The importance of creating a brand for your startup business

March 31, 2009 Leave a comment

 

There are few certainties when it comes to launching a new business, but one of them is starting with zero customers.  This fact alone is what deters many would-be entrepreneurs from taking the plunge.  Without customers there is no income, and without income…well, you know how that story ends.

For those who press ahead anyway, good for you.  Now the sales cycle begins.  And for your prospective customers that cycle includes an information gathering stage, a shopping stage, and a purchase stage.  The key for your startup is to stand out in each of these stages, gaining a measure of relevance along with way.  How do you do that?  One important way is to insert your brand into the mix.  That’s because your brand makes selling easier.  It conveys a promise – before, during and after the sale – that builds trust around what you do and how well you do it.

The benefits of branding to the sales cycle are numerous.  Your brand builds recognition and name awareness in the marketplace in advance of the sale, which leads to increased selection of your product or service over competitors.  It also builds equity for your business in the form of premium pricing and customer loyalty.    It raises your product or service above the level of being a commodity, which helps reduce churn and protects your profit margin.  And finally, it increases the odds that your business will survive and prosper.

So make sure that building your brand is a part of your business plan.  Weave it into your product definition, your positioning, and your messaging.  Realize that shaping your brand’s perception requires persistence – so stick with it.  And know that there are lots of people who can help you with your branding strategy including PR and advertising firms, logo designers, and web-site developers to name a few.  But remember that you control the key ingredient, which is what your product or service stands for and the benefits it transmits.  That is your brand.  Others can help you message it, but you need to be it first.

Filed under advertising, Business, Marketing, PR, Sales, Startups & Entrepreneuring Tagged with , , , , , ,

SEM and SEO spending expected to continue increasing, while online sales continue to bolster retailers

March 25, 2009 Leave a comment

 

According to eMarketer, in spite of growing recessionary concerns U.S. marketers are likely to boost spending by as much as 16 percent in 2009 across the four basic forms of search engine marketing (paid search advertising, contextual advertising, paid inclusion, and search engine optimization.)  Investment is expected to grow to from $12.2 billion last year to $14.1 billion this year.  In addition, they suggest that by 2013 such spending could exceed $23 billion annually.  Another strong upward trend is in the area of search engine optimization, where eMarketer predicts that the size of the SEO industry could almost double in the next five years.

Anecdotal evidence from retailers selling online would appear to support the validity of making these investments.   In its annual report filing, Kohl’s just announced a 48% jump in Internet sales in 2008, joining Macy’s and Saks among retailers who have seen online success despite the recession.  This followed a strong ‘07 for Kohl’s, where online sales grew over 30%.  In the case of Macy’s and Saks, even as poor performing stores were being closed down their online sales were increasing.  What this means is that their brand was still resonating with Internet shoppers.

Online marketing for retailers is more than just SEM and SEO however.  In the case of Kohl’s, they struck timely deals with AOL, MSN and Yahoo during the holidays with eight home page takeovers, plus they offered regular “deal of the day” internet-only discounts on their web site.

The argument for investing in online brand development and selling via SEM, SEO and web site activities remains compelling, especially in these hard economic times.

Filed under eCommerce, Retailing, Sales, Search Engines Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

eBay to focus on secondary markets, revenue growth to lag ecommerce market in ‘09

March 11, 2009 Leave a comment

 

eBay Chief Executive John Donahoe announced at their Analyst Day meeting that the company would focus on selling low-volume and liquidation products as it tranforms its marketplace business.  He said eBay is “not a retailer “, but instead a business intent on focusing on the global secondary marketplace.

ebayHe indicated that changing the business will take time, and that their revenues will grow more slowly than the ecommerce market in ‘09, track it in ‘10 and surpass it in ‘11.

He referred to PayPal as an important part of the business with huge potential.  But it’s eBay’s waning auction growth that is garnering the attention of investors.  Online shoppers are shifting away from auctions to fixed-price purchases on leading product sites like Amazon.com.   Donahoe countered that online auctions and fixed-price sales are simply “formats” that buyers can choose from, and that last year they launched various efforts to promote fixed-price transactions and acquire top sellers.

So far investors appear not to be biting, as eBay share prices are down two-thirds from their 52-week high.  Look for more changes from eBay over the coming months as they look to try and regain their old swagger.

Filed under eCommerce, Retailing, Sales Tagged with , , , , , , ,

What does it take to start an online B2B community?

