Floodlight Consulting

The goal of branding is to create in the mind of the end user the belief, or curiosity, that something special exists that didn’t exist before.

The brand happens when you describe what you do in a term that builds you into the partnership with your client. This is based on what they tell you they want, or things you see happening that they haven’t yet identified. The Apple iPhone, iPod and iPad are great examples.

Three ways to brand your business starting today:

Personal Brand – Your brand is created by you and the people at your company. You emphasize the image of your company and de-emphasize the product. If you ask your end users, they will easily be able to identify your “people brand.” The most notable example of this is IBM. You can’t help but picture blue suits, white shirts and red ties. You can make a conscious decision to change your personal brand if it isn’t what you would like it to be. What should your staff look like?

Product or Service Brand – Brand is simply by virtue of the product or service being differentiable. The implication is that the service aligns with something the consumer wants – either by fulfilling a need, or solving a problem. Revlon is an example. They sell beauty, not cosmetics. What do your customers want? What makes you different?

Market Branding – Your brand is by virtue of the target market that you take the product or service to. Your expertise and your specialty need to reinforce your target market. You won’t find a Rolex advertisement in Fishing or Popular Mechanics, but you will in Skiing and Fortune magazines.
Your brand will only have power if it is constantly reiterated and reinforced in the marketplace by everything you do – advertising, promotions, word-of-mouth, PR, etc. (Marketing Touch Points)

The goal of continually positioning your brand is to situate your product or service permanently in the mind of the consumer. The realities of your product or service have no bearing on the decision to use your brand. The only decision that counts is what your customers believe.

So whatever you do – Don’t be Generic!

If you do not create brand identity for your product or service, you are selling something generic. Positioning your product or service to be “brand identifiable” and make sure it is measurable in the eyes of the customer.

For this to happen, your customers must:

1. Understand what makes you different
2. Articulate it to others
3. Value your brand and be willing to pay more for it
4. Embrace it and defend it when it comes under attack

What are the benefits of Branding my business?

Soles 4 Souls Canada from Jerry Mason on Vimeo.

Have you ever wondered how to build your business, are you perplexed on what to-do?

Have your clients and friends ever said, “If there’s anything I can do to help you, let me know”?

If you’re like most people, you aren’t prepared to accept help at the moment it’s offered. You let the opportunity slip by because you haven’t given thought to the help you might need.

When help is offered, it’s to your advantage to respond by stating a specific need. Your clients and friends want you to succeed. They truly like you and want to be associated with a winner.

Don’t let the next opportunity from others, to help, slip through your fingers!

Being prepared with some simple requests can make a real difference in the success of your business.

Here are a couple of ways your clients and friend can help you promote your business:

a)Referrals – The kind of support you’d like to get from your contacts is referrals—the names of specific individuals who need and want your products and services. They can also give prospects your name and number. Referrals should be asked for when you finish a project or sale. People who have been referred usually spend more money, they will buy more often, and they are loyal. They are also much easier to deal with, and because they were referred by a friend or a colleague, they are usually less demanding

b)Introduce you to prospects – Your contacts can help you build new relationships faster by introducing you in person to people they think need your products and services. They can provide you with key information about the prospect. They can also tell the prospect what they liked about your products and services. One lunch time meeting set up by a client, yielded two immediate new clients and over four referrals within the next year. All this accomplished with a simple introduction.

c)Testimonials – By providing a testimonial, clients can share with people what they’ve gained from using your products or services. Testimonials build trust. Whether your customers are raving about what your product has done for them or about the great service you gave they are telling your visitors first and foremost that they had a positive experience with your products and company. Testimonials carry more weight and are more believable! 78% of consumers today trust peer recommendations – only 14 % trust advertisements! So where are you spending your marketing dollars? Total cost to add testimonials to your marketing message – zero dollars!

d)Display your Literature – Clients and friends can display your products and services in their office and home. If these items are displayed well—such as, on a counter or bulletin board in a waiting room—visitors will ask questions or read the information. Some may even take your promotional materials and display them in other places, increasing your visibility.

e)Re-purpose Information – Your clients may be able to get information about you and your business published on their blog, in a newsletter, or mention you in Social Media like Twitter and Facebook. This strategy will also help with back-links to your website raising your profile with Google.

Knowing how to match your marketing needs with the right sources is key to obtaining the type of help you need. But remember — it’s a two-way street. Helping your clients and friends achieve their goals goes a long way and will help you Build Your Business.

Like the rockers, “The Who”, you need to ask yourself who are you? Who are you on the web? What is your Google footprint?

When was the last time you did a Google search on you or your company?
Everybody does a search for information, and especially for relevant information about you and your services.

I publish volumes on the web, and I check to see if my name comes up readily in a Google search and it does. I also want to see if my information is relevant and if it’s been re-purposed (copied), on someone else’s site.
As business owners we should always be checking to see what people are saying about us or our business.

