Why Some Brands Fail After the Development Process
Here’s a telltale mistake made by some agencies that think Brand Development is as simple as creating a new campaign: Working with a few people from the marketing department, they develop a compelling brand message and some earthshaking creative to deliver it. The agency and the marketing department gleefully set sail with a “revamped brand” – without getting the crew onboard.

It’s a costly step to miss. After all, isn’t it the crew that keeps the ship sailing?

The reality is that so much of marketing is focused outwardly – at target audiences and competitors – that looking inward is often a low priority.

However, we know from experience that great brands are built from the inside out. If your organization’s vision, culture, and day-to-day operations provide the necessary Evidence of Performance to back up your Claim of Distinction, your brand will undoubtedly be a force to be reckoned with.

On the other hand, if your customers spend an hour getting tossed around between your unsympathetic or unknowledgeable customer service reps, even the cheeriest “we care about you” brand message won’t mean anything to them. If your personnel aren’t living up to the brand promise, money spent on marketing is wasted, or worse, could lead to your brand failing faster.

Does Your Brand Have a Voice in Strategic Discussions?
For Brand Development work to be successful, your brand needs a seat at the head of the table with your company leaders. With buy-in from the very top, it will be easier to bring a brand perspective to critical business issues. Applying your “brand lens” will allow you to keep your brand focused and will ultimately drive better results.

Even the most sound, well-reasoned strategy will fail if the brand isn’t “operationalized” effectively. This means aligning employees’ actions with business decisions to provide customers with what they expect from the brand. Employees have to understand and truly believe that what they are doing every day makes a difference in providing the same, ideal customer experience. It all comes down to your people.

Are You Creating Brand Ambassadors or Brand Assassins?
Do all of your company leaders know your brand strategy? How about the teams they manage – do they know and live out your Claim of Distinction?

It’s not about memorizing a corporate handbook of vague policies and procedures – it’s about hiring and managing an enthusiastic team that supports and upholds your brand values because they believe what you believe. It’s about communicating your “why” – not just with consumers, but with suppliers, partners, and staff at every level.

This is where the rubber meets the road. Your company culture and team are either building up your brand by delivering on the promises you make, or destroying it completely. You’ll know you’re doing it right when:

• The CEO embraces and embodies your brand values and encourages them in others
• Managers bring a brand-based perspective to their critical decision-making processes
• Potential employees are interviewed not just for their credentials, but for their fit with the company culture

Aligning your business strategy with your brand strategy will maximize the effectiveness of the messages you communicate. Next, we’ll unpack what it means to communicate through your brand lens – so stay tuned!

If “brand values” and “culture” haven’t been a part of your Brand Development strategy, email Jim Flynn at jflynn@hultmarketing.com or call (309) 673-8191 for some professional input. If you’re really eager, call Jim’s mobile at (309) 253-1395.

Note: This is Part 4 of our Brand Development series. To catch up on our previous posts, check out:

• Build an Unbeatable Brand Introduction
• Part 1: Start with Why
• Part 2: Identify Your Claim of Distinction
• Part 3: Identify Your Customer Touchpoints

In not-so-distant marketing history (yep, we’ve been there through it all!), reaching consumers meant connecting through just a few channels: A catalog. A store visit. A customer service line. A radio spot…You get the idea.

However, the number of channels for reaching customers has rapidly increased in recent years (exploded, really). Think about it: when was the last time you made a major (or even not-so-major) purchase decision, whether a product or service, through a single channel?

It’s more likely that your decision was made after being reached through a variety of interconnected “touchpoints,” from social media, to word of mouth, to conducting research online, to comparison shopping in the store.

Savvy marketers have wisened up to the fact that brands have the potential to touch customers at hundreds of points – before the purchase, during the purchase and even after the purchase experience. Consumers are also affected by influencing touchpoints – those that have an indirect impact on brand perceptions and are often out of the brand’s control – like word of mouth and social media.

Imagine yourself as a consumer of whatever product or service you’re offering. Pretend your company doesn’t exist, and imagine (or better yet, recall) yourself seeking that product/service as a consumer. What’s your first step?

