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Maria Ross

Last activity: 3 weeks ago

  • Great article! Especially #2 is near and dear to my heart as a brand and marekting consultant. Your brand is your core essence that everything else should revolve around - once you have the brand firmly mapped out, it should inform all your materials, your website, your copy, every experience the customer has with you. And not just for "looks" - it should reinforce a consistent message that you want your customer to take away with them.

    I also applaud your point on the single designer as well. While you may need to cobble capabilities depending on what you are looking for, most small businesses can find one designer to help with logo, identity, website, print, etc. within their price range. Or, they hire someone like me as a "virtual marketing director" to be a brand steward and pull all the pieces together consistently.

    Whatever you do, ensure someone is checking out how all the pieces work together to avoid the situation of your poor printer.

    Posted Jul 22, 2008 Are Your Marketing Strategies and Your Website on the Same Page? by Brody Dorland

  • Loved this article - I think the key takeaway is to create all your communications (not just a website) with the customer in mind, from their POV. Companies suffer from that "Curse of Knowledge" and a) think everyone understands their technobabble or acronyms, or b) think they need to tell them EVERYTHING in the hopes that one or two things will stick.

    if you are just starting out, definitely use real customers if you can to gauge this data (I am surprised by how many companies try to guess what their customers think rather than ask them) but I do recommend fleshing out your Ideal Customer if you are brand new (see my article on Know Thy Audience). And not just Teen or Soccer Mom, but what does person do, eat, breathe, enjoy, drive, live in, etc. It's a useful exercise that provides another data point to help you do exactly what you are proposing above: putting yourself in their shoes, and getting out of your own way.

    Excellent article and love your writing style!

    Posted Jul 22, 2008 Trains, Tickets, Toilets...Tell Your Customers Where To Go by Christine Haskell

  • Thanks for all the great feedback! I am so glad this is helpful. And good news is, it does help you feel closer to your audience, like you KNOW them. Plus, it's just plain fun. For more tips and fresh insights, please sign up for my Brand Bites newsletter at www.red-slice.com.

    Posted Jul 18, 2008 Know Thy Audience and the Marketing Plan Will Follow by Maria Ross

  • Sorry Howard - wish I could make it but my car is in the shop. Maybe you'll hold another one? Cheers, Maria

    Posted Apr 17, 2008 Author-Publisher Round Table hosted by Howard Howell

  • And to further add to Jeff's point: just because something is memorable does not mean it makes the sales curve ramp in the right direction. I remembered the logo but did not seek him out since I could not figure out what his business really was. Same can be said for TV ads that are really funny and memorable but don't actually effectively sell more beer/cologne/cars. It's all about leading to persuade someone to purchase.

    Posted Mar 07, 2008 What's With the Truck? by Maria Ross

  • Great comments above! Thanks for engaging in the dialogue.

    To Jeff's point, I would argure that the woman with the fish had a clear intent of the feeling she was trying to evoke and the response she wanted, and that was the point I was making: the logo can communicate something but often people just see it as a pretty picture. So kudos to her for realizing the communication value.

    To Robert's point, I agree 100% - brand IS so much more than the logo. The logo is one small part of the brand experience. I talk to clients about conveying a brand visually (through logo, website, shop decor, packaging) and experientially (the caliber of customer service, the ease of the buying process, the product selection, the tone of the receptionist when he answers the phone). All these things convey an overall brand just as many things contribute to a person's overall personality. Logo is just a small part, but often people overlook that it can be used as yet another way to communicate and therefore gives someone an opportunity (should they choose) of communicating something. My main point is that people need to put thought into the logo and not necessarily just pick a "cool picture."

    I like your thought of maybe taking a step back before changing an established logo as reinvention can be confusing when you can sometimes solve the communication issue in a different way, as you suggest.

    Posted Mar 07, 2008 What's With the Truck? by Maria Ross