Thursday, October 22, 2009

Everyone Looks the Same! What Do I Do?

Have you been in an environment that caused you to feel cramped, closed-in and left you desperately grasping for air? For those of us that have experienced such an environment, it is often one we would rather forget about. Well, today's post is a personal testimony of how I grasped for air and demonstrates that being uniquely different can separate your brand. Therefore, I will reveal my personal brand story.

I recently interviewed for a Group Study Exchange sponsored by Rotary International District 7570. Thanks to my work at The WIN Firm, I am blessed to have opportunities of growing both professionally and personally, which afforded me the chance to interview for a business exchange program sponsored by Rotary. How did this interview bring out all the advice, strategy and creativity The WIN Firm provides our clients? Read on!

When I first arrived in Roanoke, Va. to interview, I was introduced to my fellow morning candidates. Upon first glance, I realized that I was dressed exactly like each of the male candidates: Black Suit, Tie and Black Shoes. Sound familiar for many brands out there today? "Wow!" I thought. I had a brand identity crisis first thing, and knew that I needed to differentiate myself from the other brands. After all, I help clients communicate their brand everyday at The WIN Firm.

I introduced myself to each of the candidates and the Rotarian that was responsible for facilitating conversations among our group. By the way, there were a total of 14 candidates to fill 8 slots. As soon as I set down, I began conducting brand research. I engaged my fellow candidates in conversation, asking each of them unique questions that revealed their brand a.k.a. who they were. It almost felt like I was doing WIN Firm work on my day off!

Using the information I received from our conversations, I began to deduce each brand in the room and focus on key attributes each brand had that were similar to my brand: ME. As we went around the room answering questions, I noticed emerging brand characteristics that fit the Rotarian mold. Each candidate was strong, but I knew there were features my brand (I) had that also fit the Rotarian mold unlike any features I discovered in conversations. Therefore, I gathered all of this information and prepared my brand position for the BIG step: The INTERVIEW!

I have interviewed with big corporations on behalf of The WIN Firm, but this interview was so much more intimidating than any I have experienced!

My time arrived, and now it was time for me to position my brand. I walked into the interview room facing 25 plus business professionals all wandering what I had to offer them that was any better than anyone else. These were Rotarians that nominated other candidates and wanted their nominees to win.

What did I do?

I positioned my brand as a: Team Player with Integrity and Leadership qualities. How did I communicate this brand?

As soon as I sat down, I made sure to stay on the edge of my seat and leave my body open. Yes, body language is important my friends. I immediately glanced around the room reading everyone's name card and looked at as many facial expressions as possible prior to my first question. As soon as I was asked a question, I repeated the questioner's name and the question prior to my response. I answered every question with the intent of positioning my brand of being a Team Player, having Integrity and possessing Leadership qualities.

You see, I made sure that the three characteristics I possessed were communicated in every single question I answered. I penetrated the market, in this case, the room, with my brand qualities. I remained strict and focused on ensuring my brand was present during the most difficult 15 minutes of my life.

Perhaps my strongest perceived value was GREATLY stressed near the interview's end. My brand attribute of Leadership clearly was vital to my being accepted into the GSE program. Therefore, I made sure to demonstrate this part of my brand through my questions. I took charge of the interviewers by asking them in-depth questions regarding their desired outcomes for this GSE program and what their expectations were of us, the candidates/brands, upon our return. What benefit could our brands bring to Rotary during this exchange?

Understanding that there were goals on the other side of the table, I was able to position my brand effectively. My brand had similar qualities as the other brands and it looked exactly the same. However, I positioned my brand as the brand Rotary was seeking to integrate into their organization, which has now afforded me the opportunity to participate in a Group Study Exchange in May 2010.

Blessings,
Chris Teague
WIN Firm
chris@thewinfirm.com
www.thewinfirm.com

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Smacked in the FACE!

Good day everyone! I hope this blog finds each of you in good spirits, and if you are feeling down, please know I am wishing you well right now. Today is another account of our marketing tactics as told in real time. The title, Smacked in the FACE, is a branding lesson for those of you caught in an advertising budget that is not producing the results you expected. Ready!