Most likely, you’ll opt for a brand you recognize – in other words, a brand you’ve come into contact with before. A brand you trust. Contrary to what most people think, your contact with a brand goes well beyond direct advertising. It’s every experience that you have with that company. Let’s say you’re a patient looking for a new doctor. You could potentially come into contact with the doctor’s “brand” in a plethora of places:

• Influencing Touchpoints: You ask your friends for recommendations on Facebook and browse trusted websites for patient ratings and testimonials. You remember seeing a couple local doctors on the news recently for their community involvement.
• The Pre-Purchase Experience: You check out the webpages of some of the doctors that have piqued your interest. You decide to call one and are satisfied with how quickly you are able to make an appointment with the doctor you choose.
• The Purchase Experience: You arrive at the doctor’s office and are greeted with a smiling face at Reception. You sit in the bright, comfortable lobby for just a few moments before seeing the doctor. She seems knowledgeable; she takes her time and answers all your questions. On the way out, you stop at Reception to pay and notice how organized the desk is. The scheduler, dressed in a uniform with the doctor’s office logo on it, smiles and tells you to have a great day.
• The Post-Purchase Experience: The office staff sends you home with a card containing useful health information. On the card, you see her blog and Social Media pages, which offer tips and support. The nurse calls after your appointment to check on you, and a couple days later, you receive a handwritten card with a small token of appreciation for becoming a new patient. You go to a popular doctor rating website and share your experience with others.

All of these (and many more) are important brand touchpoints. Even the invoice you receive weeks later is a touchpoint.

Brand Touchpoints: Visiting a New Doctor

Yes, it’s simple. Almost absurdly simple. But stepping into consumers’ shoes is an exercise too many of us neglect when marketing. We forget to become our own customers–with real, day-to-day concerns–and in the process, we lose sight of the most valuable touchpoint opportunities. Each one is a chance to present your brand and what you stand for. That’s why we work with clients to conduct in-depth touchpoint analyses and help them form cross-functional momentum groups that build and communicate the brand effectively at every touchpoint.

When considering your customer touchpoints, remember:

• It’s not just about brand exposure/pre-purchase touchpoints: it’s also about the purchase experience and post-purchase opportunities for recurring loyalty and brand advocacy. Don’t get so caught up in getting new customers that you forget to keep the ones you already have.
• All of your touchpoints must consistently reinforce your Claim of Distinction and Evidence of Performance. This critical fact is the heart of why Brand Development (the Hult way) and Integrated Marketing are so effective.

BRAND = PROMISE + PERFORMANCE

Keep those customer touchpoints in mind; in our next post, we’ll discuss how they, when combined with your Claim of Distinction, can become the common thread that aligns your Brand Strategy with your Business Strategy.

This is part 3 of our Build an Unbeatable Brand series. Catch up on our previous posts here:

Introduction: Build an Unbeatable Brand
Part 1: Start with Why
Part 2: Identify Your Claim of Distinction

Want a thorough analysis from a professional perspective? Put our experience to work for your brand; email Jim Flynn at jflynn@hultmarketing.com or call (309) 673-8191. If you’re really eager, call Jim’s mobile at (309) 253-1395.

If we were successful, you’ve spent some serious time considering how you can build your brand from the inside-out, starting with “why” (the reason you wake up in the morning and do the work you do), instead of starting with “what” (your product or service).

We have a confession, however: we didn’t tell you everything.

While it is fundamental to start with why, it’s only that — a start. To get any mileage from this new perspective, you must take action to identify what it is that sets you apart — your Claim of Distinction — which is where we pick up in Part 2 of our Build an Unbeatable Brand series.

What is a Claim of Distinction? 
We’re glad you asked. Our favorite response is, “the combination of tangible and intangible characteristics that make a brand unique.” It’s what consumers think and feel when they interact with your brand. That’s you – not just your logo.

Consider John Deere; its iconic logo and catchy slogan (“Nothing runs like a Deere”) wouldn’t mean much without the underlying “why” principle setting the company apart: performance. But the principle would be nothing without proof — and John Deere has built an exceptional reputation around that principle. Performance is the evidence of distinction.

A Claim of Distinction anchors your strategic marketing initiatives to the bigger picture — the essence of who you are, and what differentiates you from the competition. How do you go about discovering and defining this monumental information? By Turning the Telescope™ on your organization.

Here’s a peek under the hood of our tried-and-true process:

Step 1: Discovery: It all starts with a casual off-site meeting with 8-10 company leaders. We unpack the facts – lots of them. Facts about your company, its people and products. We eliminate those that don’t set you apart and ultimately find those that are absolutely unique to you. The stories and information from various perspectives are invaluable to identifying unique attributes, and we find that much of the brand’s essence often stems from the personalities of the leaders.

Step 2: Assessment: After uncovering Claims of Distinction from your company leaders, our next step is to determine whether these Claims align with the rest of your company. Through our proprietary Brand Insight Assessment and interviews with members of your team, we answer key questions: Are your business strategy and brand aligned? Are there underlying issues undermining the success of your brand? How well does your organization know its brand? The resulting information determines priorities for resource allocation and provides a set of benchmarks to guide future efforts.

