Puffery Will Derail Your Brand

Self-Promotional Content Turns Off an Audience

The content that we see and hear about a company and its products and services is often an unproven litany of self-testimonials and competitor comparisons.  Anyone can say "we're the leader in the field ..." or “we deliver the highest customer satisfaction”.  These image positioning statements are separate from actual customer experiences and will disable a branding strategy.

Conversely, character expression builds a strong brand identity that is earned through consistent small steps that produce authentic experiences and valid expectations.

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By John Bernardi

I Am Not My Target Market

How Well Do You Understand Your B2B Buyers?

Are Your Messages Aimed at You or your Target Market?

When my clients and I discuss ideas for marketing programs, campaigns and messaging, they often say “I don’t think I would go for that”, or “that doesn’t sound appealing to me”, or “if I were the buyer, this is what I’d want”.

Do you see a problem here?  Is it possible that buyers might want what doesn’t appeal to you or that they don’t love what you love?  Are your decisions based on your personal perceptions rather than the reality of your target audience?  If so, you won’t achieve your goals relative to the product/service that you've designed, the campaign you've launched, the channels you’ve selected, or the price points you've set.

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By John Bernardi

The Power of Indirect Marketing

The Power of Indirect Marketing

Indirect marketing attracts buyers who are apt to enter your sales funnel as sales-ready leads with rapid velocity towards closure and costing much less than direct marketing.

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Regards,
John Bernardi

Marketing Practitioner Competency

Has Your Company Achieved Marketing Practitioner Competency?

Marketing practitioners don't consider "marketing" to be a department.  Instead, it is a concept and belief that is wholly embraced and executed throughout the organization.

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By John Bernardi

Apprentice Level Marketing Competency

Has Your Company Reached the Marketing Apprentice Level?

If you subscribe to the basic keys to success that apply to any marketing competency level and your company has achieved marketing novice competency, you are ready to design a marketing strategy that will support your long-term goals through tactics and objectives that evolve during the next 3 to 5 year time horizon.

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By John Bernardi

What Competency Level Is Required For Your Company To Implement Its Marketing Strategy?

Is Your Company A Marketing Novice?

The primary KPI for a marketing novice company is related to the number of leads generated by each marketing program, campaign and resource in which the company invests.

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By John Bernardi

All Companies Offer Services

People Purchase Services Differently From Tangible Products

Inseparability of the service provider from the service itself challenges people to make objective buying decisions since experience can only be judged during and after service delivery.  Services buyers are influenced by past experiences [their own and others whose opinion they trust]. They pay attention when raving fans tell stories that help them to visualize how the benefits would apply to them. Indirect lead sources are key.

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Marketing Funnel Acumen Is Essential For High Marketing ROI

Apply Art and Science In Order to Generate Highly Qualified Leads For Your Sales Force

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By John Bernardi

You Need a Unique Value Proposition

A unique value proposition will maximize your brand's value without price concessions. Create a brand UVP for each important buyer persona you serve. Strong brand UVPs can be the core of your content marketing strategy.

"I Am Not My Target Market"

You Probably Don't Match Your Ideal Customer Profile

It's tempting to make intuitive marketing decisions based on your own preferences.  But, you're likely to either miss out on a great opportunity or follow a path to unsatisfactory results.  All it takes is a few false starts and your aspirations for moving your company to the next level will fade into the sunset.

What happens is that - the product or service that you've designed, or the campaign you've developed, or the channels and locations you've selected, or the price points you've chosen - are based on your perception rather than being aligned with the facts associated with those to whom you are marketing and selling.

Research, surveys, interviews and testing will enable you to define and understand each finely tuned B2B segment or B2C persona.  First, understand their pain points, objections, information sources, and what's important to them.  Then, you can innovate ways to solve problems, enhance experiences, place content where their they will discover it, and create raving fans.

Armed with a value proposition tailored to each segment or persona, you will be ready to generate, qualify, nurture and convert leads to sales ready status.

You need someone who encourages you to consider this principle every time you make a marketing decision.

By John Bernardi

Hidden Gems In Your Content Marketing Calendar

Fortify Your Marketing Calendar To Play Two Valuable Roles

• New Content Keeps Existing Followers Interested
• Drip Market Older Content To New Followers

Do you typically plan the release of new content without considering new followers who join your community after this content is published?  Schedule your marketing calendar to get new followers caught up in a reasonable amount of time.  "Drip market" older relevant content in bite size chunks.

Here's an example marketing calendar that schedules a weekly educational tip and blog post; a monthly press release and success story; and a quarterly newsletter:

Weekly Educational Tip

• Every Tuesday
• Repeat 4 weeks later to new followers

Weekly Blog Post

• Every Thursday
• Blogs reference past posts, so no need to republish them

Monthly Press Release

• First Wednesday of the month
• Repeat 4 weeks later to new followers

Monthly Success Story

• First Friday of the month
• Repeat 4 weeks later to new followers

Quarterly Newsletter

• First Monday of the quarter to existing followers
• First Monday of each month to new followers

Your website and social media outlets should have archive links to all historical content for followers who want to proactively search your libraries.
 
Refresh your content annually and try delivering it via different channels such as video.

When you run lead generation campaigns, avoid information overload on a given day by using the Monday, Wednesday and Friday open slots in your marketing calendar for these communications.

By John Bernardi

Content Marketing Made Illustrious Through Infographics

Infographics Catch People's Attention

So That They Will Want To Read Your Content

And Say That They're Glad They Did

Pinterest provides me with a terrific repository for the infographics I've developed for my content marketing arsenal. All you need is a compelling introductory sentence and then let the infographic do its work on your blog, website, social networks and email marketing.

You can recycle the infographic with different introductions that focus on various ideas presented in the infographic.

Make sure to include a link to your Pinterest library on your website.

Here is the library of pins that I've been developing.

Maybe you can benefit from this concept as well.

John Bernardi