“Branding is a by-product of good direct response marketing,” said Dan Kennedy, the renown strategic business and marketing advisor/consultant. I say: “Branding is what marketers tell you they are doing when they can’t get you business.”
Both statements are true—and yet…
I used to believe for a small company to be concerned with branding was ridiculous. We aren’t Wal-Mart, Pepsi, Nike, etc. We don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions to spend on marketing. We need results. We need direct-response marketing. We need to put a dollar in and get $5 out, right?
Another popular belief is in so-called guerilla marketing. That requires that you need to be everywhere. Are you serious? How much money do you think we have? I can’t afford to advertise on billboards, bus stops, TV, radio, the internet, etc. I’m just a little guy here.
What’s needed is a new perspective. I began to think about the ways I advertise, and I realized we are on the web. We are actively on social media. We present at home shows. We are in networking groups. Our trucks are on the road. We are sending emails to previous clients. So I guess that does make me a guerilla marketer?
OK, but what about this branding business? It’s nuts to think I can spend $50,000 to $100,000 a year and really create an effective brand like Coca Cola and Budweiser.
Wait a minute—maybe I don’t need to be “world-class” famous. Maybe I don’t need to dominate my state. The metro Phoenix area has more than 5 million people covering over 500 square miles. What if I become “5 miles famous?”
What if I were to dominate about 15 square miles around my showroom? Can I take a small budget and get the attention of 50,000 people? How? How do you get the attention of everyone within a 15-mile radius around your showroom?
The simple answer is you do it with good branding. What does that look like for a small company? It’s not just having a good logo; you need something more. Most of my clients use avatars. One couple I know are using their dog. We have Ruby Recommends and Anakin, who is a Jedi – May the Floors be with you. A couple clients are using themselves as the avatar. One guy uses a ball, and he has animated that ball into a character.
Studies have shown that people need to see you 7 to 10 times before doing business with you.
With good branding they see your ads more often. If I saw you on social media, and then I saw your truck driving down the road, and signs on the road, T-shirts with the same image and then I go to your website. (There it is again. That avatar I’ve seen six, seven, eight times. Make it easy for people to make the connection.)
At the end of the day, you need to “choose your brand.” I recommend advertising and promoting a brand. As a result, your marketing will be more effective. “Get beautiful new RevWood. It gives you the look and feel of real wood without the real wood price.” I can say the same for COREtec, Lions Floor or many other flooring brands, too.
Your ads will be more effective than if you were to say, “Get luxury vinyl flooring here.” Ever wonder why someone is willing to pay $2,500 for a Louis Vuitton purse, when a $30 Wal-Mart purse does exactly the same thing?
Jerry Levinson is the former owner of Carpets of Arizona. He now focuses full time on training and education. He runs Jerry’s Flooring Business Master Class and is the author of “Profit Now For Flooring Dealer.”