Step 3: Channel Understanding: No one understands the day-to-day interaction between your brand and your customers like your sales channel. Discussions with this group round out the information gathering process.

Knowledge is Power
We rely on this three-step technique because we’ve harnessed its power time and time again. One of our clients, Pekin Insurance, kicked off its rebranding with the very same process. It was this comprehensive discovery process that uncovered an overwhelming theme: that Pekin Insurance consistently goes above and beyond the expected for its agents and policyholders.

The Beyond the expected® theme laid the groundwork for the company’s refreshed brand, which was overwhelmingly embraced throughout Pekin Insurance.

As Scott Martin, President of Pekin Insurance, put it: “The response to the rebranding has been 99.9% positive, and the buzz with employees made it worth it all. We have hit it out of the park!”

Attracting Loyal Brand Followers
In the end, the benefits of identifying your Claim of Distinction extend beyond a one-time marketing initiative. It achieves something larger, something that continues to pay dividends long after your initial Brand Development.

It’s through this process that a strong, clear, and positive message about your brand reaches consumers—and that distinction has been found to create brand loyalty. First-time customers become repeat-customers. We don’t need to explain the effect that will have on your bottom line.

Backing Up Your Claims
After identifying your Claim of Distinction, it’s time to prove it. The identification process is only useful if you proceed to back it up with Evidence of Performance. That means becoming what you claim by living it every day — and clearly communicating that to your customers.

We’ll unpack this concept in Part 3 of our Build an Unbeatable Brand series: Identifying Customer Touchpoints. Stay tuned!

Analyzing yourself can be tricky. Email Jim Flynn at jflynn@hultmarketing.com or call
(309) 673-8191 to get your Brand Development started. If you’re really excited, call Jim’s mobile at (309) 253-1395.

It’s a phrase as old as marketing, but it becomes more relevant every day. Gone are the days of operating business behind a front of slick images and catchy tunes. In today’s transparent, social world…your brand is your product.

In light of this, we’re kicking off the Brand Development series by starting with a deceptively simple question: what is your “brand”?

If your answer includes buzzwords like “mission statement,” “logo,” or “tagline,” you’re getting ahead of yourself. Those words reflect the second phase of brand development, a stage many businesses mistakenly begin with.

Digging deeper to the very foundation of what a brand means, we find phrases like “reputation,” “relationship with customers,” and “Claim of Distinction.” Now, we’re getting somewhere. From here, we begin to define the root reason why your audience should buy your brand — a reason that you have to know before your audience ever will.

Branding from the Inside Out
If you’re like most brands, you define yourself in this order:

What (product) → How (details) → Why (emotion)

• What: We are Pearly Whites, and we are a dental practice.
• How: We offer state-of-the-art dental whitening procedures.
• Why: We want to be profitable and keep clients satisfied.

The problem with this model is that every dental practice in town is going to have a similar response; who wouldn’t want to be profitable and have satisfied clients? When you start with the “what,” your brand quickly blends in with competitors who are selling the same “what.”

But flip the process around, put the product last, and something interesting happens.

Your focus turns to the “why” — the reason you get up in the morning and do what you do — and that perspective transforms the way you see and present your brand.

This novel “branding from the inside out” philosophy was instrumental in our brand development of Maui Jim sunglasses; look what happened when we started with Why:

Why (emotion) → How (details) → What (product)

• Why: We believe in living the authentic Aloha Spirit of the Hawaiian Islands where every experience is wrapped in Maui Jim’s unparalleled brilliance of color.
• How: Our PolarizedPlus2® Technology allows every color to shine through like nature intended it, so you see your world the way it was meant to be seen.
• What: We make sunglasses that enhance clarity so that you enjoy your world more.

Once the spirit – the Why – of the brand was put into focus, the rest of the brand strategy fell into place, invigorated with purpose and emotional value that customers could connect with.

By the way, ten years after beginning the brand evolution, Maui Jim was honored by Ad Age magazine as one of the top 50 Brand Success Stories.

The Why → How → What process is the foundation of rock-solid brand development, which makes it the best and only place to start. What’s your “Why”?

Analyzing yourself can be tricky. Email Jim Flynn at jflynn@hultmarketing.com or call     (309) 673-8191 to get your brand development started. If you’re really excited, call Jim’s mobile at (309) 253-1395.

