Now, replace this office space design process with your website development process. These days, there’s not much difference. You’re just replacing tangible brick and mortar with virtual space. But if you consider which of these walls and roofs more people visit, you’ve figured out the true value of your website.

So back up for a moment and ask yourself, “How much am I willing to pay for experts who know how to turn a cookie-cutter office space into my company’s brand?” Chances are good you’re willing to pay more than a few dollars. So, why, when your website is your opportunity to show your unique brand, would you settle for one that has nothing unique?

Interesting paradox, huh? Websites are much less expensive to build than they were just a few short years ago, but if you want to make yours stand out, to represent your brand and do a big part your selling for you, you’re going to have to pay for some real experts. Not just programmers who know html, php and css, but designers and brand strategists who know how to represent your best assets online. And writers who know how to take the hundreds of keywords necessary to help your site show up well in search results, and incorporate them into enticing content that flows seamlessly.

Websites like this are not just necessary for e-commerce businesses, they’re imperative for any business that wants to take advantage of the wonderful benefits the web has to offer your brand. It’s a new way of thinking, isn’t it?

I originally wrote the blog post below in March of 2010, when we made the decision to move to a new kind of office space as soon as our lease was up. We are now just two weeks away from moving to our brand new office. I revisited what I wrote 16 months ago, to see if our rationale for moving had changed. It hasn’t. But something I didn’t realize back then was how many businesses are moving to shared work space environments. Most surprising, it’s not because of the economy.

Shared space is not a new idea. Remember Chiat Day’s virtual office disaster back in 1999? But it has certainly grown more popular for companies that used to make bigger offices on better floors more important than money. For many businesses now being run by energetic entrepreneurs this seems like a ridiculous idea. Why separate brain power? Why limit collaboration to conference rooms? And why make office size a competition between co-workers?

I personally give a lot of credit for this change in thinking to Tony Hsieh, CEO and founder of Zappos. As Zappos grew from a small online shoe seller, to the mammoth business that Amazon purchased in 2009 for $1.2 billion, Tony never thought twice about moving out of his same-size cubicle located in the middle of all the other Zappos employees. Certainly it was an act of humility, which Tony is known for, but he also knew how important it was for the company’s success that he stay in the midst of the action. In his book, Delivering Happiness, he credits the most successful collaborations came from people having direct access with him, and each other.

That’s pretty much what you’ll see at the new Brandtailers office. And, even though it’s been a little scary for us to realize we’re going to be working literally side-by-side and face-to-face, we have the team to pull it off. Stop by after August 1st and see for yourself. Our new address will be posted shortly on our Contact page on this site.

March 2010:

Brandtailers has moved four times during our 20 years in business. Each time we’ve moved to a bigger (although not necessarily better) space. Before we made our last address change a little over four years ago, it felt like we were stepping over each other just to get around the office.

So we made the move from 5,800 square feet to just short of 14,000. For the first few months the extra room to breath was so refreshing. The Creative Department had their own wing, the Media Department had theirs. The Interactive Department was on the other side of the building, while Account Services and Admin were off in a whole other section. Ahhh, space.

But guess what happened over just a couple of months? People stopped talking to each other face-to-face. They weren’t collaborating like they used to. Instead of getting out of their chairs and walking 100 feet to talk to someone in another department, they’d send them an email. We thought we came up with the brilliant solution of encouraging instant messaging to make the communication feel more personal. That was dumb. People stayed in their offices even more.

Our lease is coming up for renewal in the next year and, yes, we will be moving to a different type of space. No more “wings” for us. It just doesn’t work. Hopefully in our next office instant messaging will involve vocal chords, emails will be for external purposes, and collaboration will be spontaneous moments of smart, creative people within ear shots of each other.

For those of you who like coming to our office, don’t worry. We’ll be taking the pool, ping-pong and fuss ball tables with us. And our walls will still be bright and tell their stories. Yes, we’ll take the African spears too. But we may be stepping over each other again, so bring your own chair.

Cheap is a lazy way out of the battle for consumer awareness.

