Field Notes

Branding is more than just big words and fancy logos. It’s an investment in your company’s future. It is the first step in reassuring your customers that you will fulfill the promises you make. Your brand tells a story and defines how your clients will experience your company. That begins with the very first first […]

If you own a business or have built a company from the ground up you’ve been told you need a logo and messaging. After that came a color palette, typeface, a slogan, a style guide, and more, and more, and more. It’s dizzying. You’ve been told that your brand should make an indelible mark in the

We often get asked “How much should I spend on marketing?” It’d be nice if the answer was easy, but it’s not. There is no predetermined percentage of revenue that applies to all businesses. The ideal number takes into account what you’re offering, where you’re offering it, and who you’re competing against. We’ve probably all

You may remember in May and June we wrote about the 6 Steps To An Effective Brand and Simple Tips For Brand Messaging. In those posts we covered the topics that most people identify as “branding” or brand identity and messaging. That leaves us with one more topic: brand name. A couple of common questions arise when naming

Think of the most successful brands you know. Coca-Cola. Disney. FedEx. Shell. They make an impact on you. They survive cultural shifts and changes in the market. They consistently tell a story that resonates with customers. The time and work that went into developing these long-lasting brands cannot be underestimated. It’s well understood that customers embrace brands

How many times have you heard “Advertising is dead”? If you own a business or have spent any time in the tech industry, probably hundreds of times over the last 10, maybe 20 years. And yet, here we are. The prognosticators predicting the doom of traditional advertising have been both right and wrong. Yes, traditional advertising has

You worked hard for this appointment. You sized up the prospect, researched the company, and determined how you could help their business. It took weeks to hunt down the Decision Maker. You made it past the Gatekeeper. You set up the meeting, and much to your relief they didn’t cancel at the last minute. This is

You’ve heard it said before, often with a smug tone and a noticeable air of relief: COLD CALLING IS DEAD! All you need is research, a handful of online marketing tools, and a strategy to attract leads to you. Inbound marketing killed the cold call. But did it really? Let’s say you’ve identified a company who fits the criteria

All too often, companies don’t know who their buyers are. Sounds hard to believe, right? How can you sell something if you don’t know who is buying? Yet, it’s not uncommon to run across business owners who are so busy selling they don’t have a deep understanding about who is buying or why. The cash register keeps

You’ve seen it before. Grand Opening! Grand Closing… Sometimes within a year. Right as a company is soaring to its greatest heights, in comes an unexpected storm, and down it goes. In many cases, the demise of a company is predictable and preventable. Danger is apparent long before the drop in altitude occurs, but the