**For further learning on this topic, we recommend Simon Sinek’s TED Talk video, “How great leaders inspire action,” a great inspiration for our process.

That’s what consumers in your target audience have. Right now, your company isn’t the answer to their prayers or the key to their happiness. To them, you’re just a choice – a lone fish in a sea of options.

That power of choice may not seem substantial to your audience, but it’s everything to your bottom line. Without the benefit of hearing your persuasive sales pitch or experiencing your top-notch customer service, what’s going to cause them to choose you?

Two simple words: brand perception. The distinctive message, experience, and feeling that people associate with you – the essence of who you are – can make the difference between first choice and last resort in the eyes of consumers.

Over the next several weeks, we’re going to explore this topic in-depth: how do you build a brand that stands out from the competition and resonates with your audience so much that marketing efforts get even bigger returns?

We’re not just talking about branding, or the process by which we strategically apply your core messages to marketing communications. We’re talking about brand development, the discovery process we go through to unearth your company’s “Claim of Distinction,” and the master plan for how that differentiation will be communicated. It’s the difference between adding a tagline to the business brochure, and developing that perfect brand message.

The typical brand development process says, “We must find out what the audience wants, then build our brand to match!”

While knowing your audience is an undisputed prerequisite of a successful campaign, we’re going to challenge the idea that it should define your brand. Why, you ask? It’s simple:

• Everyone else is following that same process with the same audience.
• When this happens, all brands start to look alike.
• And when your brand looks like all the others, you’re left to compete with one thing: price.
• When price becomes your only measure of value, you become a commodity, not a brand – a service, not a permanent solution.

Rather than asking you to become like everyone else, we’ll help you articulate who you already are and what sets you apart from the competition. Week by week, our posts will cover the following:

Part 1: Start With Why
Part 2: Identify Your Claim of Distinction
Part 3: Identify Your Customer Touch Points
Part 4: Align Your Brand Strategy With Your Business Strategy
Part 5: Communicate Through Your Brand Lens

Through this series, we’ll demystify our brand development process by providing you with the tools and inspiration to get started. To ensure you don’t miss a post, please subscribe to our blog using the form on the top right side.

Can’t wait for the series to begin? Email Jim Flynn at jflynn@hultmarketing.com or call (309) 673-8191 to get your brand development started. If you’re really excited, call Jim’s mobile at (309) 253-1395.

Today, we’re putting our money where our mouth is.

Instead of concepts, we’re laying down a real story from a real client – the proof is in the pudding, folks! Our goal isn’t to show you how great we are. We simply want to illustrate, plain as day, that teaming up solid Brand Development work with integrated marketing produces real results.

David in the Land of Goliath
Saint Anthony’s Health Center – an independent hospital in Alton, Illinois – was facing stiff competition in the local market.

Just across town, a hospital directly affiliated with a renowned St. Louis healthcare system was competing with Saint Anthony’s for the loyalty of the local community. And then there was Goliath: a vast array of over 50 hospitals in nearby St. Louis. How could Saint Anthony’s grow their clientele in such a challenging market?

In steps David. In 2008, while the hospital made significant investments in technology and physician talent, Hult put its Brand Development mojo to work to help Saint Anthony’s understand their claim of distinction – those things that drove them and made them special. That work and the subsequent brand makeover, which underscored Saint Anthony’s unique faith-based, yet scientific care, clearly differentiated them. And, patient load began to rise.

In 2011, riding the momentum of our successful faith-based Brand Development initiative, we shifted focus to their growing, multi-disciplinary physician network. Saint Anthony’s goal was ambitious: a 25% increase in patient load for their physician group in just 12 months. It was time to pull out the big guns: an integrated marketing campaign.

Standing Above the Rest
For the underdog to rise above the competition, we knew that our first step was to build on the distinctive advantages of Saint Anthony’s.

Previously under an unrelated name, the hospital took our recommendation to rebrand the network as Saint Anthony’s Physician Group, which allowed consumers to connect the group with the faith-based brand that had strong footing in the community.

With our goal determined and our cornerstone laid, the next challenge was to launch a message about the Physician Group that would reflect Saint Anthony’s mission and resonate with key members of the community.

Developing a Message that Resonates
To create the biggest impact, we needed to speak directly to the specific group we were trying to attract. Based on our experience in healthcare marketing, we knew the primary audience was the “sandwich generation” female who is making generational healthcare decisions for herself, her immediate family, and aging parents; the busy career woman who moonlights as soccer mom and chauffer, constantly on-the-go.

