Words are Things...

It's been a while. We haven't posted here since April 25.

 

And today's "dropping by" is just to check in, and issue an update: We'll be away for a little longer. Yes, Lasting Impressions is still on hiatus for another month.

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There's a lot going on at Complit Communications. Yes, a lot of good writing is still happening. But to avoid spreading ourselves too thin, we are having to put some projects on the side for a while.

But here is a promise you can hold us to: We are coming back with fantastic marketing insights in July 2022.

In the meantime, here are three priceless reads that we recommend. Not only for marketing pundits, but for anyone who sells anything and wants to get better at it:

 

1. The Mirror Makers: A History of American Advertising and its Creators by Stephen Fox. Available here.

 

2. Advertising for Results by G. F. Brown. This eBook is available for free download online.

 

3. A Beautiful Constraint: How to Transform your Limitations into Advantages, and why it is Everyone's Business by Adam Morgan and Mark Barden. Available here.

Happy reading throughout June.

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Well, many of us may never have seen a diamond in the flesh and neither is this a time to pretend. But good writing takes a lot of reading and that's why we are taking some time off to research and read. And wallow in some good funk!

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From Remarkably Bland to Remarkable Brand

 As we have seen before, a brand is stored in the mind for the prospect and customer by way of impressions. Not as chunks of information or facts. A brand is an emotional experience that is predicated on, and driven by a promise made to a customer.

That makes branding the process of building a positive collection of perceptions in your customer's mind.

 

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But to have a prominent and preferred position in the customer's mind, a brand needs to stand out. For the most part, this is done by establishing a unique selling proposition (USP). In advertising, this is the characteristic of a product or service that differentiates it from its competitors.

For Marketing Monday this week, we share with you a very insightful presentation from Neutron LLC titled 'The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance between Business Strategy and Design.'

The immediate take-aways from this lengthy presentation is that:

1. A brand is not a logo

2. A brand is not an identity

3. A brand is not a product.

It is a person's gut feeling about a product, service or organization.

So how do you build your brand from bland to remarkable? This is achieved by making your brand charismatic. This means a product, service or organization for which people believe there's no substitute.

To achieve this, there are five disciplines of brand building that one needs to master:

1. Differentiate

2. Collaborate

3. Innovate

4. Validate

5. Cultivate

There is much more insights not highlighted here. And there is also a Kindle edition of 'The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance between Business Strategy and Creativity.'

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From The Brand Gap, we learn that the main purpose of branding is to get more people to buy more stuff for more years and at a higher price. 

Once you get the branding essentials right, we bet you'll be all smiles on your brand new computer and a bright future in sales...

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Marketing: Planning and Strategy

In this week's #MarketingMonday, we tell you about a very nice book.
Written by Subhash C. Jain, 'Marketing: Planning and Strategy' is a goldmine of marketing gems for any marketing student, pundit or practitioner.

We ain't gonna say much, but just a casual look at the Contents will give you a sneak peek into what awaits you in this book.
The fourth chapter deals with understanding competition. From a business viewpoint:

"competition refers to rivalry among firms operating in a market to fill the same customer need. The businessperson’s major interest is to keep the market to himself or herself by adopting appropriate strategies."

Chapter five is all about focusing on the customer, which interestingly opens with this famous quote by Adam Smith:

"Consumption is the sole end and purpose of production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the customer."

There is a chapter about measuring strengths and weaknesses, another on developing marketing objectives and goals and about organizational structure.

On strategy, the author has outdone himself with detailed chapters on strategic marketing tools viz: product strategies, pricing strategies, distribution strategies, promotion strategies... even global market strategies.


Chapters 19 through 47 are case studies of actual businesses with respect to their maketing strategies.

We highly recommend this book. But more than that, this is where yu can actually get the book and start reading in just a few minutes. Get your copy of 'Marketing: Planning and Strategy' now!

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According to Albert Emery, we can look at marketing as merely a civilized form of warfare in which most battles are won with words, ideas, and disciplined thinking. The end goal is customer acquisition and retention. And this calls for a new attitude in how mediated persuasion is conducted. And new strategies if need be.

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Branding, Impressions and the Elements of an Advert

Today's post is essentially an index of sorts. 

It is however, not without substance since it points us two core ingredients of marketing: branding and advertising.

On Branding, it is worth noting that branding isn't about facts, it is about emotions. You store brands in your mind, not as chunks of information but by way of impressions.

The Age of Persuasion podcast has valuable insights on the 6 remarkable brands and more remarkable brands episodes.

Besides branding, advertising is mediated persuasion and it is one of the most visible and glamorized aspects of marketing.

The are several elements of an ad. These are:

• interactions of words and visuals
• attention-getting devices
• humor
• testimonials
• music (with a focus on the jingle)
• presenters
• characters
• drama
• comparison
  

You can find details of the above elements in 'Advertising and the Mind of the Consumer' book which is available on Amazon.

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The tenets of marketing and marketing have stayed true even with the passage of time and significant changes in ad delivery mediums. The times they are a changin', but it is important to keep customers satisfied.

Branding 101

 

Well, we've been thinking of talking about this Tips and Traps for Marketing your Business book in today's Weekend Wit. But let's be honest, branding is really misunderstood. We are therefore better off touching on some branding basics from the aptly titled book: Marketing for Dummies.

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The very first thing to know is that brands are promises. Not logos. Not business names or corporate colors and identities.

- Brands are established through a buildup of trust in a one-of-a-kind promise about who you are,  what you stand for and what unique and meaningful benefits you deliver.

- Your brand is built by living up to your promise whenever people interact with your name, your promise or your business.

- Constantly reinforcing your brand promise strengthens your brand. At the end of the day, it's all about perception.

In a nutshell, branding is defined as the process of building a positive collection of perceptions in your customer's mind.

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Branding is one of the core essentials in any business. And it need not be a difficult thing to do and get right. After all in this life, we're always learning...

But the thing to be careful about is that you should brand only when you're ready to make a promise to customers. And more importantly, brand by making a promise that you're absolutely, positively certain you can keep.

Introducing Lasting Impressions

"You only get one chance to make a first impression."

- Will Rogers.

First impressions are most lasting.

In his book Zero to One, Peter Thiel writes that "if you have invented something new but you haven't invented an effective way to sell it, you have a bad business - no matter how good the product."

At Lasting Impressions, we share information that is valuable to your business. Our focus is on marketing and related communication design insights.

Ultimately, all business thrives on relationships and relations are about trust. There is need to make not just a good first impression, but a lasting one.

 

 
Welcome to Lasting Impressions Marketing.



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Well, seems like it takes much more than a brand new computer to have a bright future in sales...