Marketing Works, Have you Tried it?

Ok, folks. Let's think for a second. Are you REALLY marketing your brand or are you just telling a designer to put words on a paper or your website, with some pretty pictures? Or even worse (sorry, but I feel strongly about this) Your spending hours on constant contact and putting words on little yellow, pink, blue and white screens that are so long and boring, I never want to read them. (newsflash, cheap doesnt equal that people will read it. Sorry again, constant contact is so boring and tacky. I admit I used it within the first 7 months of the start of my business, but once I realized the power of aligning with a company to instill mine and my clients' marketing messages right so people will read them and become interested, I walked away from constant contact like a cheap dress at Wallmart.)

OK, back to the story and the story is MARKETING WORKS, but make sure you know how to market, or hire someone to do it for you because it works and here's a great example.

Fancy Feast cat food. This gourmet cat food is ground and smooth, like pate offering taste and texture to please a cats palette of discriminating taste. Choose from 11 different flavors for complete 100% balanced nutrition everyday.

Did you know that cat's have discriminating palettes? When was the last time your cat starved? (I know mine doesn't and she gets fed pretty darn well and we actually love her so much here at the office) But seriously folks. It's pretty obvious who this cat food is for. It's expensive and it sells. One flavor is even "grilled"! Do the cats know there is gravy in the chicken or do they care about the pate-like texture?

If people, like my mom, can spend hours in the cat food aisle thinking about what flavors to buy their little princess, Fancy Feast has done something right. They distinquished themselves, positioned themselves and sell to the most tasteful adults who want the best for their felines.

What does your marketing say? Do you have a position?

(this blog is dedicated to Toonces)

Great Minds Think Alike

In Seth Godin's Book, "Small is the new Big" I read a blog about how Larry Light, McDonald Corp's chief marketing officer said, "Mass marketing no longer works and that no single ad tells the whole story." This was quoted at adage.com. He mentioned a strategy called "brand journalism" He went on to say that effective marketing should use many stories rather than employing one message to read everyone.

He also said, "Any single ad, commercial, or promotion is not a summary of our strategy. It's not representative of the brand message. We dont need one big execution of a big idea. We need one big idea that can be used in a multi-dimensional, milti-layered and multi-faceted way."

Hellooo??? Is anyone out there noticing that Elizabeth Barry & Associates has done this on their own? We've invented the ADVERSTORIAL in gendance and the minds of the most elite in the business are writing about this. This is amazing. If you haven't inquired yet about advertising in gendance, you better get on the band wagon. This strategy is built to become the NEXT BEST THING for advertisers and it already is working. I'm actually impressed with myself!

(pssst. the best opportunity isn't even the concept of the story, we actually do ALL The work for you and the design. Gosh, it's so good. I have to stop blogging right now and calm myself down, I'm so excited about it!)

Why Good Design Really Matters

I recently read a blog by my Marketing hero, Seth Godin. He talked about the fact that Hershey Park spends nothing on their signage on their rides at the park. They’re WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS, WITH TIGHT LINE SPACING AND AN UNATTRACTIVE, HARD-TO-READ FONT. The cost of making the signs is precisely zero, he commented. It should be common sense that you can make a profit if you make your product look better. PERFECT EXAMPLE, folks. Keep reading…

He even mentioned that on one of the signs, there are more than 100 different type faces used. It’s true! (if you don’t know, it’s bad if you use more than three different type faces in one sign, flyer, etc. Look at your ads. How many typefaces do they have on them at once?)

If more people read the signs at Hershey, (meaning that if they were more attractive and designed well for a purpose) there would be less injuries, lines would move faster and Hershey would make more money. (hence, they’ll never be a Disney).

He said, “This decentralized, disrespectful method of communication quickly turns into no communication. (ah-ha! Get it. Are you investing in your ad design and look as much as you should be for the investment of placing the ads???)

His book, The Purple Cow, talks about being remarkable. When you’re remarkable, it’s not about doing a good job, it’s about being amazing, outstanding, surprising, elegant and noteworthy. BUT, THERE’S NO STYLE at Hershey. They’re spending lots of money on million dollar rides, but barely ending up being ‘very good’. Hershey does NOT feel like Disney; you won’t remember it after you leave and you won’t talk about it.

Design isn’t expensive, it’s an investment for your remarkable experience. People remember experiences, they remember things that they like to look at. Today, the marketing clutter is non-stop. If you don’t stand out, you won’t be remembered and you probably will be passed by.

If you look at the way we designed gendance, or take a look at any of the websites or marketing pieces that we’ve invested in with our clients, you’ll notice the care, the time, the precise ideas and concepts that we’ve implemented to put a quality product out there that people will remember, will be proud of, will talk about and will share.

If you feel like your brand is ready for this move, call us. Every year, more than 200,000 brides have their weddings at Disney. (how many people do you think got married at Hershey?) Now, think about this for your brand. Go ahead. Look at it. If you advertise in print. Look at your ad, then scroll through about 10 pages. Did you remember it? If so, that’s great. If you didn’t, do you think your customers will?

Come, be a Disney with us. It IS the MAGIC kingdom. Let’s create magic for your brand. This is an exemplary opportunity to truly think about how to get ahead-and why good design REALLY MATTERS in the long run.