stuff from all your favorite websites in one place, in a headline form.

If you are interested in the subject matter, another click will get you to the website for more in depth information. It saves time and effort and makes getting updates from the sites your anyway go to, much more concise.

Google Reader Play

Lately, Google introduced the Google Reader Play which presents the information in images with a big image at the top of the screen and the different items as thumb nails at the bottom. This is information aggregated from different web sources. You can click on the right and left arrows to scroll through the items or you can click on the thumbnail to enlarge them to the main screen.

The idea that the good stuff is mostly visual is behind this service. It adapts to your tastes as you click on the icons representing marked for later, like, and share. It is still in the experimental stage and can be accessed through Google Labs. This service doesn’t come to replace the Reader but to augment it. While the Reader gives you feeds from your chosen sites, Reader Play gives you information aggregated from sites all over the web.

This forwards thinking and development in many directions at once, is what make this company what it is today. A major player and developer. Where is Microsoft gone to? Google is overtaking them by leaps and bounds. Microsoft seems to be stuck in the browser and office arenas and coming up with new things that just complicate matters instead of making them simpler.

Visibility Marketing Trends for 2011

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As for Businesses and visibility, what can be predicted to be the trends for 2011?

Here are some thoughts:

Web Design – As the reliance on websites becomes widespread for small businesses, so does the competition. How to retain the visitors and make them go to other pages on your site has been a question may want an answer to. The trend for the upcoming year in websites, points to the fact that a basic page is not good enough anymore. Sites are expected to engage, entertain and interact with their visitors. The design process has become simpler and many sites are offering, for small amount of money, templates that and already set up, making them hipper, more fun to use and interactive.

Mobile Connectivity – Smart phones are gathering speed and offer possibilities that we never had before. Almost 50% of business owners already own smartphones. Mobile devices will change how we do business. They offer another platform for advertisement as well.

E Commerce – will continue to grow in popularity. A research done in the beginning of 2010 showed that only 30% of small business websites have e commerce capability.

Social Shopping – and interacting with customers is becoming increasingly important. More businesses will get into the social media plains. First hand recommendations in a saturated world are more important than ever.

Social Media – In the past year many business owners spread themselves thin over many social media platforms. The important thing is, and will remain to be, a consistent message and brand, with exposure to consumers.

Cloud Computing – In the beginning of 2010, a group of internet experts and mavens got together and announced that “we will all be leaving in the cloud by 2020”. It seems to be happening faster than they have predicated. Many business owners realized that cloud computing is very beneficial. It eliminates the need for an office and a desk. Everything can be accessed from mobile devices (laptops, tablets and smartphones). Having the ability to see everything that goes on, wherever you are anytime you choose to, is becoming a reality with cloud computing. It is the ultimate “virtual office”.

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After Christmas Sales

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It looks like this year was a good year for Christmas business.

The estimated sales this Christmas season are projected to reach $451 billion. That number is much higher than what happened in 2008 and 2009 and is almost at par with 2007, one of the best years ever. In 2007 the sales were at $453 billion.

Because of that fact, experts expect after Christmas sales not to be as deep as they were in Christmas past, but retailers are still trying to keep the momentum going. If sales are going to be strong as they were before Christmas, this might turn out to be a very good Christmas indeed.

This year, internet sales reached $36 billion, driven by discounts and free shipping. Many of these offers will continue this week. Online sales in the United States rose 15.4% compared to last year.

Many chain stores are announcing big discounts that will continue up to the end of the year, and many stores are extending their operating hours to accommodate as many shoppers as they can.

Most of the after Christmas shopping has to do with returns, exchanges and especially gift cards. Combining a monetary gift card with deep sales is what causes customers to brave the bad weather and go to the store.

What is the best strategy for after Christmas shopping? Expert suggest to do an online search before you go to the mall to find out where the best sales are. Businesses are sending e mails to their customers to let them know where the good sales are. Some of them worked over the Christmas vacation to be able to reach their clients.

Where are the biggest sales? Jewelry, toys and TV’s before the Super bowl.

