HOW TO CREATE A BRAND ONE PROSPECT AT A TIME
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Free Download - BUY BEFORE YOU BUY - GETTING PAID FOR LEAD GENERATION By Laurie Stafinski |
By Robert Croston
Having spent longer than I care to admit pursuing traditional brand development through advertising, I recently became fascinated with the prospect of building brands using direct response marketing and lead generation activities. (I wonder what my colleagues at the ad firm would think if they knew!)
Traditional wisdom has always told us marketing types that our marketing communications are either 1) emotionally oriented and image based OR 2) direct oriented and response based activities. You simply can't do both at the same time.
Or can you?
Think about it. Every piece of communication you send to a prospect or client creates an impression. That impression, if reinforced consistently over time, builds a certain image in the mind of your prospects.
If you are continuously communicating to your prospects with integrated messaging, you are building a brand whether you use an advertising or a direct marketing approach.
Pulling Back the Curtain
Question: How can these two vastly different principles (one focusing on image and perceptions, the other on outcomes and relationships) be delivered in one marketing campaign?
Answer: By demonstrating your value in the marketing itself.
Because sales cycles for professional services are often long (and getting longer), it often takes a number of “touches”, sustained over a number of months (or years), to nurture a prospect into a client. Each touch is meaningful to the recipient only if it delivers value (i.e. an offer for a white paper, seminar invitation, research brief, etc.).
This value, and the consistent use of integrated messaging that reinforces your value proposition and market position, creates a dynamic where the prospect not only responds to your offers (direct), but begins to understand what you do and forms a perception around the value you offer (brand).
Here is how it works:
You mail or email a value based offer that integrates well with your company's market position, for example you send them an an offer to hear the top-line results of research you have completed
A certain percentage of your prospects respond to this offer
You deliver the research, giving you an opportunity to reinforce your message and value
You follow up by phone and schedule an appointment to discuss how this research relates to your prospect's business
In the meeting, you find that this prospect is an ideal candidate for your services, but not ready to purchase, so you put the prospect on a lead nurturing program
Over a number of months you:
Call inviting them to a seminar or speech
Email an offer to do something for them
Mail an article featuring one of their competitors
Send a custom email with additional research findings
Call to follow up on the email
Send a targeted direct mail campaign
Finally, after months of “touching” this prospect with value based offers, you receive a call from them because the time is right and the hook has been set.
Creating an Impression
These direct activities create impressions just like advertisements might. But they also create awareness, recognition, and ultimately preference for you and your services. We call this the Brand RAMP. As your communications campaign unfolds, the prospect is led up the ramp by receiving value-oriented communications.
Wellesley Hills Group Brand RAMP
Recognize: I know who they are. (This starts with the original research offer.)
Articulate: I know what they do (They learn this through an appointment about how the research relates to their business.)
Memorize: I'd remember them. (This happens through continuous touches.)
Prefer: They're the leader…I'm dying to work with them…They're very valuable…(This happens through ongoing value-based offers and conversations.)
This not only builds a brand (an image of you and your firm in the minds of your prospects), it demonstrates your brand and the value it represents. By repeatedly delivering valuable information, you consistently demonstrate your worth. This is far more powerful then just saying it, which does nothing to create a distinct and genuine impression in the minds of your prospects.
Using the Right Tools
Direct marketing isn't the only way to build a brand, but it definitely is a great part of it, considering the dynamics of a service company and the need for consistent articulation of your value across all touch points (verbal, electronic, and print).
The right marketing program, that “touches” your prospects regularly, with highly targeted, value-oriented messages, will increase awareness, recognition and preference. While most of the world still believes companies should build brand through image based advertising, a direct approach will get the same work done, and add revenue and leads at the same time. Does your advertising do that?
HOW TO CREATE A BRAND ONE PROSPECT AT A TIME - To learn more about this author, visit Laurie Stafinski's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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