Aug 24
Steven NapolitanBranding, Communication, Marketing Branding, Communications, Increase Revenue, Marketing
We talk a lot about building your brand, developing the right strategy and many other things to get your self set-up for success. These are all necessary things and very important.
The problem that can happen is business owners and entrepreneurs can take this too far by waiting to launch something when it is exactly perfect. The sooner you can launch and create momentum the better.
If you have a large product line or a complex service, look into how you break it up in to modules or phases. If there are levels of service can you launch one level and then add more levels as they are set to roll-out.
This is a big deal. If you can create new revenue or increase revenue with a new marketing plan, even if it doesn’t sell everything you want right away, it is key to start the money momentum.
If you are already in business and you are working hard to make refinements or maybe you are re-branding… Work extra hard to keep momentum going. You will not want to stop everything unless you can afford to. It is like living in the house you are remodeling…. it’s best to remodel one room at a time. If you are going to go all the way all at once, you have to be able to afford a hotel and eating out everyday, while your house is completely re-done.
We will always look to build things in the best way and we always want to have everything in the best shape possible for our Brand’s Website and any other front to our businesses. With that said we need to equally look at how to keep the momentum if you are already up & running and looking to expand and/or improve.
If you are just starting and looking to kick things off right, you really have to look at your budget. How far you go initially with your brand development, website and other foundation items will also need to be paced out by your budget. Your budget will need to dictate your up front investment. This can mean time and money. What is enough to launch, knowing you can always improve later. It is great to think of the long term and where you want to go. This will aid in your short term decisions. Other then that outlook planning you really need to get the minimum done to launch and build cash-flow as quick as possible.
Money Momentum is your businesses lifeline.
There are some business out there that are spending all there time preparing or being a perfectionist and they never launch. This is a killer. I have even caught myself in this pattern. Get to market as quick as possible and then keep upgrading.
Jun 22
Steven NapolitanBranding, Communication, Marketing Branding, Communications, Marketing
Branding, branding, branding… do most people really know what it is and if they do, how’s their Brand.
Branding is what other people think of you or your company. It’s not what you say, it’s what they feel. It’s not just your logo (Mark/Logotype) it’s everything! From the time anyone comes in contact with you or your company…
- Who answered the phone? How did they answer it?
- What does your website look like? What does it say?
- What happens when someone buys from you? What happens when the work is done?
- How do they FEEL working with you or using your product?
- What is the biggest VALUE they got form you or your product? What was the emotional value for them?
Do you know the answers to these questions?
This is huge. Knowing these answers will allow you to get on track. If there is a gap between what they think and what you want, you can start to bridge that gap. Not knowing is the worse thing and doesn’t help your brand.
How do you find out…. simple… ASK!!
Start with some of your best customers/clients. Ask them some of these questions. The key questions to ask if you have a short time:
- What was/is your feeling when you come in contact with my company?
- What has been the biggest value from working with us or using our product? And how does that make you feel?
- Where have we fell short? How can we do better?
Ask those that you ask to be honest. The tough stuff for them to say will be the most help. It is super important to find out how it made them feel emotionally to work with you. It is these emotional feeling that drives our gut reaction to BRANDS!
Go call some current and past clients and start knowing your Brand Perception. It’s the best way to improve your brand quickly.
Jun 14
Steven NapolitanCommunication, Marketing, New Media, Social Media Advertising, Branding, Communications, Marketing, Social Media
Jumping into to social media can be like jumping into construction.
If I came to your house, parked a brand new construction truck with all the latest tools and then told you… “Hey, I have some property down the street and here is a construction truck with all the tools you need to build a house. Please start tomorrow.” Then I just walk away… I am assuming that you know how to build a house.
That is the same as if I show you Facebook or any other social network and you jump right in. That is assuming that you know about marketing.
We have to learn to be great marketers and then use the best means of communication. Social Media is amazing at reaching larger numbers of people in a shorter period of time, but we still have to know how to do that. Your friends can tell you, I’m do this or I’m doing that, but is it right for you and if it is, what are you going to say.
Learn marketing, learn what to say, how to say it and where to say it. This will yield you so much more.
Once you under stand that, then it doesn’t matter what new social media tool comes your way. It may be a new shiny megaphone, but you already know what to say. That is the key!
Know Marketing! Know what to say!
Feb 01
Steven NapolitanBranding, Marketing, New Media, Social Media Branding, Communications, online strategy, Social Media
I see many business jumping into social media with out first looking at their Brand and more specifically what value they bring to their audience. In most cases, this causes very little results. If you first align, your brand your results will be much greater.
It is critical to ones success that a solid foundation for your business be set before spending much time in social media. Time is so important and worth so much. With that being said, grinding away in social media with out a good plan, that presents the businesses brand and value, it can be a huge waste with very little results.
You have to ask yourself, what makes you distinct to your audience, what makes you relevant to your audience and what makes you memorable to your audience. There are more questions to be asked, but this is a good starting point.
Start aligning the answers to these questions with the value you have and bring more value to your social media. Give some of that value and wisdom away. It will come back to you tenfold. Social media is largely about sharing. Share your value.
Dec 31
Steven NapolitanBranding, Communication, Marketing, New Media Branding, Communications, digital media, Facebook, Increase Revenue, Marketing, Social Media
I hope everyone had a great 2010. In closing the year today, I wanted to share what 2011 will look like for us.
We will continue our creativity, branding and social engagement for our clients. We will continue our consulting around Branding, Marketing and Social Media. What we’ve ramped up this fall and will launch into 2011, is small business coaching around marketing. We’ll be speaking more, doing more webinars, teaching courses and adding educational products.
