Time, money and effort spent on branding comes back many times over when the process plays out. Here’s why:
1. Memorability. It’s easier to remember the branded company than the what’s its name one.
2. Loyalty. When people have appositive experience with a memorable brand, they’re more likely to buy that product or service again than competing brands.
3. Familiarity. Psychologists have shown that familiarity induces liking, and this makes even non-customers more likely to recommend a brand they know.
4. Extensions. With a well-established brand, you can spread the respect you’ve earned to a related new product, service or location more easily.
5. Lower marketing expenses. Although you must invest money to create a brand, once it’s created you get a bigger bang for every marketing buck using it.
6. For consumers, less risk. People tend to choose the brand-name suppliers over the no-name one when afraid of the consequences of a mess-up.
For those reasons and more, branding may be for you.
Looking for new avenues for your brand awareness project in 2011, here’s what Toursdforce found to be HOT!
What’s up for Brand Building in 2011…
GENERATION G (That would be G for ‘Generosity’, not G for‘Greed’)
To be a greedy pig or a free cone, that’s the question
GENERATION G | "Captures the growing importance of 'generosity' as a leading social relations “social change” and business mindset. As consumers are disgusted with greed and its current doomy consequences for the economy—and while that same upheaval has them longing more than ever for institutions that care—the need for more generosity beautifully coincides with the ongoing (and pre-recession) emergence of an online-fueled culture of individuals who share, give, engage, create and collaborate in large numbers.
In fact, for many, sharing a passion and receiving recognition have replaced 'taking' as the new status symbol. Businesses should follow this societal/behavioral shift, however much it may oppose their decades-old devotion to me, myself and I.”
The three drivers for GENERATION G:
1. Recession and consumer disgust
2. Longing for institutions that care
3. For individuals, giving is already the new taking, and sharing is the new giving
When it comes to the GENERATION G (that's G for Generosity, not Greed), there’s no better way for a branding in 2011 to put its money where its mouth (or heart) is than engaging in Random Acts of Kindness (R.A.K.). Consumers' cravings for realness, for the human touch, ensure that everything from brands randomly picking up the tab to sending a surprise gift will be one of the most effective ways to connect with (potential) customers in 2011.
For brands, a serious (and sincere) R.A.K. strategy may mean no longer being seen as inflexible and unwieldy, but as more compassionate and charismatic instead. Something which is of course, priceless and actually fun to do.
Fueling the R.A.K. trend is brands’ ability to actually know what’s happening in consumers’ lives (good or bad!), as people publicly disclose (from Facebook to Twitter) more and more about their daily lives, their moods or their whereabouts.
Social networks also enable acts of kindness to spread far beyond its recipients, as they will gladly tell their friends and followers about the unexpected good news.
Social networks also enable acts of kindness to spread far beyond its recipients, as they will gladly tell their friends and followers about the unexpected good news.
Joining GENERATION G as a company or a brand is not really optional, it’s a fundamental requirement if you want to stay relevant in societies that value generosity, sharing and collaboration. Joining obviously entails more than adding a social responsibility; it means adopting a generous mindset that permeates every interaction with your community, with your employees, with your customers, with, wait for it, your ‘stakeholders’. Nothing more or less than a holistic approach* to generosity and business.
The benefits?
• It doesn’t hurt that in turbulent times like now, generosity will find an extra-appreciative audience, and certainly won't be forgotten.
• Not only will your customers be more appreciative, they'll also return your favors by being more willing to spread the word about you. And being more willing to collaborate with you, co-creating or co-inventing or co-improving.
• And last but not least, to manage a company with a caring, generous mindset can actually be good for your soul, too ;-) Source: www.trendwatching.com.
So…It’s time we get started on our 2011 branding projects and whatever you do, do it generously!
Hal Holubik
Owner / Operator
ToursDForce.com
Order a Lenawee virtual tour: 517-486-4209
E: mailto:hhal@toursdforce.com
Virtual Tours are here!! More people choose http://www.realtourvision.com virtual tour company than any other virtual tour provider on the market. We encourage you to research the 360 virtual tour industry before making a decision. We are by far the most established virtual tour company in the industry. Our virtual tour customers, and their clients get only the best and most experienced advice and help from our staff. Thank you and enjoy our virtual tours.
• It doesn’t hurt that in turbulent times like now, generosity will find an extra-appreciative audience, and certainly won't be forgotten.
• Not only will your customers be more appreciative, they'll also return your favors by being more willing to spread the word about you. And being more willing to collaborate with you, co-creating or co-inventing or co-improving.
• And last but not least, to manage a company with a caring, generous mindset can actually be good for your soul, too ;-) Source: www.trendwatching.com.
So…It’s time we get started on our 2011 branding projects and whatever you do, do it generously!
Hal Holubik
Owner / Operator
ToursDForce.com
Order a Lenawee virtual tour: 517-486-4209
E: mailto:hhal@toursdforce.com
Virtual Tours are here!! More people choose http://www.realtourvision.com virtual tour company than any other virtual tour provider on the market. We encourage you to research the 360 virtual tour industry before making a decision. We are by far the most established virtual tour company in the industry. Our virtual tour customers, and their clients get only the best and most experienced advice and help from our staff. Thank you and enjoy our virtual tours.
Powered by http://www.ToursDForce.com. Your Southern Michigan Property Marketing Experts!
"Take Action!" I don’t care what type of business you’re in, what you’re selling, or where you are in your strategic plan, the goal of your marketing message is to motivate your prospects into taking the next step. Today, companies are going to greater lengths to capture their customers' attention and win their loyalty—They are joining social network sites, they’re blogging, they’re building fan pages, they’re finding new places where their brands can be seen—but are they talking with their customers, are they getting to know their customers, are they talking to their staff to get customer insights, are they asking their customers for feedback as to how they might improve their services. One of the most powerful components to engage customers is sometimes the most undervalued: customer service.