Archive for the ‘Branding’ Category

You know, CEOs it is your responsibility to make sure that everyone in your organization knows your vision, your core values, and your mission.  No doubt you have spent a good deal of time preparing these parts of your culture, but have you done all that you can to communicate them to your people?  More important, have you made sure that your messages about culture have been clearly understood by everyone?  All too often we find that even though the CEO has tried to make sure everyone is on board, there are people in the organization who really don’t get it.

Here’s a tip:  Take every opportunity you can to communicate your culture to your team.  Whatever means you use to get the message out, be sure to craft that message with care.  It is important to think about how the people who will read or hear the message will understand what you are saying.  It is even a good idea to check with members of your team periodically to see if they are on the same page you are.  Remember, if you want to communicate clearly you need to make sure that your message is understood by the person who receives the message.  To make this happen, craft every message with care.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Please click to listen to the CEO rule of the week

Would you allow your sales people to mail out printed brochures that contain inaccurate or outdated information?  Would you allow your printer to reproduce high quality, glossy, multi-page brochures at a very high cost if they were not accurate or updated?  Now ask yourself, do these same standards of accuracy and excellence apply to your website?  Is everything there accurate and up to date?  Are you using the best tools and most effective strategies to get the most from the site?  Remember, your website is your very best brochure.

Here’s a tip:  For every dollar you invest in printed marketing material, allocate a similar dollar amount towards the enhancement and development of your Website.  Review the site for accuracy and up to date information at least once each quarter.  You should also explore the opportunities to have voice-recorded testimonials and animated demonstrations of your product and service placed on your website.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Please click here to listen to the CEO rule of the week

Sounds simple doesn’t it?  The trouble is that often when we look at our branding strategy we put our products and our service in front of us. Ultimately, of course, the product or the service is what our customers receive.  But a lot of companies offer similar products and services.  Do you really want to brand your product or your service or should you be branding you?  Here is a great example.  Think about Nike.  Think about their brand.  Ask yourself, what is a Nike?  It is certainly not the name of a product or a service, but their brand has become one of the most recognizable in the world.  We know from the brand that they sell sports clothing and equipment.  Obviously, they’ve done a good job branding Nike.

Here’s a tip:  Look again at your Branding Strategy.  Are the image and language you use focused on your products and services, or are you branding you?  Take a fresh look at the messages you’re sending out through your e-mails, pushing out through your marketing collateral, even what your sales people might be saying.  Make sure that what your customers hear leaves them knowing you.  If they know you they will have no trouble remembering what it is you do and what you sell. Remember, brand you.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Please click here to listen to the CEO rule of the week

As CEOs we know by now that we need a brand identity.  We need a picture, a logo or something that works to create a visual connection between us and the people we want to connect with.  This is because people think in pictures.  They need images to help them identify with and recall who you are and what you do.  We also need slogans, a word or phrase that helps connect the images to our emotions.  Of course, it is not enough to just create the images and words that create that brand identity.  We need to make sure that we develop policies and systems to ensure that it’s consistent and constant.  What do I mean by that?

Here’s a tip:  Look at the forms that your company uses internally.  Is your logo and slogan on everything that you print?  Look at the forms that your customers fill out.  Is your logo and slogan there also?  I’m sure it’s on your business cards, probably on your letterhead, but is it on your checks?  Look at those areas where it is printed, put them side-by-side, is it consistent, and is it constant?  Think of having your printer create a Standard Corporate Identity Manual for your business so that anytime something goes to print that includes your logo or your slogan it’s printed with the same colors, the same font, and the same fill.  Do everything possible to make sure that every time your corporate identity appears, it looks the same as every other time.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Please click here to listen to the CEO Rule of the Week

I was out at Home Depot recently doing some shopping.  I happened to be wearing a shirt that had the logo of one of my client’s companies embroidered on it. I was surprised when another shopper walked over and asked me, “is that your company.”  I briefly explained my relationship to the company, and we had a brief talk, and then we went our separate ways.  As I got back to my shopping I had an ahaaa . . . my client’s identity was growing because I was wearing a shirt with his brand on it.

You know, CEO’s we talk a lot about branding in our business because we know how important it is to have a great company logo and a memorable slogan.  But what are you doing to make sure that the hard work and expense you went through to get that logo is having its biggest impact?  What are you doing beyond the brand itself to make sure that people recognize you?  There are many, many ways that you can identify yourself uniquely in the market you serve.  You could use a clever little giveaway with your logo or slogan on it.  You might get your slogan put on shirts that you and your employees wear.  You might find that your best identifier is something unique in your product or service that you are able to promote in a public way.  It can be just about anything, but it must be something.  The rule is, if you don’t have something that uniquely identifies you, you have no identity.

Here’s a tip:   Think about your business.  Think about what you have that can be promoted or distributed to uniquely identify you in your market.  What will people remember?  For example, I once had a client that served the real estate industry.  To make sure people knew who he was, he would fill a candy jar with his logo and his name on it.  He gave these jars to real estate agents as gifts, and then every couple months he’d go around to the different real estate agents and refill that candy jar with candy.  He became known as the Candy Man.  At Estrada Strategies, we put our logo and website address on a gold coin that we call a “Round TUIT.”  I am sure many of you have one.  People know us as the company that has that little gold coin that helps people get things done in order to move forward.  What do you have? 

