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By Dina Wasmer, President, Incite
Creative (Published April 3, 2006)
When you tell people in the technology community that you have
a best-of-breed, end-to-end, scalable, real-time and integrated
solution, many know exactly what you mean. But the people who are
responsible for hiring you and your services or are otherwise key
decision makers, may not. In fact, they may find themselves asking
the question, ‘who are you?’ Or, they may not bother
to ask at all.
Do you know who you are? How well can you articulate it to prospective
clients? If you think they can tell what you do and what value you
can provide them simply based on your name, logo and tagline, you
could be mistaken. These brand components only work if you have
gone through the process of evaluating the products and services
you offer, the audiences you target, and what makes you different
from competitors – all of which can change tomorrow.
The drilled-down question then becomes “how do I convey what
my company represents with the certainty for today and the flexibility
to meet future demands?”
Corporate positioning starts with a given: the well-grounded understanding
of your products and services, and what value they provide to the
marketplace. A spinoff consideration is the competitive offerings
and where the overall market is heading so you don’t position
yourself outside of the market. For example, there are fewer FM
radio stations now than there have been in decades because consumer
tastes are shifting to satellite radio, which is significant to
know if you are targeting the 18-34 demographic with advertising
or other tactics.
Often the harder part of knowing who you are is articulating who
you are to others. Is your name descriptive? Is your tagline too
similar to competitors? Is the logo trademarked? Ultimately the
answers to all these questions must lead to a position that reinforces
the positive attributes of your firm, and the best ones draw out
the emotions of a prospect that entices them to engage with you,
continue the relationship with your firm, and ultimately make a
purchase.
If you struggle with turning your prospects into customers, evaluate
your marketing before you blame the sales force (assuming you have
a great product at a good price). Marketing messages and the visual
elements that portray your company need to be representative and
then communicated to your target. Prospects will communicate back
to you with their impressions, either positively by calling back
or scheduling a meeting, or negatively through a “no thanks”
- or worse, through nothing. Pay attention to the silent communication
– it’s telling you that your marketing is off target.
Who you are is much more than the bells and whistles you can add
to your Web site or cranking out consensus-driven slogans late at
night. Who you are is the essence of why you are in business, and
it needs to be approached and revisited with all the energy and
detail that you apply to sales, accounting, and any other business
function. And just like those other departments, there are marketing
methodologies and processes that help you define, communicate, and
maintain who you are, i.e. your brand. If you don’t have the
in-house resources for this, seek consultation from a credible outside
source because not only is it worth doing, it’s worth doing
right.
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