Question: I’m starting a business involving a product or service. I know that marketing is crucial, but I’m told that I need to first figure out my company’s brand. Now what?
Answer: Let’s say the new business is sunglasses with an edge. More fashionable, more beneficial to your vision with better lenses, better construction, cooler looking, thus more costly — right in line with RayBan. Let’s call them PowerEyes. “The PowerEyes have it!”
Q: What is a brand?
A: Your brand is you. It’s your promise to the consumer. It’s everything you will deliver to the consumer when she/he chooses your product. It’s the packaging, the look of the product, the fun of the product, its safety, how it performs, your advertising, your public relations, social media conversations and content, and the customer service experience, which is so critical in building and maintaining a brand.
Q: OK, so who do I seek out for help with branding and subsequent marketing with my limited budget?
A: Market research is your first move, to know your competition and to help design and define your brand. You can do primary research talking to people who wear sunglasses, asking questions about their preferences, how often they purchase, what they historically like to spend, etc. And do secondary research, looking at your competitors. Online makes it fairly easy to scope out competition and get secondary research. You need a research consultant, a marketing director and a good branding consultant/advertising agency.
Q: How much can I expect to spend on a branding consultant? Would I pay an hourly rate, a project rate?
A: Depends on what you’re trying to achieve. Are you going to roll your product out just in one state, such as Hawaii? Are you going to take it nationally and globally? A consultant will range from $2,500 per month up to $10,000 per month plus, depending on what they’re doing for you.
Q: Of course social media will be part of the marketing plan. Would my branding consultant be the one to hire? If not, how do I find a social media marketer that won’t cost an arm and a leg and how should I pay them?
A: Social media can be huge in helping build a brand name and in creating awareness and desire to purchase. Again, PowerEyes will need professionals to manage this. A good marketing director should be able to write the strategy for this and manage utilizing social media properly. To me, social media is the unsung hero of brand building today. Cost efficient, friendly, and very effective on small budgets, when done right. It can be used in a business-to-business context to get retailers to carry your product, for instance. Or it can be used in a business-to-consumer context to get potential buyers to talk about and love your product.
Q: Regarding social media, should I keep my tweets going out sort of one way and promotional, or should I engage with potential clients?
A: In social media, PowerEyes will need to engage with people daily and hourly, if you want to make the most of the medium, build brand and create buzz that creates sales. If people are online talking to you or about you, you need to be responding. That’s the beauty of social media. HootSuite is one platform that can help you see all this conversation and react to it, as it’s happening.
Q: How do I deal with people who say negative things?
A: If people get mad or disgruntled, take it offline as soon as possible with a direct message or an email where they can get help and you can diffuse any negative chatter. You always want to look responsive, but never have the “fixit” conversation so the world can see.
