by Kirby Hasseman
In the book “This is Marketing,” Seth Godin covers a lot of very important topics that can help you become a better marketer and a better storyteller. You learn why you don’t need everyone as a customer. As a matter of fact, you need to find a “minimum viable audience” for your product, service or movement. But no lesson was more profound for me than the difference (as Godin defined it) between Brand Marketing versus Direct Marketing.
Brand Marketing Versus Direct Marketing
It’s important to note that Godin did not say that one was better than the other. There is a very important place for both Brand Marketing and Direct Marketing. It’s just vital to understand what both do…and where both fit in with your marketing strategy or plan. So let’s quickly explain the difference.
Direct Marketing
Direct marketing is a marketing action you take where there is a designed (and often immediate) action to follow. This is the email delivered directly to the prospect with the call to action that says “Buy now” or “Click here” or something like that. Direct marketers find an action that creates the specific result that they want, and then they look to do it over and over again. Direct marketing is measurable. You can see what the open rate on the email is. You can track how many people clicked the link or bought the product. There is an A + B = C feel to direct marketing.
Brand Marketing
Brand Marketing is also powerful, but much harder to measure. As Godin says, “Coca Cola does not think that if you see an ad during the Super Bowl that you will leave the Super Bowl party and go buy Coke.” The idea of course, is they are creating brand affinity and top of mind awareness. That way, the next time you are in the grocery store, you will think of Coke. Brand Marketing is important and is how long term success is often created in Advertising and Marketing.
Both types of Marketing are important and effective. Where you get in trouble, is when you create Brand Marketing and try to measure it like Direct Marketing. It will almost always fail. It’s just not set up to do the same thing.
As you consider creating your next marketing campaign, take the time to consider and understand what kind of marketing you are creating. Just remember, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
Thanks for reading! Want to keep up with all of our content? Check out our blog page each day to see what is new. Oh…and you can always sign up for our VIP newsletter. We send one email with all of our content each week.
by Kirby Hasseman
It’s time for Episode 37 of the He Said She Said Podcast with Hasseman Marketing! This podcast is designed to give an inside look at being married and being entrepreneurs and the projects we are working on and the challenges we are facing! We talk about business, family, community and more. So listen in and let us know what you think!
On this episode we talk about…
Trending Topic
This week Kirby and Amy talk about the CoronaVirus (yes again). The topic is still trending, and they talk about how their view on the crisis has changed in the past week. They took a trip recently (you can see video of that here) and they talk about that trip and why it’s SO important to continue to evolve your views as the facts evolve.
Weekly Whirlwind
This week in the Weekly Whirlwind Amy gives a quick update on what she is doing to keep the building project rolling forward. Kirby talks about how is week is focused on creating content and planning for the next few months. He talks about a podcast with Bill Petrie where he was inspired to plan through the crisis. You can check out that podcast here.
Lesson In Life
This week in the “lesson in life” Kirby and Amy talk about the Self Care and Headspace. In this stressful time, it’s more important than ever to create time to separate from the chaos and allow your brain some room to breathe. Listen in as they discuss how Amy does this in the evening.
Shout Outs
Each week we want to give a shout out to an organization or an individual doing good work. This week Amy leads the way talking about how the Truck Driving community is being overlooked in this crisis. We thank all of the first responders and all of the people that are helping to keep the country rolling through this stressful time. We don’t say it enough…but thank you!
So that’s a wrap! Thanks for listening to Episode 37 of the He Said She Said Podcast! Any feedback will be welcome as we try to provide you value! If you want to subscribe you can do that where you normally get podcasts…or you can head here to follow on Soundcloud.
Thanks so much for listening! If you have any topics you want Kirby and Amy to cover, please comment and let us know! Oh…and if you like this content, check out this page where you can find all of the content we create!
by Kirby Hasseman
I got a frantic text from one of my best clients just the other day.
“Can you meet me today or tomorrow?” she asked. “One of our events got cancelled and we need to do something quickly.”
To most of us, this is an all too familiar story. With the Coronavirus scare, conferences, meetings, festivals, sporting events and even small gatherings are being cancelled left and right. It is most likely the right thing to do for public safety, but it is wreaking havoc with businesses.
For businesses, these events and conferences are a chance to create relationships, form bonds, network, educate and, ultimately, sell. We host and attend these events because they give us something that emails, phone calls and even social media can’t. They represent true connection. These events can help to create brand affinity and growth.
During this time, when events are being cancelled at record rates, branded merchandise can help fill this gap.
“We had an event scheduled to welcome students who had committed to come to our university. We need a Brand Box, like you sent us,” she told me. “Cancelling the event is a bummer, but we are excited about this!”
As it turns out, Hasseman Marketing recently decided to send some of our top clients what we called a “Brand Box.” This box of Marketing Joy consisted of a very nice t-shirt, vacuum water bottle, a charging lanyard, lip balm, a pen and more. The items had the message “Be Kind. Give First. Work Hard. Repeat.” We curated the products with the idea of spreading some joy and to say “thank you” to our clients and prospects. It definitely helped us do that. And, as some of our clients have realized, this use of branded merchandise has created a brand affinity for Hasseman Marketing that they want to create with their clients and prospects.
My guess is, your company or organization has already been affected by the cancellation of events. If you haven’t, you will be. So what do you do? Instead of lamenting on social media and complaining to family and friends, I suggest you take a pro-active approach and take the #marketingjoy to your customers.
What will taking an approach like this do for you or your brand?
Surprise and Delight
Done right, a marketing box of joy like this will surprise and delight your customers or prospects. We don’t get a lot of mail these days that delight. This has a chance to turn the relationship upside down…in a good way! And because most of your competitors are not going to want to invest in this way, it will surely separate you and your brand.
