Is now the time to refresh?

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With the constraints and challenges brought on by Covid19 over these last 2+ years, we face a continual evolving landscape in how we conduct business, attract customers and succeed.

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Right now, the window of opportunity seems to be opening—even if just a crack. More business leaders are circling back to their marketing and asking, “do I need to freshen things up?, should I rebrand?, how can I stimulate new activity?”

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First, before creating new graphics, messaging or promo materials, it’s a good time to refocus on your culture (which really IS your brand) and what you do to draw customers to YOU rather than your competition.

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Understanding the Value of Surprise and Delight

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There are dozens of moving parts to keep your business running smoothly and securely. But customers rarely see these moving parts (nor should they). What customers see is what they expect to see: the end result of what they paid for. For the provider, it’s a job well done. For the consumer, that only means that the business fulfilled its end of the bargain — hardly something to get excited about.

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What really wows clients isn’t the stellar locations or high-quality conference rooms. What impresses them, despite paying to be in these centers, are the details: a genuine greeting, the mouthwash and lint rollers in the bathroom, or fresh baked cookies in a meeting. Even and off-the-cuff conversation about home, sports, kids or pets that makes a personal connection.

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A “Surprise and delight” approach that delivers that extra level of service and targets people who notice (and talk about you) can turn your biggest potential detractors into your most vocal supporters.

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It’s about creating a culture where the extra mile is always the goal, creating meaningful, high-touch customer experiences. Loyalty is won by going above and beyond — not only by meeting service needs, but also by exceeding them.

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Take the time to do little things that people will find remarkable, and you will both surprise and delight them every single time.

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Going the extra mile, giving that extra effort is the difference between being a Player VS a Champion. Here are a few examples:

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When Stephon Curry had to change his shot technique in high school, do you think his friends cared how late he stayed up practicing? How many of his friends were willing to show up an hour early to practice, or stay after, waiting for him to swish five straight free throws before calling it a day? When does your practice begin? When are you satisfied enough to call it quits for the day?

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Michael Phelps could have stopped at 19 gold medals, but he wanted more, and he wanted them bad enough to be at the pool day after day at 4am. “I can’t remember the last day I didn’t train,” he said. Can you?

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Willis Reed 69/70 World Champs. Badly injured his knee but somehow came out to play, compete and win.

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Kerri Strug performed her Team USA Olympic Gold clinching vault with a badly sprained ankle  ’96 Olympics

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Michael Jordan — played with the flu…38pts..game 5 of 97 Finals

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Emmitt Smith separates shoulder and plays through the game and WINS

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Brett Favre plays Monday Night Game same day his Dad passes away

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Freshen up your delivery

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Once you have a handle on the truth of your brand and how you (and your teams) make a difference, then examine your marketing tools: your website, sales collateral, advertising, video, social media, pr and more. Ask yourself, “does it match the spirit of our brand?”, “is the look and feel and messaging consistent across all of our efforts?” “is this how we want to project our business to customers?” That type of self-examination should reveal how you can improve the performance of your marketing and what needs your attention most.

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If you could be in front of your customers and prospects live and in person everyday, marketing would seem simpler wouldn’t it?  Fortunately, we have a wide mix of marketing and communications tools to help project your message and win customers. A new logo can breathe new life and energy into your marketplace and project a new position to your target customers. Revising your color palette in your materials and online can project a more fitting personality.  Updating your website in its content and presentation can better inform your prospects and even set you up stronger to win more business.  How you use email, digital media, video, and social media to enhance your message delivery and consistently sell is critical in today’s marketing landscape.

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Now is the time to examine all of your assets and marketing arsenal. Decide how to project what’s new, your relevance and your uniqueness to draw customers in.  New design, new advertising, and new sales materials are easy to produce. But, excellent and intelligentadvertising and design takes a keen understanding of your target customers and  refined levels of creativity and execution to break through and make a difference. You should seek and trust the direction and talents of marketing professionals if you want your spending to work hard for you.

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Successful companies know their brand and value their reputation.

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While people will commonly associate your brand with a logo or song or style of packaging, the truth is that your brand is more about your unique company culture and service reputation.

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Brands today:

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• prioritize BOTH the employee and the customer experience

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• 80% of businesses believe they deliver a ““superior” customer experience…..yet only 8% of customers believe they experience superior service from these same businesses.

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• get the basics right

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• Amazon knows their customers and entire business model is centered around keeping them happy.

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At the end of the day, the strength of your brand lies in what people will feel about you, think about you, say about you, and even write about you when you’re not in the room. Your reputation and service culture are core to your success.  So, I ask, “how well is your marketing projecting the truth of your brand and supporting sales?”

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As Bonnie Raitt would advise, “give them something to talk about.” Let us help you make sure it’s positive!

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Tom McManimon, Founder & President

StimulusBrand Communications

1 Currier Way, Ewing , NJ 08628

T: 609.457.0161

E: tom@stimulusbrand.com

W: www.stimulusbrand.com