-Scott Franko
There’s a little anonymous poem that I use from time to time to help illustrate the importance and value of advertising to boost brand awareness, increase sales and grow a business. It goes like this:
The codfish lays ten thousand eggs. The homely hen lays one.
The codfish never cackles to tell what she’s done.
And so we scorn the codfish, while the humble hen we prize.
Which only goes to show and prove that indeed it pays to advertise!
You want to build impressions better than your competition? Then build the right kinds of impressions. Have a plan that includes branding and advertising, or cackling. Here are some ideas that come from my experience. Perhaps they will inspire some ideas for your cackling and for your business.
Divisions
To help grow our business, we branded all our services separately but under one common theme and tag line: More Than Signs, We Build Impressions. Each segment of our business became its own unique brand with an individual name and logo-one for signs, one for custom fabrication, and one for printed graphics. By doing this, you get more purposeful in the market, and the market gets to know your specialties, which in turn leads to growing sales.
Associations
Networking and connecting to develop your contacts and clients is important. I fully believe and endorse getting involved with your trade associations. But think about others that provide you a channel into niche or targeted markets. An example would be the AIA, the Architect’s Institute of America. Because we had an architectural fabrication division, becoming involved with AIA helped us gain access to architects and the construction trades that would buy our products.
To read Part One, click HERE.