Creates Brand Affinity
When you surprise and delight, you bring joy. And when you bring joy to your customers, especially in times of stress and need, you vault yourself to the top of their list. They don’t HAVE to do business with you…they want to!
Creates Long Term Value
Finally, if you select quality branded merchandise that will be used for a long time, you create marketing that works to further your story each and every day. Though everyone has to be conscious of budget, this is not the time to hand out new items that will end up in a landfill. Select items that create long term value to the customer, and you will create long term value to your brand.
I think we all would agree that we hope the Coronavirus quickly becomes a thing of the past. But in the meantime, officials are being rightly cautious. So while event after event continues to be cancelled, we can still create marketing and relationships that matter. Promotional products and branded merchandise continues to be the only marketing you you create where your customers will thank you. This is the time to leverage that tool to go on offense during these strange times.
For more information on how to create a Brand Box like ours, please contact us. You can reach out and email us at [email protected]…or you can head to our Promo page and find out more.
by Kirby Hasseman
It’s time for Episode 36 of the He Said/She Said Podcast with Hasseman Marketing! This podcast is designed to give an inside look at being married and being entrepreneurs and the projects we are working on and the challenges we are facing! We talk about business, family, community and more. So listen in and let us know what you think!
On this episode we talk about…
Trending Topic
This week Kirby and Amy talk about the CoronaVirus and the effects of that. They give their (uneducated) takes on the issues involved and the hysteria around it. Listen in and let us know what you think!
Weekly Whirlwind
This week in the Weekly Whirlwind Kirby talks about getting ready to travel and getting as much done as you can on a short week. Amy gives a short update and tells us that work on the floors are coming!
Lesson In Life
This week in the “lesson in life” Kirby and Amy talk about the need to take a breath. Whether it’s this new Coronavirus or whatever the latest 24 hour news cycle entails, we all need to learn to breathe and calm down.
Shout Outs
Each week we want to give a shout out to an organization or an individual doing good work. This week Kirby and Amy give a shout out the Coshocton County United Way. They will be hosting the 16th Annual Coshocton Clean Up Day coming April 18th. This is a great event. In addition, Amy gives a big shout out to Jade Hasseman who has created a clothing drive for those in need in Coshocton County.
So that’s a wrap! Thanks for listening to Episode 36 of the He Said She Said Podcast! Any feedback will be welcome as we try to provide you value! If you want to subscribe you can do that where you normally get podcasts…or you can head here to follow on Soundcloud.
Thanks so much for listening! If you have any topics you want Kirby and Amy to cover, please comment and let us know! Oh…and if you like this content, check out this page where you can find all of the content we create!
by Kirby Hasseman
Ray Allen is one of the most prolific 3 point shooters in NBA History. He has won multiple NBA championships and has one of the most beautiful jump shooting motions you will ever see. He is (was) a Pure Shooter in the most wonderful sense of the word. He made it look easy. But when people say he was a “natural born” shooter, Allen would get frustrated. Why? Because by saying his ability was just “given,” it minimizes the thousands of hours of work that went into his craft. It explains away the blood, sweat and tears that created his perfect shooting motion. He didn’t earn it. It came easy.
Making things look easy, often take a lot of work.
I was reminded of that story recently, when someone pointed out to me that I am a positive person. They said “You always see things as glass half full.” It was said (and meant) as a sincere compliment. But every time someone describes me a “positive person,” it leaves me wanting to explain. You see, I don’t think that I am naturally a positive person. I don’t wake up every morning whistling dixie and I have to fight off negative thoughts all of the time. As a matter of fact, early in my career, I would guess that many of my co-workers would say I was anything but positive. But over years of study, I have learned that most of us perform better when our brain is primed with positive thoughts. If you want to dig deeper on this, the book Happiness Equation is fantastic.
I have worked to become more positive. So why does it bother me when someone says “you are just a positive person?”
It minimizes the work.
I am hardly the Ray Allen of positive thinking. But I do work at it. A lot. The idea that I wake up every morning with a blindly positive attitude negates the amount of work I do to put myself in a better state of mind. This statement dismisses the lengths I have gone to create a morning routine that sets my day up correctly. It explains away the exercise, the meditation, the discipline I have developed to work on focusing my mind intentionally. I am not a naturally positive person. I don’t know that anyone is. The fact is, studies tell us that 89% of what we see in the world is negative. If that’s the case, we all need to be diligent in how we focus our mind. I am hardly perfect. But I do that work.
It takes away their responsibility.
By simply saying that I am a positive person, many people let themselves off the hook. Being positive seems like work, because it is. If it just comes naturally to others, then they don’t have to put in the work themselves.
It is not (just) about positive thoughts.
While I strongly believe that putting positive thoughts in your brain help it perform better, the idea is not to be delusional. It’s not that you don’t see the negative the world has to offer. That is probably the thing that bugs me the most. If nearly 90% of what we see is negative, then please don’t think that I don’t see the bad. That is insulting. I do see the challenges. I don’t JUST see the challenges. It’s not about having only shiny, happy thoughts. As a matter of fact, some studies will tell you that people that only allow overly optimistic thoughts in their mind die younger! Why? Because they are unwilling to do the real work they need to do to prevent or improve their situation.
It’s not about having only positive thoughts. It’s about having accurate thoughts.
Obviously, there is good and bad in nearly every situation. My goal is to get an accurate diagnosis. Then, with both the good and bad in mind, I want to see how I can best move forward to create the best outcome.
Thanks for reading this blog. If you want to catch up with all of our content, please head to our blog page to see videos, podcasts and blogs in one place.
