|
We can’t even count the number of times that we have conducted a marketing and communications assessment with a client and discovered nothing. Their logo meant nothing, their website said nothing, their tagline messaged nothing, and their “look and feel” was invisible and insipid. This drives us crazy… because we know that they have spent a tremendous amount of money and have gotten nothing in return. Understand what the marketeers don’t want you to know—your logo, your tagline, your look, and your feel are your identity! They tell all that view them who you are and what you represent. Imagine showing up at a formal wedding in torn jeans and a Springsteen t-shirt. Imagine showing up at a Bruce concert in a tux. Either place you’d be out of place so… you have learned to dress appropriately for every occasion. Now think about how you dress your agency. Your look is your message to your identified market and it must be displayed with consistency so they see it every time they look at you or look you up.
You must always be appropriately dressed. Your look and feel symbolizes your culture and your value. Marketeers like logos and taglines that basically say “we sell insurance and stuff”. Marketing partners like taglines that resonate with the viewer. We recently created three such tag lines for clients, each matching up and harmonizing with a logo and a message. The first, for J.Krug & Associates (www. Jkrug.com) is “Relax. You’re Covered”. When we questioned Jeff about the E&O implications he said “good, it’ll keep us sharp”. Prime Meridian Insurance Group’s tagline is “Earning Your Trust, Protecting Your Future, Dann Insurance tagline is, “We Understand”. All of these examples mean something.
Challenge any marketeer to design an agency identity that really communicates and they will start mumbling about knowing a guy that knows a guy that is good with “that stuff”. Then, ask them to leave.
Marketeers will let you do anything that you want and encourage you to believe that you really do have a talent for "this stuff". Sorry my friend, unless you do it for a living, you probably don’t. Not to say that you shouldn’t have opinions and offer input, that is always requested and required. However, you are hiring a creative team, so let them create and listen to their feedback, feedback that they will not hesitate to give if they are any good. Marketeers simply want to keep you happy, keep your money, and keep on, keeping on. The more ownership and authorship you take in a project, the easier it is to point the finger at you when it fails. And so it goes. Marketing partners will listen carefully to what you want, however, they will commit to providing you with what you need and what will work best. They will keep working at it until they find a common ground or a balance between the needs and the wants. Like a true partner, they will work with you, not for you or around you, and they will count on your participation.
Their primary objectives are maximum value, timely delivery, quality, effectiveness, and sustainability. They will base all of their decisions and recommendations on these focus objectives. Marketeers will base their ideas and recommendations on three different objectives—get in, get out, get paid.
|