Spending on gift cards reached nearly $25 billion this season, an increase of 5% over last year, according to the National Retail Federation. Most of the gift card sales came in the last few days before Christmas.

The weather may play a role in after Christmas shopping this year, with 5-18 inches of new snow expected in Washington D.C, New York and New England. But bad weather plays a more important role before Christmas, than after. People can hold off on redeeming their gift cards for a while, since they are not bound by a firm date when they have to have their gifts ready. After Christmas sales are considered “the icing on the cake” for retailers. And indeed retailers feel the brunt of the storm with lower after Christmas sales. Now that the storm has passed retailers are waiting for increased sales with abated breath. They are hoping to turn a good year into a great one.

Blog 2.0 – Puglisi’s Blog 2011

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Happy HolidaysPuglisi’s blog has seen a slow and steady increase in its visitors, so much so, that it will undergo a few upgrades and looks for 2011. The blog founded by Brand Marketing Educator, Basil C. Puglisi will move from text based blog articles to media…. after all if it’s a blog about digital media it should include some of the web 2.0 feel.

The blogs original intention was to be a personal space for Puglisi to store research thoughts, track stages of development in digital trends and develop a base of knowledge to act as a resource to reinforce his seminars and events.

In Jun 2010 – 32 visitors that where tuning in to read about Digital Media and Visibility Marketing.  As of Dec 28, 2010 the blog had 208 visitors a month and continues to grow despite little if any advertising.

In 2011, we be stepping up the professional brand of the blog, you can expect to see everything that Basil C. Puglisi has learned over the last decade with a healthy mix of digital and academic expectations being executed.

Changes coming in 2011:

1) Citations: It’s just good practice to make sure that you share sources when writing. This reinforces that your work has research value and is developed from more than one point of view.

2) Charts, Pictures and other visuals: If we are talking about growth, locations or people, we should show you what we have seen or found.

3) Video: This is the fastest growing trend in the world, be it for learning, marketing or documentary videos is no surprise that YouTube is the second largest search engine.

The road map to developing a successful blog is a process, one that must develop a good foundation and then add the bells and whistle, or in this case the sources, and media. While some have criticized the lack of advanced features on the blog, it turns out that the development of a good content foundation still supersedes any social media or technology driven media. In this case, now that the foundation has been laid, we move into the more advanced features in 2011.

I’m Posting every day in 2011!

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I’m Posting every day in 2011!  (well weekday that is)

I’ve decided I want to blog more. Rather than just thinking about doing it, I’m starting right now.  I will be posting on this blog once a day / once a week for all of 2011.

I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. Therefore I’m promising to make use of The DailyPost, and the community of other bloggers with similiar goals, to help me along the way, including asking for help when I need it and encouraging others when I can.

If you already read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way.

Signed

Basil C. Puglisi

Happy Holidays!!! Social Media Do and Don’t

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So as we hit Christmas Eve, I like to take a minute and share a few Social Media etiquettes for the general year, but ring even more true for the Holidays.

1) Don’t sell anything!

At this point if you haven’t capitalized on your call to action you lost that chance by now. After all social media is about trust, consistency and professionalism, not selling.

2) Engage in genuine content.

Find ways to thank people, share info for free that has value to it, even if you hold back a little at least your getting in the spirit of giving and those on the other side might do them in return come the new year…hint, hint…

3) Be at peace with the (social) world.

This is a time for peace and relaxation, there is enough stress without you adding to it, expect the site visit to be short. Put away the sword, find things positive about what you agree with, reinforce similarities even with competitors… being the fair and honest (you) will mean everything to people when it comes time to spend money.

4) Stay engaged.

While now is not the time for long drawn out affairs, stay true to what others expect, if you check in everyday, hour, whatever, stick to this, consistency is almost as important as content.

5) Have fun.

This is what makes you different, just like someone smiling over the phone, you can tell when the person engaging you in social media is doing it because they are having fun, or because they are forcing it.

Happy Holidays!!!

Please be safe & responsible!