Many companies come up with a unique way to attract more customers and get so excited about their new marketing strategy that they forget about their brand. When working with a client in the automotive industry, we interviewed the client for two weeks off and on. We dug deep, seeking to find who the client was underneath the masks of cars, gimmicks and poorly produced ads. What we found was a client dedicated to working hard and truly cared about the community. However, the problem for this client was that the company had a poor reputation of working hard at "tricking" you into coming in and discovering there were no "real deals."

When we revealed the fact that our client was perceived as a basic "cheater", we really stepped on some toes. However, we were not the ones stepping; it was the potential customers. Talk about a smack in the face! Our client was furious!! After careful talking and even mediating, we were able to resume our strategy of changing this perception. We recommended to our client that a branding initiative was needed. It was time to revisit who the client was and let the public know.

We created a campaign that focused solely on creating a positive experience for customers. Instead of disproportionate guerrillas flying high overhead, we took a straight-forward approach and directly integrated the client's brand with the customer. How did we achieve this feat?

Any automotive client will tell you that selling a car comes from test drives, and that is the reason for so many gimmicks. Knowing a simple sales to drive conversion provided by our client, we created a campaign to sell cars while promoting the client's brand versus using gimmicks. The campaign worked as follows:

1. We researched the local market and discovered a hidden gem: a wavepool in a small town about 30 minutes from the client's location. This was also a town with no automotive dealers. Untapped market...yeah! We visited with the town manager and arranged a community pool party to be sponsored by our client.

2. We partnered with a local t-shirt vendor in the town and had the vendor create t-shirts for the event. We wanted to be as authentic as possible, so we made sure to keep everything local. Why? Branding is about being authentic!

3. We planned the event to compliment an already planned civil war exhibition taking place in the town. We had street teams of people handing out fliers for the pool party at the event, creating an "up-sale" for the exhibition, and ultimately providing something unexpected for tourists. This was a great move and made the town look nice!

4. We arranged for four specific vehicles to be on-site the day of the pool party. We opened up the cars for everyone to look in, and even offered test drives with one of our team members. We conducted the test drives to obtain research and to keep the campaign authentic. No salesmen ALLOWED!

5. As the party began, kids came pouring out from the neighborhoods, families that attended the exhibition brought their fliers, pizza was served and parents had fun test driving the vehicles while their children enjoyed a free night of fun. As people drove by, their curiosity won and they looked at the vehicles that each were clearly branded with our client's information all over the vehicles.

The night ended with the best possible feedback I could think of:
We would like to thank the client for showing interest in our town and letting these kids swim. What is the client's address so I can thank the client?

Wow! Talk about integrating a brand into an event and being authentic.

Blessings,
Chris

Chris Teague
V.P. WIN Firm
chris@thewinfirm.com

Friday, October 9, 2009

Are YOU Awake?

"If I had a lighter in hand, and some oily rags...is that what it'd take to wake you from your sleep?" - Anti-Flag

Did I capture your attention for a moment? Good day to all following us at The WIN Firm. As a marketing firm that creates ideas for YOU, we strive to always engage our client's audience. Don't we all? Today's post is a little bit of history about where we come up with the messages that captivate and leave a lasting impact on audiences we are paid to reach, and the ones we reach just for fun.

It is 1980, Operation Ivy has released another record on the West Coast, the scene of PUNK is emerging to take hold of music for a brief moment. Being credited with the look that is PUNK, Malcolm McLaren displays his expertise of marketing by creating a band based on the brand of PUNK. That band? The notorious Sex Pistols. What is the brand of PUNK? Attitude. Director, Don Letts, does a superb job telling the story of PUNK in his film, Punk:Attitude. From this scene came the beginning of a marketing firm that had no idea it was going to be a marketing firm. Yes, The WIN Firm has deep roots in the PUNK scene.

Move ahead in time to 2007. A young, outspoken marketer figures that playing in his current band is not reaching as many people as he would like. He decides to show Marketed America he can play with the big boys and begins seeking PUNK minded marketers to help him reshape the scene we call: "Marketing." Blessed with spiritual guidance and faith in Christ (very PUNK for the PUNK Scene), this young man discovers there are people just like him with the same ideas: Marketing has gone numb because it is being done by boring individuals that spend too much time on the computer and not enough time living amongst the people.

