HOW TO BUILD A BETTER BRAND

By Milo Burke
What are your marketing goals?
To generate more leads? Convert more leads
to clients? Develop new markets? Increase average
value per booking? Remarket new products to
your existing clients in order to increase your LCV
(lifetime customer value)? According to Paul Keetch and Alex Read, authors
of Make My Marketing Work, by creating a
basic understanding of your marketing vision, you
enable the focus and alignment you’ll need to take
your DJ business to the next level.
To maximize your marketing efforts, it must have
focus. In order to obtain focus, you must know where
you’re going. Your vision creates the potential for it
becoming real. As Vincent van Gogh said, “I dream my
painting and paint my dream.” Can you do the same
thing by creating a marketing vision and then acting
upon that vision to make it a reality? Sure you can, byfirst visualizing it, and then make it a reality.
But let’s get into specifics. Your marketing vision
must reflect the overall vision of your company
or it won’t resonate with you, your staff, or your clients. So if your company vision is to reach 200
new prospects this year, for example, but your marketing
vision is to remarket only to existing clients,
then your two visions are out of alignment.
The authors say the best way to avoid any misalignment
and create your marketing vision is to
put it on paper. Brainstorm the elements of what
your marketing vision might be—and the elements
should be specific, measurable, actionable, realistic,
and time phased.
Your Brand
There’s no doubt that an integral part of your
marketing effort is your brand—the two co-exist.
And nothing benefits your brand more than a repeat
customer who loves your DJ services, or your
customer service, or any other element of what
you’re providing.
HOW TO BUILD A BETTER BRAND
But what is a brand?
Again, according to the authors, it’s not the product you sell, and it’s not your website, nor
your marketing materials, and it’s definitely not
your lightshow.
Simply put, your brand is the promise you make and how you deliver on that promise in the minds
of your customers and prospects. In other words,
your brand is a collection of the perceptions of your company in the minds of your customers. And
remember, your customers are more than merely
the people who buy your DJ services. In fact, did
you know you have three distinctly different groups
of customers? And that the way you interact with
them varies?
Your groups of customers include the people
who buy or are looking to buy your DJ service;
your fellow vendors, like catering execs and suppliers;
and your employees.
Your customers are both external
and internal, and they are of equal importance
to your brand, your company, and your
success.
Take, for instance, the people who buy from you,
they would be the traditional model of a customer,
and the way you interact with this person is your
most important list:
You interact with them through your marketing
copy, business cards, flyers, advertising, website,
tradeshow floor, storefront, your sales force,
customer service team, your warehouse, finance
department, your reputation, your logo, and more.
Your vendors and suppliers, on the other hand,
the people you do business with on a businessto-
business level, are also your customers, and
how you work with them also affects your overall
perception in the marketplace. Since the collective
perception is your overall brand value, the
companies you do business with are a key element
of your brand. Some of the ways you interact with
this segment are on-site at a gig, at trade shows and
bridal fairs, and increasingly through Twitter.
And have you ever considered your staff to be
customers of your company? The authors believe
you should, because the opinion of your staff
is possibly the most important one of them all.
Why? They are the people who interact with your
customers every day, creating the experience that
your external customers have—both the ones who
buy what you’re selling and the vendors who help
you do it.
Some of the ways you interact with your staffers
can be through an initial interview, availability
of parking, rewards and incentive programs, salary
(of course), benefits, the type of toilet paper in the washroom (no joke, ask your staff about this),
among hundreds of others ways.
Your Staff
But how can you reflect your values to your staff?
The authors say that modeling is one of the most
powerful forms of influence in your arsenal. They
advise to use it wisely and you’ll cultivate a loyal
workforce who represents your company they way
you would.
But set a bad example or by don’t align the
example you set with your own rules for conduct,
your employees are going to notice. It’s a truism
that most employees won’t let you know directly
how they’re feeling. Although they might not say anything, they will notice bad examples. Pretty
soon, your customers will notice, too, which can
impact staff morale, and, ultimately, bookings.
Willingly or not, your company has a culture, and
you can create the kind of workplace culture that
will reap rewards. The authors advise the following:
Remember your own pet peeves: Think back
to your days as an employee. What things did you
gripe about?
Involve staff in
strategic processes:
Even if you don’t always
use their ideas, letting
them contribute to the
process will let them
know they are being
heard, so they can better understand the process
and buy into the final decision.
Reward top performers: Frequent and publicly
recognizing and rewarding your top performers
will inspire similar behavior in others. Just be
sure that the performance levels required to be
rewarded are fully disclosed, this way there’s no
guessing and charges of favoritism.
Fire poor performers: Not an easy task, but
nothing sucks morale from a staff more than allowing
lazy or unqualified employees to stick around. You’ll do
your company a great service by cutting out the chaff.
Create a mentoring culture: Provide opportunities
for your employees to grow not only professionally,
but as human beings as well. We suggest
attending DJ Expo (Aug. 8-11 in Atlantic City, N.J.)
Profit sharing: Not a favorite among business
owners, but studies show that when your staff is
directly benefiting from the success of your company,
they will be much more likely to do whatever
it takes for everyone to be successful.
Offer “well” days in addition to sick days:
Helping your employees with their work/life balance
will make them more productive. Create a
“well day” program, where employees can call in
“well” to allow them time to pursue something
they’re passionate about.
When modeling, look to other successful companies,
and do what they do: is customer service
your priority? Look to WestJet, Jet Blue, Ritz Carlton
Hotels, or PetSmart and see how hey manage
their customer service process.
Or do you want to build a cool internal culture?
Look to Starbucks, Google and Yahoo!
And you’ll be on your way.
Stay tuned, as next month we’ll look into ways to
diversify your marketing mix.

Woman of Power Bethann Hardison Shares Her Golden Rule of Success

The fashion industry tour-de-force knows a thing or two about wielding power

Having paved the way for the Tyras and the Naomi Campbells of the fashion industry, Bethann Hardison was one of the first Black models for giants like Calvin Klein, Oscar de La Renta and Perry Ellis in the 1960s. She’s also guided the careers of supermodels like Tyson Beckford through her pioneering modeling agency, Bethann Management. Today, the New York native (and mother of actor Kadeem Hardison) is still breaking ground as the first Black editor-at-large for Vogue Italia online.

According to Hardison, who is also working on a documentary called Invisible Beauty, the key to her success has been learning to harnesses her personal power by going within. “I’ve always been a non-conformist,” says the legendary businesswoman, who avoids social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter. “I like to be alone with my own thoughts. [Social networking] is a distraction of self. [To be powerful] you have to detach from all the noise. Being quiet also allows you to tap into your spiritual self.”

Hardison says only when you know who you are will you be able to find the courage to do what drives you—with integrity and grace. “I founded my modeling agency at a time when no one else Black was doing it,” recalls the style icon. “I had to compete with my White counterparts. As a Black girl coming from Bedford-Stuyvesant [in Brooklyn, NY], I knew if anyone ever said I owed them [money], it’d be a wrap. But I learned early on that personality and character can take you a long way. When I closed the door to my agency in [1996] I owed no one. I am very proud of that.”

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