What is a market share? Anyone who has read a book on marketing or has gone through special marketing classes would know that one of the basic concepts in marketing is what is referred to as market share. Market share is what all businesses should aspire for. But in today’s highly competitive environment, gaining a sizable portion of the market share entails cost. A chunk of the market share involves finding potential clients or customers and persuading them to buy your product or avail of your services instead of your competition.
What are your options then to grow your business? There is an alternative way to increase your revenue and that is targeting a wallet share. What then is wallet share? If market share is the amount you have been able to penetrate into a market, wallet share is the extent to which you have been able to penetrate into your customer’s wallet.
Take this for example. A fast-food delivery outlet needed to increase their revenue. On closer inspection, it was determined that they failed to inform their client base of all of their product lines. So, over the next six months, all their delivery boys talked to their clients to ask what other food they order. The delivery boys noted all these information on their custom note pads and referred to them when they met with their team. Not only did this strategy more than double the sales of their delivery service, it also helped their clients to lessen the time and effort it takes to look for other fast-food delivery outlets.
In businesses involved in retail selling, wouldn’t it be more advantageous if all your products can relate to each other? If you are a medical provider, wouldn’t it make sense to keep a notepad printing checklist of all the services clients can avail of every time they checked in for consultation? Perhaps it would even be more strategic if you had separate custom notepads for medical services and for your growing business in aesthetic medicine.
Another approach to get your wallet share is to bundle goods or services together. Going back to the example on fast-food delivery services, note how they captured wallet share by combining their menus together as ‘meals’ for a lesser price. One piece chicken, regular french-fries and a regular Coke consists a meal which if bought separately would be more expensive.
By being innovative, you can go after a good wallet share. The good thing with this strategy is you don’t have to invest heavily in attracting new clients or customers because they are already there. They already buy from you. You just have to make them buy more. That is the essence of wallet share strategy.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Leadership - Taking Your Brand to the Frontline
The importance of the role of manager’s play in infusing real change is under-estimated in most organisations. Whilst it’s true that perhaps certain leaders are borne, the significant majority are developed into becoming leaders. Your position as a manager or supervisor gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives, this power does not make you a leader, it simply makes you the boss!
If you google the word leader or leadership, there are 487 million hits. That’s a lot of information which can only add to the confusion of what leadership really is. Leadership is not the sole responsibility for ‘people at the top’’ everyone can learn to lead by tapping into the abilities that lie within each of us. Leadership differs from management in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals, rather than simply bossing people around.
True leaders always go first; they set the tone, inspire, coach and above all, lead by example to gain commitment. To inspire your team into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know and do. These do not come naturally.
Leaders walk their talk - in true leaders, there are no gaps between what they say and their actions. Leaders think, act and behave in line with the value and behaviours of the organisation.
Aligning the organisation with its desired brand values is a continual and complex process. Yet, I’m amazed that all too often companies adopt a single focus approach around internal communications. It’s absolutely essential that any internal branding initiative is supported by internal communications but NOT in the absence of addressing the role of managers. Flooding the office corridors with brand posters, handing out glossy brand books and company merchandise will not alter employee behaviour. This has to be addressed by management behaviours. After all, the actions and behaviours from an employees direct manager influences what the employee does and how they act, not the poster behind the water cooler! Unfortunately, the so called ‘sexy’ side of internal branding seems to receive a lot more attention and resources than the critical elements of developing managers into brand leaders. Ask any employee who has attended a grand, Hollywood style internal brand launch, “what really changed the following day, month, year”? I would bet that in 9 out of 10 times the response would be “bugger all”.
Our approach to aligning brand with culture is to start with management, from executive management to middle management down to supervisory positions. This is where the communication blockage lies. Most, if not all managers lack the skills, competence and confidence to lead by example. It becomes even more complex and challenging when we throw in brand as well. So these people need to be developed and empowered to make a difference with their teams. Clearly, the CEO needs to set the tone, but it needs to be cascaded down throughout the organisation. One off leadership training days serve little purpose. What’s needed is a structured, continual learning and development program.
Current thinking is based on transformational leadership. Transformational leaders work towards a common goal with their team; putting team members first, trusting them and developing team to the next level. They inspire their team members to ‘live and breathe’ the company’s brand. Not because they have been asked to, but because it makes sense for the individual, the customer and for the organisation.
There are generally five characteristics of transformational leaders:
1. Model the way - people follow the person then the plan. It is the leader’s behaviour that wins respect. 2. Inspire a shared vision - enlist others in a common vision or objective by inspiring confidence to achieve extraordinary things. 3. Challenge the process - search for opportunities by seeking innovative and better ways to do things. Support good ideas and make things happen. 4. Enable others to act - foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals and building trust. Engage the team. 5. Encourage the heart - recognise contributions by showing appreciation for excellence. Celebrate your success stories with the team.
