Terri Harmening, brand strategist at Go East, was the lead speaker of Go East’s January 26 Eye Opener seminar. She spoke about the importance of Millennials and the ways in which they are changing the marketing game. Harmening kicked off her presentation by explaining that many researchers assign different age ranges to Millennials. Go East chose to go with Iconoculture’s definition: those born between 1979 and 1996 (currently ages 16-33). Millennials are also referred to as “trophy kids,” “digital natives” and “Gen Y.”

This group spans a wide range of life stages as well as ages, so Harmening advised when marketing to them it’s important to consider where they are in their life. Teenage Millennials obviously have very different views than Millennials who are parents.

As with any generation, history has shaped this generation’s values, and many of the recent major events, such as 9/11 and the recession, have influenced Millennials. They value relationships, especially the relationship they have with their parents. They are comfortable with technology of all kinds and they are the most educated of all generations. They have grown up in a multiracial society, so they don’t see diversity as anything that’s out of the norm and, finally, they are confident and therefore optimistic. “Confident,” “connected” and “open to change” are the three main descriptors for this generation.

Harmening shared this quote from Publisher’s Weekly: “Millennials are the most racially diverse and ideologically tolerant population the U.S. has ever known and the best networked group of humans in history. Believing that every consumer choice, every vote, every blog post and tweet matters, young people come of age expecting to be heard and to make change.”

Harmening wrapped up her presentation by providing five insights into how Millennials want to be viewed and how to best market to them:
I’m a friend, not a consumer: Engage with me.
I want to make a difference: Stand for core values.
I like it all at once: Redefining integration.
I’m in the driver’s seat: I want to express myself.
I am savvy and get bored easily: Make it fun.

Go East’s next Eye Opener is scheduled for March 15. The topic is “Content Strategy: The Ins and Outs.” We will explain what content strategy is and how it can clarify, strengthen and energize your digital marketing efforts. For more information, contact kwisser@goeastdesign.com.

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Why do you need to understand the female shopper? Well, if you’re a retailer, the answer is easy. “Female retail shoppers make over 80 percent of buying decisions,” explained Terri Harmening, brand strategist at Go East. “To be a successful brand, you must understand what’s relevant to them.”

Harmening and Go East retail strategist Laurie Langerud presented valuable information about the female shopper in the first of an ongoing series of “Eye Opener” seminars that Go East plans to present throughout 2012 and beyond. The seminar series is free and open to anyone interested in attending.

According to Harmening, successful brands do more than market to women. Why? Because it’s not about marketing; it’s about branding. And women don’t buy brands, they join them. Successful brands communicate to women by telling stories to them in ways that are relevant to them and their lives. Building brands is a relational thing and women, more than men, want a relationship with a brand. And the relationship between a brand and its female audience needs to be experiential and it needs to be two-way.

In essence, successful brands understand women. For example, they know that the people in women’s lives are a priority to them. They also know that women love to share with others, rely on other women’s opinions when they’re thinking about purchasing and want an opportunity to support causes they care about. Female shoppers say, “I want brands that speak to my heart, enhance my life, understand my priorities and express who I am.”

The more women feel that they can tell the world about themselves through your brand, the more loyal they will be to your brand.

A full house enjoyed this successful seminar. The next Eye Opener, “Millennials: How They’re Changing the Game,” takes place on January 26. For more information, contact kwisser@goeastdesign.com.

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“What’s your problem?” If you’ve worked with Go East, you may have heard this question from your account executive.

But don’t worry; if you know anything about us, you know that we don’t mean it in a snide way — we truly want to understand your  brand’s problem. Communicating problems is sometimes difficult for people. In the realm of marketing communications, the tendency is for proactive marketers to communicate  the solution — but that’s putting the cart before the horse.

You wouldn’t tell your doctor that you need surgery to remove your appendix. Or, if you did say that to her, let’s pray she wouldn’t just go ahead and do it! How frightening. YOU’RE not a doctor (and your doctor isn’t an “order taker”) — what if you misdiagnosed yourself? Instead, your doctor would likely say: ”Why do you think you need your appendix removed? What are your symptoms? Let’s see if there are other options.”

The next time you’re working with Go East (experts at solving complex challenges via integrated marketing communications solutions), bring us your challenge — in terms of the marketing problem that needs to be solved — rather than the solution. It gives us the opportunity to use our vast experience solving similar challenges. Leveraging those experiences, along with fresh new thinking, we’re able to quickly find the right solution for you, which means you’ll get better results. In the end, your brand will be more successful and you’ll look good, too!

