Jack Kenny10.14.16
Every day, all day, press operators look at the labels go by, rewind people look at the labels go by. Supervisors examine the labels during the runs, and sales people and executives spread them out on tables to view the fine work that will go out to the client. The converter’s technological prowess and reputation are embedded in each of those finished labels. They are the keys to growth, profit, customer retention, respect and renown.
For the customer, those labels reflect one extremely valuable element: a brand. The client has worked hard to create and build that brand, and every label serves as another stone in its edifice, strong and visible. It’s the product of brand strategy and brand marketing. In time, with the right mix of quality, sweat and business acumen, a brand could become that most desired of things: a household word.
In the label converting universe, many companies have achieved the status of “brand.” Those with global operations or with multiple national plants bear that designation, and so do some mid-sized and smaller operations that have recognition for outstanding performance through industry awards, media reports, word of mouth and old-fashioned hard work. Helping that process along is a determined effort to build the company into a brand through strategy and marketing.
It’s safe to say that a lot of label printing firms don’t have a detailed and focused marketing plan. They do not employ a person who is dedicated to the creation and execution of such a thing. That’s understandable for a company in which folks wear a lot of different hats. Some company owners are of the opinion that they never needed one before, so why go to the expense now?
That might work for some, but competition is known more for its ruthlessness rather than for compassion, and the changing marketplace has different rules. If you’re entertaining the idea of branding your company, here are some points to ponder:
Corporate personality
A good place to start is to discuss and nail down your brand objectives. What do you want the brand to achieve for your company? How do you want your services and products perceived in the marketplace?
One such objective might be a stronger position in a specific product category, e.g. cosmetics or wines. It could be the intent to enter a certain market as a newcomer, with the goal of higher margins and product quality. Another objective could be an increase in the number of new customers over a period of time. Along with these, you might aim for greater visibility within the industry, as well as among the client base. The objectives should be accompanied by a timeline that makes immediate action necessary.
Industry visibility is not high on everyone’s list, and to be honest there are some who recoil at the idea. But there’s a lot to be said for it. The winners of TLMI’s annual Eugene Singer Awards for best-managed companies, understandably proud of their achievements, don’t hesitate to claim the prizes as pillars of their success in the marketplace.
Laura Lake, a marketing consultant out of Kansas City, MO, USA, says that defining your brand is the first move in the development of your brand strategy. She suggests nine questions and exercises whose answers will help concentrate your efforts to develop that strategy.
1. What products and/or services do you offer? Define the qualities of these services and/or products.
2. What are the core values of your products and services? What are the core values of your company? (“Core values are traits or qualities that you consider not just worthwhile, they represent an individual’s or organization’s highest priorities, deeply held beliefs and fundamental driving forces. They define what your organization believes and how you want your organization resonating with and appealing to employees and the external world.” – Susan M. Heathfield, who is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management.)
3. What is the mission of your company?
4. What does your company specialize in?
5. Who is your target market? Who do your products attract?
6. What is the tagline of your company? What message does your tagline send to your prospects?
7. Using the information from the previous steps, create a personality or character for your company that represents your products or services. What is the character like? What qualities stand out?
8. Use the personality that you created in the previous step and build a relationship with your target market that you defined in Step 5. How does that personality react to the target audience? What characteristics stand out? Which characteristics get the attention of your prospects?
9. Review the answers to the questions above and create a profile of your brand. Describe the personality or character with words just as if you were writing a biography or personal ad. Be creative.
This personality is one of the most critical aspects of a brand strategy. Properly communicated and adopted within your corporate walls, it will affect all aspects of your business dealings on the outside. It will affect your hiring processes. It will create the performance standards for the members of your team. It will be the face of your company in every customer visit, every vendor meeting, every industry conference and trade show that you attend.
The staff members of Entrepreneur Media Inc., who wrote a book titled “Start Your Own Business,” offer some advice about the corporate personality:
“A lot of small companies write mission statements that say the company will ‘value’ customers and strive for ‘excellent customer service.’ Unfortunately, these words are all talk and no action. Dig deeper and think about how you’ll fulfill your brand’s promise and provide value and service to the people you serve. If you promise quick service, for example, what will ‘quick’ mean inside your company? And how will you make sure service stays speedy? Along the way, you’re laying the foundation of your hiring strategy and how future employees will be expected to interact with customers. You’re also creating the template for your advertising and marketing strategies.”
Brand strategy
Armed with objectives and a corporate personality, you can begin work on a brand strategy. Lake points out that a brand strategy “will identify three core components of your business and can then be used as a blueprint when it comes to developing your marketing strategy and tactics.”
• Purpose: Your business must have a functional and intentional purpose.
• Consistency: Without consistency, a business will struggle to survive.
• Emotional Impact: Emotion is what helps customers connect with you. A brand strategy helps you develop the emotion that you are going after.
Spend some time examining the following four components of your business. These are important to the development of your brand strategy:
• Primary target customer
• Competition
• Product and service mix
• Your particular selling proposition
The folks at Entrepreneur Media insist that constant communication is vital to the success of a brand. “Communicate, then communicate some more. Keeping employees clued in requires ongoing communication about the company’s branding efforts through meetings, posters, training, etc. Never, ever assume employees can read your mind.”
A branding strategy, they point out, doesn’t need to be more than one page long at most. It can even be as short as one paragraph. It all depends on your product or service and your industry.
Watch this space for more on branding.
