Thursday, December 17, 2009

How to market your brand - 9 marketing tips and ideas

Marketing, branding, raising brand awareness - its not easy but it is essential to any new brand in any business, t-shirts or otherwise. I apologise for not posting anything in a while (I've been extra ordinarily busy with LadyUmbrella t-shirts and haven't been able to blog here). A few weeks ago John from J. Benjamin Clothing asked me about marketing and branding and the likes so here are my 9 marketing/branding tips - hope they are of some use.

1) Believe In Your Brand
Not so much as a tip I guess but if you don't believe in it then no one else will. As a result of this all subsequent marketing or branding efforts won't be given 100% commitment as you don't believe in them - or, that's how I roll anyway..100% belief will yield 100% conviction, determination and application - all vital traits for brand marketing. It will take time and effort to build your brand, be ready to sweat.

2)Consistency
In everything you do try have a common trend or a link between designs. In slogans, colour choice, logos and images try make it easy for people to recognize them as coming from one source, one brand. Further to using the above consistently use them constantly...anything that you "put out there" ensure that it has something that links it back to you, be it web address, logo, slogan, image, whatever - make sure that if people see it they recognize it and importantly associate it with your brand.

3) Suspense and Intrigue
Build up a bit of mystique or intrigue about your brand. Don't just show your cards from day one but gradually give nuggets of enticing info that arouses curiosity in whoever may view it. We, humans, are curious creatures and are generally drawn to things that we don't know about, that intrigue us, that leave us wondering a bit. For example, Smirnoff Vodka (oh, how we love it) ran a campaign for Smirnoff Mule which just featured a plush looking velvet stage curtain on billboards. WiMax also ran a suspense rousing campaign that honed it on their target market perfectly.

4) Catchy and Memorable
You want to make it easy for the viewer/reader to remember your brand. Use alliteration when writing slogans etc as this rattles around in our inner ear for a bit. Think of all successful brand names/slogans, they rattle around a bit. Prime example would be Coca Cola (um, with some Smirnoff = win). Another way to make things memorable is to make them shocking, get a response from whoever views it, motivate them into looking twice, taking a gasp or ideally, compel them to view your t-shirt designs. Also, the brain has 3 main sections which and a combination of food, sex and danger seem to spark a response from each region. I strongly suggest reading this blog which talks about the 3 regions of the brain and how to influence them - 11 Ways to Influence People Online and Make them Take Action.

5) Stickability
You want your brand to stick around don't you? to be able to persist? Try think big in every aspect of your branding or marketing and invest time in creating things that won't be instantly dated due to surroundings or other. Think of other avenues you can venture down in a bid to expand your brand - hats, scarves, boxer shorts?

6) Be Remarkable
As Seth Godin says be the purple cow, be a bit different, be something remarkable. Its not to dissimilar to being catchy but instead of going for the majority within a society be remarkable to a few who truly relate to your brand, get your brand and you could quite possibly be good buddies with. These people will help you find niches or possibly even create niches for you by getting all of their friends to like your brand. Brand zealots are a rare commodity and should be appreciated and thanked. Ultimately, you want to the purple cow to a few - watch this video.



7) Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM)
Word of mouth marketing is getting people talking about you. Think of what you pass on to your friends? "oh, there is a deal here" or "I got this for free from..." or "you should see this brand, so cool" and 9 times out of 10 you'll act on it, or at least consider it more because it was told to you by a friend. Some stat I heard stated that there is an 89% conversion rate on word of mouth market versus 12% on standard marketing. So, use competitions and freebies to stimulate some chit chat amongst friends. Another key element of WOMM is managing customer expectations. Customers inherently have an expectation of what they are going to get based on price, what you've said and what they've heard from friends. If you meet their expectations you get a pass grade and nothing really happy. If you fall below what they expect then you will have more than likely lost a customer. If however you exceed their expectations they will talk about you, they'll be happy with the product they have received from you and will be compelled to talk about you. How do you try to exceed your customers expectations?

8) Persistence
Marketing and forming your brands identity and persona will take time. There is no overnight solution (not that I have discovered anyway although I'd love to find one) for building your brands reputation so be persistent. Never miss an opportunity to market your brand but don't overkill it. It goes back to my very first point really, you have to keep applying yourself and promoting and pushing your brand - if you don't do it no one else will..

9) Responsive
Ideally what you want is to get the WOMM machine revved up and in high gear. You then have to be responsive to what gets said. How can you use what is said to further your marketing campaign or branding efforts? What opportunities are to be had by getting in touch with people who mention your brand? What if someone says a negative thing about your brand? Be responsive and thank those who like your brand and give them something to talk about. When receiving negative comments deal with them quickly and in a nice manner - turn the negative into a positive.

And so, there it is, 9 marketing tips and ideas. I'm not a guru by any stretch of the imagination but the above are just some of the things I am aware of and try practice myself. Your thoughts on the above, what your marketing efforts consist of, or any tips/ideas/suggestions are warmly welcomed - knowledge is no burden.