By all means introduce an element of fun and enjoyment into your internal branding program. And use all available internal communication tools to keep the company brand front of mind across your organisation. Above all else, engage your management teams to take the message to the frontline through their individual behaviours and abilities to communicate brand to their teams. Ensure your managers are consistently displaying “on-brand” characteristics; walking the talk and integrating brand into daily decision making, setting of goals and priorities and actions.
If you google the word leader or leadership, there are 487 million hits. That’s a lot of information which can only add to the confusion of what leadership really is. Leadership is not the sole responsibility for ‘people at the top’’ everyone can learn to lead by tapping into the abilities that lie within each of us. Leadership differs from management in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals, rather than simply bossing people around.
True leaders always go first; they set the tone, inspire, coach and above all, lead by example to gain commitment. To inspire your team into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know and do. These do not come naturally.
Leaders walk their talk - in true leaders, there are no gaps between what they say and their actions. Leaders think, act and behave in line with the value and behaviours of the organisation.
Aligning the organisation with its desired brand values is a continual and complex process. Yet, I’m amazed that all too often companies adopt a single focus approach around internal communications. It’s absolutely essential that any internal branding initiative is supported by internal communications but NOT in the absence of addressing the role of managers. Flooding the office corridors with brand posters, handing out glossy brand books and company merchandise will not alter employee behaviour. This has to be addressed by management behaviours. After all, the actions and behaviours from an employees direct manager influences what the employee does and how they act, not the poster behind the water cooler! Unfortunately, the so called ‘sexy’ side of internal branding seems to receive a lot more attention and resources than the critical elements of developing managers into brand leaders. Ask any employee who has attended a grand, Hollywood style internal brand launch, “what really changed the following day, month, year”? I would bet that in 9 out of 10 times the response would be “bugger all”.
Our approach to aligning brand with culture is to start with management, from executive management to middle management down to supervisory positions. This is where the communication blockage lies. Most, if not all managers lack the skills, competence and confidence to lead by example. It becomes even more complex and challenging when we throw in brand as well. So these people need to be developed and empowered to make a difference with their teams. Clearly, the CEO needs to set the tone, but it needs to be cascaded down throughout the organisation. One off leadership training days serve little purpose. What’s needed is a structured, continual learning and development program.
Current thinking is based on transformational leadership. Transformational leaders work towards a common goal with their team; putting team members first, trusting them and developing team to the next level. They inspire their team members to ‘live and breathe’ the company’s brand. Not because they have been asked to, but because it makes sense for the individual, the customer and for the organisation.
There are generally five characteristics of transformational leaders:
1. Model the way - people follow the person then the plan. It is the leader’s behaviour that wins respect. 2. Inspire a shared vision - enlist others in a common vision or objective by inspiring confidence to achieve extraordinary things. 3. Challenge the process - search for opportunities by seeking innovative and better ways to do things. Support good ideas and make things happen. 4. Enable others to act - foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals and building trust. Engage the team. 5. Encourage the heart - recognise contributions by showing appreciation for excellence. Celebrate your success stories with the team.
By all means introduce an element of fun and enjoyment into your internal branding program. And use all available internal communication tools to keep the company brand front of mind across your organisation. Above all else, engage your management teams to take the message to the frontline through their individual behaviours and abilities to communicate brand to their teams. Ensure your managers are consistently displaying “on-brand” characteristics; walking the talk and integrating brand into daily decision making, setting of goals and priorities and actions.
Printing Cheap and Small
We all know for a fact that budgets can really be limiting our efforts when it comes to marketing our business. In fact, a budget can really put a dent in our energies especially when what we have in mind is slightly more than what we’re allowed to shell out money-wise. So what do we do? We slash out.
Not lash, but slash out. This means slashing out some of your elements in your letterhead printing for example, and adjusting your letterhead printing costs so your budget can accommodate your project.
One best way to do it is to adjust the size of your collaterals. Adjust it to one that is smaller than your regular size. This way, you can save on the costs of printing smaller versions of your collaterals, and not overspend your budget as well.
Printing small can be very significant to your budget as it allows you to save on your costs. Looking at your collaterals per piece, you can save more if you print a mini-collateral which can slash the price into half. Ask your < target="_blank" href="http://www.printplace.com/printing/letterhead-printing.aspx">letterheads company if you can do it for your collaterals. I’m sure they will be very accommodating.
The downside however, is that you might lose some space for your content. Technically, your mini-collateral will now have less space to hold all the things that you want to include in it. Nevertheless, the trick is to provide a good layout and adapt your format to the new smaller dimension. Another way is to make your templates scalable so that even if you lessen or increase your size it won’t matter at all. As always, a professional letterheads company company can help you deal with your collateral if you want to go this route.
Another advantage of printing small is that you can maximize your distribution process. With smaller versions of your collaterals, you can print a much bigger number to accommodate as many target clients as possible.
You don’t have to sweat it out. Printing smaller versions of your regular collaterals can be done with the help of a professional and expert printer. Ask for sample collaterals so you can choose which size can best suit you and your budget. Many will even go further as allow you to customize your dimensions.
