Industry standards say that we have to have high prices. Industry standards say we never allow clients access to digital files. Industry standards say we don’t teach our secret processes to anyone. Industry pricing guidelines say exactly how much things ought to cost. Industry standards are old.
All of these things restrict our ability to work with the clients we most enjoy. They also keep small businesses from getting the professional services they really need. Why follow the rules when they are clearly bad for everyone? Simple answer: we don’t.
It’s High Time to Change the Rules
One of the first things I learned when Train of Thought started up in 1992 was that we had to listen to our contemporaries and always stick to the official industry standards, pricing and guidelines. For the most part, we did just that, but as the face of business has changed during the last ten years, a little voice inside has been needling at me to toss those old standards and guidelines out on their ear.
We’ve always been rule-breakers. More small businesses are closing now than at any time in the last decade. They lack good planning, branding and marketing, and that puts them at a significant disadvantage. With businesses facing a tough recession, the time is right to launch a new offering designed to keep small businesses not only in the game, but thriving and growing.
BENTO Branding & Marketing is a Massive Leap Forward.
Our challenge was to figure out how to create a business model that worked for the small business clients we enjoy working with, yet is still profitable for us. It had to be evolutionary, if not revolutionary. It had to be empowering and profound. It had to be affordable.
We listened to small business owners and solopreneurs, as well as individual reps and even a whole generation of frustrated designers who don’t actually understand what branding is, nor how it works. And you know what? People want to understand how to brand and market themselves right. And they want to be able to afford it without compromising on quality.
Do you own a small business? Are you just going out on your own? Are you an agent of a larger company? We want to empower you with a professionally designed, effective logo, corporate identity, brand, blog, website, and a truly actionable marketing plan, all at prices you can afford. We want you to truly understand how your branding and marketing works so that you can get the greatest benefit from it. We want you to be able to dance toe-to-toe with your corporate giant counterparts – if not totally outdo them – and now you can.
After more than 18 months of testing the new model, BENTO is ready for prime time. We’re kicking off BENTO with an incredible deal, exclusively for 250 small businesses, individual agents, and solopreneurs: Sign up for any BENTO subscription, including our limited time 3-month trial at just $199 per month, and get a custom logo design for just ten bucks. That’s not a typo: That’s a $10 logo when you sign up for any BENTO subscription. This is not a watered down or recycled design. You will get our full service for a completely custom logo. The subscription services will get you just about everything else you need for your branding and marketing. If you don’t know what you need, you probably need a marketing plan, and that’s included too.
What’s the Catch?
The only thing you have to do is sign up for a 3-month (or longer if you like) Bento Branding & Marketing trial subscription (starting at just $199/mo.), during which you will get our full list of services at up to 70% off our normal rates. Some catch, huh? The total cost of your logo and trial will be less than 1/5 our normal rate! If you want to cancel at the end of the trial, you can do so easily, or if you want to continue your subscription, you can easily lock in your rate, downgrade or upgrade, your choice.
All BENTO Subscriptions include the following services:
• Corporate identity design
• Brand development
• Tag line development
• Strategy intensives
• Marketing plans
• Marketing communications
• Copywriting and story writing
• Blog strategy, design and writing
• Special subscriber-only packages on full website design and development, printing, and web hosting.
• Brand management
• Brochure design
• Direct mail design
• Advertising design
• Printing management
• Business planning and consulting
• Brand training and education
Hurry! Limited Time Offer
Because we dedicate ourselves completely to each client, we don’t have the capacity to accept more than 250 new subscribers at this time. So if you haven’t had the chance to sign up yet, we urge you to do it now before it’s too late. Just call us at 206.517.5679 today to get started on your $10 logo and BENTO Branding & Marketing subscription.
What is the first thing most companies do during a tough economy? Hint: It’s the last thing you should do. Most companies cut back on their marketing during a recession. Why? Marketing costs money, and most companies really don’t know which marketing is working. Do companies can their sales force during a recession? Rarely. Why? Sales makes money, and it’s much easier to see the results.
During a recession, you cut back on the non-essentials that cost money, but how do you define the non-essentials? Marketing is a must-have essential part of success, especially in a tough economy. Cutting back on marketing during a recession is like fasting at your last supper, yet nearly every company does it. But you know what? That’s good news for you and me because it makes our marketing efforts even more powerful.
A recession presents an exceptional opportunity for marketing-savvy companies to out-market their competitors who are busy fasting and praying for a miracle. It’s a great time to build your brand because you can gain more visibility in a less crowded playing field. You also have the advantage of media outlets who are more likely to be offering deals to fill empty space.
To thrive during a recession, you need three primary elements. The first thing you need is realistic budget. Next, you need an actionable marketing plan. Third, you need the self-discipline to follow through on the plan. Many companies need one more thing: A marketing communications firm to help keep you on task and get you the design work you need.
Lets take a look at the three primary elements, along with a non-biased look at the fourth:
Budget
How do you set a budget when you haven’t any money? There are two primary ways to set your marketing budget during a recession. One you will like, and the other one, although very effective, may be difficult for some.