The web is a great place for businesses to expand their presence, but it a can also be a dark area for people to rant, rave and target businesses and individuals without any retribution. No different than the bully in school, the unsuspecting can be torn apart in forums with no way to add their own comments or defend themselves.

I have worked with a few clients who have been attacked on blogs and forums by people who hide behind the anonymity of bogus names. It’s been upsetting to my clients and the negativity can affect their business.

I recommend to my clients that they raise their profile on the web by being an active user of blogs and social media with a targeted message about their business or themselves. Positive information on the web can be a real bonus. If someone does take an unkindly swipe at you or your business, at least you’ll have information on the web that speaks and reflects well of your business and what you do.

This is where testimonials on a web site can pay major dividends. When you have lots of people stating how much they love your products and service, and one person on a forum putting you down, who are people most likely to believe?

I believe that in our instant access world, you really need to think out your internet marketing strategy and decide how to build up a wealth of positive information about you and your business.

Used effectively and skilfully, the web is a great marketing tool and a great way to ‘Build Your Business’.

Donald Robichaud is the President of FloodLight Consulting and can be reached at 250-768-9415

The first half of 2010 is almost over and we are approaching the summer months.
This is a great time to access the first half of the year and review your business goals for the year. Are you on track? If not, Why? What do you need to do to ensure success for the balance of 2010 and the start of 2011?
I’ve had many discussions with Start Ups, Entrepreneurs and mid size businesses just like you who are struggling to find new leads, close sales and market their business.
When I ask if they’re experts in their field, I get all types of odd answers from, No!!!!!! To, well I don’t have a university degree or even worse I don’t know.

If you’re not an expert in your field and fully confident of your products and service your potential customers will sense your weakness and not be moved to desire your services.

Many businesses are held back because key people in the organization lack the proper skill set to either manage their business effectively or they lack the skills to utilize new technologies like the internet to leverage their business.
To be a successful business today you need to continue the learning process and learn new skills. You are the key to your success. You need to have an open mind and become and expert in your field and the only way to do this is to continue learning.
To do this you must take stock of your business:
1. Write down the top ten must improve areas of your business for 2010
2. Now divide the top ten in to the following areas of Sales, Marketing and Business Operation.
3. You will notice that one area will become painfully obvious
4. Now go buy a couple of books to read in that obvious area. (Possibly Marketing)
5. Monday to Friday get up early every morning or shut off the TV early at night and read every day for one hour.
Five days a week for one hour. Take notes of the things you like and implement as soon as possible.
5 hours x 26 weeks = 180 hours dedicated to learning.
To really achieve any goal or to learn a new skill that is worthwhile, we need to discipline ourselves to keep it on track until it’s accomplished. There are several ways to effectively track your goals.
• Keep a list and review your goals regularly, preferably daily
• Break down a goal into actionable steps
• Break down a goal into quantifiable results
• Track a goal by the amount of time you spend on it
The investment in learning will pay multiple dividends for the balance of 2010 leading into 2011 and help you to “Build your Business”

Donald Robichaud is the President of FloodLight Consulting and can be reached at 250-768-9415

Thank you to Alexandra Krieger of Print Three and Don Robichaud of Floodlight Business Solutions for speaking. What a great combination of One on One Marketing and Social Media. Also a big thank you to Rob at Remix Industries for the sound system, and Jennifer and her staff at the Sandman Hotel Kelowna for the great appitizers. Hope to see you again in the fall.

Also a thank you to Liz Soergel of Aviva Studios for the superb pictures, Sharon Coghill of Mary Kay, Sharon Smith of Goodbye Grafitti, Ron Finch of Liquid Capital and Becky Robar of Western Financial Group for the door Prizes.

Mike Hassard OBRG President

In the last few weeks I have been involved with the Training of many employees throughout the Kelowna region.

In one session we were doing sales training with the emphasis on accessing the customers’ needs and in the other session employees were improving their Microsoft excel skills.

In both classes the feedback was very positive and many expressed how confident they felt once the session was over and they had started to utilise their new skills.

In one situation the salesman was able to re-engage a national account, once thought lost and due to the sales training they have put this 250 thousand dollar project back on the rails to success.

In business we sometimes look at training as a cost to the employer rather than the benefits of the training and how it will enhance our performance as a company and return on Investment. (ROI)

In fact many businesses have no problem dropping $1000.00 to $5000.00 dollars a month or more on advertising with little results when all they really had to do was pare down their advertising by 20% and funnel the dollars into the betterment of their employees and improving company efficiency.

The results are ever lasting and generally the employee will be very thankful for the opportunity to enhance their skill set.

Fifteen years ago I was that employee looking for an opportunity to improve my lot in life. My employer invested in training for myself and others.  At the age of 39 I embarked on a learning curve that has lead me to the present position as president of Floodlight.

It was not easy, but as I learned more I was able to move myself up the corporate ladder until such time I decided to begin my own company.

I am forever grateful for the opportunity that was given me to improve my skill set which allowed me to take better care of my family and my clients.

Learning new skills and enhancing old ones is the best way to improve your employees self esteem with the quickest rate of return.

