Cal Ripken has been inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame - not so much for his baseball numbers as for the fantastic brand he created. Cal’s career batting average is not even close to .300, and he did not average more than 25 home runs or 100 RBIs a season.  Yet he is one of the most popular, memorable, and most marketable players of recent history.  Why? 

Throughout his 21-year career, Cal Ripken has been a living example of what marketers need to do to build a successful brand.  For Cal, building his brand came naturally.  It flowed from his love for the game.  Let’s look at the incredible, almost textbook branding lessons to be learned from Cal.

Stand for One Thing
You can’t be all things to all consumers.  It never works.  You have to carefully determine what you are selling, and I’m not talking about whether you are selling software or accounting services.  What is the soul or the vision behind what you are selling – what are you asking your consumers to identify with emotionally?  

Hundreds of baseball players are selling baseball skills, but that doesn’t turn them into a popular brand like The Iron Man.  Throughout his career, Cal was always selling RELIABILITY and DECENCY.  Consumers identified with his blue-collar work ethic and “bought into” his brand.  Day in and day out, everyone knew what they were getting from Cal.

Clarity of Message
Once you have determined what it is you are selling, you need to make sure that this is clearly communicated through all that you do - from your PR and marketing messages to your people on the street to the products and services you provide.  Not 9 to 5.  But 24 hours a day!

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January 1st is always fun since it is somehow the beginning of a whole new set of opportunities.  We seem to divide our business year by holidays.  Memorial Day is the beginning of summer so vacations slow down sales.  Labor Day is the beginning of the last quarter so we must push to achieve our goals, and New Year’s Day is the opportunity to start with a clean slate.

So, let’s look to 2009 as the year that will be a challenge for all of us.  Since the economy seems to be on hold for a while, we need to generate a lot of activity.  Some people feel that if they can keep their existing customer base they are doing well and that may be true.

Wouldn’t it be exciting to grow your business in 2009?  Think of all the sales people who will be sitting on the sidelines waiting for “the turn around.”

The way to be different from the “crowd” will be to go out and get every piece of new business in your market.  Don’t wait, go after everyone.  Prospect like crazy in every market available to you.

This is the time to make all those cold calls you should have been making for the last number of years.

I literally mean call on everyone.  If nothing else imagine the list of prospects you will get.  You may be the only supplier that calls on people who actually need your products and services.

This is the time you will walk right into sales, surprise opportunities that make selling the best profession on earth.

I like to tell seminar participants that you owe it to your prospects to get out there and call on them.  They may be sitting in their offices just waiting for your call or visit.  It is rude to not call on them!  They need you.

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From disparate beginnings, Christmas has become largely a cultural celebration for my generation - one meant to bring people together and place our focus on the people we love.

It has also become an uber-brand that represents intangible, un-buy-able values (peace, love, joy, family, selflessness) simultaneously with supreme commercialism.

I love Christmas: hot cocoa, a roaring fire, home cooking, decorated trees, lit up streets, friends around, and the overall heightened consideration of other people (which really should be more present year-round). And of course, the unavoidable and remorseless spending of money we don’t necessarily have.

I like shopping as much as the next red-blooded woman, and I love choosing gifts for people I care about, BUT I loathe the chaos that is the holiday shopping experience. Firstly, running a fully booked design firm means I am impossibly busy, and it’s hard to find time to brave the traffic, find parking, and wait in obscene lines at the counter. So I shop for a lot of gifts online, which doesn’t seem particularly festive to me. Something is lost.

Smart online retailers are starting to catch on. In the same ways that a brick and mortar store would decorate their shop for the holidays, internet based companies are learning to create a more festive atmosphere for their customers. We all know that emotion sells. And the experience you’re providing for your customers online can be just as lucrative as one you might create in your physical store.

Now, my own customers aren’t looking for the same thing as holiday shoppers. You’re business folk, and it’s not likely you’re going to hire a corporate designer as a gift for a loved one. But, I still felt like I should give a subtle little nod to the holidays, so I created a festive holiday variant on our website logo.

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Are you spending money constantly trying to attract new customers?  Realize that you could possibly be sitting on a goldmine, without spending another cent on advertising. How would you feel if you could build a one to one relationship with each and every customer to the point where they then become an advocate for your business?

It’s amazing how many companies fail to take advantage of their most important asset, their customer list.  Most small business owners are constantly searching for ways to attract new customers, when its been proven time and time again that you can make more money from your present clients than constantly looking for new business.

Here are the secrets to begin the process of retaining good customers and generating greater profits from them.

Secret #1: GET TO KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS

Small Businesses today are finding that in order to survive super discount competitors and online competition they must go back to the relationship building of the good old days.  In cities and towns of yesteryear, jewelers knew their customers by name, the type of jewelry they preferred and made certain he had it in stock.  This kind of relationship coupled with personalized customer service and a genuine empathy with customers, is what keeps them coming back to you instead of your competitors.

Secret #2: GATHER CUSTOMER INFORMATION

A database of customers is the most valuable asset your business has.  Yet only 10% of the retailers in the United States keep a current list of their customers!  Statistics show that businesses spend five times as much for new customers than they do on their present customers, yet a regular customer is worth 10 times the cost of acquiring a new customer!  Today, however, a customer list is not enough.