So, what’s your problem?

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Juliet:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet” (II, 1-2)

We look to Shakespeare as the authority on all things related to the most excellent use of the English language. The bard was both poet and playwright, crafting language that created characters that have lasted half a millenium. And yet, in “Romeo and Juliet” he has Juliet diminish the most fundamental act of language — naming. True, the flower came before its name, yet its name embodies — with sound and later meaning — all that we come to associate with the name “rose.”

Naming

So, when an organization seeks a name for itself or its product, to whom should it look to create a name? Where do we find modern-day Shakespeares who can craft language to meet the many needs of modern-day name?

Understanding brand, what builds brand and how the name must truly embody the brand is critical to naming success. At Go East, we believe branding provides differentiation, which promises business success. A name is the core of differentiation execution. Taking a too-cautious approach to naming risks developing a name that refuses to stick in the mind of your customer. Living too much in the past can create a name that doesn’t work for future growth. And creating a name that is so different that there is no context, no point of reference, or is just too weird risks alienating the people you want to engage.

Finding the perfect name requires a balance of art and science. We believe naming is a craft that combines strategy and poetry, semantics and sound. There are so many considerations needed to create a relevant name it is imperative that businesses partner with agencies that have a robust naming processes that take all aspects into consideration. Our process, based on the best industry practices, allows us to flex our linguistic skills within our brand-building context to meet our clients’ business needs. We provide clients with a fresh perspective that considers all the angles — trademarking, digital needs, visual and verbal impact. And we help our clients to look forward to their business vision and ensure that the name can withstand the test of time.

I wouldn’t go so far as to go head-to-head with Shakespeare, but I will name a rose a rose when it makes sense for the brand.

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Naming is a complex business, perhaps that’s why the blogosphere is chockablock with sound advice and clever anecdotes on how to come up with one. At Go East, we find the Do Nots are just as edifying — and sometimes more surprising — than the Dos.

Here are a few favorites.

Do NOT:
1. Go for bland

There are plenty of highly successful companies with straight-up functional names out there, but if you are just starting out — especially in a category with a lot of competition — the more memorable and engaging the name, the more differentiating. And the easier to find.

According to “Protecting Your Brand Online,” a Hitwise report, 86 percent of all searches are for names and brands. If your product or company name is too generic, your audience is going to have a tough time sorting through the mess it turns up in a Google search — and they may not find you.

The same goes for true yet tried words. Google “innovative” and you’ll see what I mean.

2. Invent meaningless names

On the flip side, it doesn’t always pay to go with a wholly invented name. Last year, Microsoft took a beating from pretty much everybody for naming its new search engine Bing, which everyone agreed meant nothing to anyone. Why is that bad? Because endowing a name with meaning can cost millions of dollars. To boot, ruthless bloggers pointed out, the name could be an acronym for “But it’s not Google!”

Microsoft marketing execs told the New York Times they hoped the name would evoke the sound associated with Aha! moments and that it would encourage people to “verb it up” ala Google … so Bing it!

3. Name by committee

As Phil Davis of Entrepreneur.com points out, you can only pick one name, so you risk alienating the very people you are trying to involve. And, in the process of trying to find something crowd pleasing, you are likely to land on a very bland sort of name that suffers from problem number one. Davis recommends only involving a small number of people who can put the company first and their egos second — we’d add collaborative people who are comfortable with change.

4. Worry too much about the URL

We’ve all heard someone say they chose their company name because “the domain name was available,” but are URLs as important today? Given the statistics above, it seems like consumers are less likely to try to type your company name and www. into a browser window, and more likely to look for it in a search engine.

In that case, it might be more important to choose a memorable name that is relevant to your brand and easy to spell — and to ensure that you have awesome search engine optimization.

5. Neglect to review meaning

Everyone knows about the Chevrolet Nova: allegedly the similarity of “Nova” to No Va, Spanish for “no go,” caused the car to sell poorly in Spanish-speaking countries, so the company was forced to rename it.

This is actually a myth; the car apparently sold well in Venezuela and Mexico. Yet it is still a good reminder that those pitfalls exist and that it is important to have someone review your name choice for foreign and other contextual language issues.

Like all things creative, naming can be a highly subjective endeavor, so what sounds bland or meaningless to one ear may ring evocative in another. And that’s why, of all these NO NOs, I will always come back to number three. With a strong team, you can set personal preferences aside, work through that subjectivity, and choose a name that is right for your organization, company or product.

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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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