By Bonnie Chomica
Are You On The Right Path?
Often times you get so excited about launching new things in your business, you don’t always see that you could be on the wrong path. Here’s how I steered a client in the right direction, avoiding a disaster.
Working with a great client in Alberta, I find myself pulled back into the technology field, where I spent so much of my marketing career. It feels comfortable, and familiar, but at the same time, I’ve significantly grown as a professional, so was thrilled to take on this project.
When I first spoke with the client, they contacted me about ‘doing their social media’ for a new product. As with any client, I had to dig deeper, and find out why they felt they needed social media, and how they saw it fitting into their overall plan. As it turned out, we had to take a step back, and review the best approach on launching the product, and how to best market it.
The company sells music-on-hold systems to large enterprises, like airports, hospitals, and hospitality providers. They sell around the world, and have been providing high-end products for almost 20 years. The product they contacted me about is a consumer product, a home technology device that enables you to answer your mobile phone calls on your landline phones.
Brand Plan
Immediately recognizing where they may have a challenge attracting their target audience, I suggested that they needed a separate brand for the consumer product – name, logo, website, specific target audience, and then the social media. You see, if they just added it to their corporate site, there would have been a big disconnect.
Think about it. If you were looking for a device to pair your mobile and home phones, and you came to a website promoting corporate phone systems, wouldn’t you think you were in the wrong place? As consumers, we are very quick to recognize if something doesn’t look quite right, and we click away.
Marketing Lesson
If you add another product to your offerings, consider if it fits with your current portfolio, or does it need its own. For this client, we could have taken the route of splitting their website into two areas, one corporate, and the other consumer, but they didn’t want to do that. They wanted to protect their established brand and product portfolio. So, I developed a plan to create the consumer brand for their home product.
I’ve hired a graphic designer to work on the branding. The client is going to build the website, they’ve got the tech geeks on board. And, I will write the website content to position the product properly, and then define and implement a social media strategy. This approach will offer a much higher success rate.
Sometimes you are so close to your business, and projects, you can’t be objective. You might end up on a path that costs you substantial time and money, and you are no further ahead. There is value in having someone like me review your intentions and activities. Book a 30-minute Marketing Assessment – absolutely free – and we’ll discuss what you’re doing today, where your gaps may be, and what you should probably focus on.
Sign up now to arrange your complimentary 30-minute Marketing Assessment.
Cheers,
Bonnie
