Branding should be part of your annual marketing/advertising expense budget. The Small-Business Administration advises entrepreneurs to use 5% of gross sales on advertising, but that varies depending on sales volume and location.

Everyone Has a Brand

“Everyone has a brand, like it or not,” adds John Melchinger, The Marketing Coach™. “You have one. It may not be one you want and you may not be nurturing it, but it's yours nevertheless. Not to shape your brand rigorously and nurture it is to leave it to your public to decide. That is much less effective alternative.”

Building Your Brand

The purpose of this exercise is to create a short message people will remember whenever they think about you. When part of a coordinated marketing plan, your professional identity brand will drive customers to your business. You will also need to give some thought to which medium to use.

Example: This is Joe Financial Advisor’s brand identity. It’s deceptively simple, yet sends a compelling message to his target market, Tool

CRM is typically characterized by continuous contact, shared expectations and mutually beneficial relationships evolving over time. The post-sale period must be carefully managed. Thank-you messages are courteous and business-like; progress reports may be useful in some situations.

Make a point of contacting clients informally several times a year, in addition to holiday messages and regularly scheduled service contacts. It can add up, but today’s SBOs and independent professionals have a really simple and powerful way of delivering much more value to clients with less effort, since virtually all client service contacts can be automated.

E-Communications – It’s Expected!

People have come to expect email service notifications and other communications…everything from thank-you notes, birthday and holiday greetings to cross- and up-selling messaging. If you’re not using automation technology and a Web presence to max, you’re at a disadvantage (because your competitors are!).

At same time, a lot of businesses are slow to acknowledge customer inquiries and service requests. Business research firm, Jupiter Research (http://www.jupiterresearch.com), found that nearly one-third of companies either took three days or longer to respond to customers' email inquiries or never responded at all. Bad on them!

But that can all be fixed with automated messaging built into e-mail systems. Meeting basic customer service needs in these ways improves persistency and client loyalty.

Just as understanding people you're looking for makes it easier to find more of them, a market’s unique make-up can help you tailor appropriate client communications. As consumers become increasingly sophisticated, so does benefit of targeting client communications, not just promotional messages, to their needs, interests and buying behaviors. With today's technology you can readily customize client communications to each market segment.

Smart CRM – Another Way to Succeed

CustomerThink Corporation’s Bob Thompson: “Said another way, you can succeed with CRM by being SMART: Define a customer-centric Strategy; use appropriate Metrics ; ensure your organization is Aligned with your objectives; Redesign work processes as needed; and use appropriate Technology tools as enablers. But it all starts by putting your customers first and creating a better relationship with them than your competitors offer.”

Want More? Send questions and comments to w.willard3@knology.net.