We immediately acknowledged that this busy woman’s go-to resource would be the Internet, so traditional marketing alone would likely land us well short of our “25% in 12 months” goal. Thus, our plan involved integrating online and offline strategies, which would play on one another to build one consistent message.

The heart of the Physician Group message was Saint Anthony’s mission – the seamless unity of science and compassion in healthcare. To promote this message, we developed the “We Believe” campaign, which drove home the unique ways the Physician Group would serve our target market and their families.

Coordinating a Multi-Faceted Launch
With the slingshot loaded, it was time to deliver the message.

The centerpiece of our integrated marketing campaign was specialty-focused landing pages that enabled consumers to access and research physician credentials (and, conveniently, contact the Physician Group).

Paid search and display ads, complemented with a traditional campaign of print, outdoor, and radio, all directed consumers to the web presence we had established. In addition, Hult developed a hyper-local search program, featuring each specialty of the Saint Anthony’s Physician Group – as well as each of the physicians.

Of course, the whole campaign was mobile friendly. We needed to be where the busy moms were…and that was on their smart phones.

With all marketing efforts working seamlessly together, rewards were great. In a one-year snapshot:

• Pay-per-click and display advertising drove nearly 6,000 clicks to Physician Group landing pages.
• Our primary landing page had strong conversions at over 41%, measured by clicks to view specialties and doctor profiles and clicks to call the Physician Group.
• Most importantly, these clicks turned into patients. In less than 12 months, we had exceeded our goal of 25%, increasing Saint Anthony’s Physician Group patient load by a whopping 30%!

EJ Kuiper, CEO of Saint Anthony’s Health Center, remarked, “Saint Anthony’s visibility in the community stands heads and shoulders above the competition. Since our rebranding, there is no mistaking who we are and the mission we live by.”

What’s Your Goal?
Whether your target is healthcare consumers – or a target audience of another variety – the same questions apply. Do you know what truly sets you apart from the competition? Does your audience? With a solid understanding of your brand and integrated delivery of a compelling message, what could your organization achieve?

Big goals require big plans – if you could use some support, email Jim Flynn at jflynn@hultmarketing.com or call (309) 673-8191. If you’re really excited, call Jim’s mobile at (309) 253-1395.

Now, how many times have you fallen behind on clearing your actual mailbox?

Chances are, you’ve kept up on checking your physical, postage-stamped, hold-in-your-hand mail. In this fast-paced digital world, there’s something so simple and easy about opening that box and flipping through each letter and postcard addressed to you. As your eyes pass over each piece, you sort out and mentally file any information that provides some value to you; a coupon, a tantalizing offer, a reminder to make an appointment, the promise of helpful advice at website.com.

In that everyday scenario, we draw out an important nugget of marketing wisdom that is often glazed over these days: not only is offline marketing still relevant, it can actually enhance online marketing conversions when the message is consistent.

Deliver magazine revealed that “Customers who received a printed catalog spent more meaningful time on the company’s website and purchased 28% more on average than customers who did not receive a catalog.” And here’s the clincher: “…that held for every age category.”

While we highly recommend that all of our clients take advantage of the bounty that digital marketing has to offer, we maintain that your business will thrive when both online and offline strategies are integrated – that is, when the same message flows through every facet of your marketing.

Too often, we see businesses hastily dive into new online marketing plans apart from their traditional methods, like building a high-tech addition onto a classic 1890′s home. The new vendors and advisors operate in a vacuum, separate from your traditional marketing strategies. The result is a broken, inconsistent brand.

The most effective solution is to integrate the brand across all touchpoints, which means you have to understand every place that your brand touches a customer or prospect – before, during and after the sales experience. That’s different for every brand and every sector. We help our clients explore those touchpoints to improve the cohesiveness and flow of online and offline strategies:

1. Cross-reference your promotions

Regardless of how people are first exposed to your brand, there’s a chance that the first contact won’t convert them into customers. Right? Perhaps your mailer or a radio spot piqued their interest, but they aren’t ready to commit to your service. If the advertising drives them to your social media pages with a value proposition, that could be enough to start the conversation with them.

In the meantime, they have repeated exposure to your brand. At Hult, we’re sure to cross-reference every piece of the puzzle – from our famous New Biz Crates to our business cards – with our website and social media pages.

2. Get everyone on board

Have you ever rolled through a drive-thru — greeted by colorful advertisements and a cheerful canned welcome message — only to have your bubble burst by an abrupt and crabby worker?