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Please Click here to listen to the CEO Rule of the Week

As CEOs we know by now that we need a brand identity.  We need a picture, a logo or something that works to create a visual connection between us and the people we want to connect with.  This is because people think in pictures.  They need images to help them identify with and recall who you are and what you do.  We also need slogans, a word or phrase that helps connect the images to our emotions.  Of course, it is not enough to just create the images and words that create that brand identity.  We need to make sure that we develop policies and systems to ensure that it’s consistent and constant.  What do I mean by that?

Here’s a tip:  Look at the forms that your company uses internally.  Is your logo and slogan on everything that you print?  Look at the forms that your customers fill out.  Is your logo and slogan there also?  I’m sure it’s on your business cards, probably on your letterhead, but is it on your checks?  Look at those areas where it is printed, put them side-by-side, is it consistent, and is it constant?  Think of having your printer create a Standard Corporate Identity Manual for your business so that anytime something goes to print that includes your logo or your slogan it’s printed with the same colors, the same font, and the same fill.  Do everything possible to make sure that every time your corporate identity appears, it looks the same as every other time.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Please click to listen to the CEO Rule of the Week

I was out at Home Depot recently doing some shopping.  I happened to be wearing a shirt that had the logo of one of my client’s companies embroidered on it. I was surprised when another shopper walked over and asked me, “is that your company.”  I briefly explained my relationship to the company, and we had a brief talk, and then we went our separate ways.  As I got back to my shopping I had an ahaaa . . . my client’s identity was growing because I was wearing a shirt with his brand on it.

You know, CEO’s we talk a lot about branding in our business because we know how important it is to have a great company logo and a memorable slogan.  But what are you doing to make sure that the hard work and expense you went through to get that logo is having its biggest impact?  What are you doing beyond the brand itself to make sure that people recognize you?  There are many, many ways that you can identify yourself uniquely in the market you serve.  You could use a clever little giveaway with your logo or slogan on it.  You might get your slogan put on shirts that you and your employees wear.  You might find that your best identifier is something unique in your product or service that you are able to promote in a public way.  It can be just about anything, but it must be something.  The rule is, if you don’t have something that uniquely identifies you, you have no identity.

Here’s a tip:   Think about your business.  Think about what you have that can be promoted or distributed to uniquely identify you in your market.  What will people remember?  For example, I once had a client that served the real estate industry.  To make sure people knew who he was, he would fill a candy jar with his logo and his name on it.  He gave these jars to real estate agents as gifts, and then every couple months he’d go around to the different real estate agents and refill that candy jar with candy.  He became known as the Candy Man.  At Estrada Strategies, we put our logo and website address on a gold coin that we call a “Round TUIT.”  I am sure many of you have one.  People know us as the company that has that little gold coin that helps people get things done in order to move forward.  What do you have? 

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Please click here to listen to the CEO RULE of the Week

Would you allow your sales people to mail out printed brochures that contain inaccurate or outdated information?  Would you allow your printer to reproduce high quality, glossy, multi-page brochures at a very high cost if they were not accurate or updated?  Now ask yourself, do these same standards of accuracy and excellence apply to your website?  Is everything there accurate and up to date?  Are you using the best tools and most effective strategies to get the most from the site?  Remember, your website is your very best brochure.

Here’s a tip:  For every dollar you invest in printed marketing material, allocate a similar dollar amount towards the enhancement and development of your Website.  Review the site for accuracy and up to date information at least once each quarter.  You should also explore the opportunities to have voice-recorded testimonials and animated demonstrations of your product and service placed on your website.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Sounds simple doesn’t it?  The trouble is that often when we look at our branding strategy we put our products and our service in front of us. Ultimately, of course, the product or the service is what our customers receive.  But a lot of companies offer similar products and services.  Do you really want to brand your product or your service or should you be branding you?  Here is a great example.  Think about Nike.  Think about their brand.  Ask yourself, what is a Nike?  It is certainly not the name of a product or a service, but their brand has become one of the most recognizable in the world.  We know from the brand that they sell sports clothing and equipment.  Obviously, they’ve done a good job branding Nike.

Here’s a tip:  Look again at your Branding Strategy.  Are the image and language you use focused on your products and services, or are you branding you?  Take a fresh look at the messages you’re sending out through your e-mails, pushing out through your marketing collateral, even what your sales people might be saying.  Make sure that what your customers hear leaves them knowing you.  If they know you they will have no trouble remembering what it is you do and what you sell. Remember, brand you.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Click here to listen to the CEO rule of the week

We get very excited about the products and the services that we offer.  It’s only natural that when we market we want to bring a lot of attention to our product and service.  Yet, it’s been proven over and over again, that marketing is most effective when you market your brand.  Let’s think about that:  Nike, Swoosh, Just Do It.  Where in those words does it talk about tennis shoes, yet we know that the brand represents the product, which is more than tennis shoes, right?  They do sports gear and they do sports equipment.  That’s why it is so important for you to market your brand, not your product.

Here’s a tip:   Look at your brand.  Is your brand something that you could market?  Something you could put out there so that when people look at your brand they get to know your brand?  Remember,  over time through marketing your brand, people can and will associate it with your product.  This is very important because in business, your products will often change, but your brand will remain constant.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Click here to listen to the CEO rule of the week