Brands Are Built on Excellent Customer Service
THEY TOOK CARE OF ME!
Your brand is judged more by how you handle a customer's problem than by how you provide great products and services. Your handling of their concerns demonstrates your brand's principles, ethics, and values. Are your customers’ problems treated like a nuisance? Or are they welcomed like...
7 Characteristics that Set True Entrepreneurs Apart
TRUE ENTREPRENEURS ARE BRAND BUILDERS
These days the word “entrepreneur” has been expanded to mean just about anyone who is self- employed. But we would like to see a new definition that distinguishes between solopreneurs, sole proprietors and single service providers on the one hand, and brand equity builders on the...
Grow Your Brand by Getting Your Non Salespeople into the Field
MEET THE REAL BOSS!
Because salespeople are on the “outside” in most companies, and everybody else is on the “inside,” there is a tendency to view the sales team as somehow separate from the office folks. This can be very counterproductive when it comes to brand building. The inside vs...
They’re Not Strangers, They’re Customers
DON’T TURN MONEY AWAY!
We live in a world where entire groups of people are suddenly classified, by some, as the enemy, or personas non grata, but if we can get over political classifications we realize that everyone is our customer at some level. The real question is, will they...
The Lifetime Value of Your Brand’s Customers
NOT JUST A ONE-TIMER
When you acquire a customer, you get something else - you get the opportunity to make them a lifetime customer. What is the value of that? What do you have to do to keep them buying your brand? It's an opportunity, not a given. In fact...
Volkswagen Hurts its Brand Image
CHEATERS NEVER PROSPER
Volkswagen has now officially apologized for apparently deliberately installing software that was designed to fool emission testers. After the apologies, mandatory firings and purging that will inevitably take place, we are still left with the atomized structure that allowed this to happen in the first place....
The 3 Critical Relationships that Determine the Customer Experience
DOES MY BRAND LOVE ME BACK?
Today there is a lot of focus on the customer experience. How do your customers feel about their experience with your product? Are they satisfied, confident, and pleasantly surprised? Or are they frustrated, confused, and disenchanted? What are the main elements that determine your customers’ experience?...
5 Threats That Can Kill Your Brand in the New Year! – Part 5
Distribution
In this series we have been examining threats from inside your own organization that can kill your brand in the New Year. Now is the time to be on guard against them. As we like to say, brands are not murdered by the competition, but die...
Personal Brand Means Reputation
HOW’S YOUR BRAND?
Today the definition of the word brand has evolved to mean reputation, and even feelings about a product, service, organization, or person. This is especially true of so-called personal branding. We now regularly use terms such as, “That’s going to help (or hurt) their (a person’s)...
7 Ways to Train your Customer Service Rep and Save Your Brand – Part 2
CUSTOMER SERVICE - WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD
Many companies spend thousands on surveys, focus groups, and marketing studies. They want to know what their customers think about their products. But they have a free channel to their customer everyday through their Customer Service Department. As far as brand building is concerned, we think...
7 Ways to Train your Customer Service Representative and Save Your Brand – Part 1
COMPLAINTS ARE GOLD - IF YOU KNOW HOW TO MINE THEM
[caption id="attachment_2161" align="alignleft" width="300"] Complaints are Gold[/caption] Customer service trumps marketing when it comes to brand building. Your brand’s reputation is on the line when unhappy customers contact you. In their minds, the way your customer service people treat them will be the real test of...
Logo Design – Perception Trumps Purpose
CUSTOMERS OWN LOGOS
Limited to the design table, it is easy for logo designers and administrators to become isolated and insulated from the perceptions of their constituency, clientele and customer base. Recently, the University of California realized something. Not only did the public reject the design of their new...
4 Pillars of Brand Promise
IT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAY; IT’S WHAT YOU DO – AND DON’T DO
A friend who is a Fortune 500 exec asked us recently, “What really makes a brand?” We knew he was an experienced and knowledgeable guy, and we owed him a thoughtful reply. What initially came to mind were all the elements that affect a brand: its...
Early Support for Marginalized Groups Results in Customer Loyalty
A PITCH OR A MOVEMENT?
Today, if you are in business, you have to stand for something beyond your product or service. This relatively new concept is being hastened by the wave of transparency possible through the Internet. In the past, producers were so worried about losing customers that they avoided...
7 Factors That Affect Customer Loyalty
"I LOVE THESE GUYS!"
When your customers first buy your product, they likely were previously loyal to another product. Something happened that sent them shopping. Maybe it was the price, or maybe they just couldn’t find it anymore. So they tried yours. For whatever reason, you now have an opportunity...
Branding Consultants can be Generalists or Specialists
WHEN ALL YOU HAVE IS A HAMMER, EVERYTHING LOOKS LIKE A NAIL
When it comes to finding a Branding Consultant, choose the right tool for the job. Since the term “branding” became so popular, many folks are now calling themselves Branding Consultants. Branding has always been a big part of marketing, but branding without marketing to back it...
Company Branding Should Convey your Message
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT, ALFIE? - Burt Bacharach
Michael Caine played a Cockney womanizer in the popular 1966 movie, Alfie. Burt Bacharach’s theme, by the same name, asked the rhetorical question that conveyed the message of the movie. Your company branding starts with a succinct message that communicates what it’s all about and how...
Building Customer Loyalty is Critical to Brand Survival
THAT’S MY BRAND, AND I’M STICKIN’ TO IT
Over the life of your business, either you will build an ever-increasing loyal following, or your business will end. There’s no treading water when it comes to building customer loyalty. If you are not constantly growing your customer base, you are losing it. Satisfied customers, singing...