We call this “marketing quarantine,” or the separation of the promotional aspect of the company from the day-to-day sales and service. We see it often, and remedying this one problem has returned some dramatic results. Connect each touchpoint — pre-sale, during the sale (or customer experience) and post-sale — and the advantages are twofold. First, the team members who actually interact with customers are able to deliver on the promises made by your promotions. Second, “front line” team members are able to communicate their valuable experiences and insight back to the marketing department. Just think about the potential impact when every member of your team truly understands your brand and WHY you do what you do.

3. Build momentum with a consistent message
The end goal of integration is to ensure each piece of your marketing adds to the same pile. Yes, you have many prospective customers from many different walks of life; but the same things resonate with many people: Fast, personal service. Peace of mind. Fresh food. Experienced advice. Whatever it is you offer, push it with everything you have, and every experience your customer has, from brochure to website, will reiterate that same message.

The message isn’t just what you say; it’s also the unspoken things communicated by your branding – the logo, the color scheme, and the overall design of your pieces say a lot about your brand. Appearance is the mortar that ties everything together, which is why we make sure our clients have a brand that customers can easily recognize and relate to.

In the end, your marketing dollars and strategies can build many small hills or one large mountain. Which do you think will stand above the competition?

Ready to get more bang for your marketing buck by integrating all your strategies under one savvy roof?

Email us at letsdobusiness@hultmarketing.com or call Jim Flynn at (309) 673-8191.

Yes, there is a place for traditional marketing – but let’s face it: the web has transformed the way customers choose brands. Even if you continue to operate as usual in the brick-and-mortar world, your brand undoubtedly has some sort of online presence. And for good reason: the Internet now contributes more to the American economy than the entire federal government!

But is having a presence enough to keep your stake in the growing global economy? We would argue not.

“Whoa,” you cry. “I have a website! I’m up-to-date!”

Well, maybe – but simply having a website won’t necessarily attract the right customers or make the best impression. Here are some telltale signs you need an updated web presence:

1  You don’t have a way to provide regular, fresh content

Your website is your business brochure, catalog, and possibly even storefront for the digital world. But you don’t only want to reach people who specifically looked up your business, do you?

Of course not. You want to reach people who are looking for what you’re selling, and – in a broader sense – those who don’t even realize they want it yet. This can be achieved by publishing content regularly.

Imagine your car is making a funny noise and you’re trying to determine what’s wrong with it. You, like 73% of Americans, use a search engine to find some answers. An article comes up describing common car noises and you discover that your car needs to be taken to the shop right away. Where should you take your car? The article is on an auto repair company’s website. Oh, look! There’s a phone number.

That is what today’s online marketing looks like. Whether it’s a blog, news section, or even a social media page that connects to your site, your online presence should include a stream of fresh content.

2  You let first-time visitors stay first-time visitors

Imagine you’re sitting at your desk, craving some sweet, tangy barbeque ribs (if you weren’t already, you are now!).

Depending on your interests, you might have developed that craving in several ways. Perhaps you subscribed to a chef’s blog that publishes tasty recipes. Maybe you traded your email address for special offers and coupons delivered to your inbox from a local restaurant. Maybe you were perusing Facebook or Pinterest and saw a picture of it posted from a caterer.

The point is, you made a connection with a business after visiting their site and they now have a direct line to you (and possibly your stomach). You probably can’t even remember visiting their site the first time, but because you made a connection, they are able to reel you back in – repeatedly, if they play their cards right.

That’s exactly why email and social marketing are so valuable. Visitors see that you provide useful content and allow you to connect with them repeatedly. Compared to the price of gaining first-time leads, repeat marketing is pretty inexpensive. A piddly 2% of marketers rated leads from email marketing as “high cost,” according to a Software Advice Survey.


3  Your website is incompatible with modern devices

We’ve said it before, and we’re not ashamed to say it again: Since 2010 (that’s not that long ago, folks), the number of consumers using their mobile phones for shopping and searching has quadrupled. It’s not slowing down, so what are you doing to keep up?

It’s not just about optimizing websites to be responsive to mobile devices; it’s about keeping pace with a rapidly changing digital world, from desktops to mobile phones. Your site is behind the times if:

•  It uses Flash in any way. Apple devices like the iPhone and iPad won’t display anything in Flash, and in case you haven’t noticed, they make up a pretty big piece of the mobile device pie.
• It was created over 5 years ago (we’d even say 3 years ago). Website code has advanced by leaps and bounds in the past several years; from SEO to load speed, many of the improvements make a big impact on user experience across all types of devices and applications.
• It looks like it was created over a decade ago. Design matters when it comes to impressions; you wouldn’t want your physical store to have wood-paneled walls and avocado-green appliances. Show your customers, who are looking at you online, that you are with the times.

