Happy
Thanksgiving !
Welcome
to another issue of Communication Matters! In every issue, we will review
topics that will help you grow your business faster with cutting-edge
communication skills.
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In this
issue:
The Art
of Branding Your Business
Creating
Superior Sales Communications
Creativity
Corner: Brainstorming
The
Art of Branding Your Business
Do you
want your customers to know who you are and what you do? Of course!
Well, strategic branding is the key to high visibility and efficient
communications.
Branding
is a term used to explain the recognition of your company in the marketplace.
To build this recognition, you must first find your most promo table
competitive edge, and then turn it into a powerful marketing message
to deliver it to the right target market. A brand is much more than
your logo and tagline.
There are
several components to this important form of business communication:
- Brand-
a name, term, symbol, or design that is intended to identify clearly
and differentiate a seller's product from the products of his or
her competitors.
- Brand
Awareness- this is the measure of consumer knowledge and
recognition that a particular brand exists.
- Brand
Extension- This is a marketing strategy that takes the
brand name of one product category and extends it to another for
purposes of acquired credibility and recognition for the new product
category.
It is a
serious management decision how to communicate your brand and key to
your business survival. The congruency of the brand is important to
establishing a position in your target audience's mind as a resource.
When you
think of famous people do you think of them by subject? Most people
do! For instance, the names George Carlin, Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin
all make you think of comedians or comedy. They may also be movie stars,
but you bring them up in your mind in one specific category.
That is
how important branding is. We humans like to sort concepts into categories
as resources. So the brand messaging needs to be clear where your product
or service falls.
A Brand
consists of the following items:
- Brand
Positioning-
Brand
Position creates an understandable distinction in the marketplace.
(offers a unique product in a unique way.)
- Brand
Promise-
The
single most important thing that your company promises to deliver
to your customers. This is your unique value proposition.
- Brand
Personality or Values-
There
should be 5-6 traits that your customers use to describe their experience
with your company.
- Brand
Story-
This
can be the history of your company or your unique philosophy of
business. From this information, your customers can summarize your
offerings.
Intelligent
branding is the key to success. It improves efficiency and effectiveness
of your marketing. Branding can establish your competitive advantage,
thus creating bottom line results.
If you
need help developing your brand, please give us a call. Our Business
Acceleration team members are experts at branding!
Creating
Superior Sales Communications
Do you
need a sales edge on your competition? We have a great solution for
you! We were introduced to Frank Rider of Salestool.com several years
ago. Since then we have recommended this service to many of our customers.
These are
the reasons why:
- Adding
graphics to a presentation increases the retention level by over 400%.(Wharton
Research Center, Epson Presenters Online)
-
Sight is the most used human sense.
- Communicating
with both voice and visual tools close sales!
Salestool.com
is a presentation communication tool that allows you to walk your customer
through a visual presentation while you are on a phone- even a cell
phone! It is not as complicated or expensive as Webex or some of the
other telecom solutions. In fact it’s incredibly easy to use.
This is
how it works:
·
You select a powerpoint presentation that communicates your message.
· You set up an account at Salestool.com and send them your powerpoint.
· You send your customer a link or set up a link to your “presentation”
on your website.
· You start the call and they see a web screen with your information
on it.
· As the Leader of the call, you control the images that are
on the screen and can navigate to any of the slides (which is easier
than using powerpoint alone).
· You can have an unlimited number of participants for the same
cost as one, which makes a great tool for virtual training.
Frank Rider,
owner of Salestool.com says, “We are the quickest, easiest and
least expensive of all of our competitors. This tool will help you close
more sales than any other medium.”
If you are interested, go to www.Salestool.com
and click on the demo button. If you tell them that you heard about
them in our Communications Matter newsletter from Mason Works, he will
give you a 10% discount! It is a great value-the initial level costs
less than $20.00 a month.
Creativity
Corner: Brainstorming
Welcome
to another month of Creativity Corner. This tool session will be on
Brainstorming. It is one of the most popular methods for team creativity
used today.
The Brainstorming
creativity technique was developed in the 1930's by Alex Osborn. In
his 1948 book, Your Creative Power, Osborn explained the process:
- Judgement
is ruled out.
- "Wildness"
is welcomed.(get creative!)
- Quantity
vs quality is wanted.(Write down every idea as all ideas and participants
are valuable.)
- Combination
and improvement of ideas are sought.
Here is
the Brainstorming Curve:
 |
Usually
this process begins with the most obvious and common ideas.
As the mental juices get flowing, the process moves into the
obnoxious phase. (This is one time in life that it is good to
be obnoxious!) As the team works through this stage, they start
making good connections and move into the innovative phase.
Ideas start to jell and a truely creative and feasible solution
should emerge.
|
If you
need help with brainstorming at your business, Mason Works has facilitators
to support you. A professional facilitator will help you gather great
ideas faster. Just call (303-527-2978) or email us (kathy@mason-works.com).
* * * * * * * * *
We hope
that you have enjoyed our November newsletter and will gain many useful
ideas from our experience to accelerate your business! Please contact
us if you do not want to receive future mailings. For more information,
email kathy@mason-works.com
or go to our website, www.mason-works.com.
The Maon Works Acceleration team looks forward to helping you grow your
business faster and more cost effectively in the coming months.
Have a
great month!
Kathy
Kathy Mason,
President
Mason Works,
LLC.
303-527-2978
PS. Have
a wonderful Turkey Day! We are thankful for your friendship and support.
