Deceptive Branding by Local Gourmet Food Store

May 29th, 2012 | Posted in Blog, Branding, Branding Wars, marketing, Smart Business Practices | 12 Comments
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Each week I walk down to Hoboken to shop in some of the stores there. Currently, Jersey City Heights doesn’t have any gourmet or health food stores (that I know of). In Hoboken there are a few, including Basic Foods and until recently, Garden of Eden. (I know, you’re saying… hey, Garden of Eden is still there on Washington Street, ahh, nope…)

So, last week I’m on my usual trek to pick up some stuff and I walked all around the store, every last thing in it’s place. Picking up the usual items from their shelves and bins. The same people, same displays and even the same uniforms on the staff, almost! It’s not until I’ve paid and look at my receipt that I notice it says, Aspen Marketplace. Huh? I look up at the cashier and then notice their apron doesn’t say “Garden of Eden” anymore. I ask, “Who is Aspen Marketplace and what happened to Garden of Eden?” Answer: “Well, we’re under new management now.”

I want to assure you, the food was just the same, healthy, fresh and delicious, but how does a store rebrand itself so deceptively that I didn’t notice until paying? I felt like someone had taken advantage of me. I’m certainly happy that there’s a healthy food store for me to shop in, but they should have done something to let me (and others) know. What happened to the signs and banners a store used to fly, “Under New Management?” I’ve done a search on Google and cannot even come up with a logo for the brand, “Aspen Marketplace.”

Is it better to make sure the consumer is having the same wonderful experience in your store or should stores respect us and let us know they’ve changed owners?

garden of eden - not in hoboken anymore

Used to be Garden of Eden, now Aspen Marketplace, walk by and go in, see if you can tell it's changed?

 

Internet Week NY Panel: Brand Recognition vs Killer Content

May 19th, 2012 | Posted in Blog, Branding, Events, marketing, Social Media | 12 Comments
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This week is “Internet Week NY.” Monday through thursday there was a daily schedule of interviews, panel discussions and keynote speakers. (There are other events currently through the weekend and then Monday is the Webby Awards.) In addition it was all available via LiveStream, or you could attend with passes at the main headquarters, 82 Mercer Street in NYC. I spent most of the day there on Tuesday and watched some fantastic presentations, such as an interview with David Karr, columnist for the New York Times. On the LiveStream I watched Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable and Shane Smith, founder and CEO of Vice. There are so many videos and interviews it’s going to keep me watching and learning for the next few weeks!

Internet Week NY - Mercer Street Flags 2012

Internet Week NY - Mercer Street Flags 2012

I had entered the “Make The Stage” panel discussion competition and out of 244 entries, 7 were selected and one was my panel discussion idea, “Brand Recognition vs Killer Content.” The five of us took the stage at 4pm on Thursday, May 17. It was such a great experience and the audience was engaged with this team of experts, Miriam Cohen, Ted Rubin, Kathryn Rose and Bryn Johnson.

Some of my questions to the panel were:
When is brand recognition not enough?
Which should come first; building the brand recognition or focusing on the killer content for reputation?
Does the brand draw great writers and content, or does killer content make a brand great?

We also talked about this and how it pertains to social media:
In building a strong community social network, do people join because of the other members, or because of what it will do for them? Having someone with a strong following and brand following you and sharing your content and does joining give your brand instant clout?
Social media including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest have made our lives very visual. We respond to imagery and video more than written content in most cases. How important is branding on social media platforms?

And we also talked blogging:
Search engines give us the ability to find links to our queries. For bloggers, does your brand matter more, or is it that killer title and content going to make someone remember where they read the answer?

It was such a fabulous experience and below are some photos from the event Brand Recognition vs Killer Content Panel discussion, on the stage.

 

Internet Week NY Panel - Miriam Cohen, Ted Rubin, Kathryn Rose, Bryn Johnson and Susan Newman (Organizer and Moderator).

Internet Week NY Panel - Miriam Cohen, Ted Rubin, Kathryn Rose, Bryn Johnson and Susan Newman (Organizer and Moderator).


 
Here is the video from our panel discussion. (You can also watch the presentation “Brand Recognition vs Killer Content“) at Internet Week NY.) Enjoy and please post feedback, we’d love to hear your thoughts.

So what do you think?

Is brand recognition most important? or is Content King?

Small Businesses are Missing the BIG Picture: How Social Media Can REALLY Help Them

May 9th, 2012 | Posted in Blog, Branding, marketing, Social Media, Website Design and Development | 20 Comments
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Social Media is still an area that have so many businesses offline. Why don’t small businesses and creative entrepreneurs realize the unbelievable potential they are missing out on?

In my neighborhood of Jersey City Heights and close by Hoboken, New Jersey, there are many businesses that are struggling and many that have closed up and left. Whenever I walk down Central Avenue in the Heights and Washington Street down in Hoboken, there are empty stores. More and more are closing due to this stalled economy and I truly believe it’s because they are all focused on the foot traffic of the surrounding areas… and of course there’s the rent increases and costs of operating their businesses.

social media and blogging draw fans and recommendations that lead to greater visibility and sales

Businesses need to wake up and realize there is a whole world out there, waiting and wanting what they have to offer, if they just knew about it. The combination of newer social media and community sites as well as changing technology scare many away. Some have told me, “I don’t see the point” or “I can’t write English very well, what if they start writing back?” or “I don’t want my personal information out there” or “I wouldn’t know what to say or show.”

Social Media and updating your website often is the key to your business being successful. I know because I have run my business for almost 2 decades and my clients are all over the world. I do not depend on local businesses to give me assignments, although I’d welcome them. I reach out to the “WWW.” Remember this term? World Wide Web!

Let’s begin with the basics.
The public likes entertainment, and they also like to read and be educated. They like music, videos, gorgeous imagery and thoughtful commentary. That means you can draw interested people in a lot of different ways using many different mediums and across many different social websites.

But there is always a goal.
Each business has different goals but they all have a few things in common. They want fans, to be recommended, and new customers. How is this going to happen in a dragging economy if they’re only hoping someone is physically going to come into their store. They post 30% off, 50% off and try so hard just to make sales.

Your business is unique and you need to tell the world about what you are doing. Once you post imagery, stories, or video and you do that consistently, your engagement widens, your visibility reaches out across the web to new eyes, and fans start to pass your business around and before you know it, you have increased sales.

Here is one example of what I have done to help a local small business.
This is based on reviewing the company’s Google Analytic stats. Before we began his website traffic was about 235 visitors for the past 30 days and social media engagement 0%. Once we attacked social media and updated things on the company website, 3 weeks later, the social engagement is 25%, and website traffic is now at 2,100 for the past month. Many new visitors are coming from social media, and they are staying on site longer, looking around, and more sales are coming in. The more consistently we do this, the engagement and visitors will continue to go up.

So, you’re now wondering if you have the right business and how social media can help you. Just ask me… I can spin branding and marketing ideas easily and I’m happy to offer advice that will attract more potential customers for your business. Whether you are a florist, small book publisher, interior designer or own a bicycle shop, social media can bring you increased visibility which is really a GOOD thing.

So join in and remember to be “social!”