From the Horse's Mouth
A blog about marketing for professional services and small businesses punctuated by my adventures with social media and occasional posts about horses.
My love-hate relationship with branding
October 20, 2011
As a marketer, I’m supposed to love branding, right? From my perspective, misunderstanding the term and its role in a business has caused lots of confusion.
When I began marketing professional services fifteen years ago, I heard lots of professionals using the word ‘branding’ to refer to their firms’ logos, business cards, letterhead and all their graphic identity stuff.
This annoyed me because it is only one part of branding, and by limiting their definition, they also limited their understanding of marketing and its power to help their businesses flourish. It didn’t help that we were part of a traditional industry where many had chosen their careers in order to avoid doing sales and marketing. They were—and in some cases still are—biased.
So I avoided using the word. I talk about ‘marketing messages’, ‘positioning’, and ‘strategic marketing planning’. I do ‘client research’ and ‘competitive research’ all oriented towards discovering and defining what is unique and valuable about a company’s services.
But you know what? It’s all part of branding. Even marketing planning. (It’s how the brand gets into the world.)
More recently I’ve realized that terms I was using—thinking everybody knew them—were professional jargon too. In my vigilance to clear business communications of technical jargon, I had over looked my own. Oops!
Lots has been written about corporate brands (Apple, for example) and product brands (iPod, iPhone). Here, in plain English, I offer my understanding of branding and why it is such a powerful tool for businesses of every size. read more »
Social media for the reluctant
October 13, 2011
I was at a networking lunch recently. When asked for a show of hands about half the room was not using social media, or even sure what it was exactly. That inspired me to create this basic overview.
The constantly changing world of social media can quickly become overwhelming. There are expressions, abbreviations, and ways of communicating unique to the milieu, Facebook has Likes and Twitter has hashtags (#), for example.
If you want to dip your toe into social media, I encourage you to explore. I had to experience it before it made sense. Choose just one thing, be clear about what you want to get out of it, and start exploring.
That one thing could be reading a blog. (Hey, you’re doing that right now!) The next level of experience might be leaving a comment on the blog. (Just keep scrolling and you’ll be there. Go ahead, leave a comment. I’ll answer.) You might find links to other blogs on similar topics of interest. (There are two links in this post you could visit.) Over time, you get familiar with blogs, commenting on blogs, you might even feel you know the bloggers you have been reading. This applies to any of the social media platforms. Now rinse, and repeat. You’ve started. read more »
Going to Florida: marketing gobbledygook explained
October 13, 2011
Every profession has its jargon. We all like to use our special terminology. It saves time. And then it becomes a habit, and we forget that lots of people have no idea what we are talking about.
Sometimes I see a deer-in-the-headlights expression with business owners when we talk about marketing. Marketing is a thing they have to ‘do’ in order to have a business doing what they really want to spend their time on. Often the question is, “What do I do first (or next)?
I’m a believer in plans. When we plan, we explore and think through scenarios. If we take actions to get ready for those scenarios, we are better prepared for what actually happens. Here in earthquake country, we’ve been talking about how to plan for a big trembler. We can’t control what happens, but having thought about some of the things we can do and taken steps to be prepared, we have more choices in how we respond to what does happen.
When it comes to planning marketing, we often use the words Objective, Strategy, and Tactic. When I talk about planning marketing and use these terms, it doesn’t usually seem to help unless my client already knows and uses them.
So I have found another way to explain how to plan your marketing. I call it “Going to Florida.” Bear with me, this will make sense. read more »
How horses teach us about communication & leadership
September 27, 2011
I’m standing in the arena with three horses and a lunge whip in my hand. My job is to move them around the perimeter as a group, then change their direction to move in the other direction. Lunge whips aren’t actually used to whip the horses. As an extension of my arm, it helped me communicate with three 1,000 pound horses.
I was comfortable doing this with one horse, but keeping three animals moving together was quite different. Each animal was different; one was a donkey half the size of the other two, Each moved at a different pace; their relationships with each other influenced how close they wanted to be to each other.
How do I let them know what I want? What would give them enough motivation to do it? How do I keep them moving together? read more »
How Seth Godin inspired this post
September 15, 2011
This summer I had the opportunity to see Seth Godin in person. I loved him. Not only is he one very smart guy, his values and integrity shone through everything he said. Hear him talk about his most recent book, Poke the Box, an 85-page call to action. I highly recommend it.
Seth Godin’s recent post “Talents and Vendors” struck a chord with me that resonates with my clients as well. Even before the recession, some of my professional service clients felt pressure to sell their services as a commodity, for the lowest price. This is heartbreaking for someone who has devoted their career to practicing high value services such as engineering or architecture. read more »
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As a 25-year veteran of marketing professional services, Barbara Breckenfeld is a strategist and a storyteller. She helps helps businesses grow as a consultant, marketing coach, and seminar leader.
