I had the privilege this past weekend to present a Marketing with Marty™ seminar at PC Synergy’s PostalMate regional training event in Baltimore, Maryland. It was an honor to be asked to speak, and I was overjoyed to oblige!
The Marketing with Marty™ session I led was my newly revamped Inside Out Marketing 3.0. The class focuses on brand and image, and the essentialness of supporting your brand through the design, layout, atmosphere, and attitude of your brick and mortar store. We learn how to market our businesses from the inside out, getting it right at the core–inside our stores–so customers’ experiences when they visit reinforce the positive feelings of the external marketing messages that they initially responded to. It’s a fun class, and I love sharing it!
I drove to Baltimore, which gave me a few hours to catch up on my backlogged podcast queue. One of my favorite podcasts that I listen to faithfully and habitually is Lewis Howes’ The School of Greatness. It’s just plain inspiring.
I don’t know how Lewis and his team vet his guests, but they have a knack for coming up with the most engaging, uplifting, and turn-your-life-upside-down-in-a-good-way humans that really make you think about your walk and expand your dreams of what could be … in business, relationships, health, wellness, and more.
One of Lewis’ most recent episodes is a solo show titled “The Lifetime Millionaire,” and it captivated me as I crept along the construction-laden stretch of I-81 called “Pennsylvania.” The focus of the episode was branding.
Lewis shared how, on a recent trip to Buenos Aires, he noticed a pair of Coca-Cola branded shoes being sold alongside Reebok, Nike, and Adidas. He marveled at the intensity of the Coca-Cola brand that has such loyalty and power to put their logo on shoes–a place a soft drink brand should never be–and get a prime price for them!
Throughout the episode, Lewis mentioned brand and design as an investment with an invisible return. We can’t measure the dollars we put into design with metrics, like we can with many other ventures. But the return is absolutely there, even if we can’t wholly define it.
Branding is never final. Periodically, it needs to be revamped and recharged. Logos, slogans, and taglines don’t last forever, and need to be updated to stay current and relevant. Websites and social media profiles need to be constantly tweaked, and completely overhauled from time to time. Each time we upgrade, we see more visits, more shares, more engagement, and more opportunity springing forth. Investment–both money and minutes–in photos and quality artwork will set us apart and above. As Lewis says, “The premium goes up when you invest in premium design.”
As I idled through traffic, I listened, learned, and marveled at the simple, sensible, salient message that gave me a clearer understanding of branding–both for the necessary work I need to do on my own and for helping others with theirs. I strongly encourage you to listen to The Lifetime Millionaire episode, and subscribe to The School of Greatness podcast on iTunes. You’ll be glad you did!
I had a blast in Baltimore, networking with others in our unique industry, learning, growing, taking stock of what we have, imagining what could be next, and thinking in new directions. Thank you, PC Synergy and attendees, for inviting me to be part of such a worthwhile weekend!
I look forward to presenting Inside Out Marketing 3.0 again in a few weeks at the Retail Shippers Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. I hope to see you there!
#MarketingwithMarty
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For more information on Marty, please visit unclemartysoffice.com.
To listen to The Lifetime Millionaire and learn more about Lewis Howes and The School of Greatness, please visit lewishowes.com/podcast/the-lifetime-millionaire/.
Source: AMBC Blog