INDUSTRY NEWS COMMENT: MARKETING MATTERS Elizabeth Sparrow
WHEN operating in a saturated market having a distinct company brand is more likely to get you noticed. Potential clients want to know what they are getting for their investment and having a distinct company aesthetic creates their first impression of your business. This first impression extends beyond your commodity offering through to the service they’ll receive, which
in turn then develops brand awareness, loyalty and should establish you as a trusted brand no matter your size. Product and brand have to be in sync for consistency. The identity of a company shouldn’t be reduced to the pretty logo. This alone will not build a brand, but it should be an advocate of your brand values, tone of voice, what you stand for and what it means to engage with you. Your designer should engage with you on this level as much as on the shade of a particular colour or weight of a particular font. For instance, when a company brands itself as friendly, fun and welcoming, their office decor, company literature and even telephone manner has to match this. These ethics should run through the fabric of the organisation and its staff. If the logo does not represent these values then the first impression will be misaligned and your prospect will be unable to identify what type of company they are engaging with. For example, Innocent Smoothies are part of the saturated soft drinks market however they were able to quickly dominate by developing a unique brand and their desire to be recognised as alternative is followed through in all elements of their messaging. The replacement of ‘use by’ with ‘enjoy by’ on their bottles is one such example of this. Design and brand execution breathes life into your business and when done well it will stand you apart from your competitors.
Elizabeth Sparrow, MD, Blabbermouth Marketing
Time to earn data margin
RESELLERS that sell data pipes on price alone are in danger of damaging long-term customer relationships.
That was the consensus of
a panel of experts who debated ‘Margin in Data’ at the inaugu- ral Virtual I Seminar Series held on Ladies Day at Epsom Downs Racecourse last month. Virtual1 MD Tom O’Hagan invited speakers from event sponsor Juniper Networks, Virgin Media Business and Navisite to join him for the panel discussion led by Comms Dealer’s Nigel Sergent. Introducing the debate, O’Hagan commented: “With prices having plummeted in the past three years, some resellers see data as being completely commoditised and therefore sell on price alone. “This is leading to an aggres- sively competitive market place that has a short term focus on price, rather than a long term focus on overall value. At
Virtual1, we don’t think this is the right approach.” O’Hagan’s concern about
price wars were shared by his fellow panelists, who argued that resellers who add value by building their own products, or forming alliances with other suppliers to
create bundled
packages, would gain a compet- itive advantage and long-term benefits through exceeding cus- tomer expectations. “It was a good debate and underlined why it is essential that resellers begin to move away from just selling an inter- net circuit and move towards a wide portfolio of converged services,” said Sergent. The event marked the first in a series of six seminars tak- ing place over the summer. For more information, please visit
www.virtual1.co.uk/media/sem- inar-series-2013
Got a news story? email:
sgilroy@bpl-business.com
SHORT CALLS
Integra ICT, formerly Anglia Telecoms, has bagged Microsoft Gold Cloud Accelerate partner status, a designation that marks the firm’s progression from traditional comms reseller to successful cloud service provider. The accreditation builds on the company’s Microsoft Gold status following the acquisition of Applied IT in February 2012.
Nimans has launched a new online video library on youtube called Nimans TV, featuring training videos and product information. Paul Burn, Head of System Sales, said: “Nimans has embraced the social media revolution with popular Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn feeds. Nimans TV is the next logical step.”
Kcom, part of the KCOM Group, will be working with the NFU Mutual, the UK’s leading rural insurer, as a key partner on their business transformation programme to help further improve customer services. The managed communications provider recently signed a five year, managed communications services contract with NFU Mutual, worth over £20m.
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8 COMMS DEALER JULY 2013
www.comms-dealer.com
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