4  “Search engine optimization” was a one-time project

Ta-da! Your website was designed or redesigned for “search engine friendliness”. Task complete, right?

Wrong.

Many Search Engine Optimizers capitalize on this tragic misunderstanding; so let’s clear it up once and for all. On-Site SEO (also known as a Search Engine-Friendly site) is just getting your site in its best shape possible for reaching search traffic. It’s like strapping on a great pair of running shoes; it gives you the best shot possible at success, but it alone doesn’t get you there.

True search engine optimization is the marathon that follows: a never-ending process of creating and publishing relevant content, pursuing inbound links from high-quality websites, researching trends, managing PPC, and more.

Since search engines are the highways of the virtual economy, this isn’t something we suggest lagging behind on. If you’re not running this race, understand that your marketing-savvy competitors might be.

Not sure if your web presence needs an update? Email us at letsdobusiness@hultmarketing.com or call Jim Flynn at (309) 673-8191.

Resources: http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/19/news/economy/internet_economy/index.htm http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Search-Engine-Use-2012/Summary-of-findings.aspx http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33901/The-Ultimate-List-of-2012-Email-Marketing-Stats.aspx

That may be true, but are you sure your spent marketing budget is really making your organization money? If not, then you’re not as confident as you could be in your marketing decisions.

Measuring marketing ROI (return on investment) is the key to confident and effective campaigns because it allows you to repeat successfully what has worked for you in the past.

Today this subject is always at the forefront of what we do when planning a campaign. It all starts by asking, “what does success look like?”

That being said, the formula to measure marketing ROI, in its most basic sense, is a simple one: take the revenue that resulted from your marketing minus the advertising investment (promotion or media cost, plus staff wages). Divide that number by your total investment cost, multiply that times 100, and that’s your magic number. Huh?

Ok, there are a lot of things that work into the calculation, and it’s different for every organization. With Social Media and a host of new marketing tools taking to the stage each day, some decisions have to be made. Factors like lifetime value of a customer, real-time market research, influencer engagement, brand equity and word-of-mouth marketing all play a role. But, to illustrate, imagine your campaign investment of $1,000 results in a $1,400 revenue; so your profit is $400 (thanks, second-grade math!). Now, you can calculate your marketing ROI using the formula above: (1,400 – 1,000) / 1,000, times 100 = 40% ROI. That’s not too shabby!

((Revenue generated – Investment)/Investment) *100 = ROI

While the formula is simple, getting the most out of it requires some planning. Knowing that you have a high or low return on investment overall might tell you whether or not your marketing campaign is working, but it won’t tell you where your weak and strong links are. To figure that out, you need to track the individual elements of your marketing plan – whether they are online or print strategies.

By understanding what’s working and what isn’t, you can plan your marketing budget confidently based on what’s working. While the following list is by no means comprehensive, here are a few areas we often help our clients with to be able to track their marketing ROI more effectively:

Social Media Strategy & Ads
Between 20-30% of time spent online in 2012 was on social media sites, according to a recent report by Nielson. In light of that, the popularity of social networks doesn’t necessarily make them worth your advertising dollars. While we may recommend social media advertising as a part of a whole integrated marketing strategy, we only do so after setting up a way to measure what is going on. Only then can we can see whether a social media strategy is making sense or is in need of reconsideration.
A few ways we might track the marketing ROI on a social media page include:

• Tracking URLS: By adding a tracking code to a social media ad, we can track the source of the click back to the social network it came from and determine whether the click resulted in a conversion.
• Landing pages: Having a special landing page for social media ads provides several benefits. We can custom-tailor the content for visitors who arrived from a particular ad, and can track conversions from there through form submissions, downloads, and more.
• Tracking Phone Numbers: Sometimes, the promise of talking to a real person about your product is the best call to action – and a local tracking number will help us determine whether that’s the case for your audience.

Pay Per Click
Managed properly, PPC advertising can provide a lot of bang for your advertising buck. We see many businesses choose a few keywords, write some ad copy, and hope for the best – committing one of the biggest mistakes you can make in online advertising. Instead, we heartily recommend a campaign that measures success through some of these methods:

• For many organizations, more specific ads tend to perform better – if they lead to matching landing pages. Once on your landing page, conversions are easily tracked through lead forms, tracking phone numbers, additional clicks, and more.
• If you’re doing this kind of campaign, setting up corresponding goals and objectives through Google Analytics could be a lifesaver.