That young man? Yes, it is me. However, looking at me, you would not see me as the stereotypical PUNK Rocker at all. Having played in numerous PUNK bands in college and even through grad school, I always stressed the importance of making my voice heard over wearing labeled clothing. So, how does this background help The WIN Firm? Well, it helps us out a lot! Our CMO is branded and trademarked as the Queen of Color. How did she get that title? She knows color better than anyone else out there. Just ask our clients. In fact, she shows clients that color is attitude, emotion and everything we are as people. Therefore, our CMO helps clients find the essence of PUNK in their color choices: Attitude.

Our Chief Designer makes sure we stick to a balanced attack when crafting messages for our clients. The attack is to get your attention, then make you remember us. How is this achieved? Just like PUNK, we make sure you look at us. However, we refrain from merely offering you a pretty picture, cute commercial or anything those over-paid marketers do for you. We keep things simple, homemade if possible and follow our pictures with messages that reach you on the surface and below. We engage you emotionally. We bring you into a mood by understanding your Attitude, which enables our clients to fully integrate their brand into your thought processes.

Today, The WIN Firm is two years old, but has been blessed to work on projects for companies like Nike, American Express, FreshAire Paints and NASCAR. The best part, is our experience with these projects could only be accomplished by the individuals that make up The WIN Firm. Our Attitude helps us get fun projects, and helps our clients reach you more than their competitors. Therefore, we are a firm of Attitude. We are PUNK and enjoy every bit of our jobs.

Blessings,
Chris Teague

Chris Teague
V.P.
WIN Firm

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Branding in Northeast Tennessee

Welcome back everyone! We at The WIN Firm have been busy the past three weeks traveling from meeting to meeting, and have so much to tell. Today's post is a brief overview of something we have been working on for quite some time. Being a marketing firm that creates concepts for clients, we decided it was time for us to swallow that promotional/branding pill. Therefore, we are going to let you know a little bit about our intentions of branding The WIN Firm in Northeast Tennessee.

Have you ever hopped online and began searching for marketing companies to help you with an upcoming campaign? How many local firms appeared in your search? Before you even start complaining about SEO and PPC campaigns, we are not even going that route, so please hang on. My point is, that many marketing firms refrain from branding themselves for one reason or another and you often are left wandering where the talent is in your town. We are one of those companies that has an incredible list of BIG clients to be unknown in our own town due to our lack of effective branding efforts. My friends, it's time for us to brand.

Today, I made it a point to tweet about The WIN Firm, drive people to www.thewinfirm.com, invite people to come learn about what we do and followed those efforts up on LinkedIn. Therefore, it is fitting that I tell you a little bit about The WIN Firm on today's post. Don't worry, you will still receive updates of our projects and "Hidden Secrets" to marketing. Yeah right, marketing is no secret, so don't let any of those so-called creative agencies tell you their tactics are kept hush, hush. So, what are we doing to brand The WIN Firm?

Step 1: Develop a comprehensive marketing plan for this fourth quarter. The plan is based on various ways to communicate our brand: A firm that creates ideas for YOU. Within this plan, we must analyze all local competition and see what efforts other agencies are making in the local market. After evaluation of the market, refrain from being competitive by creating a unique value proposition for our clients that no other group offers. In fact, we plan on collaborating with several agencies in Northeast Tennessee.

Step 2: Create various collateral that represents are brand: A firm that creates ideas for YOU. We have been redesigning our entire look at The WIN Firm and now have a cohesive look to all collateral we will be using to reach businesses and invite them to discover our passion for enhancing marketing initiatives. Want to see our portfolio? No problem, we will have it with us wherever we go.

Step 3: Develop relationships with local non-profits and schools. This step is vital to our growth as a firm. We seek to always utilize our God-given talents for marketing to help others, and being directly involved in our community is a must. We will use the power of press to communicate our brand: A firm that creates ideas for YOU. Everyone in Northeast Tennessee will discover that we are a marketing firm dedicated to leaving fruitful footprints, and part of our efforts will be to help others through resources, time and support.

Thank you for reading today's post. Stay tuned for Friday's post...It will be NICE!

Who is The WIN Firm? The WIN Firm is a marketing firm that creates ideas for YOU. Come get to know us. Email me: chris@thewinfirm.com, if you like and I will be glad to share our portfolio with you. Come to our site: www.thewinfirm.com, and see how it evolves over the next few weeks as we post new case studies.

Blessings,
Chris Teague
V.P.
WIN Firm