Issue 2  

Stepping Back Is Not All Bad When Strategizing  

Good business decisions can only be made when you don’t let your emotions rule.  More than anything….you never want to implement a plan out of anger.  It is more than tempting to choose a strategy that you may think could get back at your competitor, or you are upset with something a customer/client said, or you want to get back at a particular organization.  Well you get the picture.  More businesses and organizations than I can count have harmed their brand and bottom line by not stepping back and truly evaluating long-term implications of their decisions.  It is also a slippery slope when your staff recognizes the “getting back at” attitude rather than a “stepping back from” thought process.  They will emulate you which will in turn create a disrespect of your brand.  

Logo Colors  

So we all know about logo colors, how important they are and it identifies our brand.  HOWEVER…..notice I said, “it identifies” your brand.  Your BRAND is a whole lot more than your logo colors.  Yes, you should always use your colors but don’t get overly concerned if it is a shade off.   The idea is not to use green when your logo is royal.   As an example,  here are varied shades of  green, green, green.  Those shades may fall within what we call a closest match.  What you could object to is  green, green ….very different.  Or….  red, red.  It can get very costly when ordering imprint, embroidery and/or print materials to always get exact match.  In fact, some businesses are totally confused about what their real logo colors are because a printer may not be able to match a PMS color to CMYK.   My own logo was such a challenge that I ended up changing the purple to a lighter shade.  Now working with a client that one of their colors is salmon color.  Guaranteed there will be many versions of that color.  Point is….don’t pay extra dollars to get exact match unless it is way off because as long as it is not salmon vs. salmon you are not harming your brand recognition.  It is also perfectly OK and exceptable to use one-color to save money as well.  You can use your prominent color, black, white, gold or silver.  Never do an ad, whether in print or on TV and because you think another color rather than your logo colors would look better, change the color of your logo for the ad.  If it doesn’t blend in, that’s fine.  You want your logo to stand out.    

 Acts of Kindness and Respect  

Tough economy has resulted in our clients spending less.  There still is business out there…..someone else is going to get it if you don’t.  Also, don’t forget about nurturing your current clients.  What are one of the ways we can stand out because we are probably already lowering some of our pricing? I’ll lead by example……acquired two new large organization clients in December……one because I gave her son a gift at a trade show and the other because I was the only business that answered her email request for quote and followed up with a phone call the same day.  Why other like businesses didn’t respond, baffles me, but certainly to my delight because I have already earned this large organization’s trust and my brand is intact.  Don’t under estimate the value of kindness, respect, integrity and honesty….especially in this economic climate.  

January 2011 ~ Issue 2 

This Quarterly Newsletter will offer summarized tips on the importance of Branding.  Next Quarter we will touch on important choices you could make to protect your Brand personality and the importance of some over others.  If you do not wish to receive “The Hot Iron”, kindly email me at Diane@marketingbyDM.com.  “The Hot Iron” is cool when used for Branding.