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Blog posts tagged vision
Brand positioning
February 05, 2010
People like to understand what they're buying into, and see if it fits their values and what they're all about. It could be quality, cool, innovation, value, leadership, surprise, luxury, expertise - the list could go on and for any one brand incorporate an appropriate combination of these.
That core brand promise and positioning sits at the heart of everything. We call it brand glue, and it drives many different business decisions and activities including your marketing. It knits everything together and is something that needs careful thought, so it reflects your brand truthfully and as far as possible is different from your competition.
Think BMW aligning behind a premium driving experience, Nike making sportswear for winners and Disney uniting behind a goal to provide happiness and magic. Things wouldn't be quite so effective or memorably unique if they positioned themselves to make expensive cars, colourful footwear and somewhere to take the kids with a good line in mouse hats.
Similarly, confused thinking and lack of clarity can reflect in a confused customer. Imagine if Tesco wanted to state they were the leading supermarket in the country, the best. Let's also add in great service and low prices. Ooo but lets not forget it's an innovative supermarket too for good measure, and the fact that they're pretty keen on the environment. Far easier to remember they want to do everything they can to help you with your shopping down to the tiniest little detail. Everything else is just features.
A well looked after brand will eventually become clearly understood and familiar, as well as something that customers are willing to spend their money on. That’s good brand positioning.
Stay ahead in marketing
December 02, 2009
I work with a lot with many small businesses - most days of the week! Here is some advice if you are starting up or wanting to stay ahead of the game on the marketing front:-
- Have crystal clear and concise messaging
- Don’t give too much information away - concentrate on the benefits for your customers not you!
- Don’t strictly target your product or service – leave the door open for your customers
- Be clearly differentiated from your competition – seduce your customers with something unique to you and your business (not literally of course!)
- Have memorable marketing
- Be proud of your business
- Talk to a professional - we love to talk - but we have real eyes and we watch out for those all important customer and consumer insights!
Article originally appeared at Real Eyes Marketing Blog
Leadership = Results
November 23, 2009
The one thing we don’t need is any more leadership courses. We’ve all been there.
So what is required?
Well, what we need is a focus on what matters. What matters is what happens as a result of your leadership: the results. We will be measured on our results and not our good intentions.
Yes, you need a VISION, a blue skies picture of what success might look like, and yes, you probably need a MISSION, some clearly defined numbers around what you might be doing when you hit that mission (turnover, profit, number of staff, number of clients) and the other levels of the business planning process (strategy, milestones, performance indicators). And that’s the easy, predictable stuff.
But the key to making the leadership ‘effective’ is around action.
So, I would say that LEADERSHIP is about VISION (and mission, etc) and DECISIONS and ACTIONS and RESULTS and OUTCOMES/BENEFITS.
Too much so-called leadership ’activity’ focuses on the needs of the group and not on the needs of the ‘client/customer base’.
When you focus on the end point (Covey’s “Start with the end in mind” concept) then the role of leadership becomes clear. Add some task-focused urgency to the equation (Who is going to do what by when? What are the quick fixes? What are the slower-burning actions?) and you start cooking on gas!
Leadership is needed not just in the boardroom. Action-focused leadership is what is needed more than ever in all your dealings with your customers. Create your customer leadership programme now.
Integrity - the secret of good customer service
October 08, 2009
When the Marketing Donut asked me to make a short contribution to their customer service manifesto for small businesses, I struggled to keep it brief. That’s because I think there are three customer service ingredients that are critical to every business, and they are all connected - leadership, communication and motivation.
The first, leadership, is easy to sum up concisely: it’s about having a vision of where your business is going.
Communication is very strongly linked to leadership, because every piece of communication between your workforce and your customers has to be aligned with your business vision. When I say communication, I don’t just mean what you say and write, but everything you convey to your customers. It’s the impressions and experiences they take away with them.
The third ingredient in good customer service is what I call ‘aligning the motivators’. Let me explain: what I see in most organisations is that they have a great vision of what they want to be and they have lots of communication around that vision. Then they motivate people to do the wrong things.
I’m thinking, for example, about the call centre with a strong customer service promise that gives people bonuses based on the number of calls they make per hour. The result is that if someone gets a difficult call, it’s in their interest to end the call as quickly as possible rather than to deal with the problem properly. So what about the customer service promise? The rewards you offer your team for work well done have to promote your vision, not undermine it.
So we have leadership, communication, motivation – the three ingredients of effective customer service. Then I thought about integrity. Really, what we’re talking about here is integrity - of vision, of communication and of practice.
You can’t be saying how important customers are to you and then slating them behind their backs. Nor can you say that your people are your greatest asset and then call them your ‘staff’ and not your ‘team’. You certainly can’t sell a product that’s not right for your customer. Whatever you do, do it with integrity and strong customer service will follow. Believe me, the customer soon knows if the integrity isn’t there.
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