Deborah Brody Marketing Communications Percolating Creative Ideas * * * Winter Newsletter: January 23, 2013 Happy New Year! January is always a m

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Deborah Brody Marketing Communications

Percolating Creative Ideas


Winter Newsletter: January 23, 2013

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Happy New Year!

January is always a month of the new: new goals, new resolutions, new attitudes. It is a month where we feel like we turn a new leaf and we do so by writing down what we want to accomplish or change. Perhaps it’s also a good month to figure out a new position for your product or service. If so, you will want to read my review of Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

For me, the new is that in addition to offering workshops about blogging, I will be giving a presentation on what makes for an effective newsletter. I am planning to have a brown-bag lunch session in early April. Also, I will be sending out these newsletters on a bi-monthly basis.

Did you watch the Inauguration of President Barack Obama on Monday? If so, you may have heard poet Richard Blanco read the poem he wrote for the occasion, One Today (read the text in this article in The Atlantic Wire). I thought it was a very contemporary and accessible poem, with a very simple message: no matter our diverse backgrounds, we all have common experiences. It is those commonalities that make the job of communications so much easier!

Best wishes for a well positioned 2013!
Deborah

Positioning: A Review and Synopsis

II was looking for a good marketing book to read and the book Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout kept coming up. Considered a marketing classic, it is based on a series of articles in Advertising Age from 1972. Since then, the authors have compiled and updated their thoughts into a book.

Ries and Trout argue that because we are surrounded by thousands of products and millions of messages about those products (and they wrote this before the advent of social media), what is important is how you position your brand, product or service in the target audience’s mind. They write: “The basic approach of positioning is not to create something new or different, but to manipulate what’s already there in the mind…”

Depending on whether you are market leader or follower, you will have different approaches to positioning. If you are the first in the market, you are in an enviable position. If you aren’t, you will have to find a way to fill a need unmet by your competitors. Positioning takes a broad approach beyond advertising. It requires practitioners to understand the market and its needs (research). And perhaps most importantly, it requires understanding how the mind works and how it responds to certain words and messages.

Ries and Trout provide many real-life examples like the one about Stowe Ski Resort in Vermont. Stowe is farther north (and further away) than its competitors, but it has created an advantageous position for itself by using the phrase “one of the top 10 ski resorts in the world” in its marketing materials. Why? Because “it takes advantage of the mind’s tendency to ‘make a list’ when trying to cope with complexity.”

I think Positioning is worth a read. It will make you look differently at how you market yourself and others.

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Workshops and presentations

The first blogging workshop of 2013 will be held on Thursday, February 28 at the Silver Spring Civic Building. More information and registration is available here.

A presentation on creating effective newsletters will be held in early April. Check the website for updates on dates and registration.

I am also available for on-site specialized training on blog writing. Please contact me if you are interested in obtaining details.

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Your quarterly communications tip

January is a good time to update your website and your social media biographies. You should make sure the copyright information on your website reflects the new year, and that your biographies make note of any changes in your title, location or activities. Perhaps you should also consider updating your portrait or headshot. Does it show who you are today?

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Deborah Brody Marketing Communications Services

Communications and social media consulting
Communications and social media audits
Writing and editing of marketing materials
Specialized training and workshops

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