One of the biggest ways you can save money on your marketing during a recession is by hiring a marketing firm instead of an in-house marketing employee. A marketing firm or individual will typically cost about 1/10 the price of an employee. With that cost-savings, it’s clear to see how you can free up some cash for a decent marketing budget. This may not be easy to do if you already have an employee. An option to letting someone go is to pair them together with the firm. We frequently partner with in-house designers to help them strengthen their brand and market more frugally and effectively. The slight increase in cost is easily justified by the increase in sales and efficiency.
The second way to set your budget is a little more complicated and is often best handled by a marketing firm. If you want to give it a try yourself, start by setting some reachable goals. Figure out which methods of communication you will use to get the highest return. (If you don’t know how to do that, we can help.) Estimate the costs of your selected marketing methods. Take a look at your operating budget for the next 12 months, and see how these methods fit in. Stay away from planning for the ‘what if we make this much’ scenario. Plan with what you can count on from what you already have. If you are short on resources, reduce your expectations and adjust your goals. As you begin reaching milestones, you can ratchet your goals and expectations back up.
Marketing Plan
Your marketing plan should have a maximum of four objectives. Figure out which is the most important, then set up 8-10 marketing methods for achieving the primary goal. When you reach it, move the second goal into the primary position, and high-five your former doubters.
Follow-through
This is important! Who will be responsible for implementing the plan? Set up some checks and balances. Set weekly goals, and schedule each task into your days. If you are working with a marketing firm, make sure they are following up with you as often as needed to keep you on task and get you the communications you need.
Hiring a Branding and Marketing Firm to Help
One of the biggest problems companies face in marketing is simply not sticking to the plan. A good branding and marketing firm will help you do just that. They will gently prod you to stay on task and meet regular milestones. They will make your job easier by taking on some of the responsibilities that are a drag on your time and efforts. Last but certainly not least, they can help you dramatically strengthen your brand and improve your marketing communications.
Before you implement your plan, be sure to set a reward, even if its as small as dinner at your favorite Italian joint. When you reach your goal, give yourself the reward. If the reward is for your employees, make it special, and make it happen. Everyone likes to be rewarded for hard efforts.
If you continue your marketing through a recession, your company will come out of it stronger than ever, most likely with business booming. You will also learn to have more appreciation for your best customers, and they will feel that. It will strengthen your brand and your customer relationships.
Or Really, Magazines, Plural.
Twitter says it’s “a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time.” But it’s really a whole lot more than that. Lately, I’ve been thinking about Twitter as a daily magazine, and I get to be the editor of my own personal edition.
Each Twitter user runs an interactive, constantly updated magazine. Each magazine has articles, features, tidbits, letters to the editors, tips, and advertising galore. Some have photos, called ‘pics,’ while others do not. Twitter magazines have subscribers too. Bucketloads of them.
Magazine staff is made up of everyone under the sun. Twitter has senior staff and junior staff, and there are staff members who have absolutely no idea what their job is, but they are happy to be there. No one gets paid because everyone works on a volunteer basis.
Junior staff hang on every senior staff comment, action, and behavior. Some of them have ambition, just like in paper magazines, while others are just along for the ride. The people with the most followers by and large were already well-known, and already had numerous paper magazines or blogs following them. Now, people follow them on their own Twitter magazine.
Your Twitter page is your magazine cover. Your tweets are headlines and sound bites that entice people to read your next tweet, or to turn to the next page so to speak.
Writing is generally not nearly as good as in old-school magazines, but no one seems to really care all that much, especially since each sentence is too short for you to get a feel for any real substantive writing style. People do pay attention, however, to tweets referencing great articles, if they manage to see them. You don’t have to be a good writer, you just have to know how to find great writing.
The magazines are free. The only cost is time. Much, much time. If you have 15,000 Twitter magazines – or folks you are following – to wade through, as many Twitterers do, that’s a whole bunch of reading. When will you ever find the time?
Twitter articles range from interesting to so boring your eyes fall out, and from valuable to totally irrelevant (yet sometimes entertaining) drivel about the morning’s breakfast or it coming back up. (Not that we aren’t all genuinely concerned for our fellow woman or man, but really, would you spend all day reading blog posts about how the weather is in Wyoming today or what your friends ate for breakfast?) Unfortunately, this means that to find the really good magazines, junior staff must wade through hordes of magazines which have nothing to do with their interests. But they do so religiously. Like sheep.
Why? Because junior staff are looking for the secret to success, their own personal key that will show them the way to the senior staff lounge and their own private chair. Only senior staff have these keys, and everyone knows it, so everyone reads what senior staff says, follows them and falls on their every tweet.
One of the coolest things about Twitter is that its creators have made it easy for people to blog without blogging. That is, since you have only 140 characters, you don’t really have to write much. You can rely on others to write great posts, then just link to them.
What are the primary differences between Twitter magazines and old-school magazines? Well, the paper and permanence for starters. The bigger difference is that with Twitter everyone has the opportunity to have an equal voice. Sort of. Some voices are louder or more eloquent or more valuable than others.
Why is it important to see Twitter this way? Perspective gives you wings.
Now that Twitter has put the publishing power is in your hands and you are creating your own magazine, you can make it a whole lot better. Your tweets can be substantive and add meaning to the conversation. Imagine if all tweets did this. Why, Twitter could read like a well-thought-out daily magazine.
