Company emails and websites

In my line of work with Small and Medium sized businesses, I'm constantly shocked at how little importance is placed in branding. That said, I think one of the basic requirements that all companies should have no matter how big or small is a corporate email and website.

Can you imagine meeting someone for the first time and having look through their contact details only to discover that they do not have a website and the other cardinal sin, a generic email address such as will@gmail.com or alanc@yahoo.com

Now, the first thing that comes to mind my mind when I see this is:

Is this person's business as genuine?

Is he/she going to wind up someday or is he/she here for the long term?

Having a website and proper email will help to establish in your customers mind that you are here for the long term. Bear in mind, this is to provide a psychological relief and to instill a sense of confidence in your client that you are serious in your business.

Thus, what are you waiting for? Make sure you have a website running and most of all a proper domain email. Branding wise, it will go a long way.

The Genuine Sushi restaurant (Part 2)

The Genuine Conveyor Belt Sushi Restaurant is back! This time I managed to catch a glimpse of their bunting. Since my last blog post about Sushi Zanmai in April, they are still using the phrase "The Genuine Conveyor Belt Sushi Restaurant".

Curious as I was, I needed to take a look at the writing at the bottom.... here's what it says:


Backed by more than 20 years of experience... Hey! That's interesting.... Imagine seeing this tag line... "From Japan to Malaysia: bringing you 20 years of great sushi serving experience!" Ok... Its a little rough around the edges but its a stronger marketing position than the "genuine conveyor belt sushi restaurant". However, when I checked their website, there was no mention of where they got their 20 years of experience... marketing 101... have a marketing position which you can back up!!! If they have 20 years of experience, they should put it up on their website. This creates consumer confidence in your brand.

Secondly, whenever you have a bunting, always keep your copy to a minimum... Their current bunting copy may be a little too long. Most of the time, consumers won't stand there to read your copy.

So, there's 2 things to take away from here...

1) Do you best to keep your copy to a minimum in any point of sale material
2) Develop a marketing positioning which makes sense.

till next time... take care.

business cards (part 2)

Dear Friends, lets take a look at this week's picture....


Ok, I've blurred the contact details out but in this picture, there's a card somewhere... a ghost card.... ok, that was lame but sorry, couldn't help myself.

Well, what I wanted to highlight was; sometimes, being a little too creative can be bad... I understand that the owner of this transparent plastic card wanted to stand out when they passed their cards out and I must say it is impressive. However, when you put in on your table or in your card holder box, there is a possibility that the card could disappear especially if it is placed between a white based card.

So, the point of this whole entry? sometimes is pays to put a little more practicality into your design and sacrificing a little creativity then to have that creativity work against you such as in this case.

Packaging and its role

Dear Friends,

Apologies about the late blog update but I was away on a conference. I'm part of a Business Network group called BNI (Business Network International) They are all about helping and teaching business individuals to generate business by referal. You can find them at www.bni.com

They recently had their KL 2008 conference which was a 2 day networking meeting of 500 over business owners from all over the world. I must say I had a ball of a time meeting new people. But enough about that, lets get on with this week's entry.

Perhaps this is an extension to what the last blog entry is about but I believe that packaging design has 2 roles to fulfill.

Its first being to ensure the product gets noticed and jumps out at consumers on the supermarket shelf. With over 1 million consumer brands available today at your average supermarket, a packaging which fails to excite or grab anyone's attention is doomed to failure regardless of the quality of the product.

Next, a packaging must also deliver value, meaning it must be seen to be worth the price which has to be paid for the product. This is what sets the distinction between a perceived substandard product and a high quality product. Bear in mind both products may be of similar quality however, the deciding factor of which product to buy almost surely lies with how the packaging looks.

I strongly believe that if any packaging you design delivers in these 2 areas, you product will stand out in a crowd and help ultimately contribute to the brand you're trying to build.

Packaging & Labeling, a silent salesman?

As with advertising, promotion & placement, the packaging & labeling of products are crucial steps to marketing of products that can & will become branded items. Yet ever so often, little attention is paid to this important aspect of marketing the product.

With some product packaging or labels, it appears that the product owner has no intention whatsoever to build brands worthy of its quality and promise the product deserves. If one were to asses deserving products in Malaysia, in particular, can we say that none has reached branded status as in comparison to Reebok, Nike, etc.

We, in Malaysia, had a product that has long existence, perhaps some 90 years plus or more. With available facilities, it has not touched base with the consumer movement and changes in consumer preferences to package & label its product, worthy of the trust & satisfaction the company has in the country.

Hence, it is crucially important that attention be given to packaging & labeling to allow strategic development of the product and turn it into a “branded” product. As always, the Gurus often reiterates that the packaging & labeling of a product is liken to a “silent SALESMAN”, it does not speak; but it says a lot.

Regards,

SL Liew

About the author: The post above is from one of my contributors Mr. Liew Siew Loong. Mr. Liew has been in the marketing field for the last 40 years dealing in FMCG products to food products and even high fashion. To find out more about of his profile, log on to http://www.viscreative.com/

business cards...

I was actually at a networking drinks session yesterday. As is known, the point of these little gatherings is of course to meet new people and catch up as it may. What is always curios to me when I attend these sessions is how some individuals can show up without any business cards.

Your business card, by any standard acts as sort of your identification card or drivers license. The point I'm getting at here is that you wouldn't hesitate to leave your home without any of these documents, so why would you not have your business cards with you at all times?

Not having a business card at a networking function translates to 2 things, one being an opportunity lost to let people know about your business. You never know when & where you might meet your next million dollar deal. Secondly, a lack of a business card reflects a lot about the person or company you represent. Not having a card sends a message to the person you're meeting, I'm not interested in any opportunity to do business with you nor am I excited to meet or get to know you.

So, perhaps it would be a good idea not to be caught without any business cards on you. You never know, your next million dollar deal could be the next person you pass your card to.

In search of customer service

Over the last weekend, I found myself at my authorized Perodua car service center due for my regular service. As it may, the service bill came up to RM 220 (roughly USD 70). As my car was in desperate need of a cleaning, my fiance urged me to ask them if they had a car wash service as well. As it turns out; they did, for a cost of RM 10 (USD 3).

Now, let me ask you this, would it be un-reasonable for them after spending RM 220 at their service center to throw in a free car wash? Now, the car wash if given away free would only work up to be a 5% discount off my bill.

The point is this, do you remember when we were kids and used to choose our cereal brands based on what free toys / gifts came with it? If cereal makers can think of such ideas to entice customers (i.e. kids) to tell their parents to choose a specific brand of cereal, why not car service centers?

The key objective here I believe is to instill customer loyalty. The reason is if I do not send my car to the authorized service center I can also send it to a private car service center whom I trust and there are plenty of those kinds of service centers.

As businesses today become more and more competitive, keeping customers loyal should be our primary objective no matter the type of business. As they always say, its easier to retain a customer than it is to find a new one. So giving out free car washes or maybe incentive discounts to keep customers coming back to you is a sure way to let customers know that you value their business.

By and large the same problem exists in many businesses throughout Malaysia. In this country, businesses still operate on the concept that success is measured by the number new customers, but the reality of the issue is that we should be spending that same amount of effort (i.e. time & marketing funds) in not getting newer clients but to maintain existing ones and hopefully get referrals to new clients. Wouldn't that be a better way to use your marketing budget? Perhaps something for Perodua and many of us to think about?