What is a brand?

“A set of customer associations which can be positive or negative”

“A unique association from which to differentiate between products or services”

“The values and beliefs which underpin the entire company’s work”

“More than, but including, the logo, name, website, and advertising”

“Any opinion that a customer forms during their experience of that company”

1. Know your customers

• How well do you know your customers?
• Why do they buy from you?
• What do they want from you?

Research your customers and find out the answers to key questions like these. Get to know the dynamics of your customers inside out, only then can your marketing be successfully tuned in to their needs. Datadrum recently completed a survey for a client in the building industry. It identified a gap in the market and several weaknesses they were unaware of. They have now built these issues into their marketing planning.

2. Stand out from the crowd

Identify what values your brand has or should have. To stand out from the competition your brand needs to have a clear message as to what it stands for. For example is your brand a premium priced one built on quality and expertise or do you stand for value and service. When building a new brand we look at every aspect of the clients brand value and ask staff from all areas of the company what values they think their brand has or should have!

3. Spread the message

Make sure your brand message is consistently communicated through all the companys “touchpoints”. A “touchpoint” is anything in your company that your customer comes in contact with. At Datadrum we help our clients cover all these areas and this can even include how the telephone is answered and company interiors as well as the obvious touchpoints like websites, print and sales staff.

4. Have a clear vision

Know where you want your brand to be in 5 years time. It takes many years to build a successful brand so have a clear objective in mind. When working with clients we like to know what the long term objective of the company is. Only then can we recommend marketing plans and campaigns that will successfully achieve this.

5. Champion your brand

You will only be successful if everyone in the business understands the brand and what it stands for. Clear leadership is required and the business leaders need to be fully committed to the companies branding values and vision. If you don’t believe in it then it will eventually fail because all strong brands are built on strong commitment.

6. Find your customers

You will need to find out the best way to reach your potential customers. When producing marketing campaigns we carefully research the best route to the market to achieve the objective. If it is a B2B audience it is easier to identify potential customers and target them through direct mail, telemarketing, email, events etc. The profile of the audience needs to be analysed before you know what will be effective. We have worked on several campaigns aimed at young people who did not respond to more traditional forms of marketing such as advertising but to competitions, micro-websites, direct mail and events.

7. Spread the word

Build awareness so that your brand message is reaching potential customers through the relevant media channels. Brand recall is a powerful tool especially in consumer marketing and increasingly so in B2B. Datadrum firmly believe that brand building such as advertising and PR is investment, not spend. It does not always achieve instant increases in sales but a strong brand is built on many marketing activities. It needs to be part of the marketing communications plan alongside other short term objective campaigns.

8. Use your imagination

As markets become immune to conventional marketing, brands that develop a more personal connection with their customers through innovation will be more successful. The world’s biggest brands such as Apple and Nike have product and marketing innovation as a key strategy to building their brand experience. Never be afraid to discuss and try new ideas – some of them will work! At Datadrum we are constantly looking at new ways to market our clients brands in highly competitive markets.

9. Be genuine

Customers are suspicious of “hype” and “spin” and are looking for companies to make a stand on principles such as the environment and customer care. The high street bank Co-op has followed a strategy of ethical banking which has clearly made them stand out from the other banks and appeal to a niche market. However if you are marketing the principles of the business as a brand value it has to be authentic. If not customers will see through it and you will severely damage your reputation.

10. Keep It Simple

Simplicity of your brand is vital. Your customers need to find it simple to understand and use. You need your brand to be simple to communicate and successful brands are built on simplicity e.g. Easyjet. Brands that make our lives simpler will be successful and sought after in crowded markets where the brand can become the differentiator.

If you want to build a successful new brand or develop an existing one please contact our team for a no-obligations discussion. Telephone Mark Ellaway on 01603 484484 or email bang@datadrum.co.uk.

Once the brand logo was agreed, we then turned our attention to application and produced a series of concise branding guidelines, while still allowing the flexibility to adapt to all uses. We applied these guidelines to literature, stationery and signage allowing various versions for different uses.

Related links:

• Lyndon Green Marketing
• Victory Housing Trust
• Datadrum Branding Portfolio

Structure-Flex

Structure-Flex are a company based in North Norfolk that specialises in the fields of dry bulk packaging, commercial vehicle covers, graphics, bulk liquid packaging, lifting and safety systems and bespoke performance textile applications. Their website was launched with an online shop and has already been a great success.

Gas-Arc

Gas-Arc are an engineering company based in Diss and are the UK’s largest manufacturer of speciality and industrial gas control products in the UK.

Lintott Control Systems

Lintott Control Systems in Norwich are one of the UK’s leading Systems Integrators, specialising in Motor Control Centres, Process Software, Telemetry Infrastructure, Chemical Dosing and Water Quality Monitoring Systems.

MacGregor Welding Systems

MacGregor Welding Systems, based in Mildenhall, are one of the worlds leading innovators and market leaders in micro-welding technology!

We are continuously amazed at the wealth of engineering expertise and innovation in the region, many of which export throughout the world.

Each website was developed in close partnership with the client to ensure that all the technical aspects were covered. Our ability to interpret engineering products and services into an appealing online communications tool, as well as our many years of experience in the engineering industry, were key factors in Datadrum being selected. Each website is optimised for search engines and has our easy to use content management system to allow the client to easily update their website themselves.

The Passion Automotive website sells a huge range of car parts and accessories for “people passionate about cars”, it includes a user friendly navigation system including a powerful search for customers to find their way around the extensive product range. A bespoke content management system allows Passion Automotive to keep the website products and content up to date, as well as assisting with the ordering and payment process and day to day running of the website.

