For many companies, it has become customary to hand out yearend gifts to clients. These range from pens to BMWs and are hence often the subject of much debate.

So, before you saddle up the gift horse, consider these questions:

Why?

This is a deceptively simple question; the answer to which can be more complex than expected.

• Are you handing out gifts because your competition does?
• Are you doing it because your clients expect you to?
• Is it a gesture of thanks to existing clients?
• Is it an opportunity to market your company to potential or new clients?

Who?

Some clients are valued for their spend, some for their loyalty, some for their long-term support, others for their potential spend, loyalty and support.

• Who are you handing out gifts to this year?
• Will the gifts be customised to the personal profile of the recipient?
• Will certain clients ‘qualify’ for ‘better’ gifts than others?
• How will you manage the process of multiple recipients in one company?
• Who will not be getting gifts this year?

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I have compiled a list of the five tools I believe are essential for managing brand integrity and gauging client perception of your brand.

1. Corporate identity (CI) manual and Pantone colour guide (or other printed reference)

CI manual
Unless you are a multi-national giant, you don’t need a 300 page CI bible, a simple easy-to-use guide will do. At the very least it should cover basics such as:

• Brand background and tonality. This should give some insight into the big idea behind the development of your brand as well as introduce its personality;
• Logo application and usage. Rules such as how the logo should be used on various media, when to use the strap line, minimum size, logo placement in relation to other images, text and colours etc;
• Colour breakdown and usage. This should detail the makeup of all your brand colours in all the various formats: CMYK, RGB, Hexcode, Pantones etc. (See A guide to choosing the correct colours for your brand for a more in-depth look at the various colour formats);
• Font usage. What fonts to use in your corporate communication. It should include size, styles, colours and formats for headings, body copy, etc;

Pantone guide (or other printed samples)
Every printing firm operates differently to some degree, therefore when printing full colour CMYK jobs or simple once-off digital banners, it is essential to have a printed sample of your brand colours as reference. Purchase a Pantone Colour Guide if your brand colours have Pantone references, this will make the colour matching job easier  (See A guide to choosing the correct colours for your brand for a more in-depth look at the various colour formats).

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You’ve chosen fluorescent orange and it sums up your brand perfectly; it’s energetic, bright and fun. No one could possibly miss such a vibrant colour logo.

The problem is that many colours are very difficult to manage over the various printing and production processes. This post will hopefully serve as a practical guide to choosing a managable colour for your brand.

Take into account your budget and on what kinds of media your brand will be represented. Ask yourself:

• Will I be doing mainly paper based printing such as brochures and leaflets?
• Will I be printing things like banners, pens, coffee mugs or doing embroidered shirts and caps?
• Will my brand only appear online?

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Clients are sometimes stumped by all the confusing terms used in the various printing processes. I’ve written a blog post to help you decode some of the jargon and explain which one works best for specific projects. This is printing 101.

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Does the concept of spring cleaning make you wish for the winter months and their guiltless lazy hours spent in full view of rooms bursting at the seams or are you like I am; unaccustomed to the cluttering instinct of hibernation with cupboards almost as minimally stocked as old Mother Hubbard’s?

Although I am the antithesis of a hoarder and Shakers would be well pleased by my almost religious abhorrence of wasted storage on useless and emotionally burdened knickknacks and what-nots; I accept that we all need the annual housekeeping ritual of spring cleaning to press the refresh button on our lives.

And whilst I know there is nothing fresh about using the onset of spring as a metaphor for anything from a new diet to a new career, I am going to fall knowingly into the cliché trap and use this rather desperate analogy to tell you why your brand needs as much good housekeeping as your home does.

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The internet and bookshop shelves are littered with advice on the how-to of sales; everyone from Dale Carnegie (yes I am that old); to Richard Branson, Jim Collins and Stephen Covey has the secret to sales success. But I think the real deal can be found on the street.

Image credit

Stop at a street light or robot anywhere in South Africa and you are swarmed upon like bees on honey by flag waving patriots of every soccer-playing nation.  These guys have mastered the fundamentals of salesmanship and remind us (or teach us) that by getting the basics right we are more than halfway to scoring.

