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9 Ways to Lose Business Using Twitter

angryhansvandenberg30Companies and inviduals alike have been flocking to Twitter.  Many companies are using Twitter to enage their customers in meaningful conversations, helping with support issues and questions, and gathering feedback to improve their products and services.  But some companies are just using Twitter as another broadcast medium, which can actually be harmful.  When using Twitter for business here’s what you shouldn’t do:

  1. Talk only about your company and products – Twitter is a social media for having conversations (that means two-way communication).
  2. Ignore what people are saying about you – Twitter gives your customers a voice.  Pay attention to what they’re saying.
  3. Fail to Respond – For very large companies with many followers, it can be difficult to respond to every request, but you should try as hard as possible.
  4. Talk about inappropriate subjects – This happens most often when personal and business subjects mix, but it could also be talking about controversial subjects.  Just keep in mind that whatever you say is out there for everyone to see.
  5. Sell to followers – Obviously some self-promotion is fine, but it should not be the main use of your Twitter account.  And you shouldn’t direct message every follower with links to your product or promotions.
  6. Ask for contacts – If people are interested in your products or services, they’ll contact you.  If you provide useful and helpful information, people will start to follow you.  People are very protective of their coworkers, friends and family, so don’t violate their trust.
  7. Ask people to promote your stuff –  If they find what you say valuable enough, they’ll tell others. Asking for a rt occasionally may be ok, but constantly bugging people to promote you will just annoy them.
  8. Don’t do anything constructive with feedback – Your customers are offering feedback because they care (if they didn’t, they wouldn’t bother).  If you don’t do anything useful with the feedback, they’ll stop giving it and it’ll be much more difficult to satisfy them.
  9. Take more than you give – If you fail to offer useful and helpful information, offer support and wisdom, and give information, your customers will stop listening and go elsewhere.

I think a lot of it comes down to acting the same on Twitter as you would in person.

(photo by hansvandenberg30)

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Advantages & Disadvantages of Different Branding Strategies

brandingsarahjaneOn Monday, we talked a bit about various branding strategies and why you should consider picking one to help your business and marketing strategies. With each branding strategy comes both advantages and disadvantages that you should be aware of.

  • Corporate Brand – For companies that only offer one benefit to a customer, they usually use a corporate brand (unless they have an overall holding company).
    • Advantages: Everything the company does is attributed to its brand.
    • Disadvantages: Everything the company does is attributed to its brand.
  • Distinct Brand – Some companies choose to release each product or service as its own brand (ex. Proctor & Gamble).
    • Advantages: Each product stands alone so failures do not affect the entire company or other products.  Distinct benefits for each product can be directly attributed to a specific brand.
    • Disadvantages: Each product will require its own marketing strategy and budget, with no synergy possible between products.  Successes will not be directly attributed to the company’s brand.
  • Hybrid Brand – When a product extends the benefit of an overall brand or company, some companies use a hybrid branding strategy.
    • Advantages: Marketing and branding can take advantage of the overall brand for budgets and reputation.
    • Disadvantages: Any problems or negative press for either the product or the overall brand will affect both brands.
  • Umbrella Brand – If a company offers different products with different benefits, but they all extend the same value to the customer, sometimes they are all offered under an overall brand (ex. Nike – athletic gear).
    • Advantages: Each product contributes to the shared value offered to the customer.  Marketing and branding strategies can be at the shared value level, touting all the specific benefits.
    • Disadvantages: Any product can negatively affect the overall brand and specific benefits may be muddled in the overall shared value.

Whichever branding strategy you choose, once you are aware of the advantages and disadvantages of each, you can take those into account when preparing your marketing strategies.

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(photo by Sarah Jane @ Flickr CC)

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Choosing a Branding Strategy is Fundamental

strategyhikingartist1Choosing a branding strategy is fundamental to properly marketing a product.  How you decide to brand your product or service will affect everything from advertising to pricing.  You may already have a branding strategy and not realize it, but here are some of the options:

  • Corporate Brand – Many companies, such as Target, offer only one type benefit to the customer (“design for all”).  Even though they sell a wide variety of products, there is only one value they add.  In this case, the brand is the same as the company.
  • Distinct Brand – Some companies produce a wide variety of products that each have distinct benefits to the customer.  There is no value in using the same brand for each product since the brand would then stand for a mishmash of benefits.  Companies such as Proctor & Gamble (P&G) us this type of strategy as they brand each of their products distinctly (Ivory, Pampers, etc.).
  • Hybrid Brand – Sometimes it makes sense to leverage the company name or an overall brand in addition to a separate name for the product.  This usually works best when the product brand extends the benefits offered by the overall brand, and is very common in the automobile industry (ex. Ford Taurus).
  • Umbrella Brand – When your company offers multiple products that each have a distinct benefit, but together offer a shared value to the customer, you may want to consider an umbrella brand (ex. Nike – athletic gear).

Whatever branding strategy you pick, be aware that it may affect the branding and marketing of your company and other products.  If you only have one product right now,  your choice will mostly be whether you are going to brand the product with your company or not.  Once you have a branding strategy in mind, it makes marketing and advertising decisions much easier.

(photo by HikingArtist.com @ Flickr CC)

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