Traditional Media
Online marketing is increasingly working in conjunction with the old standbys of print, radio, TV and outdoor advertising. But now, by adding a new twist, you can build in some accountability. Strategies for tracking ROI on traditional ads are surprisingly similar to those used in tracking online ads:

• Special Offers: One surefire way to identify whether traditional ads are working is by including an offer. For example, offer a whitepaper, a seminar or some other form of conversion.
• Tracking Phone Numbers: Find out which media is sending customers your way by assigning special tracking numbers to each one.
• Online integration: Depending on your demographic, traditional ads can point potential customers to an easy-to-track landing page or social media page – provided that you give them an incentive. Can they enter a contest, take a helpful quiz, or make appointments more easily online? Put it out there.

No marketing project should end without some form of ROI analysis. By beginning with that end in mind, each project will be money well spent as you build a greater understanding of your market.

Build confidence in your marketing decisions with a trackable, integrated marketing plan. We can help get you started! Just email Jim Flynn at jflynn@hultmarketing.com or call (309) 673-8191. If you’re really excited, call Jim’s mobile at (309) 253-1395.

Breakups aren’t easy. But, in the business world, they’re often necessary. So how do you know when it’s time to tell your marketing agency that you – what’s that cliché line? – need some space?

As Hult’s Director of Business Development, Stephanie Helland interfaces with several businesses that are fresh out of a bad agency relationship. “You should expect a lot from your current agency relationship (if you have one). If it doesn’t feel like a true partnership, they aren’t providing you with strategic solutions that integrate traditional and online elements and/or you aren’t seeing measurable results for your investment…it might be time to consider a change.”

Here are 3 red flags you should look for when evaluating your marketing agency:

One…It’s a “yes” agency.

Marketing agencies earn their keep in your budget by stretching and building it. That means understanding and pleasing your target audience – not just you.

While all ad agencies aim to please their clients, good marketers will focus on pleasing their clients’ target audience, even if that means recommending something different than the client initially wants. If your marketing agency is asking or allowing you to call all of the shots without resistance or direction, then you’re not getting what you need from the relationship: expertise.

To put it in a different light, imagine you’re preparing for surgery and two doctors step in. Surgeon One simply asks what he can do to make you happy. You tell him what you want and he readily agrees. Surgeon Two analyzes your lab results and medical history, then confidently prescribes a course of action based on his experience and education. He requests your input and you can count on him to alert you when your ideas will work, and when they might cause harm or slow progress. Who would you trust to hold the scalpel?

Similarly, you should expect your agency to partner with you by gaining a true understanding of your needs and providing confident, expert direction. If they’re focusing more on flattering you than growing your business, they’re not doing their job – and you should start looking elsewhere.

Two…They don’t support the full scope of your marketing efforts.

The whole isn’t necessarily greater than the sum of its parts when it comes to marketing methods.

For instance, your agency might handle your print and radio ads, while another company manages your website and yet another consults for your search engine optimization. Oh, and don’t forget the social media page that is sporadically updated in-house.

This setup is more common than you might think, but it often results in something less than the sum of its parts: a disjointed message that weakens the brand image. While online presence, social media, and mobile advertising are all relatively recent additions to the marketing arsenal, if your agency doesn’t support them, you might experience one or all of the following:

• Falling behind the competition in those advertising spaces
• Disrupting the unity in your marketing
• Wasting budget dollars while trying to sort it all out

Even if your agency doesn’t provide everything in-house, they should coordinate and integrate the full scope of your marketing efforts, from television to tweet, so your message is consistent and your results are measurable and clear.

And Three…They don’t test their strategies.

Education and experience get marketers a long way in determining the best course of action for their clients. But those things just aren’t enough – and you should be wary if your agency tells you otherwise.

The fact is, even the most experienced agency can’t predict exactly how your unique audience will respond to your marketing efforts. That information can only be learned through experience with your business.

And how do marketers learn what works for you? By testing.

Will more people sign up for your conference if you add a video to your landing page? Let’s do a split test to find out. Is this newspaper ad worth the money I’m paying for it? Let’s assign a unique tracking phone number to see how many calls it’s getting.

While it requires some additional time and resources, testing answers two crucial questions: is our strategy working and could we do anything to make it better? If your agency doesn’t test their strategies and provide data on the results, they may be either too afraid or too lazy to know the answers. Either way, it’s time to start shopping.

Time for a change or want to learn more about our integrative, results-driven approach to marketing? Let’s talk it over. Email Jim Flynn at jflynn@hultmarketing.com or call (309) 673-8191. If you’re really excited, call Jim’s mobile at (309) 253-1395.