Marketing Success
Posted on June 9th, 2010 by admin in Branding & Identity, Public Relations
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
How do you know when marketing is out of control? Those of you familiar with this blog know that I’m generally a strong marketing advocate. That said, my typical pro-marketing position assumes that certain key fundamentals are in place to insure that the lunatics don’t somehow become in charge of the asylum. In today’s post I’ll discuss how to keep marketing in check so that brand focus is maintained and your company avoids the costly trap of marketing gone awry…
Assuming that you have deep pockets, a talented staff, and a lot of patience, growing a recognized brand isn’t difficult…spend heavily across all mediums with consistent, creative, on message advertising while simultaneously conducting aggressive public relations and social media campaigns. Avoid controversy, maintain a high likeability factor, consistently and proactively engage your customers, be a business of character that engenders trust and confidence with your target market(s), produce a quality product or service at a competitive price point, and provide great customer service. The preceding description paints the perfect illustration of why branding is one of my favorite topics…It is complex. Unless you are a very large enterprise it is unlikely that you have the time, money, staffing, or external professional relationships to execute a brand management strategy such as the one outlined above. In today’s post I’ll share 8 tips for common sense branding that entities of any size can put into practice…
Today’s post was inspired by a witty piece authored by 
While a brand without exposure is not much of a brand, I consistently find that brand exposure is an aspect of brand management that is all too often overlooked as a success metric. Whether you’re assessing the strength of a personal or corporate brand, finding the appropriate level of brand exposure is key to sustainable growth in brand equity. As I stated above, having an underexposed brand, or what I like to refer to as having a brand in stealth mode, means that you really don’t have much of a brand. Conversely, having a brand that is mismanaged through overexposure can cause a brand to go into decline by diluting hard earned brand equity. In today’s post I’ll take discuss the issue of brand exposure.
What is marketing? One of the most entertaining things you can do in business is to attend a meeting where a group of senior executives begin to pontificate on the subject of marketing. I have more fun watching people attempt to distinguish between marketing, advertising, branding, business development, sales, communications, public relations, etc. It never ceases to amaze me at how something so simple can become so convoluted, and how people can so passionately take a completely ridiculous stance and want to defend that position to the death. In today’s post I will attempt to demystify the subject of marketing and give you some actionable items can be implemented immediately to generate improved results.
Much to the chagrin of traditional PR firms, the practice of public relations is changing faster than most firms can keep pace with. If the image to the left even remotely resembles how you feel when you interact with your PR firm, then it’s time to rethink things…Traditional firms who define their practice by writing press releases and conducting media pitches are seeing clients jump ship faster than politicians can sling mud. PR firms that “get it” have surpassed advertising agencies moving into the forefront of brand building, digital marketing, social media marketing, reputation management, and influence peddling. In today’s post I share my thoughts on the changing landscape of public relations…
Crisis management can in fact be a profitable endeavour when handled properly. If you are in business for any length of time you will at some point in time be party (willing or unwilling) to a major crisis that can affect not only the company you work for, but your career as well. A large portion of my practice deals with advising corporations and executives during a crisis to protect the corporate brand and the personal reputations of senior executives and board members. Given that in today’s business world, the likelihood of crisis is much greater than it was in times past, it never ceases to amaze me that corporations don’t have a crisis management team assembled and on hand ready to deal with trouble when it rears its head. The reality is that the proper handling of a crisis while never easy, can in fact be a very profitable endeavour. In today’s post I’ll discuss the upside of crisis management…
One of the basic foundational elements in the PR arsenal for C-level executives is to have a well designed and crisply articulated press kit. The press kit should not only highlight the executive’s value to the enterprise, but it should also support their personal brand, provide a solid competitive value proposition, and enhance the credibility of the executive by positioning him or her as a thought leader, innovator or subject matter expert. As fundamental as this is, it is nothing short of astonishing to me how few senior executives have a crisp executive bio much less a professionally prepared press kit. In today’s post I’ll examine the pay-off of creating a world class press kit
“15 Seconds of Fame” – It’s been said that at some point in everyone’s life they’ll have their 15 seconds of fame…Your 15 seconds of fame may come to you in good times or in bad, it may happen as a result of tremendous diligence and hard work on your part, or it may simply occur as a matter of chance. Regardless of the reasons or circumstances surrounding your moment in the sun, my question is this…what will you do to maximize the opportunity when it presents itself? In today’s post I’ll share some thoughts on how to leverage your 15 seconds when it arrives…