Bookmark and Share

31 comments:

  1. Solid stuff Rob many things that I have read and a few things that I haven't. Have you read the book buzzmarketing. That has some really cool ideas on getting your brand out there. I like seth godin and the word of mouth marketing book.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Soge, no haven't read that book - I'll add it to the reading list now though..reading list is getting longer...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for writing that Rob. Like Soge, I have seen some of that stuff before but I guess the most important part it recognizing and finding who you are so you are able to talk about yourself. An identity seems to be very important so you know who your potential customers will be or are. Since we are mentioning books, I thought I'd recommend Crush It! by Gary Vanerchuk. One of the best social media books I have come across. Also, thanks for the mention in the post.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great post, will definitely follow some of your sound advice for our marketing. Wish you guys all the best.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves, but we prefer to keep them safe in the home inside our chest. Cover
    your warm fuzzy secret heart with geeky things: t-shirts,costumes, oh my! We have all the
    clothes and accessories a geek man, kid, or baby could ever need.


    design a t shirt
    print on shirts
    digital t shirt printing
    custom tee shirts
    create t shirts

    ReplyDelete
  6. hi........ nice post.!! Thank you for giving us important 9 marketing tips of branding strategies

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for this post! This will be very helpful to those people who are just starting in their branding. You just listed nine branding tips but I know that it can garner a large income for a business that can mould themselves into successful brands. I hope you can continue to post more about marketing and branding. :D

    -Vernia Soriano-

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for the wonderful post. These are very nice points to promote brand. I will definitely follow these points. Thanks for sharing it. Please do post more points like these.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I hope this marketing tips are really useful things to every marketing people.
    Custom T-shirts India

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for the post, it's really helpful. And I guess the most effective strategu you can have is the combination of traditional word-of-mouth campaign and suspense-and-intrigue approach. This can tickle the curiosity of your target market. But of course, with the existence of your product. It should be tangible; something that they can see and experience so that they won't think that it's only an urban legend.

    Clint @Franchisematch.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. This blog page is quite interesting and looking great , where one can grab the info on How to market your brand - 9 marketing tips and ideas to t shirts

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi, I'm so happy with your blog site, it contains all the matter which i was searching for. It looks like you spend a large amount of time and effort in writing the blog. I am appreciating your effort. I have business of designer t shirts for men. all this points really useful for my business. Thanks for sharing such a nice blog.

    ReplyDelete
  13. My friend is trying to figure out the best way to market her company. I love your idea on how to successfully market your business. It seems like successful marketing campaigns are are catchy and memorable. Hopefully, my friend can find a creative way to market her business. http://www.homestretchmktg.com/marketo-consultant/

    ReplyDelete
  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Very useful! We had a post similar to this one for promoting your t-shirt brand online. But your advice is pretty spot on.

    http://www.printsome.com/blog/2014/t-shirt-design-4-tips-promoting-t-shirt-brand-online/

    ReplyDelete
  16. thanks so much to bring this kind of tips and brand to share with market brands.

    Brand Consultant Singapore | Brand Marketing Consultant in Singapore

    ReplyDelete
  17. The blog is good enough I again n again read this.Adam Short Niche Classroom

    ReplyDelete
  18. We are one of the best creative and innovative agencies whose main goal is to provide services in Singapore to our precious customers.


    Branding Consultant
    Brand Consultant In Singapore

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for sharing huge collection of printed t shirt

    ReplyDelete
  20. I would like to thank you for the efforts you've put in writing this website. I really hope to view the same high-grade content by
    you later on as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has motivated me to get my very own blog now.nice collection...
    buy online t shirts

    ReplyDelete
  21. Very great blog and awesome designs of t shirt"t shirts online"

    ReplyDelete
  22. It seems to be much older posts i think. So i am in need of more marketing tips and ideas in which to be followed for getting improved business. SO please guide me.

    SEO Company in Chennai

    ReplyDelete
  23. Brand marketing is not an easy task, however, the post helps to simplify the task.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Absolutely right! Great tips for building a successful business. I personally use these tip for my business and ask to my followers.

    By the way, I have included your post on my website in recommendation... Great tips, ya! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  25. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I enjoyed reading your article. Please make more interesting topics like this on.
    I'll come back for more :)

    From Japs a researcher from https://alwaysopencommerce.com/

    ReplyDelete
  27. How to market your brand ... very informative post, thankyou.

    Bulk SMS

    ReplyDelete
  28. explore the massive collection of Tshirt online for men, women in India Mellmon offers online shopping for polo t-shirts, cotton t-shirts, buytshirtsround neck T-shirts & graphic t-shirts at very best prices.With our elite range, you can buy printed t-shirts online of your choice as per your events or occasion

    ReplyDelete