Yes, we all know how hard it is to build a brand in today’s economy. All of the tried and true marketing wisdom seems to be in question for new whiz kid technology brands as well as the blue chip brands. But here are three easy steps to having your brand remain strong and even accelerate, in these challenging times:

1. Have a point of difference: Yes, this is Marketing 101, but it’s surprising how many brands, seemingly in a panic over retaining old customers and gaining new ones, slowly, but surely, are moving away from this key basic. Having a point of difference means understanding your market needs, knowing what perceptual space each of your competitors has claimed and then (based on your brand’s core competencies) differentiating your market-relevant message so that it resounds and grabs the minds and hearts of your target audience.

2. Be consistent: Again, a basic that we were all taught in “packaged goods school.”  But, now consistency is what you need to convey not only in your paid advertising, but also in your social media, public relations, promotions, event marketing and especially in your customer service and employee communications.  If your customer service reps or employees can’t describe what your company and brand(s) stand for, you’re missing a great opportunity for the most natural viral campaign. Now, everyone is a star on Facebook – and they talk about their lives, including their work – make sure they are ambassadors, not complainers or destroyers of your positioning.

3. Measure, adjust, measure, adjust, measure, adjust: Well, you get the picture. This approach is common now in online advertising, BUT it needs to be applied to every facet of your brand’s marketing mix. Gone are the days when you implemented an “Annual Planning” cycle and re-wrote the next calendar or fiscal year’s plan to launch on a certain date.  The “measure, adjust, measure, adjust” approach must be built into each program.  When you are developing a promotion, from the onset, you need to know what the monthly, weekly and, dare I say it, daily success hurdles are that your brand needs to clear.  And, they must be actively managed on an ongoing basis to reallocate, increase support or pull the plug.

It’s back to school time (let’s face it, that feeling never goes away) and that can mean back to branding basics. If you want to learn specific examples of how these three easy steps for better ROI worked for marquise brands, visit the Success Stories section at www.domusinc.com If you want to chat online, leave a comment on this post. If you want to chat in person as to how Domus can help your brand, call or e-mail me directly at 215-772-2805 Or betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com.

Betty Tuppeny is the CEO and founder of Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact Betty directly at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

Picture a brand, very simply, as an ongoing conversation with a consumer, business decision maker or any audience you target.  From your brand’s first introduction, through ongoing discussions, encounters and experiences, you build a relationship with each person.  That relationship is fragile and can be breached at any point.  It takes focus, investment and consistent messaging to ‘brand’ – defined as winning the minds and, most importantly, the hearts, of your users.

Everything in the advertising/marketing industry has changed dramatically, yet, I believe, has stayed completely the same.  Recent research shows that consumers and businesses have shifted spending to brands that create, maintain and strengthen their relationships while delivering both value and values.  This reflects the principles of a classic marketing approach – listen to your target and speak with them, not at them.

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For those of us in marketing who watch Mad Men, we see a simpler, yet antiquated, ad industry business model. Paid media drives all of the billings and revenue, Public Relations and Market Research are burgeoning, yet-to-be-trusted disciplines, and the internet is a nickname for Betty Draper’s hair curlers covering.

But, in this TV show, the definition of what an ad agency delivers is crystal clear, and to me, always has been. In this seductive reenactment of the early days of the industry, Don Draper’s agency’s role is to understand a client’s business, develop the compelling point of difference for the brand, conceptualize the main campaign idea and then use mass media to turn up the noise level in the market.

It’s still the same today, only now agencies, on behalf of their clients’ brands, have a myriad of traditional and electronic avenues beyond mass media with which to build clients’ brands while keeping an ongoing conversation with their prospects, customers and referrers.

So, the answer to Advertising Age’s April 25, 2011 cover story, “Why Does it Seem Like Agency has become a Dirty Word?” is simple to me. It’s semantics – no matter what you call my company, Domus, Inc., we still have always taken the same approach, both before and since internet marketing became an option: 1) Define the market need, strategically position the client against that need (considering their core competencies and where their competitors are positioned) to create a compelling point of difference; 2) know their target audience(s) demographics, psychographics and media habits; 3) develop the creative concept that breaks through and has “legs” for promotion and longevity; 4) consistently implement a cohesive message; and 5) measure, measure, measure – and adjust accordingly to maximize our clients’ ROI on building not just their brands but, importantly, their businesses.

On the cover of the same issue, Advertising Age also points out that agencies are “ …starting venture funds, buying brands and developing products.” I don’t think this has as much to do with the industry’s identity crisis as much as it has to do with the fact that they need new accounts and revenue streams to survive and thrive, and they are finding more self-reliant, innovative means of accomplishing this objective. Kudos – entrepreneurial approaches helps the agencies as well as their clients and make for a more vibrant industry.