Take a look at your present advertising and marketing budgets then funnel some dollars in to your greatest area of return, your employees.

Who knows, that salesman in cubicle number three may just be your next vice president and help you Build Your Business.

Donald Robichaud is the President of FloodLight Consulting

and can be reached at 1-888-768-9415  or at 250-768-9415

How many Business Cards will you be handing out in the hopes of building your Business?

If your website is done correctly you can increase the calls and leads coming into your business.

Many businesses are not directing enough attention to their website and are leaving the major content development decision making to web designers, or even better family and friends.

These individuals though well meaning often have no practical knowledge of your business, industry or client issues.

As business owners we need to build our websites with a marketing strategy in mind as a first step, this will lead to a better strategically designed website. Leading to better content, website construction, design and Internet Implementation.

A website, built with a positive marketing strategy and message will speak to your clients, generate a response, and greatly assist with its appeal to search engines and visitors alike.

A website that speaks to your clients’ challenges, with content that offers solutions to their issues, including testimonials about your services, will engage them to contact or purchase your product and/or services.

The importance of your website cannot be overstated, as 80% of buyers visit a website before contacting a business this is due in part to the web’s influence in buying patterns.

Your potential clients make decisions quickly as to whether they will call you or ultimately buy from you.

Think of your website as the hub for your Marketing and Branding activities. No matter what marketing style you are using—direct mail, email, referral generation, PR, cold calling, etc.—this style is driving buyers to your website. Your website is the portal by which clients and prospects are using to learn more about you and your services.

They are searching for information to validate you as a professional in your field.

Your potential clients have a need for your service and your website must offer a solution to their problems. You must be able to speak to the challenges that your clients are facing.

If they find what they are looking for, they will take action. They go to your website to form an impression of you and interact with your brand and help you Build Your Business.

For more information contact FloodLight :

Donald Robichaud
FloodLight Consulting – Build Your Business
250-768-9415
http://www.floodlightconsulting.com
http://donaldrobichaud.blogspot.com/

Marketing for today’s Savvy Consumer!

Communication- Marketing – Social Media

Event: May 6^th 2010

Venue: Sandman Hotel Kelowna – 2130 Harvey Ave. Hwy 97

Time: 2-2:30 Networking

2:30 – 4:00 Presentations

4:00 -5:00 Wine & Appetizers

1-to-1 Marketing

An Introduction to Taking the Next Step in Communicating with your Clients – In a time where your competitors are working hard to get your clients, you need to make sure your message stands out! In this workshop you will learn how you can increase your sales and profits by utilizing 1-to-1 Marketing. You will learn about utilizing your client database to deliver personal marketing messages to them and how you can start building a client database if you are just starting out. You will also be introduced to the techniques used by the professionals to increase your ROI (Rate of Return) of your marketing efforts.

Presented by Alexandra Krieger – Owner of Print Three

Social Media – Is Your Business Ready? Are you marketing to the Right Audience?

Twitter! Facebook! What’s right for you?

Have you noticed that you’ve begun to search more and more for local goods and services online? Lots of people are doing so. This has been a growing trend for the past couple years and has reached a point where local small businesses absolutely need to be online and understand social media.

You will be guided through a marketing and social media journey that will open new avenues for your business.

Presented by Donald Robichaud – President of FloodLight Consulting

RSVP – TODAY

Limited Seating Available – Book Your Ticket Today – $29.00

For more information contact FloodLight :

Donald Robichaud
FloodLight Consulting – Build Your Business
250-768-9415
http://www.floodlightconsulting.com

http://donaldrobichaud.blogspot.com/

Every day you run into people and businesses that can use your services.

Your aim is to market yourself effectively.

The key to business marketing is a simple low cost strategy that makes people know, like and trust your product and your company.

You need to develop a marketing persona and strategy for your face-to-face sales presentations, your brochures, sales letters and your website.

I truly believe that the most important reason for you to have a marketing persona is that, it differentiates you from your competition and establishes your marketing brand.

The stories you tell about who you are make you unique. The results your clients achieve with your services or products will establish you as a unique player in your industry.

And that is what a marketing persona and strategy can help you do to create compelling story about your company that lets the world know who you are and what you do.

Excellent marketing strategies don’t scream, I WANT TO IMPRESS YOU.

They don’t scream, BUY MY SERVICES NOW.

Rather, the gifted marketing persona and strategy takes the reader or listener on a journey.

And, if the marketing strategy is well constructed, at the end of the journey, we are going to be impressed.

We are going to be interested.

We are going to want to take the next step in the sales process.

And that is why the most successful marketers have a persona.

So, what’s your marketing persona?

What is your marketing strategy?

What makes you unique?

Develop a great marketing strategy, create a marketing persona and Build your Business!!!!

For more information contact FloodLight :

Donald Robichaud
FloodLight Consulting – Build Your Business
250-768-9415
http://www.floodlightconsulting.com

http://donaldrobichaud.blogspot.com/