CMYK Poster
Sending Your Message Like It’s Really Going to a Person
By Diane Rabe (@dianerabe
I like thinking about a process and its parts-beginning and end. The time to begin a process is when you know what you want in the end (and not until then)! A simple example of this is knowing where you are headed before you pull the car out to drive!
So, I think about marketing in the same way. Creative presentation to the potential client should “begin with the end in mind” (credit and thanks for that phrase to the late Stephen Covey). We know that the message will eventually, hopefully, end up being received by a person. Analyzing who that person may be can be very interesting and can and should affect the message and its delivery style.
Once we have an idea of the potential message recipient(s), we structure our message to be more readily understood and received by them.
To me, the most brilliant and articulate people can make the most complex ideas seem coherent and easy to grasp. Great scientists (I would put Stephen W. Hawking in this category) can speak to their peers in the most detailed language and be understood. Great scientists who are also brilliant communicators (again, I am going with Hawking), can relay the same ideas to elementary students and be understood.
The approach, language, and plan is formed after the audience is determined. Same with effective marketing. It is a process and the message style and delivery is determined by the people who we want to receive the message!
T-shirts we printed for Town Square Pub and Grill. Traditional cotton tees for the men and lightweight v-necks for the women.
The Power of Emotion in Branding
By Aurora Blanchard (@auroradbee)
How you make people feel on social media sites will ultimately determine how they feel about you.
Say you’re a landscape business that is just starting out. You made a Twitter account and have been following landscaping companies and other landscape architects. You’ve been sharing photos of your finished lawns and pictures of lawns you like daily. You’re actively engaging with landscape professionals. You’re friendly, helpful, and innovative on Twitter. You have a leg-up on the well-established landscape business down the road that is not on social media at all because you’re potentially making a better impression on a larger audience.
What people remember about your brand will determine whether or not they want to use your services. Making them feel valued on social networks is one way to get brownie points in a customer’s mind. It sets a subconscious track in their head that leads them right to your website or business front door.
The same could be said for making people laugh on Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr. Sharing funny, but professionally suitable content, on your business’ social media sites is likeable to today’s online audience. The St. Louis based marketing company Moosylvania has a good mix of marketing content and funny photos taken in the office. One of their recent tweets included a picture of an employee dressed up in an elephant costume with the caption, “Never tell the new girl there’s no dress code.” People remember witty stuff like that.
The next time you’re making a Facebook status, tweeting, blogging, or pinning, think about how it what it will emote in your audience and how that can draw business into your company.