So I can’t resist the notion that, somewhere in a room, a group is brainstorming our industry bible, Advertising Age’s potential new name: some options are: We Brand for you but Can’t Brand Ourselves Age; Former Admen Turned Entrepreneurs Age; First We were an Ad Agency then a Digital Agency and Now a 360 Agency, and my favorite, We Don’t Know Who We Are Age. I suggest it remains Advertising Age and we stop talking to and about ourselves and focus on the clients’ needs in our ever-changing communications world. When marketing decision makers on the client side need help introducing, growing or saving a brand they say either “What does the ‘Agency” think? or “Do we need an new/different ‘Agency” to help us get this done?

If you want to learn about Domus, Inc., visit www.domusinc.com or call me directly at 215-772-2805. We know who we are and can deliver what you need.

Survey question: Marketing Directors, how do you define what your agency’s role? Do you still use the term agency?”

As unconventional as it sounds, if you’re not investing competitively in branding your product or service, consider dropping your marketing budget to the bottom line.

BUT, if you have the confidence of a branding vision, you can maximize your short-term and long-term return on investment by shouting more loudly than your competition and investing in a down economy.

The Back Part:

Marketers tend to pull back spending at the first signal of the economy weakening. While it was groundbreaking in 1986, the McGraw-Hill Laboratory of Advertising Performance Report 5262, showed that when the economy was down during the 1981 – 1982 recession, brands benefited from an increased share of voice. Not only did brands’ short-term sales increase but companies that maintained or increased their advertising “…could boast an average sales growth of 275 percent over the preceding five years.”

The proliferation of media vehicles and the ability to micro-target via technological solutions makes this study’s findings truer than ever.

As the current economic factors reinforce that this is a correction in some categories and a down cycle in others, now is the time to evaluate:

1. Who in your category is spending and how much; and
2. Is there a business case for your brand to scream more loudly even with a selective investment now?

• Dacor Luxury Appliances, a six-year Domus client, has chosen to promote its latest products at the annual Kitchen & Bath Industry Show this April. With its competitive noise level down, our client will dominate the share of voice among the key specifier and designer audiences. ROI will skyrocket.

The Future Part:

Strategically positioning a brand and ensuring consistency of messaging in all traditional and online communications are paramount to building brand equity. But, unlike in the mid-1980s, the addition of internet marketing as part “glue,” part “measurement system” and part “conversation facilitator” allows you to test and measure to whom and by which media you should be investing in your brand.

Learn from the DeLorean, (one of the most memorable product placements in marketing history) – use the proverbial time machine to capitalize on proven marketing principles from the past. Then deliver them with state-of-the-art mechanisms and measurements that are present, not future, at Domus, Inc.

Oh, and you may want to skip the jail part too. While Martha Stewart made it sing, John DeLorean’s antics had a Lindsay Lohan destruction effect on a promising brand.

If you want to discuss the implications of this, email betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or call me directly at 215-772-2805.  For more information on marketing in a down economy, you can refer to additional Domus blog posts here!

Betty Tuppeny is the CEO and founder of Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact Betty directly at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

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While it is the epitome of the convergence of the advertising and entertainment worlds, one has to wonder if IBM’s brilliant Watson initiative has discredited the Jeopardy brand.

As the CEO of an ad agency that merges classic strategic marketing with state-of-the-art digital Public Relations, Advertising and entertainment solutions I am also a relatively new Jeopardy viewer.

I’d learned within one minute on normal shows (the time it takes to feed my cat), Alex Trebek is asking the first question.

Last night after seven minutes of background, new game guidelines and several promotional cutaways, I wondered if the Jeopardy franchise hadn’t jeopardized its own established brand by selling or giving its co-branding rights to IBM.

Strategic alliance programs are Domus, Inc.’s forte (ConAgra, Fisher-Price, Caesars Entertainment) but NOT if they dilute brand power. They must be carefully developed to be a WIN-WIN-WIN (i.e. equal wins for each brand, in this case Jeopardy and IBM and the third win is a synergistic path for the viewer).

As a marketer, I give kudos to IBM but as a Jeopardy viewer, I felt ripped off. It was like I was watching an innovative infomercial. (Should it have been marked “Paid-Programming” to warn the viewers?)

A brand is valuable. Successful co-promotions must add to the value of the brand while simultaneously maintaining the brand’s individuality.

That’s elementary, my Dear Watson and in this case my dear Alex.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree?

Betty Tuppeny is the CEO and founder of Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact Betty directly at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.