The author is president of Jack Kenny Media, a communications firm specializing in the packaging industry, and is the former editor of L&NW magazine. He can be reached at jackjkenny@gmail.com.
For the customer, those labels reflect one extremely valuable element: a brand. The client has worked hard to create and build that brand, and every label serves as another stone in its edifice, strong and visible. It’s the product of brand strategy and brand marketing. In time, with the right mix of quality, sweat and business acumen, a brand could become that most desired of things: a household word.
In the label converting universe, many companies have achieved the status of “brand.” Those with global operations or with multiple national plants bear that designation, and so do some mid-sized and smaller operations that have recognition for outstanding performance through industry awards, media reports, word of mouth and old-fashioned hard work. Helping that process along is a determined effort to build the company into a brand through strategy and marketing.
It’s safe to say that a lot of label printing firms don’t have a detailed and focused marketing plan. They do not employ a person who is dedicated to the creation and execution of such a thing. That’s understandable for a company in which folks wear a lot of different hats. Some company owners are of the opinion that they never needed one before, so why go to the expense now?
That might work for some, but competition is known more for its ruthlessness rather than for compassion, and the changing marketplace has different rules. If you’re entertaining the idea of branding your company, here are some points to ponder:
Corporate personality
A good place to start is to discuss and nail down your brand objectives. What do you want the brand to achieve for your company? How do you want your services and products perceived in the marketplace?
One such objective might be a stronger position in a specific product category, e.g. cosmetics or wines. It could be the intent to enter a certain market as a newcomer, with the goal of higher margins and product quality. Another objective could be an increase in the number of new customers over a period of time. Along with these, you might aim for greater visibility within the industry, as well as among the client base. The objectives should be accompanied by a timeline that makes immediate action necessary.
Industry visibility is not high on everyone’s list, and to be honest there are some who recoil at the idea. But there’s a lot to be said for it. The winners of TLMI’s annual Eugene Singer Awards for best-managed companies, understandably proud of their achievements, don’t hesitate to claim the prizes as pillars of their success in the marketplace.
Laura Lake, a marketing consultant out of Kansas City, MO, USA, says that defining your brand is the first move in the development of your brand strategy. She suggests nine questions and exercises whose answers will help concentrate your efforts to develop that strategy.
1. What products and/or services do you offer? Define the qualities of these services and/or products.
2. What are the core values of your products and services? What are the core values of your company? (“Core values are traits or qualities that you consider not just worthwhile, they represent an individual’s or organization’s highest priorities, deeply held beliefs and fundamental driving forces. They define what your organization believes and how you want your organization resonating with and appealing to employees and the external world.” – Susan M. Heathfield, who is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management.)
3. What is the mission of your company?
4. What does your company specialize in?
5. Who is your target market? Who do your products attract?
6. What is the tagline of your company? What message does your tagline send to your prospects?
7. Using the information from the previous steps, create a personality or character for your company that represents your products or services. What is the character like? What qualities stand out?
8. Use the personality that you created in the previous step and build a relationship with your target market that you defined in Step 5. How does that personality react to the target audience? What characteristics stand out? Which characteristics get the attention of your prospects?
9. Review the answers to the questions above and create a profile of your brand. Describe the personality or character with words just as if you were writing a biography or personal ad. Be creative.
This personality is one of the most critical aspects of a brand strategy. Properly communicated and adopted within your corporate walls, it will affect all aspects of your business dealings on the outside. It will affect your hiring processes. It will create the performance standards for the members of your team. It will be the face of your company in every customer visit, every vendor meeting, every industry conference and trade show that you attend.
The staff members of Entrepreneur Media Inc., who wrote a book titled “Start Your Own Business,” offer some advice about the corporate personality:
“A lot of small companies write mission statements that say the company will ‘value’ customers and strive for ‘excellent customer service.’ Unfortunately, these words are all talk and no action. Dig deeper and think about how you’ll fulfill your brand’s promise and provide value and service to the people you serve. If you promise quick service, for example, what will ‘quick’ mean inside your company? And how will you make sure service stays speedy? Along the way, you’re laying the foundation of your hiring strategy and how future employees will be expected to interact with customers. You’re also creating the template for your advertising and marketing strategies.”
Brand strategy
Armed with objectives and a corporate personality, you can begin work on a brand strategy. Lake points out that a brand strategy “will identify three core components of your business and can then be used as a blueprint when it comes to developing your marketing strategy and tactics.”
• Purpose: Your business must have a functional and intentional purpose.
• Consistency: Without consistency, a business will struggle to survive.
• Emotional Impact: Emotion is what helps customers connect with you. A brand strategy helps you develop the emotion that you are going after.
Spend some time examining the following four components of your business. These are important to the development of your brand strategy:
• Primary target customer
• Competition
• Product and service mix
• Your particular selling proposition
The folks at Entrepreneur Media insist that constant communication is vital to the success of a brand. “Communicate, then communicate some more. Keeping employees clued in requires ongoing communication about the company’s branding efforts through meetings, posters, training, etc. Never, ever assume employees can read your mind.”
A branding strategy, they point out, doesn’t need to be more than one page long at most. It can even be as short as one paragraph. It all depends on your product or service and your industry.
Watch this space for more on branding.
The author is president of Jack Kenny Media, a communications firm specializing in the packaging industry, and is the former editor of L&NW magazine. He can be reached at jackjkenny@gmail.com.