As of this week, I finally finished a year-long branding project. Well, I shouldn’t say finished, because this is the type of project that will continue to be refined, but let’s just say we took our time rebuilding and clarifying our brand.
Some may not understand the concept of a brand, but to put it in my own words, a brand is the emotional feeling and understanding one has toward an organization; this could include the interacting with a logo, slogan, packaging, tagline, etc.
Up front I will mention that this book really has nothing to do with online marketing, SEO, SEM, or anything else regarding the web. It’s really about understanding your marketing strategy and positioning against competitors.
That said, The Marketing Playbook was written by a couple ex-Microsoft marketing gurus. They were very involved in making Microsoft Windows and Office what they are today, which really gave them credibility and was the main reason I kept reading.
The Marketing Playbook gives an in-depth analysis on five difference strategic marketing “plays.” Each of the “plays” are unique marketing strategies, and companies may find that they fall into any of these five strategies.
Over the last few years, we have all felt the presence of social media. At first we began to engage for peer-to-peer use, to find friends, family and colleagues; and now we have begun to see the business to consumer (B2C) relationships pick up on the social media platform.
Businesses have had some success in spending time with social media. With a careful and thought out plan, social media marketing can be extremely effective.
So, when does it make sense and when does it not make sense to use social media for a small business?
When it makes sense: