Can a Small Business Build an Unforgettable Brand on a Low Budget?
by Fred Roed on 30/06/08 at 6:30 am
15 comments
Over the past few weeks my company, World Wide Creative, has been strategising how to evolve our own brand. We’re a web company that helps other companies build their brands online, but nowhere near as much energy and thought has been put into our own brand.
Our brand message is ‘Creating Profitable Websites‘. The two tenets that makes up our brand promise are usability and creativity. Now, the challenge is to turn the magnifying glass on ourselves, and, strangely enough, it’s harder than you’d think. We aim to create something really memorable, more than just the business card / letterhead / brochure website way of branding. So I went looking around the net for inspiration. I found some examples of companies pushing the boundaries of creativity to build their brands. It was nice to find that a good idea and a small budget can be used to create a really memorable message.
It would be great to see more South African small / medium size businesses using memorable brand building techniques. Who knows – maybe even mine will make one of these lists one day?
Karate school:
Camera promotion:
Drunk driving message:
Beer promotional item:
Ironing service:
FedEx promotional item:
Yoga centre:
Sunstroke Prevention:
Sources:
DesignFloat.com
Toxel.com
Dezinehq.com
Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. Fred is the CEO of web marketing company World Wide Creative and the co-founder of online learning portal Heavy Chef. Fred loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. Follow Fred on Twitter here. View more articles by Fred Roed.
naeem
Jun 30th, 2008
We did one a few years ago.
“Put your car on Steroids” – i still have the advert lying around somewhere. ( i can email it to you guys?
It got good response with the public but had even better feedback with our suppliers, potential sponsors & partnerships. Since then we’v gotten promotions and partnerships with the likes of Channel O, MK Tv, etc
Bad Entrepreneur
Jun 30th, 2008
Some nice examples there.
I still worry that many SME’s worry too much about the “soft” aspects such as marketing – and don’t do enough to get out from behind their desks and sell their businesses.
I know from the entrepreneurs I see that many of them sit behind a desk “strategising” branding campaigns instead of working on people interaction.
Yes – marketing is important – but SME’s worry too much about soft marketing and not enough around the harder more definitive aspects some times. This focus on the softer side of it means they blow a lot of time and money but don’t necessarily get out and deal with people who are going to spend money with them NOW…
Kirst
Jun 30th, 2008
Totally agree with Bad Entrepreneur.
Take the first advert for the Karate School for example. I know for a fact that this ad was created as a proactive piece by an ad agency just so that they could win an award.
I don’t believe it did much to build the brand of the karate school. I don’t think it got them new clients.
A truly small business like that would do much better to spend money on sponsoring a demonstration at a school, buying small-space ads in a local newspaper, developing a website or distributing a knock-and-drop flyer in their local area.
Clever marketing is great. But clever ‘advertising’ is not always clever marketing.
Fred
Jun 30th, 2008
@Naeem, please send me the ad (info at ideate.co.za) I’d love to see it.
@bad entrepreneur – I think you’re right that there are loads who don’t come out from their desks. However, I think there are also many who’ve tidily grown their small business by doing the basics right and then all of a sudden found themselves in a crowded space where they are no different from the next guy. At this point, I think it cannot hurt to think differently about how they position their brand message.
@Kirst – I’m not sure I agree here. I think it depends on what you’re defining. Marketing is all about initiating and maintaining profitable relationships. Brand building is merely a facet of marketing; it’s about creating awareness about your brand, i.e. leaving an indelible impression on your customer. I think the fact that the karate school got their brand see all over the world may not have got them direct business, but it certainly raised awareness about their business – which is what brand building is about. It contributed to their marketing effort… which can only help.
Bad Entrepreneur
Jul 1st, 2008
Fred…
Interesting debate brewing here methinks…
” I think the fact that the karate school got their brand see all over the world may not have got them direct business, but it certainly raised awareness about their business – which is what brand building is about”….
I disagree here… The ad is clever but I have no idea who the karate school is or where it is… If the school is in China then it is of no value to me surely??
I still reckon its a case of soft marketing vs. hard marketing. If I were running that karate school and my ad agency came back and told me how much exposure they had gotten and the ad had won an award etc I’m not so sure I’d be particularly impressed if it didn’t result in business. Exposure is one thing – deliverables is another??
Fred
Jul 1st, 2008
I’m not convinced. I think that it’s a moot point until someone can actually come up with factual evidence whether it led to sales or not – BUT, I’m 100% sure that it wasn’t detrimental to their business.
I agree that a small business owner must do the basics first, but after that, surely it cannot hurt to experiment with some creative thinking? Why does it have to be soft marketing *versus* hard marketing; can it not be a combination of both?
My overriding point is: think different, or you’ll blend in with the background. This is, after all, the ‘attention economy’.
Bad Entrepreneur
Jul 1st, 2008
And now the debate begins….
“Can a Small Business Build an Unforgettable Brand on a Low Budget?” – this was the title of the post…
My answer is that it using the examples above I don’t think it can. That is advertising that wins awards but not necessarily win you business… (That’s in direct response to your question)
I agree 100% that creative thinking is important for SME’s to stand out – I just don’t believe the above represents the creative thinking they should necessarily be looking at.
Kirst
Jul 1st, 2008
I’m afraid I’m with Bad Entrepreneur.
I agree that you should always strive to be creative in your marketing. Hell, I’m actually an advertising creative myself. But I really feel that a small company shouldn’t spend huge amounts on (for example) a highly creative print ad in a national magazine without a strong call to action, when a straight-forward knock-and-drop with telephone number and web address would have got them a lot more clients (for a LOT less).
Lets take the karate ad as an example again. I think a local Karate school would get a lot more customers from an impactful and highly relevant message – (perhaps focusing on the need for Self Defense in the South African environment?)
But I will say this – it may not be right to have an overly creative message for a Karate school (for example), BUT it is very important for your company, World Wide Creative, to be highly creative in your brand building. After all, that is what you profess to do.
So a creative email or banner campaign would convince me you know what you’re talking about.
I know we are blurring the argument between EFFECTIVE advertising and BRAND BUILDING. But I believe that in the case of a small company specifically, good advertising MUST do both.
Fred
Jul 1st, 2008
@BE: ‘that is advertising that wins awards but not necessarily win you business’ – this is not answering the question. We’re not talking specifically about *winning business* – the question is on *unforgettable brand*. Branding is a facet of marketing. Marketing wins you business, and marketing is the sum of many parts. Only when these parts work together, do you win business. Once again, my point here is that creativity will assist the process, and is vitally important when you need to rise above the noise.
@Kirst: ‘a small company shouldn’t spend huge amounts on (for example) a highly creative print ad in a national magazine’ – this is pretty much the opposite of what we’re saying here. In fact, you go onto reinforce my (slightly laboured) point, that creativity, whether on a knock-and-drop or on a banner campaign will play a big role in the message being memorable.
Kirst
Jul 1st, 2008
Fred, maybe I’m missing something, but the the Karate School advert is just that – a highly creative advert printed in a national magazine with practically no call to action. It’s not a guerrilla marketing piece.
All I am saying is I don’t believe this is the right thing to do for a small business. Creative, yes. But I don’t believe it will build the brand. People may go: ‘oh, that’s clever’ but I don’t think it’ll make them say ‘wow, I should join up’ or even ‘hey, they look like a good Karate school, I’ll remember their name.
Here is a good example of the type of thing they should be doing. It’s cheap (basically free), highly targeted, and shows more of a benefit (ie Self Defense).
Anyway, I could carry on with a lengthy argument, but let me say that I agree with you about creativity. I just feel that a small business needs to concentrate on strong call to actions and not so much on branding… and so the creativity can’t jut be ‘oh that’s clever’ – it has to make me think about the actual product, not the ad agency that came up with it.
(Thanks for the debate…)
Bad Entrepreneur
Jul 1st, 2008
Unforgettable brand?? Surely your business becomes less forgettable the longer you are around?
Clever ideas and gimmicks do not necessarily = unforgettable brands do they?
Fred
Jul 2nd, 2008
As tbey say, ‘Aint Debate Great?’
Kirst: Agreed. Knife example is beautiful.
BE: No they don’t, but once again, creativity + doing the basics right does help your brand be more memorable than your competitors.
In an industry like mine, when there are lots of people doing the same thing, I think this is pretty important.
Bad Entrepreneur
Jul 2nd, 2008
Haha so what was the conclusion:
“Can a Small Business Build an Unforgettable Brand on a Low Budget?”
Maybe??
Brady
Sep 17th, 2008
I agree with BE and Kirst. After pondering it for a while (the flat,unispiring one at the top) i just cant come to any other conclusion except that this should stand a testimony to just how self seeking some people can be. It’s completely wrong, it’s a cheap piece of trashy art, without shame. It smacks of inappropriateness, to such a degree, actually flaunting and laying bear their complete indifference and lack of empathy, as if this were something their poor clients should be gratefull for. WTF! I think they should go back to shooing ice in a glass and leave work that requires real depth for people who give a shit.
Fred
Sep 17th, 2008
er… Brady, you forgot your meds again.