http://www.avm-branding.com/ en benedicte.windle@avm-branding.com Copyright 2010 2010-07-13T08:26:31+00:00 http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/talk_to_me/ http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/talk_to_me/#When:08:26:31Z Communicating is about making a connection, engaging with an audience of one or millions, face to face or at a distance. It’s about telling a relevant story and getting your audience to listen or read your message. Some supermarkets have greeters, to start communication, to engage the customer, to kick-start the shopping experience and create a positive brand atmosphere.What is the first contact with your business like? What do you do to engage potential clients, visitors? Is the first contact on the phone professional and friendly? Is your website personable, a good reflection of what your business stands for? Does it engage? Does it try to make a connection? If you are attending an event, does your company portray people worth talking to? Does it show your business under a good light, an accurate light? Have a look at your business, approach it from all possible angles and think: do I want to do business with these people, do I want to buy a car from them, book for a show, celebrate my birthday with these people? Do I trust them to deliver the service level I expect, the quality of product I assume? If you are not sure, address the aspects that you think are not good enough, sharpen the blurred messages, make the experience smoother, make your business more engaging, more personable. Or give me a call and I’ll help you. 2010-07-13T08:26:31+00:00 http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/be_enthusiastic_and_youll_enthuse/ http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/be_enthusiastic_and_youll_enthuse/#When:16:44:34Z I’m often told I’m an emotional continental and people mean it as a negative comment. I take it as a compliment. I feel. I care. I respond to enthusiastic people. I find enthusiasm attractive and infectious.I’m sure you do as well. Being enthusiastic shows you are passionate, interested. It makes you connect. Life’s too short to be dull. It’s much more compelling to do business with someone who shows enthusiasm for what they do, for what you do, for a new project, a new idea. It’s like a wave - it carries you. Of course you must feel that enthusiasm. If it is fake, it sounds and feels hollow and will irritate rather than inspire and seduce. So go on, don’t be blasé, show a bit of passion and your world will seem that little bit happier! 2009-12-15T16:44:34+00:00 http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/new_york_new_york/ http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/new_york_new_york/#When:19:45:55Z During a recent trip to New York, I was reminded how enjoyable good service is and how much you take it for granted until you no longer experience it. Standing at the sign “Please wait to be seated” in a restaurant and not having to wait for a cleared table, being welcomed with a greeting and a smile, sitting down to a clean table with glasses of water, menus appearing instantly, orders taken rapidly and delivered in a instant, not having to wait for cutlery, drinks being replenished before you’ve noticed your cup or glass is empty, not having to ask for the bill. To my mind, it is well worth tipping for such a smooth and enjoyable experience.The main reason for such an enjoyable experience is the fact that as a customer in a store or a restaurant, you are the centre of attention. Things have been designed around you, for you, not for the convenience of the staff or the management, just for you. I have felt special for a week whilst in New York. The instant I walked in a main railway station in northern England, I felt I had arrived to a mean place, having to find 30 pence change to use the toilet, being greeted by minimal grunts and depressed faces. I don’t know that people in New York are any happier, particularly in the catering industry, on their feet hours on end, never still, always making your experience better, but they are more pleasant and make your day brighter. I will think twice when I next leave a tip in this country: Did I really get good service? Was my experience of this store enhanced from the moment I walked in? Did these people really want me as a customer? Did they care? Would I want to have the same experience again? 2009-10-30T19:45:55+00:00 http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/nothing_for_months_and_two_entries_at_once/ http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/nothing_for_months_and_two_entries_at_once/#When:09:06:05Z It is generally how it goes with buses, clients… One favour leads to another. I have recently written a recommendation for one of my clients on LinkedIn and my client wrote one for me in return. I wasn’t expecting it and it made it all the more pleasant. A compliment is indeed like a present and recommendations or referrals are invaluable to any business. This is something I learned with BNI, a famous networking organisation. It is a few years now since I was a member but I still benefit from the relationships I forged and the techniques I learned. So do not delay and recommend someone today, like a smile it doesn’t take much effort but it can change a life! 2009-09-22T09:06:05+00:00 http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/what_happened_to_le_blog_this_summer/ http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/what_happened_to_le_blog_this_summer/#When:09:00:36Z I think it has been a victim of outdoor activities, gardening or at least sitting in the garden, walking, a new pastime for me, and generally a bit too much enjoyment! Can you really have too much fun? I sincerely don’t think so and it is a little like the British weather, it might change very soon, so better make the most of it. When you run a business, there are always things you need to do, usually massive amount of things you have to do, mostly urgent. Somehow during the summer months, we found time for family and friends, holidays, a little time to ourselves in the sun and we still got all these things we needed to do, done. May be not Le Blog! Now that the nights are drawing in, let us remember to make room for a little enjoyment, for a potential Indian summer or a fantastic skying season. Let’s prioritise a little me-time ever so often and add fun things to our “to do list”. 