Discussion Guide from The Perfection of Marketing by James Connor, Best Marketing Book, Advertising Book, Branding Book, Marketing Textbook for Small and Midsized Businesses

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The Perfection of Marketing

Jan. 14, 2009, NYC

Future Workshops

Bring the Perfection of Marketing Workshop to Your Company

If you are interested in having James Connor or other brand strategists from The James Group lead your company's management through The Perfection of Marketing Workshop contact: workshop@perfectionofmarketing.com

Chapter 1 - The Brand Marketing Engine

Are your marketing dollars making money for you and your business? (Yes or No.)
Have you spent as much time perfecting the company's Brand Marketing engine as you have Operations and Finance?
Do you have a consistent process for increasing sales through Brand Marketing?

Chapter 2 - Discovering a Brand Problem

Does everyone in the company describe your company the same way? (Yes or No.)
How do you describe the company?
What do your customers say you stand for?

Chapter 3
Step I: Positioning the Brand Through the Sales Moment

When was the last time you interviewed your customers to understand what they are looking for when they buy?
What can your company be the best in the world at?
Why do you think your customers hire you over your competition?
What is your Sales Moment? (Describe the movie of unmet needs that your company fulfills.)
Has your company implemented marketing tactics (like brochures, websites, direct mail, sales presentations, and ads) without first identifying your Sales Moment? Yes or No.

Chapter 4 - The Four Elements of a Brand

What are the four elements of a brand?
Do all four brand elements communicate your Sales Moment? Which do (if any); which don't?
Do you feel brand marketing best practices are something only a large company needs? Why or why not?

Chapter 5 - What's in a Name?

On its own, what mental image does your company name convey?
Does this mental image convey your company's Sales Moment?

Chapter 6 - How to Create a Powerful Brand Name

Did you check to make certain your name is available for a Federal Trademark?
From your customer's perspective, does the name convey the Sales Moment and is it memorable?

Chapter 7 - What Great Logos Have in Common

Is your logo easy for the customer to recreate in their mind?
Does your logo tell a story that communicates your Sales Moment?

Chapter 8 - Creating Taglines with Spark

What are the three types of taglines that build brand and create sales?
Which type (if any) is your company's tagline?
Does your current tagline clearly communicate your Sales Moment, (the reason customers buy from you?)

Chapter 9 - The Four Types of Advertising Campaigns that Build Brand and Drive Sales

What are the four types of ad campaigns that build brand and create sales?
Which type (if any) is your company's ad campaign image?
Does your current ad campaign image clearly communicate your Sales Moment in a blink (the reason customers buy from you)?
Are you using your campaign image in each of your marketing touchpoints (web, brochures, direct mail, tradeshows, PR, etc.)?
Is your advertising campaign growing sales for your company?

Chapter 10
Step II: Rolling Out the Brand Consistently

Do your marketing tactics (what your people say, website, brochures, marketing to partners, PR, ads, direct mail, and event marketing) come out of your brand Sales Moment?
Do all your marketing tactics consistently convey what the brand looks like and talks like?
Are you making the most of your lowest cost foundational tactics of people, website, brochures, and partners?

Chapter 11 - Get Your People on Brand First

Has your company put its key methods in writing to create consistency and efficiency?
Has everyone in your company been trained on how to contribute to deliver on the company's Sales Moment?

Chapter 12 - Building Websites for Search Engine Placement

Does your company website feature your campaignable idea as a handle to help prospective clients understand quickly how your website is relevant to them?
What would be something valuable and interesting to your target audience that would make your website sticky?
What keyword phrases would someone Google to find a company like yours to provide services?
When you type cache: http://www.insertyourwebsitename.com in a Google search and click the cached text only link, is your website visible to the search engines for the keywords you want to rank for?
Is your company website using the six best practices for on-site web optimization and the four best practices for off-site optimization?

Chapter 13 - Partner Marketing

Has your company brainstormed a list of companies and individuals who have access to your target market?
How will you have to look and act in order for these potential partners to believe you will benefit their audience the most?
What's in it for your partners?

Chapter 14 - How to Gain Quality PR Coverage

When sending out press releases, do you identify specific journalists and clearly state the reason why your story is relevant to their readers, listeners, or viewers?
Do you send out suggested interview questions with the time it takes to answer the questions showing you know how to be a good interview?

Chapter 15
Step III: Return on Investment Marketing through the Lifetime Value of a Customer

Do the people responsible for marketing your brand understand the lifetime value of your customer?
What is the average revenue you receive from the largest 1/ 3 of customers?
What is the average gross profit margin before marketing expense (EBITDAM)?
What is the average number of years a customer is held?
Assuming a cost of capital between 15-18% as the discounting factor, and using the free downloadable spreadsheet available at http://www.thejamesgroup.com/customervalue, what is your magic number (the lifetime value of a customer for the largest third)?

Chapter 16 - To Grow Fast or To Grow Slow (Determining the Marketing Budget)

Does your company want to Grow Slow of Grow Fast?
What are your revenue goals for next year?
How much of that revenue must come from new customers?
What was your marketing budget last year?
How many new clients did you win last year?
Divide marketing budget by how many clients you won last year to determine acquisition price?
Determine your marketing budget by (total target revenue from new customers x average customer revenue) x target acquisition price?

Chapter 17 - Why the Perfection of Marketing Works

Has your company skipped any of the steps we have discussed in the Perfection of Marketing Process? (Yes or No.)
Does it feel better to think about helping others or helping yourself?
What would make it easier for your customers to choose your brand?

Download complete discussion guide for every chapter as pdf

Download 4-hour discussion guide for The Perfection of Marketing Workshop as pdf

Chapter 1 - The Brand Marketing Engine
Chapter 2 - Discovering a Brand Problem
Chapter 3 - Positioning the Brand Through the Sales Moment
Chapter 4 - The Four Elements of a Brand
Chapter 5 - What's in a Name?
Chapter 6 - How to Create a Powerful Brand Name
Chapter 7 - What Great Logos Have in Common
Chapter 8 - Creating Taglines with Spark
Chapter 9 - The Four Types of Advertising Campaigns that Build Brand and Drive Sales
Chapter 10 - Rolling Out the Brand Consistently
Chapter 11 - Get Your People on Brand First
Chapter 12 - Building Websites for Search Engine Placement
Chapter 13 - Partner Marketing
Chapter 14 - How to Gain Quality PR Coverage
Chapter 15 - Return on Investment Marketing through the Lifetime Value of a Customer
Chapter 16 - To Grow Fast or To Grow Slow (Determining the Marketing Budget)
Chapter 17 - Why the Perfection of Marketing Works