Ever heard the term “virtual launch” when referring to a product launch? It’s a term I enjoy using which essentially means, “Let’s not load the sales reps down with a huge three-ring binder full of printed sales sheets, price sheets, brochures, FAQs, etc. It’s too heavy, too cumbersome and frankly, it really positions a company as old-school vs. innovative and modern. Instead, let’s be fresh and relevant and deliver the important information on an interactive USB drive or DVD – allowing the rep to navigate through the contents like a Web site to find important customer presentation materials, downloadable brochures, demonstration videos, etc. The rep will look organized and modern and the buyer will appreciate the efficiency.”

Ummm … OK, maybe you won’t find that definition at Dictionary.com. But, nonetheless, the definition stands.

When launching a new product, many teams look to their sales reps to determine what tools they need to sell the new product. It’s important to remember, though, while a sales rep’s job is to sell the product to the buyer, it’s not their job to advise on the business or communications strategy to do so. The insight a sales rep may be able to provide about their selling challenges will be quite helpful, but as marketers, we shouldn’t be settling for same-old, same-old. The rep’s job isn’t to think about how to launch the product better; as marketers, that’s our job and we can do it by reading between the lines and probing for deeper interpretations.

As you embark on your 2010 product launch calendar, think about including your agency in interviewing your sales reps to find out what the best tools could be. My suspicion is that after interpreting the feedback, 90 percent of the time, the groundwork will be laid for more interactive tools and less bulky binders. Would you agree?

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It seems every time I turn around I’m reading or hearing something about how “everything” is going online or mobile. It appears that if your brand is not online or mobile – in an engaging way – you’re losing out. Well, this may have some truth to it, but that doesn’t mean print solutions aren’t still valid.

Consider this:

• 70% of companies have renewed a relationship with a customer using direct mail
• Consumers receiving a printed catalog are two times more likely to purchase online than those who don’t receive a catalog
• 75% of consumers say they’ve made a purchase as a result of direct mail
• Worried about seeming wasteful? In 2007, 45.2 million tons of paper were recovered from recycling – that’s 57% of all paper and paperboard products

At Go East when we’re working on a project – to be distributed online or  via “old-fashioned” paper – we work hard to balance print and interactive strategies. Campaigns need to be integrated, but not redundant. They need to be impactful and they need to be targeted.

Don’t abandon one for the other or you won’t be able to capitalize on the biggest opportunities!

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Living the brand is an ongoing aspect of full brand management. To live the brand is to strengthen it and to make brand management a part of your culture. How do we at Go East recommend you manage and live your brand?

Assess and align areas that are inconsistent with the brand. Look at all the places where your brand touches people externally: memos, email sign-offs, outgoing voice mail messages and information communicated through your social media strategy. Examine processes and procedures and change those that are inconsistent with your brand position. Identify areas where decisions impacting the brand can be improved.

To intensify brand management throughout the organization, establish principles and guidelines for when, where and how to apply the brand. Create accountability for decisions that affect consumers’ perceptions of the brand. Remind your staff about brand principles and ways to reinforce and build the brand so everyone feels responsible and engaged in brand-building activities. For example, everyone at Go East recently created their own statements about how they live the brand. We all wore the statements, like nametags, throughout the day and talked with others about our part in living the brand.

To monitor the results of your efforts, conduct audits of consumer perceptions. It’s the only way to truly know if you are having the impact you are trying to achieve. Are the attributes that your customers identify the ones you want? Share the findings with staff members so they can celebrate the success of their efforts or hone in on areas that need improvement. Constantly refine your indicators of success and measure again.

To make living the brand fun and rewarding, we at Go East recognize employees who are doing an outstanding job of living the brand. We share examples and celebrate successes. We acknowledge “brand moments” formally by thanking individuals for contributions to building the brand.

It is through all of these efforts that, eventually, managing your brand becomes less work and more a way of life.

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In a recent survey, 75 percent of U.S. employees indicated that they do not think their company’s mission statement reflects the way the company does business.

What’s the disconnect? Why do companies “talk the talk” but not “walk the walk”? Perhaps they don’t understand the value of internal brand building. Maybe they’ve never even heard of internal brand building. Consider this a mini primer:

What is internal brand building? It’s actually quite simple. Brand building is the same whether it’s external or internal: It’s generating awareness, excitement and goodwill about your brand. Internally, though, it should be taken a step further: Employees should not only know the brand and be excited about it — they should also live the brand. Consider this: How can you say your company’s brand personality is “friendly” when your employees are afraid of their boss? That scary boss isn’t “living the brand.”

Why is internal brand building important? Given the above example, what do you think your employees are saying about your company when they’re out in the real world? How do you think your customers perceive you if your employees show fear — whether consciously or unconsciously? If you and your employees are not living the brand — you are actively eroding all external brand-building efforts.

Whose role is it to build the brand internally? In a word: everyone’s. But someone has to lead. That leadership should come from the top down. And it shouldn’t be a one-time campaign. This means nurturing an everyday, ongoing culture that needs to be developed, refined, flexible and true to your brand.

