Not Just For the Sexy

With spring upon us, I'm doing a little "spring cleaning" of sorts when it comes to my email, more specifically, my saved messages. I stumbled upon this article from last fall, but thought it still quite relevant and worth passing along with a few of my in-the-margin notes.

What initially struck me about this Houston Business Journal article that published August 31, 2007, was that while any small biz can take the message to heart, the b2b folks out there are the intended audience in my opinion.

Branding isn't just for the "sexy" companies in the marketplace. Even if you're b2b, people still hold a "gut feeling" about your business/product or service. Why do I say people, if it's b2b we're talking about? Well, last I checked, companies were made up of people.

This quote by Ms. McGee from the Biz J article pretty much sums it up: "In a business-to-business world, there is a perception that it's all about facts and numbers, but a company's reputation does come into play."

Tune your customers in by pulling your brand message through all your marketing communications venues: trade show booths, website, blog, PR, advertising, etc. Don't confuse your customer. Tell them who you are, why you're different and why they should care. Don't stop with saying it once, tell them again, again, and again.

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2007/09/03/focus3.html?b=1188792000^1512805&surround=etf