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By Kathryn Gross-Edelman
The goal of any business is pure and simple: finding consumers,
driving them into your business, turning them into revenue,
and shortening the sales cycle. It’s all about a satisfied
consumer and all about a healthy bottom line. Rather than
waxing poetically about how uptown your business is and how
wonderful your advertising campaign; if nothing is generated,
you have failed.
How do you apply a results-driven approach
to marketing your business? One word; plain and simple. BRANDING.
Brand names
have been plentiful in the optical business in regards to
products. Each has migrated to the industry based on success
in other markets, and each branded collection aims to carry
the image,
style, and success of the product in the optical arena.
The
branding I’m referring to here is the branding
of your business.If marketing is what your business promises
as a customer experience, branding is committing to that
customer experience. You don’t measure [branding success]
by your name alone. You may have a very catchy, thoughtful,
recognized name. And yet, do consumers really know who and
what you are all about? Branding is the way to get results.
It’s your business
team’s job to determine which bold-face name, which
branding of your business, will emit the right siren call
to the consumer.
The first step to measure your success in
branding is through awareness, consideration, and preference,
specifically from
the target consumer audience you are going after. Don’t
measure the awareness of your business by numbers alone.
Customers needs drive the decision. Measure the solutions
you provide for your target audience. Let it be the awareness
and consideration
and preference of the solutions that you put together, and
not just branding the name.
Another measurement is the demand
you are creating. Focus on a target, understand the cost
of a consumer, and then
nurture the leads, and make sure the activities
and tactics that take those leads from awareness to closing are quantified. Determining
the “brand mix” means figuring out the type of consumer walking through
the door – brand conscious, trendy or conservative, value-minded, urban
dwellers or urbanites, young and adventurous or older and traditional. The consumers
will dictate how prominent the branding should be. You have to consistently and
consciously “eat, sleep, and breathe” what
the consumer expects from your brand of business each and every day.
The third
target is making sure you create an “environment of branding” for
all the staff at your business - internal and external. Becoming partners from
all aspects of the business will increase effectiveness and shorten the sales
cycle. This is called sales enablement. It covers all the tools, all the awareness,
and all the activities created to sell better and faster. Manage leads from
all sources.
Large international corporations utilize “briefing
centers” both
in places of business as well as on the internet. They market to put the
consumer in front of a computer or in front of a real live
person that will talk about
and show solutions. There’s constant demand for branding over the internet.
This “leads the horse [consumer] to water”. Getting the “horse” [consumer]
to drink is the next step. If the consumer takes action and visits your business,
then being in front of a “real live” person, hearing features
and benefits of products and services, seeing a demo, and understanding how
these products and services will
specifically affect them puts you and your business “On Top of the
World”.
Steps to Focus the Consumer on Your Brand
- Be vocal and state value. Provide a meaningful experience
and promise more than a better price. Show consumers how
much more in control they will be of
their
time, how this will benefit them and their families, and how this will
contribute to their well-being. These days, this is what matters most.
- Deliver
service to the nth degree. The shift to intangibles
doesn’t
mean the consumer is giving up nice things. We must recognize luxury
is taken for
granted with branding. Only intangibles can provide brand differentiation
and the opportunity for things other than price. Service is more
than prompt delivery,
pleasant staff and a liberal warranty policy. The first is to offer
service that provides education and advice. Consumers are looking
for smart tips
and best
lists of products and services. The second is to offer service
that is empowering to give consumers the ability to research
their purchases
and gain information
that allows them to make the best choice.
- Give time back. The most
important intangible sought by consumers is time.
People’s
lives are over-full. Even leisure time is regimented by a strict
calendar. Consumers want to recapture time and are willing to pay a premium
to
do so. Consumers are
avoiding anything that requires a time commitment or takes away
from highly valued priorities. Multitasking has become a staple in our lives
to recoup time. The
desire to recoup time leads to use of the internet, buying take-out
meals or hiring a service to help with chores. Brand marketing
should
be a
good use of
their time. News, tips, ideas, updates and more would save time
and offer consumers a better use of their valuable time.
- Build affinities
with technology. The chance to take full use of technology should
deepen how the consumer feels about your business. Interacting with
your brand
should give consumers more options and greater flexibility to
fit their needs and wants. Consumers want technology to empower
them to use a brand to
satisfy
their lifestyle ambitions. Technology should be focused on the
attitudes of what people want rather than the behaviors that show what
people do.
- Provide
novelty and fun. Consumers want to enjoy interesting
activities, products and experimentation. Do something
fresh, unusual and innovative.
Break out of
the box with something distinctive and original to your brand.
- Connect
with hiving. Home and family are the focus of
life. Hiving is the embrace of others in a safe setting
abuzz with activity
and engagement.
The interest
in home and family is not cocooning. Cocooning is a retreat from
others to a protected, self-indulgent environment. Hiving is consumers returning
to
home
to connect, not to retreat. The key element is revived interest
in connecting with others. Community building through
sponsorships and events
will boost consumers attention to your brand.
- Build the brand. Every contact
is a brand interaction. Brand impressions are based on
everything, not just advertising. A poor service experience,
one too
many mail pieces, or a telemarketing call at the wrong time all
shape
the overall image of your brand.
Transform the way you look at your business
brand-communications, marketing, and “briefing centers”.
Intelligent communication and marketing is a journey. You
have to show your consumers the path to it through a roadmap.
Populate that roadmap with products, services, and, most importantly,
solutions.
From sell-in to sell-through, branding recognition, consumer demographics,
relationships with suppliers, and sales margins all factor
in to being “On Top of the
World”.
About the author:
Kathryn Gross-Edelman resides in Sioux City, Iowa where she
is Director of Education for Pech Optical Corporation. She
travels the nation as an educator and business consultant.
She began her optical career in 1974. Her educational background
stems from the medical technology field. She is a nationally
accredited speaker for the American Optometric Association
Para Section, Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel
in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO), and the American Board of Opticianry
(ABO). In 2004, Kathryn was selected as one of the 50 Most
Influential Women in the optical industry. She is an accredited
lay speaker for the United Methodist Churches. She has volunteered
in the Burn Unit at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Sioux
City, Iowa. Kathryn has served five volunteer missions to
Mexico delivering eyecare and used eyewear to poverty stricken
areas.
As you may already know, Williams Group is in the
process of developing new practice management software called
Practice Director. Rest assured, we'll keep you informed
of the impending release
date (very soon) and all the pertinent details.
In an effort to make our software the best it can be, we
invite you to take a brief survey regarding your current
software needs and experiences. This completely anonymous survey
should take less than 10 minutes and your feedback is greatly
appreciated.
Practice Director will only be successful through the valuable
insights of the optometric community. By combining expert
analysis from industry leaders, the latest technological
advances and feeback from end-users like yourself, we feel
strongly that Practice Director will serve your software needs
today... and in the future.
Click here for the software survey.
Click here for
more information on Practice Director. |