Why do some customers focus so much on price?  Because you’re not giving them anything else to think about.

With 84% of U.S. consumers using the internet to determine what they’re going to buy and who they’re going to buy from, having a brand is more important than ever.

Isn’t it true that in every market measured, the leading brand, the one with the highest positive name recognition, has a huge advantage over the others?  Whether it’s Honda, Nike or Tide Laundry Detergent, a lot of benefits go to the brand that wins.

Branding is not about getting your target market to choose you over the competition, it is about getting consumers to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their problem.  The great success stories are not the companies that did what others did, but a little cheaper.  They are companies that decided to do things a whole lot differently.  Don’t just think better.  Think different and establish your brand.

Written By: Kristen Roberts

Domino’s ran commercials and print ads admitting its old pizza sucked. It then introduced a new recipe by showing it to its staunchest critics. It continued the transparency theme by encouraging customers to alert Domino’s when the pizzas they ordered were not up to par. With today’s instant media exposure thanks to Flips, G4 iPhones and good old fashioned video cameras, you can imagine how many Domino’s Pizza haters uploaded their less-than-par pizzas to YouTube.

Russell Weiner, Domino’s CEO at the time the campaign launched, said he was pretty scared but still willing to risk the company’s reputation. “You’re a 50-year-old pizza company with 5,000 stores out there, these guys first tell you to go on air and say your pizza sucks, and then go out there and show how crappy it’s made,” he said. You wonder if Russell Weiner would have taken such a risk if he were not planning on leaving soon after the campaign launched.  But after all, whatever happened with the campaign – and the company – would be his legacy, too. Lucky for everyone, it was working well enough that incoming CEO, Patrick Doyle, continued to support the effort with equal gusto.

How does one of a million “New and Improved” campaigns that today’s consumers are numb to have such dramatic success?  By shocking people with its honesty and transparency that exposed Domino’s humility and possibility of failure. Patrick Doyle admitted that, if they fail at this endeavor, it could most likely be the end of Domino’s. Year-to-date, same store sales just exceeded 12%. That’s a new record in the pizza business.

Look at your company. Are you even capable of being transparent? If so, are you willing to market your company as flawed, but humble and honest? Most business owners reading this think we’re crazy. But remember, people don’t trust most advertisements. If you can’t get your message past this initially huge roadblock, maybe you’re wasting your money advertising. If, on the other hand, you’re willing to offer your customers some radical transparency, you’ve at least got a shot at breaking through that tough core of consumer mistrust. And when consumers trust you, they become your advocates.

Are you willing to at least think about what it would take? It might not be as scary as it sounds. It’s the way things are going, and getting there first while doing it right could mean an awfully big increase in market share. Something to ponder, eh?

Wrong.

There’s no question that a company’s website is still it’s most powerful marketing tool. You own it, you control 100% of it’s content, you manage its destiny. Your Facebook page? Well, ask Mr. Zuckerberg what he’s thinking of next and that’s what your Facebook page will look, feel and behave like next month. Your YouTube channel? Have you ever gotten into its content management system? Nope. And it’s the same with most of the other marketing tools we mentioned. Today you need a great website more than ever.

In fact, there is even more opportunity for today’s corporate websites to drive business straight to your doorstep. But you still have to start by focusing on your brand.  Forrester Research says 67% of today’s customers create their initial opinion of a company via their corporate website. This is the classic branding part of marketing, where you build trust with your consumer.  But a well-designed website can also take your potential customer into the actual sales process at the right place and right time. A website that’s been designed to offer both a brand and retail message has proven to be stickier, with more time spent browsing through pages, clicking additional links and converting to leads or online sales. Look at Home Depot, Wahoos Fish Taco and Morgan Stanley for a few good examples. They have places within their sites where their call-to-action request is not only appropriate, but expected.

