Branding Your Business To Make More Money
Branding your company should be the first
thing a company does. You have to convince potential customers to buy from
you. Very few people have a monopoly like Microsoft or Ebay, Everyone else
need to steer business to their company or product. When people think about
your company, what is their impression. For my company, I wanted
to portray a fresh, professional, ease of use type of company whoose product
meets their quality needs while helping their business. I wanted to portray
as always on the fore front of the printing and promotional product industry's.
To achieve this I needed to tell potential
customers of new and innovative products for the printing industry. Variable
data, large format digital printing, digital printing with pantone colors,
label and form combinations, magnet and form combinations and e-commerce
ordering systems. How best to show customers then actually devise a campaign
where the product you are trying to educate your customers about is sent
out to them to give them ideas how to use this product to help their businesses.
One campaign I organised was to compile a list of fashion retailers whoose
logo's were specific pantone colors that are not reproduced well in 4 color
process printing. Today with 6,8 and 10 color presses you can print in
4 color process and 2 pantone colors quite easily. This keeps the integrity
of the company's logo intact in their big marketing or flyer campaigns.
This is OK for large run printing jobs. The problem is that even for large
chains, you tend to have regional sales in a small amount of stores. In
store displays usually are done in small numbers and are printed digitally.
Today there are certain digital presses that can insert pantone colors
on top of the 4 color process printing. After devising a mock up campaign
and targetting by variable data the buyers of these retail fashion chains,
I was able to secure 2 large accounts for present and future business.
This technique can be applied to any industry.
The key is to really now your product and the strengths of your company.
The next step is to educate your customers on your company's merits. Then
you must reinforce your image constantly to stay in your existing customers
mind, as well as peak the curiousity of potential new customers.
Once you have achieved this, giving out
promotional products is a useful way of staying on their minds. The trick
is to find a great promotional product, that fits you budget, is useful
to the end user and doesn't shout your name too boldly. Humour is a great
way to have your customers keep your stuff. The items seen most times for
an office person are calendars and coffee mugs. To be different in the
Montreal Promotional Product market, Solutions Ink sent out to all existing
customers a 14 ounze special mug which was imprinted with thermochromic
ink. The ink is heat sensitive and evaporates on heat and returns on cold.
With this you can print something underneath the thermochromic ink which
is revealed when cold. On the outside we simply put the word STRESS in
red over a black background. Most people who work know about stress. The
humour side was that when you poured your hot coffee the message turned
into stress free at Solutions Ink. A simple inexpensive idea that our customers
really enjoyed and every time I stop at one of their offices I readily
spot our mugs. On top of this I received 4 orders from these customers
for these mugs with a different message for their customers.
Another great way for your company to be
branded positively is to become associated with a worth while charity.
Today we must give back to those less fortunate. Sponsering an event gives
your company great exposure but the real treat is in knowing that you've
helped others. Money is not the end all, all the time. A funny thing, helping
others usually rewards yourself if not immediately some time in the future.
The trick is to plan out your actions.
Research the market, research your company's attributes and brand your
company's image positively and constantly. Following these steps should
help your company stand out from the competition and make yourself more
successful. Best of luck.
Author-Bio: Solutions Ink specializes in
providing value for your purchases and reducing your procurement costs.
I help large and medium companies everyday achieve their goals every day.
Steven Schneidman |