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Tweeting is not just for birds. Twitter, the micro-blogging site, allows anyone to ‘tweet’ and share their opinions online in posts with a limit of 140 characters, much like a text message.

Who cares you ask? Brands care. A recent study found that 39% of people on Twitter have discussed a brand or product and 44% are receptive to promotions and special offers (if you’re interested, read more here).

South African brands have taken notice and it’s no wonder since Twitter is the 8th most visited site in South Africa and South Africa is the the 10th largest user of Twitter. Now you can see the big attraction!

If you’ve been convinced and want to start tweeting, here are a few things you should know…

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Just like most things in life; we get out what we put in. A good brief is the catalyst for sound and focused creative thinking; a bad brief is the catalyst for wasted hours and money.

So, at the risk of copping a lot of flak from my creative team for writing an article on a subject they will argue I am unpractised in, here is my advice on how to write a good brief.

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A loyal customer base is the Holy Grail for all businesses, especially in tough economic times. All businesses will benefit from putting themselves in the mind of their target market and finding platforms in which to speak to them. Some brands find that social media is that platform and use it to help boost their word of mouth marketing.

There are few more personal brand choices than choosing a hairstylist. I needed a new hairstylist. I texted a few girl friends and, being a social media junkie, I posted my search on Facebook. Here’s what happened…

One of my friends recommended a hairstylist in response to my Facebook status and invited me to join the hairstylist’s Facebook group. I had already booked an appointment with another stylist recommended via SMS (Do we ever just talk to each other anymore? That’s another article altogether).

Lesson # 1: Word of mouth is still the number one marketing tool.

The first cut was great, I felt like a new person. My second appointment was also a success although I was double-booked. I recommended the hairstylist to my mother and sister. My mom was charged more than what she was quoted, but she overlooked it in the name of good hair.

Lesson # 2: If you offer great service most of the time, customers may overlook the odd slip-up.

Waiting for her next appointment however, held her captive for an afternoon, this time, the result of triple booking. Then the friend who originally recommended the hairstylist told me that she was ‘shopping around’ after being quoted low, charged high and made to wait over two hours for a trim.

Lesson # 3: Word-of-mouth can work both for and against your brand. Obviously customers’ tolerance for broken promises lessens as your service standards drop.

I took heed and made my next appoint for 8 am on a Saturday morning and was thrilled not having to wait. I thought my hair was cut and blow-dried perfectly… little did I know what a good blow-dry can hide…

Last Monday morning after a home wash and blow-dry, I realised that I had was a mullet! You know the kind, Billy Ray Cyrus’ business in the front and all party at the back! I didn’t even phone my hairstylist to complain or make a fix-up appointment.

Lesson # 4: Most customers will not complain about bad service, but they won’t leave quietly … bad news travels fast.

I went back to Facebook, to the recommended hairstylist’s group. Here I found the contact details, saw photos of the salon, read the group wall and then called to make my appointment. In my lunch hour my mullet was reshaped into a neat bob, and I had found a new stylist. Mission accomplished!

Lesson # 5: Brand loyalty is quickly won with honest and consistent delivery on your brand promise.

That evening I joined the stylist’s Facebook group and invited a few girlfriends along with my personal endorsement. Did someone pay me to promote this brand? No. Do I gain anything by telling my friends? Maybe style kudos but that’s it.

Final result: Good old fashioned brand basics + social media presence = fans for your brand (both online and off).

For those of you that are looking for a great hairstylist, check out the Facebook group of  French Fusion, I am a brand fan.

Read more of Monique‘s blog posts here.

Most often it’s marketing that is first on the sacrificial altar of budget cuts. It offers the immediate gratification many organisations require at the time of forecasting in a troubled economy; calming nerves and placating shareholders or executives with leaner cost projections. However the very same people who need appeasing are the people who will not tolerate reduced demand for their products or services; thus expecting the same outputs with less financial input! Read the rest of this entry.