So then, what do you do with your other marketing tools like Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, YouTube channels and Flickr? Simple. Use them to create conversations. Get people (aka customers and potential customers) talking to you, about you, and for you. Sure, you can include calls-to-action when appropriate. But mix them up. Remember, people don’t want to be sold – but they love to buy from companies they trust. Build your website with this in mind and you’ll be on the right path to online marketing success.

Recognize this guy? He’s “The man your man could smell like” from the Old Spice campaign that launched during this year’s Superbowl. Now, with over 11 million views and 20,000 consumer comments on You Tube, this campaign is the ad industry’s year-to-date darling, winning Clios and dozens of other creative awards. This Old Spice manly man also ambushed YouTube for two days this month, posting over 200 instantaneous videos responding to Twitter requests from the likes of Ellen DeGeneres and Perez Hilton. The campaign was owning both Twitter and YouTube like no other campaign has done yet.

Wow. Quite a marketing success, right? Wrong.

Sales of Old Spice’s Red Zone After Hours Body Wash, the product in the commercials, have dropped 7% in the last 52 weeks. Ad critics are blaming the confusion of who our Old Spice manly man’s message is targeting. Is it the ladies who giggle and gawk at him, or the men who want ladies to giggle and gawk at them?

It doesn’t matter. Because that’s not where the campaign went wrong. In fact, the campaign didn’t go wrong at all. The client went wrong. So often this happens when you have great creatives like Wieden and Kennedy, where the client (P&G) gets so caught up in the creative, they think it will make up for a weak product.

Any adult male who knows what Old Spice is, probably still relates the smell to his grandfather. It’s a 73 year old brand that people still think smells like a 73 year old brand. Maybe P&G hoped women would go out and buy one Red Zone After Hours Body Wash as a joke for their boyfriend or husband. That could create a few million extra sales – once. But think about it, what guy really wants to be a repeat buyer of a product that reminds him of his grandfather. Worse yet, a product that sends the message, “I want to be a manly man.” Come on. There’s a saying in advertising: “The fastest way to kill a campaign is by doing great creative for a bad product.” This may be the case for Old Spice.

P.S. Selfishly, we hope sales pick up. The spots are hilarious.

The on-demand web video site Hulu announced a new subscription service Tuesday called Hulu Plus, which will allow users to unlock full seasons of premium shows on ABC, NBC and FOX across a variety of new platforms for a flat monthly fee of $9.99. This includes a growing library of 120 seasons of TV and 2,000 episodes, according to Hulu.

While the business world debates Hulu’s business model, we marketers are looking at it as one more significant move that will put television as we know it in the grave. Especially because Hulu is offering its new service in mobile formats on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, as well as select Samsung internet-enabled TVs and Blu-Ray players. It will also soon offer Hulu Plus service on PlayStation 3 and X-Box 360, as well as devices from Sony and Vuzio.

Advertising space will continue to be sold, which means Hulu is adopting Cable TV’s strategy of collecting fees from both advertisers and subscribers. But advertisers will soon be able to geo-target specific messages to specific audiences in specific areas making their ad dollars much more cost-effective. And millions of people have already said they’re willing to pay $9.99 a month in order to watch almost any show they want anywhere, anytime, on any media player.

But don’t throw your TV set away. After all, antique shops are always looking for classic oldies. Your 72″ screen may someday become a valuable relic.

Media costs are market determined, so they’re easy to value. An hour of time is easily measured by a clock. But, how is the brightness of an idea measured, or the effectiveness of communication? These are really fuzzy, non-touchable things to measure. In the land of lawyers they’re called “intellectual property,” and payments for them are generally determined through royalties and licenses.kilgannonsays.wordpress.com, Kilgannon Says, Mar 2010

Just yesterday I was with a great client of ours debating how our agency fees should be valued. He noted that when we first started working with him two years ago our compensation was based on a much heavier level of traditional media use. He very politely argued that now, since we have moved away from so much traditional media, the fee doesn’t make sense. I responded saying how ironic it was that, since we moved away from the traditional media, we were actually investing more time and effort into his account. Neither of our thoughts were valid points. His tied our value to traditional media commissions. Mine tied our value to the clock. As an ancient wise man once said, what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

I love the story about the plumber who shows up at a home for an emergency repair. He spends five minutes fixing a very large pipe leak in the kitchen.  After his five minutes of work he hands the homeowner a bill for $150. The homeowner is exasperated and accuses the plumber of highway robbery, stating that the repair only took him five minutes and how dare he charge that much for such a quick repair. The plumber calmly replies, “I just saved your kitchen flooring, which appears to be worth thousands, not to mention your water bill, which would have been very high had I not known what to do quickly. Are you paying me for the five minutes, or for my ability to solve your problem?”