Passion Automotive chose to work with Datadrum for their expertise and track record in producing successful ecommerce websites. The Passion Automotive branding and website was designed by Datadrum to appeal to a wide range of customers of all ages, the new website has just been launched so take a look at www.passionauto.co.uk.

We were asked to brand the card and produce marketing materials such as leaflets, mailers and a website, aimed at young people and others involved in the project such as activity providers, County Council staff and parents/guardians of the young people.

We wanted to involve young people as much as possible in the development of the new brand. The youth market is a very difficult one to reach so the new brand really had to appeal to them or it would ultimately fail. An all day workshop with over 20 teenagers produced lots of brand name and design ideas which were then developed down to one identity - g2g. g2g is used in texting and means “got to go”. It was seen in the workshop as relevant, easy to remember, simple and appealed to this age group.

Our creative team took design elements from the workshop that young people liked eg, colours, fonts, styles and created the new g2g identity. This was then used on the card, literature and micro website www.g2gcard.co.uk.

The g2g card was officially launched this month.

Our new media team have been working hard to enhance Datadrum’s email marketing tool – easydrum. After extensive research we have built an email marketing solution which we believe is one of the best on the market today.

By sending out branded emails with easydrum you can quickly and easily reach your clients and prospects. Whether you want to build anticipation around a product before its launch, promote new offers or drive more traffic to your website, easydrum enables you to cost effectively communicate your message to a large audience quickly and easily.

easydrum comes in 3 options so you can pick the one that best suits your companies needs:

• easydrum fast: sit back and relax! We do everything for you. Just supply us with a mailing list, we’ll agree on a design and before you know it your message would have reached everyone you want it to.

• easydrum creator: take control! we provide the software and the bespoke template, then you can send and manage your own email campaign!

• easydrum response: creator’s big brother! Not only can you track how many of your recipients opened your email, you can see who those people were, which links they clicked, how many times they clicked those links and so much more!

easydrum is already a proven product with clients including Norwich City Football Club and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Mark Ellaway, Commercial Director of Datadrum states “Many of our clients use email marketing as an important part of their overall marketing communications plan. They wanted solutions that are easy to use, meet legislation and give them control over the process. Easydrum achieves all of this and more. It is, without doubt, a powerful marketing tool.”

To find out more visit our website www.easydrum.co.uk or call us on 01603 484484.

The brief was to redesign the website to appeal to consumers at the higher end of the market at the same time making it easy to navigate and buy online. The new website includes everything the customer needs to know about sedum roofs including a downloadable installation guide, where they can use Enviromat, picture gallery and an online purchasing facility.

To drive more traffic to the website, optimising the website for search engines was vital. Datadrum carried out key word research to identify the most appropriate search words to build into the site.

Email data capture is included along with Easydrum, Datadrum’s email marketing solution. This allows Q lawns to send out Enviromat branded emails to their email database to drive more traffic to the website.

Q Lawns are able to easily and regularly update the website through Datadrum’s Content Management System. This enables them to easily edit text and add new images and downloads such as PDFs.

See the results for yourself at www.enviromat.co.uk.

Newly opened Norwich Karaoke club, Sing Sing, required a website that was different. At Sing Sing customers privately book rooms where parties can have their own Karaoke nights. Using the latest software they can choose from over 6,000 songs and sing their hearts out to their faves!

Datadrum were commissioned to design the new website which needed to capture the Sing Sing brand and communicate it online through graphics, animation and sound. The website also has an online booking system, a picture gallery so you can see how much fun it is and a searchable list of all the songs you can choose from.

Enhanced with Drumedit, Datadrum’s content management system, Sing Sing can manage the website’s content themselves. Our team had great fun producing the website and are looking forward to singing their favourite songs at Sing Sing soon.

The Datadrum Top 10 Sing Sing Favourites
(in no particular order):

• Girls Aloud – Call The Shots
• The Beatles – Hey Jude
• The Righteous Brothers –You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling
• Lionel Ritchie & Diana Ross – Endless Love
• Shania Twain – Man, I Feel Like a Woman
• The Turtles – Happy Together
• Bloc Party – Banquet
• Lynyrd Skynyrd – Freebird
• Muse – Invincible
• The Who – My Generation

Check out the Sing Sing website at www.singsing.jp.

The new website design, which has been developed by our new media team, is fresh and appealing to reflect the friendly, relaxed and well-rounded nature of the school.

All content is managed using Datadrum’s content management system. This increases the website’s functionality and enables Hethersett Old Hall School staff to update images and text whenever and wherever they need to.

With pages specifically designed to make life easier for parents, the new website gives them the opportunity to download letters and diary dates to stay up to date with what’s going on. Parents can also have their say by filling in online feedback forms.

For more information about the school visit www.hethersettoldhallschool.co.uk.

All Datadrum websites are built with success in mind. If you want to step up a gear with your online marketing why not give us a call on 01603 484484.

Following a strategic review earlier this year we felt the time was right to re-brand Datadrum.

Over the past few years we have developed into a full service marketing communications agency offering our clients a complete range of services from traditional marketing campaigns through to digital solutions such as websites, email marketing and cd-roms.

We are one of the few agencies in the Norwich and Norfolk region who can offer this in-house and we wanted to reposition ourselves to better reflect this expertise.

The services we offer include:

• marketing campaigns
• exhibitions
• web design and build
• email marketing
• search engine optimisation
• corporate branding
• sales literature
• design
• pr
• market research

We successfully work in both business to business and business to consumer markets which can be demonstrated by our extensive client list and portfolio.

Have a look at the rest of our new website, especially our drumfolio.

Please let us know what you think in the comments!

If you would like to discuss anything, please call Mark Ellaway on 01603 484484 or use our enquiry form.