That's the power of originality

We all know this iconic brand element. No name necessary.

Since 1971, this has been one of the most recognizable corporate ID's in the world. And in my estimation, the single most copied.

It's nearly impossible to pull a random sampling of five modern brands without at least one of them incorporating some version of the Swoosh.

However, there's generally a big difference between Nike's usage of their Swoosh and, say, Capital One's usage of theirs: for Nike, it actually MEANS something. It's about speed. It's about fluid motion. It's about the strength and grace of the athletes that wear the equipment. For Capital One, it's about the fact that they couldn't come up with anything better. Of course, when you can't come up with anything better, the answer is all too obvious: slap a swoosh on it. Done.

It's like a virus among those that create corporate ID's. From the biggest marketing agencies down to your nephew who has a hacked version of Photoshop and designed your Etsy store logo for $10 and a six pack of Milwaukee's Best. Swooshes are slapped on hundreds-- nay-- THOUSANDS of logos a day. And if one swoosh doesn't work... slap, slap, slap. Add a few more. I can hear it if the room gets quiet enough. And it gives me a dull headache.

The swoosh has been done, people. Move on. If you're looking for an abstract logo, try this: put some serious thought into what your brand means or is to your clients/potential clients. Sure, you could give your own meaning to the swoosh if you tried hard enough, but for the same amount of effort, you could likely create something fresh, that is truly representative of what you're selling.

But it's not just logos... taglines, too, suffer from the scourge of bandwagon jumping. And there's a new one hogging the well-worn marketing trail as we speak.

I'm sure many of you remember this (circa 1993):

Great! Original, succinct, apropos.

Well, sometime in the past decade, The Home Depot decided they were powerful as well (although they declined to hit on the audience in the process).

From there, it was a veritable avalanche of power. Observe:

...just a small sampling of the onslaught of POWER currently rocking the industry to its core. And yes, even some of our own clients have wielded theirs (sorry guys):

So if you're out of ideas, and you feel your fingers approaching the top row on your keyboard, STOP... refill your coffee and remember that if everything is powerful, then nothing is powerful. The same advice for logos applies here as well. Get to the essence of your brand and let it guide you.

Oh, and while you're at it, pop this on your iDevice of choice:

...and call on Ashby Dillon Marketing to help you on your quest, of course!

And now, I must be going. I have a hankering to sit back and watch Marty McFly harness 1.21 gigawatts of pure... well, you know.

Dallas Riffle
Creative Director
440.331.5252 x29
dallas@ashbydillon.com

A message from your new Creative Director

Greetings!

After six years as a multimedia designer here at Ashby Dillon, this week I take on a new role: Creative Director.

I am both excited at the opportunity and humbled to be taking the reigns of a creative department that has been producing incredible work for our clients since 1960.

Attaining this position has been a lifetime goal for me; if you read my high school yearbook, you'll learn that, although I had earned an art scholarship, I hoped to one day "work in advertising." That day has arrived. And I couldn't be more thrilled than I am to be at an agency like Ashby Dillon, where I'm surrounded by driven and caring individuals that together form the best team I've ever been a part of.

In the coming months and years, I am committed to bringing our clients the best and most relevant offering of services, combined with the truly outstanding creative that has been the feather in our collective hat here at Ashby Dillon for the last 52 years. My goal is for each and every business that places their trust in our hands to stand out in their respective fields, and for Ashby Dillon to grow right along with them.

My phone and inbox are always open, so please don't hesitate to contact me anytime with questions or ideas... or if you just want to catch up.

Onward and upward!

Dallas Riffle

SEO Strategy: Brand or Product Focus?

Pictured: Search Engine Spider
(artist's rendering)

I recently had a client call me, panicked, because his company website wasn't showing up when he Googled the company's name. See, they've recently changed their company name, and while their site will show up naturally over time thanks to their clever little spiders, his question got me thinking.

Let's leave the technical end of SEO behind for a minute and focus on the philosophy. The key to SEO, like so many other marketing initiatives, is strategy. And the first step in that process is to take a look at critical keywords and determine your SEO goals. To do this, you need to start thinking like your customers.

Beware: SEO requires a good deal of initial thought and planning. If you're thinking about how to enhance your search engine strategy, my first question to you would be this: What should the SEO process for your website focus on: your brand, or your product category? Most companies rightly focus on a product category, because most companies aren’t Kleenex (gesundheit!). Internet searchers don’t know and aren’t familiar with your brand, and therefore will not be searching for your brand.

I can tell you right now that we typically do NOT recommend optimizing sites for a brand-focused term like your company or product name. There are several reasons for this:

• If someone knows the name of your company, it’s likely because he/she has one of your business cards, brochures, or catalogs. The business card, brochure, or catalog will already have the your website URL printed on it. Most computer users, when they know the URL of a website, simply type that into their browser address bars rather than going through the extra step of searching for it in the Google search bar. These people are familiar with the company and already know how to find your website. 
• You should be more concerned about people who want your particular product but have no idea what your company name is. Most of the time, your company or brand name is not going to be synonymous with your product (again, think Kleenex or Band-Aid), so people won't be searching Google for it. 
• Most of your potential customers will be searching for products, like "handheld power tools," or "spherical roller bearings." THESE are the terms you should optimize for, so that you can be sure your website shows up on search results pages for the terms people use most to find your products. 

So, before you embark upon an SEO program, lock yourself in a dark room with plenty of soft pillows and try to make a mind-meld with your customers. Once you have a good idea of the words, terms (and spelling of those terms), and phrases your customers use to find your products, you can begin to optimize your website.

Confused about where to begin? No problem. Contact Ashby Dillon for customized help and a crash course in Search Engine Policy 101.