As agencies we spend most of our working hours helping clients solve their problems. This usually means helping them generate more customers, more leads, and more sales. But even with today’s amazing online technology and the ability to measure consumer movement and actions, there is still a lot of intangible effectiveness that can result from an agency’s problem-solving efforts. Like the ability to pick the right musical background for a radio spot that increases it’s stickiness. Or being able to negotiate lower printing costs for a mailer that, in turn, increases the project’s ROI. Or how about not only coming up with the big idea, but then making sure it’s delivered through every brand touch point from website to floor graphics, to business cards, to POP to traditional media?

An agency’s value should be based on their ability to quickly and accurately determine the problem, develop a strategic solution, and deliver appropriate results.  That’s what the plumber had. That’s what the customer was paying for. And that makes sense. So, maybe we should change our name to Brandtailers Plumbing?

Here’s a quick example. I just had a small family owned air conditioning and heating company, Fisher Air,  come out to my house to service our heater (yes, we still use them sometimes in Southern California). They showed up on time, did a nice job, and charged about $75.

Three days later we get a thank you card in the mail with a really nice, credit card quality, $50.00 gift card for their services. But it wasn’t for us. It was to give to a friend or neighbor. And, they noted in the thank you card, when our friend or neighbor uses it, Fisher will send us another one for $100.

Since I already had a feeling of TRUST with the company, I didn’t see this as a scam. I saw it as a genuine effort for a small business to build quality relationships with their customers. So maybe they’ll give up $150 in labor to retain our business and earn another household’s. But how much word-of-mouth (and mouse) might they get in return? A lot more than $150. And a lot more than a $150 ad in some local circular. But remember, they had to have a QUALITY PRODUCT for me to earn their TRUST. And their product was integrity, honesty, kindness, knowledge, efficiency and, oh yes, a reasonable price.

So, you want to save money advertising? Give your customers a gift they didn’t expect. Don’t be cheap. Make it count.

Good Will vs. Media Dollars. Hmmmm…. So, I thought to myself, how can a business like Kragen take this concept and make it a home run online brand marketing success?

What if they had some local customers following them on Twitter and, when it started raining, they sent out a message offering FREE wiper blade inserts to the first 100 visitors. Do you think they’d have a huge line at the door? Marketing history says they would.

But wait, how can a store give out 100 sets of wiper blade inserts and justify the expense? At $10 a set that could add up to $1,000 in product! Yup. It sure could. But how much did it cost in media expenditures to get 100 people in the door? How much would it cost if they tried doing this on TV, or some other form of traditional media? And how could the message be distributed in such a timely manner, and thanks to Twitter, shared so quickly with friends, coworkers, family and other miscellaneous Twitter followers who get the offer re-tweeted to them? How much good will could be created by helping customers out, free of charge, at a time when they needed something pertinent to their immediate safety?

What’s the biggest challenge with this type of new marketing concept? Changing marketers ways of thinking. Getting out of the old mindset that you spend money on the media, and the creative, not on good will. That’s old thinking. And it’s really, really expensive thinking. Why not take just a tiny piece of all that money to be saved from expensive traditional media buys and instead use it to be helpful. Yes, even use it to give something away. With today’s consumer, being helpful can pay off ten-fold. Seeing those Kragen guys standing out in the pouring rain smiling and helping customers was enough to earn my loyalty.

By the way, did I happen to mention that almost every customer in the parking lot that day was holding a Kragen bag with other things they had purchased?