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Writing copy for your website is different than traditional copywriting for direct marketing like brochures, sales letters or 4-color postcards. Website copy requires an expertise in direct response marketing because sentences need to be shorter, to the point and demand action quickly and effectively.

WRITE COPY FROM THE PROSPECT’S POINT OF VIEW

An experienced website copywriter will write copy from your prospect’s point of view; identify what problems or challenges are plaguing them in today’s business environment and what are the solutions. Then how is your company the best qualified to solve my problem, quickly, cost-effectively with the most value for the money.

WRITE COPY THAT ATTRACT THE SEARCH ENGINES

Talented direct response copywriters weave persuasive, convincing copy while maintaining control over keywords and phrases that attract the search engines to rank your site higher. Where your company ranks in that search can spell the difference between success and failure from your online marketing strategy.

If you want to rank higher in the search engines, write carefully crafted copy that not only entices the reader to take action, but is also search engine friendly . . . . meaning, when qualified prospects search the internet, your site pops up as being relevant to what they are looking for. When they get to your site, your copy answers their question or solves their problem. If not, they will leave faster than it takes to click a mouse.

Is Your Website Simply a Pretty Billboard or A Lead Generation Machine?

Your job is to qualify website visitors and persuade them to take immediate action. Using your website as a pretty billboard to show off your fancy new office is a waste of time and money.

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The financial industry got caught with its pants down.   The automotive industry got caught with its arrogance up.

The PC, CE, communications industry simply got caught between the two.

We feel the angst but the business is still fundamentally sound.  With the right course adjustments the industry will be in a better position to deliver solutions and satisfaction to global business and local consumers.

We aren’t polyannic about the state of the economy…or the industry. 

We don’t quite believe as President Reagan did in the mid ‘80’s that things are good and they’re getting better.

But fundamentally, the content industry did not have the sudden stop the financial and auto industries did starting six months ago. 

We’ve been in this industry for 20 plus (ok + +) years and we’ve been through the downturns.  But the industry always comes out the other side better, stronger, more aggressive.

Silicon Valley is both a specific location and a state of mind. 

The winners are not those who focus their attention on making millions for themselves (if they’re really lucky that’s a nice side effect). 

They aren’t those who cling to the rustbelt past.

They are the individuals who drive change - often very disruptive change – for the people who live on this orb and the planet itself!

At the recent 6Sight conference dinner our conversation naturally turned to the economy and one young lady noted her company had recently been acquired and that she wasn’t certain about her job but she noted…“that’s the way the Valley is.”

           
That Hurts

We’ve all seen our 401K shrink like a bad case of hemorrhoids. 

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Achieving Extraordinary Results: it’s just a Skill

Some tweaks for getting your GPS (Goals, Plans & Steps) System running like a finely tuned sports car.

1. Remember that a Goal is “a written detailed objective to be achieved by a specific point in time.  And, it is something that you want, believe in, can commit to and will focus on.
2. If world class athletes have been taught and are using Visualization so can we. Visualize yourself having achieved that Goal.  Visualize what it will feel like, look like. Visualize/Focus on everything that makes it an important Goal
3. Know that you will act on your most dominant thoughts, so think only about what you want.  Remember the story about the baseball manager who told his pitcher, “Don’t throw a high inside fast ball.”  That was the dominant thought, he threw it, and they lost the World Series.
4. Focus only on things that you can affect.  Don’t waste one minute of your valuable time worrying about things you can not affect. Stop listening to the news and so much TV watching!
5. A Plan is simply the route you will take to achieve your Goal.  It should only be a couple sentences long at most.
6. NO MULTI-TASKING, it only assures that you will do several things poorly. Give each Goal 100% of the time you devote to it.

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Did Harley Davidson create the desire for rebellion and the feeling of freedom that comes from conquering the open road?  Did Starbucks create the desire for a sense of sophistication or for people to feel like they are part of a community?

Of course not!  Harley Davidson and Starbucks simply found wonderfully resonant ways to tap into these deep emotional currents that course through people’s veins.  However, it is important to remember that everyone does not have the same emotional imperatives.  That is why some people buy a Suzuki bike and many people prefer to buy their coffee at Dunkin Donuts.  That is how great branding works - companies find ways to connect with the emotional drivers that move their specific target audience.

When you’re walking down the grocery store aisle, have you ever listened to the tiny voices in the back of your head that are asking questions like, what does this product say about me as a mother?  What does this product say about my status?  Do I prefer to be irreverent or traditional?  Am I frugal or do I prefer to be decadent?

These are all brand questions your semi-conscious or unconscious mind is asking at warp speed.  In fact, according to experts as much as 90% of brand decisions are made at an unconscious emotional level.

So what does this all mean for us as PR professionals?   It means that purchasing decisions are made based on the strength of the brands you represent.  And brands are not built solely on our industry’s traditional view of PR.  They are the sum of the stories and experiences that your core target audience has had with a brand.

This means our profession must become expert at how great brands are created and nurtured.  And we better start helping our clients build resonant brands from the ground up.  If we don’t, others will, and we will move even further from holding that coveted seat at the table.

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