The bottom line is for you to consider your marketing needs and your budget. The more focused you are with your marketing strategy, the more you will save on costs when it’s time for you to print your collaterals.
Not lash, but slash out. This means slashing out some of your elements in your letterhead printing for example, and adjusting your letterhead printing costs so your budget can accommodate your project.
One best way to do it is to adjust the size of your collaterals. Adjust it to one that is smaller than your regular size. This way, you can save on the costs of printing smaller versions of your collaterals, and not overspend your budget as well.
Printing small can be very significant to your budget as it allows you to save on your costs. Looking at your collaterals per piece, you can save more if you print a mini-collateral which can slash the price into half. Ask your < target="_blank" href="http://www.printplace.com/printing/letterhead-printing.aspx">letterheads company if you can do it for your collaterals. I’m sure they will be very accommodating.
The downside however, is that you might lose some space for your content. Technically, your mini-collateral will now have less space to hold all the things that you want to include in it. Nevertheless, the trick is to provide a good layout and adapt your format to the new smaller dimension. Another way is to make your templates scalable so that even if you lessen or increase your size it won’t matter at all. As always, a professional letterheads company company can help you deal with your collateral if you want to go this route.
Another advantage of printing small is that you can maximize your distribution process. With smaller versions of your collaterals, you can print a much bigger number to accommodate as many target clients as possible.
You don’t have to sweat it out. Printing smaller versions of your regular collaterals can be done with the help of a professional and expert printer. Ask for sample collaterals so you can choose which size can best suit you and your budget. Many will even go further as allow you to customize your dimensions.
The bottom line is for you to consider your marketing needs and your budget. The more focused you are with your marketing strategy, the more you will save on costs when it’s time for you to print your collaterals.
Content that can Drive your Readers Nuts
The real value of having a marketing campaign is to get target clients to consider your message and eventually respond to it. That is every business owner and marketer’s desire when designing their marketing collaterals such as note cards. To get readers to respond or the personalized notecards fail to promote your business.
To get target clients to respond to your message, you need to give them a good reason to do so with your note cards. The response to your personalized notecards may be in the form of a phone call, a click to your website, or even a visit to your shop – the bottom line is to get them so interested that they would want to get in touch with you. You need to get them to move their behinds and compel the readers into action. In addition, the easiest way to achieve this is to create a title and content that can drive them nuts.
Yea, you heard me right. What you wrote can drive your readers nuts in your collaterals such as your personalized notecards. Your words in your content and title can provide your collaterals with compelling words to make the reader call you, visit your store or browse your website.
When printing your note cards, your task is to create the most compelling set of words that makes your readers want to get in touch with you. When writing your copy, you need to think of what can make your target clients hurdle obstacles such as driving 30 miles just to get to your shop. Ask yourself at least 10 questions that are so penetrating that your readers would even dream about it in their sleep. From the 10, you can then choose 3 or 4 from your list that will burn in your reader’s mind and make them itch to get to their phones and call you even in the middle of the night.
Similarly, your title should also be able to stop them cold and have them say, “I can’t believe it!” When you have such a title in your personalized notecards, you paralyze your readers with total amazement that they would not want to pass up the opportunity to take you up on your offer. Make them go crazy with your title by making an outstanding promise. Also, make sure that you deliver. You have to walk the talk.
The point: get them so excited with your literature that it gets your phone ringing off the hook. Moreover, do not settle for just ‘good enough’. For you to get readers really interested, you need to be great, more than anything else.
To get target clients to respond to your message, you need to give them a good reason to do so with your note cards. The response to your personalized notecards may be in the form of a phone call, a click to your website, or even a visit to your shop – the bottom line is to get them so interested that they would want to get in touch with you. You need to get them to move their behinds and compel the readers into action. In addition, the easiest way to achieve this is to create a title and content that can drive them nuts.
Yea, you heard me right. What you wrote can drive your readers nuts in your collaterals such as your personalized notecards. Your words in your content and title can provide your collaterals with compelling words to make the reader call you, visit your store or browse your website.
When printing your note cards, your task is to create the most compelling set of words that makes your readers want to get in touch with you. When writing your copy, you need to think of what can make your target clients hurdle obstacles such as driving 30 miles just to get to your shop. Ask yourself at least 10 questions that are so penetrating that your readers would even dream about it in their sleep. From the 10, you can then choose 3 or 4 from your list that will burn in your reader’s mind and make them itch to get to their phones and call you even in the middle of the night.
Similarly, your title should also be able to stop them cold and have them say, “I can’t believe it!” When you have such a title in your personalized notecards, you paralyze your readers with total amazement that they would not want to pass up the opportunity to take you up on your offer. Make them go crazy with your title by making an outstanding promise. Also, make sure that you deliver. You have to walk the talk.
The point: get them so excited with your literature that it gets your phone ringing off the hook. Moreover, do not settle for just ‘good enough’. For you to get readers really interested, you need to be great, more than anything else.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)