Seems like marketers are all a-twitter about social media these days. Is social media a threat to companies, a place where customers and employees can voice their dissatisfaction of poor quality, poor customer service, and corporate arrogance? Or is it an opportunity for companies to spread the news about new products, new services, and a forum to respond to consumers perceptions of how well they are being serviced by these companies?

It is probably all of the above. Take customer feedback. Large corporations used to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on research to discover what consumers thought of as a product or service. The explosion of Consumer Generated Media (CGM) has allowed consumers a constant dialog on how well they are being served by companies. This has prompted companies like Domino Pizza, who was damaged by the release of disgusting video on You Tube by a couple of employees, to take notice of the importance of social media and proactively to take action to satisfy consumer demands. See social-media-baptism-for-dominos-pizza/
Companies like Southwest Airlines, Volvo, and Intuit have established their own Twitter and Facebook accounts to not only monitor the daily buzz from their consumers, but to also use this media as a part of a larger marketing campaign. Volvo is promoting its new XC60 through snail mail, email, web site, and YouTube, but also directing visitors to the Volvo Twitter page where consumers can comment and follow the activities of Volvo.

While large B2C companies will no doubt take the lead on using social media to monitor consumer response, amass fans to its brand, and use as an extension of traditional marketing efforts, smaller companies, and B2B companies will, I believe, find relevance in this social media space and use it to maintain customer loyalty and enhance their corporate brands.

Before you Tweet, do a little research:
1.    Search your own company on Google Search to see if there are any unsolicited comments about your company.
2.    Search www.twitter.com for your products, your services, your competition, and your market keywords.
3.    Do the same on www.facebook.com and www.linkedin.com
4.    Register on some of these social media networks. Post information that you would only want the public to see and keep it professional.
5.    User names on social networks are very much like domain names, so grab your company name and main keywords now, before it is too late.

Need further help? contact us at info@grantmarketing.com

We will be facilitating our Brand Strategy and Online Marketing Workshop on Thursday, May 28th and June 25th. With the increased usage of online media, especially consumer generated media, your company’s brand lies naked for all to see, to comment, to recommend, or not recommend. It is essential to create a brand strategy and online marketing strategy to survive in today’s economy. If you are located in the greater Boston area, join us at our two scheduled workshops. Check it out at www.GrantMarketing.com/workshop

When I sold advertising space for the Thomas Register, the world’s leading industrial directory, I relied on marketing studies that demonstrated B2B products were bought, not sold. 92% of purchases were initiated by the buyer, not the seller.

According to Philip Kotler in his book, B2B Brand Management, “The Internet furthermore brings the full array of choices to every purchaser or decision maker anywhere with just one mouse click. Without trusted brands as touchstones, buyers would be overwhelmed by an overload of information no matter what they are looking for.” What better way to surface above the searches for products on the web than to develop a recognizable brand for your company and its products? When you look for a book online, do you search for books or do you go to Amazon.com? When you look for a computer online do you search for PC’s or do you go to Dell, or IBM?

For more information on the importance of branding, please download our white paper, “The Argument for Branding.” »

The newspapers are awash with news on a slowing economy. Maybe once the financial institutions write off their sub-prime mortgage losses, the economy can get back on its feet. In 2003 Interbrand published a white paper on how strong brand companies not only survived better than their competitors in a recession, but they were the first to come out of the recession in good shape.

Click here to read Interbrand’s white paper “Branding in a Recession” »

We introduce this online exchange to promote discussion and to provide resources on brand and branding. We are of the opinion, as proposed by Jim Hughes and the Brand Establishment, that brand development is a corporate initiative and not a marketing initiative. We see brand development as a process of uncovering a company or organization’s evidence of distinction and that branding is the tactical application of delivering the brand message.

From my perspective of 30 years in B2B marketing, there appears to be a gradual emergence of marketers having a clearer understanding of the importance of brand in their marketing efforts, and I am seeing an increasing amount of books, white papers, and advertising/marketing industry media coverage on the subject.

We intend for 2020 FocusOnBrand.com to act as a portal where information on brand and branding will be available, and further discussions can take place. Look for our postings on brand topics shortly. We also welcome contributions from fellow marketers.