Living the brand is not hard. Consider these three tips when you’re outlining your marketing efforts:

• Budgets should be allocated to internal brand building
• There should be buy-in at the top
• At Go East, we make internal brand building recommendations to our clients when appropriate — and all agencies should

My final thought: Internal brand building is valuable because the payoff is happy employees who are more dedicated to the company and passionate advocates for the brand. That’s something every company needs!

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If that’s the question, then it seems the response in this economy should be, “I’d do almost anything. … Tell me more!”

I’d be happy to. (more…)

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Last year during the holidays, social media sites like Facebook experienced huge bumps in traffic. People are off work, away from home, and are — sometimes — bored. So they head to social networks. According to Mashable, last year during Christmas, social networking sites saw huge surges in traffic. On Christmas Day 2008, Twitter saw 35 tweets per minute, You Tube saw 600,000 videos tagged “Christmas,” and (according to Google) over 60,000,000 blog posts mentioned Christmas.

So what’s a good social media plan to get in front of all those eyeballs? At Go East, we are looking at the three most obvious places to make your mark this holiday.

Social Media Holiday Plan, 2009

1. Get your hashtags ready and tweet this holiday season. It will be important to get your brand out there by offering holiday specials or expressions of good will. Twitter is great for trending what people will want for Christmas, as well as seeing who is already out there tweeting about their holiday offerings.

2. People will connect on Facebook over the holidays. That’s just a fact. Long-distance family and friends will go there first to find out who did what and who got what over Christmas break. It makes sense for brands to be there. How can brands successfully integrate on FB? Right now, it is up for grabs. A quick search shows 500 Christmas applications on FB, none of which are all that compelling. However, Coca Cola already has over 58,000 fans on its Christmas advert page. That’s a wide open field of opportunities for the next “elf yourself,” and FB is the place for people to have fun with your brand this holiday.

3. Flickr now offers sponsored groups. Some, like Kodak’s “What’s our story?” group, make an obvious photography connection. Others, like the “Western Union Yes!”, start to meld social sharing and cause marketing. Now things are starting to get interesting! Imagine the possibilities for images and brands that visually bring the holidays to life. Asking group members to show how they use a product during the holidays, with the most “favorited” photo winning, is an obvious way to connect with Flickr’s users.

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Ever wonder how companies that sell most of their products during a specific season survive the remainder of the year? Selling Christmas ornaments in July, sunblock in February or cold medicine in August is likely a challenge. It requires season-specific companies to be innovative and to think continually about how to generate off-season revenue.

Consider H&R Block. I suspect that it generates much of its revenue during tax season. I see a ton of TV spots pushing its services in the early part of the year, but as soon as the public pays Uncle Sam, the TV spots wrap and you know longer have “people.” The company’s Web site, however, does very much the opposite, pushing other financial services such as tax and financial planning and banking. Perhaps some off-season PR and nontraditional advertising could help to generate additional buzz during non-tax time.

Another company to look at is Linder’s Garden Center, based in the Twin Cities. It has roughly 50 Flower Marts — all selling annual flowers, hanging baskets, plants and shrubs — located in the parking lots of retail stores. These marts are only open June and July. In addition, there is one garden center that is open year-round. Linder’s sponsors some local events throughout the year, which helps to get its name out there, but is it enough? Would offering FREE pre-spring gardening classes — with tips and techniques — help to build awareness? Could selling Christmas trees in the same retail locations as its Flower Marts impact revenue? How about a Twitter page tweeting daily gardening tips to all Linder’s followers?

Peeps — yes, those sugary-filled, yummy marshmallow treats — knows how to get people to interact with their brand. When they first introduced their product it was only available around the Easter holiday. Now they sell the treat during Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day and, of course, Easter. In March of 2007 and 2008, The Washington Post hosted a Peeps Diorama contest encouraging entrants to get creative with their favorite Marshmallow brand. The first year brought in a handful of entrants, but in 2008 there were more than 800. It doesn’t sound like a ton, but when you add in all of the PR that was gained through The Washington Post, the impressions really added up. What a great way to get people to make incremental purchases and get playful with a fun brand!

Businesses that sell most of their products and services during specific seasons should make an effort to keep their brands top of mind throughout the year. Not only will this save money on future advertising, it will make the marketing executed during the seasonal times of the year even more impactful.

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At Go East, I have a reputation for being willing to stretch guidelines. Perhaps it’s because I became a designer in the early 80s and the coolest thing going at the time was the introduction of MTV and its willingness to morph and animate its logo during commercial breaks. In contrast to the lockdown identity practices of the 70s, using a brand mark as the primary vehicle of the brand’s creative expression was a refreshing, innovative and brilliant strategy. Even today, decades later, they encourage everyone to creatively interpret their logo.

Don’t get me wrong, I neither recommend nor encourage designers to muck around with identities just for the heck of it. Building equity in a logo is hard enough these days, even with some standards in place, especially for global brands.

My concern is when brands seek consistency at the cost of differentiation and impact. Guidelines are meant to clarify  the foundational elements of an identity or trade dress for designers. They are not meant to take the place of creativity nor should they be implemented in an effort to eliminate designers from creating marketing or promotional strategies.

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