by Ira » Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:20 am
I wasn't ignoring this thread, just trying to soak it all in.
I'll let this thread ride for a few more hours before chiming in on actual NAMES, but here's the thing about corporate branding. Mind you, I don't claim to be a marketing expert…I'm a graphic artist…but I CAN tell you what I've observed about marketing over the years.
It doesn't matter what the hell you call yourself, as long as the rest of your marketing plan is right on, you offer the good products, and your actual "advertising" is well-done.
Because what does Coleman mean anyway? Mobil? Sony? Chevrolet? Harbor Freight? Heck, the names give absolutely NO indication of what they sell.
So in my view, the name means nothing and does very little to attract business, without the other marketing elements well in place.
Marketing is spreading the hay where the cows can find it. Advertising is the hay.
(And for a web site, the term advertising here also includes how you submit your key words to search engines.)
What you want to market is what I call a "Boutique" comany. The term boutique is usually used to indicate "small" but "specialized," and higher quality, and refers to such companies as those that bottle their own brand of barbecue sauce, design and manufacture their own lingerie, or sell a complete line of specialty products that would otherwise be difficult to obtain.An example of this would be a company that sells supplies for candlemakers—every product on earth a candlemaker would need. There ain't a lot of candlemakers in the world today, but the few companies like this have that market cornered and are successful.
So what does any of this have to do with you?
Well, I'm assuming you're buying wholesale, not manufacturing anything yourself. And I'm also assuming that you're looking at high-end products otherwise not "obtainable" in Finland, and I quoted that word because nowadays, with the web, EVERYTHING is ultimately obtainable.
However, I think it is a big plus for a Finnish consumer to find a Finnish company on the web offering outdoor products. They will no doubt feel safer ordering from you for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is shipping.
Is anyone in Finland doing this now? Have you found a company you're trying to emulate? Or are you creating an entirely new concept, a new type and level of product line?
If there IS an existing company that you're trying to emulate, and they're successful and have been in business for a number of years, your work is easy. Just do what THEY'RE doing, and don't reinvent the wheel. Look how THEY brand themselves (their name), and follow a similar path.
My guess is your branding should ultimately parallel a brand like "L.L. Bean." Coming up with a name like "M.M. DeLuth" (just a bad example) immediately puts you on a level with L.L. Bean. What you have done is taken advantage of the positive consumer awareness that THEY'VE built up over the years; it is triggered by your use of M.M.
I mentioned above about not reinventing the wheel, and here's a great example:
As you know, before there was the internet, people bought products advertised in magazines through mail order, clipping out the tiny form and sending it out.
Well, there were (still are) a number of magazines geared towards teenage girls, and I swear, there must have been 20 ads in the back of those magazines to order blackhead (pimple) removers. A little device that sucked the blackhead out.
First, don't ask me what I was doing reading those magazines. (OKAY! MY SISTER HAD THEM AND I WAS MASTURBATING TO THE SWIMSUIT AND PANTIES PICTURES!)
Anyway, one would think that someone who wanted to start a magazine mail order business would say to himself, "Well, I'm not going to sell blackhead removers. There are a million guys SELLING them already!"
And that's the point—there's a REASON that a million guys are selling them. Because in those types of magazines, they sold like crazy, able to support all of those companies doing the exact same thing.
New and different isn't always the way to go.
Here we go again!