Bridging the Lead Generation Gap Between Marketing And Sales: 8 Questions to Ask

So I was watching the highlights from the Republican presidential debates on the news this morning, and honestly--I've never seen more eye-rolling and self-righteous sputtering within a group of people. I mean, I HAVE, but they wore cowboy hats, sequins (sequined cowboy hats=YES), lived at Southfork and wondered who shot J.R.

It did get me to thinking though...why all the bickering when the goal is the same? With apologies to Hamlet, THIS is the question for marketers and salespeople. Marketers and salespeople have the same goals: identify new customers, connect with them, sell to them, and retain them. So why all the conflict between the marketing department and the sales department?

I work for a marketing agency, and though we don't offer sales consulting services, I find that marketing strategies developed with input from the sales team are more comprehensive and ultimately successful. But it's often surprising to me how little communication there is between the marketing and sales departments, even at very large companies. Marketing teams complain that salespeople don't follow up on leads or communicate the correct message to customers. Sales teams complain they don't get the right leads or compelling materials from the marketing department.

Cooperation between marketing and sales is absolutely critical when it comes to lead generation. If you're a marketing pro with a disconnect between the sales and marketing departments, here are some questions you should ask before embarking upon a lead generation program:

1. How do customers buy your products? What are the crucial decision points along the way to a purchase? Knowing where a customer is in the buying funnel and identifying those decision points helps marketing create compelling messages and present them at just the right time to move them to the next step in the process.
2. Is product positioning and market messaging aligned with the customer purchase process? 
3. What constitutes a "lead?" How does your organization define the difference between a marketing lead and a sales lead?
4. At what point does marketing turn over leads to sales? Is marketing providing the salesperson with the background information he/she needs to address the lead?
5. What is the process for handling and following through with leads?
6. Does that process need to be fine-tuned?
7. How are results and sales calculated and tracked back to the lead generating mechanism? Is this information provided to the marketing department?
8. Does sales provide marketing with feedback about the quality of the leads they receive?

Marketing departments are being held accountable for the quantity and the quality of the leads that they generate for sales. But their ability to generate those leads is directly related to the customer insight and feedback that only sales can provide. Again, the goals for the two departments are shared, so asking these questions, clearly defining the lead handling process and keeping lines of communication open will get you more results (and less eye-rolling).   

Top 4 Strategies for Lead Generation Success

Top 4 Strategies for Lead Generation Success

Are you actively building a lead generation funnel...or getting swept away by a funnel cloud of inaction?

For a long time, manufacturers relied primarily on expensive listings in industrial directories like ThomasNet or Global Spec to provide the lion’s share of their sales leads. Lately, we can’t help noticing that many of our clients are grumbling about diminishing returns.

Now don’t get me wrong. Industrial directories are useful, chiefly because they provide more focused B2B demographics and searchers who are typically further along in the buying funnel than your average Googler. But thanks to Google, industrial directories are no longer the most common resource for engineers, purchasing agents, and other industrial buyers looking for suppliers.

Tell me if any of these situations sound familiar:

• You’re placing online ads, but you’re not getting clicks.
• You ARE getting clicks, but not leads (or conversions).
• You’re getting leads, but not the right kind of leads.

If so, you’re not alone. Getting people to share their contact information is harder and harder these days, and if you’re relying SOLELY on industrial directories to provide those leads, your CRM system may get a little dusty.

So what’s an industrial, B2B marketer to do? Well, you could start with the top 4 strategies for lead generation success:

#1: Be useful!

This is head-smackingly simple, but sometimes we’re so busy selling that we forget our prospects NEED something from us. Focus on how you can solve problems for them, answer questions, and provide new and interesting facts and information that they truly value. Conversations about solutions lead to conversations about products.

#2: Give them something free.

I’m not talking about product discounts or promotions. I’m talking about free analysis, articles, case studies, white papers, videos, webinars, and application guides. Get comfortable giving away content, because compelling content is what brings leads to you.

#3: Target your content.

Don’t make the mistake of targeting the same content to all your audiences. Your efforts will yield more results if you segment your audience and direct specific content to each.

#4: Track results.

Testing, measuring and adjusting should be an ongoing process. Your data can help you develop insights into how to market more effectively. Dig into your site analytics, click/conversion, and CRM data to find out how users behave, track which marketing messages generate the most leads, increase your share of customer, and determine which marketing activities best help you reach your goals.

ashbydillon can help you get a comprehensive lead generation program off the ground, or combine creativity with analytics to take yours to the next level.

Eight is ENOUGH! Using Analytics to Steer Marketing Decisions

Eight is ENOUGH!
Using Analytics to Steer Marketing Decisions

Studies show it takes an average of 8 contacts to move a prospect to a sale. Wait…eight??!?

Yep. Feeling a little behind the proverbial eight ball? Well, if you think you’ll need to work eight days a week to get this kind of frequency…think again. Technology is a marketer’s best friend. It can help you engage your prospects and interact with them in new ways. It can also help you increase the frequency of your message and do a better job of targeting the right message to the right prospect—a process called audience segmentation.

Let’s make this promise to one another, and write it Bart Simpson-style on every chalkboard in Miss Krabappel’s classroom:

If you’ve got the basic tools, you don’t have to guess what will work. You can use cold, hard numbers to:

• Test and craft better marketing messages
• Target the right audience with the right message
• Understand response metrics and translate that into a more effective marketing strategy
• Track effectiveness of your marketing initiatives
• Warm up your leads
• Prompt an immediate action or response
• Build customer loyalty

   

Your basic tools should include (but are not limited to):

• Website analytics
• CRM system
• ashbydillon Marketing

OK, I admit, that was shameless. But you need to be actively mining your website analytics and CRM for data to help you make better, more effective marketing decisions…and that’s what we help clients do at ashbydillon every day.