March 10, 2009 Leave a comment

 

A typical B2B community is one that is created by a company intent on reaching and connecting customers to a) the organization or b) each other.  And it starts by asking a question – what do you want to build the community around?  More succinctly – what are your goals?  For some firms it is a stated desire to get feedback from customers or partners and make a closer, ongoing connection with them.   For others it is to reduce costs by having customers help other customers.  Still others desire to market to their customers in new ways using the latest social media tools.  Whatever your goal, be sure to define the “what” of your community before investigating the “how”.

bridgeAfter defining the goal (customer loyalty, lowering support costs, feedback, keeping customers informed, etc.) the next step is put a small team of people together who are highly motivated to seeing the community come to life.  Like many Web 2.0 communities, the best ones are built around the notion of high focus, high tailoring, niche-type destinations where collaborators can easily engage. 

Early on your launch team will want to do two things.  The first is to identify the key influencers who should be invited to join the community and whose presence will inspire others to join and participate.  The second is to pre-seed the community at launch with topics and conversations that relate to the overall goal.  But note that very quickly the team should be prepared to step away from micro-managing the conversation and let the community organically shape the content and topics on its own – because it will.

What about ROI?  In many B2B communities the ratio for those visitors who read versus those who add content is roughly 25 to 1. This means that every successful interaction potentially influences another 25 visitors on average.  Since influence is often correlated with purchase intent, start with the proxy that 2-5% of sales made to community members were influenced by the community itself.  Then you can refine the proxy value by surveying your members.  And for those B2B communities engaged in self-service customer support the cost avoidance equation is just as straight forward to measure.

However, the best thing about online B2B communities is that they are (in essence) the daily expression of what used to be annual or sporadic conversations of a highly important and valuable nature.  So putting a ROI on this part of the model is much more qualitative.  But there is little doubt that if your business can leverage the opportunity to connect important constituencies together in a real-time fashion, you will gain timely insights, customer credibility, and improved profitability (via increased sales, decreased costs) that otherwise were going untapped. 

Filed under Editorial/Content, Manufacturers, Marketing, Retailing, Sales Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Are You Marketing Gravity or Evolution? Seth Godin Says Knowing the Answer is Smart Marketing

February 4, 2009 1 Comment

 

Here’s a snapshot of how Seth describes it:  Everyone believes in gravity.  Evolution has its share of doubters. 

fallingappleSo what does this have to do with marketing?  Two things, he says.  First, “If the story of your marketing requires the prospect to abandon a previously believed story, you have a lot of work to do.“ Since the gravity story has no detractors, then attaching your new (idea, product, company) to it is smart marketing. 

Second, “If the timeframe of the message of your marketing is longer than the attention span (or lifetime) of the person you are marketing to, you have your work cut out for you as well.”  Try selling evolution.  It is really slow and hard to demonstrate in real time during a school board meeting.  Gravity on the other hand is instantaneous.  Just drop your shoe.

Seth goes on to suggest that the iPhone is gravity marekting.   People had already accepted that they wanted it, you could see it work from across the room, and you didn’t have to wait months for the joy to happen.

So here is how Seth says you should put it into practice.  First, “Try to tell a story that complements an existing story rather than calling it out as false.”  Second, “Try to make the ‘proof’ as vivid and immediate as possible. Like an apple falling on your head.”

Net-net, if you don’t have a ‘gravity’ element in your pitch, strive for it. 

For the full article from Seth, click here.  It is worth the read.

Filed under Marketing, Sales Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

DVD/Blue Ray Sales Fall Behind Videogames For First Time

January 27, 2009 3 Comments

 

According to research firm Media Control GfK International and as reported by Videobusiness.com, global retail sales of packaged home entertainment grew 6% to hit $61 billion in 2008, with fast-growing videogames for the first time outweighing DVD and Blu-ray Disc.  That’s because game software sales grew 20% to $32 billion while combined DVD/Blu-ray sales fell 6% to $29 billion.

Continuing the trend, GFK predicts game sales will grow another 12% globally in 2009 to $36 billion, while DVD and Blu-ray combined will decline another 4% to about $27 billion. 

game controllerIt is worth noting that if you look at Blu-ray sales on a stand-alone basis, they are rising.  They doubled last year and should more than double again this year to $2.9 billion.  But it is the U.S. market that appears to be driving overall global decline in traditional DVD sales, off 8% as compared to just 3% in Europe and 4% in Asia Pacific.  Although still the largest geographic market, the U.S. has seen its share of worldwide sales fall 45% and 43% respectively in the last two years.

The top selling DVD title in the world in 2008?  It was Warner’s The Dark Knight with over 15 million unit sold. 

Filed under Market Research, Retailing, Sales Tagged with , , , , , , ,

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