2009-09-19T09:00:36+00:00 http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/say_thank_you/ http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/say_thank_you/#When:09:31:20Z When I was a child, my mother would insist that I should say thank you when given something, whether it was a present or a piece of fruit to eat. It has stayed with me and I notice with pleasure when people or children say thank you. I think that in the context of business, it is essential to thank our clients, our ambassadors - the people who refer us business, our suppliers for a job well-done or people who might have made an enquiry. I am not suggesting that it will pay immediate dividends. There is no doubt though, if you analyse the lifetime value of your customers rather than keep a project-by-project perspective, you will benefit. Saying thank you is one of building blocks of a rewarding relationship; you will be granted a favour easier, people will find you more pleasant to work with. Let’s make sure good manners do not become a thing of the past. Thank you for reading my blog! 2009-05-28T09:31:20+00:00 http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/one_minute_is_all_you_need/ http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/one_minute_is_all_you_need/#When:09:07:11Z I often ask my clients to go through this experience of the one-minute presentation. Their first reaction is often that it can’t be done, what’s the use of it or it’s not for me. After one of my marketing workshops, they usually change their mind. Some have been interrupted in full flow because their minute was up and I’m very strict, some have stopped talking after 32 seconds, others have concentrated on a single strand of their business. It is a simple but very difficult exercise. One minute is a short time and yet, you’ll be amazed how much information you will be able to impart. It’s an excellent tool you can use for networking, for your sales team, for getting rid of unessential information, for taking a fresh look at what you do, for helping the potential ambassadors of your brand. They will remember a short and to-the-point presentation and will be able to pass on the salient points and thus communicate your message to others. It is an arbitrary time-span but very useful as it focuses the mind. If you waste a minute talking to someone who is clearly not interested, you haven’t wasted much of your time or theirs. If you’ve grabbed their attention, they’ll want to know more, they’ll remember you they’ll talk about you. A minute well spent. Marketing 2009-03-01T09:07:11+00:00 http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/tell_people_who_you_are/ http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/tell_people_who_you_are/#When:12:41:21Z It seems such an obvious thing but I receive a lot of calls and read a lot of communications and am none the wiser of what is on offer, who is on the line and what they want from me. Look at your website, read your brochure, listen to yourself and your staff. Have you introduced yourself and your organisation? Have you told people what it is you do? Have they understood? Have you checked that you are talking to the right person?My suggestion – go back to basics. Think of who you are talking to, what you want to tell them and check that “normal” people who are not involved in your industry or not knowledgeable about it, can understand what you are trying to put across. Think of the best way to reach people, your type of people. Will they appreciate a call at home at 10 o’clock on New Year’s Day (from personal experience!)? Marketing, Releases 2009-01-15T12:41:21+00:00 http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/benefits_of_branding_for_geology_trust_/ http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/benefits_of_branding_for_geology_trust_/#When:01:19:57Z For a client who thought that marketing was “money for old rope”, branding has become the most cost-effective investment they have made. Their identity has enabled them to differentiate themselves from their council-owned competitor and from geological societies. It has also meant that they are easily recognisable with the use of their logo as a badge on all event posters, brochures, trail guides, banners, press release, event photos. Raising awareness is vital when you are competing for people’s leisure time.It has been useful also to identify members of a field trip in a quarry with branded helmets. Lapel labels with the Trust logo have attracted attention after a fossil walk and have enabled the Trust to count how many people attended a particular event. Being visible is not just a Health & Safety issue but a necessity in the competitive and visually-busy environment we live in. Branding, Clients, Design Press, Geology Trust 2009-01-15T01:19:57+00:00 http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/dont_let_your_marketing_get_fossilised/ http://www.avm-branding.com/site/le-blog-entry/dont_let_your_marketing_get_fossilised/#When:19:22:12Z In May 2005, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of A Vos Marques, I sent my clients and potential clients a present/direct mail piece, a fossil with a message. It was very well received at the time and I still see it on the desk of some of my clients. It came as a bit of a surprise earlier this year, when one of the fossils I had sent 3 years ago was cited as the reason for a new client to commission A Vos Marques.It is proof that carefully targeted and designed direct mail works, that it takes time to convert leads into clients but also that one form of marketing activity alone isn’t sufficient. In this case, networking and the exchange of business cards was the trigger: my logo reminded my contact of the “clever” piece he had received all these years ago! Clients, Marketing 2008-11-23T19:22:12+00:00