Why is this important for you?
Being in marketing and communications for going on 15 years and having had jumped into social media 5 years ago, we’ve seen how this new media truly levels the playing field. No matter what size your business or organization is, you can start utilizing social media to reach more impressions, greater traffic and most important increased revenue.
We look forward to sharing more with you and helping more businesses grow in 2011.
Happy New Year!
Oct 04
Steven NapolitanBranding, Communication, Marketing, New Media Advertising, Branding, Communications, Marketing, Social Media
Things have gotten so big in some cases, that the time has come to get SMALL.
Some people think that the best way to grow business is to keep getting bigger, but in a lot of cases this causes more and more generality to reach the larger group and intimacy is lost with your audience. Today, in the social world, Brands need to be smaller and relate in more specific ways to each of their target audiences.
This may even mean to break your target audiences into even more specific audiences.
There are hundreds of valid social networks and many of them cater to a very specific audience. When things get so big that they no longer relate enough to the people, it has become to general. Basically, trying to reach everyone. This is the time to run the opposite way. Be specific and seek out those networks that reach those curious in that specific item or thought.
Here is a great example of a Brand thinking in such a way. Miller, #2 in the world of beer at 11.8 percent global share, is push to grow business, but has chose to build smaller more intimate brands in many of the countries it servers global. Read more in today’s Adage article: SABMiller Thinks Globally, but Gets ‘Intimate’ Locally.
As information continues to be easier found, people will continue to crave what they want in a very specific ways. Meaning there is so much information, products and services, it is plausible to find exactly what you want. Filling those niches will lead to great success.
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Sep 23
Steven NapolitanAdvertising, Entertainment, Film, Marketing, TV Advertising, Marketing, Movies, On-demand, TV
Netflix is the clear leader in the arena of digital TV & Video entertainment. For less then $10 a month you can watch almost anything you want. Your favorite movie or TV series. Netflix, as shown in the Advertising Age article linked below, is beating out Cable, Studios, Hulu, Apple, Google & Amazon.
As Netflix continues to grow, this will continue to impact not only the entertainment business, but Advertising as well.
Being a content producer and a marketer, we see how this effects both sides. From a marketing perspective we have to watch where eyeballs move, so we can reach the right eyeballs for our clients in as large an amount as we can. As more people watch on-demand programming the model is moving away from 30-second commercials. Hulu offers free programs and has Ads placed in, so this is similar to TV as we’ve known it, but with Netflix having such a huge lead they will have the larger budget to license content. This will allow Netfilx to offer a greater selection of programing (TV & Film) and for a small monthly fee people will not have a problem signing up and the proof is already being seen.
As advertisers we must continue to create new ways to reach our audiences.
For Broadcasters, they estimate the main value of their programming by the amount of money made from 30-second commercials sold around the programming. The growth of on-demand viewing will continue to effect this model.
You can read more in this Advertising Age article: http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=146057
Sep 09
Steven NapolitanCommunication, Marketing, New Media, Video Communications, Increase Revenue, Social Media, Testimonies, Video Case Studies
If you are running a good business, then you should have happy customers. You can take those happy customers and ask for a referral, ask for a testimony or build a case study around the result.
These are all great things to do. When you have a written testimony or case study it can be helpful by having it on your website or getting it out to other potential clients in other ways.
Some people think that this is good enough, but actually if you capture your happy customer’s or client’s experience on video, the power of those statements are greatly increased.
With video, potential customers or clients can look into the eyes of peers with similar problems and hear the voice of relief with great results caused by the betterment of your product or service. Or voices of joy, savings, healing… and in the results of your product or service here!
With the power of happy customer videos, you’ll be able to increase curiosity with a third parties vocie. This curiosity will gain more time with your potential customers and the opportunity to close more sales.
If you have traffic already and you have a video, either instead or in combination with your written case studies your sales will increase.
Video case studies can also be strategically use to increase traffic through social media as well. Great case studies can move virally. Just think if you see something so powerful and it moves you in such a way that you are compelled to share it with those friends of yours that you know need the same product or service.
If you have Happy Customers and are curious to know more about how you can leverage them into more money, we’d be Happy to talk to you. Give us a call or email.
Aug 02
Steven NapolitanCommunication, Marketing, New Media digital media, online strategy, quality content, Social Media
Ultimately, people want to be entertained and engaged!
The quality of production and content of digital media (social media) needs to be greater than ever before in order to standout and engage your audience.
Some people think that everything is super cheap when it comes to social media. Social media does (in most cases) help you do more with less marketing dollars. The fact is that you have to have higher quality content to standout in the over saturated media world. Those that are more successful have spent more money on their content, while still lowering their media buying budget.
It is not always about being super flashy, but truly having the right quality content, catered to the right audience. By doing this properly, engagement can be tenfold.
Having a cohesive and creative online strategy is critical to the success of social media marketing.
Jul 13
Steven NapolitanCommunication, Marketing, New Media PR, Social Media
In PR you create the best press release possible in order to gain the attention of Editors and Program directors, so they will broadcast or publish your story (spreading the word.) Today we create the best Ads we possible can and your audience spreads the word. This is where Entertainment comes in…
People want to be Entertained & Engaged. Having a brand lightly include or embedded in an entertaining piece of content can influence those who like it enough to forward it on.
This is enhanced by embracing new technology and will continue to be advanced. No matter where Technology takes us, Great Content will be the necessary glue to make increased impressions.
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